We begin the 2010 run of Game Narrative Reviews -- in which students submit in-depth analyses of game narrative for presentation at GDC Online -- with this look at Persona 4's story.
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Game Narrative Review - Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4
ModNation Racers - Sony PSP
Old Price: $29.99 Current Price: $19.98A Creative Twist on Classic Kart Racing!Grab the keys to the latest 'PLAY, CREATE, and SHARE' title available onthe PlayStation3! ModNation Racers is a next generation kart racerthat empowers the player to personalize their entire game. Shoot, boostand drift your way to the finish line both offline and online, then create yourown racing experiences with the same tools used by the developmentteam. Express yourself by creating your own Mod character. Build yourown quirky kart or design an imaginative track with deep, yet easy to usecreative tools. Once you are finished, share it with the rest of the worldor access unlimited amounts of user generated ModNation content on thePlayStation Network. There is no end to the karting fun!It's Kart Racing for a New Generation!
MICROSEMI MICROS SYSTEMS MICRON TECHNOLOGY MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY
FIFA Soccer 2011 - Nintendo DS
Price: $29.99 ETA: 9/28/2010Hit the streets with your favourite players and show you've got the skills to hit the big time. FIFA Soccer 11 delivers a fresh new way to play on Wii with over-the-top street and indoor soccer as well as traditional 11 versus 11 matches.
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USC Internship Week Features Gaming & Technology Panel
The University of Southern California announced that its Fall 2010 Internship Week will feature a number of free-to-attend discussions from industry employers, including a "Gaming & Technology" panel on October 6th.
Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time - Playstation 3
Old Price: $39.99 Current Price: $29.98Concluding the events set into motion by Tools of Destruction, Ratchet andamp; Clank Future: A Crack in Time will at long last answer some of the franchise fans' largest questions. After discovering that Clank's disappearance was engineered by Dr. Nefarious, Ratchet races to rescue his best friend. Unfortunately, he discovers that Clank's capture is just the beginning of Nefarious's latest diabolical plot. In this follow-up to the best-selling series, Ratchet andamp; Clank Future: A Crack in Time puts players into the role of both Ratchet and Clank as they attempt to reunite and save the universe. Along the way, both will finally uncover the hidden truth behind their origins, and discover their ultimate destinies. As the duo come closer to reuniting, they'll have to ask themselves the biggest question of all: Do Ratchet and Clank's destinies lie with each other? Or is it finally time for the universe's greatest duo to separate for good? Powered by Insomniac Games' fourth-generation PLAYSTATION3 system technology, A Crack in Time will continue to bring the experience of playing your own CG-animated movie to the PS3 system. Players will use new gadgets such as Ratchet's Hoverboots to explore levels and can take off in Ratchet's ship to discover nearby moons and planets. Clank will use new abilities to manipulate time to try and stop Dr. Nefarious.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
PlayStation Move is fun, accurate and stunning
Sony's motion-control system, which officially launches Sunday, is incredibly precise and versatile. More accurate and robust than the Wii's motion controls, Move is going to be the first motion-control system that will actually appeal to hardcore gamers.
TAKE-TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE SYNTEL SYNTAX-BRILLIAN SYNOPSYS
Destroy Entire Websites With Asteroids Bookmarklet
An anonymous reader writes "Have you ever visited a website and been so frustrated by the content, layout, or adverts that you'd love to destroy it? Well, now you can. If you head on over to the erkie GitHub page there's a JavaScript bookmarklet you can drag and add to your bookmarks toolbar. Then just visit any website and click the bookmarklet. An Asteroids-style ship should appear that you can move around with the arrow keys. Press space and it will start firing bullets which destroy page content."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
Seabury: Four-Year Tests for LEGO Universe
Developer NetDevil has told Worlds in Motion sister site Gamasutra that its upcoming LEGO Universe MMO has logged "thousands of hours" of play, some from groups of children who have been beta testing it for four years.
The game's development began by soliciting ideas from a group of children who formed the basis of its testing pool, says Ryan Seabury, creative director of the game at NetDevil.
"We started with a group of 19 kids before we even had a line of code or a drawing on paper, brought them into our offices in Louisville, Colorado, and asked them, 'Hey, what would you want from an online LEGO game? What do you think that would be? What would be cool to you?'" He explains.
