Remedy Uses Bizarre Excuse for Not Bringing Alan Wake to PC Players
If you’re a hardcore PC gamer then you are used to hearing excuses as to why certain games only appear on consoles. Usually, these reasons take the form of “limited funding”, “not enough time”, or the ever-popular “PC games don’t sell like the console counterparts.” All valid excuses. So when Remedy, the creators behind the flashlight simulator Alan Wake, made it clear their game wouldn’t be coming to PC rigs, their excuse struck me as downright bizarre:
“Some games are more suited for the intimacy of the PC, and others are best played from the couch in front of a larger TV screen,” states Microsoft. “We ultimately realized that the most compelling way to experience Alan Wake was on the Xbox 360 platform, so we focused on making it an Xbox 360 exclusive. Both Microsoft and Remedy have long histories in PC game development. This decision was about matching this specific game to the right platform.”
Errr, what? All this time, I’ve been playing my Xbox 360 wrong. I have it hooked up to HDMI inputs on my widescreen PC monitor, flipping back and forth as the need arises. I had no idea I was draining the “intimacy” out of games by not playing in my living room.
Remedy’s reasoning lacks any semblance of logic. It just comes across as an utterly strange thing to say. Honesty would have worked just fine here, something like “Piracy is an issue on the PC.”
Probably doesn’t matter anyway. My gut instinct tells me Alan Wake will debut to a chorus of yawns. Has that certain stink that precedes a lackluster debut.
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon
We recently got a chance to speak with Zipper Interactive’s Alan Van Slyke, who produced the company’s recently released multi-multi-multiplayer FPS, MAG. When asked about ongoing support for the title, Van Slyke responded that the developer won’t let the game go stale — in fact, he explained that Zipper sees MAG as a platform on which new content can be added in the future.
Van Slyke explained, “we made a big investment, we had a lot of learning, we built a lot of tech, and we have this awesome multiplayer platform that we can build upon and add new gametypes to.” He later added, “the possibilities are endless for us, and in many ways, even though we just released the game, looking forward for us is super exciting, knowing what we can do with the engine we have today.”
The producer also addressed concerns many players have had with balancing issues — particularly that the ragtag S.V.E.R. faction is far too overpowered. “It’s something we’re definitely aware of, and we’ve already got a number of fixes in the pipe. We’re definitely committed to making sure all the maps, factions and gear is perfectly balanced.” For more information on MAG’s past, present and future, check out our full interview with Van Slyke when it goes live tomorrow afternoon.
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon
We recently got a chance to speak with Zipper Interactive’s Alan Van Slyke, who produced the company’s recently released multi-multi-multiplayer FPS, MAG. When asked about ongoing support for the title, Van Slyke responded that the developer won’t let the game go stale — in fact, he explained that Zipper sees MAG as a platform on which new content can be added in the future.
Van Slyke explained, “we made a big investment, we had a lot of learning, we built a lot of tech, and we have this awesome multiplayer platform that we can build upon and add new gametypes to.” He later added, “the possibilities are endless for us, and in many ways, even though we just released the game, looking forward for us is super exciting, knowing what we can do with the engine we have today.”
The producer also addressed concerns many players have had with balancing issues — particularly that the ragtag S.V.E.R. faction is far too overpowered. “It’s something we’re definitely aware of, and we’ve already got a number of fixes in the pipe. We’re definitely committed to making sure all the maps, factions and gear is perfectly balanced.” For more information on MAG’s past, present and future, check out our full interview with Van Slyke when it goes live tomorrow afternoon.
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon
We recently got a chance to speak with Zipper Interactive’s Alan Van Slyke, who produced the company’s recently released multi-multi-multiplayer FPS, MAG. When asked about ongoing support for the title, Van Slyke responded that the developer won’t let the game go stale — in fact, he explained that Zipper sees MAG as a platform on which new content can be added in the future.
Van Slyke explained, “we made a big investment, we had a lot of learning, we built a lot of tech, and we have this awesome multiplayer platform that we can build upon and add new gametypes to.” He later added, “the possibilities are endless for us, and in many ways, even though we just released the game, looking forward for us is super exciting, knowing what we can do with the engine we have today.”
The producer also addressed concerns many players have had with balancing issues — particularly that the ragtag S.V.E.R. faction is far too overpowered. “It’s something we’re definitely aware of, and we’ve already got a number of fixes in the pipe. We’re definitely committed to making sure all the maps, factions and gear is perfectly balanced.” For more information on MAG’s past, present and future, check out our full interview with Van Slyke when it goes live tomorrow afternoon.
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Permalink | Email this | Comments
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon
We recently got a chance to speak with Zipper Interactive’s Alan Van Slyke, who produced the company’s recently released multi-multi-multiplayer FPS, MAG. When asked about ongoing support for the title, Van Slyke responded that the developer won’t let the game go stale — in fact, he explained that Zipper sees MAG as a platform on which new content can be added in the future.
