BitSnark

The sequel to the CD Projekt’s mature RPG hit The Witcher has been confirmed for a console release today, just mere days after it was confirmed that the title was in development.

Entitled The Witcher 2: Assassins Of Kings, the game appears to boast the same mature content and action RPG gameplay that made it such a hit when it released back in 2007.

The promise of a console version of the title is notable, given that a console-centric title, known as The Witcher: Rise Of The Wolf, was announced to be in development last year but was cancelled before the year was out.

The title will arrive on all three formats in 2011.

Confirming the rumour mill for the last year, Nintendo has announced that a true successor to their wildly successful Nintendo DS handheld will be unveiled at E3 2010 later on this year.

Billed as a ‘true’ successor to their 125 million plus selling handheld dynasty, the Nintendo 3DS as it is known, will boast 3D output graphics without the need for 3D glasses and will also be fully backwardly compatible with Nintendo DS and DSi titles.

Aside from the rumours regarding its Nvidia TEGRA based architecture, no other details are known about the handheld.

The megaton has been dropped.

The bastards. For years since E3 2005, the topic of a next gen remake for Final Fantasy VII has been dangled in front of fans by developer Square-Enix. Over the years, it has been flat out denied and sometimes cruelly teased by individual staff members, but today Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada confirmed that Square Enix is now actually exploring the possibility of remaking Final Fantasy VII for the current generation of consoles.

Given the fact that a FFVII remake is essentially a license to print money, I am quite surprised it took em’ five years to just start ‘exploring’ the possibility of such a remake.

The Square Enix CEO had this to say in an interview with tech site silconera:

“Right now we don’t have a clear direction, but many fans have requested we remake Final Fantasy VII. We’re going to explore the possibility – whether or not we’re going to do it, if we’re going to do it, and the platform.”

Given the size and budget of such a project, I would expect it to release on PS3 and 360 in order to maximise return. That is unless one of the platform holders offers a *substantial* amount of money up front for a timed exclusive or something.

But still, until I see it in some sort of tangible medium, i’m not going to hold my breath.

Square Enix you great cockteases.

WB Games today have announced that Snowblind Studios (the folks behind the console Baldur’s Gate titles), are developing a more mature offering set in Tolkien’s legendary fantasy fiction.

Lord Of The Rings: War In The North, is a visceral action-RPG that allows players to upgrade their various party members in regards to skills and abilities, improve their gear and take part in some co-operative questing goodness.

In regards to the lore, the game will take in some familiar settings and one or two familiar characters; but for the most part, the majority of the game will be set in the unexplored
North (as per the title) where a number of new enemies and perils await.

The violent CG-ified teaser trailer can be seen at the link below:

http://uk.pc.ign.com/articles/107/1078502p1.html

Ubisoft and Microsoft have confirmed that a demo for the latest installment in their stealth series, Splinter Cell Conviction, is now available to download on Xbox Live.

Now fly my children! Act out your Jack Bauer fantasies!

Just a friendly reminder that the XBLA restoration of Joanna Dark’s finest FPS arrives today on the marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points.

It has 1080P 60FPS visuals, 4-player split-screen mulitplayer, 8-player Xbox Live multiplayer, bots (remember when FPS’s had these?), 3 multiplayer maps from Goldeneye and all the weapons from Goldeneye too.

Bargain.

See you online!

Ubisoft today has announced that a demo for their forthcoming 360 exclusive stealth title, Splinter Cell: Conviction, will arrive on Xbox Live this Thursday.

No details regarding the demo have yet been posted, but at least we have something to look forward to after Perfect Dark on Wednesday.

It looks like the Summer just got interesting again.

Cannot. Wait.

Full press-release is below:

Justice Returns to Pacific City with the Launch of “Crackdown 2” in July
Video documentary series provides an inside look at this summer’s most explosive blockbuster
LONDON – Monday 15 March – Pacific City needs your help, agents. A new enemy has overrun the city and it’s time to restore law and order by any means necessary when “Crackdown 2” releases this July around the world. Microsoft and Ruffian Games today announced that the exhilarating, open-world action game will hit the streets on 9 July.

Developed by Ruffian Games exclusively for Xbox 360, “Crackdown 2” is the sequel to the award-winning 2007 title, “Crackdown.” Offering cutting edge gameplay, “Crackdown 2” will take multiplayer gaming to unprecedented heights, providing you and your friends with complete freedom to explore, destroy, and play your way as you restore justice to Pacific City.
To celebrate the road to launch, Ruffian Games invites fans to step into the world of “Crackdown 2” in the first video documentary, titled “Fun with Friends,” from a three-part series exploring different facets of the game.

“Fun with Friends” features interviews with Ruffian Games Creative Director Billy Thomson, Lead Producer James Cope, Senior Engineer David Hynd and Senior Mission Designer Dean Smith as they discuss what it takes to design a living, breathing sandbox world with the most gripping multiplayer experiences yet, including 16-player PVP and 4-player co-op. The video documentary also shines a light on some of the extraordinary antics and mayhem that players can look forward to, including Renegade Orbs and the PVP mode called Rocket Tag, when they bring their personal brand of justice to Pacific City.

