In an interview with Games Industry International, Oddworld creator Lorne Lanning is wary of how capitalism encourages constant, exponential growth and massive game budgets. Instead, developers should cater to niche audiences, making games for smaller, dedicated communities.
"As craftsmen, " Lanning said,"our opportunity lies in finding the niches where we know our audience, we focus on it, we listen to it, we respect it, we treat it with some grace."
Publishers, Lanning says, have become much more risk averse because of the sheer size of the investments they are dumping into new games. As games get more expensive, developers need more money from publishers, and that puts developers in a position of weakness when negotiating business deals.
"So the budget's going up, and now [publishers are] saying, 'Now we're spending $20 million on a title and not $5 million, and at $20 million, we need better terms. You're going to do 10 times the work, but you're going to get a fifth of the backside because we're risking all this money.' Depending on how savvy they would be with the deals, usually they never made money... They were able to stay in the business. But the way the deals were structured, they were basically dead."
Refocusing development on smaller games for smaller audiences will help keep studios sustainable, and avoid the kinds of massive layoffs and closings that have wracked the industry over the past few years. Lanning also thinks that this will give developers more creative opportunity and gamers more interesting games to play.
"So the indie possibility is they can actually find their audience. The cheaper they can make their product, the more creative opportunity they have. So you can take more risks the cheaper you are."
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"CONFIRMED: Dragon Age: Inquisition--Jaws of Hakkon comes to all other platforms in May!" the developer wrote.
Jaws of Hakkon released for Xbox One and PC last week by way of an exclusivity arrangement between BioWare owner Electronic Arts and Microsoft. Terms of that deal blocked BioWare from even talking about when the DLC would come to other platforms.
This clause drew some amount of controversy among players. BioWare on Friday said it hoped players on other platforms would not boycott the expansion due to the company's relationship with Microsoft adding that it would have news to share about a PS4 release shortly.
In Jaws of Hakkon, players will "discover the fate of the last Inquisitor and the powerful dragon he hunted," according to the content's original announcement. Set in an overgrown wilderness populated by the Avvar hunter people, the content sees players exploring an "ancient Tevinter fortress that hides a dangerous secret."
Gamers can also expect to face off against new enemies, and amass new legendary armor and weapons. Jaws of Hakkon concludes with a battle against an "ancient god of war bent on destroying the world."
For more on Jaws of Hakkon, check out GameSpot's review and some images in the gallery below.
As I comb through raw gameplay footage of Rainbow Six Siege, I keep remembering the thought I had almost every time I finished a match: I could do better. I should've known they'd breach that wall, should've fortified that trap door, should've jammed their electronics, should've rappelled up to that window, should've leaned around that corner, and on and on and on. Even when I won, there was always something I could have done better. But rarely was that thing as simple as "aim faster and shoot more accurately."
At a recent press event, I got to play a closed alpha version of Rainbow Six Siege, the same version that will be made available for a limited group of players sometime in the coming weeks. Siege is a first-person shooter in which a team of five players holds a hostage in a small structure and a team of five other players tries to extract the hostage. The teams are also trying to kill each other, naturally, but actual gunplay is usually the last thing that happens in a match, and firefights are usually over very quickly. The core of the game, then, and the part that makes Siege so compelling, is what happens before the bullets start flying.
Let's say you're holed up in the cargo area of a plane with your hostage. You have 45 seconds to set up fortifications to help you survive and keep custody of the hostage during a three minute assault. Where do you start? This is an Air Force One-size jet, so there's a lot of interior space to cover. Barricading doors to slow enemy progress is a good first step, but you also want your allies to be free to set up their own defenses, and closing off doorways limits their mobility. The walls in the room are thin, so it'll be no problem for invaders to shoot or breach their way through. Better get some reinforcing panels up, unless your plan is to shoot out through the walls when the enemy shows up. There are too many points of entry to reinforce them all, so set some deployable cover and gas traps to cover their most likely point of entry, provided your team can agree on where that is. Oh, and by the way, your foes have been scouting your defenses this entire time with remote-controlled drones. Maybe you should've set up that electronic signal jammer before you did any of this?