Van Slyke explained, “we made a big investment, we had a lot of learning, we built a lot of tech, and we have this awesome multiplayer platform that we can build upon and add new gametypes to.” He later added, “the possibilities are endless for us, and in many ways, even though we just released the game, looking forward for us is super exciting, knowing what we can do with the engine we have today.”
The producer also addressed concerns many players have had with balancing issues — particularly that the ragtag S.V.E.R. faction is far too overpowered. “It’s something we’re definitely aware of, and we’ve already got a number of fixes in the pipe. We’re definitely committed to making sure all the maps, factions and gear is perfectly balanced.” For more information on MAG’s past, present and future, check out our full interview with Van Slyke when it goes live tomorrow afternoon.
MAG designed to be a ‘platform,’ balancing patches coming soon originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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BusinessWeek: Apple may soon be "a Mobile Gaming Force"
Be afraid, be very afraid. That’s BusinessWeek talking to Sony and Nintendo. The business publication just boldly predicted that Apple, through its iPhone and Touch, will soon be “a mobile gaming force.”
The report looks at how Apple’s gadgets can directly compete with the same market of the PSP and DS considering the availability of games and pricing.
According to BusinessWeek, although the iPhone is primarily a… erm… phone, it being a gaming platform is not so hard to imagine. The iTunes’ participation in the whole thing makes it more easier, seeing as there are more games on it than those lined up for both the DS and PSP combined.
Currently, it’s looking like the iTunes App Store already hosts about 1,500 games, and no, they’re not just all Solitaires in many variations. Meanwhile, the PSP has got about 300 titles, while the DS has 600.
Apart from that, Apple is projected to easily sell more or less 40 million devices every year that accommodates games. If we are to look at Nintendo’s numbers, selling 42 million in the last 18 months, then we can see how Apple can easily outrun Ninty if they be inclined to do so.
True that the gaming function of Apple’s gadgets is a secondary one. But that’s just it, imagine what more it can do were it to focus on gaming as its primary function.
All in all, the BusinessWeek report is saying that both Nintendo and Sony shouldn’t be resting on their laurels in the handheld market. There’s a new guy in town and he’s bound to ruffle some feathers.
So to Sony and Nintendo, stop saying you’re not worried about iPhone. Because if BW is right, then it seems like you have every reason to be. Now that the holidays are coming, that would be a good time to see how close the numbers really are.
For the full report, click on the source link below.
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Xbox 360 homebrew squished to PSP perfection: JellyCar v1.0 for PSP Update now with Level Editor how-to guide
PSP homebrew developer Drakon of JelloPhysics fame is back with another squishy release. Taking a page once again from walaber and his Soft Body Physics library, Drakon has “ported” JellyCar from its Xbox 360, PC, and iPhone incarnation to a PSP-compatible version.
For those who haven’t gone outside of the PSP homebrew scene much, JellyCar is known in other brewing communities as “a driving/platforming game [where you drive] a squishy car through squishy worlds, trying to reach the next.” Sounds a lot like LocoRoco, only instead of a blob, you’ve got a blob-car! What more can you ask for, ya?
BTW, we say “ported” with the quotation marks because it isn’t a simple port in the strictest sense. As Drakon explains, his PSP version was written from C# to C . This release is supported by both the Slim and Phat. Aside from that, here are other things you should know about Drakon’s PSP version of JellyCar:
- Soft-body physics!
- 20 levels to play
- Smooth gameplay with 60 fps
- Ability to use level editor from PC version to make some new levels
- This is version 1.0 of the game but there still can me some bugs… I have some plans for version 1.1 (music,better background,more maps… etc.) but I need some time
More notes are included in the readme file: controls, an FAQ, and some credits. Drakon mentioned that he will later give a how-to guide on adding new maps made in the PC editor, so better keep an eye on that in the forums.
Article originally posted Nov 05, 2008 at 10:18AM
Update Drakon finally got back to us (thanks for the heads up, man! - sorry again for not getting this up sooner). Here we have his tutorial on how to load your own maps to JellyCar on the PSP.
First things first, you will need the Level Editor program installed on your PC, of course (download link below). Once that’s done, you can follow these three steps:
Part 1:
After installation of the level editor is complete, you will gain access to tutorial on using editor, made by walaber. It’s very good tutorial :> Also you can open all maps from JellyCar PSP - they are in Assets/Scenes/ folder, .scene files. It’s good idea to check them, how they work and how are they constructed. Try to change them, experiment on them and then make your own special map.
Ok - so you have your super map created in editor, what’s next? Use option “Save All” in editor to save whole map in some folder - name it ex. “super_map.scene”. Now copy all generated files to Assets/Scenes/ - when you are creating objects try to gave them some unique names.
Part 2:
Now open scene_list.xml in some text editor. This is list of all maps. We need to add our own line. ex:
<Scene name=”Super Map” file=”super_map.scene” thumb=”supermap” />
name - name of our map
file - file with our map
thumb - file with image that will be shown in menu
Part 3:
Now the image file. It must be .png image, 96×96 pixels size. With name that you declared in scene_list.xml file so here it will be : supermap.png.
