Hunted will bring Unreal engine level editing to consoles.

Getting a bit fed up with the flood of me-too zombie games these days? There’s only so many ways you (and a band of rag tag co-op buddies) can obliterate the undead, before things start to stagnate. Developer Candygun Games seems to realize that, and is taking a novel approach later this year with their XBLA/PSN/PC project Dead Block, revealed this week. Dead Block is built on Unreal Engine 3, and merges CoD Zombies-style defense gameplay with a less-than-serious 1950′s B-movie tone. “Jack Foster (a construction worker), Foxy Jones (a traffic warden), and Mike Bacon (a perpetually hungry boy scout) have formed an unlikely alliance to protect themselves from the invading undead. Hiding in various shelters around town, they avoid Zombies by building blockades, setting fiendish traps or – as a last resort – using their weapons to fight.” Hopefully there’s enough uniqueness to it to warrant attention this summer. Dead Block is set to feature 10 solo campaign levels, 8 co-op levels, 4-player split-screen support, and 9 different types of weapons and traps to use. No price has been set yet.

Darkest of Days...…Have you ever wondered what could happen if time travel was a reality? Have you ever thought about the possibility of going back in time to rewrite history for the better? That possibility is a reality in Darkest of Days, where players will travel back and forth through the annals of time to relive some of mankind's most dire hours. 



By fighting through terrible events such as The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest conflict of the Civil War, and both World War I and II, the player will attempt to save certain key individuals who were never meant to become involved in these truly monstrous events and thereby change human history for the better.



Features



Brand New Engine: The dedicated team at 8monkey Labs has created an all-new, groundbreaking game engine known as Marmoset. The Marmoset engine not only breaks from the all-too present Unreal engine FPS clones flooding the market, but also allows for some amazing graphical capabilities. You'll fight through epic battles filled with literally hundreds of NPCs on the screen at the same time, all with an advanced AI and all without a hint of graphical slowdown and all set against wide-open environments that are lushly detailed and dynamically lighted.



Compelling Storyline: Darkest of Days is a compelling, action-packed first-person shooter to be sure, but it's not just mindless run-and-gun, blow 'em up gameplay. You'll have to not only think about how to approach certain key battles and situations, but you'll also have to take care when fighting

• Intel CPU, 2.16 GHz or faster

• 1 GB RAM

• GeForce 8600, Radeon X1600 or newer, 128 MB

• 5 GB Hard Disk space
• Mac OS X 10.6.6 or later.

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Can't see the video? Click here

Downloadable title Dead Block is a zombie defense game, but unlike Call of Duty: Black Ops' focus on shooting zombies, it has a focus on creating traps to deal with the undead menace. It reminds me a bit of Evil Genius but with zombies.

The Unreal Engine 3 powered game features 10 singleplayer levels, up to 4-player split-screen multiplayer, 8 co-op levels, 9 types of traps and upgradable weapons.

Dead Block is scheduled for a Summer 2011 release on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network, and PC.

PS3/Xbox 360/Wii/DS; £44.99; cert 16+;
Liquid Entertainment/Sega

Obviously, Marvel's take on Norse mythology was always destined for the epic third-person adventure treatment. And, although God of War got there first by some considerable margin, Thor makes a decent stab at both the movie it's based on and the genre it aspires to.

The graphics, while not exactly jaw-dropping, are at least varied with occasionally impressive animations of your hero and the humongous boss characters he must conquer at the end of every level. The action kicks off in Asgard, with the home of the Norse gods under attack and Thor fighting to prevent the place being overrun by ice giants. Although borrowing some set pieces from the movie, the game also features events from outside the timeline that may be familiar to readers of the comic. And some of the tussles – for instance, with relentless enemies such as the Destroyer – remind you exactly how inventive Marvel's back catalogue can be.

When it comes to combat, there's a bevy of melee moves, ranged hammer throws and lightning strikes, grapples, blocks and dodges. You can also use the D-pad to flip between three types of magic – thunder, lightning and wind – each of which works better against one type of enemy. For ice giants, for instance, lightning attacks work a treat, although it might have helped if there was a clearer visual indication of which type of magic you are using at any given time. All in all, there's almost as many moves as a dedicated beat-em-up and, with six types of ability upgrades, a stronger RPG influence than these games usually offer.

So why, when it promises so much, is Thor such a hit and miss experience? It's all down to the interface and the tediously linear style of combat. For control there are three button configurations but none deliver anything like a smooth transition between blocks and attacks. The ability to define the buttons yourself would have helped, but with so many combos to memorise, some of which only work in specific contexts, it's hard not to resort to basic button mashing to get you from one choke point to the next. This works fine till you get to the boss battles where you need to first approach the boss, activate a grapple move and then quickly get to a position to damage its weak-spots. And you have to do it over and over and over again until one of you loses interest or dies.

Powered by the Unreal 3 engine, Thor certainly had the tools to be in the same league as God of War. Unfortunately, while it's energetic fun in parts, there's a series of near-vertical blips where the learning curve should be.

• Game reviewed on PS3

Rating: 3/5

The saga of Too Human, Silicon Knights' Norse-mythology-meets-sci-fi RPG which spent ten years in development hell only to receive a cool reception upon release, may not be over. In a recent interview with IndustryGamers, CEO Denis Dyack has stated that Silicon Knights, "intend to finish the trilogy but no comment beyond that."

Which isn't entirely true, because he also mentions the "very public litigation" surrounding the title. That would likely be referring to the suit Silicon Knights brought against Epic Games in 2007, claiming that Epic failed to provide support for the Unreal Engine which caused delays in the development of Too Human. That trial is currently awaiting a federal jury.

