Category: Industry News

Gaming Pop Quiz: Summer 2011 Edition

Listen, guys. I’ve got some news. We’re already halfway through 2011. No, we didn’t all hop in a time machine together and jump to July. That’s just the way these things go sometimes. One minute, you’re waiting for Portal 2 to come out, the next you’re wondering why Portal 3 wasn’t announced at E3 the month before. Seriously, time likes to do that kind of thing.

Since we’re closing in on the fall that gaming will never forget, we thought it would be good to drop in and hit you guys up with another pop quiz. People are supposed to loathe these things, but you guys seem to shred them to pieces like little vicious animals. And we love you for it. Hopefully, you’ll love us for these new questions. The “soapbox” question was such a big hit last time we decided to keep it for this go around as well. You’re welcome.

As always with our getting-to-know-you type games, feel free to answer with as much or as little as you like. Answer to the best of your ability. Go! Continue reading Gaming Pop Quiz: Summer 2011 Edition

When Devs Step Back: LittleBigPlanet

LBP

Panic struck the hearts of LittleBigPlanet fans around the net this weekend, as there have been reports that Siobhan Reddy, studio director of Media Molecule, said that the group was “stepping away” from the franchise for a time to focus on new ideas. Naturally, game sites reported this news (which originated from a single tweet) as gospel, but since then there have been updates from Media Molecule which clarify that they are not leaving LBP forever, merely putting it in the backseat temporarily while they break ground on new developments.

All of this is most certainly welcome news (I’ll be happy with anything that MM puts out in the future), it did spring a new question to life that I thought I’d ask you guys. It’s well known these days that game devs’ hands are tied to their popular franchises, which is why we see sequel after nonstop sequel each year. It almost makes me wish that more studios had the freedom to step away like this. I would love to see what Naughty Dog could do besides Uncharted, and I certainly can’t wait to see what Bungie does with its new-found life after Halo.

So now I ask you gents: which devs would you like to see step away from their current hit franchises? What kind of games would you like to see them create? Go!

Source – LittleBigLand

Twelve Minutes of Arkham City Gameplay Goodness

Since it’s Canada Day up here in the Great White North, I’ll make this short and sweet. Developers Rocksteady have dropped twelve minutes of Batman: Arkham City gameplay on us, and I’ve embedded it below for your viewing pleasure. You’ll see Batman beating fools up, jumping on fools and tracking fools from the shadows. There’s also a snippet of Catwoman gameplay, so enjoy that as well.

What did you guys think? Is this looking like a worthy follow up to Arkham Asylum? Hit me up with those comments!

GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop: Summer Edition!

Gaming’s finest have returned, and they’ve got a slew of opinions and rants on several industry-related topics from the last few weeks: the Duke Nukem Forever PR debacle, the Lulzsec boat and the lone save file of Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3D.

By this point, you should all get the shtick, but in case you don’t: GameCop is a sensible gamer, looking out for your best interests. LameCop is your average forum troll, causing havoc for the lulz, while PsychoCop should be locked up for everyone’s safety.

Keep reading to find out what they have to say on these issues:

Continue reading GameCop Vs LameCop Vs PsychoCop: Summer Edition!

The Story of L.A. Noire and 7 Years of Development Hell

Team Bondi

We’ve written quite a few articles about L.A. Noire here in the last few months, but I thought there was still a bit more conversation to be had around this excellent game. While there are plenty of games that undergo long and complex development cycles, the crime-thriller mystery from Team Bondi had a slightly longer and more difficult path than most: 7 years, two different publishers and over one hundred employees that left.

Crazy, huh? The full story is presented in an excellent piece by IGN, where they interviewed both studio head Brendan McNamara as well as the “Bondi Eleven”, a group of former Team Bondi developers who came forward to tell the story of the company’s inception, its turbulent times on L.A. Noire and just why the process spun out of control for them. It’s a bit disconcerting to read things like this, because it seems to be the norm of the video game industry these days. Long hours, blatant disregard for employees’ welfare and generally terrible morale. Definitely a sobering piece for anybody considering jumping feet-first into the games industry.

So what do you guys think about this? I know a lot of you are aspiring game developers. Does this give you pause? Have any of you been in working conditions like this?

