118 ответов в теме

[Inso]

Lights out for LOTR:The White Council?

http://www.1up.com/d...ory?cId=3156206

Under the condition of anonymity a source revealed to 1UP that the ambitious, licensed, RPG that was to be Lord of the Rings: The White Council is no more.

<..>

EA had "no comment" on whether or not the lights in the White Council team's offices had gone dark or not.

Oh well..

[Azraille]

посмотрим что получится но често говоря звцчит интригующе )) Чужие когда то были эталоном хорор фантастики. Теперь может получится крайне интересный проект в рпг сеттинге, тем более что Obsidian работает в интересном ключе. (ээхххх KOTOR2......)

[Inso]

посмотрим что получится но често говоря звцчит интригующе )) Чужие когда то были эталоном хорор фантастики. Теперь может получится крайне интересный проект в рпг сеттинге, тем более что Obsidian работает в интересном ключе. (ээхххх KOTOR2......)

Вообще, по атмосферности, имхо, тяжело будет переплюнуть AvP2.

Новости, по порядку:

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Кто интересовался такой увлекательной областью как моды для BG2 скорее всего знают имя Westley Weimer, известного за свои *отличные* моды к выше упомянутому проекту. Так вот, доморощенный гений основал с кем-то по имени Jason Compton свою независимую гейм-дев компанию "Planewalker Games". Первый проект студии CRPG для Win, Linux и Mac платформ The Broken Hourglass обещает фентези roman empire - like сеттинг, мир, наполненный политическими интригами, нелинейный сюжет и нетривиальных персонажей. Проект уже может похвастаться тремя скриншотами

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Готовая уже вскоре обрушиться на нас hack`n`slash Hellgate:London от отколовшихся "диабло-мейкеров" Flagship Sudios будет просить платную подписку для игры онлайн.

http://www.shacknews...article.x/45282

Flagship Studios revealed this week that the game's multiplayer component is a subscription-based online service.

Платный мультиплеер для НЕ mmorpg?

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Интервью с членом комманды разработчиков Piranha Bytes (Gothic series) Kai Rosenkranz.

http://forum.jowood....ad.php?t=136609

В общем и целом разговор вокруг общего дизайна серии, будующих патчей\аддонов\редакторов для G3.

There are always nervous people in the boards asking if we stopped development of Gothic3-patches yet. That's of course not true and we would betray ourselves and our past company policy if we jilt you with an unfinished game. The majority of the team still works on Gothic 3 and only few are looking for future projects and discuss about ideas and feasibility which is quite important for those of us who don't want to idle after the game being finished completely.

Good to hear.

Our Genome-Editor is an allround-solution which is able to cope with every game data. Only the 3D geometry itself is created with external tools like 3DS Max. Our Editor is coalesced with a so-called Asset-Management-Tool named Perforce which channels and structurises all data stream. This is not our programm and it costs quite a lump of money. Releasing the editor in its current state would mean either you having to buy Perforce or alternatively having to accept that many features of it won't work. Long speech short sense: Many work has to be put into the Genome-Editor to separate him from his Siamese twin Perforce without it being perished.

Like anyone cares..

By now I always said "future projects" and avoided using the term "addon". In the boards people consider our work on an addon as a known secret, but an official statement is still missed until now. And today I won't give you a denial or an affirmation, too.

[Inso]

Peter Molyneux does it again. Супер секретные фичи Fable 2.

http://news.teamxbox...Feature-at-GDC/

Gamasutra learned today that a new session has been added to the GDC 2007 program in which Lionhead's Peter Molyneux will finally reveal the super secret feature found in the sequel to Fable.

Titled "Innovations in Fable 2," the session "will examine how key game play elements have been refined and expanded. It will also look at what inspiration was drawn for the original game and what lessons were learnt from Fable".

Back at X06, Molyneux told us that the super secret feature is in some way related to the “unconditional love” feature also found in the game, in the way that it is all about “emotions” Lionhead wants players to experience when playing Fable 2.

Он напоминает мне героев мультфильмов, которые пародируют графа Дракулу, эффектным жестом закрывают нижнюю половину лица плащем, сверкают глазами и таинственным голосом говорят "Nobody knows!.."

[Inso]

Planewalker Games говорят об инновациях в ролевую систему своей грядущей crpg The Broken Hourglass.
Group Skills

http://www.planewalk...ent/view/63/46/

For instance, consider a party of three characters: Tuhan, Ioanna, and Ruvanet.

Tuhan's skill in Manipulation is 40. Ioanna's is 30, but Ruvanet, a straight shooter, has just 12. We use Tuhan's full score, since his rank is the best. Ioanna is in second place, so we use half of her skill. Ruvanet is third, so we take one-third of his value.

