(baogame.vn) – Mặc dù đang nắm trong tay rất nhiều tựa game đình đám, với số lượng tiêu thụ hàng triệu bản. Tuy nhiên, trong một động thái mới nhất nhằm cải thiện doanh thu tài chính, EA đã quyết định sa thải hàng loạt nhân viên. Ngoài ra, hãng này cũng cho biết thêm là họ sẽ chỉ tập trung vào các tựa game lớn và cắt giảm ngân sách cho những dự án không khả thi.

Source: EA cắt giảm nhân lực mạnh mẽ

Лол! Туко що, благодарение на joystiq, разбрах че изпълнителният директор Glen Schofield и COO-то Michael Condrey на Visceral Games са напуснали кораба, и са се присъединили към ново студио на конкурентите от Activision, намиращо се в Сан Франциско!

Според източници на GameSpot, поради интензивната “персонало-набираща” кампания на Activision (с цел създаването на ново необявено студио) за напускането на двамата се е говорило от няколко седмици (и въпреки това?!)

Glen Schofield

За всички мигащи тъпо припомням, че Visceral Games е новото име на EA Redwood Shores – компанията отговорна за хита Dead Space. В момента, въпросните работят по Dead Space Extraction (за Wii); Dante’s Inferno (окончателно няма изгледи за PC версия) и два не обявени проекта… Някак си обаче подозирам, че напускането на двамата хубавци може и да не се отрази много добре на EA.

Ще поживеем и ще видим, а на Glen и Michael УСПЕХ!

Източник: EA Loses Visceral Execs To Activision [edge-online]

UPDATE: Говорител на EA е потвърдил пред IndustryGamers, че Schofield и Condrey наистина са напуснали Visceral.

И все още ни вест, ни кост за PC версия

Over the past two weeks on mashedmarket, I’ve been scrutinizing Fallout 3’s sometimes counter-intuitive and quirky Pip-Boy 3000. This will be the final post in that little series. It won’t, however, mark the end of my writing about design, which has been weirdly inspiring. Expect to see more such work here in the future. As always, thanks for stopping by, and feel free to share your thoughts or otherwise drop a line.

When building Fallout 3, Bethesda set out to “create an interface…that was functional, unique and entertaining” by melding its menu system to “an important object in-game.” The series’ classic Pip-Boy (now a Model 3000) is worn on your avatar’s left wrist and manages everything from radiation levels to radio stations. Want more protection from that Radroach charging toward you? Just pull up your 3000 and change clothes. Too much stuff in your backpack? Only check on your Pip-Boy and toss some out. Need a snack? Simply glance to your P-B3 and eat some Fancy Lads. But while marrying object and interface in this way is exciting, it’s also quite a challenge.

For starters, the Pip-Boy’s very shape  is troublesome: when you get to thinking about the device’s actual knobs and switches being operated by hand, it becomes difficult to concede the abstractions necessitated by controller operation. What’s more, you might start wondering why the 3000 isn’t worn on one’s other wrist, since, given the way that the dial and scroll wheel are oriented, it’d be hard to operate at left without your right hand obscuring the tiny television. Of course, these are pretty trivial details. Much more important are Bethesda’s own criteria for success. Their design diary was written during development, but notes that

The hopeful end result is that when the player activates the Pip-Boy, immersion isn’t disrupted. He hasn’t stopped playing the game in order to check something in a menu. But rather, his character has simply paused and looked down to fidget with his personal analog assistant for a moment, still in the wasteland.

Unfortunately, this isn’t quite how it feels with the final product. In fact, your 3000 is practically a pause screen. So what could change that might help create a sense of uninterrupted play?

Personally, I find myself using Pip-Boy as a means of creating some space to think in combat situations. For instance, when I’m caught by surprise and don’t have a proper weapon, it’s the most efficient way of changing equipment — hotkeys take an infinity by comparison. But while I’ve spent time selecting my loadout, the ambush ought to have been bearing down. Instead, any enemies are inexplicably frozen. When using V.A.T.S. this makes perfect sense, but it shouldn’t be the case with the 3000.

The Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System is basically a means of enriching melee fights and shootouts by enabling precision aiming in turn-based fashion. Now, V.A.T.S. doesn’t handle anything other than battle…it can’t help with the kind of item management I just mentioned. Your Pip-Boy, on the other hand, pauses the action AND allows for these sorts of changes; why not use it? Sure the 3000 blocks one’s view of a hostile situation, but it certainly offers players more options. Besides, they can always just engage Vault-Tec targeting immediately after putting the Pip-Boy away.

Sadly, while making such complex decisions has always been a staple of the Fallout series, casually doing so in a high pressure scenario decreases the level of immersion gamers experience. When you open the 3000, it’s as if the whole world melts away. Fortunately, Dead Space’s character management system did a great job of solving this problem, and I think Fallout 3 could take a page from its design document. As Mitch Krpata of Insult Swordfighting explains:

What’s unique to Dead Space is that when Isaac pulls up a map, his inventory screen, or his mission objectives, these elements are actually projected holographically in the game space. We’re not looking at them so much as we’re looking at Isaac looking at them. They don’t live in their own meta-space, apart from game events.

Dead Space’s greatest success might have been this unique approach to presenting information while all the characters are still at large in the environment. And, though a hologram wouldn’t fit with the Fallout universe, there are other ways of allowing players to see (and perhaps even manipulate) pertinent data during an engagement.

In Fallout 3, if danger is present, V.A.T.S. detects it…so why can’t your character? When enemies are near and s/he is aware of them, perhaps Pip-Boy, if called upon, could be held at a much shallower angle so that the world wouldn’t have to stop while you fiddle. The contraption itself might take up slightly less than half the screen, giving one plenty of room to see one’s adversaries. Your 3000 would probably default to displaying the items mode and submenus, as the stats and data modes would be less useful given a current or pending conflict. Avoiding button overlap would mean that players wouldn’t be able to shoot while changing gear or otherwise shuffling items, but could at least hide, backpedal, or simply turn tail and flee. These alterations would encourage folks to be more of aware of when they’re entering dangerous situations, and might also do more to reward tactical play. Additionally, the non-stop motion would ensure that gamers stay immersed in a world that’s anything but waiting around for them.

So that’s all I’ve got for the Pip-Boy 3000! Hope you’ve enjoyed my comments. They’re not meant to be criticisms so much as a way of expending some creative energy. It’s been a blast trying to decipher Fallout 3’s underlying complexity, and I hope to do something similar again soon. Thanks for reading!

Наточената и удължена версия на Lust & Heresy трейлъра на Dante’s Inferno:

One of the games I’m excited to hear more about from this week’s E3 coverage is Dante’s Inferno. Developed by EA Redwood Shores, the title is, of course, based on Dante’s Divine Comedy, the 14th century epic poem by Dante Alighieri. The Game Info from the EA page only describes the history of the literary work itself at this time. Smart move, because Dante’s visions of Purgatory, Limbo, and Paradise have been compelling enough to influence Western culture for 700 years. I’m really excited by The Inferno as source material. My only worry is that the gameplay won’t be inspired enough by the poetic text, but instead will just use “Hell” as a setting and go from there with a traditional fighting game or shooter, murdering the original story in the process. (One of the trailers actually has a witch cackling “You’ll never get the girl, Dante!”…Yikes.) It’s still a giant leap to develop a large-scale game with such a literary motif though, so I have high hopes that EA will deliver at least a little something for us lit-nerd gamers.

!!!

Още не мога да се примиря с факта, че Visceral Games решиха да прецакат PC геймърите точно с това заглавие, заявявайки че Dante’s Inferno ще излезе само за PS3 и Xbox 360… Искрено се надявам, че всичко е въпрос на пари и “ексклузивни договори” и един ден и ние ще видим играта.

