Tag Archives: raven software

Raven’s Singularity is to be deliver the same experience across all formats, Raven’s told VG247, thanks to the developer’s cross-platform experience and the use of Unreal Engine 3 for the game.

“We are developing across the X360/PS3/PC simultaneously,” said the title’s creative director, Jon Zuk. “Each platform has challenges, but you’ll get the same experience whether it’s PC, 360 or PS3.

“There are no differences between the three, but you have to balance things to the specifications of each platform,” he added. “Fortunately, the Unreal 3 engine is very strong and already working on all of our platforms, so it’s not as big a challenge as it could be if we were creating a game engine from scratch.”

The shooter follows a nuclear accident on a Soviet island, and involves ageing objects with a Time Manipulation Device, or TMD.

Singularity is one of three new IPs launching from Activision this year, the other two being Radical’s Prototype and Bizarre’s new racer, Blur.

It’s out this autumn.

Bet you all thought Raven’s Singularity was just going to be “another” time-travelling shooter, didn’t you?

Not so. The nuclearafied Cold War FPS allows you to control the age of objects, not the flow of time.

We know because we asked. See:

VG247: The whole “time-control” mechanic is pretty well-worn now. How will Singularity freshen it up?

Jon Zuk, Singularity creative director: Using the Time Manipulation Device or TMD, the player can control the age of objects but not time itself. Many objects can be manipulated and these changes in age are permanent in most cases. When an object is changed in time, it can shift between the current day state and a state as it existed some 60 years in the past, when an accident occurred on the island. The TMD is an amazing piece of equipment, developed far, far ahead of its time. It uses E-99 as a power source, enabling you to effectively change the time-state of different objects, and beings, on Katorga-12. You can use the TMD on objects like ammo crates, gas-filled barrels and electrical equipment, for starters. Aging and renewing things like chains or even concrete supports can let loose heavy or explosive objects to fall on unsuspecting enemies. The TMD also has a Time Stasis feature that allows you to grab items and sustain them in time. A practical and rewarding use of the Time Stasis is grabbing enemy grenades and throwing them back at them – the stasis field nullifies the grenade’s timer so it won’t explode while you’re holding it.

Sound puzzlery.

Singularity is set on a Soviet island after a nuclear experiment goes wrong.

The game’s one of three new IPs Activision’s releasing this year, the other two being Radical’s Prototype and Bizarre racer Blur.

Watch for more from E3.

A Raven rep, speaking at GDC, told VG247 that Hugh Jackman really got into his Wolverine role while doing voiceovers for X-Men Origins.

“You should have seen him,” she said. “He really got into the role. He even got up first thing in the morning and took a really cold shower to get himself nice and angry for his part as Wolverine.”

No mention if he ripped anyone in the studio to shreds while he was at it, but it’s nice to know that method acting isn’t a lost art.

The game’s out for all formats on May 1.

Wolfenstein creative director Eric Biessman has told VG247 that Wolfenstein isn’t just another WWII shooter. In fact, according to the developer, it’s not a WWII game at all.

We said: “Why should we be excited? This is just another ‘spooky’ WWII FPS, right?”

Eric said: “There’s a lot to be excited about in Wolfenstein! The core gameplay of Wolfenstein is based on fast-action, visceral combat and heavy-duty firepower. Looking deeper at the game, you see that it’s set in a very compelling universe. While the game is set in WWII, it’s not a WWII game – that’s like saying the Indiana Jones movies are WWII movies.

“Dark science and strange occult mysteries combine to create larger than life characters, weaponry and enemies. This also lets us stray outside the realm of reality to create compelling game play – we don’t have to have realistic enemies and weapons, we can do things just for the sake of being fun and exciting. It really opened a lot of creative doors for us.

“When we started development of the game we asked ourselves, ‘What if?’ What if the Nazis had access to an unlimited power source? What if the Nazis could create beam weapons? What if the Nazis could create suits of powered armour? It was pretty cool to imagine the possibilities and see them come to life in Wolfenstein.”

