The world of Sonic is a world of fast platforming and loop-de-loops. So how well does it fare when inserted into the RPG mould? Can BioWare break the current trend of Sonic games and make something good? Hit the jump for the full review.

RPGs tend to be where you find the legendary stories. Their format allows for complex character development as well as epic quests, able to keep you on edge for dozens, even hundreds of hours. It’s something BioWare seems to have missed when developing Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood. It may well be that the game is simply targeted towards a younger audience, or perhaps the source material wasn’t the best for narrative, but either way I was a little disappointed in the lack of depth.

Eggman has been defeated, Knuckles got kidnapped and there are some new enemies called The Mauraders causing trouble all across the land by stealing the Chaos Emeralds. That’s all you need to know about the story. Things do keep moving steadily, and you will find a few pleasant and inoffensive plot twists, but nothing truly ground breaking or engrossing.

Most of the game is played through the overworld, entering your standard RPG arena for combat. One annoyance with the game that is instantly apparent is the use of the stylus. You have no options on how to control your characters. While moving around the overworld, the d-pad does nothing, and you have to click where you want to go. Why you couldn’t have used both the stylus and d-pad is beyond me, and lead to a rather uncomfortable first few hours until I got used to it.

Each area provides you with some key objectives, as well as several (often diverse) side quests. Each rewards you with an item or two, as well as the accompanying experience. Some quests take the form of puzzles, which require people standing in specific places, or the use of a specific party member’s special ability.

Whilst attempting any mission, your objectives are always clearly labeled and the map has helpful stars indicating where you need to go. Often these locations can only be reached after passing an obstacle needing a specific skill. Your party consists of a maximum of four characters from an ever increasing group. Large gaps, for example, can be flown over by Tails, and boxes can be smashed by Amy’s hammer.

All these actions are accomplished through a rather mundane clicking of an icon which appears when you are next to an obstacle. It’s the same method you use to interact with people and other objects, unless they are proximity activated, such as the enemies.

Thankfully missing are random encounters, replaced with often avoidable over world creatures. Once in combat, the game takes a classic RPG turn-based approach. Characters take turns attacking and you are given the choice to attack a specific target, defend, or use a POW move. POW moves use up valuable POW Points (PP) and range in what effect they have. Some are powerful moves, while others identify key weaknesses or distract an enemy.

Each POW move uses a series of onscreen, stylus-controlled quick time events very similar to the ones found in Elite Beat Agents. Your accuracy determines just how effective an attack is. A similar system is also used when the enemy is attempting a special attack. If you hit all the right places at just the right time, you can cause an opponents attack to completely miss.

These quick time events do help break up the combat, which can become rather drawn out in places. Often times the combat feels tedious as amount of damage done can be negligible some rounds. Especially early on, you can find your characters missing a surprisingly large number of moves. It’s not uncommon for an entire round to pass, and to have 75% of your attacks miss.

The combat is further extended by the enemy’s annoying habit of occasionally fleeing. This pauses the battle and creates a side scrolling chase sequence. Each of your party members have their own lane and as the chase progresses, things are placed in the way which you have to jump over by clicking on your character. Failure to click in time results in you losing ground on the enemy. If you hit too many objects, the enemies get away. Catching up again simply drops you back in the combat, with an extra round of attacks on your behalf.

For the most part enemies will be easily (if monotonously) defeated, but occasionally some rather odd balancing issues crop up. Some minibosses will either miss you completely, or are able to KO you within a single round. When you’re used to most enemies doing almost negligible damage, it can seem rather frustrating and can result in several annoying reattempts.

The musical score sounds like classic Sonic, which is greatly appreciated, and the sound effects are passable. The game looks good too– there are a few pre-rendered scenes which add a nice touch, and character models are on par with the quality of the DS. Sprites are nicely drawn, and environments are pleasantly varied. Though if any of that last paragraph changed your opinion on Sonic Chronicles, you probably don’t play a lot of RPGs.

If you’re not an RPG player, but do like Sonic, then this game will likely appeal to you and I would recommend buying it. However, if you are looking for an RPG experience to sink hundreds of hours into, this game isn’t for you. A weak story and lack of depth in combat will definitely hurt the experience for veteran RPG players.

Overall, I would have to say it is an average RPG, aimed at those more a fan of Sonic than the genre. Sonic Chronicles is worth the money if you like blue hedgehogs, but worth a rent at best otherwise.

Good first person shooters are a rare find on the DS. C.O.R.E promises “old school” action tied to a “Gripping sci-fi storyline, with a fully interactive world”. I got my hands on an early build of the game last week, so hit the jump to get my impressions.

The build I have been playing spans two of the eventual 15 levels of the game, so I can’t say too much about the story. The general gist of the situation is that a secret base, built over a crash site of something alien, has dropped out of contact. It’s your job to go in and find out what’s going on. You slowly find out more about what happened via text logs scattered throughout the levels. Nothing too original or ground breaking so far, but there is certainly room for a few interesting twists.

The seemingly de facto DS FPS controls, with the touch pad for looking, d-pad for movement and shoulder buttons for firing feel comfortable for the most part. In the build I was playing I was unable to move diagonally using the d-pad, which sounds like a minor complaint, but did cause movement to feel a touch clumsy at times.

Once you get used to it, you can move quite rapidly around the hallways of the underground base. The maps themselves are typically linear, and feel quite sparse in parts. I didn’t encounter any more than two enemies at the same time and there are very few items to pick up. There are just enough health and ammo stations to keep you alive, but you will find less ammo causally spread around than in your typical FPS.