Source – IGN

Saint’s Row: The Third Trailer Shows You the Business

If you tuned into the awesome season-ender E3 2011 wrap up podcast, you heard us wax philosophic about Saint’s Row: The Third and the changes it’s making coming into its latest iteration. Besides the improved graphical look and the unique visual style, the craziness has been jacked up another notch, which might seem impossible to players of the second game. The team at Volition are giving it their all though. The walkthrough for Saint’s Row: The Third that I’ve embedded below shows the gameplay that was touted at E3.

We’re going to try not to go too crazy with the trailers in the post-E3 news slump, but it’s nice being able to watch these things without the background noise that a convention tends to bring. What’s your opinion on the gameplay of Saint’s Row: The Third? Does it look like it’s up your ally? Is this one of your must haves for this Fall? Go!

L.A. Noire Heading to PCs Everywhere this Fall

bro game reviews la noire

Friends, PC gamers, countrymen, lend me your ears: Team Bondi’s critically acclaimed 1940’s crime solving game L.A. Noire is hitting the PC this fall. In a recent post on the Rockstar Newswire, the company confirmed that they have heard the cries of their PC faithful, who have rightly felt a little left out after not seeing a version of Red Dead Redemption on their platform of choice last year.

While no exact release date was confirmed in the post itself, I’m going to go ahead and guess it will come out in November, along with about ninety percent of the other games this fall. The game will feature support for the mouse and keyboard setup along with the option to use a controller, and it will be able to run 3D if your rig is set up that way.

So there you have it, PC gamers, Rockstar does care about you after all. L.A. Noire was a favorite around the GamerSushi offices (or it would be if such a place existed), so I’m glad that everyone who missed out on playing it over the summer will get a chance to do so later this year. Hopefully you didn’t listen to our spoiler cast too intently, although due to some people (*cough* Jeff and Anthony *cough*) not finishing the Homicide desk, it was pretty light on the reveals.

Now that you know that L.A. Noire is coming to the PC, what say you? Are you going to be picking it up? How do you think the game’s mechanics will blend in with the PC control scheme? Does this give you hope for future Rockstar games?

Source – Rockstar Newswire

What do You Want From Sony and Microsoft’s Next Gen Systems?

xbox 720 rumor

Hot on the heels of Nintendo’s Wii U announcement at E3 2011, Videogamer.com is reporting that a “high-ranking industry source” at Crytek has leaked the news that Microsoft will announce their Xbox 360 successor next year at E3.

Whether or not the source can be trusted (every rumor comes from a “high-ranking person” these days) we can’t deny that Sony and Microsoft are finally turning their eyes towards the future, perhaps even more so now that Nintendo beat them to the punch. Speculating on whether or not this is a real leak is probably a waste of time; it’s more likely than not that this is just an attempt to get some hits. What’s more fun and productive is guessing what Microsoft and Sony’s next gen consoles will be like.

The Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 4 (or whatever they end up calling them) will no doubt feature beefed up graphical capabilities, but how far will they go? The article sates that Microsoft will include DirectX 11 in the new system, which seems pretty reasonable to me, considering how far along technologically we’ve come since the Xbox 360’s launch. What about Sony, though? What problems from this generation do you want them to fix? Sound off!

Source – Videogamer.com

Battlefield 3 and the DLC Backlash (Updated)

battlefield 3 physical warfare pack boycottAs I’m sure you’re well aware, given my constant posting of anything slightly related to this game over the past few months, Battlefield 3 is coming out later this year setting its sights on taking the FPS crown away from Call of Duty. As is the norm with games these days, a bit of pre-order DLC was offered in the form of the Back to Karkand expansion pack which gives early purchasers access to the map pack on day one, whereas late adopters will have to wait and buy it at a later date.

While this did cause some outcry, the Back to Karkand controversy pales in comparison to the furor that has cropped up around the Physical Warfare Pack. This add-on is only availble in the UK through GAME and Gamestation stores and features items that will not be obtainable in the retail game. Naturally, fans of the game are quite incensed and a boycott has already been arranged on Reddit, calling for EA and DICE to remove this pre-order incentive from the game.
Continue reading Battlefield 3 and the DLC Backlash (Updated)

GamerSushi Asks: What Was Your Game of Show for E3 2011?

battlefield 3 e3 2011 game of show

This is kind of a tricky GamerSushi Asks, what with all the quality showings from many publishers and developers, but I feel that we can get an interesting discussion going around this one. Now that E3 2011 is behind us, we can gaze back fondly at the at the games and scoff at the terrible press conferences and Mr. Caffeine.