The un-WWII shooter’s out for PC, 360 and PS3 this summer.

Raven’s confirmed that this summer’s Wolfenstein is to feature drinking Nazis.

The inclusion may now be seen as a “trend”: Return to Castle Wolfenstein allowed you to sneak up on a drunk Nazi in a cellar.

Drinking and Nazis are going to be fused in a different way this time out, though.

“I can’t promise that you’ll see singing, drunken Nazis, but I can tell you that you might get to see what happens to a Nazi when he’s had too much to drink,” Eric Biessman, the game’s creative director at Raven, told VG247.

“You’ll just have to keep your eyes out for it when you play the game.”

Hot dog. The news brings only adds to our anticipation for the shooter, GDC impressions of which can be found here.

The game’s out for PC, PS3 and 360 this summer.

Nazis are brilliant. Yes, we’re aware there’s a pretty solid case for them not being that brilliant, but you know what we mean. These Gamespot screens of mad glowy Nazis are therefore doubly great, especially given the game itself is shaping up so well.

Get out impressions here.

Activision released a new trailer of Raven’s Wolfenstein this morning, and pretty damn sensational it looked too. One thing, though: there’s no PC or Games for Windows logo listed in the game’s platforms at the end.

Eagle-eyed VG247 reader ShiroGamer spotted the omission, and it’s certainly true. Only 360 and PS3 are listed in the movie’s splash screen, as you can see in the image above.

The shooter was announced for “Xbox 360, PS3, Windows PC” just before E3 last year.

Has the PC version been dropped? Or did Mr Video-Maker do a booboo?

We’ll ask Acti on Monday.

More scans from the latest PC Action popped up on Gamekyo this morning, showing new screens and art from Raven’s Q4 shooter, Singularity.

The article’s in German, but there’s a great picture of some kind of radioactive ship there, so it’s come one, come all.

The game’s set on a Soviet island, and involves nuclear testing and time-bending.

PC and HD consoles. Thanks, Blerk.

Raven’s put out the first proper trailer of upcoming FPS Singularity, and, and you’d hope, it’s looking hot.

The plot’s based on a Soviet experiment gone wrong. There’s a special suit and time-warping.

It’s very pretty, no doubt. Out in the fourth quarter. Watch it after the break.

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Raven’s put out some new viral vids for Singularity, its Q4 Acti Blizz shooter. After the break.

The Russians are covering things up. They’re zapping bits of metal and getting vapourised when they “increase power”. There’s an island. Or is there?

Bottom line: hole in time and you get to shoot shit. There’s no gameplay in these, but you’re bored and it’s Friday afternoon. Don’t bother pretending you’ve got anything better to do.

Thanks, RPS.

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IGN has them. There are 16 in all and hand on heart Raven Software’s fantasy action movie tie-in actually looks pretty good.

Activision will release the game for PS2, PS3, Nintendo DS, 360, PC, PSP and Wii in May.

Through the link for the screens.

By Mike Bowden

Ziff Davis ‘zine Electronic Gaming Monthly plans on unchaining the new Wolverine game in an upcoming issue, but the EGM staff dribbled out a few details to sate gamers’ appetites until the main event hits newsstands.

The game, called X-Men Origins: Wolverine, is in development at Raven Software and promises “real-time in-game healing …an elegantly accessible combat system, a sweet boss fight against the very first Sentinel robot prototype, and lots more.”

Apparently, this time around, Wolverine’s particular brand of slice ‘n’ dice will take a few pointers from games like God of War and, er, Super Smash Bros – but how exactly those games fit into the latest X-Men jigsaw puzzle is still unknown.

Fortunately, the new EGM’s fresh fumes should already be wafting from subscribers mailboxes, so expect more info soon.

By Nathan Grayson

According to this Eurogamer report, Roger Avary is currently working on the script to the long-delayed Wolfenstein movie.

