I can't blame you for not remembering Crush for PSP, despite the fact that it was pretty great. It's been four years since the perspective-altering puzzler arrived on PSP, and while it would have been reasonable to expect Sega had long left Crush behind, that's not the case.
Today, we have CRUSH3D.
It's unclear how much of CRUSH3D is simply an extension of the mostly-forgotten Crush for PSP or a wholly original creation for 3DS. The press release says CRUSH3D includes "new locations, characters and an intuitive hint system," in addition to a gift-giving feature powered by StreetPass. At last, a new reason to aimlessly walk around with your 3DS.
Understanding Crush is easier via playing than description, but fundamentally, you're shifting your perspective around while also altering dimensions. With the click of a button, the 3D space becomes 2D, allowing you to traverse distances that would be utterly impossible in the 3D space and vice versa.
You may not have the talent to make a game like Portal 2, but Valve's not going to stop you from trying. The company released a beta version of their Portal 2 "Authoring Tools" last night, the same software used to produce the very levels you've been playing the last few weeks.
The news was announced on Valve's official Portal 2 blog, where Valve asked its community testers to submit any bugs they come across--the tools are not final. If you'd like to download the Authoring Tools for yourself, click over to the "Tools" tab in Steam.
More details, including some helpful mailing lists to keep tabs on, are available on the blog.
The tools are also, at the moment, Windows only. I've contacted Valve about possible Mac support.
Demon's Souls was one of the most surprising--and easily the most difficult--releases in 2009. From Software is wasting no time with a sequel--er, spiritual successor. Dark Souls has been described as more or less an unofficial sequel to Demon's Souls, which mean only the most hardcore should apply here.
When will you have a chance to play Dark Souls? The answer is October. October something something. There's no specific date yet but the same month of Halloween is fitting. One can begin preparation...now.
As for me, I vastly prefer watching other people suffer through these games. This shall be no different.
Microsoft first launched the service under the moniker of Community Games.
Earlier this week, Microsoft updated its Xbox Live Indie Games program to hand control over the release date to developers. No, that feature did not exist before. And no, Microsoft did not inform independent developers who were creating and publishing games for the platform that it was coming before the announcement.
Such information would have been incredibly useful for 25-year-old Jason Wishnov of Iridium Studios, who just launched Sequence on the notoriously underdeveloped service, launched by Microsoft back in November 2008.
"It's a fantastic feature," said Wisnov to me over email, "though [I'm a] bit bitter about its introduction literally four days [after] my game's release. I had a hell of a time coordinating a traditional marketing blitz when I was literally unable to tell people when my game would be available to the public. Without a focused date, all marketing for my game had to be done after release, as a race against the clock; indie games slowly slip from the new releases list within a week, after which their visibility is fairly wounded."
Sequence, an RPG with rhythm game mechanics rooted in Konami's Dance Dance Revolution, has seen less than a thousand sales since its launch earlier this week, despite great reviews. Wishnov was hoping Sequence would be his ticket out of his day job and into full-time game development, a common sentiment among developers publishing in the independent market. No one who releases on Microsoft's platform expects guarantees on success, but the lack of communication is seen as a big and frustrating issue.
== TEASER ==
Prior to this change, game developers submitted into a peer review system when the game felt done. Fellow developers then download the game, make sure it's up-to-snuff, rate the content inside for age appropriateness, and following a "sufficient" though undisclosed number of sign-offs, the game is live. The developer has no control over this process. Once the game passes, a few hours go by and the game suddenly appears onto the Indie Games channel. If you're not paying attention, you could just miss it.
Wishnov created much of the game on his own, contracting out some pieces, like the soundtrack.
This new change allows developers to halt the process at peer approval. If the developer wants the game to stay in the system for a while, providing time to build up a public relations campaign, it can.
Wishnov spent two-and-a-half years developing Sequence. He missed control over his release date by a few days. Had he been aware of the changes that were coming, he might have held the game back.
"The XBLIG [Xbox Live Indie Games] team isn't exactly great at keeping us informed of pending developments," he added.