At any given moment, there are multiple things you could be doing to improve your situation, and that's just the preparation stage. Once the three-minute timer begins and the infiltrators start coming, you have to stand firm behind your defenses or scramble to cover some new contingency that is developing before your eyes. Likewise, the attackers can formulate a plan based on the intel they gather from their drone phase, but who knows where the defenders will actually be waiting?
No need to get the door, I'll make my own.
Siege is as much a battle of knowledge as it is a battle of reflexes. Crouching in a corner to check the security camera feed on your tablet can be as valuable as laying down suppressing fire, and both are crucial to victory. Taking time for recon can leave you vulnerable to attack, but the knowledge you gain can give you a significant edge. Deciding when to focus on what is one of the central challenges of Siege matches.
There have been two maps revealed thus far: the house from the E3 demo and the aforementioned airplane (which, by the way, is parked on the tarmac, not mid-flight). Each has three main levels surrounded by exterior and rooftop areas that allow you to reach different entry points. Knowing the map gives you an edge in any competitive shooter, but because of Siege's extensive environmental destructibility, it's absolutely paramount. It's not enough to know where a wall (or a ceiling or a floor) is and what's on the other side. You have to know if it can be shot through, and what the firing lines from the other side might be. If the ceiling starts exploding, you need to know if enemies will be dropping into the room with you or simply shooting through the floorboards. And even when you know the surfaces well, the layout of the map evolves differently in every match as gunfire and explosions obliterate cover and open up new sightlines.
The other big variable from match to match is the individual operators. The final version of Rainbow Six Siege will have 20 unique characters to choose from; the closed alpha version I played only had 10. While the standard choices of primary weapon, secondary weapon, and gadget are available to all, each operator has a specific skill that only they can perform. The attacking characters I saw could breach reinforced walls, smash normal walls with a sledgehammer, disrupt electronics with a grenade, fire a breach charge to destroy walls from a distance, and scout with a small drone armed with a shock weapon. On the defending side, I used an electronic jammer to block the remote activation of breach charges and drones, placed toxic gas traps, used reinforced barricades, laid down extra armor vests for the team, and used a heartbeat sensor to detect enemies through walls and floors.
Know your gas maks.
Each of the abilities can tip the scales when applied properly, and each can be countered, if you're prepared. You won't know which of the 10 attackers your five foes have chosen until you or a teammate spots them. The character designs appear to be generic, armored police at first glance, but a closer look reveals quickly recognizable attributes that will allow experienced players to identify their foes on sight (helmets, gas masks, hair, glasses, etcetera). Icons at the top of the screen also signal which operators are in play, once you've scouted them, so you can be on the lookout for, say, a quick hammer breach when you know Sledge has taken the field. With ten choices per side, there are going to be abilities that get left out of each match, making adapting your plan to account your enemies' strengths even more important.
The fast, heated gun battles of Siege are often over as soon as they start because one player has scouted the situation better and is more prepared. Fights are won and lost by intel, and during my first few hours playing the game, I felt like I was slowly filling up a mental almanac of possible tactics and countertactics. With each round, my knowledge base improved as I regularly encountered new situations or new enemy maneuvers. Between each match, my teammates and I quickly shared our stories, identifying where we had gone wrong and scheming about what we could do next round. It was exciting to discover and test out new strategies, and regardless of whether I won or lost, I entered each new match feeling more poised and prepared than before. Rainbow Six Siege is shaping up to be a shooter in which knowledge is as powerful as a quick trigger finger, and perhaps even more rewarding.
Developer Cloud Imperium Games is now selling a new ship for Star Citizen, but you can't fly it right away. Available now through a "Concept Sale" that ends April 6 is the A3G Vanguard, a sleek-looking deep space fighter that features forward-mounted weaponry including four high-caliber laser cannons and a central Gatling gun. This all combines to give the Vanguard an "unprecedented amount of sheer striking power."
The Vanguard costs $250 through April 6, after which its price will go up.
It's not available yet to fly, however. "The ship design meets our specifications, but it is not yet ready to display in your Hangar or to fight in Arena Commander," Cloud Imerpium Games says.
For $250, you get the ship, lifetime insurance, and a pair of decorative items for your Hangar. An upcoming patch for Star Citizen will introduce a Vanguard poster, and when the final model is finished, buyers will also receive an in-game Vanguard mini ship model, the developer said. After April 6, not only will the Vanguard price go up, but buyers will not get these extras.