Combat feels good with the stylus providing you with just enough accuracy to be usable. My only problem was when I was taking damage. There is no indication of the direction your enemy is in. This can make it hard to determine just where your target is. The enemies I encountered did have some nice variation and their character models seemed on par with the level of the rest of the game. That is to say, somewhere between Doom and Quake

Graphically I was impressed by what the team at NoWay Studio have accomplished. The game runs smoothly and has a nice level of detail to it, considering the hardware it’s running on. The music and sound effects are as you would expect. Repeating heavy guitar riffs make up the majority of the audio-scape, interspersed with the grunts of your foes, very reminiscent of Quake 1.
.

The preview also came with Free For All, Team Arena and Capture The Flag multiplayer modes. The game will support both multi-card and single-card play and allows up to 4 players at once. Although I wasn’t able to play too much with the multiplayer, it really does feel like it could be a legitimate challenger to Mario Kart DS for the “we’re sat around and bored with our DS’” game of choice.

So things are looking good. It may not be ground breaking in its narrative accomplishments, or re-defining the hand-held FPS genera, but it is definitely bringing around all the right feelings. If you are a fan of the classic PC FPS’ and want that same feeling on the go, then I highly recommend keeping an eye on C.O.R.E.

After nearly three full days of hit or miss reliability from the Xbox Live service, it’s finally looking like the servers have been successfully gaffer taped back together.

After the planned downtime on Monday to prepare the service for the soccer moms New Xbox Experience, it seems all was not quite smooth gravy with Live. The early signs of trouble came from Halo 3 players complaining that their experience wasn’t going up.

Bungie announced after a few hours of looking into the matter that it wasn’t in fact their fault and the that the problem was “a larger problem with the Xbox Live service that is affecting more games than just Halo 3”

And with that, Xbox Live ground to a halt and went offline again. Only a few hours later it reappeared, but was very hit or miss. Once it had staggering around for a few more hours, the service went offline again earlier today (Wed).

Mid-afternoon today, things seemed to be heading back to normal with MajorNelson’s Twitter announcing:

Things are going to get better VERY soon.

Soon after, Live burst back to life… almost. There are still problems with the Halo 3 ranks, but all other services appear to have been restored. Who knows how long it will last?

I guess the New Xbox Experience was just too much awesome for the servers to handle, with all those sexy avatars and swooshing graphics. I’m just glad I’m not paying for… wait…

To find out what’s broken now, head over to the Xbox Live Support page.

In news to be filed in the “couldn’t come soon enough” category, anti-videogame lawyer extraordinaire Jack Thompson has been disbarred, permanently.

In 30 days time, Thompson will loose all power of attorney, will not be able to practice law and will never be able to attach porn to court documents again. Summarising the court order, GamePolitics assembled the key points to Thompson’s disbarment.

• [Thompson] made false statements of material fact to courts and repeatedly violated a court order
• [Thompson] communicated the subject of representation directly with clients of opposing counsel
• [Thompson] engaged in prohibited ex parte communications
• [Thompson] publicized and sent hundreds of pages of vitriolic and disparaging missives, letters, faxes, and press releases, to the affected individuals
• [Thompson] targeted an individual who was not involved with respondent in any way, merely due to “the position [the individual] holds in state and national politics”
• [Thompson]falsely, recklessly, and publicly accused a judge as being amenable to the “fixing” of cases
• [Thompson] sent courts inappropriate and offensive sexual materials
• [Thompson] falsely and publicly accused various attorneys and their clients of engaging in a
  conspiracy/enterprise involving “the criminal distribution of sexual materials to minors” and attempted to get prosecuting authorities to charge these attorneys and their clients for racketeering and extortion
• [Thompson] harassed the former client of an attorney in an effort to get the client to use its influence to persuade the attorney to withdraw a defamation suit filed by the attorney against respondent
• [Thompson] retaliated against attorneys who filed Bar complaints against him for his unethical conduct by asserting to their clients, government officials, politicians, the media, female lawyers in their law firm, employees, personal friends, acquaintances, and their wives, that the attorneys were criminal pornographers who objectify women.

As somebody who has spoken to Thompson in the past about his views, I can’t help but feel a slight pang of sadness over all of this. Most gamers are very quick to simply mark all of his views and opinions off as madness, taking little to no time to listen to the man. It’s true that he may take things to the extreme, but his points about selling inappropriate material to minors, and the damaging effect it can have on them, is worth thinking about.

Another angle woth a thought is that with Jack all but reduced to a Fox News talking head, is this going to be the end of anti-videogame activism? Not by a long shot, and Thomson’s departure may just be the catalyst. There are hundreds of anti-videogame groups and speakers out there, but up until now they have all been masked by Thompson’s overbearing personality and ability to be noticed. With his departure we may well begin to see a new wave of people targeting videogames.

Or maybe I’m just being pessimistic. Cake anyone?

You may remember a month ago when social news site Reddit first began their quest to stop the imminent headcrab infestation emanating from the Large Hadron Collider. Good news, the crowbar wrecking bar has now been shipped, along with a practice headcrab plushy and a Half-Life strategy guide.

For those not familiar with what is soon to be happening, the particle accelerator located at CERN, due to be fully active very shortly, could cause a resonance cascade. Which, if the variables are just right, might doom us all.

That is if we are not prepared for the worse. And that’s where Reddit comes in. They have now shipped the headcrab killing crowbar to CERN, along with the note “Get this to Gordon Freeman. He’ll know what to do.”

When we thanked them for their heroic work, Alexis from the Reddit All blog told us:

We’re not heroes. We’re just doing our job.

