hologames

It’s hard to not get excited for Codemasters’ next entry in the Dirt franchise after peeping the handful of shots that were just released. As seen in these screens, Dirt 3 won’t exclusively be terrorizing soil, but also leaves and snow. The horror!

Continue reading Dirt 3 screens attack the environment

Dirt 3 screens attack the environment originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 12 Aug 2010 22:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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“We thought based on the preorder trends that we saw and what we were hearing from retailers and consumers alike and we built our plans for growth in UFC this year,” THQ CEO Brian Farrell said on an earnings call today. However, with 2.7 million units sold relative to last year’s 2.9 million units in the same period, it’s clear the sequel didn’t show signs of “growth.” (Was it Red Dead’s fault?)

After reaffirming it as “still a top franchise” Farrell told the call, “What we’re thinking about – not to necessarily reinvigorate it because it’s a great franchise – but as I said in my prepared remarks, we’re considering a longer development cycle. 15-, 18-, 21-months between releases rather than annually.” That increased development time will, ostensibly, increase product quality and, with fewer releases, increase consumer demand. That combined with the UFC training and fitness game (not to mention PSP ports), Farrell assures analysts that “We think there’s a lot of growth to be had with the UFC franchise over the next several years.”

Farrell is quick to declare that there will be a UFC game in the next fiscal year. “We will have a UFC title in fiscal ‘12,” he said directly. “The question is timing, as I said. Could it be 15-, 18-, 21-months? That depends on both the scope of the game, the window, and how we want to release that game. As I said in my prepared remarks, we thought maybe a 12-month cycle might be a little quick but it’ll be somewhere around 18-months give or take a few months.”

If you consider this year’s UFC Undisputed 2010 on a 12-month dev cycle, an 18-month cycle would put its successor somewhere around late November 2011, smack dab in the middle of the busy holiday shopping season. Might be a tough spot for a UFC game to fight its way out of.

THQ looking at ‘longer development cycle’ for next UFC originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Publisher registers new URL for mystery project related to Visceral Games’ acclaimed survival horror shooter franchise.

Get the full article at GameSpot

“Next year you’ll see another new extension [of the WWE license],” Bilson told CVG, “that’s just as exciting as All Stars, but a little different. We’re not talking about that yet.” He said that the plan was to release a WWE game every six months (presumably for many years to come), alternating between Smackdown vs. Raw, All Stars and this new series — the latter two being “more friendly, easier and less simmy than Smackdown vs. Raw.” There’s a fourth franchise too, WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw Online, but that’s intended solely for the Asian market.

If you’re thinking that the “new” series will feature WWE wrestlers driving in cars and shooting at each other — THQ tried that one already. Our wild guess: the new game’s gonna really Kinect players to the Moves.

THQ spinning off another WWE series originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Outside of looming legal battles and down year-over-year revenues, SouthPeak recently received a $10 million “asset-based line of credit” that extends until February 28, 2012, reports IndustryGamers, effectively replacing an $8 million line of credit previously secured. We’re not quite sure what debtors will have to take from SouthPeak should the publisher not be able to repay the $10 million, though, as Majesco Entertainment apparently scooped up SP’s biggest franchise in mid June, My Baby.

For what it’s worth, SouthPeak chairman Terry Phillips said of the credit, “Securing this additional credit provides us with greater financial flexibility and presents a clear message to our investors that we are confident of our business prospects and growth opportunities over the near- and long-term.” Here’s hoping that Two Worlds 2 and Battle vs. Chess are enough to help the company get its feet back on the ground in the coming year.

SouthPeak gets $10 million loan while losing biggest moneymaker originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 18 Jul 2010 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Did you know that EA’s Football Manager franchise is developed in Germany? Did you then know that, in German, the game is titled “Fussball Manager?” ‘Cause that just about made our whole year. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, you might be interested to know that EA Sports is bringing another release in the Fussball series out later this year on PC. The publisher announced the title recently alongside the release of a smattering of screens (that we’ve dropped into a gallery below).

The tenth entry in the FIFA Manager series promises a lowered barrier of entry for new players, as well as “considerably expanded” online functionality. EA’s Bright Future studio in Germany is heading up development of the annual franchise’s latest installment, and the game is expected to release sometime this fall. Get your, um, pencils and paper ready? We guess? Yeah! It’s Fussball time!

EA’s FIFA Manager 11 heading to PC this fall originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Just before E3 2010, we asked Twisted Metal creator David Jaffe to confirm that he wasn’t working on a new entry in the long-dormant car combat franchise, per a series of messages he released via Twitter. And confirm that he did. Unfortunately for us — though perhaps not for gamers — it turns out that his words to us were actually part of a larger plan of “misdirection,” as he told us in an interview one day after last week’s big reveal.

Aside from our initial harassment about what he told us in the past, we spoke with him about what he wants out of E3, what he’s most excited about in his forthcoming game, the current trend of series reboots in the game industry, and what else is going on at Eat Sleep Play (the studio he co-heads with Scott Campbell) — among many other things. And though we were initially hurt by his “misdirection,” the fact that he was a perfect gentleman during the interview helped to mend those wounds. Continue after the break for our conversation.

Continue reading Interview: David Jaffe on Twisted Metal, E3 and … lying to us

Interview: David Jaffe on Twisted Metal, E3 and … lying to us originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a phrase that sometimes comes to mind whenever a developer is showing off the differences between their upcoming sequel and the past iteration of the franchise. It only springs forth when this new installment introduces major, sweeping improvements over the series’ previous entry, and, in my case, it almost always serves as a metric for my excitement for the sequel: “Well, this changes everything.”

As a fond appreciator of the already powerful creation tools upon which LittleBigPlanet is perpetually built, this phrase entered my mind a score of times during Media Molecule’s recent E3 media demo of LittleBigPlanet 2. I suspect that, in order to contextualize the hugeness of some of these changes, you have to have a deep understanding of how the creation tools in the first game functioned. Even if you don’t, the proof is in the proverbial pudding: You didn’t used to be able to make real-time strategy games. Now you can.

Continue reading Preview: LittleBigPlanet 2

Preview: LittleBigPlanet 2 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 17 Jun 2010 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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As promised by Cammie earlier this year, Nintendo’s E3 press conference brought the first solid details on the next installment in the Legend of Zelda franchise, subtitled Skyward Sword. The brief trailer for the game shown during the Nintendo E3 press conference featured far more vivid visuals than those of Twilight Princess, but with a very similar UI.

It also features a new control scheme, which uses the MotionPlus peripheral for more direct swordplay, and the Nunchuck for more direct … shieldplay. There’s no actual aiming the game’s ranged tools using the WiiMote pointer — everything appears to be motion-based. Unfortunately, the press conference tech demo seems to be experiencing some “technical difficulties.” Hopefully we’ll have better luck, provided the game’s available on the E3 show floor.

New items (which appear on a new radial menu) include a remote-controlled beetle, which you can use to collect faraway objects, and a whip, which you … can use to collect faraway items. Man, Link has gotten really lazy, hasn’t he? Miyamoto announced that the game will be available next year, at which point Link’s stationary lifestyle should have transformed the typically lean hero into a slovenly mess.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword revealed and detailed originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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