Alex Moore, lead designer at Rebellion, the UK developers behind AvP 3, kindly took some time out to answer our questions about the game.

LS.net – The original AVP and AVP 2 on PC are classics of the genre with metacritic ratings in the high 80’s. When developing your current AVP game what elements did you decide to take and build on from the previous games in the franchise and what did you approach from a fresh, new perspective?

AJM – “Both the Jaguar version from 1995 and the PC game from 1999 are so highly regarded due to their realization of iconic moments from the franchises – not just the individual films but also the comics and novels.  So making sure that we nailed each species to make it feel like the characters people expect was a big starting point.  We then looked at what we wanted to improve, and ways of pushing each species more than ever before to create three unique perspectives.”

LS.net – In dealing with two of the most well known franchises in Action/horror Sci-fi you must be aware that a core of gamers interested in these story worlds will be drawn to your game. What have you done to keep these franchise fans happy? Conversely, what have you done to draw in new gamers who have no previous experience of the AVP universe?

AJM – “Across all three campaigns we’ve made sure there are plenty of nods towards the films, not just in the characters you come up against from each perspective but also iconic moments like entering the hive or stalking prey from a tree.  This generation of consoles gives us the opportunity to perfect things like the Predator vision modes, which provides a great sense of immersion into the game and makes you feel like you are each character more than ever before.”

LS.net - Your “Focus Jumping” mechanic is clearly designed to streamline gameplay for a more immersive experience. In making the game suitable for consoles what other gameplay advancements will be included in the final release?

AJM – “A core philosophy behind the design of the mechanics has been to ensure that all players can perform all the actions in the game they want as easily as possible.  The focus jumping is a big part of ensuring that when playing as the Predator the player can get up into the trees as fast as possible without the danger of missing the branch.  The Alien player has a similar mechanic for getting into vents, but the key throughout development has been constant iteration to streamline the experience as much as possible.”

LS.net – With the Australian release controversy and the possibility of certain violent moves such as the predator’s “trophy kill” being removed from the game we are interested to know how you have approached the violence and gore aspects of the game.

AJM – “The Alien only has itself as a weapon, so we knew early on in development that we needed a strong close quarters combat mechanic.  The Predator has his huge wrist blades which are just perfect for ripping things apart, so again he fits with the close quarters combat.  The Marine has weapons and basic defense at his disposal so from the human perspective you never inflict the kind of violence that is reserved for the other species.”

LS.net – As a veteran of previous AVP titles I always enjoyed playing as a Marine the most, this was due to the intense periods of silent tension punctuated with explosive and frightening action. What can you tell us about your approach to the Marine portion of the game and how you will ramp up the immersion and tension and intensify the fear levels? What new techniques will you be using to scare us?

AJM – “The key to the scares in AvP Classic is that the Aliens can come from anywhere, at any time.  We’ve continued that in sections of Aliens vs Predator, and even after extensive playing in the office it’s nice to see members of the team still being caught unaware.”

LS.net - Having seen some of the multiplayer gameplay videos I for one am excited to get my hands on the multiplayer part of the game. How have you approached the aspect of balance and gameplay in the multiplayer portion? Do you plan on keeping it fresh with DLC and further support?

AJM – “The three species help balance each other out as they all have a key strength and weakness.  The Marine has great firepower, but only very basic melee.  The Alien has no firepower but is lethal close up, and the Predator fits between them with a blend of weaponry and gadgets.  DLC is planned and more details on it will be released closer to the time.”

LS.net – Finally, the end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 is seeing a large amount of shooters. How do you plan on standing out from the crowd and winning over gamers’ wallets in the post Christmas season?

AJM – “There’s four games in one box – 3 very distinct single player campaigns and then multiplayer on top.  Oh, and survivor where up to 4 people have to stay alive for as long as possible.”

So there you have it, I’m sure many gamers will be interested to see what the finished product is like and more details on the DLC will be hotly anticipated. I for one am looking forward to the game and will be picking it up on its February 16th release date.

What are your opinions on the game and how its going to turn out? Comments appreciated.

Cryptic have been kind enough to take the time to answer a number of questions that I thought would be interesting, both to those who might not have played the recent beta, and to those who’ve been grabbing up our keys at warp speed over the last week or so (note: all 500 keys have now been handed out).

In choosing questions for the team, I tried to cover  information on the the game’s background, its development, its status as a brand new title in a massive worldwide franchise, and, of course, the technology and gameplay we can expect from the game.

I think we got some good answers.

Star Trek Online has been in development for a very long time (since 2004), and has seen a change in developer (from Perpetual Entertainment to Cryptic Studios).  Do you think this has made the development of the game more difficult, or has the extra time allowed you to go further with your ideas?

Actually, we didn’t use any code or design from the previous developer. We began from scratch, so there really wasn’t any additional development time for us. We got working on the game in 2008, and we’re very proud of the work we’ve done in such a brief period of time.

