Monthly Archives: June 2009

A statement has been issued regarding the lack of multiplayer in the PC version of Ghostbusters.

According to the game’s multiplayer developer, the multiplayer was cut so that the console versions could be “the best that they could be.”

“Multiplayer for the PC version of Ghostbusters is something that Threewave and Terminal Reality always wanted to do,” said Dan Irish, CEO of Threewave. “However, our focus was on making the console version the best that they could be – an experience that allows multiple players to re-live and re-fight many of the themes from the movies.

“When we looked at the resources necessary to pull off multiplayer on the consoles and the PC, it became a question of what could we do and still be excellent in our execution. We couldn’t do all versions with multiplayer simultaneously with the resources that we had available – there was simply too much to do. Something would have to suffer.

“Therefore, we kept our focus on making the console versions deliver on the promise of being an integral player on the Ghostbusters team.”

No word on whether multiplayer support will eventually be added.

Via BigDownload.

MAG’s first developer diary has arrived on the EU PS Blog and it’s posted after the break.

In the video, it talks about the different characters and weapons, areas of conflict and scale of the combat.

The multiplayer shooter is a PS3 exclusive and has an expected release date of November 24.

More »

A group of former staff members who worked for Factor 5 are suing the firm for fraud, claiming the founders moved assets before filing for bankruptcy.

The ex-staffers claim the money was moved to avoid paying employees and that Factor 5 stopped paying employees on November 1, 2008, before letting them go “with little or no notice” on December 19.

“We allege in the suit that Factor 5 and its three founders fraudulently transferred assets, including source code and other intellectual property to Blue Harvest, which is now known as White Harvest,” said James Smith, a lawyer representing the employees.

“We believe and have alleged in the complaint that Factor 5 and White Harvest are essentially the same company, being run by the same people, being represented by the same sets of lawyers, with all the same management and ownership and control, performing all the same work that they were doing at Factor 5, just now with a new name and a new address.”

After filing for Chapter 7, the Lair developer closed shop last month with up to $100,000 in assets and $10 million in debt with 69 claims for unpaid wages totaling more than $900,000.

Via Edge.

The UK government plans to open a Usability Center for Video Games to offer training, development skills, and general knowledge to those who plan on working in the games industry.

It’s be located near the BBC’s MediaCity headquarters in Salford, Greater Manchester, and the government hopes the center will be “national resource” to “meet the industries’ needs”, and take advantage of the BBC’s Children’s and Sports Department, Interactive Education and Literacy Department, and R&D operations.

No word on when the ribbon-cutting will commence.

More over on Eurogamer.

The Conduit, originally planned for a UK release on June 26, will instead arrive in stores July 10.

Sega UK says it’s a localization issue on the European version, and there have been no changes to the North American date for next week.

The High Voltage Software-developed FPS is a Wii exclusive.

Via CVG.

Atari has removed the DRM from Neverwinter Nights 2: Mysteries of Westgate.

The adventure pack can now be installed “as many times as you like on your computer” instead of the original three per system limit.

You can find out more over on the Ossian Studios Forums.

Thanks, Gamer’s Hell.

Will Modern Warfare 2 be longer than Call of Duty 4? Might be. Infinity Ward doesn’t care. The only thing that matters is the sequel being the best game in the world. Ever.

“It’s really hard to say, because it’s not done yet, it’s not balanced yet,” Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin said at E3 on the subject of whether or not the game will be bigger than the original.

“We don’t go into it saying we need to build a 20-hour experience or a ten-hours experience. We say, ‘What’s the best fucking experience we can possibly deliver?’

“And we craft it around that.”

Rubin added that the game’s levels will be “bigger” than those in CoD4.

Megaton game of the year. Christmas number one all over the place. Start betting now.

Forza Motorsport 3 has a video featuring footage from the Le Mans Circuit De La Sarthe. It’s after the break.

CVG has loads of screens for the game too. You may have seen some already, though.

There is also a list of cars that have been confirmed for the game over on the site as well.

Again, some of these you may already know about, but it’s about cars. Fast cars – and that’s cool.

More »

Activision’s producer for Singularity, Kekoa Lee-Creel, has said that it’s “absolutely critical” for the game to have a demo released before it hits retail.

“The shooter market is saturated, it’s tough to break in right now when there’s a lot of great, well-established franchises,” he told Develop. “We’re definitely on track to release a demo. That’s absolutely critical.

“It’s so hard to convey how a game feels, but I have confidence that once we can cross that threshold I think we’re good.”

Singularity is slated for release this year for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.

Hit the link for the rest.

It’s upgrade time! Maybe. BioWare’s put out the recommended and minimum specs for Dragon Age: Origins. You may need some cash when this comes round in the autumn.