Since we’ve seen everything that the industry’s biggest trade show had to offer, we’re going to open this up and ask you guys what your Game of Show was for E3 2011. There’s so many strong contenders from the shooters to the RPGs and the sandbox/adventure games that it might be hard to choose just one.

So what are you leaning towards? Personally, I’m thinking Battlefield 3 with Skyrim, Saint’s Row: The Third and Gears of War 3 coming in close behind. It was really hard to choose, but the tank video impressed the hell out of me and the multiplayer sounds super tight with lots of new improvements. I also know that at least one of you lucky devils made the trek out to L.A., so maybe there’s something we all missed that we should pay more attention to going forward? Hit me up in the comments, son!

The GamerSushi Show, Ep 31: E3 2011 Edition

The most epic week of the gaming year has passed us by, and there’s certainly enough news to keep everyone buzzing for the rest of 2011. That’s why we fast tracked this week’s podcast, in order to get it out the day after E3 ended. The result is a super-sized podcast that’s fit for one of Skyrim’s mammoth-herding giants.

In it, you’ll hear our thoughts on everything from the ridiculously confusing Wii U announcements to fighting dragons, buildings forts and rips in space-time. After all of that, we embark on a hilarious rendition of Grades, where we evaluate each of the “Big 3” conferences in turn.

Alright, you know what comes next, fools. Listen + Rate + Enjoy. Continue reading The GamerSushi Show, Ep 31: E3 2011 Edition

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Star Wars: The Old Republic Has an Amazing Opening Cinematic

I know that I’ve been quite vocal in my condemnation of Star Wars: The Old Republic’s hype train and its constant parade of pre-rendered trailers and no solid release date. After three consecutive E3s of all show and no tell, I was starting to get a little ticked off at the constant stringing along that TOR is pulling. Of course, being a gamer, I am a fickle creature and the recently released opening cinematic for The Old Republic is nothing short of mind-blowing. It’s seriously everything I love about Star Wars, condensed into six minutes.

I’m looking forward to watching this video again when I boot up the game, whenever that is. Lucas Licensing should just contract Blur to make a Star Wars movie with BioWare as the writing staff, because every trailer they’ve made have been better than the games they’ve been associated with (case in point: Force Unleashed 2). What do you guys think of the opening cinematic for The Old Republic? Was this sick, or what?

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim E3 Gameplay Demo

I’m not really going to preface this video with too many words, other than these: this Skyrim gameplay demonstration from GameTrailers TV sort of blew my mind when I watched it. You all know that we do our best to stay away from hyperbole on this site (although sometimes we fail at this), but there were pieces of this video that surpassed my imagination for what a video game could accomplish. While the visuals are nothing to scoff at and the combat looks like it’s seen a decent upgrade, it’s the unscripted dragon encounters that left me in awe.

Go ahead, drool over it, and check back in when you’re done.

Thoughts?

Nintendo E3 2011 Presser Breakdown

nintendoNintendo came late to the party this year, holding their press conference this morning as opposed to following tradition and doing it on Monday. With rumors abound about Project Cafe and lots of buzz around the 3DS, Nintendo was poised this year to once again steal the E3 crown. Did they succeed?

Details about their presser are after the jump!
Continue reading Nintendo E3 2011 Presser Breakdown

Sony’s E3 2011 Briefing Round-Up

playstationMicrosoft’s E3 press conference came and went and it was quite the Kinect fest. With Nintendo making an apperance tomorrow, Sony was primed to steal the show on the first day of E3. Let’s break down their presser and see if they made Microsoft look like a bunch of chumps.

Details are after the jump!
Continue reading Sony’s E3 2011 Briefing Round-Up

Battlefield 3 Campaign Gameplay Brings the Thunder

I’m of the opinion that EA really brought the heardcore games at their press conference today whether you’re a fan of sports, shooters or sci-fi RPGs. Sure, the foot-based gameplay in Need for Speed: The Run looked a little wonky, but Mass Effect 3 is shaping up nicely and Battlefield 3 is coming hard, aiming its sights square at Modern Warfare 3. After MW3’s showing at the Xbox briefing, DICE showed off a campaign demo called ‘Thunder Run’.

