Rather Infrequent Open Thread
G4TV has posted a list of RPGs to watch for in 2012.
Naturally, both Reckoning and Risen 2: Dark Waters are on it, as are a few other titles that you can probably guess at if you don’t try particularly hard.
And to be fair, it’s not a great list, because Risen 2 only gets an “honourable mention”.
Which brings us to GamesBeat’s list of the top 10 new game brands that will appear in 2012.
This list is a bit more interesting, since it covers some titles that should be familiar to most of you, but may come as a surprise if you don’t follow news for particular console systems or publishers. Risen 2 isn’t on this list, since that’s already an established series, but Reckoning certainly is, and wins high praise:
Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is the studio’s first project and it has already generated buzz simply because of the names attached to it. Ken Rolston, former lead designer of classic role-playing games The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is leading the project, while New York Times best-selling fantasy author R.A. Salvatore is creating the lore and game world and Spawn creator Todd McFarlane is in charge of the art direction.
38 Studios says Reckoning will have the open-world exploration, vast narrative, and character customization fans expect from the genre, as well as fast-paced, graphically stimulating action and fluid controls. If God of War and Fable had a baby, it would probably look a lot like Reckoning, and expectations are high for this brand new IP.
Dishonored and Journey (the latter is a PS3 exclusive, sadly) also look interesting; Dishonored is the upcoming game from Arx Fatalis developers Arkane Studios.
Other preview articles of note:
- Check out PC Gamer’s previews archive of upcoming 2012 games.
- And don’t miss GameInformer’s “Year of the RPG” round-up preview either!
Hallelujah! Firaxis is making a new, tactical XCOM game!
It’s actually a remake of Enemy Unknown, but even so: gaming enthusiasts are all but dancing in the streets that it’s not a first-person shooter. And that it’s Firaxis.
To celebrate, Steam put all the other XCOM games on sale.
The upcoming Syndicate revamp was denied classification in Australia.
Starbreeze Studios’ interesting-looking re-imagining of dystopian action franchise Syndicate will likely not be coming to Aussie players, both because the Australian Government Classification Board has declined to actually rate the game due to its apparently quite explicit violence, and because Electronic Arts has said in response that it won’t be selling the game there as a result.
Australia’s ratings system, you see, doesn’t have an 18+ category like Europe and North America do. The highest the Aussie system goes is a 15+ rating, and the Board did not want to assign Syndicate this rating after deeming (in a process that EA calls “arcane”) that minors should not be exposed to the violence and other events depicted in-game.
So, that’s that.
The Doctors BioWare talk about expanding into the MMO space while staying true to their roots.
Essentially, it distills down to the element that most observers have already noticed sets Star Wars: The Old Republic apart from other MMOs to which, at a mechanical level, it is otherwise quite similar: storytelling and emotional engagement. That sort of thing has become a pillar of BioWare games these days, as series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age demonstrate; nascent elements of it were present in earlier titles like KOTOR and Jade Empire.
And it’s hard to dispute their general point. Granted, it’s hard to see where that sort of engagement is going to factor in to something like Generals 2, but I suppose we’ll see in time.
Also: don’t miss The Doctors talking about the making of The Old Republic.
An interesting read, and a summary of what drew them to making an MMORPG (which, it turns out, could have actually been a Game of Thrones title, had things gone differently), and why they continued to have faith in something that took six years and every spare developer at every studio they had to finish.
See also: the BAFTA lecture from The Doctors BioWare.
And also: an amusing invulnerability cheat (since patched) from the game.
That ancient violin you shelled out a cool million dollars for?
It probably doesn’t produce a sound that is noticeably or actually any richer than a quality modern violin which could have been obtained for a small fraction of the price you paid for it.
Now you know!
Obdisian’s South Park RPG looks exactly like the cartoon.
Not, granted, that it was a hard artistic style to emulate. Still, the reproduction is uncanny.
Here’s the skinny on the game from RPS:
The framework of the game sees the player controlling a new kid arriving in South Park and journeying around to make both friends and enemies. Characters that have been discovered will be added to a social network style database, which could prompt me to indulge in the acquaintance-gathering urge that I’ve managed to avoid in the real world. It’s to be small parties and side-on combat, with classes chosen from fighter, mage, thief, cleric and Jew. This is a game in which Jews will beat up hippies for experience and loot.
It’s impressing the hell out of Sergorn and myself that this game will be powered by the same Onyx engine that brought Dungeon Siege 3 to life. Talk about versatility!
