Games Video

GarageGames Update 2

On Aug 15, 2006 6:19 pm, by NeutralX2

Microsoft announced plans to make entry-level development with XNA available on the PC for free, and on the Xbox 360 for a yearly fee of $99. As many of you probably know, GarageGames is involved with Microsofts new XNA Game Studio Express. They announced that they will be releasing an XNA-compliant version of its Torque game development environment, which consists of the Torque Shader Engine for 3D development and the Torque Game Builder for 2D development. The Microsoft hosted Gamefest 2006 kicked off yesterday, and with that, a few new videos from Garage Games. They both look pretty cool (but are boring due to lack of sound). One video featured two character models doing some familiar animations. The second video shows off more of the Atlas terrain engine, skiing and a new weapon model we have not seen before.

Shacknews also got an interview with GarageGames’ CEO/CTO Joshua Williams and President Mark Frohnmayer:

Shack: On that end user side of things, does GarageGames have any new games in the works, or are you guys pretty full up with work on your development tools right now?

Mark Frohnmayer: For games? We do have a couple things that we can’t talk about just yet. [laughs]

Joshua Williams: We got a couple things brewing.

Mark Frohnmayer: We’re about to release our first actual legimitate casual game that we developed in house. It just went into beta last week. We’re about to release a new set of levels for Marble Blast Ultra on Xbox 360. We did a whole new set of multiplayer maps that are actually a lot of fun. Then we have another game that’s in the early stages of development that’s going to totally rock. We will give you much more information on that as we get closer.

Shack: Anything related to Tribes? I’m sure you guys get asked that every day.

Mark Frohnmayer: It actually is in a lot of ways a gameplay homage to Tribes, but it’s a very different genre.

Joshua Williams: It’s going to be cool.

Mark Frohnmayer: It will be cool.

The full interview can be read here.

Games

Console Exclusives

On Aug 13, 2006 12:02 am, by NeutralX2

A recent blog post by an Official Playstation Magazine Editor has got me thinking about exclusive games for the next generation. Apparently she wants to go out and buy an Xbox 360. Why would an editor at OPM be publicly endorsing the Xbox 360? The answer is the $600 price tag and lack of exclusive content

It’s not that I find the concept of a $600 console insulting. Inflation happens, and it’s natural that eventually inital prices will be higher than they used to be. But when I know that a console’s direct competitors cost two-thirds or half of that price, it becomes harder for me to justify shelling out that kind of money–especially when I can probably get the Wii and the 360 combined for the cost of a PS3.

$600 might be worth it if there were several huge titles on the near horizon that were PS3-exclusive. But for the first year at least, there are very few big titles that are PS3 exclusive. GTA4 and Assassins will be available for the 360 at the same time. And most of the big guns–FFXIII, MGS4–won’t be hitting for quite some time after the launch.

– Dana Jongewaard (OPM Editor)

Console exclusives have always been an extremely important selling point for a new console. Last generation Sony had a good number of high profile exclusives (though some were only exclusive for a time) which basically sold the console. This time around, things look very different. I wanted to find out exactly how many titles were currently in development and how many exclusive titles each console has so far. Luckily, Simon Phoenix over at Technophilia already did the work for me. This appears to be fairly accurate. I believe the Wikipedia list of games was used to create the graphs.

exclusives.gif

indevelopment.gif

A full list of the specific titles can be found over at Technophilia.

Games Video 1

When Politicians Talk About Games

On Aug 12, 2006 2:36 am, by NeutralX2

After doing a research project where I wrote a 20 page paper on video game violence and its effect on children, it really bugs me how people constantly misrepresent the truth of the issue. I am getting pretty tired of people claiming that the issue has been settled and that there is enough research to prove that video game violence harms children. From my research on the subject I have learned that those studies are far from conclusive. The fact of the matter is that for every study that says there is some sort of relationship, there is another that says there isn’t. Even those studies that say there is some sort of link never claim that it is a cause and effect relationship. For the most part those studies could just mean that violent children prefer violent entertainment. There are even some good studies that show violent video games could be beneficial to children. Surely these politicians must know this, but they ignore all of the evidence to the contrary. I think a main part of the problem is that it is a generational issue. The simple fact is that those in office are for the most part ignorant when it comes to video games. The whole idea of playing a video game is alien to them. They have no idea what it is like and they can’t be bothered to try it out. I am willing to bet that once that generation is out of power, the whole issue about video game violence will pretty much disappear as it has before with comic books and rock music. But until then, feel free to laugh at how absurd they are:

If you are looking for some well written information on the subject, I suggest you check out these books. I found them to be extremely useful and persuasive.

Games

GarageGames Update

On Aug 11, 2006 6:54 am, by NeutralX2

A few days ago there was a bit up an update about what’s going on over at GarageGames. While it is mostly what you would expect, a few things are worth mentioning. First, the Torque Shader Engine is nearing final release which is good news. I know a lot of people have been waiting for this for quite some time now. In fact I have been looking at it recently and have seriously been considering getting TGE and TSE.

They are also putting the finishing touches on an update for Marble Blast Ultra. The update includes bug fixes and some new multiplayer maps. I personally am looking forward to this. Marble Blast Ultra is actually pretty fun online and this will give me another reason to go back and try to get that Veteran Battler achievement.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that they said in the update is that they will be making some very cool announcements in the very near future. They don’t drop any hints as to what it could be, but I am personally hoping it has something to do with Legions. They did update the Legions site recently, which is something you wouldn’t expect considering they are not officially working on the game.

Games

G-phoria Winners Announced

On Aug 10, 2006 5:54 pm, by NeutralX2

Well it looks like Xbox 360 did a pretty good job this year with almost half of the winners being Xbox 360 titles. Here are the results of G4’s G-phoria Awards:

  • Game of the Year: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Xbox 360. Publisher: 2K Games/Bethesda Softworks
  • Best Voice Over: Kingdom Hearts II, PlayStation 2. Publisher: Square Enix
  • Best Alternative Sports: Mario Baseball, GameCube. Publisher: Nintendo
  • Best Action Game: Shadow of the Colossus, PlayStation 2. Publisher: SCEA
  • Best Graphics: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Xbox 360. Publisher: 2K Games/Bethesda
  • Best Handheld Game: Mario Kart DS, Nintendo DS. Publisher: Nintendo
  • Best Multiplayer Game: Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, Xbox 360. Publisher: Ubisoft
  • Most Original Game: Guitar Hero, PlayStation 2. Publisher: RedOctane
  • Best Role-Playing Game: The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Xbox 360. Publisher: 2K Games/Bethesda
  • Best Shooter: Call of Duty 2, Xbox 360. Publisher: Activision
  • Best Soundtrack: Kingdom Hearts II, PlayStation 2. Publisher: Square Enix
  • Best Strategy Game: Star Wars: Empire at War, PC. Publisher: Lucasarts
  • Best Traditional Sports Game: Fight Night Round 3, Xbox 360. Publisher: EA Sports

If you look at all the awards that Oblivion won, I think you would agree that my 9.9 score was well deserved.