News

2K Sports rolls out three new cover stars for latest hoops effort; Michael Jordan returns to round out the trifecta of NBA legends.

2K Sports is not afraid to repeat its cover athletes, and this year’s cover for NBA 2K12 is no different, except for a slight modification. Today, it revealed the cover art for the upcoming release, and while Michael Jordan returns to grace the game’s cover, he is joined by two other great players. This year’s game will feature not only His Airness but also the Celtics’ Larry Bird and the Lakers’ Magic Johnson on separate covers.

While the three athletes’ have their own diehard fanbases in Los Angeles, Boston, and Chicago, the covers will not be region-specific. With equal versions of all three covers set to be available throughout all of North America, East Coast gamers might be stuck with a copy of the game featuring Magic Johnson, while b-ball fans in California may only find copies of Larry Bird available on store shelves.

While initial runs of the game will feature an equal balance among the three former superstars, Michael Jordan’s cover is the de facto version; additional shipments will only feature his cover.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Ubisoft has priced its Uplay passport at 7.99 or 800 MS points…

Develop 2011: Sony’s Mick Hocking talks about his company’s learnings over the first year of 3D gaming.

Who was there: Sony Europe group studio manager Mick Hocking oversees the company’s four UK-based studios–Evolution, Soho, Liverpool and BigBig–as well as the Worldwide Studios’ stereoscopic 3D team.

Wipeout HD was among Sony’s early 3D titles.

What they said: Sony has been a big proponent of 3D gaming, and after a year of supporting the technology and three firmware updates to the PlayStation 3, the console now boasts over 50 compatible games. According to research, 42 per cent of consumers are interesting in gaming in 3D, but one of Hocking’s primary concerns is now around “poor quality” 3D having a negative effect on consumers.

Citing poorly produced movies (although tactfully neglecting to name any examples), Hocking seemed concerned about the lasting impact sub-standard 3D could have on the market. He laid out some rules for games developers looking to make games in 3D, saying they needed to “embrace and exploit the benefits of 3D”, and gave case studies from high-profile internal studios by way of example.

Resident Evil: Afterlife highly touted its use of the same 3D technology as Avatar.

Early 3D titles such as Wipeout HD employed a technique known as reprojection to render a 3D image, which was fast to implement and produced little extra processing, but produced some 3D artefacts which were apparent to a keen eye. Later games such as Killzone 3 were able to have 3D rendering techniques implemented at the start of their development, allowing developers to apply much more advanced dual-rendering techniques.

However, Killzone 3 developer Guerrilla still found its first-person shooter required some fundamental tweaks to work in 3D–specifically in the crosshair, which needed to be drawn at a mid-point between the player and the target in order to preserve the 3D effect, and the gun, which needed to be blurred out to stop the player focusing on it. Motorstorm Apocalypse had its own problems–the series’ trademark shaky-cam had to be turned down to stop motion sickness in 3D, while all frame-tearing had to be eradicated, as it made the game unplayable in 3D.

Though it sounds like a lot of work for developers to get 3D working in their games, Hocking claims that it only costs 2 per cent or less of the overall development budget. He also claims that this investment will result in good quality 3D in games–the sort that he thinks will drive further adoption of the technology in future.

Quote: “By 2015, almost 40 per cent of all TVs will be 3D.”–Hocking.

Takeaway: There is a difference between good 3D and bad 3D, according to Hocking. Implementing good 3D into games represents a small fraction of the overall development budget, and over the next few years, 3DTV production is going to increase dramatically.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Develop 2011: Group studio manager Mick Hocking talks about his company’s learnings over the first year of 3D gaming.

Who was there: Sony Europe group studio manager Mick Hocking oversees the company’s four UK-based studios–Evolution, Soho, Liverpool, and BigBig–as well as the Worldwide Studios’ stereoscopic 3D team.

Wipeout HD was among Sony’s early 3D titles.

What they said: Sony has been a big proponent of 3D gaming, and after a year of supporting the technology and three firmware updates to the PlayStation 3, the console now boasts more than 50 compatible games. According to research, 42 percent of consumers are interested in gaming in 3D, but one of Hocking’s primary concerns is now around “poor quality” 3D having a negative effect on consumers.

Citing poorly produced movies (although tactfully neglecting to name any examples), Hocking seemed concerned about the lasting impact substandard 3D could have on the market. He laid out some rules for games developers looking to make games in 3D, saying they needed to “embrace and exploit the benefits of 3D,” and he gave case studies from high-profile internal studios by way of example.

Resident Evil: Afterlife highly touted its use of the same 3D technology as Avatar.

Early 3D titles such as Wipeout HD employed a technique known as reprojection to render a 3D image, which was fast to implement and produced little extra processing but produced some 3D artefacts which were apparent to a keen eye. Later games, such as Killzone 3, were able to have 3D rendering techniques implemented at the start of their development, allowing developers to apply much more advanced dual-rendering techniques.

