A Topsy Turvy Life: The Turvys Strike Back
Platform: Nintendo DSi
Rating: Everyone
Content descriptors: Mild Fantasy Violence
Rating summary:
This is an arcade-style shooter game in which players control enemy ships that must avoid oncoming laser fire from an “Earth Defense Force” spacecraft. As ships and other objects get hit by the blasts, bright puffy explosions occur.
#music
Just in case you forgot how amazingly versitile Rockstar's Beaterator is, the developer passed us a clip created by unconventional rapper and producer Jay Electronica to remind you. More »
Talk may be cheap, but so is murdering people in 15th century Italy -- for now. Walmart is selling Assassin's Creed 2 at a discounted price of $36, both online and in-store. For some reason, the PC version of the game is still full price, but maybe that's not such a bad thing.
As for other titles on sale, it would appear this reduction in price is isolated only to Assassin's Creed 2.
The Bizarre Creations team discusses Blur's social gameplay aspects, including how the game brings people together (except maybe when seeking serious revenge on your opponent!).
CaptiveMotion has announced that it has completed work on the facial animation for Alan Wake. The company provided facial capture services for the developers at Remedy to use in the upcoming thriller. One of the more intriguing aspects of the announcement is that the facial capturing done by CaptiveMotion was actually done separately from the full body motion capture used in the game, which was completed six months prior. As a result, CaptiveMotion had to "present the data in a fashion that Remedy could easily integrate it into their pipeline."
The capture technology itself is called Embody, which allows up to 1,600 markers to be mapped on a single motion capture actor. See it in action in the (somewhat bizarre) video after the break.
With 18 civilizations playable from the start, Civilization V also features a new combat system, hexagonal tiles, a new engine, and full-screen diplomacy.
The StarCraft II beta is currently underway and already has us pining for the full release. As for exactly when that will happen, all we've known is that Blizzard plans to release the game in the first half of 2010. According to the latest BlizzCast, that's still the plan. During the podcast, production director Chris Sigaty stated that the beta should last "three to five months" and added that Blizzard is "still targeting the first half of this year."
With a three to five month beta window, that puts the end of the test somewhere between May and July. Of course, there's no telling how soon the game will release after the close of the beta, but hopefully it won't take too long. The universe won't save itself, after all.
Finally, for those out there lucky enough to be in the beta, you should know that the first patch is now available. You can check out the list of changes on the Battle.net forums.
Who’s up for another round of Iwata Asks? If you have the time, we’ve got 5 pages of developer interviews concerning WarioWare: D.I.Y.. As always, it’s a very interesting read, and full of little tidbits of information that are well worth knowing.
#turbine
Proving once again that people really enjoy free games, Turbine announces that more than a million new players have joined Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited since its re-launch as a free-to-play game last September. More »
We know full well what the PS9 will be capable of, but what of the successor to the PlayStation 3, the PS4? Jack Tretton doesn't seem to know, telling Fast Company that he "can't even imagine what can be done technically beyond the PlayStation 3 in the near future." We'd theorize it involves more high-definitionier graphics than ever before.
Tretton continued to reiterate the same "ten year" message -- the proposed shelf life of the PS3 -- that the Sony team has followed since even before the launch of the system. With 2010 marking the fourth year of the PS3's life cycle, it seems increasingly likely that Sony will stick to that goal. Of course, that's not to say the "PS4" won't ever be realized. We'll see the PS4 "when somebody can craft the technology that exceeds what we're able to do on the PS3," Tretton offered. However, he doesn't expect that eureka moment to come any time soon, adding "we are still just starting to harness [the PS3]."
Former Team Ninja head, and producer of Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive, reaches settlement with former employer and says he's excited about upcoming game.