These players were then invited to play the game as it began to take shape -- and have continued to do so, says Seabury, "coming back and testing it on a weekly basis."
"The same group of kids, all of them -- they were about eight to 12 at the time, now are 12 to 16," he says.
The game has also been in closed beta, and from this combined data, the developers have harnessed "tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of kids who have played this game to give us feedback," says Seabury.
The full interview goes into great depth on the business and development decisions NetDevil and partner LEGO have taken with the game, and explains why we may see cameos from popular LEGO licensed properties like Star Wars in the future, among other topics.
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS INTEL INSIGHT ENTERPRISES
Zynga Expands To Europe With Purchase Of Engine Developer Dextrose
Social game company Zynga announced that it has acquired Dextrose, a German game engine studio that will become the first European subsidiary for the FarmVille developer.
Dextrose previously developed the Aves Engine, which allows graphically complex games to run in a web browser or on mobile devices using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The Mainz, Germany based studio will become Zynga Germany, and founders Paul Bakaus and Rocco Di Leo will become chief technology officer and country manager, respectively.
Zynga has yet to announce its plans for the Dextrose technology and new European branch, only noting that Zynga Germany will focus on the ?best in next-generation gaming technology,? as reported by VentureBeat.
The Dextrose acquisition marks Zynga's first foothold in Europe, and the company expanded into Asia earlier this year, purchasing XPD Media and Unoh, indicating substantial growth overseas for the company.
Other recent Zynga acquisitions include Serious Business and Austin-based Challenge Games.
The FarmVille developer operates six of the most popular games on Facebook in terms of monthly users, and has experienced rapid growth in the social games space.
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Tuesday, September 28, 2010
GEARS of WAR Anvil Gate
By #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss
Blockbuster video game franchise Gears of War has been a household name among gamers, with over 12 million copies sold to date. At the demand of fans asking to know more about the story, Gears of War burst onto the book scene in 2008 with Aspho Fields and then with Jacinto?s Remnant following one year later, both penned by #1 New York Times bestselling author Karen Traviss and both instant bestsellers. Now in the third book of the series, GEARS OF WAR: ANVIL GATE (Del Rey Trade Paperback, on sale August 31, 2010, $16.00), the human race struggles to move on after the tragic events on Jacinto.
With the Locust Horde seemingly destroyed, Jacinto’s survivors have begun to rebuild human society on their island stronghold. Raiding pirate gangs take a toll ? but it’s nothing that Marcus Fenix and the Gears can’t handle. Then the terrifying life-forms they thought they’d left behind - the Lambent, creatures even the Locust feared - begin to advance across the planet. Gears and gangs must fight side by side to stop their deadliest enemy yet, falling back on the savage tactics of another bloody siege: Anvil Gate.
“Anvil Gate is part of the fast-moving storyline between the second and third Gears games, so it’s essential reading for any fan who wants to fully understand the events of Gears of War 3 - the final game of the trilogy, also written by Karen,” said Epic Games Executive Producer Rod Fergusson.
The Gears of War series is one of the most popular franchises in Xbox history, having won more than 30 Game of the Year awards, and spawning New York Times bestselling novels, an ongoing comic book series, an upcoming film, collectible figures and more.
Karen Traviss is the author of five Star Wars: Republic Commando novels: Hard Contact, Triple Zero, True Colors, Order 66, and Imperial Commando: 501st; three Star Wars: Legacy of the Force novels: Bloodlines, Revelation, and Sacrifice; two Star Wars: The Clone Wars novels: The Clone Wars movie novelization and No Prisoners; as well as her award-nominated series City of Pearl, Crossing the Line, The World Before, Matriarch, Ally and Judge. A former defense correspondent and TV and newspaper journalist, Traviss lives in Wiltshire, England.