Zynga’s IPO wasn’t exactly a steaming bucket of fail, but it was certainly a disappointment!
Granted, I’m happy to see Zynga taken down a peg; this reaffirms my faith in the market a little bit. A very little bit, sure, but even so.
Gamasutra’s analysis is interesting to read, addressing the less-than-stellar performance of Zynga stock at opening from a number of angles. A lot of it, though, seems to reduce to the fact that Zynga, while still the dominant force in social gaming, has been slowing down (quite noticeably) over the last few months.
Sick of the default Skyrim interface?
If you’re playing it on PC, give SkyUI a try!
Speaking of Skyrim, let’s talk about Dragon Age 3 for a moment!
“Wait,” I hear you say. “What the?”
There was a bit of a rumour circling around a week or two ago concerning the impact that Skyrim’s success might have on the development of the third entry in BioWare’s Dragon Age series. The Doctors BioWare have, in past interviews, conceded that companies like Bethesda are far, far ahead of where BioWare is at when it comes to world design, and after Dragon Age 2 was (rightly) panned for a world that felt too cramped, it’s not really a surprise that Ray Muzyka might be heard to make statements like this:
“[The next Dragon Age] is gonna have the best of features from the prior Dragon Age games, but it’s also gonna have a lot of things I think players are gonna find compelling from some of the games that are out now that are doing really well with more of an open world feel,” Muzyka said.
“We’re checking [Skyrim] out aggressively. We like it. We’re big admirers of [Bethesda] and the product,” he said. “We think we can do some wonderful things.”
Now, don’t hold your breath too deeply, Dragons and Dragonettes. The next Dragon Age, whatever form it takes, is probably not going to be an open-world epic that puts even Skyrim to shame. It’s probably still going to be an area-based world, semi-open at best.
At the same time, it’s kind of an exciting prospect, and could possibly herald a good turn in the overall direction of the series. Dragon Age 2 would not have worked as an open-world game even if it had been built to feature just such a thing; its story was not compatible with that sort of world design. Maybe I’m mixing up cause and effect, but…well, hear me out. DA2 wasn’t that, but Dragon Age: Origins would probably have worked rather well as a more open-world game (I think). The use of the map as a navigation tool actually felt not-dissimilar to open-world travel, for how long it took and how it peppered you with encounters at random points. Keeping everything in-engine was never a possibility given the limitations of the engine itself, but it would have worked had it been possible.
Which, in a way, could mean that in Dragon Age 3 we see a return to some of the aspects of Dragon Age: Origins that made it the more enjoyable game as compared to its sequel.
Or maybe I’m speculating too much.
Interplay and Bethesda have apparently reached a settlement.
At least, that was the initial report. An update to it notes the existence of a “Joint Motion to Seal to Temporarily Seal Joint Motion to Dismiss With Prejudice by Bethesda Softworks LLC Responses”…which I am assuming means that Bethesda has filed a joint motion to seal (that is, remove from the public record, temporarily) a motion to dismiss.
Which, I assume, means that Bethesda’s case got tossed out. But as the records are (evidently) sealed, we’ll have to wait until later to find out.
Is the PlayStation Vita already failing?
It’s only been out for a bit now, and its sales are dropping off pretty rapidly. Meanwhile, the Nintendo 3DS is surging ahead in sales.
I’ve maligned the Vita in the past, and I wonder if this isn’t a sign that we’ll see a real split occur in the mobile gaming market. The Vita is, at a hardware level, pretty much just a beefier smartphone, using the same chipset and graphics controller that you can find in a boatload of different iOS-, Android-, and Windows Phone 7-based devices. Even current-gen iPods are within reach of its performance and power. So why buy a Vita, when so many quality games are coming to phones?
But I digress. The split in the mobile gaming market…yes. That. I think it’ll happen. I think we’ll see dedicated mobile gaming platforms essentially go the Nintendo way, where they won’t try to compete directly on specs and performance, but will instead try and adopt Nintendo’s seemingly unique “amp up the fun factor” approach. Meanwhile, smartphones will continue to iterate their hardware, adding more and more power with each generation (like an octo-core iPhone 6, for example), and what could perhaps be called AAA-grade mobile games will be targeted at mobile operating systems like iOS and Android.
Of course, the Mass Effect 3 coverage is in full swing now.
That said, BioWare are showing some skill at keeping the major details of the game hidden from view. Here’s a couple of all the ME3-related articles that’s worth taking a look at:
- A handful of screenshots showing off some new player armour and some new baddies.
