The next morning, he gave his apologies to Molyneux, again on his Twitter.

Wossy: “Goodnight all. Must go to bed. Got asked to do voice in Fable 3 tonight. Subarashi. Oyasuminasia. Woss out.”

ScottRhodie (PR type): ”@Wossy What Fable 3!!!?!? Has it been confirmed?”

Wossy: ”@ScottRhodie yes they are doing it. Charlie Brooker said he would do a voice for it to ! Great fun !!”

Wossy: ”Good morning. Today i must file DVD’s, write a piece for The Times, apologize to Peter Molyneux then go Thorpe Park for SAW rollercoaster !”

Oilcan (PR type): “@Wossy Why do you have to apologise to Molyneux?”

Wossy: ”@oilcan because I think I revealed something that was not officially announced yet…”

RossSanty (student, gamer): ”@Wossy y u need to apologize to peter molyneux??? Cuz u let slip about fable 3??”

Wossy: ”@RossSanty yes. No. there is no Fable 3. I don’t know. help me.”

For those who might not know, over in the U.K. we have our very own version of the Oscars, known as the BAFTAs (British Academy of Film and Television Arts). Last night was the Video Game BAFTA awards, and there were some surprising winners. Here is a full list of winners.

Gameplay: Call of Duty 4
Casual: Boom Blox
Sports: Race Driver: Grid
Story and Character: Call of Duty 4
Strategy: Civilisation Revolution
Best use of Audio: Dead Space
New Talent: Boro Toro
Multiplayer: Left 4 Dead
Best Technical Achievement: Spore
Original Score: Dead Space
Handheld: Professor Layton and the Curious Village
People’s Choice: Call of Duty 4
Artistic Achievement: LittleBigPlanet
Best Action and Adventure: Fable II
Best Game: Super Mario Galaxy

I was a little surprised by some of the winners, namely Mario Galaxy scooping Best Game, when it was up against giants like GTA IV, Fallout 3, and Call of Duty 4.

Also, Nolan Bushnell, one of the founding fathers of the video games industry received the Fellowship at this year’s GAME British Academy Video Games Awards. He was the guy who designed Pong.

For a full list of winners, including nominees, Click Here.

As the title says, this weekend you will be able to earn Double XP playing Call of Duty: World at War.

Have fun, and see you on the battlefield.

Source.

A recent addition to the Xbox Live Community Games caught my interest. Up until now many of the titles, bar a few, have simply been examples of fun little pieces of gaming that prove XNA actually works, and many people can use it; nothing really worthwhile.

For the first time on Community Games, and Xbox Live Arcade as a whole, one developer has created a fully realised RPG. Using pre-rendered 3D technology, similar to Mortal Kombat’s character animation, a fully dynamic skill and character development system, as well as about 8 to 10 hours of gameplay, the game is called TWP: Spine of the World.

Being an RPG fanatic I had to find out more about this game, and the team behind it, TNT Gaming. So I managed to get an interview with the game’s Producer, and studio C.E.O. Travon Santerre.

Q. Firstly thank you for taking the time to have this interview. Trinity Wars Prologue: Spine of the World, an Action Role-playing Game, is possibly the deepest of it’s genre we have seen on Community Games, and Xbox Live Arcade. What was your motivation for developing a game like this?

A. The core of our team is I and three of my lifelong friends. We have always been interested in RPGs since elementary school. We wanted to shoot for a game that would allow us to tell a story, but also have relatively simple game play. We really wanted to push the envelope of community games away from the puzzle heavy titles and into a game with an actual narrative and storyline.

Q. With regards to the narrative and lore of the game world, I can definitely point out some obvious high influences, but for the readers can you tell us what influences played a big part during the writing process?

A. I was not only the producer and lead programmer, but I wrote the script myself. I have always written short stories most of my life. The lore and narrative of this game are a part of a world that I first wrote about when I was in 4th grade. The world of Trinity is different from a normal fantasy world in the way it mixes not just European mythology into its roots, but Asian, African, and Middle Eastern mythology. Much of that depth is not seen in a game this small, but those areas will be explored in the series.

Q. Can you tell us a little about the gameplay? What can players expect when they sit down for a session of TWP: Spine of the World?

A. In its simplest form the game is a hack and slash platformer. You can expect to mow down waves of enemies as you explore the various levels. The real fun is in customizing and building your character. You can expect to level up, gain stat points and skill points to assign to the stats you like and the skills you use. Over the course of the game you will choose a class and develop down a path that is unique on every play through. You can buy weapons, armor, potions, and enchant your equipment using runes and gems you find. You can expect to beat the game in 6-10 hours with a character level 40+ depending on your character build.