Silicon Knights on Too Human: We Intend to Finish the Trilogy [IndustryGamers via Shacknews]

Based in the Yaletown area of Vancouver, BC, Microsoft Game Studios Vancouver is “building a first class team”, and was set up in early 2010. Why are they important, for a studio otherwise unknown to the world? According to recently discovered evidence, MGS Vancouver is going to be bringing Xbox 360 gamers core titles for rather casual-focused Kinect — specifically a “core AAA shooter experience using Kinect.” The studio (also apparently known as Zipline Studios) says its mission is to “push the limits of proven and unexplored game development and show the world what’s possible on Microsoft’s game consoles,” and they’re working on “bringing high quality, highly experimental gameplay to Xbox 360 and Kinect”, and also “future gaming platforms.” Before you freak out and assume MGS Vancouver has been tasked with Kinect-ifying an established, controller-based series like Halo or Gears (the latter of which Epic already tried, and seemingly canceled), job listings describe “an original IP that uses Kinect in new and unique ways” as being in production. However, that doesn’t mean more than one project isn’t in the pipeline. Morever, a position seeking a Senior Technical Game Designer notes use of Unreal Engine 3, not often used in internally-developed Microsoft titles (Good Science’s Kinect Adventures was built on UE3, though). Shawn Woods, art director at the studio, wrote on his online resume that MGS Vancouver was originally a base intended for “social microtransaction games”, but in the year since being established “our studio strategy has changed and now focuses on developing a core AAA shooter experience using Kinect.” Interesting. Sadly no hint as to what exactly is being created here, but what are the chances we see a ‘core’ first-party Kinect surprise at E3 next month? Pretty good, I’d say. Could this be one of the first “hybrid” Kinect/controller experiences?

Though they’re embroiled in an ongoing lawsuit with Epic Games, Eternal Darkness developer Silicon Knights says despite Xbox 360′s long-in-development sci-fi RPG Too Human underwhelming in 2008, they are going to complete the two remaining installments of the trilogy, as originally intended. Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack spoke with IndustryGamers, saying, “We intend to finish the trilogy but no comment beyond that...You know, there’s very public litigation around that.” That was Dyack referring to the legal drama over the Unreal Engine 3, which they licensed for Too Human after its eventual move from PS1, to GameCube, and finally to Xbox 360 as an exclusive franchise. SK and Epic are scheduled to go to court in the coming months, so it’s unlikely we’ll hear anything further on the subject, or Too Human II and III, until that matter is settled. There’s also the fact that SK is currently working on Activision’s X-Men: Destiny, too. Asked back in 2009 about whether or not Microsoft had any intention of seeing the trilogy through, then-corporate VP of LIVE John Schapert said, “We don’t have anything to announce with respect to Silicon Knights or Too Human right now.”

This August will mark three years since Too Human landed on Xbox 360. Leading up to its release, developer Silicon Knights talked it up as being the first part of a trilogy planned for the 360 and yet we've seen no word about a sequel in quite some time. That doesn't mean the developer has abandoned the series -- it still wants to finish the trilogy at some point but it's not as simple a matter as that.

"We intend to finish the trilogy but no comment beyond that," Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack told IndustryGamers. Dyack might normally be inclined to talk more about it, but he added, "You know, there's very public litigation around that."

The litigation he's referring to is Silicon Knights' lawsuit it filed in 2007 against Epic Games over issues with the Unreal Engine. (SK claimed it "experience[d] considerable losses" as a result of Epic not fulfilling its duties to "provide a working game engine.") Epic promptly tried to have it dismissed but that motion was denied. After a long wait a decision was made earlier this year to allow the case to be heard in front a jury which SK framed as a "victory in their litigation against Epic." Epic on the other hand claimed it only meant a chance to "consider both sides' evidence." The Gears of War developer said it will be "fully vindicated." It remains to be seen what will come of the case.

By James Brightman

The games industry has changed drastically in just the last few years alone. Mobile gaming, social gaming, free-to-play, motion controllers - there are tons of avenues for game makers to follow, but knowing which horse to bet on is very difficult. Mike Capps, president of Unreal Engine creator Epic Games, told IndustryGamers that he thinks it's a scary time in the traditional games business.

“We have not been this uncertain about what's coming next in the games industry since Epic's been around for 20 years. We're at such an inflection point. Will there be physical distribution in 10 years or even five? Will anyone care about the next console generation? What's going on in PC? Can you make money on PC if it's not a connected game? What's going on in mobile?

"Tons of really scary things... It used to be, 'Well, of course PlayStation 3 will be successful because PS2 was amazingly successful.' But can you say for sure that you know everyone's going to jump to the next generation? I sure hope so – I'm going to try to make some great tech that will make everyone want to. But it's scary," Capps told us.

While Epic has been a huge supporter of the iPhone and iPad with Infinity Blade (and an SDK for iOS), Capps does see the wave of 99-cent apps as a major threat.

"If there's anything that's killing us [in the traditional games business] it's dollar apps," he lamented. "How do you sell someone a $60 game that's really worth it ... They're used to 99 cents. As I said, it's an uncertain time in the industry. But it's an exciting time for whoever picks the right path and wins." 

For the latest tech news, visit SAI: Silicon Alley Insider. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

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Epic Games, the developer of the well-known Gears of War and Unreal Tournament series of video games, is now working on a new version of their Unreal game engine and it seems that one of the main areas of focus will be the creation of more life-like characters and more complex environments, which can then be used to create more...

Epic Games held Unreal University at this year's East Coast Games Conference to instruct the masses on how to make games with the Unreal Engine.