A full breakdown of Vanguard ship specifications is available at the Star Citizen website. For more on the Vanguard, check out the image gallery below.
Alternatively, both Best Buy and Amazon have the Hardline Deluxe editions for $50.
Best Buy's deal expires at the end of the week, though it's unclear how long Amazon will have the cops-and-robbers shooter available at the discounted price.
GameSpot reviewer Miguel Concepcion scored Hardline a 7/10 in his review earlier this month. He praised the game's franchise-first multiplayer modes such as Hotwire and Blood Money, but lamented dimness of the AI in its story mode.
You can read GameSpot's full Hardline review here.
Looking for more gaming deals? Check back later today for GameSpot's comprehensive deals roundup post, which collects the day's best offers across all platforms.
Although a sequel to BioWare's beloved Jade Empire is not in active development, the studio does frequently talk about how it could revive the franchise with a new game, the company has stated.
During Kotaku's recent Q&A with key creative BioWare developers, a fan asked if there was any hope that the studio would return to the Jade Empire series someday.
"Well there's always hope," BioWare Edmonton and Montreal general manager Aaryn Flynn said with a smiley face. "Both [BioWare developers Mark Darrah and Mike Laidlaw] worked on Jade Empire, so they're advocates for it in the studio (so is Matt Goldman, DAI's Art Director). I worked on it too!"
"Our plate is awfully full right now, but the idea to go back to the universe does come up pretty regularly," he added. "Mark and I spent a solid two hours in my office talking about it not long ago..."
Darrah himself added: "Never say never, but no current plans."
Microsoft's 343 Industries has published a new blog post that outlines all the changes coming to Xbox One game Halo: The Master Chief Collection through its upcoming April update. March's game update "normalized and improved" matchmaking overall, so in April, 343 is introducing even more features.
April's Halo: The Master Chief Collection update will "address a variety of issues across the game." These include "specific improvements to ranking, new quit and betrayal penalties," and further tweaks in preparation for the ranking system going live for other playlists.
Further information about April's update, including full patch notes, will come later.
343 is also planning more improvements for The Master Chief Collection's various playlists. Specifically, the developer is working on changing team sizes for specific playlists. Some of these changes have already been rolled out. For example, the Halo: Combat Evolved playlist has been changed so that the team size is no longer 2-3 players, but rather strictly 2 players.
"Based on results and feedback, we'll be looking to update team sizes and player counts across existing and upcoming playlists, including Team Doubles, as we get closer to the next update," 343 said. "Lastly, SWAT and Team Snipers will both make a return into the rotation in the near future, and we'll continue to evaluate playlist data to determine which playlists become permanent additions."
Are you still playing Halo: The Master Chief Collection? I sure am. Enjoying the tweaks 343 is making? Let us know in the comments below.
Destiny senior gameplay designer Josh Hamrick has left Bungie to join Fallout and Elder Scrolls developer Bethesda. He announced the news on Twitter, expressing gratitude to Bungie, and wishing the developer all the best as it continues to work on Destiny going forward without him.
During Hamrick's nearly six years at Bungie, he also worked on the developer's final Halo title, Halo: Reach. Prior to joining Bungie in 2009, Hamrick worked at Midway Studios Austin on BlackSite: Area 51, among other titles.
This is a pretty impressive video. Watch as musician Donal Hinely plays the famous Legend of Zelda theme using a variety of wine glasses, each filled with a different volume of water that corresponds to pitch.
In the video, captured by YouTube user -K0Ff3 - (via Reddit), Hinely calls it a very difficult song to perform. Well, I'd say he did a pretty excellent job and is fully deserving of the applause at the end. Well done!
Few computer game series have such a storied history. Might & Magic has been many things and taken many forms, but it is in Heroes of Might & Magic that the franchise's spirit glows brightest. The third Heroes game is still considered one of the giants of strategy classics, so it was only natural that it be given a high-definition update--and even more natural that publisher Ubisoft would ride the wave of nostalgia by delivering another entry. Might & Magic Heroes VII is at the top of this wave's crest, a wave that purposefully washes away Might & Magic Heroes VI, which was not met with unbridled enthusiasm by longtime players rightfully exalting Heroes III as the height of the series.
