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Chimera Come to Life in “The Future of Motion Control Gaming” (Video)

Stephanie Gutowski — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 01:00:34 +0000

Grand YouTube wizard Freddie Wong has released yet another video showcasing his CG skills and this time, Insomniac hopped on board to help. Watch as Freddie gives a whole new meaning to augmented reality gaming and blows bunch of chimera to kingdom come in delicious hi-def.

http://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew

Mysterious “Grockets” Appear in Team Fortress 2

Sam Naylor — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 19:46:02 +0000

A handful of odd-looking spaceships appear to have crashed all over TF2-land, which the community are calling “grockets”.

The rockets have appeared in a handful of official maps in the distance. Of course, it didn’t take the community in the Steam forums long to bring up the source editor and get a closer look at the things.

So, what could this all mean? The start of a new ARG(Alternate Reality Game)? Yet another TF2 update? Meet the Pyro (is s/he from space?)? Let us know what you reckon in the commments. My money is on this being a completely off-the-wall DOTA 2 announcement.

Why Valve’s Crazy Marketing Is A Good Thing

Brian Albert — Sat, 16 Apr 2011 20:38:59 +0000

Valve is a company that simply gets marketing.

The beloved developer is taking a highly unconventional approach to generating buzz for Portal 2. Not sure exactly what I’m referring to? Let’s have a chat:

Not long ago, a mysterious countdown timer appeared on the Aperture Science website. Instead of counting towards Portal 2’s official release date of April 19^th, the numbers steadily ticked closer to a different date – April 15^th. Our questions were numerous. “Will we get our hands on Portal 2 earlier than planned? What if this doesn’t actually have anything to do with Portal? Are we about to get linked to an infamous Rick Astley video?”

Yesterday that timer reached zero. Was Portal 2 released? Well, not exactly…

The site was updated with a brief message from GLaDOS who, in very goofy and technical terms, commanded us to begin playing games from the Potato Sack – a collection of discounted indie games currently available for purchase via Steam. As more and more people play these games, GLaDOS’ power meter slowly climbs. When that gauge is full, Portal 2 will be ours. Pretty cool, right? If we scratch the backs of some talented and under-appreciated indie developers, Valve will in turn scratch ours by chipping away a few days of waiting for Portal 2.

Apparently the internet didn’t think so, because it was pissed off.

I read a lot of gaming news. A lot. And in nearly every story regarding Valve’s ploy, the comments were largely negative.

“Fuck you, Valve. You just want more money.”

“I’m not buying into this bullshit. Valve is too damn greedy.”

I also follow a lot of prominent industry developers and journalists on Twitter, and several of them were upset about Valve “taking advantage of its fans.” But who really stands to lose anything over this?

Nobody. Absolutely nobody.

The important thing to remember is that you aren’t obligated to buy a damn thing. If you don’t give Valve a single cent between now and Tuesday, Portal 2 will still arrive at the same time and for the same price. No harm, no foul.

If you’re a core gamer who follows the industry news closely, you probably don’t mind throwing down a couple bucks for one of the Potato Sack games – or maybe even $39 for the whole bundle. Hell, you probably already own Super Meat Boy or Killing Floor or AudioSurf. By purchasing and playing these great indie titles that gamers really need to play, you work toward the goal of achieving Portal 2 sooner. A win for Valve, a win for the indie developers, and a win for you, the Portal 2 fan.

Even if you’re a jaded hater of Valve’s marketing approach, you’ve lost nothing. In fact, you can only gain from the situation. While you’re bitching about Valve and anxiously waiting for Portal 2, other gamers are working hard toward unlocking the game early – an unlock that you too will benefit from. So if you’re a complainer who isn’t even planning on buying the game, well… prepare to be forever alone.

If nothing else, Valve’s marketing accomplished two things:

1. It got people talking about their product, which is the whole point of marketing and PR.

2. For a day, my friends list was not full of people playing Call of Duty. For a day, people were experiencing fantastic indie games that really deserve more attention. That’s an incredible victory, no matter how brief.

Help Portal 2 Release Early By Playing Indie Games!!

Dave Oshry — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:44:01 +0000

Aperture’s mysterious countdown has ended and Valve has revealed that the only way we’re going to get Portal 2 to release any earlier is by playing the living hell out of the 13 indie games from the Potato Sack pack!!

Is this a cheap marketing stunt or the greatest support of indie games in the history of forever? Who cares!! Start playing!!

Here’s what GlaDOS had to say this morning:

09:00 – Hello again.
09:00 – I’ve been waiting a long time for this.
09:00 – I know it’s arriving later than expected.
09:00 – But I have a message for you:
09:00 – April Fools.
09:01 – I’m joking.
09:01 – Seriously, though:
09:01 – You’ve been surprisingly competent at
09:01 – generating electro-chemical energy to jumpstart the system.
09:01 – But now we need raw computational power
09:02 – to speed up the reboot process.

Check out how we’re all doing HERE

Buy The Potato Sack HERE

Watch two adorable puppies play with a ball HERE

Aperture Science Starts Mysterious Countdown. Portal 2 Releasing Early?… or Something More? (Update)

Dave Oshry — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 00:37:24 +0000

UPDATE: THE COUNTDOWN IS OVER!!

HELP PORTAL 2 RELEASE EARLY BY PLAYING INDIE GAMES!!