APPLE COMPUTER APPLIED MATERIALS ARIAN SEMICONDUCTOR EQUIPMENT ARROW ELECTRONICS
Deca Sports - Nintendo DS
Old Price: $29.99 Current Price: $19.9810 Complete Sporting Events, To Go!DECA SPORTS, the hit sports compilation series that had over 1 million units sold through on Wii, is taking its exciting multi-sports competition on the road with 10 NEW sporting events in DECA SPORTS DS! With all-new touch screen controls, DECA SPORTS DS will make everyone in your family experts in a wide range of new sports, no matter where they are. Lunge, flip, and kick your way to the top across all of the included events: Arm Wrestling, Wall Climbing, Clay Shooting, Cheerleading, Sky Diving, Ping Pong, Bobsled, Rugby, Golf, and even Sepak Takraw! The spirit of competition is more fun, and more portable, than ever!
Kane and Lynch director quits
Hollywood adaptation of Io Interactive's squad-based shooter suffers a setback after French director walks away from project; film's production pushed back.
Get the full article at GameSpot
"Kane and Lynch director quits" was posted by Laura Parker on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:49:07 -0700
Return To Castle Wolfenstein Source Code Released
geefau writes with news that id Software has released the source code to Return To Castle Wolfenstein (single player and multiplayer), along with Wolfenstein – Enemy Territory, under the GPL. The linked article notes that "these only include the game source code, not the graphics. You need the full games for those."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
MICRON TECHNOLOGY MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY METHODE ELECTRONICS MENTOR GRAPHICS
Monday, September 27, 2010
Learning By Playing
theodp writes "This week's NY Times Magazine — a special issue on education and technology — is tailor-made for the Slashdot crowd. For the cover story, Sarah Corbett explores the games-and-education movement, which she notes is alive and well at Quest to Learn, a NYC middle-school that aims to make school nothing less than 'a big, delicious video game.' Elsewhere in the issue, Paul Boutin writes about Microsoft's efforts to inspire The 8-Year-Old Programmer with its Kodu Project, and Nicholas Carlson reports on Columbia University's efforts to mix journalism and hard-core computer science with its unique dual-degree master's in journalism and CS. There's also an accompanying timeline that nicely illustrates how learning machines have progressed from the Horn-Book to the iPad."
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
COMCAST COMMSCOPE COMMUNICATIONS HOLDINGS COMPAL ELECTRONICS
Unreal Engine 3 Wins Third Develop Industry Excellence Award
Epic Games is thrilled to receive its third consecutive Develop Industry Excellence Award for Unreal Engine 3. Vice President Mark Rein was on hand at last night?s Develop Industry Excellence Awards at the Develop Conference in Brighton, UK to accept the prestigious plaque on behalf of Epic.
Rein today said to trade magazine MCV, ?We couldn?t be more excited about Unreal Engine 3?s third consecutive Develop Industry Excellence Award and what it means to Epic and to the rest of the industry. Developers have seen what our technology can do for PC and console games, and now we are ready to usher in a new era of mobile games.
?Unreal Engine 3 is nothing like any other engine you?ve seen on mobile platforms. It?s going to raise the visual bar and define the standard for the mobile games of tomorrow. Wait until you see what we?re rolling out to customers now, next year and beyond. With all the new features we?re packing into Unreal Engine 3, and with over 285,000 UDK users, look out world ? we?re just getting started!?
In 2008, Unreal Engine 3 won the Develop award for Best Tools before the Best Engine category was formed. Unreal Engine 3 has maintained its position as Best Engine for the past two years running.
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Playtesting is Sovereign, Part 2
A continuation of Lewis Pulsipher's playtesting article, which continues the discussion by explaining what to do with playtesting feedback you get and how to evaluate it.
5. Makeover Designer 2
Give everyone in the family a makeover so they can document this picture-perfect moment!
Demon's Souls: the five tips every new player should read
From Software's complex multiplayer RPG is proving a substantial challenge even for veteran role-playing adventurers. So we asked two leading experts to give Gamesblog readers some exclusive tips...
A demon-filled fog has enveloped the kingdom of Boletaria and now the bravest warriors must penetrate this gaseous hell to save the land. The setting sounds like familiar RPG hokum but Demon's Souls is not your average dungeon crawler. Cult Japanese developer From Software has instead constructed a deep, imposing and tactically rich adventure with a rewarding combat system and masses of character customisation. Complete with online co-op and asynchronous multiplayer elements, it's been a leftfield hit in the West, despite (or perhaps because of) the fact that it's punishingly difficult.
