PlayStation’s push for indie games is epitomized by ‘The Tomorrow Children’
“It’s important to me to be able to express what I want to express.” These words come from Dylan Cuthbert, “Game Designer/Programmer/Anything” at Q Games, as he explains how his team came up with the back story for The Tomorrow Children. The forthcoming title is — by Cuthbert’s own admission — a little bit “out there;” a mix of Minecraft-esque collaborative building, social economics and a Soviet Union-themed post-apocalyptic dystopia. It’s definitely a little on the fringe. Multiplayer shooters and herculean protagonists have their place, but, as Cutbert alludes to in his gambit above, it’s probably not here. Indie doesn’t mean small though, and The Tomorrow Children, I learn, is an example of how companies like Q Games can keep to their own script (or lack of), and still benefit from the considerable support afforded by a partnership with Sony.
Earlier, during a preview session for The Tomorrow Children, the game is described as a “Marxism simulator.” The backstory? An experiment to unite all human consciousness went terribly wrong, destroying society. Over the following decades the few survivors try to rebuild humanity. Your role is to venture out into “the void” (the empty space left by the experiment,) and build a new world. Oh, there are also giant creatures to contend with that you kill and mine for materials. Y’know, all that usual stuff.
The off-beat storyline is accompanied by equally expressive artwork. Cuthbert tells me it’s inspired by sources as diverse as (among other things) old Czech puppetry, and the 1960s British drama The Prisoner. The result is cinematic, in a vintage French art house kind of way. Cuthbert is keen to point out that a lot of these decisions weren’t planned up front (as would be required by a AAA studio,) and that one of the main privileges of being independent is being able to, basically, do what you want.
But there’s a paradox. The Tomorrow Children is an indie title in spirit, but Sony is financially involved with the project. So, how does this reconcile with Q Games’ approach to game making? According to Cuthbert, it’s not only not a problem, it’s for the greater benefit of (his company’s) indie games.
“I think it doesn’t matter what size the game is [financially], as long as it’s an expression of the creator… and it hasn’t been meddled with… We just really enjoyed creating the technology [for the game], and obviously to create that technology we needed a bigger project to kinda buoy it up.”
“From the start, Sony was positive, said start experimenting and they were hands off. They just let us do anything we wanted basically.” And the result speaks for itself. How many other blockbuster titles have you opening Matryoshka dolls to collect DNA to rebuild your population? “In this game we’ve explored more ‘different’ ideas than we ever have before” says Cuthbert. Suggesting that despite dealing with suits doesn’t have to mean compromises. So, perhaps money and indie spirit aren’t so mutually exclusive after all?
The Tomorrow Children will be available in the coming months on PlayStation 4.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, Sony
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Activision’s dipping its toe into indie gaming with ‘Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions’
Activision creates and publishes a small group of blockbuster video games aimed at mainstream consumers. The world’s largest game publishing company handles some of gaming’s most culturally impactful titles: the Call of Duty franchise, this year’s Destiny, and the entire Blizzard catalog. This week at Gamescom 2014, Activision announced its first smaller effort in many years with Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions. As the name implies, Dimensions is the third entry in the Geometry Wars franchise — a beloved series that debuted as a minigame within the first Xbox console’s Project Gotham Racing 2. People like it so much in that completely unrelated game that it spawned into its own series.
Sadly, the studio behind the originals (Bizarre Creations) was shuttered after a commercial flop with the critically-lauded racer Blur. Some of the folks from Bizarre are back on Dimensions, now part of a new studio named Lucid. But this isn’t the return of Activision’s expanded portfolio, says Activision CEO Eric Hirshberg.
“I wouldn’t read too much into it in terms of a sea change in our business strategy,” Hirshberg told us in an interview. “It’s a passion project, a skunkworks project that we’re excited about, but it doesn’t signal an overall shift in our approach to the business.”
So, no, the move to re-launch Sierra as a label within Activision — while neato — is not part of a bigger push into the burgeoning indie game movement. Hirshberg also pointed out that some of his company’s tentpole franchises, such as the mega-popular kid’s series Skylanders, started out as “small, scrappy” projects rather than intended from the jump as the monsters they’ve become.
