| Skyrim hailed game of the generation by Amazon UK Aug 5th 2013, 17:12 The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim beats The Last of Us in final poll. 
The UK arm of retailer Amazon has named The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim as the greatest game of the current generation. Between June 1 and August 4, Amazon asked its customers to vote on the the games. The 16 finalists were then placed into two brackets of eight, with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and The Last of Us competing for the final vote. No specific numbers were attached to the voting process. Amazon adds that PS3 exclusives The Last of Us and Uncharted 2 each received more votes than all eligible Xbox 360 exclusives combined. Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood missed out on a top 16 finish by a single vote. Amazon's 16 finalists were Batman: Arkham City, BioShock, BioShock Infinite, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Fallout 3, Far Cry 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, The Last of Us, Mass Effect 2, Metal Gear Solid 4, Super Mario Galaxy, Portal 2, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, and The Walking Dead. For more on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, check out GameSpot's previous coverage. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
|  | No offline co-op for Splinter Cell: Blacklist Wii U Aug 5th 2013, 16:01 Ubisoft confirms Nintendo version of upcoming game does not include offline co-op so it could launch alongside other versions. 
The Wii U version of upcoming action game Splinter Cell: Blacklist will not feature offline cooperative play, developer Ubisoft Shanghai has confirmed with Nintendo Life. "In order to ship at the same time as the other consoles, we unfortunately weren't able to delve into this feature," producer Liu Jun said. "But we think Nintendo gamers will be really excited to get the game at the same time as other consoles." Online co-op and multiplayer modes will be available in the Wii U version. Splinter Cell: Blacklist on Wii will support off-TV play through the GamePad for all game modes except offline co-op. In addition, the GamePad can be used to view Sam Fisher's arm computer OPSAT (OPerational SATellite uplink). "The Wii U is the only version of the game where you really get to experience first-hand how OPSAT works for Sam and how it feels to actually operate it," Jun said. Splinter Cell: Blacklist launches on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii U on August 20. For more, check out GameSpot's previous coverage. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Former F.E.A.R. devs unveil Betrayer Aug 5th 2013, 15:57 New indie title will be available via Steam Early Access on August 14, with the game a 17th century mystery taking place in Virginia. 
Betrayer, a first-person PC action game set in 17th century colonial Virginia, has been announced by Blackpowder Games. Revealed on PC Gamer, the new studio is composed of many leading ex-Monolith designers, who have previously worked on Shogo: Mobile Armour Division, No One Lives Forever, and F.E.A.R. The monochromatic adventure was inspired by the mystery of the disappearing Roanoke colony, according to creative lead Craig Hubbard. “The social situation of that time was really interesting,“ says Hubbard, formerly the lead designer on Shogo: Mobile Armor Division, F.E.A.R., and the NOLF series. “I don“t know if you“ve read about what it was like to be in the Pilgrim colonies, like if you broke the law, but they“d like“ pile stones on you until you died. It was just brutal and horrific and that“s great subject matter for an atmospheric and eerie game.“ The game takes place in 1604 as the protagonist arrives in Virginia expecting to find a colony, and instead encountering ghosts and monsters. Hubbard describes the game as "austere," saying that it promotes a feeling of exploration by ridding the game of guiding elements such as HUD popups and directional arrows. "Clue by clue, you must piece together the story of what befell this doomed settlement and find a way to set things right," explains the game's official website. "You will be hunted by corrupted Conquistadors and ravening shadows as you explore an expansive wilderness in order to trace the brief, tragic history of the colony and search for survivors." Betrayer will be released on August 14 via Steam Early Access for $15. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Rising cost of AAA could stifle innovation, says Ubisoft boss Aug 5th 2013, 15:29 Ubisoft Toronto head Jade Raymond says studios working on big-budget games must invest in new technologies and business models to balance costs. 
