Category Archives: News Snippets

Electronic Arts will be the Publisher of all Future Star Wars Games

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star-wars-logo

After acquiring Lucasfilm, Disney shut down LucasArts as a development house and has restructured the studio as a licensing house.  First news of licensing from LucasArts has surfaced in the way of the monumental Star Wars license agreement with Electronic Arts.  EA has secured a “multi-year exclusive licensing agreement to develop and publish globally new games based on Star Wars characters and storylines.”  Fans of both videogames and the Star Wars franchise are reporting a great disturbance in the Force… as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

The good news in all of this is EA has announced that three of their studios (DICE, BioWare, and Visceral Games) are working on titles set in the Star Wars Universe.  Fans of the original Knights of the Old Republic (such as myself) are certainly hoping for a single-player continuation of that epic story while everybody else is undoubtedly clamoring for Battlefront III from DICE.  I have no idea what Visceral could be working on, but any speculation is welcome in the comments below.  All games being developed by these studios will utilize Frostbite Engine 3.

My hope in this (aside from EA not destroying the brand and milking the franchise) is that maybe 1313 will be resurrected because, well, it looked pretty awesome.

 

Source:  IGN

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon “sequel in mind.”

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Blood Dragon Logo

With sales of the downloadable title exceeding expectations by five times, it’s understandable that Ubisoft would consider making this one-off a franchise.  Michael Biehn, the voice of Blood Dragon‘s protagonist, stated in an interview with Microsoft’s Major Nelson that Dean Evans, the creative director for the testosterone-filled retro throwback, has a sequel in mind for Blood Dragon.  It’s likely, given the success of the downloadable game, that we will be seeing more of Rex Power Colt in the future.  The beautiful, neon laser filled, post-apocalyptic future.

 

Source:  Joystiq

AVGN Adventures Heading to Nintendo Consoles

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The angriest gamer you’ve ever heard is getting his own video game adventure!  Titled Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures and planned for release on PC through Steam, this retro-styled action platformer is also heading, appropriately, to Nintendo’s most recent consoles:  the WiiU and 3DS.  James Rolfe, the man behind the Nerd, got his start as the Angry Nintendo Nerd with his review of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the NES.

No word on whether or not the game will be coming to XBLA or PSN, but I’m sure we’re all keeping our fingers crossed that no matter what platform this lands on, hopefully it’s not a steaming pile of donkey dung smothered in skunk anuses.

 

Source:  Destructoid

New Crystal Dynamics Title “soon to be announced”

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Tomb Raider developer is prepping to announce a new game soon according to a LinkedIn profile.  Matt McCulloch is a level artist with Crystal Dynamics and is reportedly working on “wildly cool environments for a soon to be announced title for Crystal Dynamics.”  A job posting on Crystal Dynamics’ website for a senior artist position clearly states “a brand new AAA game” which further suggests a new intellectual property.

With E3 right around the corner, it’s easy to hope that “soon” means “really soon.”

 

Source:  Destructoid

Spies Vs. Mercs is Back in Splinter Cell: Blacklist

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Upcoming Ubisoft sequel to the long-running Splinter Cell franchise is bringing back the popular Spies Vs. Mercs multiplayer mode which was disappointingly absent from Sam Fisher’s last outing.  Fans of the franchise have something to rejoice about amidst their complaints about the disappointing lack of  Michael Ironside (which, granted, is a very valid complaint).

Eternal Darkness Spiritual Successor in the Works

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It’s been over a decade since Silicon Knights released the highly regarded GameCube exclusive Eternal Darkness.  Since then, fans of the game have been demanding a sequel.  Silicon Knights and Nintendo ignored these demands and went on about their business.  Since its release in 2002, Silicon Knights has developed the critically and commercially disappointing Too Human and X-Men Destiny.  The studio has been troubled with bad press all around including these critical disappointments as well as law suits and former employee complaints.  Needless to say, it hasn’t been a good few years for Silicon Knights.

Nevertheless, we’re expecting a spiritual successor to their horror classic.  Though the teaser posted on IGN and the game’s official website have no mention of Silicon Knights, it is clearly stated that the game is in development from the creators of Eternal Darkness.  Titled Shadow of the Eternals, this pseudo-sequel is in development at Precursor Games, a new development studio and likely the result of Silicon Knights’ troubled past.  Denis Dyack is said to be involved in the project.

