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Crush3d now next year, Shinobi November.
Sega has confirmed the delay of two Nintendo 3DS games.
Eye-catching Nintendo 3DS title Crush3d was due for release on 9th September. It will now launch in early 2012.
No explanation was offered.
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That’s wheely low.
The PC version Race Driver: Grid will be slashed to £2.99/$4.99 today on Steam.
At the time of writing the price is £10.99. Later today that will drop to £3 and stay that way until Thursday, 21st July.
Publisher Codemasters will donate all profits from the sale of Grid during this time to charities and good causes. GamesAid is among those, as are organisations singled out by the Livingstone-Hope review.
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Develop 2010: “Gamers are losing patience” with 10-hour-plus games, say developers, while casual games have lowered gamers’ expectations.
Who Was There: The session was made up of a five-person panel of designers and story writers: Charles Cecil, famous for his work on Broken Sword; Adrian Hon, chief creative officer of story developer Six to Start; Alexis Kennedy, chief narrative officer at Fail Better games; Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of indie developer nDreams; and writer David Varela.
What They Talked About: The panel discussed the relevance of narrative-based gameplay in today’s world of casual and social games. Looking at recent AAA releases L.A. Noire and Heavy Rain–both heavily story-led–they debated whether their long length was still enticing for today’s gamer. “Gamers are losing patience,” said Kennedy, when asked about his own experiences with Heavy Rain, “so many people don’t reach the end and lose the full impact of the story.” He wasn’t complimentary of its narrative either, questioning the benefit of basing a game on long-form narrative such as film, resulting in a “bastardised” storyline that doesn’t quite work.
The panel was positive about other aspects of the game, though, praising its unique take on the adventure genre and not relying on traditional twitch- and skill-based gameplay mechanics. As to why gamers might not want a skill-based experience, Cecil weighed in, using examples from the adventure genre to show that “the way people play games has changed dramatically.” Rather than the difficult or “contrived” puzzles of games like Broken Sword, the likes of Professor Layton showed that gamers wanted straightforward puzzles with a clear route of progression.
The panel also discussed how developers can incorporate narrative into casual and social games. The consensus was on implementing micro-narratives; that is, smaller bite-size storylines that can be consumed in the five-minute chunks that casual and social gamers play. While the point that social games might not necessarily have a definite end point was raised, the panel cited soap operas as an example of how ongoing storylines could work within a game environment. This could be aided by utilising social media to directly influence narrative and by implementing role-playing elements to further engage the player.
Quote: “There are people who role-play zero percent; they’re dull f***ers. The people who role-play 100 percent; they’re mental.” Alexis Kennedy on how role-playing can influence a player’s experience of narrative.
Takeaway: The likes of social and casual games, particularly the cheap games available on mobile, have changed the expectations of gamers, the panel concluded. By gamers are paying less money, there’s less need to create 10-hour-plus gaming experiences, because consumers no longer feel shortchanged. This could be particularly beneficial for self-publishing indie developers, they said, who could charge less but gain a larger percentage of sales. As for the role of storylines, the panel was less conclusive, but all agreed that there’s room for more in-depth narratives than the current crop of social and casual games are currently providing.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Are AAA games too long?” was posted by Mark Walton on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:25:04 -0700 -
Develop 2011: “Gamers are losing patience” with 10-hour-plus games, say developers, while casual games have lowered gamers’ expectations.
Who Was There: The session was made up of a five-person panel of designers and story writers: Charles Cecil, famous for his work on Broken Sword; Adrian Hon, chief creative officer of story developer Six to Start; Alexis Kennedy, chief narrative officer at Fail Better games; Patrick O’Luanaigh, CEO of indie developer nDreams; and writer David Varela.
What They Talked About: The panel discussed the relevance of narrative-based gameplay in today’s world of casual and social games. Looking at recent AAA releases L.A. Noire and Heavy Rain–both heavily story-led–they debated whether their long length was still enticing for today’s gamer. “Gamers are losing patience,” said Kennedy, when asked about his own experiences with Heavy Rain, “so many people don’t reach the end and lose the full impact of the story.” He wasn’t complimentary of its narrative either, questioning the benefit of basing a game on long-form narrative such as film, resulting in a “bastardised” storyline that doesn’t quite work.