Innovation exists in the AAA game space, but it is threatened by rising development costs, according to Ubisoft Toronto head Jade Raymond. "I think the big question to me, as the expectations of these big triple-As keep on growing and the consoles become more powerful and teams get bigger, is how do we keep the costs in line?" Raymond told Digital Spy in a new interview. "That's for sure one of the things that is going to stifle innovation eventually. Anytime you want to make a big triple-A, you're spending, let's say $100 million, you're not going to want to take a chance," she added. "It's got to be, I'm making the next Call of Duty or the Assassin's Creed and I know it's going to make 'X' amount, so we'll make money. I think that's the tougher thing." To balance cost and further innovation in games, Raymond said studios must find ways of reducing cost through investing in new developer tools and business models. "I think it depends on what type of game you're making, but all games I think we have to invest in tools to make people more efficient, to perhaps make ten times the amount of content that we were making before with the same amount of effort," Raymond said. "That's the only way we're going to keep up. So there has to be a big investment there. The other side of things is we have to investigate some of the different business models," she added. Raymond said the industry overall is changing, including the way people consume games. Along with this is a change of consumer expectation, she said. An episodic business model like the one used for Telltale Games' The Walking Dead series is "interesting," according to Raymond, but this does not apply to all games. "What's the business model that makes sense to you? What's going on with free-to-play, what does that mean for the console market?" she said. "I think there are a lot of questions around profitability, and I think that's probably why the reason the new sexy thing is the indie game, because ultimately everyone who is in games has a game idea and wants to be creative, and it's harder to get your game idea to life when there's that much cost behind it." Free-to-play and microtransaction-based business models "absolutely" have a space in the AAA market, Raymond said, noting that Ubisoft Toronto is examining the right way to implement these system sright now. "You have to be careful about how you do it though, right?" Raymond said. "You can't set up the microtransactions to be, 'I pay money to be a better a gamer', because that's not obviously not going to work." Ubisoft Toronto is currently working on this month's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, as well as Rainbow Six: Patriots and the next Assassin's Creed game. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | How Halo film's failure inspired District 9 director's career Aug 5th 2013, 15:24 Director Neill Blomkamp says had the Halo film been made, he would not have learned to trust his ideas. 
The cancellation of the Halo motion picture turned out to be one of the luckiest moments in District 9 director Neill Blomkamp's professional career, he said in a new interview with The Los Angeles Times. Blomkamp was hired by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and partner Fran Walsh to make the Halo movie. When it fell apart in 2006, the pair agreed to produce and help find funding for District 9, the Oscar-nominated movie that would help bring Blomkamp to prominence. "The luck is the fact that Peter and Fran let me make [District 9] out of the ruins that were Halo," Blomkamp said. "What happened out of that was learning to trust my ideas. If Halo had come out and succeeded or failed, I wouldn't have learned that." Blomkamp was recently quoted saying he is still interested in directing a Halo film, but only if he was given creative control. "But that's the problem," he said in April. "When something pre-exists, there's this idea of my own interpretation versus 150 other people involved with the film's interpretation of the same intellectual property. Then the entire filmgoing audience has their interpretation. You can really live up to or fail in their eyes. That part isn't appealing to me, but the original pieces are appealing." Blomkamp's latest film, Elysium, releases in theaters this Friday starring Matt Damon an Jodie Foster. Though a Halo movie may not be on the immediate horizon, an all-new Halo TV series produced by Saving Private Ryan and Schindler's List director Steven Spielberg is on the way. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Take-Two registers HungoverX domain Aug 5th 2013, 14:05 Grand Theft Auto parent publisher picks up new domain name for mystery project. 
Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption parent publisher Take-Two Interactive on July 25 registered the domain name HungoverX.com, according to records spotted by Fusible. The site points out that the name was registered privately through Network Solutions, though Take-Two is the owner. Take-Two has not announced any projects related to HungoverX and the company does not hold a trademark for the name. The website, www.HungoverX.com, currently does not resolve to anything. Take-Two's next major project is Grand Theft Auto V, which releases worldwide on September 17 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Sega looking to pick up Persona developer - Report Aug 5th 2013, 14:04 Twenty publishers lined up to bid on Atlus, says report, with deal aiming to be finalised by the end of the month. 
Sega is one of twenty publishers interested in buying Atlus--the Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Trauma Center developer--according to a new Bloomberg report (via Gematsu). The future of the cult Japanese developer remains unknown after its parent company Index Holdings, which acquired Atlus in 2006, filed for bankruptcy. Sources close to Bloomberg have said the twenty potential candidates will be narrowed down as early as next week and to secure a buyer before the end of August. The current top bid for the developer is reported to be as high as ¥20 billion ($203 million/£132 million) which is said to be five billion higher than Index Holdings expected. It is not known which publisher is reportedly placing the high bid. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Insomniac trademarks "Bad Dinos" Aug 5th 2013, 13:43 New trademark from Ratchet & Clank, Resistance developer covers "online video games." 