С малко закъснение, но все пак новината е добра така че… Ако случайно някои е пропуснал, съобщавам че студиото стоящо зад култовата игра Dead Space – EA Redwood Shores най-накрая се сдоби с ново име. Младежите вече ще се наричат Visceral Games (Visceral накратко) и имат доста симпатично лого

Новият им сайт е – www.visceralgames.com

Чакаме Dante’s Inferno

A EA Redwood Shores, responsável pela franquia Dead Space e Dante’s Inferno, confirmou oficialmente a mudança de nome, que já estava planejada desde Outubro.

O estúdio ainda será da Eletronic Arts, mas o nome agora é Visceral Games, e segundo a empresa, reflete melhor o espírito de seus jogos.

A Eletronic Arts liberou as primeiras imagens da versão de PSP de Dante’s Inferno, jogo feito pela EA Redwood Shores também para Xbox 360 e PlayStation 3, além da Artificial Mind and Movement, que se dedica à versão portátil. Confira as imagens abaixo.

Let’s cut right to the chase, here: I thoroughly enjoyed Dead Space, but ultimately found myself most excited about a wide variety of materials that are external to the game. In fact, the most constructive thing I pulled from this single-player-only, storyline-driven title was the inspiration to read Solaris. And, quite frankly, that’s NOT okay.

Looking back on my experience, I’m hard-pressed to pinpoint what felt so unsatisfying. I’m basically holding Dead Space to an unfair standard — there exist plenty of games that are woefully lackluster in the narrative department, virtually none of which impart an overarching truth (or even just some kernel of what it means to be human). Which is fine; the best of these titles bring something else to the table…as, it could be argued, is the case with Dead Space. After all, the game does do a number of interesting, sometimes subtle things in order to immerse players. Unfortunately, these inventive mechanics are nowhere near so interesting or subtle as the storyline’s source material.

It’s no secret that Dead Space owes a great debt to various science fiction franchises, most notably James Cameron’s Aliens and Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris. The game borrows so heavily from these and other popular sci-fi film and literature that just about any pop culture consumer would have a difficult time not recognizing at least one of its many influences. Unfortunately, I think this is exactly my problem with it.

Dead Space is an archetypal example of what USED to be at the cutting edge of video game narrative. Basically, the player is propelled through an entertaining sequence of events that’s more or less linear. When you get right down to it, there’s really nothing wrong with this. Most games aren’t going to use their interactivity to its full potential, and that’s unfortunate, but also kind of okay. Where Dead Space really runs into problems is with its referential nature. I’m constantly reminded that it can’t compare to its original inspiration. Isaac Clarke’s story is one that needs to be told a completely different way from all those book and movie plots that stimulated his creators’ brains. Otherwise, Dead Space just serves as a reminder of various filmic and literary elements that don’t translate so well to games.

First and foremost among these is scope of story. At their core, video games deliver experiences that players wouldn’t otherwise be able to participate in. They’re not particularly good at detailing oodles of information about the origins of, say, a strange new religion. Interesting as this sort of stuff might be, it works best when disseminated through an altogether different medium. What’s particularly strange about this is that Dead Space’s developers are evidently well aware of it. Prior to releasing the game, they put out a series of digital comics and an animated film. Unfortunately, these supplemental materials sapped much of the title’s mystery; having read the comic series, I started Dead Space with a little too much prior knowledge of what was happening.

What I’m getting at is that, should video games seek to rival the artistic complexity of their media competitors, they must resist the temptation to thoroughly explain everything they’re trying to convey. Games don’t have to provide all of the answers; in fact, they’re much better at raising fascinating questions. Players will always be more than happy to try and formulate valid hypotheses. Developers just have to leave plenty of room for them to test their theories.

