Adam Creighton, Computer and Video Gaming

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Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Gamebryo / EGT updates

Just a few quick updates on the toy job front.

Forbidden Terror on Station Z, our "Zombies on Rails Shooter in Space" gameplay / tech demo from GDC08 is now available to the masses, via Emergent.net. You, Joe Gamer, equipped with at least a middling PC and an Xbox 360 controller, can download and play this nice little time-suck. Evaluators and licensees can actually download the full source code, crack it open, and play around -- on PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii (assuming you're licensed for those platforms).

I'll actually be in Austin for the Austin GDC (as will a bunch o' EGT folks), and I (and a co-worker) will be presenting a case study for the demo Monday at 3 p.m.:

"Zombies Ate Our Dogfood (and Drank Our Kool-Aid®)"

We'll be playing and deconstructing the demo. Dunno which (Any? All?) platforms I'll be bringing for play, but it promises to be an engaging chat

(In the schedule, this is probably listed as "Zombie Survival Seminar: A Case Study on Short Timelines, Limited Resources and Achieving Big Results.")

On the conference front, EGT had a strong showing at Leipzig, and licensee Larian Studios had a strong showing of sequel Divine Divinity 2: Ego Draconis ("I the Dragon").

Speaking of strong showings, Gamebryo-powered MMO Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, has gone gold and announced a September 18 ship date. (For those liking the behind the scenes side of things, be sure to check out the production podcasts.)

Continuing the MMO news, another title with Gamebryo under the hood, Wizard101, went live today. Calling it a "'Tween MMO" is probably a bit underselling, and I'm intrigued by this almost all-ages MMO, and the steps the team has taken to make it a safe, fun, engaging online experience.

Also, Hidden Path Entertainment's Defense Grid: The Awakening, was well received at last week's Penny Arcade Expo. This looks to be a fun tower defense implementation, and is already looking visually spiffy.

On the partner technology front, EGT released an updated Audiokinetic Wwise integration (version 1.0.5, which supports Gamebryo 2.5.0.1 (for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360) or Gamebryo 2.3.0.102 (for Wii) and Wwise 2008.3).

We also released an Umbra (hardware-accelerated occlusion culling) integration (v1.1.0) for Gamebryo 2.3.0.5 (available from and supported via Umbra). The Gamebryo 2.5 version of the integration is still in development and will be announced down the road.

Other than that, I'm heads down as the producer for our GDC09 demo. We're doing things quite a bit different for next year, so as a Product Manager, I've got to make some decisions as to if / when / how I'm going to tease demo info out. More to come.

UPDATED: Added mention of Gamebryo-powered Defense Grid: The Awakening from Hidden Path Entertainment, which was received very well at PAX.

Labels: AGDC, AGDC08, Emergent Game Technologies, Gamebryo, Leipzig Games Convention, Leipzig Games Convention 2008, PAX, PAX08

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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Leipzig GDC

I've been wicked busy at the video game job, so my coverage of the 2008 Games Convention in Leipzig has been ... non-existent.

You can find tagged GC '08 coverage at Kotaku and IGN:

My too-brief sum-up:

Art travesty
I'm going to explode waiting for MadWorld and Left 4 Dead
I wonder if Heavy Rain will be the system seller for me
The inclusion of the Joker and Green Lantern (and associated gameplay mechanics) give me hope MK vs. DCU won't be too derivative
Sony is pushing MMO on consoles by adding Free Realms to DC Universe Online and The Agency
The PS3 Wireless Keypad looks like a usability mistake (above the gamepad? WTF?)
The PSP 3000 (sleeker, brighter screen, microphone (Skype), etc.) could give Sony a decent revenue lift
Sony certainly seems to get that making the console the center of the living room takes space, and is meeting that need with a new 160Gb model (though I cry "hypocrite!" at their original public badmouthing of Microsoft's multiple Xbox 360 SKUs)
I'm hoping the new 360 game pad with non-crappy D-Pad is not a region-based limited release -- even though that means I'll need to buy 4 new controllers
Upcoming Gamebryo-powered PC / 360 action RPGer Divinity 2 -- Ego Draconis showed well and was received well
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows may lift the franchise out of its video game doldrums
I want to play the likes of Little Big Planet, Rag Doll Kung Fu: Fists of Plastic, and more, but they're not enough for me to buy a PS3 (for reference, if I didn't have one, I probably would have bought a 360 for Braid)
I feel like Microsoft's split focus on GC 2008 and X08 has made it hard for me to get first-party coverage on either

Labels: announcements, console updates, Leipzig Games Convention, Leipzig Games Convention 2008

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SOURCES: Gamespot.com, joystiq.com, kotaku.com, Xbox.com, IGN, GameInformer, Official XBox Magazine, CNN, gamesindustry.biz, and others.