Thank you Reddit, all we can do now is hope it reaches Gordon in time.

Despite being one of the most anticipated games of this year, some people are not overly happy with the overbearing and unnecessary DRM EA have placed on the game.

To “protect” the game, EA have kindly added SecuROM DRM (Digital Rights Management) to all copies. This limits the number of installs you can make (in Spore’s case, 3) and requires you to activate the install over the net. But it gets worse. Over the past few years accusations have been made of the software and the stupidly high level of access it has on your PC.

For some reason, SecuROM requires the highest level of access to your data possible, higher than the average user gets. It can then watch and tinker with whatever it wants, and send that information to whatever server it deems fit. When BioShock came out, there were accusations (since semi-cleared) of SecuROM acting suspiciously like a root kit because of this.

It seems many Amazon buyers are none too happy with the discovery of SecuROM on their legally bought copies of Spore and have had a mini-riot in the reviews section. There are currently more than 200 single-star reviews, giving the game an average score of 1.5 stars (out of 5).

The most popular review, written by Erich Maria Remarque, points a very damning finger at the DRM:

First of all, the game incorporates a draconian DRM system that requires you to activate over the internet, and limits you to a grand total of 3 activations. If you reach that limit, then you’ll have to call EA in order to add one extra activation. That’s not as simple as it sounds, since when you reach that point EA will assume that you, the paying customer, are a filthy pirating thief. You will need to provide proof of purchase, reasons why the limit was reached, etc, etc (it has all happened before with another recent EA product, Mass Effect).

EA, of course, is not obligated to grant you that extra activation or even provide that service. In a couple of years they might very well even shut down the general activation servers, because “it’s not financially feasible” to keep them running. What you will be left with is a nice, colorful $50 coaster. And you will be required to pay for another copy/license if you want to continue playing.

When will these companies learn that treating people as guilty before proven innocent will only ever do harm? The irony to all this is that it’s possible to get a copy of Spore without the DRM, but you’ll have to go through the illegal, piracy channels to get it. Yaaar.

Via: Fred Beneson’s Blog, Team Teabag

The classic PC games Heretic and Hexen have been given new freedom across the internet with their release under the GNU Public Licence.

The new release means you can freely download, modify and distribute the source code as you wish, leading to much wider implications of the legal use of the games. Up until now players have had to resort to either breaking the law, or re-coding the games from scratch to play them along side other open source games.

With help from a massive community effort spanning over a decade, as well as a few insiders helping out, not least John Romero, the games are now free to roam unrestricted.

To get your hands on the source code, head over to the SourceForge page.

Via: Doom World (pic wikipedia)

We all know the feeling, you’re sat at home in your boxers playing Resistance: Fall of Man and you start thinking “you know, I wish I could watch that latest Rihanna music video, but I’m so lazy to simply go to YouTube in my PS3’s browser, I wish there was another solution”.

Well, Sony have heard your call and announced today at Leipzig that they will start trialling their new VidZone service across all PAL territories early next year.

Based on the current VidZone video service available online (ironically not accessible via the PS3’s browser) users will be able to watch, for free, new music videos as well as save playlists of their favourite tunes. It will also be possible for you to stream the video right to your PSP via Remote Play, just incase it’s too much effort to look up at the TV.

Soon, this video could be on your PS3. Think about that.

But, better yet, for only a “small charge” you can download your favourite tunes as ring tones for your phone! Sadly, before you start jumping around shouting “OMG I totally need that totally new Avril tune on my totally iPhone”, I have a bit of bad news; there is sadly no information on when, or if, the service will be leaving the PAL regions.

Europeans and Australasians can look forward to being down with the kids early ‘09 when the service goes live.

Touted as a pulp horror game, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL (the name is actually in caps) was announced today at Leipzig, and although it’s no Jet Grind Radio, it does still look to be an awesome addition for the Wii.

Sticking to the classic on-rails shooter mechanic, but adding “a new retro look, with distinctive graphics, sound and attitude that will add to its horror cool status,” this new addition to the House of The Dead franchise looks to be styling itself, quite rightly, on the classic 80’s zombie films.

Now, just add a hot chick with a gun for a leg and I’m sold.

LEIPZIG (August 19th, 2008) – SEGA® Europe Ltd. and SEGA® of America, Inc. today announced The House of the Dead: OVERKILL, an all-new pulp-horror reinvention of the classic SEGA light-gun shooter franchise. Created by London-based studio Headstrong Games, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will take you right back to the beginning of this classic horror series. Available exclusively on the Nintendo Wii early in 2009 and announced to coincide with Games Convention at Leipzig, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will be presented live by developer Headstrong Games for specially invited members of the press in SEGA’s business centre suite.

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL uncovers the ugly, terrifying, red hot secrets behind the House of the Dead; the daddy of all over-the-top shooters. While staying true to the classic gameplay this hugely successful SEGA series is getting a new retro look, with distinctive graphics, sound and attitude that will add to its horror cool status. Plus, thanks to the Wii Remote™, players will fight off zombies when they get too close; pistol-whipping jaws off and smashing in skulls with their shotgun butt.

“We wanted to do something really different with The House of the Dead: OVERKILL,” commented Bradley Crooks, Studio Head at Headstrong Games. “With SEGA we’ve been able to create a fresh look for the franchise. I think you’ll agree it’s like nothing you’ve seen before on Wii.”

“Paying homage to the pulp horror comics and films that inspired generations of gore fans, The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will expose gamers to a brand-new fleshy rollercoaster ride of revolting dismemberment,” commented Gary Knight, European Marketing Director at SEGA Europe. “This is the hardcore Wii title you’ve been waiting for.”