From/De: EA

EA Announces The Godfather II Premium Upgrade Packs

All-New Weapons, Character and Maps to Help Players Strengthen Their Family and Build Their Empire Offline and Online

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Apr 01, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ:ERTS) and Paramount Digital Entertainment today announced that The Godfather II videogame will be releasing premium upgrade packs* to provide players with level-four weapons, an additional crew member equipped with four unique specialties, and two new multiplayer maps that will make their family stronger as they fight to become the most powerful mob syndicate in America. In addition, these upgrades will help as players take their advanced crew members online and compete to be the Don of Dons on the leaderboards. Players can experience all the premium upgrades for The Godfather II two weeks after launch worldwide on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PLAYSTATION Store on April 23, 2009.

The complete list of upgrade packs includes:

• The Pentangeli Map Pack: Download for the all-new Cuba multiplayer map and the Junkyard multiplayer map.
  • $6.75 / 540 points
• Level 4 Weapons Bundle: Download this collection to receive the Modern Dillinger, the .700 Magnum Impact, the Herzstopper, the MG-S1 Sniper Wolfe, and the Street Sweeper.
  • $4.00 / 320 points
• Jack of All Trades: Download Jimmy Lira – the Jack of All Trades to have this character in your family. Jimmy Lira starts out with the arsonist, engineer, medic, and safecracker specialties and comes equipped with a level 2 machine gun – the MP38.
  • $4.00 / 320 points
• The Corleone Bundle (All of the above): Download the multiplayer map pack, the level 4 Weapons Bundle, and the Jack of All Trades (Jimmy Lira) crew member.
  • $10.00 / 800 points

As a Don in the Corleone family, The Godfather II allows players to carve out their own story of deception, betrayal, and conquest in a 1960’s organized crime world. With these new upgrades, players will have more options when building and investing in their family, managing their businesses, and sending their crew into battle – all of which is done through the revolutionary Don’s View. The Don’s View is a 3D representation of the player’s criminal empire; it allows them to coordinate their strategy, plan hits on rival made men, attack enemy rackets, and much more. By letting players call the shots, The Godfather II delivers the ultimate organized crime experience.

Developed at the EA Redwood Shores studio, The Godfather II will be coming to the Xbox 360  videogame and entertainment system, PLAYSTATION 3 computer entertainment system, and PC. Players who pre-order The Godfather II at participating retailers worldwide will receive an exclusive crew member, named Tommy Cipolla, to hire into their family. The Godfather II has been rated M for Mature by the ESRB and 18+ for PEGI.

• Requires INTERNET CONNECTION, The Godfather II for the Xbox 360 or PLAYSTATION 3 and Xbox LIVE gold or silver membership OR PLAYSTATION Network account.

About Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA^TM, EA SPORTS Freestyle^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS FREESTYLE, and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft. “PLAYSTATION” is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

About Paramount Digital Entertainment

Paramount Digital Entertainment (PDE) is a division of Paramount Pictures Corporation. PDE develops and distributes filmed entertainment across worldwide digital distribution platforms including online, mobile and portable devices, videogames, virtual worlds and emerging technologies.

Paramount Pictures Corporation (PPC), a global producer and distributor of filmed entertainment, is a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), a leading content company with prominent and respected film, television and digital entertainment brands. The company’s labels include Paramount Pictures, Paramount Vantage, Paramount Classics, MTV Films and Nickelodeon Movies. PPC operations also include Paramount Digital Entertainment, Paramount Famous Productions, Paramount Home Entertainment, Paramount Pictures International, Paramount Licensing Inc., Paramount Studio Group, and Worldwide Television Distribution.

Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=5930765&lang=en

SOURCE: Electronic Arts Inc.

O excelente Dead Space ganhou mais dois prêmios para a sua parte sonora. Além dos prêmios da AIAS e GDCCA, agora o jogo da EA Redwood Shores ganhou as categorias ‘‘Áudio do ano’’ e ‘‘Sound design do ano’’, as mesmas das outras premiações.

Nosso sincero parabéns ao trabalho digno de aplausos da EA Redwood Shores.

Parabéns também a Wataru Hokoyama, compositor do jogo Afrika, que também levou dois prêmios para casa. ‘‘Música do ano’’ e ‘‘Novato do ano’’.

