http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/ en Copyright 2010 Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:29:14 +1300 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss My GDC game of the day - R.U.S.E If you're after a shiny new WW2 real-time strategy game, Ubisoft's R.U.S.E is worth a try. It's similar to the Command and Conquer series of old but with much slicker graphics and a few twists that add depth and a bit more realism to the experience. One of these twists, as you might have guessed from the name, is the ability to use "ruses" during a battle to fool the enemy. These include things like "camouflage net," which prevents the enemy from gaining any intelligence about your forces located in a particular zone on the map, and a range of diversions, which provide fake information to the enemy. Fog of war in R.U.S.E is more complex than most real-time strategy games; instead of having an area of the map blacked out, you will instead only get small portions of intelligence about the type and strength of enemy units located there. How much information you get will depends on where your units are located and also whether your opponent has used and ruses against you. Other nifty features include the ability for your infantry to hide in forests to ambush the enemy and the inclusion of cover and lines of sight for your units on the map. Roads are also in the game, allowing your supply trucks to generate income for you by travelling to and from any supply depots you have built. If you want to gain more income and hurt the opposition, you can station units on roads between the enemy town and their supply depots, grabbing resources for yourself. The game will include more than 20 battle maps at release and caters for online multiplayer play between up to eight human or AI opponents. All in all it looks like an interesting experience, albeit maybe not quite as groundbreaking as some other games being launched soon. An open beta-test is currently available worldwide (yes, that includes New Zealand) via Steam. The final game will be released on PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Take a look at this R.U.S.E trailer on YouTube.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/how_a_connected_society_change.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/how_a_connected_society_change.html Sun, 14 Mar 2010 08:29:14 +1300 Civilization series and led development of all time classics Pirates and Railroad Tycoon. He is currently the director of creative development at Firaxis Games and says his blockbuster development days are not over yet, hinting that there may still one day be hope for Dinosaurs - a game he began developing a decade ago but never released. During an address to a crowd of thousands of his peers, Meier said developers needed to remember the games they created were "all about the player. Keeping them feeling good about themselves is what it's about". Understanding the psychology of the gamer was also important - if a game didn't have an intriguing and rewarding first 15 minutes, developers risked losing their audience, he said. To do that, developers needed to make sure gamers were able to "suspend their disbelief" and feel that were part of the game or in the shoes of its main character. Humour, music and atmosphere added greatly to a game, but modern developers could not rely solely on technology and graphics if they hoped to succeed. "Use the player's imagination, no matter how cool your graphics are or how cool your tech is." The best games took players on an "epic journey," allowing them to make interesting and meaningful decisions as they learnt and progressed through the game. Meier promoted a "one more turn" philosophy, telling developers to keep gamers "constantly learning forward". Designing a journey that was "multi-epic" (ie. could be played more than once) and offered an experience that was significantly different each time was the final ingredient required to make a game great, he said. He had some regrets during his time as a developer, saying his initial plan to make Civilization a real time strategy game instead of a turn based one was "the first bad thing I did in life". "What we found with the real time version of Civ was that the player became an observer. Our mantra was that the player had to be king." As I'm sure you all know, Civilization was released as a turn-based game and is now one of the top selling game series of all time. My GDC game of the day - VisualSoccer on Visual Sports System Okay, so it's a bit of a gimmick and it's far too easy to score if you've got a smidgen of football talent but I had to mention this one purely because it's a cool idea. The Visual Sports System, due for release in the US early next year, is a peripheral designed for PC, Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3. It features a small netted "arena" you place in front of your screen and motion tracking cameras. In its VisualSoccer incarnation, it allows you to physically boot a ball at your TV screen (which sits behind the netting) or a projected image, in a simulated penalty shootout. Unfortunately the goalkeeper lacks some talent, but the simulator can track the velocity of your shots, the number you have scored and the total scoring percentage. It has a long way to go to make it more realistic but the idea of kicking a real ball at your expensive TV is so cool that it just might work. According to its creator, Visual Sports, it will be released with a selection of other sports games as well, including baseball, golf, ice hockey and "zombie handball". No decision has yet been made as to whether it will be available in New Zealand.