He's not alone in that sentiment, either.
Serious Sam: Double D is one of several riffs on the series coming from outside developers.
"It's hilariously disconnected," said designer Nathan Fouts of Mommy's Best Games, best known for Shoot 1UP and the upcoming Serious Sam: Double D. "They have no formal communication with registered developers. At most it's a post on the forums, or a news post on the app hub site. I had no idea the new feature was coming. In the past they say they keep us in the dark so they don't disappoint us. You know what disappoints me more? Getting kept in the dark. C'est la vie!"
Fouts left Insomniac Games to pursue his own games and has been one of the most vocal evangelists--and critics--of Indie Games, praising the opportunities it offers and cursing Microsoft for overlooking it. Fouts has been asking Microsoft to give developers control over the release of their games since Indie Games was called Community Games. Microsoft changed the branding to Indie Games in June 2009.
"If you consider how most games, movies, books, albums will say when the release date is, it allows fans to prepare," added Fouts, whose livelihood is based on selling his wares. "They can juggle what entertainment they'll be purchasing, or just to help them to remember when to look to download things."
There have been bonafide success stories on Indie Games, including James "Dishwasher" Silva of Ska Games, who's sold more than 200,000 copies of the intentionally goofy I Maed a Gam3 W1th Zomb1es. DJArcas, who doesn't disclose his real name, recently broke records with FortressCraft, a controversy-laden riff on Minecraft, selling more than 16,000 copies on its first day of availability.
Until I'd pointed it out, DJArcas wasn't even aware the change had been made.
"Wow, they finally added that?" mused DJArcas, when I brought it up over email. "Amusingly, it doesn't really bother me; it's more indicative of the failure of the system as a whole, the fact that being in the 'new releases' is paramount to sales. It does mean that you can setup your peer review a few weeks ahead of your release date, and have plenty of advertising showing the date of your release."
FortressCraft, while successful, has come under fire for being a bit too like Minecraft.
But while DJArcas might be shrugging his shoulders, Silva expressed frustration over how differently the Indie Games Winter Uprising might have gone last December, intended to be a month-long stream of releases via Indie Games. The promotion, developed separately from Microsoft, was mimicking other promotions of digital games on the service that Microsoft does run, ala Summer of Arcade. Sadly, the Indie Games Winter Uprising rollout was hurt by several issues, including mostly unknowable release dates.
"We basically had this 'the games will most likely come out in winter' approach," said Silva. "If we could get all of the games approved and then publish them on a well-publicized official schedule, it would look tons better."
Alas, it's too late for the Indie Games Winter Uprising.
But Indie Games is not the end for Sequence's Wisnov, as he's preparing to submit to Steam. The experience appears to have left a bitter taste in his mouth, but given the timing, it's hard to blame him.
"Xbox Live Indie Games channel desperately needed this feature," he said, "and Iridium Studios desperately needed it just four days earlier."
Former Maxis employee and outspoken developer Chris Hecker has received a steady stream of attention since debuting his independent creation, SpyParty, at GDC a few years back. Hecker has been showing off updated versions of SpyParty at various trade shows, including some fascinating-to-watch demonstrations at PAX, but the project moved one step closer to reality today, moving into a paid beta.
The paid beta (aka the Minecraft model) will cost you $15, according to Hecker.
"This will let you play the beta as much as you want as I update it over SpyParty’s development, and also get you a copy of the finished game when it’s released on PC," he said. "I still have a lot of work to do in figuring the details out, so this stuff could change, but $15 is what you should expect when you get your invitation."
Minecraft will transition from paid beta to final game in November. SpyParty isn't anywhere near that, with Hecker noting it's a "long way from the finish line," so a release date is the furthest thing from his mind.
It's been a surprisingly long time since IO Interactive revisited its beloved Hitman franchise, which the studio last touched with Hitman: Blood Money in 2006. Rumors of another Hitman are no longer rumors, however, with IO Interactive and Square Enix confirming Hitman: Absolution is coming.