The next game from Ratchet & Clank and Resistance developer Insomniac Games may involve "Bad Dinos." The Burbank, California-based developer filed a trademark application with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) on July 29 for "Bad Dinos." The application covers "Entertainment services, namely, providing online video games." No other information is available and a representative for Insomniac Games could not be reached for comment. Insomniac Games is currently developing Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus for the PlayStation 3, as well as Sunset Overdrive for Xbox One. In addition to an office in Burbank, the company has a division based in Durham, North Carolina. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | id: Rage franchise not dead Aug 5th 2013, 13:11 Cofounder Tim Willits says company is "not doing anything immediately" in the franchise, but may some day. 
id Software's post-apocalyptic first-person shooter franchise Rage is not dead, cofounder Tom Willits told Joystiq during QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas this weekend. "I'm proud of what we did, I'm proud of the universe that we built. The franchise is not dead," Willits said. "We're not doing anything immediately with it, but when I designed the universe, I designed it in such a way that it would be easy to step back into. I'm still proud that we did something that was different--it wasn't like the games that we've done in the past." Rage was released in October 2011 to a generally positive crticial reception. The game was the fourth-best selling title of the month in the United States, though its lifetime sales are not known. The game was developed on id Software's proprietary id Tech 5 engine. Innovations made to the engine during Rage's development have advanced the technology, Willits said. "We really tried to do one engine that worked for everything," Willits said. "It really helps establish a robust tech that, as John [Carmack] said last night, we're adding stuff into it based on the new consoles, and it's allowed people to make different games because the technology is flexible and robust and works on everything." For more on Rage, check out GameSpot's review. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Bungie: "We still have risks to take" Aug 5th 2013, 12:39 Destiny developer says the company is "young and spry" in response to a fan asking if AAA games can be innovative. 
Can a AAA game, like Destiny, be truly innovative? That's the question one Bungie fan posed to the developer recently. The Bellevue, Washington studio responded by listing the ways it is pushing the envelope instead of resting on its laurels. "You make us sound like an old, Favorite Uncle who can barely touch his toes anymore. Bungie is young and spry--barely into our twenties," Bungie wrote as part of its latest Mail Sack feature. "We still have risks to take. Anyone who spends more time thinking about how things could be than how things are can innovate [Emphasis original]." "Anyone who throws out their old way of doing things can innovate," the company added. "Anyone who thinks they can float above the high watermark can innovate. Anyone with a refrigerator filled with energy drinks can innovate." Bungie also said its "massive infusion of new blood" is helping the company expand and try new things. One of Bungie's new hires is Danny Bulla, who worked on Red Dead Redemption at Rockstar Games as a senior game designer. Bulla is currently working on Destiny's sandbox elements. "Nothing makes an old dog learn new tricks faster than an eager puppy who tries to claim the ball," Bungie said. Published by Call of Duty company Activision, Destiny launches in 2014 for current- and next-generation consoles, but not PC, Wii U, or portables. Activision Publishing has high hopes for the game, saying last week that Destiny is expected to become the company's third billion-dollar franchise, joining Skylanders and Call of Duty. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | id Software's first Doom 4 project "didn't have the passion and soul" Aug 5th 2013, 11:09 Now-scrapped first version of Doom 4 "had a bit of schizophrenia, a little bit of an identity crisis. It didn't have the passion and soul of what an id game is," said id Software. 