The group's total skill in Manipulation, then, is

40 + (30 / 2) + (12 / 3) = 59

So by aligning himself with Ioanna and Ruvanet, Tuhan is nearly "50% better" at Manipulation than he is on his own--although most of the advantage comes from Ioanna. Had he allied himself just with Ruvanet, his group would have just a 46 in Manipulation, or a mere 15% improvement.

The following are all group skills in The Broken Hourglass:

Hagging (Social). <..>

Diplomacy (Social). <..>

Manipulation (Social). <..>

Perception (Exploration). <..>

Locks and Traps (Exploration). <..>

Tactics (Offensive). <..>

[Inso]

Beth Soft официально подтверждает разработку аддона для TESIV:Oblivion - Shivering Isles.

http://biz.yahoo.com...h036.html?.v=86

Within the Realm of Sheogorath, players can explore the two extreme sides of the god's madness -- the sublimely creative and the completely psychotic. Something is happening to the Shivering Isles and Sheogorath himself looks to you to be his champion and defend his realm and its inhabitants from destruction. Do you have the strength to survive his trials, tame a realm fraught with paranoia and despair, and wear the mantle of a God?

The Shivering Isles features a bizarre landscape split between the two sides -- Mania and Dementia -- filled with vast, twisting dungeons mirroring the roots of the trees they are buried within. You'll encounter more than a dozen new creatures including hideous insects, Flesh Atronachs, skeletal Shambles, amphibious Grummites. Throughout your adventure, you will discover all new items, ingredients, spells, and more, and have the talented craftsmen of Crucible and Bliss forge new armor and weapons just for you.

<...>

The Windows version of Shivering Isles will be available at retail and is co-published by Bethesda Softworks and 2K Games, while the Xbox 360 version is currently planned for release through Xbox Live® online entertainment network by Bethesda Softworks.

[Garland]

Анонс игры + Концепт арт и изображение коробки с игрой.

http://www.elderscrolls.net/

Изменено: Garland, 19 Январь 2007 - 16:12

[Inso]

Fo3 on XBOX 360? Most likely.

http://www.gamernews...-says-bethesda/

Speaking to Todd Howard (Executive producer of Oblivion, Morrowind and Fallout) with regard to Bethesda’s plans for 2007 and beyond, he told us; "We started work (on Fallout 3) in late 2004 with a few people. We only had about 10 people on it until Oblivion wrapped, but most of our staff is on it now." Is it wishful thinking that Fallout 3 will eventually be released on Microsoft’s next-gen machine? With the game itself utilising the same Gamebryo engine as Oblivion, perhaps not. And promised to be as huge and open-ended as their multi-award winning 2006 effort, demand for Fallout 3 on the Xbox 360 would be huge.

Кто бы мог подумать)


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Небольшое BioShock Q&A @ http://www.2kgames.com/cultofrapture/

http://www.2kgames.c...rapture/qa1.htm

Will there be multiplayer or online gaming in BioShock?

There will be no multiplayer (hold on before you complain!!!!) but for a very specific reason. BioShock features a compelling storyline that revolves around the experiences of one man as he enters the decaying world of Rapture. Having a multiplayer component would have compromised the story we were trying to tell so we made the decision to keep this game as a single player experience. There will be an online component, however, where new content can be downloaded.

Will BioShock have a playable demo, and if so, when?

No playable demo is planned at this time, as the team is focused on the actual game. Things could change, however.

What will the PC requirements be for BioShock?

As we are still in development for the PC, we have not yet finalized the requirements. We will let you know as soon as we’re sure.

[Azraille]

Fo3 on XBOX 360

еще есть сомневающиеся в том на что оно будет похоже? Это к сожалению уже не тот фолл будет. Абсолютно.

[Dart Gegemaunt]

Fo3 on XBOX 360

еще есть сомневающиеся в том на что оно будет похоже? Это к сожалению уже не тот фолл будет. Абсолютно.

Ты что, провидец? Откуда знаешь, на что Fo3 будет похож. Над ним только что начали работать. Советую заранее не делать подобных заявлений. Вот выйдет - можешь критиковать сколько хочешь.

[Inso]

Fo3 on XBOX 360

еще есть сомневающиеся в том на что оно будет похоже? Это к сожалению уже не тот фолл будет. Абсолютно.

Ты что, провидец? Откуда знаешь, на что Fo3 будет похож. Над ним только что начали работать. Советую заранее не делать подобных заявлений. Вот выйдет - можешь критиковать сколько хочешь.

Все к этому ведет. TES4 продался в районе 3 миллионов копий, очень высокая цифра по стандартам индустрии, и большая часть из продаж была на консоли. При таких прибылях довольно вероятно, что beth soft начнет заниматься самокопированием в плане фолла. Даже если предположить что сама студия будет против того чтобы Fo3 = TES4 то боссы будут настаивать на этом, это почти аксиома. А между двумя сериями существует большая разница как в плане "духа" так и более приземленного, вроде геймплея. Поэтому при таком раскладе действительно очень вероятно что Fo3 будет уже совсем "не тем".