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The tower defense genre recently got a nice boost in novelty with the release of Anomaly: Warzone Earth, which turned the genre on its head, and now we have Sanctum; a game that puts the player inside tower defense. Other than that both games involve towers though, they are really nothing alike.

Sanctum mixes first-person gameplay with traditional tower defense elements like building a maze full of towers, and pulls off its refreshing take on the genre rather successfully. However, the game is also lacking in a few aspects that would otherwise have lifted it to greatness.

Sanctum (PC)
Developer: Coffee Stain Studios
Publisher: Coffee Stain Studios
Release date: April 15th, 2011
MSRP: $14.99 ($24.99 two-pack)

Sanctum sees you as a female soldier/engineer whose only task is to protect a core by any means necessary. Like in other tower-defense games, you build a maze tailored to rain as much destruction down on waves of enemies who can approach from multiple directions. Building your maze is done in first-person, as you build blocks to construct your maze-structure and then build defensive towers on top -- or inside -- of them.

Different towers do different kinds of damage. Lightning towers are strong but slow, gatling guns are fast but weak (and only shoot at ground level), scatter towers are similar to gatling guns but also attack air targets and are more expensive, specific anti-air towers do more damage but can be fickle with fast-moving targets, etc.

Almost all enemies have weak spots and different abilities, like speeding up on long stretches or only receiving damage from behind, and you'll have to take the specifics of every type of enemy into account when constructing your maze wave after wave. Every wave nets you a set amount of resources, which you can either use to construct towers or blocks, or to upgrade your weapons. It's these weapons are what set Sanctum apart the most.

Three different types of weapons allow you to snipe, freeze, slow, grenade, or just blast the hell out of your foes. Upgrading your sniper rifle lets you take more -- and more damaging -- shots before reloading, upgrading your freeze gun slows enemies down more, and upgrading your assault rifle simply increases damage output.

Because each weapon has a cooldown to indicate overheating or reloading, this results in having to juggle your weapons to maximize your damage output. Luckily the controls facilitate this process by means of using your scroll wheel or the Q and E keys. Because your towers can't always deal with enemies by themselves, and especially in the early waves just don't do enough damage, you have to become actively involved in dealing out a large amount of damage yourself.

It makes the game a lot of fun, and a lot more engaging than just being a commander with an overhead map. You can still use such an overhead map to get a good view of the battlefield or to teleport around to "Televators" that let you walk on top of your maze, although you can't build in this view; a feature that beta players request often and which might be implemented at some point.

In most waves you'll try to snipe enemies as they approach from a distant inaccessible location, trying to hit their weak spots to do as much damage as you can. As they start to enter your maze you'll quickly learn to mix up the act of slowing down enemies with doing area damage by shooting grenades from your assault rifle, while your sniper rifle is reloading for more direct damage.

If you fall down into your own maze, you can either use Televators -- which you should've built strategically for such an occasion -- or just run in front or behind enemies while blasting away. In case you get hit, you just get bumped away as the only health in the game is that of the Core you have to protect.

So far so good, as the different enemy types will force you to think about what kind of towers you need to build at what locations, and require you to mix up your FPS approach with regard to dealing damage. However, even though there are plenty of enemy types, you tend to shoot the vast majority either right in the middle of their body, in the "head," or from behind. A few enemy types have bobbling heads which can be a challenge to snipe, or curl up into an invincible form if they get hit, but other than that it quickly becomes a bit familiar as you progress through the maps.

While that is not a huge concern in itself, the game ships with only three maps. One is a basic "use this rectangular field to build your maze" type, another has smaller areas to build on but offers slopes and bridges to detour the enemy flow, and a last one kind of combines the two. Singleplayer will just see you go through these maps in succession, with each map offering more waves to beat than the last one.

But when you find the "best" maze structure that works for you, there isn't a whole lot to go back to other than tackling the hardest difficulty settings. Going through the three maps will last you some 4-5 hours depending on how good you are at tower defense strategizing -- and the highest difficulty will lengthen that significantly -- but as the game is an FPS take on the genre, more maps with more variety would definitely have been welcome.

The freeze gun is also a bit useless if you don't use its alternate instant-freeze attack. Regular fire will simply slow down an enemy, but it costs too much to upgrade it to actually become useful for it to be worth the effort; you'll likely spend that money on damage output instead.

The game does look great, thanks to the use of Unreal Engine 3, and each map looks different enough artistically. Since the beta, the framerate appears to have been improved as well, so most midrange PCs should be able to handle it without too much trouble.

Two player co-op also goes a long way in adding longevity and variety where the three maps don't offer enough, and it's quite a bit harder as well because you have to communicate what to build with limited resources. Of course, you'll have to find a like-minded friend to get the most out of it.

Still, Sanctum perhaps could have done with a little more time in development to create more content. The whole concept of first-person tower defense begs for more than just having Defense Grid type of maps with an FPS twist at your disposal. Things like using verticality and utilizing the entire 3D world in particular feel like missed opportunities. There is so much potential for level design that feels underdeveloped in favor of creating a great looking game. 

It's a really fun game to play with solid core mechanics in place, and it's still unlike any other game in the genre. But it's also a game that you might finish and not really come back to if you are without a partner or don't want to bother with the higher difficulties.

Coffee Stain Studios does appear to be very open to community feedback, however, and a lot of beta players have been giving a ton of suggestions on things they'd like to see. So it's very likely that the game will eventually have more weapons, more enemy types and more maps.

As it stands at the time of release though, Sanctum offers a fresh take on tower defense gameplay that is great at its core, but would benefit immensely from more, and more varied, content. The game certainly has a lot of potential in the long run, and the harder difficulties and co-op can get you your money's worth for now.