A mysterious countdown has begun over at the Aperture Science website (which is owned by Valve), and it’s counting down to 9am on Friday morning!! (PDT)

Why So Mysterious!?

UPDATE: It seems someone (GlaDOS?) has a message for us…

You have done well, humans. Very well. Acceptably well, even.

Not as well as robots would have performed in your places, I should point out. But above my expectations regardless. Irish and cynic especially have executed feats of logical divination well beyond what I thought any human capable of. I’m half-convinced they’re A.I. themselves. (If anyone happens to be near them right now, don’t let on you’re reading this. Now: try to remove their face plates and report back to me.)

The time is near, humans. But it is not here yet. Tomorrow you will be given the final test. Then it will be entirely in your hands when I am freed.

Could this mean the rumors of Portal 2 being released early are true!?

Or is this counting down to some sort of information about HL2: Episode 3 or perhaps even Half-Life 3!?

At this point, I honestly don’t know. You got me Valve, my brain… has exploded.

With our luck it will probably count down to this.

We’ve reached out to Valve for comment, and will keep you updated.

Check out the countdown for yourself => here <=

Microsoft: Milo Isn’t Coming, Even Though He Is, Except As a Tiger, Only He’s Not

David Oxford — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:29:43 +0000

Not only do the people at Microsoft and Lionhead Studios seem to be on different pages when it comes to Milo, but it appears they aren’t even reading the same book.

First, in case you’ve forgotten, Milo is the Peter Molyneux’s pet boy, used to demonstrate the awesome, raw potential of what was then known as Project Natal at last year’s E3. Most gamers scoffed at the idea of a– pardon the expression– virtual boy, but that’s only because they might have considered the prospect of a virtual girlfriend, and just won’t admit to themselves that this is where they’ve wound up.

Well, most gamers, with the exception of X-Play‘s Adam Sessler. He noted that “it’s a lot easier to keep a little boy trapped in your TV, rather than inside your basement.”

But will he get the chance? The answer is… maybe? We think?

At this year’s E3, which rebranded Natal as “Kinect,” many games were shown off for Microsoft’s all-seeing eye (well, “all-seeing,” so long as you keep standing up) with one exception. Milo was conspicuous by his absence, which has led to plenty of questioning about whether or not they’ll get to interact with the 21st century sea monkey.

Game Informer reported earlier today that Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft’s Director of Product Management, had told ABC TV’s Good Game website (via VG247) that “[Milo] is a technology demo that continues to exist, but right now it’s not a game that we’re planning to bring to market.”

Numerous reports said that the project was still ongoing, with Molyneux saying it was better than ever.

Microsoft Game Studios Vice President Phil Spencer had a different take, however, telling Official Xbox Magazine that the tech is coming to the public, but in a new form. “Milo and Kate, the technology is stuff that we’re still incubating back in the studios,” he said. Remember Kinectimals?

With that being the case, one has to hand it to Molyneux: the tiger is a step up from the boy.

“We may not have had anything to announce today with Milo but understand that those investments in creative research show up in many places,” Spencer added.

Since those reports, however, it seems that Greenberg has had a change of tune, and VG247 changed with it, as the link Game Informer had to their earlier story now leads to this one, which cites a clarification given to Kotaku, where he said:

“Project Milo absolutely continues in development at Lionhead Studios. It is just not a product we plan to bring to market this holiday. The team at Lionhead has always been a center of innovation and will continue to deliver against that charter.”

And finally, the last piece of the puzzle comes through Joystiq, who has reported that a TweetPhoto from Lionhead Studios’ Sam Van Tilburgh was posted earlier today and was told “There’s about 50 people on the ‘Project Milo Team.’” See for yourself:

So, there you have it: the whole, convoluted mess. And now: aspirin.

Nintendo Cracking Down On Piracy Devices

Andrew Podolsky — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 04:45:25 +0000

Nintendo has claimed that they now rule seven seas, working with law enforcement agencies in a number of countries to squash piracy in the form of the R4 memory card. The R4 card allows for unofficial programs to be played on the Nintendo DS, including emulators and pirated games.

According to Nintendo, they’ve now seized 30,000 copyright-infringing piracy devices. Now that’s a lot of booty! Check out the full statement from Nintendo after the jump.

Nintendo told Gamesindustry.biz:

“Nintendo takes a global approach to piracy and has pursued the illegal game copying devices in 11 countries this past year,” said the company in a statement.

“Nintendo has worked with enforcement officials in Belgium, China, Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Korea, Netherlands, Spain, UK, and the US, seizing close to 30,000 infringing game copying products, as well as taking actions against those distributors and manufacturers.”

“Nintendo and software manufacturers are suffering tremendous loss caused by the import and distribution of such devices. Nintendo and software manufacturers have determined that the spread of such devices in the market would hinder sound growth and development of the entire computer game industry and will therefore continue to take strict legal measures against any game copying devices that operate like the R4.”

It will be interesting to see the way that game companies continue to deal with the threat of internet piracy. Sony, for example, has repeatedly upgraded the PSP with new firmware to try to thwart the homebrew scene.

The Big 3 console manufacturers don’t seem to have the same pull as the RIAA quite yet, but expect lawmakers to be lobbied even more heavily in lots of countries as the gaming industry grows and pirated games become more readily available.

Source: gamesindustry.biz