Activision’s taking a cautious approach with the new initiative, even. Hirshberg stressed that his company isn’t “taking our eye off the ball” of the prize: blockbuster games aimed at mainstream folks. For now, Hirshberg said Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions is “a cool passion project to hopefully make some gamers happy and do something we think is cool.” As far as we’re concerned, as long as there’s more Geometry Wars to play, everyone wins.
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Sony, Microsoft
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Go flex your Flak Cannon skills in the ‘Unreal Tournament’ alpha right now
How’s this for irony? If you’re the impatient type, an alpha version of the forthcoming Unreal Tournament is available for download right this instant. It’ll almost assuredly push your grit to its limits, though. As is typically the case with prototype games, you might rip out more than a few hairs over unbalanced weapons and possible game-breaking bugs because, well, it’s a work in progress. The development team at Epic Games says that the shooter will be updated every Friday to tie up the likely multitude of loose ends ahead of the final product. If any other “worthy” changes crop up before that, IGN reports the patches could be more frequent. So, if you want in on some of the action Epic teased earlier this summer, now’s your chance.
Filed under: Desktops, Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Via: IGN
Source: Rushbase
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‘Drift Stage’ is all about driving sideways and satisfying your ’80s fetish
If you pay attention to pop culture at all then you know the ’80s are back in full force. I mean, have you played Hotline Miami? Or noticed that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are back in theaters? And who can forget M83′s Midnight City and its killer sax solo? Well Drift Stage mines the same fetish for the 1980s and turns it into a neon-hued racer that’s all about driving sideways. All we really know is that this is a racing game with a heavy focus on “drifting” — hence the title. The simple 3D models and pixelated textures look sort of like Out Run and Miami Vice had a child then fed it acid — in other words, they’re crazy! We don’t have much more in the way of details at this point, except that there is a four player split screen mode. Hopefully we’ll find out when this indie racer will ship sooner, rather than later. But before you go, check out the teaser after the break, complete with Satriani-esque big guitar theme song.
Filed under: Gaming
Via: The Verge
Source: Drift Stage
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Guillermo Del Toro and ‘Metal Gear’ creator join forces for next ‘Silent Hill’ game
With the sad state that the Resident Evil and Dead Space franchises are in, word of a new high-profile horror game is incredibly tantalizing. Downright exciting, even. Earlier today at Sony’s Gamescom media briefing, the next Silent Hill was teased in a rather convoluted way on stage — of course, when Hideo Kojima is involved, convolution is to be expected. A title called P.T. was was briefly shown after a video for Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain‘s in-game box (seriously), and the audience was told that an interactive trailer for the former would be available on the PlayStation Store relatively soon. NeoGAF spotted that a gamer on Twitch started broadcasting her gameplay after downloading, and that’s when something peculiar happened. Toward the end of her terrifying stream, she unlocked a cutscene with a mysterious town and title cards bearing the names of the Metal Gear head honcho, filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro (Pacific Rim, Pan’s Labyrinth, Hellboy) and the name “Silent Hills.“
Another aspect of the reveal is that the game’s protagonist is apparently played by none other than Norman Reedus — everyone’s favorite Dixon on The Walking Dead, Daryl. If it were just him involved and not Kojima or Del Toro we might be a bit worried — Reedus’ last starring role in a game was the horrible Activision TWD tie-in.
What’s more, this could be Del Toro’s chance at finally getting involved with video games. Before THQ famously was dismantled piece-by-piece in 2012, he was working on a title by the name of Insane that still hasn’t seen the light of day. Maybe that could change soon.
The cutscene begins around 1:16
[Image credit: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP]
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Via: NeoGAF
Source: Twitch
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‘Shadow Realms’ is the next original game from the creators of ‘Mass Effect’
EA subsidiary studio BioWare has made some pretty popular games, and is known most recently for its Mass Effect and Dragon Age franchises. Today at Gamescom, the developer gave us an insight into its first original title in some time — Shadow Realms. The “online action RPG” pits a team of four “Heroes” against the ghouls and demons of the “Shadow Legions,” including one player-controlled “Shadowlord.” The evil, lone player is able to manipulate the environment, place traps and control ghastly minions in an effort to thwart the Heroes’ progress.