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL takes you back to when Special Agent G was fresh out of the academy. Teamed up with hard-boiled bad-ass Detective Washington, they are sent to investigate stories of mysterious disappearances in small-town Louisiana. Little do they know what blood-soaked mutant depravity awaits them in the streets and swamps of Bayou City…

The House of the Dead: OVERKILL will be released in early 2009, exclusively for Nintendo Wii. For more information about the game, please visit www.houseofthedeadoverkill.com.

If, like me, you are looking forward to the brand new space-based, real-time-combat-using, better-than-WoW, totally-awesome new MMO from Codemasters that is Jumpgate Evolution, then you may feel your pants tightening with the following trailer.

Nations At War is the first trailer for the game developed by NetDevil to really show its scale. With dozens of ship types and several beautifully crafted space scenes, this trailer not only gives us what we want, but is also a clear indication of what the end result will be.

If you would like to find out more about Jumpgate Evolution (and you know you want to) then have a read of our initial impressions, or our interview with the game’s producer, Hermann Peterscheck. Also, make sure to keep your eyes out for our hands-on with the game at this years PAX in a couple of weeks.

Jumpgate Evolution is currently in closed beta and is expected to release in Spring ‘09. You can sign up for the open beta at the official website.

Via: IGN

NoWay Studio have released fresh new info in their DS exclusive FPS, C.O.R.E. Boasting an impressive 15 single player levels and 10 multiplayer maps, could this be the Halo of the DS? Hit the jump for all the info.

This game, until recently, was nowhere near my radar-of-games-to-watch, but after watching the debut trailer and reading about the game, this has definitely become the first DS game to come close to matching the excitement I had for Imagine Babies.

With impressive graphics and inspiration from such classics as Quake and Half-Life, could we be seeing the finest example of mobile FPSing to date? If the single player can manage to not be too generic in its story, and be as good as it looks execution wise, the game would be good. Combining this with the impressive array of multiplayer options and we could be onto a winner.

Poland, 7th August 2008. Fresh new video games developer NoWay Studio is proud to announce the launch date for its exciting debut title, “C.O.R.E.”. Available exclusively on the Nintendo DSTM, and launching in October 2008, “C.O.R.E” is an action-packed multiplayer First Person Shooter. With a gripping single player mission, based on a Roswell style storyline, the game also boasts an exciting multiplayer experience in specially designed arenas.

Jakub Pieczykolan, CEO at NoWay Studio states: “The inspiration for C.O.R.E. comes from the team’s love of the classic early video games like Doom, Quake and Half-Life. These incredible games have that great combination of skillful and addictive gameplay which we have now re-created for the Nintendo DSTM. “C .O.R.E.” is essentially 2 games in one, the single player mission is spread over 15 huge levels and the multiplayer across 10 specially designed arenas.”

“Capture the flag”, “team arena” and “free for all” multiplayer modes can now be played on a handheld games system. Ten specially designed arenas have been created with a range of weapons and shields strategically placed around these challenging environments. With a single game cartridge up to four players can now quickly set up multiplayer FPS game that can last for hours.

“C .O.R.E.” brings a classic sci-fi storyline and great multiplayer gaming to the Nintendo DS.

For more information visit: www.noway-studio.com

GAME STORYLINE & FEATURES:

In the single player mission a meteor has crashed into the Earth. The largest single impact on the earth in a millennium is being investigated by the government at a special research facility (C.O.R.E) built alongside impact site. For 20 years the scientists have been drilling into the Earth trying to reach the centre of the meteor and unlock its secrets. Just recently a news blackout was declared for the site and rumours started of an incredible find. Suddenly all communication with the base was lost. With no information on what might have happened and a new strange radiation emanating from the site a special forces team is needed to investigate, your mission as part of that team is to find the answers.

• Gripping sci-fi storyline, with a fully interactive world
• Mysterious atmosphere intensified by heavy music and advanced graphics
• Complete 15 huge, shocking and breathtaking levels
• 20 different enemies ranging from insane marines and mad scientists to big deadly mutants
• A plethora of secret rooms and special quests
• Choose among 8 types of weapons, including: blaster, shotgun, plasma gun or rocket launcher.
• Alternative firing modes for some weapons.
• 10 different multiplayer arenas
• Capture the flag, team arena and death match
• Up to 4 player multiplayer

With just a few short weeks remaining until scientists cause the end of the universe turn on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) near Geneva and kill us all begin answering some of the biggest physics questions around, it took the brains of social news site Reddit.com to realise that the LHC was lacking one vital piece of safety equipment; a crowbar.

On Tuesday, Reddit user Mad_Gouki pointed out that CERN’s anti-mass spectrometer could cause a resonance cascade. Which as we all know, could lead to a rather nasty head-crab infestation of Earth.

Thinking for the good of mankind, Alexis writes on the Reddit All? blog:

Upon learning that the Cern lab would be recreating the ill-fated Black Mesa project, Mad_Gouki thought it’d be prudent to send them a red crowbar for the pending alien invasion. Chris knows a few fellow physicists working at the lab, so we’ll do our best to get this in the right hands. Let’s hope they have someone there named Gordon Freeman who knows what to do with it…

Now we just need to make sure that there is plenty of ammo and grenades lying around and we’re sorted. Thank you Reddit, you have saved us all.

Sadly, the above is not a new screen shot. It is but a fanciful idea I had. I’m sorry, Gears 2 doesn’t come with Unicorn Lancers, but the filters are real. It’s looking like Gears 2 will follow in first Gear’s footsteps and implement a filter for both violence and language.