Hit the link for the full lot. Thanks, Kotaku.

More »

Sony feels that eventually an MMO will be created that will not only knock World of Warcraft off its lofty throne, but will possibly be one created for social network users.

EverQuest lead designer Ryan Barker sat down with Videogamer to chat about EQ’s ten-year anniversary, and said that WoW’s subscriber base of 11.5 million users could be surpassed if the game was on Facebook.

“At some point someone will dwarf those numbers with a game”, said Barker. “If we can get passed some of the barriers that are keeping people from playing with their friends, just because their friends happened to start the game before they did, and maybe started on a different server or whatever, if we can start to get rid of some of those social blocks, I think it can get even better.”

It may not be immersed in fantasy either, as the genre of the MMO may be “almost an afterthought”.

More through the link.

Yesterday’s Digital Britain report has proposed that UK games must pass a “culturally British” test to qualify for tax relief.

A similar system is currently employed in the UK film industry, where projects rack up “British” points depending on content.

There’s no detail yet as to how a game’s “Britishness” is going to be graded as yet.

We’re using quote marks, because “Britishness” is a concept about as nebulous as the Horse Head nebula on a particularly nebulous day.

Note to UK devs: just make games about being intrinsically miserable, saying “fuck” every other word and aspiring to work in the local Co-op. Tax credits a-go-go.

Thanks, EG.

The latest Famitsu’s got a mysterious ad for a new Persona title, as spotted by Gamekyo.

That’s it. New game for next gen consoles? Likely.

More soon. Thanks, Blerk.

Argos is offering Halo 3: ODST pre-orders for £26.99.

Get on it. It’s $60 in the States.

The game ships later this year.

Realtime Worlds’ Dave Jones has told GI he’s not exactly thrilled Crackdown 2 went to Ruffian Games.

“I think it was unfortunate that it had to be with a start-up in Dundee… it is challenging to get enough developers in one region as it is, so that was the only little big of negativity to the story,” he said.

“It’s just one of those awkward moments. In terms of the franchise, as always – as with anything we’ve created – we’re always keen to see it do great things. This is like a bump in the road… was there really no way it could have been done by one of the studios Microsoft shut down?

“I was a bit miffed at Microsoft that it happened that way, but you live and learn,” he added.

Ruffian’s staff roster includes many that worked on the original Crackdown.

Crackdown 2 was announced in Microsoft’s E3 press conference at the beginning of the month.

Midway Newcastle’s Necessary Force has a trailer. And here it is.

The game was revealed last night, as was the fact that the studio is facing a very uncertain future.

Which is a shame. Because this looks pretty good. Hit it and see.

The question on everyone’s lips. When will the new UK PEGI symbols turn up on British games? Try to calm yourself down: it hasn’t been decided yet.

The Video Standards Council just told GI it hasn’t even started talking to government yet as to when we’ll see the guidelines appear at retail.

“We are going to start discussions as soon as possible with the government. It’s a partnership approach, we’re not waiting for them to act, but we do have a lot to discuss,” said VSC boss Peter Darby.

“We’re waiting for government legislation and we want to implement these changes as soon as possible to go forward with a final plan.”

We’ve been told this morning that some developers are already adding the symbols to packs for year-end release, while at least one platform holder is completely in the dark as to when we’ll see the new symbols in stores.

Looks as though someone’s crossed a few wires here. Despite a Guardian report saying prisoners at UK’s Rye Hill jail had PlayStation 3s removed due to fears they could organise a break-out with the machine’s wireless features, the Ministry for Justice has told IncGamers none of the inmates ever had access to the console in the first place.

“There are not and never have been Playstation 3s at HMP Rye Hill,” the department said in a statement.

“Prisoners in England and Wales have never been allowed access to wireless enabled technology such as that used in some games consoles.

“A decision was taken some years ago that the then current generation of games consoles should be barred because the capability to send or receive radio signals is an integral part of the equipment. Future games consoles with this ability will be banned. This ban applies to Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo DS.”

So, yeah. Awesome.

PEGI’s posted a first look at its new games ratings symbols for the UK, after being named the sole board for British classification in the Digital Britain report yesterday.

The ratings range from 3-18, and are from green through yellow to red.

They’ll appear on the front and back of games packaging.

It’s still unclear when all this is going to be implemented.

North American games revenues will grow at an average rate of 5.8 percent per year to 2013, and will outpace all other forms of entertainment, says PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The firm said that it expects games to generate $17.2 billion in 2009, growing to $21.6 billion by 2013.

By comparison, music is expected to decline 4.4 percent PA to $7.2 billion in 2013, films will rise 3.4 percent a year to $45.1 billion and TV subs will grow 5.4 percent annually to $97.3 billion in the same period.

More on GI.