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/games_should_be_multiepic_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/games_should_be_multiepic_1.html Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:48:23 +1300 As for 3D gaming, it has to be seen to be believed. From racers to sports games, it has a lot of potential to seriously soup up a gaming session and make it far more immersive. Unfortunately 3D glasses and an expensive 3D TV will be required but the richness of the experience makes it worth donning the dorky eyewear (and unlike 3D movies, you don't have to wear them in public). The more serious side of the show takes place in the lecture sessions, where industry legends provide advice to the thousands of developers in attendance on everything from improving their games' graphics and audio to marketing their new products. In two of the more interesting lectures today, EA Sports developers Joseph Harmon and Jayeson Lee- Steere and Sony developer Ben Diamand discussed the importance of producing realistic shadows in Madden NFL 10 (EA Sports) and God of War III (Sony). Producing accurate shadows and lighting was vital to creating the graphically rich environments modern gamers desired, but rendering them at high frame rates in both of the games placed a lot of demand on hardware and memory, they said. That meant that if they were using current technology, developers had to either trade-off graphics in other areas of a game or create new programming code that was less resource intensive. Another interesting session came from game audio legend Akira Yamaoka - the man behind the audio in Konami's Silent Hill series. He pushed for developers to make more effort composing and implementing the audio in their games. "It's sound that directly touches people's emotions," he said. Interestingly, he also said game developers should make more effort to engage gamers' emotional sides through non-audio tools as well. Specifically, developers should regularly foreshadow upcoming events in the plot, much like the best novel writers do, and make people turn right regularly in horror games to create a sense of unease. According to Yamaoka, turning right repeatedly causes a person to become uneasy, while turning left is more natural. Sounds farfetched to me, but he even reckons that's why horses are usually made to run around a racing track anti-clockwise, always turning left, instead of running clockwise! My game of the day - Power Gig Guitar Hero may be a lot of fun but it won't exactly teach you how to play a guitar. Power Gig: Rise of the SixString, on the other hand, looks to be pioneering what every musically inclined gamer has wished for - the ability to use a real electric guitar as the controller. Seven45 Studios has one of the hippest stands I've seen at the GDC and was showing off the new title. It won't be available on PC, but PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 gamers will be able to unleash their inner rocker using a 'SixString' guitar controller that is essentially a real six string guitar that can interface with their console. The guitar can also be plugged into a standard amp and used normally. According to Seven45 Studios the game has two overarching modes - beat matching and chord play. Beat matching is similar to the gameplay in other band games like Guitar Hero, and requires gamers to strum specific strings in time with the on-screen instructions. Chord play is slightly more complex, requiring the gamer to place their fingers correctly on the strings to play specific chords and songs accurately. Seven45 Studios is partly owned by musical instrument manufacturer First Act. Power Gig is due out in the final quarter of this year.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/augmented_reality_and_3d_star.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/augmented_reality_and_3d_star.html Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:39:57 +1300 Unfortunately I haven't had the opportunity to get hands-on with Project Natal just yet so I can't draw any firm conclusions, but the PlayStation Move combined with the PlayStation Eye allows for an amazingly precise gaming experience. The Eye allows your console to map your head and body on screen as a reference point. It can then use the sensors in the Move to precisely map all of your movements in relation to that point. Its a package that allows for more accurate depth tracking of movement than the Wii can manage without a camera, and Sony is claiming it will also outdo Project Natal which lacks any controllers. Many Move-compatible games will actually use two Move controllers, one in each hand, to map the exact location of both of the gamer's hands. This proves particularly effective in fighting games, like the upcoming Motion Fighters, and it will get gamers' swinging punches and grabbing the air as they destroy their on-screen opponent. In