[Azraille]

Все к этому ведет. TES4 продался в районе 3 миллионов копий, очень высокая цифра по стандартам индустрии, и большая часть из продаж была на консоли. При таких прибылях довольно вероятно, что beth soft начнет заниматься самокопированием в плане фолла. Даже если предположить что сама студия будет против того чтобы Fo3 = TES4 то боссы будут настаивать на этом, это почти аксиома. А между двумя сериями существует большая разница как в плане "духа" так и более приземленного, вроде геймплея. Поэтому при таком раскладе действительно очень вероятно что Fo3 будет уже совсем "не тем".

я бы не сказал лучше. Молодец.
Добавлю лишь что назначение Тодда Ховарда дает основания полагать что BethSoft хочет видеть Fallout именно похожим на Обливион в плане успеха. Да сеттинг изменят. Но вот в плане движка уже все ясно почти на 100%. В плане подхода к геймплею в принципе тоже, с той лишь разницей что упор будут делать на "нелинейность" и "реальность" мира в соотвествии с "духом серии"(вот увидите в пресс релизах такие фразы вспомните Азру ). Попытки отдельных групп разработчиков создать нечто отходящее от генеральной линии выйдет лишь боком как самому проекту так и самим разработчикам. У издателя есть шанс сделать на культовом имени неплохую игру но то что это будет мало похоже на fallout от BIS уже практичеки неоспоримо.

[Inso]

Beth soft`s Pete Hines interview @ shacknews.

http://www.shacknews...7_petehines_1.x

Вторая страница послностью посвящена Fo3.

Shack: You guys have your own trademark series so you're used to dealing with fan expectation, but is it different or intimidating working on a franchise like Fallout that already has such a built in reputation?

Pete Hines: Oh, yeah. Absolutely. For a couple of reasons. Number one is that we're treating it as if we made the first two, with the same care and attention we give to The Elder Scrolls, but the truth of the matter is that we haven't. As a result there's probably a lot more divergent opinion about what it should be, what we should do, are we the right guys to do it, and so on.

Shack: Is there any of that internally?

Pete Hines: Internally, not really. Internally, we're a bunch of Fallout geeks. There is nobody [here] who hasn't played that game and enjoyed it. I have that game on my laptop, I take it with me and play it. But it's definitely different, because it's not really considered ours, the franchise. We didn't start it. There is a little bit of that sentiment out there that we have to prove that we're worthy to be the guys to make Fallout 3. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, because we have very high expectations for ourselves. The standard that we hold ourselves to, the kind of games we expect to make in terms of quality, we have a very high level of expectation. There's really nothing like the people from the outside expecting more than we expect ourselves.

Yeah, that figures.

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Там же, интервью о Jade Empire PC

http://www.shacknews...empire_pcqa_1.x

Shack: A lot of console-to-PC ports suffer from "console visuals." How has Jade Empire fared in the process of being ported?

Diarmid Clarke: Jade Empire: Special Edition is certainly not just a straight port: we've completely upgraded the entire game to look absolutely spectacular on the PC. This means high-resolution graphics (which look terrific in widescreen, by the way), hand crafted textures, and enhanced effects. We've also made the graphics scalable so they also look fantastic on lower-end machines as well. We've also spent a lot of time crafting a very intuitive control system for the keyboard and mouse, and players can also map their keys however they want, and we are really happy that players actually prefer playing through the keyboard/mouse option. We're also providing support for gamepads as well.

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И наконец Oblivion review @ Firing Squad (60%)

http://news.firingsq...Oblivion_Review

The Elder Scrolls series, by Bethesda Softworks, has long been hailed as one of the leaders in pushing the RPG envelope in terms of scale. The newest addition, Oblivion, can be taken in two distinct ways. To the casual gamer who has not played the other Elder Scrolls games, Oblivion seems mind-blowing. A continuous world full of different races, conflicts, and quests in which you seek out treasure and fame by killing monsters, becoming a rampant criminal, or murdering your way to the top. The hardcore gamer knows that this was the case in Ultima 7, released in 1992. So this concept of a free-form RPG is nothing new. So what is new about Oblivion?
<..>
Bethesda has always had a strong point in lore, quests and storyline. The storyline, however, in Oblivion, feels more canned and standard-issue than in the previous games. There are still quite a few quests that are innovative - one in which you must enter the painting of an artist to rescue him, battling painted goblins under a beautiful painted sky. In terms of lore, I must say it’s a lot less rich than in Morrowind. Most of the books are recycled from previous games. Story is a strong point in general for these games, however with Oblivion, the focus around power-gaming as opposed to role playing really can take you out of it. A huge factor taking me out of the story and out of the roleplaying mood is:

