Category Archives: Development

The next generation of hardware will have to seriously up its game if it expects to keep up with Epic’s hugely popular Unreal Engine.

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Double Fine boss Tim Schafer has said his studio’s crowdfunding initiative wasn’t inspired by negative experiences with publishers so much as the realities of independent development.

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GREE is setting up shop in San Francisco in order to facilitate the launch of its global platform during Q4 this year. The Japanese network operator, and social and mobile game developer, plans to use the time before launch to build relationships with local developers and publishers. Titles are to be offered through the firm’s existing service, along with that of OpenFeint – its most recent acquisition – and the first two will go live next month. It’s Japanese service boasts 190 million registered users, and it expects to its fiscal year-end sale to reach $2.1-$2.5 billion. Currently, the service offers over 7,500 games from more than 20,000 partners, and has its own internal development studio. Other offices for the firm are located in Beijing, Dubai, London, Sao Paulo, and Seoul. Thanks, Gamasutra.

Industry analysts Michael Pachter and Jesse Divnich questioned the validity of game publishers during a panel at DICE 2012 yesterday, with the former stating he feels “the traditional publisher’s role has lessened” over years, while the later feel that without publishers, there’s “no way” for gamers to experience the various offerings on the market.

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Epic Games vice president Mark Rein has told G4 that the firm plans to unveil Unreal Engine 4 later this year. Speaking with the site during DICE 2012, Rein was quoted as saying: “People are going to be shocked later this year when they see Unreal Engine 4 and how much more profound an effect it will have.” G4 expects more on the firm’s engine to he shown at DICE later today. If the firm is showing anything like it did at GDC 2011 with its Samaritan tech demo, then, wow.

Blizzard co-founder Frank Pearce has the firm had no idea “what we were getting ourselves into,” when it launched World of Warcraft 7 years ago.

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Frictional is teasing its next game, and it appears it may be a sequel to Amnesia: The Dark Decent and set in China.

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Twisted Metal and God of War creator David Jaffe’s DICE 2012 presentation accused the games industry of getting too excited about story – and not about gameplay.

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Crowd sourcing platform Kickstarter has confirmed suspicions by admitting Double Fine’s Adventure has broken more than one record in raising $1 million in less than 24 hours.

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It’s not the first studio to go down the Kickstarter route, but it’s the biggest one to do so yet. Double Fine gave the games industry its Radiohead moment today. Johnny Cullen explains.

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Two Tribes has discussed in its latest blog entry the plans it has in store for Wii U, and it’s looking quite likely that Toki Tori 2 will include some nifty features should it be released on the console.

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Prague-based developer Warhorse has announced it’s closed a licensing deal for Crytek’s CryEngine 3, which the firm will use to develop its unannounced RPG. Warhorse said the debut title from the studio will combine “open-world experience with a rich story and innovative gameplay elements.” Founded last summer, Warhorse is comprised of former members of 2K Czech and Bohemia Interactive as well as Dragon’s Lair author Martin Klíma.

Game director and Rocksteady’s co-founder, Sefton Hill, would like it if the UK government would finally step-up and support the UK games industry, as many of his friends have moved abroad to countries such as Canada which support the industry.

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With three successive IP launches under its belt, Insomniac looks to be one of the surest bets for innovation in the industry. Nathan Grayson talks to CEO Ted Price about the shape of things to come.

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David Jaffe has said he could one day work on casual and iOS games, but insisted he’s still committed to core titles for next-gen and browser.

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In an entertaining keynote presentation at DICE Summit today, Skyrim director Todd Howard said gaming has become the premiere entertainment medium – and showed off some amazing Skyrim brainstorming.

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Rising Star’s managing director, Martin Defries, has said the firm will be taking control over the US publishing arm of Marvelous. Speaking with MCV, Defries said: “We were given an opportunity to take over the US publishing business of our former parent company Marvelous Entertainment, to rebrand that as Rising Star Games Inc and to build a successful subsidiary.” Defries also said Rising Star has “an existing publisher in the US” with “strong roots into the market,” but didn’t reveal the name of the firm. There’s no word at present on how this will affect Marvelous USA’s publishing deal with Xseed Games, which is owned by Marvelous AQL. Rising Star USA’s very first North American title will be Akai Katana for Xbox 360.

Epic and Train2Game have secured the rights for the iOS games of Make Something Unreal Live, to be based on the Fighting Fantasy series of role-playing books created by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. New iOS games based on the adventure books will debut at Gadget Show Live 2012.

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Paradox has announced three titles it’s bringing with it to GDC next month, and as usual, each game’s codename is a movie title starring Kevin Costner.

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Eat, Sleep, Play co-owner David Jaffe has confirmed he’s to set up a new company, after it was reported yesterday he’s to leave his current role at the Salt Lake City developer.

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