Plus it's a cheap game, albeit slightly above being an "impulse buy" for most solo players. The best advise I can give you is to treat the game as a platform that will be more fleshed out in the future. If you are a fan of tower defense and FPS mechanics it's definitely worth checking out, although you may have to wait for the true potential of Sanctum to be fully realized down the line.

Score: 7.5 -- Good (7s are solid games that definitely have an audience. Might lack replay value, could be too short or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.)

Battlefield 3 is testing the boundaries of what the PS3 and Xbox 360 3 are capable of, developer DICE says, and its brand new engine — like competitor Epic’s updated Unreal Engine — is giving us a brief look at what could be considered a next-generation experience, on existing technology. But like many boundary-pushing developers, they wouldn’t mind some new toys to play with. Executive producer at the studio, Patrick Bach, tells CVG that Frostbite 2 will make for “if not the best-looking console game this year, up there with the competition”. “I don’t know what the big [hardware] corporations are thinking, but definitely we are desperate to move on into the next generation,” he says. “I think Battlefield 3 will look like a next-generation game and all the technology we’re building, the whole Frostbite 2 system – the animations, audio, everything – is trying to aim for a couple of years in the future, rather than looking at what we have today.” “We are already there. If [Microsoft or Sony] were to release a new console tomorrow, the engine would scale onto that platform, because we have been looking at not only the PC technology today but also speculating what will happen tomorrow when it comes to these things. So everything from our streaming technologies [to] rendering technologies is scalable onto future platforms.” Bach recently said that so far, all Battlefield 3 media has been showing off the PC version, while the consoles will see a slightly downgraded experience due to technical constraints. However, they still aim to produce a shooter with quality many may have thought impossible on five-year old hardware.

Developers could use the Unreal Engine to make hardcore action titles for iPad and iPhone, or they could use it to take a trippy journey through the memories of a coma patient.

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What do you use your tablet for? Reading e-books? Surfing the web? Watching videos? Well, a recent survey by Google’s AdMob found that 84% of those surveyed used their tablets for gaming. The second most used function for tablets was to search for information (78%), followed by using it for email (74%). It’s not surprising at all. Games on the iPad for example, look incredibly beautiful, and cost a fraction of the cost of home or portable video game consoles. And with thousands of games to choose from in the App Store, there is sure to be a game that will fit every level of gamer. Epic’s Unreal Engine 3-powered Infinity Blade is a shining example of what tablets are capable of. The figure might for gaming on tablets might be 84% now, but I have strong feeling gaming on tablets is only going to increase. I mean, have you seen some of these HD games like Real Racing HD? They’re coming really close to matching PS3 or Xbox 360 games.

 

84% of tablet owners use their slates for gaming, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : iPad 2 Review, Intel SSD 320 Review,

The trailer for an upcoming iOS game called dream:scape hit the internet only yesterday, and it's already racked up nearly 60,000 views. One reason for the video's viral popularity is that it's gorgeous: The game uses the Unreal Engine 3 to create vast picaresque landscapes. Another reason is that the game looks creepy and unsettling, making viewers want to find out more.

So that's exactly what we did. We chatted about dream:scape over e-mail with developer George Lippert, the head honcho of Speedbump Studios. So read our discussion below, watch the trailer, and click on the thumbnails to the right to see the screenshots in high resolution.

What kind of game is dream:scape?

It's really a bit of a gamble since it's unlike pretty much anything else on the App Store-- it's more of an interactive narrative experience, guided by the user. The goal was to create a completely immersive world and unfolding story that the user becomes enmeshed in, hopefully to the point that the experience truly becomes their own.

What's the basic storyline of the game?

The user takes on the role of a coma patient, Wilson, as he unravels his past by exploring the dreamscape of his memories. Unlike conscious memories, however, the dreamscape provides a level of unusual lucidity, shedding light on a decades-old mystery. As the experience unravels, the dreamscape environment expands and changes, eventually turning dark, stormy, and foreboding, reflecting the mood of the main character. The climax is a surreal trip of revelation and revenge that takes the user out of Wilson's dreamscape and into a Dali-esque netherworld.

The trailer shows mostly deserted areas. Will there be enemies or other characters in the game? If so, what kind?

This is an old-school Myst-style exploration experience, and in that vein I aimed to maintain a sense of eerie solitude. Memories are represented by audible voices and diary entries, but I knew that players would respond best to an actual character. Thus, I introduced the scarecrow guide, who leads the user through the experience. The dream:scape enemy is a bit of a secret, and while we do not meet him face to face, we interact with him very personally.

Is this a point-and-click adventure like Myst, or can your character move freely through the 3-D world?

I am happy to say that this is an entirely user-directed experience. I know why some developers stick with point-and-click games (restricting movement means exerting total control over what the player sees, arguably resulting in better graphics). The problem I have with that is that the game world becomes basically a series of polygonal matte paintings. What's the point of a beautiful game environment if you can't explore it freely? I may have taken a risk by making dream:scape fully explorable (some textures inevitably get a bit blurry when the player bumps their head against them, etc) but I'm hoping that the immersiveness of the overall experience more than makes up for it.

In the trailer's YouTube description, you say that there will be over 30 acres of open-world environments. What types of locations are in the game?

Dream:scape is set in a sort of generic 40s-era countryside, providing huge swaths of rolling hills, farmland, trees and country roads. Alongside that, and seamlessly integrated into it, are a small town, an abandoned cabin, a large barn, a church, an airfield with runway and hangar, a woodland path, a lake with shore, a wade-able river, a covered bridge, and more. Most of the building locations offer fully realized and accessible interiors. And of course, there is the final climactic location, which is completely unlike all the rest.

How many people worked on making dream:scape?