Q. It is obvious that a lot of hard work and passion has gone into the development of this game. How long did it take from start to completion, and were you happy with the time frame?

A. From the first Conference Call to release was just over 6 months. We originally thought we could do it in 3 months but not knowing what we were getting into, it ended up taking twice that time.

Q. Right from the off, was TWP always going to have sequel? How many are you planning for the series?

A. It was always going to have a sequel, because we viewed the game from the start as a learning experience for us. The word “Prologue” in the title has always been there because the story we are telling is very large. We are planning at least 2 more games in the prologue series. The next installment, TWP Heart of the Wood, will be a more traditional console-style RPG.

Q. Being gamers yourselves, what games played a role in the development process?

A. Faxanadu for the NES was one of the first Action-RPG platformers. Being that we were children when games like that were out, we took great influence from older games with more depth and less flashy graphics. Diablo was also a huge influence for us. Our enchanting system allows similar enchantments where an item has both a prefix and suffix enchantment. The skill system, stat progression, and hack and slash mentality in that game also influenced us a lot.

Q. Have you or your team worked on any games previously?

A. We made our first game together in high school. Nothing we have done has ever been released or been of this magnitude.

Q. Here’s a question a lot of XNA developers must get asked, but how did you find the whole process Microsoft has in place for developing Community Games? Was there anything you think should be changed to make it more accessible?

A. Overall I love the concept of Community Games. Microsoft has opened the floodgates of a console to small developers like us. I once tried to get a dev kit for the other consoles. It is horribly expensive and without credibility or a big budget you have zero chance of getting one. I think the most important feature is a rating system within the XBOX Marketplace. This will weed out bad titles and allow good games to shine.

Q. Have your team done any PR work to promote the game?

A. We haven’t done much PR because small games often have small budgets. We broke our original budget and just didn’t have anything left.

Q. Where do you see your studio in the future? Are you planning any other projects outside of Trinity Wars Prologue?

A. We are already knee deep in our next project, TWP Heart of the Wood. The game will shift to a classic, console style RPG with lots of cool features. We are currently expanding the core team that makes up our studio and excited about making another RPG for XBOX Live Community Games.

Q. For our readers who are RPG fans, tell us why they should buy your game.

A. I will say that you should not buy our game if you are looking for next-gen graphics. Do buy it if you are looking for a fun Action-RPG with a great story, which gives you more actual control over how your character develops than most $59.99 RPGs out there.

–

This game is something special. It has a very old school feel to it, and a certain style that I feel very comfortable with. If you’re an RPG fan I’d recommend downloading the trial game and finding out for yourself.

Midway Games, who we know has been struggling financially lately, has decided to sell off the Mortal Kombat franchise to hopefully bring in some extra revenue to help save the developer from meltdown.

Who could be interested in picking this up? Is the Mortal Kombat series really worth grabbing now?

I don’t think there is much juice left in the old girl, but with another decent developer behind a new project, we could see a new revamp of the series. There are definitely still a lot of fans out there.

Full story at IGN.

This is a milestone for Sony, irregardless of the fact that it’s a free service, because that’s a big chunk of their PS3 user-base that are potentially using their download service.

And on a similar subject, Xbox Live has 17 Million members.

—–

Source of article:

http://kotaku.com/5159927/psn-accounts-exceed-20-million-worldwide

Since the year 2000 I have been playing online multiplayer regularly. It all began with a trial version of Age of Empires II: Age of Kings. I fell in love with the game, and the RTS genre itself. I played this game for hours every day after school, and became pretty good along the way. Joined a clan, played in tournaments with people from all over the world. It was a great time in my gaming life.

Ensemble Studios have carried on their legacy to their final breath, taking on the Bungie name in an amalgamation of greatness, creating something that is almost to become a legacy in itself. The real-time strategy game, known as Halo Wars. I have been waiting for a new RTS to grab me by the bollocks and lead me off to distant lands, partaking in epic battles, great skirmishes, and unmatched competition. Halo Wars, it seems, is the game I have been waiting for.

Is there anyone else out there who can’t wait for Halo Wars? Is the RTS genre dead, conquered by the first-person shooter and MMORPG?

Thoughts?

As Snakeman posted the other day, the Red Xbox 360 was discovered, but today Major Nelson officially announced a Resident Evil 5 bundle, with an exclusive Xbox 360 Elite with Red finish.

