The place to talk about games and everything else that matters
That’s Monday over, now let’s give this Tuesday thing a go.
Games
Keith Stuart
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On this week’s programme, Guardian games correspondent Keith Stuart leads pod regulars Aleks Krotoski and Jemima Kiss through the crystal clear – and occasionally terrifying – world of 3D gaming. At the Develop confernce in Brighton this summer, Keith met Ian Bickerstaff, head of Sony’s 3D research and development group, who divulged the future of interactivity with and without the 3D specs.
Before she departs for a spot of maternity leave, Jemima’s potty mouth punctuates the rest of the podcast, with news that mobile handset manufacturer HTC is considering a move into the operating system space, the business sense behind ousted Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz’s latest outbursts against the management of her former employers, the search/content/advertising company’s alleged in-bed relationship with industry stalwart AOL, and Amazon’s intentions to become the world’s biggest ebook library.
All this and more from Tech Weekly from the Guardian.
Don’t forget to…
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Aleks Krotoski
Keith Stuart
Jemima Kiss
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The place to talk about games and other things that matter.
Good morning and welcome to the games industry – EA has just bought Popcap for $750m! So much for austerity!
Games
Keith Stuart
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The latest console news:
The place to talk about games and other things that matter.
Friday! Start planning that weekend of games!
Games
Keith Stuart
guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
Slim PS3 is updated frequently every day with all latest Free Slim PS3 news and console reviews.
The place to talk about games and other things that matter.
It’s Thursday, we’re a little late, so let’s get out there and chat faster!
Games
Keith Stuart
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The Wii 2 will be unveiled at the giant E3 event in June and will launch next year.
Nintendo has confirmed that it will be launching a successor to its massively successful Wii home console in 2012. As rumoured for several weeks, the new machine will be unveiled at the giant E3 video game event, which takes place from June 7-9 in Los Angeles.
The company released a brief announcement on its investor relations website this morning, but has provided no other information. The confirmation coincides with the release of the veteran manufacturer’s earnings for the fiscal year ending 31 March 2011, which show a 52% fall in operating income, from ¥356bn (£2.6bn) in 2010 to ¥171bn. Worldwide annual sales of Wii hardware have also fallen from just over 20m in 2010 to 15.08m.
The Wii remains the most successful console release of its generation, with sales of around 86m, compared to 53m for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and 49.5m for the Sony PlayStation 3. However, the console has been available since 2006 and a refresh is now thought to be essential if Nintendo is to maintain its dominant position. An E3 announcement would allow the company to build on momentum generated by the release of the 3DS console last month.
Although no technical specifications for the Wii successor – allegedly codenamed “Project Cafe” – have been revealed, gossip and speculation are rife around the industry. Anonymous development sources have claimed to several news sites that development kits are already with big publishers such as Electronic Arts, Ubisoft and Activision. Games site IGN claims that it has been handed details of the architecture, which reportedly includes a triple-core IBM PowerPC processor and an AMD Fusion graphics processing unit. If true, this would make it considerably more powerful than the current Wii and a step up from the Xbox 360 (which has a similar internal set-up) and the PS3.
It is almost certain that, unlike Wii, “Project Cafe” will provide 1080p HD visuals. It is also set to feature a controller with its own built-in 6in display, effectively resembling a mini-tablet PC. This screen will be able to stream game visuals from the main console (showing, say, track layouts for racing games or interactive maps for adventure titles), but the controller may also be able to operate as seperate handheld games devices. Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto also hinted last week that the 3DS may be able to act as a “Project Cafe” joypad.
Nintendo has refused to comment on any of the speculation surrounding the new machine.
Games
Nintendo
Wii
Keith Stuart
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Rockstar provides a fresh peek into its atmospheric ’50s crime drama, this time focusing on your partners at the LAPD and the game’s ranking system.
The latest in a generous series of LA Noire trailers has been launched this afternoon. This one gives some insight into the rise of Cole Phelps from uniformed cop to high-ranking detective. On the way, we meet the assortment of partners he works with at the LAPD, including his showy vice sidekick, Roy Earle, who has a touch of the LA Confidential Kevin Spacey about him.
In the game, Phelps must solve a series of brutal crimes, with players using interrogation sequences to puzzle out the details of each case. The video explains the game’s ‘Intuition Points’ system, which provides optional hints to players when they become stuck. There’s also some stuff on the side-missions that players are able to partake in between and during the major crimes, including foiling street robberies and tackling ‘Unassigned Cases’.
There’s lots of that famed period detail too, with plenty of famous Los Angeles locations zooming by during the in-game excerpts. LA Noire is out on Xbox 360 and PS3 on May 20. As ever, take a look and let us know what you think…
Games
Xbox
PS3
Keith Stuart
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Latest gaming news:
The veteran games designer and Lionhead chief says he wants to prove himself after being awarded a fellowship
Peter Molyneux has admitted to having moments of doubts about his future as a games designer. After accepting his Bafta fellowship to a standing ovation at the Bafta video game awards on Wednesday, the industry veteran told the Guardian that some disappointing reviews of Fable III had led to him questioning his abilities.