Those are some of the best looking explosions I’ve seen in a game. From top to bottom this game is looking really tight, and I can’t wait. What do you guys think of ‘Thunder Run’? Does this look like a serious Modern Warfare 3 competitor?

Microsoft E3 2011 Press Conference Highlights

x360Microsoft’s big shindig just went down, and it was kind of crazy. Despite the early leaks, they still manage to pull off a few tricks and bring a lot of Kinect.

Hit the jump to see the round-up!
Continue reading Microsoft E3 2011 Press Conference Highlights

GamerSushi Asks: The Pre-E3 Check-In?

MGS 3Alright, gents. E3 is finally here. And as we’ve discussed most recently, the hype machine is going to be in full effect. As much as it can be a bit grating, it’s still a fine week to be a gamer, and one of my favorite of the year.

I wanted to get a pre-E3 post up, just to let you know some of the things going on during the week. Even though we’re not at E3 (sigh), we’re still probably going to do a fair bit of updating around these parts. During the Sony press conference you can expect a liveblog of the events, so come here if you want to comment and enjoy some fun minute-by-minute updating of the opening press event. We’ll also be posting some recaps of the Nintendo/Microsoft press conferences once they’ve happened. In addition, there will probably be a daily recap post to discuss the cool news that didn’t make individual posts.

Personally, I’m most interested to see Project Cafe from Nintendo’s press event on June 7th. Rumors are swirling like crazy still, but it seems fairly certain from reports that it’s going to sport a touch screen controller. Other rumors speculate that the system itself will be portable, and could feature a screen as well… which is interesting, to say the least. Other cool confirmed stuff includes the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, which is going to include Metal Gear Solid 2, 3 and Peace Walker. Konami is also going to release Zone of Enders 1 and 2 in HD – and all of these are going to see both PSN and XBLA releases. Pretty cool, huh?

The tricky thing about E3 is that there’s going to be way too much stuff to post about. And as we’re not really a gaming news site and more of a gaming conversation site, I think it’d be cool for you guys to let us know what games you’re most excited to talk about. As updates/trailers, news and such come flying in, we can be sure to post about those games so all of us can come back here and wag our tails about them a bit. Yes, in this analogy we have somehow become dogs.

So yeah, tell us what you’d most like to discuss once the news goes up, and we’ll do our best to placate you gents and gals.

Uncharted 3 Co-Op Trailer Takes the Fight to New Heights

It goes without saying that Uncharted 3 is one of this year’s most anticipated titles, but I’m going to say it like a dork anyway because that’s what I do, and it makes for a decent introductory sentence. While Naughty Dog has dutifully shown us glimpses of both single player and multiplayer, one aspect of Uncharted 3 that has been fairly under wraps has been the co-op aspect.

Luckily for all of us slobbering Drake fans, they released some brand new footage for co-op on Spike TV last night, in the form of this entertaining Uncharted 3 co-op trailer. I’ll let you watch it for yourselves, but I will say this: vertical shootouts. Yup.

So, thoughts? Can’t this game just come out already?

Do Games get Announced too Early?

the old republic announced too early

I know this is a topic we’ve talked about on the podcast some, but you guys always seem reluctant to leave your thoughts on those. Perhaps it is because we are such cunning linguists and our arguments tear yours to shreds. Yeah, that’s what I’m going with.

In case you somehow forgot with all the incessant reminders on all of the gaming websites and Twitter and yes, even here, E3 2011 is next week and we’ll be seeing a few new games and a couple that we’ve been hearing about for what seems like forever. While Metal Gear Solid: Rising and The Last Guardian probably won’t be making an appearance, Star Wars: The Old Republic and the Tomb Raider reboot (just confirmed for a fall 2012 release) will be there, and we’ve been hearing about those games for a while. Star Wars: The Old Republic is particularly guilty in this regard, showing up to two consecutive E3s with only a fancy trailer. I’d hesitate to say that anything BioWare is a one-trick pony, but it’s certainly starting to look that way.

I hate to sound like I’m ragging on BioWare, who are obviously working very hard on their MMO, but if this game had been announced maybe two years ago as opposed to four, I wouldn’t have the same “hype fatigue” I’m experiencing now. I’m also apparently hurting for a Star Wars MMO, so there’s that too.

So what about you guys? What games have been announced a little too early for your taste? Any games at E3 2011 that you just want to stop hearing about? How far in advance of their release should games be announced?