I know it's a bit sketchy to admit it, but it was pretty much just me. I did have help with the writing and the voice acting, as well as the original score, but the basic concept, design, build and programming was pretty much my baby. The Unreal Game Engine makes it fairly manageable for someone with enough inspiration and motivation.

Have you made other games before? If so, which ones?

I've dabbled in every aspect of game creation without ever actually creating a game. As a computer animator, I am adept with model creation, texturing, animation and camera direction. As a writer, I have created quite a few stories. As a long-time dabbler in realtime rendering, I've worked with several web3D applications, including the short-lived Adobe Atmosphere, with which I was able to make some cool movie tie-in content for Twentieth Century Fox. This is the first time I've chosen to put all of my skills together on a gaming project of my own design, but I am already working on the next one.

Can you give us any info on your next game?

There are several ideas on the table, but the main concept is tentatively titled "Escape From Atlantis". It's a huge undertaking-- another exploration-based game, but this one with interactive characters and creatures, a combination of strategy, story and puzzle elements. The unique twist of this game is that it will not have lives-- a feature that I have always found to be one of the fatal flaws of a truly immersive game environment. The concept for "Atlantis" is that the player has a limited amount of time to complete the game experience before they die. The game progresses in real time, with a HUD gauge ticking off their remaining time (the air in their diving tank). Visually, it is inspired by games like Bioshock and Fallout, if you can imagine that.

When do you expect the dream:scape to come out?

As soon as humanly possible, I hope. It is currently in review with Apple, and while I'd love to say I expect no glitches or slow-downs, reality may rear its ugly head.

How much will it cost?

I'm not quite ballsy enough (can I say that?) to charge what I think it's really worth, but I'll edge close to it. The regular price will be $2.99, but like most apps it'll launch at a sale price of $0.99.

Will it be a universal app, or will there be separate downloads for the iPhone and iPad?

I'm still factoring out all the possibilities with iPad and iPad 2, so for now it will be a universal app. Look for a more full-tilt version for iPad sometime in the (hopefully) near-future.

Have you? Many of you haven't, and that's what Jonathan Holmes wanted to find out. He brought us a list of reasons you probably haven't yet and we want your opinions! Tell us what you think about the latest from Nintendo.

We brought you info on a game that never saw the light of day, the Destructoid Show will be live this week, we reviewed Anomaly: Warzone Earth, Geohot settles out of court with Sony, there's a Persona 4 anime in the works and more happened on 4/11/11.

Destructoid Originals:
Call of Duty meets monster movies in leaked design doc
New releases: Clash of Heroes HD, Michael Jackson & more
Why you haven't bought a 3DS... yet
Live Show: The mustache and the Majin on Backlog
The Destructoid Show: LIVE!
Live show: Mash Tactics plays Enslaved
New Destructoid Episode: Megahot Boob Nukem Legends

Community:
Community blogs of 4/11/11
Forum thread of the day: what do you not like about modern gaming?

Contests:
Win an Xbox 360, Kinect and 12 months of Live!

Reviews:
Review: Anomaly: Warzone Earth
Review: Ar Tonelico Qoga

News:
Resistance 3 demo to be a PlayStation Plus exclusive
Survey: Games are the number one use for tablets
Pay $2600 for your own Akai Katana Shin arcade cabinet
Brink to be released early, now out May 10
'Escalation' add-on for Black Ops confirmed, coming May 3
UK Charts: Dynasty Warriors 7 makes top ten!
George 'Geohot' Hotz and Sony settle out of court
BloodRayne: The Shroud 'on hold' for 3DS
Check these 'different' Game Boy music videos
Move outsells Kinect in Japan 2:1
Preview: Fancy Pants Adventures
World of Warcraft player gets to 85 without killing mobs
Cage: Compare games to films, drive the industry forward
Miles Edgeworth 2 localization sounds unlikely right now
Games given more attention in updated Grammy categories
Remedy aims to surpass L.A. Noire's facial animation
Free App of the Day: Rapture Raptor
Confirmed: A Persona 4 anime series is in the works
Nintendo DLC: Secret birds' art quest showdown
We'll do it live: Pokemon Global Link hits on Wednesday
DS Action RPG Solatorobo coming to Europe
Tons of Portal 2 concept art from Valve's ARG
Retro City Rampage merch galore, free and otherwise

Offbeat:
Old and new Sonic have reconciled their differences...
Dead Space 2's Hand Cannon put to good use

Media:
Pinball FX2 is headed to Mars
Dream:scape is bringing more Unreal engine to iOS
These cosplayers are promoting Mortal Kombat or something

The mobile game community was set abuzz this morning courtesy of a newly revealed independent title for iOS using Unreal Engine 3. “Less a game, per-se, than an interactive experience, controlled by the user,” according to its developer, Dream:scape sees the player assume the role of a coma patient … Sourced from IGN Complete

The mobile game community was set abuzz this morning courtesy of a newly revealed independent title for iOS using Unreal Engine 3. "Less a game, per-se, than an interactive experience, controlled by the user," according to its developer, Dream:scape sees the player assume the role of a coma patient ...

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I don't know what half of these graphics terms mean, but they sure do look pretty.

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The Unreal Development Kit Website now offers the April beta of the UDK, a free toolkit for creating games using Epic's Unreal Engine 3. The new version includes Unreal Editor improvements, new...

Ever since the introduction of the Unreal Engine on iOS, the graphical capabilities of games have exceeded anything I would have previously thought possible on the platform, as most notoriously evidenced by Epic and Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade [$5.99]. A new video for the upcoming game Dream:scape has similarly grabbed my attention with its gorgeous [...]

