GameStop to begin selling upper-end model of Microsoft’s console bundled with two top-rated games–and the Halo: Reach MP beta access–tomorrow.
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Thursday’s Game Developers Choice Awards ceremony and Wednesday’s suspected motion-controller unveiling top coverage of San Francisco event; write-ups of Meier, Pardo, Molyneux, Pitchford, Muzyka, Sakamoto, Yamaoka, Toriyama, and Schafer talks also on tap; full schedule inside.
SAN FRANCISCO–The 2010 Game Developers Conference began today with the Independent Games Summit kickoff, a session on “guerilla” development, and a (very) brief talk by Caleb Arseneaux from Scribblenauts developer 5TH Cell. Tomorrow morning, the main conference will start with a series of presentations, including talks by BioWare co-founder and CEO Dr. Ray Muzyka, Bungie creative director Joseph Staten, and Electronic Arts COO John Schappert.
The event will shift into high gear at 4 p.m. PST Wednesday, when Sony Computer Entertainment will hold a press conference. Though no details are yet public, the company is expected to use the event to show off the PlayStation 3’s motion-control system, widely believed to be called the “PlayStation Arc.” GameSpot will be on hand with both live video streaming and liveblog coverage, accessible from the main GameSpot GDC page.
Thursday will see full coverage of presentations by Silent Hill composer Akira Yamaoka, Metroid co-creator Yoshio Sakamoto, Naughty Dog’s Richard Lemarchand, Lionhead’s Peter Molyneux, and Blizzard Entertainment’s Rob Pardo. Besides the arrival of the latest NPD report, there will also be a special live GDC edition of Today on the Spot, broadcast from the nearby GameSpot Studios at 4 p.m. PST.
That evening, GameSpot will exclusively stream the Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Deus Ex and Thief creator Warren Spector, who is currently at work on Epic Mickey at Disney Interactive Studios. Uncharted 2 will be the most-nominated game at the ceremony, which will also see id Software’s John Carmack take home the Lifetime Achievement Award for over 20 years of work on the Doom and Quake series.
Valve Software’s Gabe Newell will receive the 2010 Pioneer Award for his work on the Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Portal, and Left 4 Dead series. The ceremony begins at 6:30 p.m. with the Independent Game Festival winners, followed by the main awards show approximately a half-hour later.
Friday morning coverage begins at 10:30 a.m. PST, with GameSpot’s liveblog of GDC keynote speaker Sid Meier, founder of Firaxis games and creator of the iconic Civilization strategy series. Also scheduled are write-ups of presentations by Gearbox Software’s Randy Pitchford and Final Fantasy XIII writer Motomu Toriyama, as well as sessions covering Batman: Arkham Asylum, disabled gaming, and Xbox Live achievement data.
GameSpot will also be covering a panel which will see Pardo, Muzyka, and other industry heavyweights discuss how online connectivity will become more central to games in the future. That afternoon will also see another live edition of TOTS at 4 p.m.
GDC 2010 wraps up on Saturday with sessions focusing on Mass Effect 2, Shadow Complex, and Assassin’s Creed II. Ubisoft Montreal’s narrative director Richard Rouse will give a talk on evoking serious emotions, while Double Fine CEO Tim Schafer will host a panel discussing (what else?) comedy.
For more on these events and all the latest screenshots, videos, previews, interviews, and breaking news, keep your browser set to GameSpot’s ongoing 2010 Game Developers Conference coverage.
GAMESPOT’S GDC 2010 COVERAGE – SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
TUESDAY, MARCH 9
Scheduled Sessions:
–”From Big Studio to Small Indie: Guerrilla Tactics from Hello Games ” – Sean Murray (managing director, Hello Games)
–”Indies and Publishers: Fixing a System That Never Worked” – Ron Carmel (Co-founder, 2D Boy)
–”5TH Cell: From Mobile to Handheld & Beyond” – Caleb Arseneaux (Producer, 5th Cell)
–IGF KEYNOTE: “Increasing Our Reach: Designing To Grab and Retain Players” – Randy Smith (owner and game designer, Tiger Style)
BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka will share his thoughts on building blockbusters franchises like Mass Effect.
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10
4 p.m. PST: SONY GDC 2010 PRESS CONFERENCE, speakers and subject TBA. – Streaming LIVE w/ text liveblog accompaniment.
Scheduled Sessions:
–”Building a Blockbuster Franchise” — Joseph Staten (Creative Director, Bungie), Ray Muzyka (CEO and General Manager, BioWare Corp.)
–Indie Gamemaker Rant! – Various speakers
–Mythbusting Fireside Chat – John Schappert (Chief operating officer, Electronic Arts)
–”The Relentless March Towards Free…and What it Means to the Games Industry” – Kristian Segerstrale (vice president and general manager, Playfish)
THURSDAY, MARCH 10
4 p.m. PST: Today on the Spot LIVE: Special GDC Edition
6:30 p.m. PST: Independent Game Festival Awards – Streaming LIVE!
~7 p.m. PST: Game Developers Choice Awards, hosted by Warren Spector – Streaming LIVE!
Scheduled Sessions:
–”Achievements Considered Harmful?” – Chris Hecker (definition six, inc.)
