PlayStation’s New Home On November 3

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PlayStation Home’s relaunch is set to happen on November 3. The major change for the platform is to make Home itself into a game platform, full incorporating many game elements into the game experience.

“This is a major milestone for PlayStation Network, and we are thrilled to bring a new core experience to PlayStation Home where games are front and center,” said PlayStation Home director Jack Buser. “Home’s community is made up of some of the most passionate gamers on PS3, and we’ve listened to their feedback since Home launched in 2008, finally transforming Home itself into a game.  This redesign marks a new beginning for PlayStation Home, and players can expect much more to come.”

Uncharted 3 Linearity Defended

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Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception has been praised for raising the bar of cinematic gameplay, but has been criticized in some quarters for being too linear. Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig says the linearity was key for the sort of game Naughty Dog is making.

“That’s not really our genre. We like those kind of games, as players and fans of other games, but for the action-adventure – especially the pulp-adventure genre – that doesn’t really make sense,” said Hennig. “It’s about having a very clear, linear story arc that doesn’t allow for a lot of the dilution that is created by player choice in some cases. We always call it ‘wide linear’ – within the path that we give, you have a lot of choice within it, it’s not just hit this button, and this button, and this button. But we need that authorial control over the story to do what we’re doing.”

Source: Gametrailers

Capcom Talks ‘Different Viewpoint’ For DmC

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DmC: Devil May Cry is the latest chapter in the “stylish action” series, and is notably the first to be developed outside of Japan. This has resulted in a naturally different product, though its still important to maintain a balance between old and new fans of the series, along with Japanese and Western sentiments.

“The theme with this DMC is ‘rebirth,'” said Motohide Eshiro, Capcom producer to Famitsu magazine. “We want to make a new Devil May Cry that still retains and takes advantage of the current game world, and I thought it’d be best to leave that task to a team that understood what makes DMC fun while being able to approach it from a different viewpoint than a Japanese outfit. Ninja Theory has a great deal of talent when it comes to visuals, and I figured that combining that with Capcom’s action-game experience would give us that new game we’re looking for.”

“We had Ninja Theory think about what Dante would look like if he was ‘cool’ from an overseas perspective. He has to be appealing to Japanese people as well, though, so the current design is the result of several rounds of fine-tuning,” said Eshiro, adding, “It’s a major challenge we’ve undertaken. It’s a different team and so naturally it’ll be a different game from before, but the entire team is working hard to ensure the play feel is the same. It’s a brand-new DMC born from the DNA of the rest of the series.”

Source: 1UP

Zynga Byproduct Of EA, Blizzard Not Stepping In, Says Richard Garriott

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Blizzard has reached new levels of success with World of Warcraft, but there are new challengers in the free-to-play realm. Richard Garriott thinks that his company Portalarium can challenge the Blizzards of the world, noting that Zynga has become a threat to them.

“The only reason Zynga exists is because people like EA, people like Blizzard, failed to step in,” said Garriott, adding of social games, “Right now, where those worlds seem very distinct, and very separate, and very noncompetitive, they’re targeting completely different users – I think within a few years, you’ll see that’s not really the case. I think you’ll see that the quality level that comes up through the casual games will rival the quality of traditional massively multiplayer games and then, because it’s not something you have to subscribe to, because it’s something that virally spreads, and especially because, as people churn out of a big MMO they’ve got to go somewhere. And if you’re a company that does only one big MMO, odds are they’re churning out for somebody else.”

“The only reason I left EA is because EA didn’t want to make MMOs,” he added. “I started again with a company called Destination Games, and we sold it to NCsoft. The only reason I left NCsoft – or, more complexly, the only reason a whole group of us left NCsoft- was because we started a casual gaming portal called PlayNC. We had built a whole suite of products for it and NCsoft said, ‘You know. We’re making so much money on MMOs, we don’t really believe in this casual stuff.’ So we all split off to form Portalarium. That’s the only reason that I’ve switched, and more importantly, the people who are at the big companies of a previous era very commonly miss these shifts. The only reason NCSoft exists is because the big solo player gaming companies failed to fill the gap once MMOs were discovered. None of them had the faith enough to continue it and allow new players to step in.”