The panel was positive about other aspects of the game, though, praising its unique take on the adventure genre and not relying on traditional twitch- and skill-based gameplay mechanics. As to why gamers might not want a skill-based experience, Cecil weighed in, using examples from the adventure genre to show that “the way people play games has changed dramatically.” Rather than the difficult or “contrived” puzzles of games like Broken Sword, the likes of Professor Layton showed that gamers wanted straightforward puzzles with a clear route of progression.
The panel also discussed how developers can incorporate narrative into casual and social games. The consensus was on implementing micro-narratives; that is, smaller bite-size storylines that can be consumed in the five-minute chunks that casual and social gamers play. While the point that social games might not necessarily have a definite end point was raised, the panel cited soap operas as an example of how ongoing storylines could work within a game environment. This could be aided by utilising social media to directly influence narrative and by implementing role-playing elements to further engage the player.
Quote: “There are people who role-play zero percent; they’re dull f***ers. The people who role-play 100 percent; they’re mental.” Alexis Kennedy on how role-playing can influence a player’s experience of narrative.
Takeaway: The likes of social and casual games, particularly the cheap games available on mobile, have changed the expectations of gamers, the panel concluded. By gamers are paying less money, there’s less need to create 10-hour-plus gaming experiences, because consumers no longer feel shortchanged. This could be particularly beneficial for self-publishing indie developers, they said, who could charge less but gain a larger percentage of sales. As for the role of storylines, the panel was less conclusive, but all agreed that there’s room for more in-depth narratives than the current crop of social and casual games are currently providing.
Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
“Are AAA games too long?” was posted by Mark Walton on Tue, 19 Jul 2011 08:25:04 -0700 -
Gaming PC brand sponsoring EG event.
Eurogamer is proud to announce a new partnership with award-winning gaming PC brand Alienware, which will be the headline sponsor of Eurogamer Expo 2011.
Alienware will provide the gaming rigs you’ll be using to play huge upcoming PC titles like Star Wars: The Old Republic and Guild Wars 2.
This year’s bigger-than-ever event will give 30,000 gamers the chance to play this year’s biggest releases ahead of launch.
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Supergiant Games hails Xbox Live Arcade.
Bastion, this year’s Xbox Live Summer of Arcade curtain-raiser, will see a PC release before 2011 is out, but PlayStation Network patrons may not be so lucky, developer Supergiant Games has revealed.
Creative director Greg Kasavin told Eurogamer that attention will shift onto the PC version of its quirky action RPG now that work has wrapped up on the Xbox Live Arcade release.
“We are taking our time to make sure the default control scheme on PC feels really good,” he explained.
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Early access to Challenge Map included.
Warner Bros. has made official the UK Batman: Arkham City Collector’s Edition.
It releases in limited quantities from 21st October in the UK for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
It includes:
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MW man says, “You should be getting both.”
Infinity Ward creative strategist Robert Bowling told Eurogamer today that he can see no reason why a dedicated shooter fan wouldn’t want to own both Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3 when the two go head to head this year.
Battlefield publisher Electronic Arts can’t seem to shut up about Modern Warfare 3 and has been poking Activision and Infinity Ward in public for months, but Bowling said that the baiting “doesn’t really get to us”.
“I’m very aware that we have two very different audiences and we’re delivering two very good and very different experiences, so I think the baiting is built up more of these two really passionate communities and they should be really passionate about their individual games getting at each other, and that’s been happening forever,” a diplomatic Bowling told Eurogamer.
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New BBFC rating suggests so.
A new BBFC rating for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Game of the Year Edition has popped up online, suggesting UK gamers may soon see the launch of the 5th anniversary edition of the sprawling fantasy RPG.
The 5th anniversary edition launched in the US earlier this month.
The new BBFC rating, classified today, details the Game of the Year Edition of Oblivion, which includes the Shivering Isles expansion.
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Begins next week.
The closed beta of racing Auto Club Revolution begins next week, on Monday, 25th July, Eutechnyx has announced.
“We’ve produced a specific game set-up for this test phase in order to help us properly scale test features, assess content and see how the Auto Club Revolution platform is shaped and used in a live environment,” executive producer Doug Wolff said.
“For example, we’ve shortened the player level-up system and made the higher tiers (of cars) easier to reach so that we can properly test progression in a real world environment.