AI. They said so many things about what the AI would be in this game, and really, it’s none of those. The 12 voice actors for the game did a shaky job at best, however, because there are only 12 voice actors and around 1,000 NPCs, you end up hearing the same pieces of dialogue, the same voices, all over the place. Hearing the same voice for a vendor in one town as I do in 5 other towns really takes me out of it.
<..>
Final word: I bring up Ultima 7 again, and with good reason. Created fifteen years ago, it’s got more immersive features than what we consider to be a top contender in the American-style RPG market. That says very bad things about the work ethic and priorities of Bethesda. It’s a laziness letdown whose technology simply isn’t optimized for today’s PCs and whose design is simply not optimized for today’s hardcore gamer.

Неужели кто-то наконец догадался сравнить TES4 и U7?

[Inso]

Boiware`s Jade Empire PC review @ gamespot.com (7.8/10)

http://au.gamespot.c...ire/review.html

The choices sound interesting, but once you get used to the different types of enemies, it usually boils down to the same rote clicking. Each style has main and alternate attacks, as well as a power attack. You can also activate focus mode, which is essentially like bullet time. The majority of your attacks will use up one of your two sources of strength, chi or focus. On paper this sounds fine, but in practice, you merely lock on to an enemy and slash or punch him a few times, and he dies. If it's a larger enemy, maybe you'll use Toad Demon to poison him or Paralyzing Palm to stop him in his tracks and then slash him up without too much interference. Most encounters--even many boss fights--really are this simple.

Похоже что Bioware решила оставить тактически бои фанатам BG и "двигаться вперед".

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Bioshock official forums now open @ 2KGames

http://forums.2kgame...isplay.php?f=16


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Planewalker Games` The Broken Hourglass crpg interview @ Four Fat Chicks

http://www.fourfatch...mpton/JC2.shtml

Мало информации об игре, зато много о самой студии и ее основателях.

Can you give us any idea on what kind of distribution plans you may have for The Broken Hourglass?

Well, one encouraging thing is we have had some interest from a couple of publishers at this point—companies that are willing to at least consider taking a chance on an outfit like ours, which is very encouraging. We'll see how that goes. If nothing happens there, or even if it does but there are certain regions that aren't taken care of, we're certainly ready and willing to do our own direct distribution. I am not proud—I will put labels on envelopes and send things out.

Не вериться мне что кто-то возьмет на себя риск паблишинга indie rpg.

[Inso]

Warren Spector & Next-Gen Storytelling @ GBC 2007 Live Blog

http://www.1up.com/d...cUserId=5844217

Conclusion Four: It's all about balance. Whether you think games don't need stories or need to center around them, Warren says you're crazy. You can't lecture players, but you can involve them.
...
Warren's happy the shared authorship model is still around and working well (ex. Oblivion, Irrational's work). The point is not to overpower the player with creativity, but to share it. Used to think Oblivion/GTA were very different, but not so much now. This is the most promising model, in the short term.

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Sacred 2 Interview @ http://rpgvault.ign....0/770195p3.html

Hans-Arno Wegner: One important attribute of Sacred is the seamless world that allows the player to move freely. The player does not have to follow a fixed path, but can explore realms full of hidden mysteries. This adds a lot of atmosphere and freedom of play to the game. Ancaria itself is huge and full of beautiful details.
...
In Sacred 2, we are optimizing our character development system to offer strong archetypal characters and the optimum amount of freedom to individualize the look and playing style. It is typical Sacred style that you can choose from all Combat Arts of the character right from the start. This gives you the freedom to give each of them a try. Which one do you like most? Which combination could be a perfect one for your preferred style of gaming? Character development is all about freedom.

Each of the characters' three aspects includes all Combat Arts for one specific playing style. You can concentrate on one aspect and optimize all the passive skills and the items to this way of fighting, or you combine two or three aspects with each other. This could result in completely new definitions of fighting styles for this character.

You can freely decide if you prefer close combat or ranged fighting. Weapon-based combat moves not only work with close combat weapons, but also with ranged weapons like bows. Or do you like to fight mounted? Every Combat Art also works from horseback. In addition to horses, every character has its own special optimized mount.

If i`d liked action games, i would have been impressed, probably.



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The Witcher Preview @ IGN

http://pc.ign.com/ar...9/769171p1.html

Although Geralt can create these using herbs and ingredients, their use is double-edged, with potential benefits, such as night vision, or swiftness, balanced by the drawback that they also poison him - causing loss of consciousness or blindness for example.

It`s drink or die!


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All things reviews

Jade Empire @ http://pc.gamespy.co...e/767644p2.html, 4/5
Jade Empire @ http://www.shacknews...re_pcreview_2.x
Jade Empire @ http://www.1up.com/d...age?cId=3157458, 7/10