“The only reason Zynga exists is because people like EA, people like Blizzard, failed to step in,” Garriott theorized. “And so each of these major upheavals allows new, major corporations to come in and fill that space, which I think is to the great detriment, and then leaves the big companies of the previous iteration actually trying to catch up. And so I think that the challenge for Blizzard, when you are that good, when you’re making that much money, when you’re that much on top of your game, in the current era, it’s actually fairly difficult to spend money towards things that seem to not be as profitable, that people don’t understand as well and that you don’t imagine could possibly beat how well you’re doing at the top of your game in the current era. And so that I think is a risk for anyone, including Blizzard, that they will elect not to tackle that one, because they don’t see that it’s important and relevant.”

Source: IndustryGamers

Phoenix Wright Movie In Production

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Phoenix Wright has been confirmed as a movie, and no it won’t be animated, it will be live action. The Japanese production will star Hiroki Narimiya as Ryuichi Naruhodo (the Japanese name of Phoenix Wright).

The director of the film will be Takashi Miike, who also did Audition, Ichi the Killer, One Missed Call, and 13 Assassins among many, many other films. CG will be used to emphasize all of the series over-the-top legal moments.

Source: Capcom-Unity.com

YouTube Space Lab – What Will You Do?

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Lenovo and Space Adventures have launched a new program called the YouTube Space Lab asking for teenagers 14 to 18 years old, to a space experiment idea for a chance to win a variety of prizes. It’s set up with this neat video using a zero-g special effect and a track by Aurotone.

Call Of Duty: MW3 Hits TV Prior To Launch

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 isn’t doing anything so unconventional with their ad campaign, but it’s still been effective. This ad, which ran extensively during the various NFL games this weekend, sets the stage for the game’s World War III.

Ready To Get Mistle-Toasted?

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The Harold & Kumar Munchies Truck will be rolling out the 12 Days of Christmas on a nationwide tour and will be stopping by colleges to spread holiday cheer. Fans can vote on Facebook for their college in the participating cities for a chance to receive a visit from The Harold & Kumar Munchies Truck. Whichever school with the most love may score some free munchies and schwag (given away on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last, to those 18 years of age or older), including screening passes to see A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas in theaters. To vote for your college, check out the official Facebook page or vote on Twitter for your college by tweeting #HK3D and the hashtag for your school (#___hasthemunchies). Tweet as many times as you like – each tweet counts as one vote!

Guillermo Del Toro Praises Games As ‘Brilliantly-Done Storytelling’

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Irrational Studio Head Ken Levine recently spoke with director Guillermo del Toro. Right now, del Toro is working on his own game Insane with THQ, stating that they’re a wonderful expressive art and that directors who create games without respecting the medium are setting themselves up for failure.

“Video games are no doubt the bridge to the future of genre narrative,” said del Toro.  “You’re not going to see the narratives of, let’s say, a [Pedro] Almodovar or an indie film maker wane; they’re going to stay, but big, genre, artistically-challenging, brilliantly-done storytelling.   Holy shit, there’s a lot you can do in games that you’d never even dream of doing in movies, or TV, or comics. Films are fantastic. They are one of the peaks of human narrative. Now, and I’m sorry to break the news to the movie industry, but so is the video game.”

“It’s not a medium where you are going to wander if you’re just an interested observer,” he added. “You have to be a gamer to completely absorb the possibility of narrative in games with their own f***ing set of rules. The mistake you have many times is you have a filmmaker who says ‘oh there’s money in video games, I’m going to go make a video game’. No. You need to truly have a passion, and even a layman understanding of the medium or you will be completely pummeled by the process.”

Source: irrationalgames.com