Shadow of the Eternals is being crowdfunded with the campaign beginning on May 6.  It is in development for WiiU and PC currently.  A synopsis of the game and the trailer are below:

When Detective Paul Becker is called to one of the bloodiest gang massacres in Louisiana state history, only two survivors remain from a brutal conflict between two rival cults. As Becker begins his interrogations of the suspects, their combined recollections will uncover the truth about the ‘Eternals’.

Featuring an ensemble cast of heroes and villains, Shadow of the Eternals will span over 2500 years of history throughout Egypt, England, Hungary, and the United States. Players will question the perception of reality as they try to balance the mechanics of combat, magick, and sanity events to progress through the adventure.

Shadow of the Eternals will take players on a memorable journey throughout time; weaving historical fact with disturbing fiction to create an experience unlike any other.

Sources:  GamesRadar, Kotaku, IGN

Call of Duty: Ghosts Officially Announced

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As posted yesterday, and all over the internet over the past week or so, Activision’s next Call of Duty game will be subtitled Ghosts.  The game will feature an “entirely new story, setting and cast of characters, all powered by a new, next generation Call of Duty engine that redefines the series for the next generation.”  As you can see, it’s very next generation-y.  Ghosts is scheduled to release on November 5th and is in development for Xbox 360, PS3, PC and next generation consoles.  The first gameplay footage will be shown at Microsoft’s next Xbox event on May 21.

Alan Wake Breaks 2 Million Sales

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Remedy’s psychological action thriller Alan Wake has managed to sell over 2 million copies on both Xbox and PC.  The game, which debuted on Xbox in May of 2010, has taken just under 3 years to complete this task, but Remedy remains hopeful about the future of the franchise.  Being a new IP from a small studio, it’s entirely understandable that sales for Alan Wake weren’t on par with bigger budget  games from the powerhouse developers, but it’s proven to be financially and critically successful.

News of this sales milestone comes just in time for Microsoft’s next Xbox reveal in just under a month.  While Remedy owns the Alan Wake IP, Microsoft is the series publisher and Remedy has stated in the past that the software giant is in charge of the franchise’s future.  Remedy has also been teasing a reveal of their latest project for some time now, so I wouldn’t be surprised at all if we see an Alan Wake: Season 2 reveal at Microsoft’s next-gen Xbox reveal or E3.

 

Source:  Games Radar

Call of Duty: Ghosts Coming November 5

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Ahead of Activision’s official May 1 reveal of the next Call of Duty game, a promotional poster has outed a release date for the already outed Call of Duty: Ghosts.  The poster proclaims a November 5 release date of Activision’s annual shooter along with a GameStop exclusive limited edition poster.  Now there’s nothing to be surprised about when Activision comes out tomorrow to tell us that Call of Duty: Ghosts will be releasing on November 5, 2013.  Unless this is all a ruse and there’s something completely different planned for the franchise.  In which case, we will all be surprised.  Whatever happens, you can feast your eyes on the poster sporting the release date and ugly bargain bin box art below:

These Ghosts are totally different from those Ubisoft Ghosts

 

Source:  IGN

Gears of War Film Actually Happening?

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Crimson OmenIt’s been a long time since we’ve heard anything about the long-planned Gears of War movie.  First news of the film came back in 2007 when New Line Cinema gained the rights for the film, but it’s been trapped in development hell for several years after losing its director and $100 million budget.  However, the film now has a new producer:  Scott Stuber.  Stuber served as the producer on Seth McFarlane’s Ted as well as the blockbuster bomb Battleship (among others, but Battleship is a pretty stand-out disappointment).

It’s easy to be disappointed with a film adaptation of a videogame before its release given the less than stellar track record of past videogame movies, but it is promising to hear that the script for the film is being developed with Epic games, IP owner of the Gears of War franchise.  No one else has signed with the film at this time, but Epic’s involvement with the script and the film now having a producer shows some interest in getting the project off the ground.  Whether or not it actually makes it to cinemas (or is actually good) remains to be seen.

Sources:  Destructoid, Variety