- Pre-order bonus weapons have been revealed, accompanied by a video demonstrating them in action.
Should TSA officials be able to wear the cop-like getup?
Not if a proposed bill gets passed!
How to break in to or out of almost anything!
Useful life skills advice and/or criminal mischief advice from Lifehacker!
Tonight’s post brought to you by Ding! Dong! IE6 is dead! (In the US at least.)
Buhbye!
Bonus question: Why are you still using Windows XP?
“Ken Rolston, former lead designer of classic role-playing games The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion”
haha, classic 😉
It’s to be small parties and side-on combat, with classes chosen from fighter, mage, thief, cleric and Jew.
YEAAAAAAAH
That sort of thing has become a pillar of BioWare games these days, as series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age demonstrate; nascent elements of it were present in earlier titles like KOTOR and Jade Empire.
Bioware games have amped up the “emotional engagement” factor since Baldur’s Gate 2. The difference is that now they’re doing it in ever more blatant and pandering ways.
Re: Dragon Age 3 and Skyrim
What the Doctors need to do is kneel down and beg the EA brass to let Bioware Edmonton become a Blizzard-like defacto independent developer within EA that gets to set its own schedules. Bethesda gets to do what they do because they’re a rare example of a developer that dominates its own publisher.
Re: Interplay and Bethesda
The popular assumption is that Bethesda just paid Herve Caen a ton of cash for the full Fallout rights. Not bad, making a fortune out of what’s basically a shell company.
The Steam X-Com collection is no longer on sale, but the Gamersgate one is (and for a much better price).
http://www.gamersgate.co.uk/DDB-XCOM/x-com-complete-pack-bundle
Not sure on the US/EU/etc. prices, but for the UK it’s £2.49 (~$3.84)
Of course, not being Steam it gets far less media coverage.
@Risen – I think PB is just highly underrated, which is a shame. The fact that they had to drop Gothic and start a new series with Risen probably didn’t help as far as public recognition goes as well.
@XCom – This is so awesome an unexpected! The XCom FPS looks like a good game, but I was rather pissed by this shameless use of the IP – I mean Syndicate at least try to get a faithful reimagining of the universe, XCom FPS has nothing in common with it. But this is great news – let’s hop it works and incite EA to do a proper tactical Syndicate too 😛
@Dragon Age 3 – I still think DA2 was a good game with some actually great stuff in it, but clearly suffered from its rushed development. I’m confident Bioware will take more time for DA3 – and while I don’t expect it to be a DAO-like, I’m sure it will be a good Bioware RPG. That being said: more open world? I’ll belkieve it when I see it – the idea of Bioware doing an actual open world RPG is as ludicrous as Bethesda doing a cinematic one 😛
@Interplay lawsuit – Well I hope it means Fallout Online can continue its development. I don’t have a specific love for Interplay, but the arguments brought up by Bethesda’s lawyer who so ridiculous and shameful (they can’t use the IP! err okay they can use the IP but only the name, not any Fallout content!) they deserve to lose that one. But perhaps Bethesda just paid Interplay a ton of cash to get the rights for a MMO back. We’ll see.
@PS Vita – Yeah no seriously the doomsaying about the Vita is just completly ridiculous. The console has been out only in Japan (and actually sold well on its first week) and it’s missing any trully Japan-centric AAA game – the biggest game they have is Uncharted which is clearly an IP more for the western market. You mention the 3DS sales surging, but I’ll remind you the 3DS had terribl sales to begin with, and it began to surge with a price drop and… quality AAA games, notably Mario Bros and Mario Kart in late 2011.
Also I think Sony follows a similar pattern as with the PS3 for basically a high price premium item – meaning they know early adopter are gonna be tech savys guys willing to pay it high (and frankly 250$ is not high for the kind of hardware the Vita is offering especially when you consider the 3DS was a the same price not long ago), but a soon as there is a price drop and more games – sales with rise, especially in Japan.
I do believe we’ll reach a point where tablet and phone gaming will replace handheld – but we’re not quite there yet IMO, so I believe both VIta and 3DS will do fine in the end. Actually, I’m more worrient about Nintendo as a handheld/portable game makers in the long run than Sony. Sony is already aware of the importance of phones and tablet, and I can see them done the road translating the “Vita experience” to a smartphone (like a more power Xperia Play) or a tablet. Things are certainly aiming in that direction for them I think… in truth I do expect a Vita Phone done the road – the Vita as it is is not protable enough for a phone, but once they get a smaller version like the PSP Go with 3G, yeah it could be a console phone. We’ll see.