“With the writer’s strike it took so long to get underway and Roger Avary, the writer, had a commitment that was in line before working the Wolfenstein stuff, but I’ve recently been in contact with Roger and he’s actually working on the script right now,” said id bos Todd Hollenshead.

“I think that from a progress standpoint it’s probably gone a little bit slower than what we would have expected – you can’t control these strikes and so on.”

No date’s been given for the film, but the more movies we have involving Nazis and supernature the better.

More through the link.

After the break. We’re hot for this. Supernatural shooters don’t work unless they have Nazis in them, and there are more Nazis here than a double-putsch. A man says, “Welcome to the new Reich” at the end, which made all our hair stand on end. Watch it. Before it watches you.

There are some new screens on Joystiq as well.

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The movie’s on Shacknews, and it looks bloody amazing if you ask us. Nazis, green glowing stuff, Nazis, zombies and Nazis. Nothing will go wrong with this. See for yourself.

IGN has the first proper screens, as well.

Activision just confirmed that Wolfenstein is to be shown in LA this week, and gave first official details on the Raven game.

The shooter will have “class-based team objective gameplay with a full arsenal of conventional and supernatural weapons for addictive online warfare,” and “intense, story-driven combat.

See below. Taken from a press release:

From id Software’s critically-acclaimed and multi-million unit selling Wolfenstein universe, which pioneered and defined the first-person action genre, comes the ultimate supernatural thriller. Set within a near-fictional, historical WWII setting, players take on the role of the heroic OSA agent BJ Blazkowicz as they are thrust into the unknown and unexpected to battle against combat troops, otherworldly forces, and the dark science created by a supernatural Nazi force hell-bent on world domination. Wolfenstein offers players an action-packed experience as they investigate the powers of a dark parallel dimension, join with resistance forces, and employ an arsenal of conventional and otherworldly weapons in attempts to annihilate the Nazi war machine. Ensuring a deep variety of action, Wolfenstein provides gamers with an assortment of interlinked missions that drive an intense, story-driven combat experience; while the Wolfenstein multiplayer experience continues the world-renowned tradition of class-based team objective gameplay with a full arsenal of conventional and supernatural weapons for addictive online warfare. (Xbox 360™, PS3, Windows® PC).

Full thing after the link.

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Tiscali Games has them again, about half-way the down page. They look as grainy as the scans posted yesterday, funnily enough. Take a look.

By Mike Bowden

On Tiscali Games. They’re not the best quality, which is a shame, but fans of Return to Castle Wolfenstein will be quaking in their boots. Not evidence of supernatural powers going on there, but nice lighting and Nazis is always a good start. Take a look.

NeoGAF’s posted the first details of the next Wolfenstein, now certain to be shown at E3. The info comes from a subs issue of Game Informer. Apparently:

• Pub: Activision, Dev: Raven Software/ID Software
• Takes place in WWII against Nazi’s fully dabbling in the occult
• BJ (the hero) will also make use of supernatural powers.
• Game gives you a city in which the game takes place. Missions and quests take you through different parts. As you complete quests, more of the city opens up. Kind of a non-linear path.
• Set piece and randomly generated activity block your path.
• There is an AI resistance force that will assist you during the game at times. Think of the resistance forces in MGS4 I guess?
• You will also enter “The Shroud”, an alternate reality version of the city. A dimension in which the Nazi’s are drawing power from.

PC, 360 and PS3. As if there was ever any doubt. No date.

Spike TV, whose videogame coverage is actually less juvenile than you might expect, is covering E3. Now that we’ve halted the presses, onto the real news. In a hyperbole-packed presser sent out by Spike, Kotaku discovered an unintentional unveil.

“Also, tune in for more world exclusive surprises including something special from id Software and Raven Software,” read a small portion of the press release.

It’s likely referring to the spiffy new Wolfenstein title, which was announced way back in 2005.

With any luck, we’ll hear something about the title next week. There’s only room for one Duke Nukem Forever in this industry.

By Nathan Grayson