–”Among Friends – An Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Post-Mortem” – Richard Lemarchand (game designer, Naughty Dog)
–”As Long as the Audio is Fun, the Game Will Be Too” – Akira Yamaoka (Grasshopper Manufacture Studio)
–”Building an Open-World Game Without Hiring an Army” – Nate Fox (game director, Sucker Punch Productions {Infamous})
–”Creating a Unique Visual Direction: The Successes and Failures of Creating a Near-Future Cyberpunk Setting with a Renaissance Twist in Deus Ex 3 ” – Jonathan Jacques-Belletete (Art director, Eidos Montreal)
–”Epic Games/Unreal Engine 3 Media Briefing” – Speaker TBA
–”From Metroid to Tomodachi Collection to WarioWare: Different Approaches for Different Audiences” – Yoshio Sakamoto (Group manager/software planning and development department, Nintendo)
–”Making a Standard (and Trying to Stick to it!): Blizzard Design Philosophies” – Rob Pardo (VP, game design, Blizzard Entertainment)
–”Peering into the Black Box of Player Behavior: The Player Experience Panel at Microsoft Game Studios” – Bruce Phillips (User researcher, Microsoft)
–”The Complex Challenges of Intuitive Design” – Peter Molyneux (Head of studio, Lionhead Studios), Josh Atkins (studio design director, Microsoft Games Studio)
–”What Happened Here? Environmental Storytelling”- Harvey Smith (Game director, Arkane Studios), Matthias Worch (Senior level designer, Visceral Games)
FRIDAY, MARCH 12
10:10 a.m. PST: GDC KEYNOTE: “The Psychology of Game Design (Everything You Know Is Wrong)” Sid Meier (Director of creative development, Firaxis Games)
4 p.m. PST: Today on the Spot LIVE: Special GDC Edition
Scheduled Sessions:
–”Accessibility Arcade: Bringing AAA Game Titles to the Disabled Through Controller Hacks” – Michelle Hinn (Chairperson, IGDA Game Accessibility Special Interest Group), Tara Tefertiller (VP game industry relations, Right to Fun Foundation)
–”Borderlands and the 11th Hour Art Style Change. Or: Kids, Don’t Try this at Home! ” – Brian Martel (Co-Founder & chief creative officer, Gearbox Software), Randy Pitchford (President and CEO, Gearbox Software)
–”The Crystal Mythos and Final Fantasy XIII” – Motomu Toriyama (Scenario writer for Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix)
–”The Art Direction of Batman: Arkham Asylum: Rebooting a Super Hero Video Game IP” – David Hego (Art director, Rocksteady)
–”The Connected Future of Games” – Min Kim (Vice president, Nexon America Inc.), Ray Muzyka (CEO and general manager, BioWare Corp.), Rob Pardo (VP, game design, blizzard entertainment), Brian Reynolds (Chief designer, Zynga), Jason Holtman (Director of business development, Valve)
–”Double Header Analysis: Xbox Live Achievement Data and Intellectual Property Trends in Video Games” – Geoffrey Zatkin (President & COO, Electronic Entertainment Design and Research), Jesse Divnich (Vice President of Analyst Services, EEDAR)
–”The Game Design Challenge 2010: Real-World Permadeath” – Eric Zimmerman (Independent), Heather Kelley (Founder and game designer, Kokoromi), Erin Robinson (Independent Game developer, Wadjet Eye Games), Jenova Chen (Co-founder, thatgamecompany), Kim Swift (Project lead/game designer, Airtight Games)
–”Console Wars Revisited: Are We Breaking the Mold or Reliving History?” – Don Daglow (President & CEO, Don Daglow Interactive Entertainment)
SATURDAY, MARCH 13
–”Designing Assassin’s Creed 2″ – Patrick Plourde (Lead game designer, Ubisoft)
–”Designing Shadow Complex” – Donald Mustard (Creative director, Chair Entertainment Group)
–”Five Ways a Video Game Can Make You Cry” – Richard Rouse III (Narrative director, Ubisoft Montreal)
–”Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in Games” – Tim Schafer (CEO, Doublefine), Rhianna Pratchett (Freelance scriptwriter and narrative designer, Independent), Sean Vanaman (Writer & designer, Telltale Games), John Teti (Games writer, The A.V. Club)
–”Rock Band Network: Postmortem” – Matthew Nordhaus (Senior producer: design, Harmonix Music Systems), Caleb Epps (Senior sound designer, Harmonix Music Systems)
–”Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2)” – Christina Norman (Lead gameplay designer, Bioware
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Rebellion’s action shooter picking up quartet of multiplayer maps previously released as part of Special Edition package on 360, PS3, PC for $7.
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Ubisoft’s long-awaited stealth actioner picks up $399 hardware, software, two-controller package, due early April in NA, Europe, Australia, New Zealand.
Gamers may have been skeptical early last month when Ubisoft attached an April 13 release date to its long-percolating return of Sam Fisher in Splinter Cell: Conviction, considering the sheer quantity of delays the game has seen. However, adding a little more security to the game’s debut next month, Microsoft today announced that the game’s launch will be accompanied by an Xbox 360 hardware bundle.