“The Fable III the reviews were, justifiably, not what I’d hoped for,” he said. “We just weren’t good enough with the craft of what we did. That always makes you reflect. And I said to myself late one night, ‘Have I already created the greatest game I’m ever going to create? Is the rest just a downhill struggle?’ And the next day a letter came through the post telling me I’d been nominated for a Bafta fellowship. And I just thought, ‘I am going to prove that I haven’t done my best.’ Everything I’ve done up to this point is just training for what I should do.”
Molyneux also admitted to being overwhelmed by emotion when accepting his award. “I feel unbelievably humbled. As I walked up on stage I almost fainted. There was this sea of faces, and lots of people I’ve worked with before, and everyone stood. I was choking up. It was an incredible feeling, and I do immediately want to go home and start proving that I’m really, truly worthy of this.”
The industry veteran also took the opportunity to praise games in general and spoke about an “energy in the air” right now for developers. “Tens of millions of people are choosing games as a medium of entertainment. Over my career I’ve gone from selling games on trestle tables at royal horticultural halls in London to a night like tonight. I remember standing in front of the press in 1991 arguing that computer games are art by any definition, they have cultural influence! But what should worry people in film and TV is we’ve only just started. Only now, when you see social gaming, mobile gaming and Kinect coming on, you think, Jesus, where is this all going to go? That’s what’s exciting.”
In his acceptance speech Molyneux humorously touched on his reputation of over-promising on his games, but denied it was a PR tactic. “I’m not over-promising, I’m over-believing. I always truly believe that this is going to be the greatest game of all time – I wouldn’t try to do it any other way. But now I’ve come to realise that, you know what? It’s all about the execution. You can be super-passionate, but you need to execute on it.”
When asked how his current game projects will be affected by the Bafta acknowledgment he said: “At Lionhead, we always have a meeting on Fridays and I think I will stand up and say, ‘This award is for everyone.’
But I’ll also say to them, ‘Let’s ensure our next game is nominated next year!’”
Games
Keith Stuart
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This blog is updated frequently every day with all latest video game news, reviews and features.
Cory Archangel at The Barbican, plus a fascinating online study of gaming semiotics.
Once in a while we like to inform you of art events with a video gaming slant – and two have dropped into my inbox this week. First up, Brooklyn-based digital artist Cory Archangel has an exhibition at The Barbican’s Curve gallery from February 10 until May 22. Entitled Beat The Champ, the installation features a series of monitors showing various bowling games, from the earliest virtual version of the sport on the Atari 2600 to modern iterations on current consoles. The machines playing the games are also being exhibited, each of which has been hacked by Cory to endlessly play the games. I’ve written about Archangel’s work several times on the Gamesblog, and interviewed him while he was curating an exhbition in London. He’s best know for his hacked game installations, including Super Mario Clouds, which features the popular platformer with all the visuals removed apart from the clouds, and I Shot Andy Warhol, a version of the old lightgun game Hogan’s Alley, with famous icons replacing the standard targets. His work is often about changing the contexts and challenging the semiotics of game design and game meaning – but the visual impact of all these games flickering away along the Barbican’s walls will be worth catching in its own right.
Similarly, you can now also visit the online exhibition, The Semiotics of Video Games. The site collates various videos and digital images that analyse how games impart meaning through graphics and icons. There’s some fascinating stuff in here, including another interesting Super Mario work, this time showing one level from the point of view of two Gombas. Some of the prose is rather academic, but the ideas about the nature of empathy, assocation and immersion in video game worlds are worth thinking over and arguing with.
Games
Game culture
Keith Stuart
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This site is updated regularly each day with all latest games console news and reviews.
Two unmissable dates for your gaming calendar…
Just a quick post to let you know about two events on the near-horizon. First up, this Friday sees the launch party for GameCity Nights season two, a new series of indie-flavoured games nights from the people behind the lovely GameCity Festival. Kicking off at 6pm at the Antenna club in Nottingham, the intro night will feature guest appearances from comedian and game developer Graham Goring, the amazing Theremin Hero and Free Market Economy, Derek Williams’ famed music/monologue feature from video game radio show, One Life Left. The GameCity team apparently have some amazing events planned and they’re spilling the beans here. So get along there tomorrow.
Also, just a reminder that I’ll be hosting the first ever Gamesblog Live event on February 19 at the Guardian’s very own offices. I’ll be talking to the chaps behind Need for Speed: Shift 2, Dragon Age 2 and Crysis 2, and there will be demo units so you’ll be able to sample the games. It’s a great chance for Gamesblog readers to meet up, play EA’s latest titles and hear the developers discussing their influences and game design theories. Also, if you witnessed my presenting skills at last year’s GameCity 5 Gamesblog breakfast events, you’ll already know you’re in for an unforgettably slick performance…
And I’ll have more on several other forthcoming UK games events soon…
Games
Events
Game culture
Keith Stuart
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