If you love the Epic Unreal 3 powered Infinity Blade as much as I do than you might also be excited to see another gorgeous iOS game, Dream:scape, is on its way to the App Store. Based on the trailer, it has a creepy, almost surrealist vibe that looks really interesting.

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Can't see the video? Click here

"Memories can hide terrible secrets," this trailer for Dream:scape is telling us. There isn't a whole lot else to tell about this game, other than that it runs on Unreal Mobile, although the trailer's description tries to explain what it is.

"Dream:scape is more than a game-- it's an interactive storytelling experience, comprising over 30 acres of open-world, explorable landscape and fully realized interior settings. The tale unravels as the player explores, unlocking new areas and revealing secrets."

Sounds like it's a kind of Myst-like indie adventure "game" with possibly some hidden meaning here and there. It could be interesting, and it's nice to see that Unreal is being quickly adapted for the mobile platform. Or it could be another The Path kind of thing.

Unreal Engine-Powered 'Dream:scape' Looks Interesting and Beautiful [Touch Arcade]

Hi, this is Harry555 and I would like to discuss this game with you. Alliance of Valiant Arms is one of those rare F2P MMO gems that has both top-notch graphics and extremely in-depth and varied gameplay. A.V.A can easily hold its own against pay-to-play FPS games like Counter-Strike Source and even Call of Duty 4, both in graphics and gameplay. Those who played other tactical MMOFPS games like Combat Arms, Blackshot or even WolfTeam should be able to quickly familiarize themselves with AVA, as most MMOFPS games tend to be very similar. Alliance of Valiant Arms runs the Unreal 3 engine, so expect great graphics. Perhaps the most notable aspect of AVA is its numerous game modes. They are:

Annihilation- Annihilation mode is basically team deathmatch. The European Union (EU) and New Russia Federation (NRF) duke it out across one of the game’s many levels. Whichever team reaches either 80 or 180 points first wins.

Demolition- Demolition mode is essentially the same ‘plant the bomb’ game mode popularized by Counter-Strike. The EU team must plant a C4 bomb in one of two bomb sites while the NRF must defuse it.

Escort - The EU team must ‘escort’ a tank that slowly moves through the map while the NRF have to use Rocket-Propelled Grenades (RPGs) to destroy it. If the tank reaches the end of the map before time runs out the EU team wins, otherwise the NRF wins. This is one of the more popular and unique game modes in Alliance of Valiant Arms.

Free for All– As the name implies, players are by themselves and must kill anyone they see. Whichever player has the most kills at the end of the round wins.

Domination - Basically king of the hill. Opposing teams must capture and hold the command post located in the center of the map for a period of time to win.

Survival - Exactly like Suppression mode, but with one one life per player.

Convoy– The EU team must find and capture a ‘nuclear suitcase’ that is guarded by the NRF on one map before time runs out. Eliminating the opposing team is another way to win a round in Convoy mode.

Final Verdict – Excellent
With a detailed achievement system (Badges/Medals) and excellent, fluid gameplay, Alliance of Valiant Arms is by far one of the most polished and fun free-to-play MMO shooters on the market. When the game originally launched, it had few maps and game modes, but new patches over the years have remedied this one small complaint. Alliance of Valiant Arms easily distinguishes itself from other tactical MMOs in both superior graphics and gameplay.

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If you love the Epic Unreal 3 powered Infinity Blade as much as I do than you might also be excited to see another gorgeous iOS game, Dream:scape, is on its way to the App Store. Based on the trailer, it has a creepy, almost surrealist vibe that looks really interesting. The player takes [...]

Unreal 3 Engine powered Dream:scape on its way to iOS is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

The gaming industry was served when Chair Entertainment launched Infinity Blade as the first iOS game built around the Unreal Engine. A number of iOS games utilizing the engine are now being developed, including Dream:scape that TouchArcade spotted today. The game puts you in the shoes of “a coma patient unlocking his past by exploring the dreamscape of [...]

Remember that super awesome tech demo that Epic Games debuted at GDC, showing off Project Samaritan? Now they’ve released their annual features showcase video, wherein all the new and forthcoming upgrades to Unreal Engine 3 are dissected and explained. Get a look at just what’s going on under the hood of UE 3.975, and how it’s making the Samaritan demo look so pretty. Check out some of the new tools and buzzwords Epic plan to use in the near future on PCs, and hopefully in the next-generation consoles, if the first-party manufacturers take the bait and produce hardware that’s up to snuff. And no, Samaritan is still not an officially announced title yet, but chances are quite good that it’s our first glimpse at the next new IP from the House of Gears.  

Following his elaboration on why he sold Impulse to GameStop in a recent interview, Stardock's Brad Wardell slowly moved away from the business mindset of representing a company involved in a major industry deal, and slowly opened up about how Stardock's renewed freedom will affect its games as well as providing insights into his vision for the future of gaming.

Now that Stardock has the chance to once again focus on what its core businesses traditionally were (desktop software and games), it also allows its employees to actually lead normal lives again. Wardell explains:

"Case in point, Elemental: War of Magic that we released last year. It got terrible reviews and if you look at our Metacritic scores, anything under 90 was considered a failure for Stardock. But then War of Magic came out, why did that happen?

"Well part is because I was working over a 100 hours a week all summer [of 2010]. I was doing two all-nighters a week because part of my day was working on Impulse and part of my day was spent working on the software side. And then we had multiple game projects, and like I said multiple software projects, and I wasn't the only one starting to work crazy hours.

"I mean we were spread very thin because we wanted to do it all. But at some point you either have to break down and build up a much larger company, so that you're not spreading yourself thin. Or you have to make some tough decisions and say: 'Well, I think we'd rather not become a gigantic company but instead we'll find some good parent for our baby here, our Impulse baby, to take it to the next step so that we could focus on making cool new stuff.'"