But Nintendo? They have all their eggs in the same basket, and I could really see them collapsing in the handheld market is they do’nt try to cather to the phone/tablet crown in the long run.
@South Park RPG – The more I hear of this stuff, the more I think this could actually be awesome.
Moderation? Pshaw.
Xcom remake!? By a respectable somewhat old school dev?! Nicey, nice! I think this is the PERFECT example of an old franchise being revived(and turned into something good, eventually) by a shitty sequel aimed for the mass market. I think I might be starting to believe Ultima could go the same route as long as Ultima Forever does well.
As time goes on, it feels almost like a chore looking through previews for new games. Lately I’ve been playing Christmas NiGHTS into dreams. Tis definitely the season for it! I’ve owned and played it for years, but just recently I’ve been going for highscores. It brings back the old old tension and stress I’ve known and loved in the old school games.
Your palms get sweaty, your heart beats a little quicker. You hold onto the controller for dear life, like that’s going to help you. You have the thoughts of “Don’t fuck up, do this do that, do it perfect.” Cuz if you f up you restart the game. And when you play a game like that, winning or getting the highscore really gives that sense of accomplishment.
Now I look at these upcoming releases, and flip through game informer in 2 minutes then throw the magazine away. Like bioshock, you die and all the enemies you killed and the enemies you injure were still as injured as the time you had died. Wtf is that shit? Are my hands going to sweat when I’m killing a big daddy when the penalty of initial failure is being teleported out of the room? How can one feel the sense of accomplishment when there was no skill involved. Aim gun, press shoot button, you win.
Ah well. Sorry about the off topic rant. Sometimes ya just gotta let it out!
The interesting thing about this XCom remake is that from the looks of it, it has been in development for at least a couple of years now, and you look back, the very first rumors about it appeared in late 2009, simultanously with rumors of a XCom FPS from Irrational Games (which turned out to be sorta true since 2K Marin spinned off from Irrational)
What it means basically is that it seems it was *always* 2K’s plans to have both a mass market FPS XCom (which actually doens’t look too bad) AND a more traditionnal strategy XCom game. Which is rather smart actually, and now I can understand why they shoved the XCom name on a FPS.
I’m sure Ultima could have a nice big scale ressurection if Ultima Forever goes well… though I’m hoping this one will actually manage to recapture some of that old school feel already.
Regarding your rant about difficulty in games, I can understand the feeling but can’t really relate. There’s a fine line between a challenging and a frustrating game, and with age I’ve found that I have less and less patience for the later. There was a time I enjoyed playing games at highest difficulté settints, it made them last longer and more challenging… but I Just don’t have as much time for gaming as I used, not as much patience. So basically I’m okay with a game being easy as long as it’s fun and interesting (and eck there’s less chance of myself stopping playing the game out of frustration too :P)
Bioshock for instance might not have been very challenging to the ressurection booths, true – but I still felt it was an awesome game because it was beautiful, very immersive, well written and fun. That’s all I ask.
@Syndicate: I’m Australian, and I gotta say, this is some of the best news I’ve heard in a while. EA saying “No” to our Raters might help get the ball moving again on getting an adult rating for games. If companies keep cutting things out and appealing, nothing will ever get done.
They should rename the Syndicate FPS to “Call of Duty: Corporate Warfare”. 😀
@MICRO MAGIC and SERGORN: I don’t have time for games either, but I completely agree that modern games really lubricate the gears of lazy bastards who just wants to get to the next level. I still prefer games that require skill to advance, as my lack of time requires that I actually accomplish something when I spend it playing a game. If I realized I was playing a game that forgave my ineptitude I’d be furious for having wasted my time on an ego trip rather than a real challenge.
To argue for the current state of the mainstream, I’m not the average gamer and studios are trying to make as much money as possible. Good for them and those who have too much time on their hands or get frustrated in the face of seemingly impossible odds. They can have their mass effect/appeal and their millions of alleged gamers, and I can have my much appreciated real challenges when I find the time.
2 million dollars. I guess Herve isn’t that much of a genius.
Huh yeah talk about a crappy settlement. All this for this? You’d think if this lawsuit was to end with a “Here’s money, we get back the Fallout MMO rights” they would have had to pay much more than that.
I feel sad for CHris Taylor now.
Oh well…