Even though the game already has an ‘M’ rating, which I always interpreted as “mature” as opposed to “3 and up”, I guess some whiny brats may pester mummy for an early Christmas present, and we can’t have little Timmy hearing the f-bomb now can we?

Ok, I’m being a little pedantic. There are a number of reasons why you may want this filter in place, if you’re playing in front of relatives, if you want the performance gain from less blood, or if you don’t like it when your entire screen gets covered in red ooze.

Whatever your preference, come November 7th, at least Timmy will be safe.

As an aside, if like me, you think the idea of a weekly “Unicorns of Mass Destruction” column, in which I photo-shop unicorns in place of famous videogame weapons is a good idea, please do let me know.

There isn’t much more I can add. We all remember Halo’s Believe TV advert, but did you ever wonder what it might look like with Viva Piñata figures from Burger King? Fret not my fellow, umm…word meaning ‘likes Viva Piñata’…as Believa Piñata is here to put your mind at ease, hit the jump for the full video forwarded to us by Rare.

Entirely unofficial, this home-made video is hopefully nothing more than a well meaning fan-film. I would hate to see Hudson Horstachio meet the same fate as Master Chief. Though… Halo Pinata does have a certain appeal now that I think about it.

Just to be clear, there is never enough BioShock related news. And with that we offer you more. At the Develop Conference & Expo, being held this week in the UK, Ken Levine gave a talk entitled “BioShock and Awe: Immersing the Gamer in an Alternate World Without Drowning Out the Gameplay” in which he aired some very interesting thoughts. Not least “I’m kind of a pretentious twat.”

During his talk, Ken talked about a lot of aspects in the designing of Rapture and its inhabitants. So much detail was added to the game that even every corpse has a back story and a reason for being wherever they ended up.

He also gave a small insight into himself and his methods for designing a game, explaining that “there was no shortage of pretentious crap I could come up with at any point” and that although he may be hard to work with, he can still make damn good games, adding that BioShock will “be one of those games that change gamers’ lives.”

Ken, you may be a pretentious twat, but I don’t half have a secret man-crush on agree with you.

Via: VideoGamer, RPS, VG247

If you thought that there was nowhere on Earth the monolithic, life-stealing MMO World of Warcraft hadn’t reached, then you were wrong. “Were” being the key word, as now it seems WoW’s world domination is complete with its newest translation: Russian.

The new version of the game, fully translated and localized for Russia, will go on sale on the 6th of August. With dedicated Russian realms and full Russian tech-support, this isn’t just a quick pass of the game through the Babel Fish translator.

Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment, said that “providing a fully localized version of the game will further enhance the gameplay experience for our enthusiastic Russian community”

A full language pack will be available for all current players to allow them access to these new realms with free character transfer provided to the new realms. To get the new pack, head over to www.warcraft.ru once the new version has launched (AUG 6).

BioShock was a game of the year for a lot of people last year, but a common criticism (and praise, in some circles) was its focus on the single player story, with the game having no multiplayer options. All that could change for BioShock 2. 2K Boston (the makers of BioShock) have started looking for a “Lead Multiplayer Designer”.

The last piece of BioShock 2 info we found out about confirmed that 2K Marin not 2K Boston were working on the sequel, taking a few of the 2K Boston people with them. But don’t forget, the original BioShock was produced as a collaboration between two 2K studios, Boston and Australia (two halves of the former Irrational Games). Could 2K Boston be making BioShock 2 multiplayer?

The job description goes on to drop a few hints about the game (possibly red-herrings, but we can hope) mentioning that “BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don’t believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys.”

The description continues to say that “[w]e expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.”

Am I reading too hard between the lines here? Or could this be the first evidence to emerge of BioShock 2 multiplayer? Perhaps the multiplayer is being created by 2K Boston, with the single player game being produced by 2K Marin?

The full job description posted to Gamasutra reads:

Summary of Position:

2K Boston, the team that brought you BioShock, is looking for a talented, experienced game designer to lead a multiplayer design team on our next big project.

You will be responsible for creating, documenting and communicating multiplayer design concepts and mechanics. Additionally, you will be required to work with our design tools to implement game mechanics or parameters and test and tune those. You will probably be required to do a certain amount of level building or design as well, though this is not the major focus of the role.

BioShock had no multi-player mode. We don’t believe in throwing in something that can’t go head to head with the big boys. No applicants will be considered who aren’t able to demonstrate they’ve got the skills to build an industry-changing multiplayer design.

Responsibilities:

You must be familiar with the current state of the art in multiplayer game design across a wide range of genres on both PC and console. You must be capable of analyzing and critiquing game designs and using that analysis to inform your own design sensibilities. We expect you to be familiar with BioShock and other 2K Boston/Irrational products and be able to speak critically about them.

Finally, there are a wide variety of miscellaneous other tasks associated with this position such as speaking at conferences, working on game documentation and manuals and occasional PR duties.

Required Experience and Skills:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single player team to form a “vision” of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.

An important part of the role is then communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design and feel that it is paid attention to.

Above all we are looking for somebody with enthusiasm, passion and the desire to create a multiplayer experience that is on par with the industry-leading single player experiences created at 2K Boston.

When Applying for this Position:

Please remember to include: game design documents, writing samples, video or screenshot samples of some of your work and/or game analysis as appropriate.

Additional Requirements:

This position requires a high degree of creativity. You will be required to work with the single player team to form a “vision” of the multiplayer experience and use that vision to inform your design decisions. From there, you will help build a multiplayer design team and be responsible to guide your team through the entire production cycle.