The RPG will also be released in episodes, with different scenarios moving the story along as you customize your character to suit your particular play style. Shadow Realms is due out on PC next year, and the official site is now live if you want to learn more about the game or the new world BioWare has created. There’s also the option to register your interest in the alpha, which will begin testing for a lucky few next month.
Source: BioWare (Shadow Realms)
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Playdate: We’re livestreaming ‘Hohokum’ on PS4!
Welcome, ladygeeks and gentlenerds, to the new era of gaming. The one where you get to watch, and comment, as other people livestream gameplay from next-gen consoles. Because games! They’re fun!
One of the biggest ways that Sony is differentiating the PlayStation 4 from the Xbox One is a strong reliance on quirky indie titles. It seems like for every blockbuster franchise like God of War and Uncharted there’s a flOw or Sound Shapes that challenges what we expect from a video game. Hohokum isn’t any different. In fact, it almost feels a little bit like the lovechild of the aforementioned titles: you guide a tadpole-like object around an abstract world similar to flOw, and nearly everything you touch adds another layer to the song playing in the background a la Sound Shapes. It’s an incredibly relaxed game where it’s easy to lose track of just how long you’ve ben playing as you explore each interconnected arty world. Words have a hard time doing it justice, which is why I’m streaming it just for you from the PS4 starting at 7 p.m. Eastern / 4 p.m. Pacific. Even better? You’ll have a chance to win a download code or three for the game during the broadcast.
Watch live video from Engadget on www.twitch.tv
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD, Sony
Source: Twitch
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NVIDIA explains why its 64-bit chip should be Android’s speed champ
NVIDIA set out to claim the Android performance crown when it unveiled its 64-bit Tegra K1 processor at the start of the year, and it’s now ready to explain why it expects to come out on top. The chip’s two Project Denver cores will have an edge partly because they’ll optimize code on the fly — they’ll break down big instructions into tiny, super-efficient functions that can be recycled as often as necessary. The company expects roughly twice the speed it would get from ordinary code, making the 64-bit K1 faster than you’d expect just by looking at the hardware. It should tout “significantly higher” performance than current four- and eight-core mobile CPUs, and run as well as some PC processors; be prepared for more Tegra-powered laptops and high-end tablets.
NVIDIA is still shy about when the new part will show up in gadgets you can buy, but it’s insisting that the K1 will be the first 64-bit ARM chip to run Android. The first shipping Denver-based mobile devices should arrive later in the year, and NVIDIA is unsurprisingly working with the Android L release to unlock the new Tegra’s full potential. Whether or not the firm can back up its boasting isn’t certain, though. Qualcomm also expects its 64-bit Snapdragon 410 and 610 to show up in late 2014 — even if NVIDIA beats Qualcomm to store shelves, it may only have weeks to brag before it faces some competition.
Filed under: Gaming, Tablets, Mobile, NVIDIA
Source: NVIDIA
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Sony has sold over 10 million PlayStation 4 consoles
Sony just hit another big milestone in the console wars. The company has officially sold over 10 million PlayStation 4s since the gaming system launched back in November — and those are units in the hands of real players, not on store shelves. For those keeping track, this means that Sony has delivered about three million PS4s in the past three months. The enthusiasm for the device isn’t slowing down any time soon, then. It’s not clear how close Microsoft is to hitting that largely symbolic mark, although its recently launched Kinect-free Xbox One may help it close the gap.
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‘Day Z’ is coming to PlayStation 4
As a narrative subject, zombies have become a bit cliche — but there’s still one game keeping the genre undead: Day Z. The multiplayer survival game started out as a mod for ARMA II, drawing in players by mixing hordes of zombies with the threat of other players, their lies and the general risk of the human element. It’s a game that can give you trust issues, and now it’s coming to the PlayStation 4.
Lead developer Dean Hall briefly took the stage during Sony’s GamesCom presentation to make the announcement, but he didn’t reveal much: there’s no release date in sight and no indication if PS4 users will be able to interact with PC users. There is some hope on the latter front, however: Hall said that the PS4 version will be using a “cross-platform renderer” to ensure the console version looks great.
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