Put that file in Assets/Texture/. If you are not artist like me and want nice image from your level do this. Just run the game without that image file of your level - it will be ok. Navigate your map in menu - there will be name but no image.Run map and take screen in the game - use tool like remoteJoy or other (screens in next version…) Now just make your nice miniature from screenshot and put in in Assets/Texture/. Now if you will start the game and navigate in menu to your map you will see name of the map and image.
Sounds a bit complicated, but once you get a feel of it for yourself, it’s actually pretty simple. Drakon also notes that some of you guys may encounter an error with the app:
Warning - I’ve got a message that there are some errors during installation of the editor. In that case try to install Xna Framework Redistributable from here. If this will not help - please download version for PC, install game and then try to install level editor.
And hey, guess what? Drakon says that if you make some cool levels of your own, you can contact him in the forums and send them in. Your own level just might make it to the next public release for everyone else to enjoy!
Download: JellyCar v1.0 for PSP
Download: JellyCar v1.1 Level Editor install (on PC)
Visit: QJ.NET PSP development forum
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- JelloPhysics demo - Jell-O physics engine for the PSP
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Astro Boy movie rocketing to video game platforms next year
Following their announcement to bring Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick’s Coraline movie to video game consoles, D3Publisher has now also confirmed that they’ve bagged the rights to release a video game tie-in for Imagi Studios’ 2009 feature length animation, Astro Boy.
Other than the announcement to the press, no specific details about the game were revealed. No specific platforms were named either. But from what we know of most kid-friendly movie tie-in games, chances are, it’s going for the full spectrum.
Also, there’s a possibility that the movie’s star-studded voice cast might lend their talents for the game too. Namely, that’d include the folllowing:
- Freddie Highmore
- Kristen Bell (whose previous video game project was Assassin’s Creed)
- Donald Sutherland
- Nicolas Cage
- Scarlett Johannson
- Eugene Levy (Jim’s dad!!!)
- Nathan Lane
The Astro Boy movie is scheduled for an October 23, 2009 debut on the silverscreen, and according to D3Publisher’s press release, the game will be released some time near that, in Q4 2009.
Related articles:
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- TMNT: The Video Game now available on retail stores
Xbox 360 homebrew squished to PSP perfection: JellyCar v1.0 for PSP
PSP homebrew developer Drakon of JelloPhysics fame is back with another squishy release. Taking a page once again from walaber and his Soft Body Physics library, Drakon has “ported” JellyCar from its Xbox 360, PC, and iPhone incarnation to a PSP-compatible version.
For those who haven’t gone outside of the PSP homebrew scene much, JellyCar is known in other brewing communities as “a driving/platforming game [where you drive] a squishy car through squishy worlds, trying to reach the next.” Sounds a lot like LocoRoco, only instead of a blob, you’ve got a blob-car! What more can you ask for, ya?
BTW, we say “ported” with the quotation marks because it isn’t a simple port in the strictest sense. As Drakon explains, his PSP version was written from C# to C . This release is supported by both the Slim and Phat. Aside from that, here are other things you should know about Drakon’s PSP version of JellyCar:
- Soft-body physics!
- 20 levels to play
- Smooth gameplay with 60 fps
- Ability to use level editor from PC version to make some new levels
- This is version 1.0 of the game but there still can me some bugs… I have some plans for version 1.1 (music,better background,more maps… etc.) but I need some time
More notes are included in the readme file: controls, an FAQ, and some credits. Drakon mentioned that he will later give a how-to guide on adding new maps made in the PC editor, so better keep an eye on that in the forums.
Download: JellyCar v1.0 for PSP
Visit: QJ.NET PSP development forum
Related articles:
- JelloPhysics demo - Jell-O physics engine for the PSP
- Xbox Live: First seven Community Games titles available for download
Square Enix’s Soul Eater heads to PSP, PS2; screens, info, artwork
So you think manga-based videogames are a dime a dozen these days, eh? After hordes of DBZ Budokai games and Bleach: Heat the Soul brawlers, in comes Soul Eater: Battle Resonance for the PSP and PS2.
Based on Square Enix’s popular manga, Soul Eater is gracing more platforms other than the Wii (Soul Eater: Monotone Princess) and DS (Soul Eater: Medusa’s Conspiracy). Though the manga anime may be from Square Enix, it’s none other than Namco Bandai taking the helm to deliver this game for the PSP and PS2 on January 29 in Japan.
Specific details are scarce as of yet, and the only thing we know right now is that it’s a fighting game with clips of steamy anime tossed in between. The PSP version is confirmed to support ad-hoc mode, while the PS2 version will have a “Soul Theater” that includes 24 story sequences to watch.
More screens and some artwork from Famitsu, if you please:
And if that’s not enough, here’s an unofficial PSP Soul Eater theme which we found online some time ago.
Download: Soul Eater PSP theme
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