Bethesda and id Software have spoken about the now-cancelled version of Doom 4, saying that the studio's original attempt at the game didn't feel like a Doom game. A new version of Doom 4 is now underway at id Software, but in an interview with IGN studio director Tim Willits spoke about why it cancelled its first attempt. "It wasn't one thing," explained Willits. "It wasn't like the art was bad, or the programming was bad. Every game has a soul. Every game has a spirit. When you played Rage, you got the spirit. And [Doom 4] did not have the spirit, it did not have the soul, it didn't have a personality. It had a bit of schizophrenia, a little bit of an identity crisis. It didn't have the passion and soul of what an id game is." "Everyone knows the feeling of Doom, but it's very hard to articulate," added Willits. Doom 4 was originally confirmed in May 2008 via a press release, though the project was scrapped in late 2011. Bethesda confirmed in April 2013 that development on the game had been rebooted, after sources at the time claimed the original version of Doom 4 borrowed many of its creative elements from modern shooters such as Call of Duty. Bethesda vice president of marketing Pete Hines added that Doom 4 needs to be worth the wait. “If it was like the quintessential, 'yup, that“s Doom 4,' then we wouldn“t be having this conversation," he said. "But, it was something that we looked at and the id guys looked at and said, look, it“s not even that something is necessarily bad. But is it good enough? You can make a game and say, 'that's not a bad game, but it's not as good as an Elder Scrolls game should be,' and there's a difference“it's not great. It's not amazing. It's not what people have waited all this time for. It needs to be like “this was totally worth the wait.'" "I think what the guys at id are working on is“they're pushing the boundaries and challenging themselves. I don“t want anybody to look at id“s next project and have this reaction that it's still stuck in the '90s," concluded Hines. While images of Doom 4 have surfaced online, these are believed to have been from the now-scrapped version. "Those images have nothing to do with what you're gonna see in Doom 4," said id Software design director Matthew Hooper. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | Ubisoft says there's an overall ending to Assassin's Creed Aug 5th 2013, 10:00 The Assassin's Creed series has an overall arc, says Black Flag director, though Ubisoft has "given ourselves room to fit more in this arc." 
Ubisoft has said that it has a planned ending for Assassin's Creed, and that the series follows an overall arc despite its annual release schedule. Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag director Ashraf IsmaiI said that the series' multiple development teams all follow an overall arc. "We have multiple development teams, then we have the brand team that sits on top and is filled with writers and designers concerned with the series' overall arc," said Ismail. "So there is an overall arc," he continued, "and each iteration has its place inside this." Assassin's Creed has attracted its share of criticism for adopting an annual release schedule, but Ismail says that the team has an overall ending in sight, and there are multiple ways for Ubisoft to get there. "We have an idea of where the end is, what the end is," explained Ismail. "But of course [Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot] announced we are a yearly title, we ship one game a year. So depending on the setting, depending on what fans want, we've given ourselves room to fit more in this arc. But there is an end." Ismail also says one of the advantages to having multiple studios working on the franchise simultaneously is that the various teams get to work in conjunction to plan plot points and characters ahead of time. "We're now able to seed stuff earlier and earlier in our games," Ismail said. "So for example in [ACIV] we have Edward, who was seeded in AC3. But there's a lot more stuff in our game that is hinting at other possibilities." Ubisoft Toronto, which is currently readying the release of Splinter Cell: Blacklist, has already begun work on 2014's Assassin's Creed game. Ubisoft itself has said it does not expect ACIV to outperform its predecessor commercially. For more information on this year's game, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, check out a recent Ask GameSpot video. Read and Post Comments | Get the full article at GameSpot
| | UK Chart: Minecraft stays top as Pikmin 3 falls out of Top 10 Aug 5th 2013, 09:10 The retail release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 takes a second week at the top of the UK charts. 
The retail release of Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition has blocked all competition from the top of the UK charts for a second week running. Pikmin 3, which finished last week in second, dropped sharply out of the top 10 to 15th. The Last of Us climbed to second, followed by Animal Crossing: New Leaf in third. FIFA 13, now in its forty-fifth week in the charts, finished in fourth place. Movie tie-in The Smurfs 2 climbed twenty places to finish fifth, a 115 percent increase in week-on-week sales buoyed by the release of the accompanying film. The rest of the top 10 was filled by all the usual suspects: Far Cry 3 in sixth, LEGO Batman 2 seventh, Call of Duty: Black Ops II in eighth, Tomb Raider ninth, and Assassin's Creed III tenth. The only new entry in the charts this week was the budget re-release of Saints Row: The Third - The Full Package in 29th. Its successor, Saints Row IV, is due out at the end of August. The Top 20 UK chart for the week ending August 3: 1. Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition
2. The Last of Us
3. Animal Crossing: New Leaf
4. FIFA 13
5. The Smurfs 2
6. Far Cry 3
7. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
8. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
9. Tomb Raider
10. Assassin's Creed III
11. Mario & Luigi: Dream Team Bros.
12. LEGO The Lord of the Rings
13. Max Payne 3
14. Grand Theft Auto IV
15. Pikmin 3
16. Need for Speed: Most Wanted
17. Battlefield 3
18. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
19. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Legendary Edition
20. The Sims 3: Island Paradise
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