If you're new to the game, or already deeply absorbed but in need of guidance, help is at hand. We've spoken to Matthew Whisker and Wayne Gibson, the writers of the official Guide to Demon's Souls and administrators of the Demon's Souls Wikidot. Here are their quick hints for Demon's Souls success...
1. At the start you have the option of about eight or nine different characters. Which one gives you the best chance of success and why?
Wayne: When you start for the very first time, a Royalty class is, in my view, the best choice. The main reason is you get a decent spell with ranged ability, and it helps until you learn the techniques of dodging, parrying, and the habit of always keeping your shield up.
Matthew: Another good choice is the Temple Knight, which has an excellent set of stats for a melee combat-orientated character, and starts with a full set of armour, a good shield and a halberd which is deadly when wielded in two hands. Remember to un-equip some of the heavy armour at the beginning though, as you won't have the Endurance to wear it all and still roll/sprint normally.
Wayne: Once you get those habits and skills under your belt, then there is no real "best choice" for a starting class. It just depends on what type of character you would like to make. I would recommend that you visit the wiki and look at the Character Builds page that the users have submitted.�Everyone can vote on how good they think a build is, so you can get a sense of which ones might have more merit than others. You should certainly read the top five or 10 and see if any of them fit your preferred play style.�
2. What tips do you have for defeating enemies in one-on-one combat?
Wayne: Learn to Parry/Riposte! A parry/riposte will take down almost, if not every, enemy in the game except for bosses.�The damage output on a riposte is insanely high.�The best method for practicing this is on the dreglings in the first world (Boletarian Palace).�You can usually survive at least one hit on a dregling, so it gives you two or three shots to practice before you die, assuming you miss the parry. It can be frustrating to get the hang of it, and you'll still miss from time to time, but once you get it, it is deadly.
Matthew: It also comes in handy for dealing with the rolling skeletons in the Shrine of Storms. Raise your shield and block them rolling into you, then parry when they swing their sword. With practice, parrying and riposting can be adapted to work well even against other players. Weapons like daggers and rapiers have an innate bonus to backstab and riposte damage too, especially with the Fatal upgrade.
Wayne:�Use your shield! Keep it up all the time.�Things jump out at you constantly when you walk through doors, or around corners, or sometimes just up a flight of stairs.�The shield is not decorative.�This is not Call of Duty, you can't just run into a room spraying bullets everywhere.�If you run straight into a room in this game, especially if you've never been there before and have no idea what is waiting for you, you're just going to die a lot.� So, use the shield and take your time. Ironically, the more patient you are while progressing through a level, the faster you'll finish the level.�Rushing through and dying three quarters of the way into a level sends you back to the start and you have to go through again and all the enemies have respawned.�
Matthew: The best shield in each category would be the Dark Silver Shield +5 for small shields and the Purple Flame Shield +10 for large shields, the DSS being my personal favourite for its versatility, parrying ability and 100% Magic damage resistance on block, as well as a passive bonus to Magic Defence.
3. Do you have any useful general tactics on good combinations and how to maximise weapon power?
Wayne: A good tactic to bear in mind is the "maximize weapon power" option. A weapon is upgraded with stones that you find, and there are over a dozen types of those stones.�Each stone does a particular type of upgrade on a weapon and you cannot have more than one type of stone upgrade on a weapon at a time. The stones are gone once you apply them to a weapon. Most weapons require some number of shards, large shards, chunks, and one or two pure types of stone.�The latter two can be difficult, and sometimes impossible, to find on a single play through. Please go to the wiki and carefully review the information on the stones. More info is available there on the the various upgrades and the weapons. It's worth planning out your weapon upgrade path before you play.�I didn't do this, and used stones on things that really didn't help me that much.�I regretted it, since I had to start over and they are so hard to come by.
Matthew: In terms of tactics, the most important thing is to use a weapon with a moveset that compliments your playstyle. You also need to remember that some weapons perform much better in a two-handed style, eg: the Great Axe. It's one of the deadliest weapons in the game in both PvP and PvE, yet this only applies if you wield it in two hands, meaning you have access to its great rolling attack and powerful three hit combo. Polearms like the Mirdan Hammer are also much more effective in two hands, so experiment!
