No, Bobby Kotick isn't talking about a Blizzard-developed massively multiplayer online game that appeals more to women, but something that probably doesn't have orcs riding motorcycles. Or even Night Elves! Something that won't cut into World of Warcraft's subscriber base.
The Activision Blizzard CEO's comments, as reported by GameSpot, will probably dash any hopes of a StarCraft or Diablo brand MMO. And that comment backs up what Blizzard COO Paul Sams recently said, that the unannounced online game will be "significantly different" from the World of Warcraft experience.
So far, Blizzard hasn't said much about what the unannounced MMO is, instead focusing on what it's not. It's not one of the developer's already established franchises. And it's not based on any pre-existing Blizzard lore.
What we do know is that Blizzard is hiring. We just hope it doesn't divert any more attention away from StarCraft II and Diablo III. Broad appeal is great and all that, but we're growing impatient.
Alex
Our two-player session, played with Electronic Arts own Matt Turner, producer on the Army of Two sequel, dropped us into a Beijing zoo. Probably the worst zoo ever, considering the dead wildlife scattered about and the fact that everywhere we looked, everything seemed to be on fire.
I should back up a bit. Because the first thing we actually got a peek at was Army of Two: The 40th Day's weapon customization features. And whenever someone asks why I think The 40th Day will be a hell of a lot better than its predecessor, I point to features like this.
Weapons customization was something that the original Army of Two did well. But EA Montreal is adding a little more to the formula. As in the original, players will be able to swap bits and pieces from gun to gun, letting them combine the stock of an AK 47, for example, with the barrel of an HK G36, add a front mount, scope, unique cartridge, whatever, as long as those guns are within the same class. Turner says The 40th Day will have some 8,000 combinations, including some special "homebrew" additions.
Turner showed a handful of those during our preview, including a pair of bayonets made from a screwdriver and a kitchen knife, a stock that appeared to be fashioned out of scrap metal, and a suppressor made from a soda can. Some of those will be found in the world of Army of Two, not from the in-game store. Whether players will actually covet some of these D.I.Y. parts remains to be seen.
With our weapon loadout readied, we, as Rios and Salem, headed into the hippo pit, ready to do battle with whomever was pointing a gun in our direction. We attempted to put the suppressors on our sniper rifles to good use, taking out a handful of well armored grunts patrolling the pit. Turner succeeded in staying stealthy. I did not, missing the skull of my target and alerting the rest of the group.
Turner talked at this point about "enemy symmetry," the feature that supposedly gives Army of Two: The 40th Day's AI-controlled bad guys the same abilities that the player has. That includes taking cover and the ability to feign death, making it harder than facing a group of baddies that simply run and gun, hoping to overwhelm you with force.
That symmetry made it noticeably difficult to tackle the dozen or so grunts that swarmed in. Taking refuge behind the bodies of rhinos and hippos worked for a while, but the AI soldiers we were up against were all crack shots. So was the Heavy, an incredibly well armored mini-boss type whose only vulnerability was his protective helmet, a carry-over from the first Army of Two. Eventually, with the help of the more skilled Turner, we made it out of the pit, through a tram tunnel and into the next encounter.
The next encounter, Turner took time to explain the "pre-combat" buzzword he'd dropped, basically the planning stages of how one wants to handle a volatile situation. Our previous pre-combat tactic—attempting to snipe the heads off each grunt in the hippo pit—was a failure. This one, however, worked well.
Turner sneaked up behind the commanding officer in the section of the level, taking him hostage and ordering a trio of grunts to drop their weapons. They complied and I took the opportunity to tie down the three remaining prisoners, a non-violent solution that gave us a positive morality boost. That less lethal option also gave us access to a weapons cache—a new sniper, scope and some cash—which we wouldn't have been able to plunder if we'd simply killed everyone in that portion of the zoo.
Our successful completion of that portion kicked off another Heavy mini-boss encounter. This one was similarly armored, but instead of wielding a shotgun, he was carrying a grenade launcher, hip pockets packed with ammunition. Turner explained that we had to target the grenades on each hip to take him down. But it didn't quite go that smoothly. Both of us died amid the swarm of new grunts.
Like our previous hands-on experiences with Army of Two: The 40th Day, we walked away impressed. While the first game had its share of problems, many of them seem to be addressed in the sequel. We'll know for sure when The 40th Day arrives on January 12, 2010.
Taken from kotaku
Alex
According to the report:
The first thing I wanted to know was, is there a Tron video game in the works? Because so far, I haven't heard anything.
Kotaku did confirm that yes, there IS a video game in the works by Disney Interactive. He said he wasn't sure if he should mention it or not, but he's confirming it anyway.
Lisberger, who was interviewed at yesterday's D23 Expo, had no further details as far as consoles, the type of game, or its release window.
I've emailed PR contacts for Disney Interactive Studios to see if they want to clarify, refute or confirm Lisberger's comment.
Confirmed! There Will Be A Tron: Legacy Video Game!
Taken from Kotaku
Alex
The first perfect Pac-Man score was achieved by hot sauce mogul Billy Mitchell in 1999, and once the perfect score was achieved, there was no way to top it, unless you did it faster. Until recently, the top speed record was held by Chris Ayra, who completed the game in 3 hours, 42 minutes, and 4 seconds back in 2000. Now Ayra slips to the number 2 position, as the suspiciously-named David race has been confirmed as the world's fastest, with a time of 3 hours, 41 minutes, and 22 seconds, only 42 seconds faster than the previous record.
Achieving a perfect Pac-Man score requires the gamer to eat every dot, bonus fruit, and blue ghost possible across 256 levels, after which the game glitches out. The fact that people are still trying to beat records for doing this never ceases to amaze me.
Alex