An important part of the role is then communicating that vision clearly and concisely to the rest of the team and ensuring that they have a clear and specific mandate for their work. You must also provide a receptive ear so that other team members can provide input on the game design and feel that it is paid attention to.

Source: Gamasutra Jobs

The first trailer for Telltale’s new episodic game based on the Wallace And Gromit animated films we told you about earlier this week has now been released, along with a few screenshots and some indication as to how the game itself will play. Champion.

In a press release issued with the trailer, Telltale explains:

Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Adventures will combine the rich and imaginative storytelling the quirky inventor and his faithful canine sidekick are known for with the critically-acclaimed writing, fun gameplay, and unique TV-style format Telltale has pioneered. Assuming the roles of both Wallace and Gromit, players will spend each episode exploring a vivid world, assembling intricate contraptions, and getting the duo out of the sticky situations they frequently find themselves in. The new trailer, artwork, and additional information about the series can be found at www.telltalegames.com/wallaceandgromit.

As a fan of the animated series for as long as I can remember, I am optimistic that Telltale will be able to capture the humour and charm of the original plasticine duo. Now join me, if you will, for a toast of crackers and Wensleydale cheese.

After moving houses just a few short days ago, and with no internet to speak of, I was settling down to a nice relaxing week away from the daily buzz of the net to get some quality time with Beijing 2008, which Sega kindly sent me to review. However, it appears Microsoft had other plans. Read on for my full review of System Error – E 74.

Unlike the highly popular and successful Red Ring of Death or its sequel, Disc Read Error, System Error – E 74 (SEE74) is a surprisingly hard title to get hold of. To get yourself a copy, you need to have an older model Xbox 360 (1 or 2 weeks old should do) as well as a game you want to play. In my case, my review copy of Beijing 2008 and my Xbox Premium.

Simply insert the game you want to play into your Xbox and, with a bit of luck, nothing will happen and you get a single flashing red light and an error message. If this happens, congratulations, you’re now playing SEE74.

The story crafted into SEE74 is one of mystery, sadness and dragons. An epic tale of a system error gone too far. Left along in an uncaring console to try to find itself in the ever changing and patching world. 74 began as just an idle error code, alone for months in hibernation as the console world changed around it.

The game starts as 74 is awoken by an unknown force. With nothing more than its message written in several languages, it is the player’s job to help 74 track down its fellow errors and solve the mystery of why it was awoken and why it was chosen over the others.

With several surprising plot twists and an ending sure to make even the toughest gamer well up, the story really is one of the finest examples of the power of video games as a story telling medium to date.

Graphically, SEE74 is a little on the disappointing side. Using simple text and only a few different fonts, the designers really did limit themselves. Displaying the message “System Error. Contact Xbox Customer Support” in 11 languages feels very standard for this generation and leaves a lot to be desired. The hardware accompaniment of a single, flashing red light is nice a touch and clearly a subtle reference to SEE74’s inspiration, RROD.

In-game soundtrack is again on the poor side. The loud internal fans do a good job of reminding the user where they are, but a little more would have been appreciated.

The gameplay feels very similar to RROD, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The game takes the classic “Ring customer support, give all your details, turn it off, turn it on, repeat”. However, there are a few differences experiences players will defiantly pick up on. Once you get to the later levels of customer support for example, it becomes apparent that your warranty will not cover 74 and you will have to pay to get it fixed.

The Customer Support AI is solid, if a little buggy from time to time leading to occasional frustration. You will also be asked for a lot of information which will cause you to have to switch between your phone and your inventory several times. The interface here could use a little more polish, but remains practical and doesn’t detract from your game

The story of little 74 is stunning and truly the games strongest point, however you will feel a little let down that the presentation is not up to the same level. The bugs with the AI are noticeable but bearable and although frustrating, won’t detract from the overall experience of the game.

With that in mind I would have to recommend this game as a rent, even with its top notch story, you probably won’t want to play it more than once.

Don’t you wish your Wii was as cool as this concept design by Elliot Ortiz? The console itself is hidden away inside a beautiful and eye-catching pink shell. A shell designed specifically to become the focal point of your room.

Looking at this incredibly cool design, then looking at my current-gen black and white bricks under the TV almost makes me sad. Why can’t you be cool and pink, dammit?!

I would go on about the cool little feet, the sleek black front or the matching, and equally awesome, mini-speakers and Wiimote, but I have to go and attack my Wii with some paint right now.

Nintendo, I hope you’re taking note.

Source: Future Nerd

The steady flow of information about the units in the upcoming RTS, Halo Wars, is slowly beginning. Ensemble Studios have now revealed the Warthog and the Fire Base (above).

The M12 LRV ‘Warthog’ will be a small, lightweight, and fast vehicle. With an attachable Light Anti-Aircraft gun or Gauss Cannon it can be used as your basic recon unit, or as a more aggressive offensive vehicle.

The UNSC Fire Base is a rapid deploying home-from-home. It comes with basic communications and fabrication abilities. OK, no big surprises there. We have the ever-fun, team-splattering Warthog and your standard RTS base unit. Still, it’s nice to finally see what the game will look like and begin to get an idea for the playable units. We’ll be sure to keep you up to date when more, hopefully interesting, units are revealed. For all the info on Halo Wars, head to the official site here.

Earlier this month, details of LucasArts’ staff reductions began to surface around the web. One ex-employee has spoken up and said that key members of the team working on The Force Unleashed have been included in the cut.

With production of LucasArts’ biggest game of the moment, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, coming to an end in time for its September release, it was an all to tempting target for staff cuts during the company-wide downsizing.