terms of its layout, the Move features Dual Shock vibration-feedback technology and has many of the standard PlayStation buttons including the four action buttons (X and O etc), a shoulder button, start and select. The bright RGB LED sensor on top can be set to the colour of your preference or utilised by developers to add to gameplay by changing colour at pre-determined points (eg. casting a "fireball spell" in a game may turn the LED orange). Senior vice president of PlayStation marketing and the PlayStation Network Peter Dille said the device would be popular with both casual and hard core gamers, due to its accuracy. "It's precise, responsive and ultra-sensory... from the tiniest twitch to the strongest punch. "We'd like to think that the migration path from the Wii household to the PlayStation household is a natural one." Accessories like the PlayStation Move Sub Controller will also be sold, he said. The sub controller can be held in a gamer's free hand and includes the arrow keys found on the normal PlayStation controller, making walking around in in games easier. The Move is expected to arrive in New Zealand late this year and according to Sony all of the big international gaming studios are on board and have Move-compatible games in the works. It will go on sale in the US for about US$100 with a PlayStation Eye and a game, but no New Zealand pricing has yet been announced. ]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/playstation_move_unveiled_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/playstation_move_unveiled_1.html Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:39:45 +1300 John Davison and Dave Rudden]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/onlive_to_launch_june_17.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/onlive_to_launch_june_17.html Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:17:51 +1300 PC World readers on the latest news.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/sony_to_reveal_motion_controll.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/03/sony_to_reveal_motion_controll.html Wed, 03 Mar 2010 15:57:18 +1300 Alan Wake, which Microsoft claims will pioneer a new genre in gaming. Fable III and Final Fantasy XIII are likely to be popular, as are the planned add-ons for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Left 4 Dead 2. Microsoft Game Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer said: "This is going to be an amazing year for Xbox 360 and for gamers worldwide. It's our biggest year yet, filled with games and entertainment that you won't find on any other console". Upcoming games include: March Toy Soldiers (Signal Studios) - PG Enter a miniature world where antique toy soldiers fight in vintage World War I dioramas. Launching March 4. Final Fantasy XIII (Square Enix) - M How many Final Fantasy's are they going to make? Sure it's been a brilliantly successful franchise, but it will be interesting to see if anything of value can be added this time around. Due March 9. Perfect Dark (4J Studios) - Yet to be classified Agent Joanna Dark brings her epic tale of galactic conspiracies in future America to Xbox 360 with remastered visuals, LIVE-enabled multiplayer modes, leader boards, achievements and avatar awards. Scrap Metal (Slick Entertainment Inc.) - G Guns and racing. What could be better? This one harks back to the good old days of top-down arcade racers. Launching in March as a part of the Xbox LIVE Arcade Block Party. Game Room (Krome Studios Pty Ltd.) - Yet to be classified Launching this March as a part of the Xbox LIVE Arcade Block Party, Game Room lets gamers relive their favourite arcade and console games in their original forms. Available on Xbox 360 and Windows-based PC. April Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell Conviction (Ubisoft Entertainment) - Yet to be classified Tactical and super-realistic shooter. Coming to Xbox 360 and PC on April 15th. May Halo: Reach (Bungie) - Yet to be classified Halo: Reach is a prequel to the best-selling Xbox franchise of all time. A Halo: Reach public multiplayer beta will start on May 4 on Xbox LIVE. Access to the beta will be available through the Halo 3: ODST game disc on Xbox LIVE. Lost Planet 2 (Capcom) - M This third-person shooter picks up 10 years after the original game. It allows players to follow the exploits of their own customized snow pirate on their quest to seize control of the changing planet. Due May 19. Alan Wake (Remedy Entertainment Ltd.) - Yet to be classified This game promises to establish a new genre - "the gripping psychological action thriller". Microsoft claims it will feel like a "chilling episodic TV series, where your wits and light are your only allies". Find out for youself on May 20. Second half of 2010 Fable III (Lionhead Studios) - Yet to be classified This will be one to watch. Fable III lets gamers journey from revolutionary to the ruler of Albion and beyond. As with the previous iterations, every decision you make has consequences that impact on your character and the rest of the game. Crackdown 2 (Ruffian Games) - Yet to be classified An open-ended action-adventure game that allows you to explore, destroy and battle it out in Pacific City. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2; content pack (Infinity Ward/Activision) - Yet to be classified The first content packs for this award-winning title and biggest entertainment launch ever will be available first on Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE. Left 4 Dead 2: The Passing (Valve) - Yet to be classified This add-on brings the original Left 4 Dead survivors down south for a meeting with the Left 4 Dead 2 cast. If you can't get enough of the zombie killing, this could be worth picking up. Dead Rising 2 (Capcom) - Yet to be classified Zombie-bashing action-adventure game. More of the same, but could be fun.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/02/microsoft_unveils_a_host_of_20.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/02/microsoft_unveils_a_host_of_20.html Tue, 16 Feb 2010 15:47:44 +1300 KiwiLAN officially launches. Setup by Auckland gamer Josiah Spackman in partnership with retail website GetThatGame, the service allows New Zealanders to compete over local servers, providing a smoother multiplayer experience than playing on an overseas server. Spackman said KiwiLAN offered two servers hosting Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Unreal Tournament 2004, Age of Empires II: The Conquerors and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (The Frozen Throne and Defense of the Ancients scenario). Gamers could access one of the servers already, but the March 19 virtual LAN party, kicking off at 7pm, would guarantee there were plenty of other gamers online to compete with. Spackman said he setup KiwiLAN after he and his gaming friends became frustrated at how much their connections suffered when accessing similar overseas servers like Hamachi or Garena. "We are just looking to encourage the gaming community in New Zealand by facilitating a good meeting place" The service's registration process allowed access to New Zealanders only and many people suffered ping times, or delays, as low as 7 milliseconds between their PC and the servers, he said. "If you compare it to a traditional LAN connection there's not much of a difference. People can get delays of up to 300 milliseconds when they are using overseas servers." If KiwiLAN proved popular, Spackman was considering adding further games and support for Xbox 360 and PS3 connections. There were currently no forums on the website, but it did provide access to Teamspeak 3 - a VoIP service that allows gamers to chat with each other via their PCs much like a conference call, he said.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/02/kiwilan_to_host_nzs_first_nati.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/02/kiwilan_to_host_nzs_first_nati.html Wed, 03 Feb 2010 12:20:30 +1300 Hold up, the PlayStation Arc? What the heck's that? If you buy VG247's claim, raised 'on good authority', a Sony insider says that's what the motion controller's actually named. You know, Arc. Like the plasma bolts spit from a Tesla Coil. Interestingly, Sony says -- my emphasis -- that it will "vigorously promote the Motion Controller as the de facto controller of the PS3 platform along with the DUALSHOCK series controller". Translation: The Arc -- I mean Tentatively Labelled Motion Controller Wand Duo PlayStation Accessory Thingy -- gets to ride up front with the big boys. No lounging in the backseat or huddling in the trunk with neglected peripherals like the Eye, or the forlorn SIXAXIS accelerometer. Matt Peckham ]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/01/playstation_3_arc_motion_contr.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/01/playstation_3_arc_motion_contr.html Thu, 21 Jan 2010 10:39:38 +1300 Six thousand Kiwis have so far downloaded the GT Academy Time Trial but time is fast running out if you want win the chance to drive a real Nissan 370Z for a full season in the European GT4 Cup. At midnight on January 24th (yes, this Sunday) the top 20 triallists in the country will then be invited to a National Finals event at the new Hampton Downs racetrack on Wednesday the 3rd of February. At the finals competitors will be put through their paces, trained by some of New Zealand's top driving talent, and eventually eliminated until a Kiwi representative is found and put through their paces on the track in a real Nissan 370Z. From there its on to a driving boot camp for the winner at the UK's famous Silverstone Circuit. Win there, and its into the European GT4 Cup for real. http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/01/time_running_out_to_join_gt_ac.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/01/time_running_out_to_join_gt_ac.html Wed, 20 Jan 2010 10:20:33 +1300 James Heffield]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/01/xbox_360_project_natal_coming.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2010/01/xbox_360_project_natal_coming.html Fri, 08 Jan 2010 10:56:05 +1300 Yakuza 3 will be introduced to Western audiences in March next year, when it goes on sale outside of Asia for the first time. The game, to be released in New Zealand on PlayStation 3, thrusts the player into the sorded world of Japanese organised-crime. Playing as Kazuma, Yakuza 3 allows gamers to explore multiple Japanese locations, including seedy nightclubs in downtown Tokyo, as they struggle to complete more than 100 missions. Sony Computer Entertainment said in a media release that, in addition to the familiar Tokyo haunts from the first two games, fans would discover a new setting in the tropical island of Okinawa. Yakuza 3 would maintain the Japanese voice acting of the original Japanese version of the game but would be subtitled for English audiences, SCE said. Sega Europe marketing director Gary Knight said Yakuza 3 had been one of the most requested titles for localisation by our European SEGA community and he was "delighted to be able to fulfil their wishes with this announcement".]