Star Trek is a worldwide phenomenon, with one of the largest fanbases of any science fiction franchise.  Do you see that as a guarantee of success?  Trek fans will play it no matter how good it is.  Or as a challenge?  Star Wars Galaxies had some problems establishing a core base of players; we have to do this right.

It’s nice to have that fan base to build up excitement for the game.  They’re excited, we’re excited but you can’t rely just on the name to sell the game.  It has to be something fun and something that is true to the Star Trek franchise. So what the Star Trek name guarantees us is exposure. There are a lot of eyeballs on us right now, and if the game is good, those people will play. We’re not counting on anyone to stick around just because it’s Star Trek; we want to make the best game we can.

You’ve stated that the STO is set 30 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the final film featuring the Next Generation cast.  However, last year saw the Star Trek reboot, by J.J. Abrams, which was wildly successful.  Did you ever consider switching to the alternate timeline introduced in that movie?

Well CBS was the licensor with us and not Paramount who did the recent J.J. Abrams movie so we stuck with the original timeline.  Plus we were already working on our story and when that movie came out so it would have been a huge undertaking to switch stories, plus getting the rights, etc. The good news is, since its Star Trek, visiting alternate universes is always a possibility.

In the official FAQ, you’ve stated that, in STO, ‘Technology has advanced and the galaxy is a much more volatile place.’  Can you elaborate on that?

Well it’s 30 years past any recent Star Trek movie or TV show, so there’s a lot of new gadgetry in the universe. Most notably, people can wear miniaturized versions of the shields ships use, so they have some additional protection from ground phaser fire. The galaxy is a much more volatile place because the Borg are back, Klingons are back to their warlike ways again the Federation are trying to hold it all together.

Let’s talk gameplay.  Combat in MMOs can be a deciding factor in the game’s success.  How does STO’s action differ from other MMOs, is it a more casual experience, stats-focused, or a balance of both?

Well there are two different kinds of combat in STO:  space and ground.  In space, it’s a very tactical experience. You’re constantly thinking about what weapons you want to fire, which skills and abilities you want to use, how you want to position yourself, and so on. It demands a lot of attention from the player, but in a good, visceral way. On the ground, combat is more action-oriented. You can play with friends or with four NPC Bridge Officers, who have their own unique skills and contribute to the fight along the way. But it’s tactical, too. You can actually pause the game on the ground and issue orders to your Bridge Officers before unpausing and letting the action play out.

Though it’s not in the beta, the ‘Genesis’, system for creating randomly-generated content for explorers sounds like an exciting idea.  How will it work?  And what kind of content can we expect?

Genesis is actually in-game right now, but it works a bit differently than a lot of people think. The Genesis system is an in house tool that allows us to create maps and systems at a really quick rate.  A designer can go in and say he wants a purple planet with asteroids, 3 moons, a space station and 5 birds of prey to defeat.  And then boom it’s done.  Then our artists can go in and make it pretty looking.  This allows us to create things really quickly and then put them in the game.  So when people explore a star cluster they may go into one of these maps that has been generated and since we have so many of them, they could potentially be the first to discover it.

Just a quickie.  How’s the reaction to the beta been so far?  Got any big improvements/fixes to come?

The reaction to the beta has been really positive so far.  We’ve actually had so many people playing it that we’ve had to get more servers.  None that I can spill the beans on just yet but there will always be big improvements/fixes to come J.

So, there you have it.  While I can’t claim to have coaxed any huge  spoilers, or any brand new features, out of the team, I think there are some scraps of detail that are potentially exciting for STO fans.

Here’s my picks:

The ‘Genesis’ system is not an in-game feature that randomly generates large amounts of gameworld for the player.  Rather, it is a development tool, allowing for the swift creation of new ‘encounters’ and areas for the player to explore.  Effectively, this means Cryptic can support the game very efficiently by releasing new content more often.

‘The good news is, since its Star Trek, visiting alternate universes is always a possibility.’ - Cryptic haven’t ruled out using alternative universes and timelines in future updates for the game.  Could we see a tie in with the new movies?  Maybe, if the game is popular.

‘We’re not counting on anyone to stick around just because it’s Star Trek; we want to make the best game we can.’ – Something I’m sure we’d like to hear all developers say.  Cryptic aren’t resting on their laurels, and they know that they have to keep people playing.  Expect a lot of support for the game post-release.

Thanks again to Cryptic for the interview, and to those of you who left a quote for a beta key.

Loadscreen.net wishes the team at Cryptic the very best of luck with the release of Star Trek Online.

Let’s hope it’s a case of set phasers to ‘stunning’.

Ed: You can find our User Review and Discussions forum thread for Star Trek Online here.

A response to the article 2010 – The Death of Gaming

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited.  No, it’s not the new season of 24 – though OMG.  I’m talking about the gaming industry in 2010, and how, I believe, it is on the crest of a new wave of video gaming.