Talking to Joystiq, one of the staff who lost their job has said that it’s not just the lower ranks facing losses. Joysiq have said that this individual is “one of several long-time members of the LucasArts talent pool let go” adding that many of those who lost their jobs are the same people who worked on titles such as X-Wing and Full Throttle.

They have also gone on to speculate that if a sequel to The Force Unleashed is wanted, LucasArts will have to either re-staff and try to get some of their top talent back, or simply outsource the project to another developer.

Source: Joystiq

I ran out of symbols.

The UK could soon be paying even more for its games if Microsoft’s predictions come true. Government plans to use two rating systems for games could cause an increase in price, as well as added delays.

When the Byron report was released a few months ago, the gaming industry expressed disagreement with its recommendation to use the BBFC (British Board of Film Classification) to set the age rating on games, as well as the industry backed and Europe-wide PEGI (Pan European Game Information) system.

The proposed solution of using both system has come under heavy criticism, with EA’s VP and general manager, Keith Ramsdale, telling GamesIndustry.biz that “an extra and unnecessary layer of administration beyond a single system slows the process, and that delay will get passed on to the players themselves.”

Microsoft have now backed EA up on the matter. Neil Thompson, Microsoft’s senior regional director for EDD across UK and Ireland, has added that “we’re concerned with any measures that would mean this process is made more unwieldy, or incurs additional costs which have to be shared with the consumer.”

So, if you thought it was already unfair that UK gamers are paying between 50% and 100% extra for their games and waiting up to 6 months for them to come out, it looks like things could get worse.

In related news, Super Smash Brothers Brawl gets released today in the PAL territories, 5 months after it’s release in the US.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

The Xbox 360 has now passed the landmark sales figure of 5 million units sold across Europe, a figure reached by the PS3 nearly 2 months ago. Regardless, Microsoft insist they are ahead in sales.

Before you start getting confused because everybody is saying contradictory things, remember, these are PR people. Sales figures are never very accurate for many reasons, and even if they are, you will never see a breakdown of numbers to find out what they really mean.

With that in mind, David Gosen, the European VP of strategic marketing for interactive entertainment at Microsoft, told MCV that the Xbox has now sold “well over” five million units across Europe.

He also went on to dash claims by analysts who have said that this Christmas season will see the dominance of the PS3 saying that “anyone trying to call a winner this Christmas is calling too early”. He went on to say that “contrary to what’s been reported we are at least, if not more than, three quarters of a million ahead of PS3.”

Further hammering home of his message, if needed, comes in his response to industry analysts who have said that sales of the Xbox are slowing dramatically. Gosen said that his message to them “is to check their numbers”.

So I did. Granted, vgChartz are never the most reliable source of industry sales figures, but they do give at least some indication to the state of the main consoles. The 360 is selling fine, no wall to report on.

However, I did discover few more interesting facts. The Hardware Sales From Launch graph shows that the total sales between the PS3 and the 360 are basically the same right now in Europe, give or take a few tens of thousands. Even though the 360 launched a year before the PS3.

Looking at the Weekly Hardware Sales Chart paints a much bleaker picture for the Xbox in Europe, showing the PS3 has outsold its rival every month, consistently, since last September.

What do you think, are these numbers enough to convince you we are likely to be seeing a blu-ray Christmas, or does Microsoft have something planned to turn the tables back on Sony?

Source: MCV

The first ever Sonic convention is to be held this summer in London, UK. The event will combine the efforts of the two largest Sonic fan sites; The Sonic Stadium and Sonic Wrecks, with support from Sega Europe.

Taking place on Saturday the 9th of August, Sega have said that the event will have “competitions for big prizes, interactions, special guests” as well as a chance to play the upcoming Sonic Chronicles a good two months before it’s released.

Summer of whaaaa? Yes, SEGA has teamed up to give some backing to a fan venture for the first full on Sonic Convention which will be taking place in London on Saturday August 9th. It’s a creation of the Sonic online fan base and its arguably two most involved websites The Sonic Stadium and Sonic Wrecks – whilst we’re still confirming details, the event is scheduled to have competitions for big prizes, interactions, special guests (tbc) and the chance to look at how Sonic as a brand has diversified over the years and the output of both fans and the company behind the gaming icon. There’ll also be some surprises in store, Sonic in attendance and the chance to get a play on Sonic Chronicles a good couple of months before it comes out. Anybody intending to come will need to register their interest on the website. Find out more details at http://www.summerofsonic.com.

If you fancy spending a day running round with blue face paint on (if they don’t have blue face paint, I’m going to cry), make sure to get yourself registered with the Summer of Sonic website and we’ll see you there.

After a lengthy and arguably frivolous lawsuit over the Hot Coffee mod in GTA:San Andreas, less than $30,000 will be paid out to offended consumers. Lawyers express their “surprise” but still want their $1.3 million in fees.

If you bought GTA:SA and found the idea of an unlockable (without direct modification) sex mini-game to be offensive, you are an idiot entitled to a whopping $5 to $35 in compensation. This is thanks to 11 law firms who brought the action against Take Two.

After losing the case, Take Two have been left with a hefty bill for $1.3 million in legal costs. The “surprising” aspect of all this however is, shock of all shocks, nobody really cares about Hot Coffee. Only 2,676 people have filed claims, racking up a total cost of less than $30,000 according to Take Two.