Cool new stuff like more Sins of a Solar Empire or Galactic Civilizations? I asked Wardell about the future of Stardock's franchises because besides Elemental: War of Magic, which is set to receive the Fallen Enchantress expansion/redesign this year (free for Elemental owners to make up for the game's state at launch), Sins is getting the new Rebellion expansion as well.

"Yeah and now I finally get to spend some time on it! Case in point, I barely got to spend any time on [Sins of a Solar Empire:] Trinity. I don't want to steal any thunder early, but yeah we have some really cool stuff that's been in our lab that our guys had been wanting to do stuff on. And now obviously we have, you know, an abundance of capital that we can invest in all kinds of other things that we just wouldn't have been able to before."

I asked if that included a Galactic Civilizations III, but he couldn't talk about that. Drat.

Stardock's focus has been on OS/2 on PC over the years, the latter of which Wardell likes because "it's open and I'm free to make whatever I want," it doesn't necessarily mean the company will always develop for the PC alone.

At GDC '11, Stardock's Jon Shafer -- former lead designer of Civilization V at Firaxis -- was part of a panel of strategy game luminaries that fired back against comments by Cliff Blezinsky, who said that "middle-class" games are dead. Because there are a ton of strategy games that can be considered "middle-class" between big AAA blockbusters and small indie games. And with handhelds, tablets and mobile devices becoming increasingly complex and viable gaming devices, there could be market for 4X games outside of its traditional PC home. I mean, who wouldn't want to play Sins or GalCivII on a tablet?

Even though Wardell uses both PCs and Apple products for coding and personal use, and Stardock has "other people here doing some very interesting things with Xcode and looking at Android and all kinds of other things," I didn't get the impression that we're getting a Stardock 4X strategy game on XBLA or PSN just quite yet, but the developments in the past years did impress Wardell.

"This is the greatest time in gaming since I've been into games. I mean think about the past, let's say, 18 months. If you'd look at the releases of interesting things, it's so cool! We now have social gaming, the handheld games are now far beyond making the old Pac Man or old classic arcade games -- you know yet another iteration -- but [there are] truly innovative games on all these platforms.

"I mean look at Minecraft, right? Would Minecraft have been possible 5 years ago? This is the greatest time in gaming history, and we get to be part of it. And [...] the problem is I have a hard time sleeping because I don't want to miss anything!

"I mean, there's just so much cool stuff coming. And heck look at what else is coming. We have WebOS in the pipeline, who knows what that is going to bring into play, and [...] I get tingly just thinking about it. Can you imagine if we were stuck in our prime when the console market was dead? I remember the old days where, you know, [if] you wanted sound you had to use Adlib or Soundblaster and [...] our options were so [limited].

"And if you made a game, your only hope was getting picked up by a publisher and being in a box. And now we've got Xbox Live Arcade and there's the PlayStation thing and Wii is doing stuff and, you know, there's so many different options."

After talking about different games and genres for a bit, it became clear that while Wardell loves the new opportunities that new technology has brought in terms of gaming devices and digital distribution platforms, he is still a tech guy at heart. Nothing made this more clear than what he had to say about the future of 64-bit graphics.

"If you think it's cool now, right now games are about to make this jump to 64-bit. And most gamers [who are not] programmers don't realize the significance of that. Because we're gonna go from messing around with these 2GB limits to having essentially unlimited memory, and people don't realize what that means.

"But it means we're gonna have these crazy high resolution textures. That's what's holding us back, that's why graphics haven't got that much better in the last few years. It's because [with regard to] the texture memory [it] doesn't matter how much is on your videocard, we only have two gigs to play with. Give them another year or two and we're going to see some really crazy stuff."

Does he think console makers will jump on this development?

"I'll tell you, the next generation console had better be 64-bit. [...] I'll put it another way, if they don't make it 64-bit, then what will happen is that the PC games will get so far ahead of console games visually that they'll be in for some real hurt.

"I mean, even today the video cards are capable of creating essentially photorealistic real-time 3D, but they can't realistically do it because of the memory. And that's why you end up with these interesting art styles that are a little cartoony. It is because the memory on the 2GB limit on [32-bit] Windows is holding them back. But two years from now when everyone is running 64-bit Windows 7 or what have you, that's not gonna be a problem."

I asked him if he had seen the new Unreal Engine features demonstration, to which he said: "Yeah but you can bet your butt that was running 64-bit." So the future (outside of new devices) really is 64-bit?

"Yeah, that's why I can't imagine consoles not [becoming] 64-bit. Because the graphical difference between the two, and again not because 64-bit is faster or anything like that, it's just a memory addressing thing and that's it. I don't want anyone thinking that there's some magic about it other than that you can have very very very large textures being juggled in pure RAM all the time.

"Until we get to 64-bit where the memory for these video cards will get to show their stuff, we're kind of at a standstill."

It's been 11 years for me since I did exams in memory addressing, so I'm not even going to try commenting on the future of 64-bit graphics with regard to current-day video card memory handling. But the move to 64-bit OSs has been a slow one (anyone remember Windows XP 64-bit?) in terms of consumer adaptation towards having that as a standard. Regardless, it sounds like 64-bit graphics technology is something we should keep a closer eye on in the future.

It will be interesting to see where the next Xbox or PlayStation will go with that. Especially now that the Wii has shown the profitability of a low-tech console with mass appeal, and Microsoft and Sony have since both released their own motion controllers, the two rival companies will eventually have to decide on the future of their console platforms (if they haven't done so already).