A Eletronic Arts acaba de confirmar o lançamento oficial de Dante’s Inferno para Xbox 360 e PlayStation 3 no próximo ano. O jogo, assim como Dead Space, feito pela EA Redwood Shores, que também é produtora da adaptação do livro, terá uma história em forma de cartoon, antes do lançamento.

A produção desta história será da mesma que fez a de Dead Space, Starz Media.

More details about the Wii exclusive Dead Space Extraction, have been released today.

Speaking exclusively to CVG, Glen Schofield of EA Redwood Shores said that the game “…takes place about three weeks before Isaac, the protagonist in the original Dead Space, gets to the Ishimura, the ship where the first game’s set, said Schofield.

You begin the game on a planet before setting off to the Ishimura which is at the time inhabited by people – before things turn nasty.

He also revealed that you’ll get to play as a couple of people and that there’s a heroine that you have to protect and save.

…Schofield said the flamethrower will make a return, plus there’ll be a couple of different pistols.”

Looking pretty cool, let’s just hope it can meet the standards of the Wii’s version of Resi 4!

In the same interview, Schofield also said that a proper sequal to Dead Space is likely!

GameTrailers postou um pequeno chat com Glen Schofield (da EA Redwood) sobre Dead Space: Extraction.

No vídeo, Schofield diz que o game é um prequel que se passa 3 semanas antes de Isaac pôr os pés na nave USG Ishimura.

Tem mais. O maravilhoso lança-chamas está de volta, algumas pistolas diferentes foram adicionadas ao armamento, e aparentemente você irá começar o jogo num planeta antes de ir para a nave, planeta que é inabitado na linha de tempo do game.

A história irá terminar com a nave de Isaac chegando.

Esse título promete fazer a felicidade dos usuários de Wii.

EA релийзнаха няколко нови скрийншота и артуърка от задаващата се игра на EA Redwood Shores – Dante’s Inferno (в галерията по-долу).
Joystiq обаче, доста “ненатрапчиво” изтъкват леките “God of War” нюански който дъхат от заглавието.

Въпреки това обаче, EA Redwood Shore изпълниха всички обещания който дадоха за “Dead Space” така че аз смятам да запазя позитивизма си към това заглавие

Следва галерията:

Източник: Squint! Yep, that’s definitely Dante’s Inferno [joystiq]

Update: За да изразят още по ясно позицията си, joystiq добавиха едно малко gif-че с въпроса “познайте коя картинка е излишна”:

Ако картинката не се движи, може да се наложи да кликнете върху нея

Eurogamer ясно ми напомниха за себе си, като изкараха чисто нов ексклузивен трейлър на набиращата все по-голяма популярност игрица Dante’s Inferno на EA Redwood Shores. За съжаление не можах да ембедна видеото, така че ще трябва да кликнете на картинката по-долу

Update: Трейлъра вече го има и в GT така че директно съм ембеднал

Você sabia que Dead Space foi feito originalmente para o Xbox original? Sim, isso mesmo! Foi lançado no YouTube um vídeo de divulgação.A qualidade não é boa, já que é filmado de fora da tela, mas podemos ver que alguns elementos como tela sem HUD e desmembramentos.

Essa versão provavelmente é o motivo do anúncio do jogo para o Wii. Veja abaixo.

Segundo a PSM3, a jogabilidade de Dante’s Inferno, da EA Redwood Shores, será uma mistura de God of War e Dead Space. Serão características bem similares ao primeiro os quick-time events e combos diversos.

Quanto ao segundo, acreditamos que o jogo apresentará algum tipo de história semelhante à de Isaac, que procura ela sua mulher em Ishmura.

Já Dante Alighieri irá procurar sua mulher Beatrice nos nove pilares do inferno. Lava e diversos demônios serão seus obstáculos. Vale lembrar que a EA Redwood Shores foi a produtora responsável por Dead Space.