For purely PvP combinations, some of the most common setups have an Uchigatana of some variety in the left hand. This is because the L1 Uchi attack is very fast and has a wide angle, allowing you to prevent an opponent from circling around you, and lock them in a combo with your right-hand weapon.
Buffs of some form or another are also essential for any kind of play in Demon's Souls. Second Chance is a must-have no matter what you plan on doing, and Warding can almost completely nullify physical damage for a short period of time, making it very effective against other players and demons alike. A term you will see thrown around a lot is the 'Cracked ToB' referring to the Talisman of Beasts, which, with the right stat setup (18 Int, 6 Magic, 16 Faith is the usual one) will allow you to get Curse Weapon without suffering the huge percentage HP drain that offsets the 50% damage bonus of the buff.
However, it takes a little more explaining than that, so please look it up on the Wiki for info on exactly why this happens, and how useful it can be. Light Weapon performs very well on faster weapons using the Insanity Catalyst and around 30 Magic, especially those with innate magical damage like the Blueblood Sword, so the LW BBS (as we abbreviate it) is another common sight in the self-made PvP arena of 4-1.
4. How about collecting souls? How do you get as many as possible?
Wayne: The Wiki page has a good section on finding good areas for farming souls. Generally speaking though there are quite a few tips on this.�My personal favourite (because I like using bows) is killing the grim reaper in world 4-2 (4-2 is also called the Adjudicator Stone).�The reaper is almost right at the beginning of the level at the bottom of what is best described as a pit.�There are shadow lurkers all around him, and if you shoot him two to four times (depends on attack power of arrows and bow) he dies and all the shadow lurkers die as well.�The best part is, you get ALL of their souls.�
Matthew: Another good trick is to use the Silver Bracelets, Ring of Avarice and Soul Thirst, if you have them, and kill all the enemies in 4-3 using Stormruler before touching the Archstone and warping out. Don't forget to pick up any upgrade stones they might have dropped!
5. Do you have any advice on defeating the end-of-level bosses?
Wayne: This varies a lot.�In fact, each boss is fairly unique in what it takes to kill them. For some players, Flamelurker is the hardest, at least the first time you fight him.�I will warn you about one other boss that should be super easy but not always, as I had the misfortune of finding out.� When you fight the boss named Penetrator, if you have freed an NPC named Biorr, then Biorr will help you with the fight, and this results in the Penetrator focusing pretty much exclusively on Biorr. Since you can just attack him without really attracting his attention, this makes Penetrator an easy boss.� However, as I found out, if you don't free Biorr or you kind of kill him just to see what will happen if you do then you fight Penetrator alone, and he suddenly becomes a lot more difficult.�Not impossible ? just a lot more difficult.�For details on how to defeat each boss, visit the wiki again ? the boss section is our most often visited page according to Google Analytics tracking.
Matthew: Another boss worth mentioning in terms of difficulty is the final boss of Boletarian Palace ? the False King. He used to give me real trouble when I first started playing the game, as he is very fast, aggressive and has some of the most damaging attacks your character will ever be exposed to. The important things to remember for him are to try and summon some help ? it's very beneficial to have him going after two people instead of focussing on one, as this will help you avoid getting soulsucked by him. If you do get soulsucked, you can get them back easily enough, and the souls you get as a reward for beating him will more than likely pay for any levels you lose. Finally, when you see him plant his sword in the ground, don't run away and try and avoid his area-of-effect attack like you would logically do. instead, run up to him and hit him, it makes him flinch and he stops charging the attack. The mistake I would make would be to run away from it ? it has incredible range and is nearly impossible to avoid unless you make him flinch.
If I had any general advice for the game as a whole it would be to be patient, don't take risks and don't let the game get the better of you. If you die in the game, it is because you, as the player, made a mistake. Sure, the game can be brutal, the enemies are tough, the bosses are sometimes downright unfair, and you can't control it when another player decides to rain on your parade (except by playing offline, and we all know that's boring), but as time goes on and you get better at the game, you'll realise that the deaths are down to you usually being too aggressive, too reckless or sometimes not reckless enough. I'll leave it to you to find the right balance!
Coming soon: yet more tips and insider info courtesy of the From Software development team! (We're just getting it all translated...)
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