I've now spent almost four hours playing Might & Magic Heroes VII over the course of two visits to Ubisoft's San Francisco office, and while it's difficult to say whether the game will inspire hundreds of hours of exploration and strategizing in the way Heroes III did, I appreciate its ability to suck me in. I'm generally delighted by this brand of fantasy in any case, and Heroes VII has that blue-and-gold sheen that brings to mind all manner of arcane spells and barbarous beasts. In the first of three maps I explore, harpies are trapped in a magical prison whose boundaries pulse and glow. Cyan crystals and impossibly lush green grass provide a striking contrast to the browns and yellows of the cliffs and countryside. And through it all, pompous music pumps up the drama, much of it recalling early Tchaikovsky, vibrating with sonorous French horns and elegant strings. Heroes VII wants you to know that it is the highest of high fantasy from the moment you start playing.
The initial map is focused primarily on story. There is no castle to maintain here, only a single orc hero named Imani, who has diverted from her brother's orders and seeks alliances with other factions that may greatly bolster the army. Heroes VII is focused not just on Imani, but on the Stronghold faction, which is made up of three different orc nations. This story centers on the tribes of the Sahaar, which--as you may guess from the name--a vast desert. In any case, Imani was the hero I controlled in this first map, where I have only a few weeks of in-game time to convince harpies, centaurs, and other races to come to my aid. Unsurprisingly, none of the faction leaders is willing to do it just because I ask nicely in my broken, verbless English. They need favors done; If I am unwilling to scratch their backs, they will not scratch mine.
So I gallop about the kingdom, each turn giving me a certain number of movement points to spend in Heroes tradition. I gather wood and gold as I gradually uncover the fog of war, and eventually approach a blackfang vendor who agrees to reveal the area around its towers--for a price, of course. Remember that magical prison? The only way to earn the harpies' trust is to free them from the wizards, who, as the harpies tell it, often come to laugh and scoff at the creatures' misfortune. However, the prison's anchors are guarded, and I must destroy the beastly sentries protecting them before I can grant the harpies their wish.
This is the first of many combat encounters to come, but the flaming salamanders I face in the current turn-based battle are easily dealt with. Imani stands behind the battle grid, waiting for me to issue a standard attack order or perform the one spell available to me, which heals targets over time. On the grid, I move orcish dagger-throwers and soldiers forward, each visible individual representing a larger number of units. Suffering attacks means not just taking damage, but losing those numbers until the entire unit is destroyed. The salamanders are soon toast, but subsequent battles introduce me to new opponents, as well as to new units I can hire for myself. The lizardlike basilisk might be my favorite of these, given the massive amount of damage it does not just during attack, but when retaliating against djinn and genies mounted on hovering magic carpets. It's most effective when I flank my adversaries, which is a new element Heroes VII introduces.
The adventure sees me completing the necessary actions until my army is made up of griffins, harpies, centaur archers, elemental golems, and a number of other fiends. The enemy hero has been aggressive, attacking me twice during my travels--and one of those times introducing a game-killing bug that auto-initiates the end of turns before I can ever move from my position. But success is at hand: it is time to face the beastmen army that has branded me as a traitor. What a gorgeous battlefield this is, with a waterfall in the background, and surrounding us with shining blue-and-white architecture. I win not just with might but with magic; my most valuable unit is a flaming elemental that flings fire all the way across the map, though I have to give my centaurs some of the credit. Alas, it is too late. The battle may be won, but Imani's brother Jengo has already proceeded to battle, leading his troops to sure death before Imani and her alliance can supplement his army.
I don't have enough time to see either of the remaining two maps to their conclusions, sadly. The second map keeps me in Imani's substantial shoes, and puts me in control of a keep for the first time. One way to recruit troops to your heroes' armies is to bribe them rather than fight them, though the stronger the opposition, the less likely they are to offer their services. But this map is populated by orc squadrons willing to join me if I perform a particular rite at a nearby burial ground. And of course, I can recruit units at my castle, to which I return several times to build upgrades that give me access to new units and magic spells.
The best element to this map is the navigation itself. In addition to rally flags and other objects that offer me passive bonuses and resources, I discover portals that transport me to other parts of the Sahaar desert. Fully exploring the map means repairing bridges and teleporting to and fro. Yet sometimes, the shiny things beckon: there are new weapons and pieces of armor that I can retrieve and equip--but only if I fight the creatures guarding them. With each successful fight comes experience, and soon I have spent multiple skill points, most of them offering passive bonuses, such as removing morale penalties when employing units from other races. The skill wheel is incredibly simple to use; There is no mystery in finding and employing the right benefit when the time comes to level up.
