PlayStation 4 indie devs are already using Project Morpheus
Becoming an independent PlayStation 4 developer is easy, Sony’s Adam Boyes tells us: “You just have to sign up.” The PlayStation VP of publisher and developer relations was explaining what the company has done to woo indie devs. Half the job was just making developer programs more accessible. “Before GDC last year we didn’t even have a website where you could go and find out about it, but now we have a very well thought out process.” Boyes says that anyone who qualifies as an independent developer can get a free (loaner) developer kit, too — a similar deal applies to Project Morpheus, too.
“It’s a very similar process,” he told us. “if we’re working with you closely, then the [VR] dev kits are going to come through a loan program.” Even so, PlayStation has to dole out the headsets carefully. There just aren’t that many to go around. “The only real concern is supply,” he explained. “We have to do what makes sense, as far as when we send it to different developers.”
Short supply hasn’t stopped Project Morpheus from getting attention in the indie world. “A lot of them are trying it out and seeing how it works. Getting to know how it runs,” Boyes told us. When asked about the fruits of their labors, he backpedaled, reminding us that Morpheus is just “sort of a tech project” that PlayStation is working on. It’s not a product yet. Lest you forget, Morpheus is still in the prototype phase, and the only release window for a final version is, “not this year.” We expect Sony will stay reserved when it comes to Morpheus claims for some time, until the hardware is in better shape.
Still, Boyes is focused on giving independent developers the tools they need to build new and interesting gaming experiences — VR or otherwise. “Being able to facilitate those great ideas that are kind of… crazy and nuts, that’s what gamers want, right?” Boyes said. “We need to be agile, and allow them to get on the platform so those crazy ideas can come bear.”
Boyes demonstrated that agility in the announcement last evening of another gaggle of indie games headed to PlayStation platforms, many embodying those “crazy ideas” he spoke of during our interview. Joystiq‘s got a rundown of all those titles, including indie hits like Nidhogg and Escape Goat 2, right here.
Filed under: Gaming, Peripherals, Wearables, Software, HD, Sony
Vince Zampella Co-founds Nuclear Division; Mobile Gaming Has Taken a Step Toward Awesome
One of video gaming’s greatest developers, Vince Zampella, the man behind the good Call of Duty games (in my opinion) and Titanfall has recently co-founded and invested in the mobile game developer, Nuclear Division.
Not much is known outside the fact that Vince Zampella will only act as an investor/advisor to Nuclear Division while still remaining at Respawn Entertainment, although that is still great news. It is great to see a legendary developer such as Vince Zampella start to take mobile to the next level; it will only be a matter of time till other legends will get behind mobile and more legends will be created because of mobile.
I myself cannot wait to see what will come from this partnership, whether it be a mobile version of Titanfall or something that will be great in its own right. One thing I know for sure is this is truly a sign of great things to come.
Source: Game Informer
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Sky Go and Now TV both coming to British PS4s this summer
Quietly mentioned inside Sky’s financial report for this quarter, the broadcaster has revealed that two of its streaming services will arrive on the PlayStation 4 in just a few months. Details are scant (it just says what we’ve written above), but both Sky Go (for existing Sky subscribers) and the more free-and-loose Now TV will both debut on the Sony console. They’ll have a fight on their hands: they’ll be up against the likes of Netflix and Amazon Instant Video. Sky also announced that it’s renewed its movie deal with Paramount, giving it exclusive broadcast rights to the likes of Anchorman 2 and Noah. So, not even a mention of the Xbox One — but at least that console’s doing its own thing.
Update: Sky has issued a fuller press release which also mentions that Sky Go will find its way to PS3 owners (who’ve so far only had access to Now TV on their consoles).
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software, HD, Sony
Source: Sky
Minecraft creator’s latest game trades blocks for existential angst
While the game’s intro tells us, “There is nothing,” there is a lot more to the little word game beneath the surface. Drowning in Problems is in fact Minecraft creator Markus Persson’s entry in Ludum Dare. The contest is an accelerated game-development event where programmers create a game in a weekend based on a theme chosen by the community. The theme for this event, Ludum 29, was: beneath the surface. The game is set up with awards and costs: You start with nothing and by clicking Solve, you’ll become not nothing. Clicking again gives you hope; hope gives way to a body; and you are born. The game continues this way, gradually growing in complexity as you give up things you’ve solved to advance in life, get a job, meet a lover and grow. From start to finish, it takes about 10 minutes to complete if you button smash, much longer if you take the time to follow the — decidedly glum — narrative. Hit up the link below to play it through, or, if you’d rather follow on to Ludum Dare to get the source code and learn more. And with that you’ll have to excuse us as we take a bit of time to kill off some Creepers and Zombies to cheer ourselves up.
Source: Drowning in Problems
Nintendo bundling Wii U with two games and an extra controller for $330 on May 30th
You don’t have a Wii U yet, right? You’re forgiven, and far from unique (in that respect, anyway — you’re a unique snowflake otherwise). Should the eighth entry in the Mario Kart series pique your interest, Nintendo’s got a pretty fantastic bundle arriving at the end of May with a copy of the game, an extra Wii Remote Plus gamepad, and a free download of one of four games. All that stuff comes together in one box for $329.99 — a pretty great deal considering the Wii U system in the box costs $300 by itself!