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/12/enter_the_japanese_underworld_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/12/enter_the_japanese_underworld_1.html Wed, 09 Dec 2009 12:50:11 +1300 Gran Turismo 5 will be used to find a real-world racing driver as part of a competition jointly organised by Nissan New Zealand and Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). An SCE media release said the competition would begin on December 17 when fans of the PlayStation3 game could download a demo from the PlayStation Network and submit their fastest lap times on the demo circuit. The 20 drivers with the fastest lap times would be invited to a New Zealand finals event and the overall winner at that event would win a trip to compete with international winners at the world-famous Silverstone circuit in England as part of a five day GT Academy 2010 driver boot camp. SCE said the top driver at the boot camp would win the right to race a full season in the European GT4 Cup in a Nissan 370Z prepared by RJN Motorsport. The opening race was currently scheduled for May, 2010 This year is the first time New Zealand drivers have been able to take part in the competition, which has previously only been held in Europe. Last year the GT Academy unearthed Lucas Ordoñez, a 23-year-old Spanish student.He graduated from is PlayStation 3 console to race a Nissan 350Z through a full European GT4 Cup season alongside British driver Alex Buncombe . The pair's record included two race wins and two second-place finishes, leaving them second in the drivers' classification, but winners of the Teams' Championship. Gran Turismo series creator Kazunori Yamauchi said making Gran Turismo as close to the real driving experience as possible had always been one of his aims and he was pleased with the academy's success. "To witness the level of driving achieved by GT players after a relatively short space of time at the GT Academy was very satisfying for me and I look forward to seeing the 2010 finalists in action." ]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/12/gran_turismo_5_to_unearth_real.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/12/gran_turismo_5_to_unearth_real.html Fri, 04 Dec 2009 12:58:59 +1300 Lego Rock Band, arriving in New Zealand stores on Friday, combines the quirky Lego series of games with the popular Rock Band franchise. It allows up to four players at once to rock out on the now well-known bass, drums, guitar and microphone controllers to a soundtrack of 45 songs from artists including Queen, Foo Fighters, Jackson 5, The All-American Rejects, Jimi Hendrix, Good Charlotte and Tom Petty. A Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment media release said Lego Rock Band included a Rock Power Challenges feature that allowed players to "unleash riffs so intense they can demolish a building, thwart an angry octopus or send gamers on crazy missions". Unlike previous incarnations of Rock Band, the Lego version also allowed players to customise their minifigure avatars, band and entourage, Warner Bros said. Lego Rock Band will be available on the Xbox 360 (RRP $89.95), PlayStation 3 ($89.95) , Wii ($79.95), and Nintendo DS ($49.95). As you might expect, the DS version allows play using its standard controls rather than the drum, bass, guitar and microphone peripherals. A promotional video for the game can be viewed here.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/11/lego_and_rock_the_perfect_comb.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/11/lego_and_rock_the_perfect_comb.html Wed, 25 Nov 2009 15:18:20 +1300 Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies for the iPhone and iPod Touch. The mobile app, announced today by Activision, allows bloodthirsty gamers to enjoy the hit zombie-slaying gameplay mode from Treyarch's blockbuster title Call of Duty: World at War. It offers both single player and co-op gameplay in 3D, allowing up to four players to join a game via Wi-Fi, locally or across the internet, and up to two players via Bluetooth. Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia said Call of Duty: World at War: Zombies would allow gamers to "to take the fight against the Zombie masses" wherever they went. "Zombies is a single player and co-op gameplay mode that people from all over the world have enjoyed playing and have spent countless hours conquering limitless waves of Zombies." The app can be purchased from Apple's App Store for $14.]]> http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/11/zombie_slaying_iphone_app_rele_1.html http://blogs.pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/WCG/2009/11/zombie_slaying_iphone_app_rele_1.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:06:38 +1300