The second adventure comes to an end when I face an army that blocks a bridge I desperately need to cross. My opponent and I wipe each other clean, leaving my remaining orc archer to fend for himself against murderous soldiers. I am ready to say goodbye to Imani, frankly, so it's fortunate that the third map gives me two Haven heroes to send out into the world. (The Haven and Stronghold are two of six factions in total; the other four are Sylvan, Academy, Necropolis, and Dungeon.) The two heroes at my disposal are Orna and Edric, who represent a split of might and magic: Orna has numerous spells already available in her spellbook, while Edric clearly prefers might, and currently employs no spells.
I don't get too much time to engage in battle, but I enjoy alternating turns, as it allows me to see new battlefields and employ different kinds of strategies. Orna's spells make her my favorite in combat. I always have the option to auto-resolve battle, but it's always satisfying to watch her summon fire from the sky and rain it on the skeletons and wolves charging from the other end of the square-based grid. After a while, I purchase a war machine for her--in this case, a catapult that automatically launches a projectile at a nearby unit. Edric, in the meanwhile, finds himself in trouble after I get too aggressive, and even his wolves are left to the buzzards. I busily collect wood and gold when it comes time to control Edric, while I throw Orna into every encounter I can that won't result in slaughter. But before I can see how my strategy plays out, it's time to leave, and I can only surmise what might happen on these cracked plateaus.
I never got to experiment with Heroes VII's proposed cover system, which I am told exists, but I don't think ever came into play during my time with it. (Indeed, my centaurs' arrows sailed directly through the rocks that you would think should block their path.) But flanking bonuses are clearly vital, and I suspect many battles will be won or lost this way. Otherwise, my time with Might & Magic Heroes VII scratched that same itch the series always has, and with luck, the full game will be just as enchanting when it releases to the wild sometime later this year.
In it, Ross hypes Halo 5 by saying it will deliver epic "scope and scale and drama," while also teasing that the game will make players question everything they think they know about the Halo universe.
"We wanted Halo 5: Guardians to be the game that pays off the epic promise of the Halo universe in scope and scale and drama," Ross said. "We want to amaze players with the sheer size of the worlds and battles they'll experience, even as they question everything they thought they knew about its heroes, marvels, and mysteries."
Ross added that Microsoft's newly launched "Hunt the Truth" marketing campaign for Halo 5 is "only the beginning." She went on to say that Microsoft will deliver more details about Halo 5 during E3 in June.
Halo fans will want to watch the new Halo 5 trailers, as they offer new insight into the mysterious relationship between Master Chief and Agent Locke. "Who is the hunter and who is the hunted?" is the central question being asked by both new videos.
Microsoft has also released a handful of new stills from the Halo 5 live-action trailers. See them all in the gallery below.
Upcoming racing game Project Cars, which was recently delayed for a third time and is now due in mid-May across console and PC, will introduce free DLC every month after its release, developer Slightly Mad Studios has announced.
The first of the free cars is the Lykan Hypersport (above), which is a blistering fast vehicle that can reach 62mph in just 2.8 seconds. It has a top speed of 245mph and is somewhat futuristic, as it comes with a holographic dashboard display.
The Lykan Hypersport is also one of the cars featured in this week's new racing-action movie Furious 7.
"We are immensely pleased to have this awesome machine in the game and to give fans the chance to get behind the wheel of a truly amazing vehicle," Project Cars creative director Andy Tudor said in a statement. "The Lykan Hypersport represents the first of a series of free cars we'll be giving away every month as a thank you to our fans for being so patient for the launch of the game."
Details regarding the full Project Cars free DLC release schedule will come later, Tudor said.
Project Cars was originally scheduled to launch in November 2014, though a month before release that date was pushed to March 2015. Then, weeks ahead of its postponed launch, the game was pushed back again, that time to April. Publisher Namco Bandai said the latest postponement was necessary to ensure that the final build matches fan expectations. You can read a full statement from the developer about the delay here.
Click through the thumbnails below to see the latest Project Cars images.
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