Head below for a new trailer for Mario Kart 8, as well as more on why Nintendo would offer a brand new game for free alongside its console.
The price isn’t a measure of Nintendo trying to save you dough, but one of a company struggling to make its game console relevant against growing competition from Sony and Microsoft. The PlayStation 4′s sales are already outpacing the Wii U, at 7 million consoles compared to Nintendo’s 5.86 million (as of Dec. 31 2013); Xbox One isn’t far behind at 5 million.
With major third-party publishers like EA and Ubisoft largely abandoning the Wii U, Nintendo’s leaning on first-party software to sell the system. And that’s where this Spring’s Mario Kart 8 comes in, the latest entry in a series going back to the Super Nintendo era. Like Microsoft offering Titanfall bundled in with Xbox One, Nintendo is bundling a major, exclusive release with its console, and taking a hit on profits from game sales in favor of putting more Wii Us in more living rooms. The hope is, in the long run, more consoles in homes means more game / accessory sales (which is where the real money is for Nintendo).
The company also announced this week that it’s going to (once again) skip holding a press conference at E3, instead opting to host a Nintendo Direct video stream.
You can now stream WWE Network wrestling on your Xbox One
We already knew WWE was bringing live-streaming of its wrestling matches to the Xbox One (and pretty much every other device you might have in your living room). For whatever reason, though, streaming wasn’t actually available on the Xbox One back in February, when WWE first made the announcement. In any case, better late than never, right? The company just issued a press release letting us know it’s finally opened up shop on Microsoft’s new console. As promised, the service costs $10 a month with a six-month commitment, and brings access to live events, as well as videos on demand (think: classics). That’s a small price to pay to watch Hulk Hogan body slam Andre the Giant over and over again.
Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft
Source: WWE
GTA 5 will survive GameSpy’s server shutdown, but Rockstar’s older games aren’t as lucky
Since GameSpy announced that it was shuttering its online mulitplayer services come May 31st, a few companies have adressed how their respective legacy games would keep functioning in the future. Rockstar Games has recently come out with its two-years-in-the-making solution, and, well, there’s a direct relationship between how old a game is and the number of features it’ll lose. With last year’s Grand Theft Auto V, there’s nothing to worry about — it’s business as usual for players as the outfit converts to its own system for hosting online services like multiplayer and progression tracking. Internet play will remain intact for Red Dead Redemption (posse up!) and Grand Theft Auto IV, but online stat-tracking and leaderboards — and “in-game Social Club services,” for the former — hosted via the Rockstar Social Club won’t.
The likes of Beaterator, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (on Nintendo DS and PSP) and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition and Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition Remix take the brunt of the bad news, as they’ll be stripped of their connected functionality completely. It’s a little disappointing that those games are losing features, sure, but the economics of keeping the lights on for a five-year old music app or a PlayStation 2-era racing game likely didn’t make sense for Rockstar anymore. For the full list of what isn’t making the cut, be sure to check the source links.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Rockstar (1), (2)
BioShock gets an HD remake, sort of
When it launched almost seven years ago, BioShock was quite the looker thanks to its stylized aesthetic and the custom version of Unreal Engine 2 under its hood. The game has held up pretty well in terms of visuals (all that water!), but it’s certainly starting to show its age. Don’t get us wrong, we love the original. It’s just that we wouldn’t turn down a new version of the game running with all the bells and whistles that Epic’s next-gen development tools offer, either. Well, as Kotaku has spotted, an enterprising indie dev has kindly done something along those lines.
What you see in the fan-made video below is the result of YouTuber noodlespagoodle taking assets from the 2007 release and dropping them into Unreal Engine 4. In doing so, Andrew Ryan’s failed paradise somehow feels even more moody and claustrophobic than before, the iconic Big Daddies all the more menacing. Sadly, the clip is pretty short and has us jonesing for a shiny new Eve hypo. With the fate of BioShock up in the air, however, it’s anybody’s guess if something like this could actually happen.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Via: Kotaku
Source: noodlespagoodle (YouTube)
The PS4’s first big update is almost here, check out what’s inside
Curious to know everything that’s in the PlayStation 4′s 1.70 update launching on Wednesday? You won’t have to download it yourself to find out — Sony has spilled the beans ahead of time. Some of these updates we’ve heard about before, such as the SHAREfactory video editor, 720p HD Twitch streams (that are archivable) and automatic pre-order downloads. However, we now know that there’s quite a few subtler improvements in store. You can control the default length for shared gameplay videos before saving them to a USB drive, and a toggle to dim the DualShock 4′s lightbar is included in this update. Remote Link pairing with the PlayStation Vita is now automatic, and those who hate credit cards can shop with PayPal on the PlayStation Store. All told, this is a lot more than a simple tune-up, and you’ll likely want it as soon as it hits the servers — the updated companion app for iOS is already available.
Source: PlayStation Blog
China is getting the Xbox One in September
Microsoft’s Xbox One is coming to China in September, making it the first major console release in the country since it lifted its long-standing ban on video games. This comes after the company joined forces with China’s BesTV shortly before the country reversed its 13-year old gaming ban. While that law opened the door for international companies to sell consoles in China, it did retain one restriction: games have to be approved by the Ministry of Culture before they can be sold. Now, we just can’t help but wonder what titles made the cut.
Filed under: Gaming, HD, Microsoft
Source: Xbox (YouTube)
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