Theodore Frank, director of the Legal Center for the Public Interest has said in response to the lawsuit that;

“There are two possibilities, possibility one is they have a meritorious lawsuit and they’re selling out the class for attorneys’ fees. The other possibility is that, and frankly I think this is the more likely possibility, they brought a meritless lawsuit that had no business being brought to court at all.”

The lawyers who are demanding money have said that Mr. Frank could have no impact on the case because he said he was not offended but the sex scene.

Seth Lesser, lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, told the New York Times “Am I disappointed? Sure, we can’t guess as to why now, several years later, people care or don’t care. The merits of the case were clear.”

You may not be able to guess, but I can. I think most people don’t care because the individuals who actively hacked the game to unlock the mini-game are not likely to be worried or surprised by what they find. Those individuals who did not hack the game can’t access the offending article and so have nothing to worry about.

Via: GamesIndustry.biz

Mobile gaming to hold its own in the handheld market?

Nokia have announced that they will buy the mobile software firm Symbian for $410 million. They already own the largest percentage of the company, but will now buy the remaining shares from Sony Ericsson, Ericsson, Panasonic, and Siemens. Could this be big news for mobile gaming? Read on for a brief discussion and mild speculation.

A Quick History Lesson
Symbian was formed in 1998 when Ericsson, Nokia, Motorola and Psion agreed to work together to help bridge the gap between mobile phones and PDAs. Over the coming 10 years companies were bought, sold, merged and dropped out, but Symbian remained as the partnership between several different companies.

One of the main goals of Symbian was, and still is to an extent, to provide a common operating system to span across many mobile devices, across several different manufacturers. Symbian OS was created and allowed for the first time advanced applications to be created and easily put on a large number of different mobile devices. Similar to Java applications, only running on the operating system as oppose to an emulator or virtual machine.

In 2003 Nokia finally launched the N-Gage, a gaming platform based on Nokia’s S60 platform, which uses Symbian OS at it’s core. The service was limited to a few specific N-Gage phones and never took off. The ambitious plan was to try to pull gamers away from the Game Boy Advance, but the clunky design and uninspiring game collection left the device falling far short.

The second attempt to launch the N-Gage began in 2005 when Nokia announced at E3 that they were planning on putting the N-Gage platform inside other, newer, smart phones.

Finally, after several delays, on February 4th 2008, the new N-Gage service was launched. The service now comes installed on a number of new Nokia hand sets and is also available for download to be used on other compatible phones.

Once you have the N-Gage platform, you can buy and download games for around the price of an Xbox Live game. In an interview with Pocket Gamer, Jaakko Kaidesoja, the head of New Experience at Nokia Play, said in reference to the number of games available on the platform that “[i]deally it would be 50 to 60 games released by the end of the year”.

What Does this Have to do With Nokia Buying Symbian?
As N-Gage is based on Symbian OS, the way the two interact is key to the power N-Gage based games have. Huge strides by Symbian recently have meant hardware acceleration on a mobile device is not only possible but now a practical to utilise.

With the hardware in mobile devices ever increasing in speed and efficiency, we could soon start to see games on mobile phones rivalling, at least in presentation, those found on the DS or possibly even the PSP.

Mobile games have long thought to be nothing more than passing, casual games, designed for those few minuets on the bus. Again, this could soon be changing in the mobile world. With games like BioShock getting put on mobile devices, it seems that ground typically ignored by the mobile gaming scene is, all be it slowly, being moved into.

Symbian also has the advantage of numbers. They recently celebrated the 100 millionth phone shipping with Symbian OS on it. To put that in context, the DS and PSP combined have sold just over 100 million units, with the vast majority being the DS.

Combine the rapid pace of mobile phone development with an in-house operating system and already huge install base world wide and we could, very soon, be seeing a 3rd contender in the mobile gaming race.

This weekend has marked a somewhat odd statistical milestone for Halo 3, with the number of enemies killed during all recorded campaigns played so far overtaking the worlds population.

Bungie’s servers record all manner of statistics when you play, all of which are used to track players across all of their Halo 3 games, multiplayer and campaign alike. The data is then used to make things like the ever cool heat maps.

According to the UNSC Campaign Report, the total number of Enemies KIA (currently 6,737,856,503) is now higher than the world’s population (estimated to be 6,704,845,726).

Looking over my own stats, as somebody who has played through the campaign several times, I was actually quite surprised to see that I have single handedly obliterated 3,971 enemies, contributing a whopping 0.00006% to the cause.

Via: bungie.org

The official site for Tomb Raider: Underworld has been launched by Eidos this weekend, bringing with it conformation that the title will be released this November across all current-gen platforms as well as the PS2 and DS.

Packed with podcasts, forums, theme tunes and screen shots, the new site provides more Lara than even the keenest action-archaeologist could want. There is also a brief outline of the new quest you will be undertaking, which from what we can tell contains swimwear and the Norse underworld.

With E3 just around the corner and Eidos promising to let us have a look at the brand new title at the show, it looks like the hype wagon is slowly beginning its long journey into November.

Check out the new site here.

If you enjoyed the last Battlefield: BC trailer, Snake Eyes, and its cheeky pokes at Metal Gear Solid, chances are you will love these two new trailers.

Above you can see Bad World, the first of the new trailers. A parody of the renowned Mad World trailer for Gears of War. The second new trailer, Rainbow Sprinkles, puts Bad Company through some Tom Clancy style stealth action.

Not wanting to sound like a gullible fool, but after playing, and subsequently being a little under-impressed with the Battlefield: BC demo, these trailers are making me want to buy the full game. If only out of hope that the comedy in the game can match the comedy found in these trailers.

Full HD versions of the trailers are available from Planet Battlefield.

Via: Joystiq