However, Killzone 3 developer Guerrilla still found that its first-person shooter required some fundamental tweaks to work in 3D–specifically in the crosshair, which needed to be drawn at a midpoint between the player and the target in order to preserve the 3D effect, and the gun, which needed to be blurred out to stop the player focusing on it. MotorStorm: Apocalypse had its own problems–the series’ trademark shaky-cam had to be turned down to stop motion sickness in 3D, while all frame tearing had to be eradicated, because it made the game unplayable in 3D.

Though it sounds like a lot of work for developers to get 3D working in their games, Hocking claims that it costs only 2 percent or less of the overall development budget. He also claims that this investment will result in good-quality 3D in games–the sort that he thinks will drive further adoption of the technology in the future.

Quote: “By 2015, almost 40 percent of all TVs will be 3D.” –Hocking.

Takeaway: There is a difference between good 3D and bad 3D, according to Hocking. Implementing good 3D into games represents a small fraction of the overall development budget, and over the next few years, 3DTV production is going to increase dramatically.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Develop 2011: Industry heavyweights weigh in on the future of gaming’s business models, and the inevitability of a service-led future.

Who was there: Miles Jacobson of Sports Interactive, Phil Harrison of London Venture Partners, industry veteran Chris Lee and David Braben of Frontier Developments.

What was said: Much of the panel’s time was consumed by a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the industry, the way business models are changing, and what current social and technological trends mean for the games industry.

The panel mull the merits of free-to-play.

Harrison said that the balance of power is shifting between publishers and developers. Now that developers can get their games out there without a publisher and make money for themselves, they will be able to exert much more control over their products. All they’ll be looking for from publishers are deals for distribution and exposure, rather than funding.

“It’s hard bringing a game to market,” Braben said. “Discovery is going to be more and more of a challenge,” with the proliferation of platforms making the route to market much less obvious than once it was.

Jacobson then weighed in, saying that when a studio finds the right publisher, the power issues don’t matter, but that with the wrong publisher things can be unpleasant. He pointed to Sports Interactive’s time working on Championship Manager for Eidos for one such example.

“The us-and-them relationship that we were in was absolutely horrible. We just shouted at each other the whole time,” he said. This echoed sentiments from Harrison, saying that when developers and publishers work towards a common goal, things become much easier than when goals diverge.

The panel then moved onto the subject of Apple, with Lee stating that “Apple presents a fantastic opportunity for developers.” While “Modern Warfare 3 players aren’t going to forget to go to the shops because they’re playing Angry Birds,” he explained, as mobile devices get more powerful the likes of Apple could start crowding the traditional AAA space. Braben then went on to point out that bringing in new players and new modes of payment meant the industry was still growing, despite recent poor NPD numbers that seemingly showing decline.

Moving onto economics in general, free-to-play games were addressed. “By and large we’re moving towards a free-to-play business model,” Harrison said, suggesting that all games would work this way in time. Lee was a little more sceptical, suggesting that this might work for some online titles, but that the level of investment required for making a traditional console game made this unlikely.

“The industry will change instantly overnight, forever,” when we get a future Call of Duty game on the next PlayStation or Xbox console that’s free at the point of entry, Harrison said. He then claimed that while this wouldn’t happen this year or the next, it’s inevitable, and developers need to be prepared for this sort of business model becoming standard. He also said that the current business model of spending billions on a chipset then effectively taxing retail products was “over,” and that making money off services was the way forward for all the big players.

Takeaway: The industry is changing at a very rapid rate, and no-one can really predict exactly where it’s going to go. Free-to-play and freemium models were generally agreed to be the way forward, but exactly what form the games financed by those models will take is anyone’s guess.

Quote: “The sex is much better with Sega. Avoid the blue spikes and you’ll be OK.” – Miles Jacobson on getting out of the publishing relationship surrounding Championship Manager and into bed with Sega.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Develop 2011: Former Sony exec Phil Harrison says free-to-play will be the dominant business model as industry veterans discuss a service-driven future for games.

Who was there: Miles Jacobson of Sports Interactive, Phil Harrison of London Venture Partners, industry veteran Chris Lee, and David Braben of Frontier Developments.

What was said: Much of the panel’s time was consumed by a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the industry, the way business models are changing, and what current social and technological trends mean for the games industry.

The panel mull the merits of free-to-play.

Harrison said that the balance of power is shifting between publishers and developers. Now that developers can get their games out there without a publisher and make money for themselves, they will be able to exert much more control over their products. All they’ll be looking for from publishers are deals for distribution and exposure, rather than funding.

“It’s hard bringing a game to market,” Braben said. “Discovery is going to be more and more of a challenge,” with the proliferation of platforms making the route to market much less obvious than it once was.

Jacobson then weighed in, saying that when a studio finds the right publisher, the power issues don’t matter, but that with the wrong publisher things can be unpleasant. He pointed to Sports Interactive’s time working on Championship Manager for Eidos for one such example.