The announcement release says Hitman: Absolution's up-and-running on IO Interactive's new Glacier 2 engine tech and will be both "familiar and yet significantly different from other Hitman games."
What little else we know involves some story bits, with Agent 47 at the center of a "dark conspiracy" and the path to, er, absolution requires a "personal journey through a corrupt and twisted world."
In other words, we don't know very much at all.
I haven't played Hitman but friends rave about it. I'm looking forward to seeing what the fuss is about.
When Bloomberg reported PlayStation Network might be down until May 31, Sony contacted outlets, assuring the end-of-May deadline was not correct. What Sony cannot provide to counter speculation, however, is an accurate date of when PSN will be back. As of this morning, nothing has changed.
"I know you all want to know exactly when the services will be restored," updated Sony senior director of corporate communications and social media Patrick Seybold on the PlayStation Blog.
"At this time, I can’t give you an exact date, as it will likely be at least a few more day," he continued. "We’re terribly sorry for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience as we work through this process."
A few more days would make PSN's outage a three-week affair. PSN was expected to come back online in some form late last week, but additional internal testing was reportedly needed, Sony explained on Friday. The company has avoided specific timetables for PSN's return, given the fluidity of finalizing security.
Patience is beginning to run thin, however, with third-parties like Capcom publicly criticizing Sony.
"As an executive responsible for running a business," said Capcom VP Christian Svensson, "the resulting outage obviously costing us hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars in revenue that were planned for within our budget. These are funds we rely on to bring new games to market for our fans."
It's a rough time as a news guy right now, with rumors flying fast and furious as E3 fast approaches-- and few companies willing to address them. The latest issue of MCV UK, for example, listed Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, a game we haven't heard much about since it debuted at E3 last year, as a November release. Konami hasn't made anything official yet, so I asked the company about the date.
Time to clip a coin on Konami's answer, folks!
"Konami hasn’t officially announced a ship date for that title yet," said a spokesperson to me.
Swing...and a miss. Naturally, such an answer comes as Konami begins sending out invitations to its pre-E3 press conference, taking place June 2, several days prior to E3. In all likelihood, Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D will make an appearance there, right alongside a date. November? We'll see.
James Bond 007: Blood Stone wasn't exactly, er, well received, but as Activision remains the exclusive rights holder to the James Bond franchise, the video games keep on comin'. Activision confirmed yet another James Bond game is coming sometime in 2011 during today's quarterly financial call, but said little else.
In May of last year, I reported that Raven Software was working a stealth-based James Bond game, in addition to developing map packs for the Call of Duty franchise. That stealth game was put on hold at the time, but it's certainly possible Activision asked the studio to resume development. I'm looking into it, but can't add anything to the story right now.
There is no James Bond movie scheduled for this year, either. Director Sam Mendes is attached to what's tentatively called Bond 23, but only recently resolved bankruptcy issues at MGM delayed production. Bond 23 is not expected to arrive until November 2012, meaning the game would be an original story.
Diablo III by year's end? Be still my heart. UPDATE: There's been some confusion over Blizzard's reference to dropping the Diablo III beta during the third quarter of 2011. I'd assumed Blizzard meant the calendar year quarter, which meant July through September, but I wanted to confirm this with Blizzard.
"The Q3 reference in today’s earning's call was a calendar quarter," said a company representative. "We're aiming to launch the Diablo III beta between July 1st and September 30th. Please keep in mind that it's our current goal, and of course that can change as development continues."
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Let's keep this one short 'n sweet: a Diablo III beta is coming. It's coming in third quarter 2011, which means sometime before September 30, when Activision Blizzard's third quarter ends.
"We began internal, company-wide testing this week," said Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime on the Activision Blizzard quarterly call this afternoon.
Betas are important, but betas don't last forever. When are we going to play the finished thing?
"The development team is working hard to try and launch Diablo III this year," said Morhaime.
Unlike basically other game in Activision's lineup, however, Blizzard does not have to commit to release dates. Diablo III is no different, which is why Blizzard is non-committal about the release date.
"We will not compromise the quality of the game in order to hit a window," he concluded.
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