It looks pretty nice, it’s a shame the game dissapointed so many people.

http://majornelson.com/archive/2009/02/24/officially-announcing-the-resident-evil-limited-edition-console.aspx?PageIndex=1

I think it’s safe to say that Bethesda Softworks is at the forefront of Western RPG development. From the early years of Arena and Daggerfall, to the critically acclaimed Morrowind and Oblivion. And with the acquisition of the Fallout license, Fallout 3 is latest and possibly greatest game we’ve seen from the developers.

What fans are waiting for now, and have been since 2006, is the next game in the Elder Scrolls series. A release date is unknown as of yet, but the developer has previously stated that the next Elder Scrolls will be a launch title for the next Xbox console. Whether this is the case or not, we’ll have to wait and see. But for now, let’s look at the pro’s and con’s of previous games, and see what The Elder Scrolls V will possibly, and hopefully bring.

More Customisation

In Oblivion you could customize your character in some detail, but alot of people want more. All people of the same race kind of looked very similar, but I think more in-depth changes will be made available.

Not just character customization, but also the ability to forge your own weapons and armor would be a nice addition. We have seen this is available in Fallout 3, but I think in the next Elder Scrolls the ability to choose design and look of custom weapons and armor will be there as well.

More Varied World Design

If we go back to Morrowind, you will remember one minute you’d be in the swamps of the Bitter Coast, then maybe the lush area of the Ascadian Isles, next roaming the Grazeland plains, perhaps ending up in the desolate baron wastes of Red Mountain. You see, The Elder Scrolls III had much more varied landscapes, adding to the sense of exploration.

I can see this coming back to The Elder Scrolls V, as in Oblivion aside from the snowy mountains all of the areas looked the same. To a keen eye, there are obviously some differences, but many people don’t just want a different texture on the ground, and different tree types. We don’t want a meadow around every corner. We want to feel like we’re traveling a distant land with as much variety in it’s landscape as is in the cultures of Tamriel itself. Fallout 3 isn’t an example of this, obviously, but that’s about context.

Richer A.I. System

From Mass Effect, to Fable II, to Fallout 3, we have seen games are now using much better A.I. in many ways. To improve on Oblivion, we need to look at Fallout 3. The Good/Evil routine will be much more focussed in Elder Scrolls V, making for better NPC interaction depending on the players choices and actions. A.I. will be much less scripted, and more dynamic.

We will have speech choices, and dialogue trees like we’ve seen in Mass Effect and Fallout 3, making for better immersion and a deeper connection between the player and his/her character. We really will be shaping the world around us this time round.

And bring us more voice actors, much more.

Leveling/XP System

A return to Morrowind will suffice for this I think. Fallout 3′s leveling system is Fallout, not the Elder Scrolls, but in Oblivion there were alot of faults. I think we need more varied skills, like Morrowind. Oblivion was dumbed down in that Blade encompassed many different weapon types. I want to see the return on Long Blade, Short Blade etc.

On the subject of leveling is also the world itself. I think after Fallout 3 Bethesda will go back to Morrowind, making the world static, and the character evolving around it; not the other way around. I want to be able to know I can’t handle a certain region of the world yet, go away and train, then come back and kick some ass.

Magic/Combat

Magic and combat was a vast improvement from Morrowind in some senses, but there are still alot of things that can be improved. The magic fighting system was very well done, but there seemed to be a lack of spell variety. Bethesda will hopefully bring back depth to this.

Combat was also a major improvement, but it became old and “samie” very quickly. Hopefully we’ll see more moves, perhaps even fighting styles depending on the race, height, and skills of your character.

More More More

We want more weapons, more armor, more clothing, more horses, more people; more everything.

We want cities to feel alive, think Assassin’s Creed. I want crowds of people roaming the streets, and to feel the bustle of the Market towns.

Morrowind had a lot more weapons and armor, and different variations of those. Elder Scrolls V will bring a lot more to the table I’m hoping. And what people have wanted for a long time, cloaks. PC players have had MOD’s to add these, but I want to see cloaks and capes in the game itself.

Final Say

If we look at Fallout 3, and the interviews surrounding the game, Bethesda have said they have learned from many of their mistakes with Oblivion. When you play Fallout 3 this is obvious. So I think it’s safe to say that The Elder Scrolls V will be everything we hope it will be. And if they improve on everything that was wrong, we really will be living another life in another world.

A return of the Xbox Live “Deal of the Week” has brought in one of the most value for money sales I’ve seen so far. What was once 1200 Microsoft Points, now for only 800 Points you can pick up Braid, which is one of the best games I’ve played in recent years.

800 MS Points – $10.00 USD, £6.80 GBP.

This offer only applies to Gold Subscription members.

For a review of Braid, check out http://www.platformnation.com/2008/08/07/braid-review/.

–

Source - http://braid-game.com/news/?p=522