This summer, developer Crystal Dynamics intends to release the next Tomb Raider title as a downloadable only affair available to 360, PS3 & PC platforms.

Titled Tomb Raider: Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light, the game is scaled down affair of her retail adventures and takes place in an isometric 3D setting. The usual leaping, shooting and puzzle solving fare is present and accounted for, except this time you can blast through the roughly six hour adventure with a friend in co-op.

With Ms. Croft struggling to regain her crown from a certain Mr. Drake back in 2007, it will be interesting to see the direction the series takes to pull it up out of the depths of mediocrity.

Tomb Raider: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light releases this summer for £9.99, on 1200 Microsoft Points depending on your platform.

Playstation Move Press Impressions

Since it’s unveiling at E3 last year, very little has been revealed regarding Sony’s upcoming motion control system. At GDC 2010 however, the curtain was pulled back somewhat as Sony gave an in-depth presentation of their motion control system, now known as the ‘Playstation Move’.

The Hardware

The Playstation Move is in actuality a wand based motion controller that reads movement on a 1:1 basis (much like Nintendo’s WiiMotion Plus), but achieves an extra degree of interaction through use of the Playstation Eye camera already released for the console. Instead of a sensor bar picking up the controller (as is the case with the Wii), the Playstation Move employs the Playstation Eye camera, which picks up the light at the end of the controller and utilises that as a point of origin for player movement.

Don’t fret though; for those of you who already have a Playstation Eye, the controller itself may be bought as a solus purchase with a price TBD.

What do you get for your $100? Well according to Sony, you get the Playstation Eye camera, the Move motion controller, ‘Sub controller’ and a starter disc which includes a number of demos for games which are due for release at a later date.

The Sub controller as it is known, is the wrist strap fastened partner of the Move wand and appears to ape a similar synergy both visually and in implementation terms to the Wii Nunchuk as it does with Nintendo’s WiiMote. The Sub controller is being mooted by Sony as being the component of the controller that allows for more ‘Hardcore’ gaming experiences.

Sony has also said that many of their ‘biggest’ titles will come with a Move controller pre-packaged. A similar affair to how Nintendo packages their MotionPlus controller with titles such as Red Steel 2 and Wii Sports Resort seems likely.

The Playstation Move package may also be purchased as part of a bundle with PS3 hardware. Again, pricing and release details are TBD.

Kotaku.com has posted piccys of the Playstation Move which can be accessed by clicking on the link below:

http://kotaku.com/5490554/first-look-at-the-delicious-playstation-move-%5Bupdate%5D/gallery/

Performance Impressions

Firstly it’s important to understand the role the Playstation Eye plays in the overall scheme of things. It’s role in the big picture is that it allows the sound bite friendly ‘Augmented Reality’, to be part of the proceedings. This augmented reality is basically the same experience that Playstation owners have had for years; the ability to see yourself on-screen and affect the digital environment. With Playstation Move however, players can also use the wand with supposedly 1:1 accuracy in combination with the camera based feedback to create unique gameplay experiences.

Based on the demos that were shown, it appears that games for the Playstation Move will either use the controller and sub controller exclusively, with the camera acting as a tracking device. Or, the camera will be used to provide the Eye-Toy esque experiences of the past with the controller being used as a much more precise input method than those earlier experiences could provide.

Besides unique software which has been specifically designed to take advantage of the Move, many titles (at least where it is applicable) will be able to support the peripheral in addition to traditional based pad input.

To demonstrate Move, Sony allowed lucky games journalists a hands-on of each of the demos that were shown.

Demo: Move Party

One of the main titles which employed the Playstation Eye and Move in unison was the casual female gamer orientated Move Party, a title which displayed the player on-screen and utilised the motion controller as a focal point for movement in a variety of different mini games.

In the present build, there are five mini games contained within Move Party. These ranged from balloon popping, painting and hair dressing. Lag appears to be virtually non-existent in the demo, with gaming website Eurogamer in particular praising the accuracy of the controller when it was used for twisting and swatting in a butterfly swatting demo.

Evil bastards.

Regardless, Move Party provided a nice bit of insight into the Move, and how seamless the ‘Augmented Reality’ (never gets old) titles could be, not to mention how fun. The lack of input lag is as pleasing as it is encouraging.

Demo: Brunswick Pro Bowling

A third party offering, which is itself a conversion of the earlier Wii title, the general consensus was that Brunswick Pro Bowling was in far too early form to be shown the public. Poor presentation issues coupled with a general lack of responsiveness was reported by many who got hands-on with the title. Given its early state of development, I’m surprised it was even there. One would hope that this improves *hugely* prior to release and doesn’t become a poster boy for poor Wii conversions to the system

Piles and piles of year(s) old Wii games is not what this system needs.

Demo: EyePet

Already released with the Playstation Eye, pet caring casual title EyePet was demoed to show how it leverages the Move controller. The answer? Not a whole lot. The controller itself merely appears to make wide sweeping movements and twisting movements a lot easier, but not a whole lot else. As with many of the demos on show though, many thought that it was far too early to tell and the developer has promised additional Move-centric features to be included later on in development.

