Killzone 3 Raising The Bar

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Killzone 2 firmly established the franchise as a showcase for the PS3 hardware, and the next game in the series will add 3D to the mix. Hermen Hulst, managing director at developer Guerrilla Games, thinks the addition will be important for the franchise.

“Killzone has always been about immersive cinematic experience,” said Hulst. “We went through a lot of hoops to make it as immersive as possible. We put a lot of work into concept design to create the world in a very believable way. We wanted the audio to be realistic. Everything needs to come together. This is one more layer, adding 3D viewing, like high-definition graphics was one more layer. 3D is sitting on top of that. You are no longer looking at the world. It feels like you are in the middle of it. It s a great tool. To us, it is a lucky combination of what we already make. The games we create are already in 3D. Things come right at you as you re being shot at. There are cool effects, and when you turn on the 3D, it’s even better.”

“While many people thought that Killzone 2 maxed out what was possible on the PS3, Guerrilla is looking to push things even further with environments described to be 10 times larger than the previous game. With Killzone 2, we thought we were scraping the bottom of the barrel in finding more processing power,” noted Hulst. “But we actually found another 30 to 40 percent more performance in the PlayStation 3 to create these bigger worlds. Raising the bar comes through variety, improving the systems we had before like adding the brutal melee system to the close combat we already had, and improving things that we thought we could have done better. We had difficulty spikes in the game that were barriers for people.”

“I think we are using every clock cycle that is available. I don t think we can get much more. I said that after Killzone 2, and I have been proven wrong,” he added.

Source: VentureBeat {link no longer active}

Wall Art Used To Get Attention Of Agency

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When Laura Holzmann couldn’t get an ad agency to return her calls in Cordoba, Argentina, she got creative. She had graffiti done in front of the agency unmistakably of the character Mandy from the cartoon The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy standing in front of the door saying, ‘I want in!’ in Spanish, along with her website address.

She got a call the next morning and eventually an interview, but not a job. Still, she published her experience on the Internet and it attracted attention and eventually an interview with local TV. This led to attention from other agencies in Buenos Aires where she finally found work.

Holzmann was thinking outside the box, and that’s frankly something that should be admired in an ad creative.

Source: Ads of the World

Game Movie Doldrums Continue In Prince Of Persia?

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The use of gaming properties for movies (and movie-based games, for that matter) has had mixed results over the years. While certain game-based movies have been entertaining, it’s tough to argue that any have been truly great.

Gaming aesthetics have altered the way that movies look — action films anyway. But when Hollywood tries to capitalize on video game storylines, the results have mostly been grim, writes Tom Charity. “That’s not surprising. After all, a video game isn’t structured towards propelling a linear plot. On the contrary, a good game is about opening up multiple possibilities and choices for the player or at least a series of challenges that the gamer can master over time. Perhaps films will one day take on that interactivity. But not yet, and attempts to build stories on this narrative quicksand are likely doomed to fail.”

Continuing on to summarize Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Charity calls the film “a gruelingly energetic and vacuous piece of pseudo-myth mongering, and noting these characters would look one-dimensional in a Disney cartoon, but the actors’ frequent costume changes can’t disguise their textureless personalities.”

Gemma Arterton as Tamina apparently fares worse than the other actors. “Poor Arterton is stuck with the worst of the dialogue, the kind of instructional prompts you would get from Sonic the Hedgehog between levels: ‘Now we’re heading into the Valley of the Slaves — but that’s suicide!'” writes Charity.

In analyzing the plot MacGuffin (and in a way, the whole of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time), Charity concludes, “The city does harbor a smoking gun of sorts, a magical dagger carrying the sands of time, which allows the bearer a kind of instant replay facility … That may be a very nifty device in a video game, but it’s next to useless in a movie.”

Source: CNN

iPad International Launch A Success

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Lines were visible almost everywhere the iPad was releasing internationally. Apple started taking orders for the device outside of the U.S. on May 10; they had pushed back the international release date after initial demand in the U.S. proved greater than anticipated.

“If I was a music fan, it would be like the launch of a Lady GaGa album in the U.S.,” said comedian Stephen Fry.

Approximately 450 lined up at a Apple Store in Frankfurt, Germany as early as 3 a.m. in order to snag an iPad. “I’m a bit embarrassed to be part of the masses, but the thing is, tonight it’s going to be sold out,” said one unidentified man.

About 1,200 people lined up in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district, eagerly counting down until opening. Meanwhile Parisian software developer Cara Garisch talked about how she couldn’t wait to read newspapers and surf the Internet. “It’s magic,” she said. “Even my mom can use it.”

Source: AP {link no longer active}