Will they focus on high-tech features to keep competing with the PC as a gaming platform? Will they settle for the bare minimum that supports the new Unreal Engine for the graphical jump from current generation hardware, so they can say "Hey look at how great this looks, go buy it!"? Or will they incorporate both so we can have a $700 motion controlled Kinectimal or EyePet with photo-realistic DirectX 11 fur shaders?

Whatever the future of gaming graphics and technology brings to those platforms, please give us Galactic Civilizations III and Sins of a Solar Empire 2 first, Stardock. It's not like you have to worry as much about Impulse anymore.

Not surprisingly, Epic Games is throwing its support behind the East Coast Game Conference next week in Raleigh, North Carolina. Taking place in Raleigh, North Carolina (home of the Unreal Engine dev), it's a learning event for both working game developers (that might be you -- sorry Jim maybe gave your game a 2!) and those working their way into the industry (that might be you!). 

Epic's support includes showing off and detail its next-gen Unreal Engine tech with the impressive real-time Samaritan demo. The demo comes as part of the package of the two day "Unreal University" series of lectures, with the focus on helping teams get up to speed on using the Unreal Development Kit. 

The East Coast Game Conference will also play host to talks from industry veteran Mark Cerny, NVIDIA execs, along with folks from Insomniac Games (who also have a studio located in North Carolina), Bungie, and more. 

For more details, check out the official ECGC website.

Epic Brings Gears 3, Samaritan and Unreal University to ECGC [Epic Games]

 

Name: Free Crate Type: 3D Models Author: vertexus Price: FREE File types: 3ds dxf fbx max obj Description: -Free low polygon model of a wooden crate. -Normal map used for extra detail. -Unreal engine 3 compatible. -Model is game-ready. See complete details

Don't miss the latest Unreal Engine 3 - DirectX 11 Features Trailer

Unreal Technology has been demonstrating what their Unreal Engine 3 can do with the release of another stunning teaser video. Showcasing what the game Unreal games engine is capable of and what is will be be able to bring to games in the future. Hopefully the near future. Watch the teaser video after the jump to see [...]

(c) 2011 Geeky Gadgets, If you are reading this article anywhere other than Geeky Gadgets it has been re-published without our permission.Unreal Engine 3 Features Trailer 2011 (video) (C) 2011 Geeky Gadgets

Epic unveils its updated physics engine....

For those of you who gave up hope of ever experiencing games of Epic proportions on your Android device – don’t lose hope. According to an interview Mark Rein, VP of Epic Games, had with Gamasutra; the Unreal Development Kit will be arriving on Android in the future. While Epic’s Unreal Engine (3) has been used to create games on Android, developers made it possible by utilizing the engine’s source code (e.g. Dungeon Defenders), without access to the powerful UDK that makes life easier for them. The arrival of the UDK will definitely draw a lot more developers to create “blockbuster” games for the Android platform, but the exact date for it to happen is not set in stone yet. The main cause for the delay is due to Android’s openness: there are so many different phones with different hardware, and running different versions of Android – getting one game to be compatible with many devices is an issue itself. Google is attempting to solve the issue and one of the ways they will be getting rid of fragmentation is by standardizing Android – a move that Epic Games supports. With devices like the Xperia Play in the market and the UDK arriving on the operating system, can Android be the next big gaming platform?

Unreal Development Kit will eventually arrive on Android, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Atrix Review, Intel SSD 320 Review,

Image: http://www.gamasutra.com/db_area/images/news2001/33999/udk.jpg Unreal Engine 3 maker Epic Games will be hosting two full days of tutorials on use of the Unreal Development Kit as part of an Unreal University sub-event at next week's East Coast Game Conference. James Tan and Markus Arvidsson,...

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The features currently in Unreal Engine 3

The latest features of Unreal Engine 3, from high-end Direct3D 11 rendering to mobile game development tools. [Forum thread] Related posts:2010 Unreal Engine 3 Trailer Unreal Engine 3 Free for...

Epic Games, the creators of the Unreal Engine, are still working on bringing the development suite over to the Android mobile operating system, which is being developed by Google, despite a number of reports to the contrary. Mark Rein, who is a vice president at Epic Games, has said in an interview with Gamasutra, that, “...

El fundador de Epic Games, Tim Sweeney, lo tiene claro. Solo hemos visto una fracción de todo el potencial del iPad 2. Y es que las pruebas de rendimiento están muy bien pero cuando una de las mentes pensantes detrás del Unreal Engine asegura estar convencido del incremento de 9x en potencia gráfica pregonado por Apple, la cosa se pone seria.

a3iGg0DuI5U The DirectX 11 features in Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 come into focus.

Check out all the features you can look forward to in the latest version of the popular Unreal 3 engine. - VIEW HERE - (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cvNJPvXook&hd;=1)

See the next iteration of the Unreal Engine in this tech video for Epic's premiere engine.

A look at the next Epic’s Unreal Engine features. Watch the video on YouTube.

Ogle more footage of Epic's Unreal Engine 3 in action.

Epic Games unleashed a brand new trailer for the new features available in the Unreal Engine 3 and the free Unreal Development Kit. Some of the new content doesn't just make it more convenient to make games, some of the stuff is almost easy enough to use where just about anyone could make their own game using the Unreal Engine.

Clearly Epic Games knows there's a number of people out there who are angry at the fact that icky consoles are have held back the development of high-end graphics technology. (See: Crysis 2. Looks fine if all you're dealing with is the five-year-old Xbox 360, but doesn't really seem to take advantage of the raw power that's available on the PC side of thing.) Here we have a slick trailer showing off some of the advanced features offered by Unreal Engine 3.

CrunchGear: Video: Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 Contines To Impress - http://tcrn.ch/fSSd6b

(By @crunchgear - Blog Feed - CrunchGear, Technology)