Guild Wars 2 Developer Emphasizes Getting It Correct At Launch

Guild Wars 2 has been in development for the past few years and anticipation is very high now at the game’s official launch. The developer was very certain to not lock in a release date until they were very sure they could release a quality product on that date, and ArenaNet continuity designer Jeff Grubb says that’s why there wasn’t a specific date before they announced August 2012.

“We’d rather get it correct, and we received a lot of support from NCsoft, our parent company, who said, ‘When it’s ready’. We would go to conventions and people keep saying, ‘When’s it out ‘ And we would say, ‘When it’s done’. So many MMOs – and games in general, but MMOs in particular – have come out half-baked, they aren’t quite there yet, and the way the market is now you really don’t have the opportunity to grow,” said Grubb. “It’s not like seven years ago where you could come out, and if you stumble out of the gate and then make it grow and develop and say, ‘Oh, people like this content’ and slowly build your audience this way. Right now there’s a huge flow of people who come in the first month and you really want to have the table out and the buffet ready and everything prepared for them so they can enjoy it right now.”

“I think the market is a little bit more unforgiving, so that’s one reason. One of the reasons why it has taken us so long is because when we released ‘Eye of the North’ give years ago we said ‘we’re going dark for a couple of years’ and we’re going to start developing the new game, and this is also unheard of,” added Grubb. “You don’t usually say, ‘Hey guys, we’re not going to say anything for a while’. We did a lot of groundwork, a lot of preparation but we’re also an iterative company, we basically go back, we don’t leave well enough alone. We say that’s good, how can we make it better We have a new mechanic here, how does it change everything we’ve done previously

“The phrase I use is that we’re creatively fearless. We’re unafraid to go and rip up a few floorboards to make sure it’s a better game. I think we do have a better game but we also have been working very hard on this. To be honest, all of us back at the office are ready to be done!” he said.

The launch has Grubb and the rest of ArenaNet chomping at the bit. “It’s exciting right now. Everyone at the office is tucking bits in and doing final play tests and making sure that all the cinematics fire, and a million and one different things that have to be ready before we throw the doors open. I’m sure most of us would simultaneously like it to be done, but then we say, ‘Yeah, we need two more weeks to do three more things that are really cool’. It’s been a really good team; a very strong team, we’ve been together most of the whole time and I think it’s going to be a really good game.”

When asked about the beta weekends and how that’s helped the company, Grubb said, “It’s prepared us on the one hand from the idea of how our story and our dynamic events stand up to a huge number of people. We’ve played with QA, we’ve played with friends and family, but these are fairly small numbers compared to inviting everybody who has bought the pre-release copy into the game all at once and saying, ‘Here, go run some humans and tell us what you think’.”

“There have been changes as a result of the beta weekends; we learn how the story is flowing with a massive number of people, and how do we break that up How do we keep that as an enjoyable experience How do we build the scaling so it still challenges people and isn’t just a huge hoard of people just running from one zone to another ” He noted.

Source: DigitalSpy.com

OnLive Sees Perlman Move On

OnLive has confirmed that Charlie Jablonski, the former head of OnLive operations, will become OnLive’s COO and acting CEO while new OnLive owner Gary Lauder will become Chairman of the company. This comes mere days after it seemed like Steve Perlman would retain his position as OnLive CEO, but now he will be moving on to other projects.

“Steve has created an extraordinary company that no one else could have created. He is a unique entrepreneur and deserves his legendary status in Silicon Valley as a creator of groundbreaking companies,” said Lauder. “The new OnLive is emerging with greater financial security and a brighter outlook on the future. OnLive is now positioned to execute against longer-term projects with our breakthrough technology, products and services. I spent my first week with OnLive listening, to gather people’s thoughts and suggestions. It’s an impressive group, and I am even more convinced that this company is poised for greatness.”

Xbox Live Gets Its First Real Free-To-Play Game

Microsoft has officially announced the first micro-transaction based free-to-play game will release for the Xbox 360. Multiplayer combat game Happy Wars will be a game free for all Xbox Live Gold members and will feature items available for purchase to customize your character’s appearance.

Ascend: New Gods is another free-to-play title planned for 2013 that will also use the micro-transaction business model. There have been free game releases on Xbox Live before, but most of them have been sponsored or advertising based, such as Doritos Crash Course or 1 vs. 100.

Google Down, RIM Up On Apple v. Samsung Ruling

While the jury ruling against Samsung’s Android products seemed like a huge negative to Google, as reflected in investors dropping stock on the company, most long term prospects are not completely poor for the mobile OS. “It remains to be seen how quickly Google can develop some work-around” products, says Mark Sue, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

“The mobile industry is still nascent, fast-moving and innovative,” says Si Young Lee, an analyst at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. “This ruling will likely cause more of a short-term hiccup to Android than a real long-term barrier to growth.”

One of the bigger beneficiaries might be RIM, whose Blackberry smartphones have suffered greatly in direct competition with Samsung. “A slowdown in Android activity due to patent uncertainty and possible injunctions could open a window of opportunity for the coming Windows 8 and BlackBerry 10 platforms,” wrote Baird Equity analyst William Power. “Any negative repercussions for Android could be construed as directionally positive for Nokia and RIM, though both still face an uphill battle in our judgment.”

Source: blogs.WSJ.com

A Conspiracy Surfaces

Started by a series of TV spots and paid media placements, the Coma Conspiracy {link no longer active} is the promotional site for a 4-hour miniseries directed by Ridley and Tony Scott starting Labor Day weekend on A&E.

The campaign began with posters scattered around midtown Manhattan and around the county with a simple URL and creepy picture.

At the link is what seems like a legitimate blog full of posts about a conspiracy surrounding a hospital called the “Jefferson Institute,” where patients seem to be falling into comas at an alarming rate.

Most posts include videos or pictures related to the growing cover-up surrounding this institute. One of the better ones includes a “cell phone” video of Times Square being overrun with the conspiracy image.

By far the coolest post however is a shot of a comatose patient’s arm, which when studied contains a bit.ly web address on the wristband which, if followed, takes you to the show’s actual site.

 

Uncharted Movie Sees Neil Burger Depart

It’s being reported that Neil Burger is no longer attached to direct the Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune movie. At the same time, Marianne and Cormac Wibberley have been tapped to re-write the movie’s script.

Burger (Limitless) is the second major developer to leave the project after David O. Russell. The Wibberley duo wrote both National Treasure films, Sony’s Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle and created the USA Network series Common Law.

Source: Variety

Curiosity By Peter Molyneux Will Be Renamed Because Of The Mars Rover

Recently, Peter Molyneux’s 22 Cans confirmed that its first project would be delayed. The game won’t launch until September and it might be because of the Mars rover that landed a few weeks ago.

“Humm there is a problem with the name Curiosity; we can’t use it because of NASA,”tweeted Molyneux. “I wonder what one word would sum up Curiosity: The Cube.”

“We have a new name for curiosity. After hours of posting, collating office discussions, asking advice from the press the consensus is… Curiosity: What’s in the Cube,” later declared Molyneux, who added, “Not what I voted for but ho hum, I wanted to call it Cube of Duty.”

Source: Twitter