The Splinter Cell: Conviction Special Edition Bundle will include a copy of Ubisoft’s stealth action adventure, as well as a 250GB-equipped black console and two black wireless controllers. The bundle will be available in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand in “early April” for $399. Microsoft has not released the 250GB hard drive as a stand-alone purchase, saying in September that it has “no plans” to do so in the future.
However, beginning with November’s launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Microsoft has been keen on pairing some of the Xbox 360’s biggest releases with a 250GB console. Most recently, Microsoft announced a 250GB bundle for Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII, the only hardware-software combo package the one-time PlayStation 3-exclusive will receive outside Japan.
Conviction is set two years after Splinter Cell: Double Agent, which saw series hero Sam Fisher become a fugitive from the FBI, NSA, and an alphabet soup of other agencies. In the course of investigating his daughter’s death, the now-grizzled Fisher discovered that his former employer, the covert organization Third Echelon, has double-crossed him. Avoiding capture, he travels to Washington, DC, to uncover the conspiracy that led to his undeserved disgrace.
For more information, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage of Splinter Cell: Conviction.
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PlayStation Store Update: Sony, THQ samplers lead week that also revels in Greed Corp; Game Arts’ Grandia becomes PS Classic.
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New-game purchasers of EA and DICE’s modern-day military shooter granted two bonus day-one multiplayer maps, second freebie pack due later in March.
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House of the Dead: Overkill, MadWorld, and The Conduit bundled into one package for Australia and New Zealand.
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Disney Interactive Studios’ over-the-top action racer tuning up for a few more months; European debut set for May 21.
Disney is scaling back its investment on “highest end” console games, but the publisher’s not done with that market quite yet. Today the publisher announced that it will launch Black Rock Studio’s Split/Second on May 18 in the US, with a European launch following May 21.
Described as “racing through an adventure game” by one of the developers, Split/Second is set in a fictional TV racing show where safety concerns get a well-deserved DNF. By skillfully employing driving techniques like drifting and drafting, players will fill up a power meter. Once full, the meter allows players to trigger all manner of explosive catastrophe on and around the track, from bursting water pipes in opponents’ paths to dropping cargo liners across the track and forcing players to take a detour or shortcut.
Black Rock Studio is best known as the developer behind all-terrain vehicle racer Pure. While Split/Second will be just the second game to bear the studio’s name, it developed its racing game acumen as Climax Racing, developer of 2002’s MotoGP for the Xbox and Sony’s ATV Offroad Fury series. The studio was acquired by Buena Vista Games (now Disney Interactive Studios) in 2006.
Split/Second will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. For more on the game, check out GameSpot’s latest preview.
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Capcom’s latest motorcycle racing sim for Xbox 360, PS3 on track to kick off real-world 2010 season; demo due prerelease.
With MotoGP 09/10, Capcom set out to realign the game’s traditional holiday release window with one that better coincides with the start of the season. So the publisher was up front with the fact that the game would be out in March when it initially announced the game back in June 2009. Today, Capcom announced a specific race day for MotoGP 09/10, saying the game would be available in North America for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on March 16.
As its name implies, MotoGP 09/10 will pull its data from both the ‘09 and ‘10 racing seasons. Initially, the game will contain bikes, riders, tracks, and liveries from the 2009 season. Shortly after the game’s release, Capcom will add in content from the 2010 season, including new tracks, team updates, and bike classes, as a free downloadable update.
Developed by Monumental Games, MotoGP 09/10 will include a career mode in which players can manage their crew, hire staff, and compete in races in pursuit of a MotoGP championship. The game will also feature online multiplayer that lets players compete with up to 20 other racers from around the world. MotoGP 09/10 also packs a free-play-style arcade mode, as well as online leaderboards and a spectator mode.
Capcom plans to release a demo for the game through Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network before its official launch. For more information, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage of MotoGP 09/10.
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Konami to publish FeelPlus follow-up to Phantagram’s Xbox 360-exclusive as N3II; Euro launch slated for spring.
When Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005, one of its prime directives was to gain a substantive foothold in Japan. To do so, the publisher signed on a variety of high-profile Japanese game developers to create games targeted specifically at the island nation, games like Ninety-Nine Nights from Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Q Entertainment and codeveloped by Kingdom Under Fire studio Phantagram.
And though Ninety-Nine Nights didn’t fare particularly well with critics, Microsoft announced that it had tapped FeelPlus to develop a sequel for the Xbox 360 at the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. Today, Konami announced that it will publish the game in Europe this spring, with the game’s North American release to follow this summer. Konami also redubbed FeelPlus’ brawler as N3II: Ninety-Nine Nights.
N3II will be a direct follow-up to Phantagram’s original, presenting a style of beat-’em-up action similar to Koei’s button-mashing Dynasty Warriors franchise. Players can wade through hordes and hordes of enemies as one of five different factions, including humans, elves, and goblins. The five factions all have unique storylines, as well as race-specific skills and abilities. The game will also feature two-player online co-op, giving gamers a chance to team up to face down waves of enemies.
For more information, check out GameSpot’s hands-on with N3II.
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