“The us-and-them relationship that we were in was absolutely horrible. We just shouted at each other the whole time,” he said. This echoed sentiments from Harrison, saying that when developers and publishers work towards a common goal, things become much easier than when goals diverge.

The panel then moved on to the subject of Apple, with Lee stating that “Apple presents a fantastic opportunity for developers.” While “Modern Warfare 3 players aren’t going to forget to go to the shops because they’re playing Angry Birds,” he explained, as mobile devices get more powerful, the likes of Apple could start crowding the traditional AAA space. Braben then went on to point out that bringing in new players and new modes of payment meant the industry was still growing, despite recent poor NPD numbers that seemingly show a decline.

Moving on to economics in general, free-to-play games were addressed. “By and large we’re moving towards a free-to-play business model,” Harrison said, suggesting that all games would work this way in time. Lee was a little more sceptical, suggesting that this might work for some online titles but that the level of investment required for making a traditional console game made this unlikely.

“The industry will change instantly overnight, forever,” when we get a future Call of Duty game on the next PlayStation or Xbox console that’s free at the point of entry, Harrison said. He then claimed that while this wouldn’t happen this year or the next, it’s inevitable, and developers need to be prepared for this sort of business model becoming standard. He also said that the current business model of spending billions on a chipset and then effectively taxing retail products was “over” and that making money off services was the way forward for all the big players.

Takeaway: The industry is changing at a very rapid rate, and no one can really predict exactly where it’s going to go. Free-to-play and freemium models were generally agreed to be the way forward, but exactly what form the games financed by those models will take is anyone’s guess.

Quote: “The sex is much better with Sega. Avoid the blue spikes and you’ll be OK.”–Miles Jacobson on getting out of the publishing relationship surrounding Championship Manager and into bed with Sega.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Develop 2011: Hello Games’ Sean Murray opens up on the challenges of working for oneself, 60-hour working weeks, and why the world needs independent developers.

Who was there: Sean Murray, managing director of Hello Games, the self-proclaimed “tiny little indie studio” in Guildford that produced last year’s PSN stunt racer Joe Danger.

What was said: Speaking about “The Five Taboos of Indie Game Development” Murray attempted to shed some light on the reality of indie game development as opposed to the fantasy.

Making Joe Danger was a lot of hard work.

Murray started off by pointing out that the glamorisation of indie development actually makes succeeding harder. While there are plenty of success stories that make indie development seem attractive, they don’t prepare you for the reality as the failures simply go unreported, said Murray. It also means many start-ups, including Hello Games, have unrealistic timescales for development.

The reality of indie development is typified by guilt and lots of hard work. This is reflected by 60 hour–or longer–weeks. “Team Bondi had it easy,” Murray said, quoting a response to a small survey he ran of indie developers. However, he admitted that the circumstances indie developers found themselves in were probably better. The motivation from knowing that funds are limited and that you’re working for yourself makes things easier–being locked into a cycle like that for your own game can allow you to be more creative, and the sheer focus often leads to the best new ideas.

Talking about the joy of creating things for oneself, Murray said “the reality of eating ice cream every day for every meal would probably be similar”–it seems like a great idea, but it gets old very quickly. The reality of development can also hit hard; it’s not all sitting in coffee shops writing code, or lounging in the garden creating artwork. “You can’t go through [the certification process for PSN] in your garden, on your laptop, without a shirt on,” he said, offering one of several examples of situations where reality will really hit home.

Despite this, the innovation from indie studies is essential to the games market, Murray said. The Electronic Entertainment Expo’s main presentations this year contained “a lot of gimmickry,” he explained, suggesting that new genres and innovative games were much more important than the rush towards 3D and motion control systems. There were new and interesting things being presented, but only by the smaller studios who were struggling to be heard.

Takeaway: Those who start up their own studios to make a game are going to find the experience vastly different from their expectations. But it’s not just worth the effort, it’s essential for the future of the industry as a whole.

Quote: “Apart from the first week, no-one is ever happy ever again.” Murray’s view on the happiness cycle of indie development.

Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot

Respawn’s lead concept artist Ian McDaig has clarified a statement he made yesterday that the developer’s first project might not see the light of day until as far off as 2015…

EA has made official the Collector’s Edition of Star Wars: The Old Republic, and announced pre-order bonuses.

Pre-ordering the massively multiplayer online game nets you early access and a Colour Stone, which lets you change your weapon effect. YES.

On the official Star Wars: The Old Republic website, EA encouraged gamers to pre-order now. The order in which you redeem your pre-order code, you see, is the order in which you’ll gain early access before release.

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You can control two players at the same time in PES 2012.

The new Teammate Control system, just revealed by Konami, allows players to move runners as they move the player in possession of the ball.

To do this, you need to press the right analogue stick in the direction of the player you want to control.

Read more…