Demo: Dukes

With its adult style and visceral action a stark contrast to the bubbly bobbleheads of Wii Sports Boxing, Dukes, on the surface at least, looked every bit the next generation motion control boxing title.

The game controls very similarly to Wii Boxing, with jabbing and crossing with the controller creating the appropriate punch and bringing the controller to your chest to create a blocking action. Just like Nintendo’s title, the game appears to be an exhaustive and energetic affair too.

Still, at only 20% complete, a great number things are still to be refined.

Controller input apparently is chief among these as it appears to be not so responsive, with straight jabs and uppercuts coming off fine; but more complex fare such as headlock punches a lot more tricky and cumbersome to achieve.

With that said however, the idea is at least appealing and if done right (imprio could prove to be a more than viable alternative to the somewhat imprecise pugilism of Nintendo’s title.

Demo: The Shoot

Of all the titles on show, ‘The Shoot’ was perhaps the least impressive according to many gaming sites who got their hands on it. Little more than a point and shoot gallery amalgamated with a number of ‘gestures’ (such as ducking, dodging etc..) , the title put players in different scenarios (Western, Sci-fi etc…) and tasked them with getting high scores and wiping out a set number of enemies.

The title itself seemed uninspired, generic and sloppy; completely failing to leverage the potential of the Move in any shape or form.

Demo: TV SuperStars

Developed by Sony’s Cambridge studios, TV SuperStars is being positioned as a casual title for social and family audiences. The basic gist of the experience is that you are meant to position yourself as a reality TV star; using the camera to take a picture of you which ends up being put on the on-screen avatar which you can then customise with various clothes and accessories.

After this, you can then take part in a number of mini games which take the guise of different TV shows. A fashion show for instance, named ‘Frockstar’ has you trying on new and different clothes and a crazy DIY show has you trying out various activities where everything is going wrong.

There was also a dancing game, which according to Eurogamer, although similar to Just Dance on the Wii, encourages wider strokes of the controller and more controlled motions.

Not exactly groundbreaking stuff, but a nice little proof of concept demo if nothing else.

Demo: Sports Champions

At first glance, this apparent Wii-sports rip off doesn’t appear to offer anything new outside of a few bizarre choices for sports (disc golf, bocce and gladiator duels) but if anything, this title gave folks the clearest indication of the potential that Move holds.

Gladiatorial duel and table tennis were the sports that were shown from the title at the presentation.

Gladiatorial duel is a best of three, one on one affair where combatants get to choose a melee weapon and shield and basically go at it. A single controller can be used to control the weapon and the face buttons the shield, or, a second controller entirely can be assigned to the shield, providing a fair bit of exertion to the user as you aim to deflect the barrage of strikes and blows with your shield.

With a simple, but satisfying combo system, an effective first person mode and near-perfect controller input as well as full 3D camera tracking, Gladiatorial duel shames both Wii Boxing and Dukes in terms of controller responsiveness and fast paced action.

Table tennis was also another highlight of the package, proving to be completely accurate; smoothly tracking all movement with the controller, it was widely recognised as being a step up from what has been seen on WiiMotionPlus.

A highly impressive package that awesomely leverages the strengths of Move, Sony would be nothing if not foolish to not have this as some kind of pack-in title for the device when it launches this Autumn.

Demo: SOCOM 4

One of the main criticisms with the Wii has been the application of its controller to more traditional fare such as first and third person shooters.

Move is certainly no different in that it is perhaps not the first port of call for controller input on such titles, but it nonetheless performed admirably with decent response times and accuracy only slightly marred by the incomplete, and somewhat slow code that was on display.

It was also the only title to really utilise the Sub controller which by all accounts, and much like the Move controller itself, is a solidly made piece of kit that feels good and boasts a wireless connection with the Move controller (no more cables!).

My Two Cents

It was good to finally see Sony confidently pull back the curtain and give the masses their first real look at their entry to the motion controller market; the Playstation Move, but less so to hear them target the ‘Wii demographic’ in such an obvious fashion.

Targeting that demographic is all well and good in theory, but you have the problem of much of the same shovelware appearing on the Move also by lazy third party devs; a fear that Brunswick Pro Bowling and The Shoot did little to alleviate.

As a piece of tech, Move appears to be wholly impressive if a little steeply priced for what is; essentially more accurately tracked WiiMotionPlus gameplay with HD graphics.
Indeed, if Sony are keen to bring the motion controlling demographic kicking and screaming into HD and also into their pockets, it will be the pioneering utilisation of this exciting new tech that will do it by developers who are brave enough to do something with it and not by big third parties merely porting their shovelware-tastic Wii titles to the platform.

Quality control has never been more important here, as not only will they have to ensure that there is enough high concept games that really make the most of their shiny new tech for all the cynical folks who passed on the Wii bandwagon initially, but also that there is a different, more appealing offering than what the Wii casual audience is enjoying at the moment.

I don’t think anyone wants motion control shovelware in HD.

Right?

In-depth videos of the system can be found over at Gametrailers.com at the link shown:

http://www.gametrailers.com/