Now, this is an opinion piece, and I’ll admit my homework amounts to nothing more than being plugged into the gaming media 18/7 – I work part-time –  but I’m educated enough, and gamed enough, to know when something big is coming.

Let’s get down to it, shall we?  Motion control and 3-D (the abbreviation of ‘3D’, is dependent on where you look – the hyphenated version seems to relate specifically to certain television technologies allowing the domestic consumption of the format), the most significant advances in interactive entertainment – let’s call it Input – in the last ten years.  Forget chasing after the Magic Dragon of Photorealism, it’s a mirage; instead, look at the Nintendo Wii, at what that product has done to people’s perception of gaming.

Before this generation, in which I will include the Wii, though its hardware is largely (excepting the Wiimote) last generation, videogames were not something you’d share with your girlfriend/mother/grandma/sister.*

*Ok, yes, there are always going to be exceptions to this rule, but please don’t feel the need to remind me of who you are.  We’re all special, after all.

Today, a close proximity to Wii Fit enhances your social appeal.  It’s officially ‘in’, a ‘fad’, and a topic of conversation that doesn’t end in mild embarrassment.  All this, when I can still remember cultivating an attachment to Star Wars: Rogue Squadron on the Gamecube (Nintendo’s previous console); a game, about which, my girlfriend and I are unlikely to develop a bond; a game that has nothing but unhealthy connotations, from serious sci-fi addiction to the sofa-bound control scheme.

And it’s not at all to do with appealing to women.  Heck no.  That would be a short-sighted conclusion, considering the large amount of female gamers there are and always have been.  No, it’s the uncanny ability of an oblong of plastic to encourage entire generations to treat videogames as a viable casual pastime.  But why?

Nintendo's Wii - appealing to women, attractive to men

First of all, the Wiimote has changed people’s perceptions of how people play games.  The image of an overweight, spotty teenager, slouched over a control pad has been replaced by an attractive 20-something woman in revealing sports gear, working up a sweat playing virtual volleyball.  It’s genius, and it’s not just for perverts either.  Granddad has the promise of a good, old fashioned game of golf in the safety of his own home.  Where are the Grand Theft Auto hoodlums now?  Challenging Auntie Madge to another round of Wii bowling, that’s where.  Motion control has brought the family unit into gaming.  How many of us played Wii with our nearest and dearest this Christmas?

This might well constitute a revolution in itself, however, I did not set out to write about the Wii’s success.  By itself, Nintendo’s motion control gimmick – as some call it – can’t redefine the videogames we play today, simply because of their console’s hardware limitations.  Don’t see that as an insult.  Understand that, in terms of computing power, the Wii is about seven years old.  It can’t handle the cutting edge game engines that power most of the HD consoles’ (PS3 and 360) AAA games.  If you’re a Wii owner holding out for a sudden revelation in pixel pushing prowess akin to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, please consider this your wake up call: it’s never going to happen.  And here in lies the problem.

The games favoured by the so called hardcore of gaming (at least, console hardcore – a separate species from their PC cousins), are all about graphical and networking innovation.  Textures, lighting, and the number of players in an online battle take supremacy over ingenious interfacing.  In fact, many PS3/360 will tell you they like the simplicity of an old-fashioned control pad – there’s a pleasant levelling factor in control pads, in that, no matter how capable you are at physical activity, twiddling your thumbs is relatively straightforward (though there must be a few of us who, sadly, may have issues with this control method as well).  And, of course, some of us will continue to swear by the keyboard and mouse as if they were rare, high-levelled loot in a game of Diablo.

But this adherence to a convention of controllers, like the Wii’s inferior power, has been counter-productive to the evolution of gaming.  Computer games have reached an impasse.  And while graphics have been improved and online gaming has been brought into the living room (by PS3/360), and whilst the concept of motion control has been proved popular (by the Wii), gamers have yet to see the benefit of these technologies working in tandem.

That’s where 2010 comes in.  Sony’s Motion Controller and Microsoft’s Project Natal have been scheduled to release this autumn/fall, and, with them, the next generation of motion controlled games.  Yes, Sony and Microsoft will have their own equivalents of Wii Sports Resort and Wii Fit; it would idiotic of them not too, given the potential for such titles to win over the casual crowd, but both companies are well aware that they have an established base of hardcore gamers.  I predict that, before the year is out, we will see hardcore games, FPSs, RTSs and RPGs, adopting this technology in novel and surprising ways.

This can be a sensitive topic for many gamers.  Ever since the PS3/360 motion controllers were announced early last year, a large amount of comment/talkback time has been dedicated to the theory that Sony and Microsoft will abandon their core audience in favour of our grandmas.  This paranoia is symptomatic of a generation of gamers that believe the golden age of gaming is over and that we – those of us who can still remember playing the original Half-Life - have been left to fight over the scraps thrown down to us from the Sony/Microsoft table, in the form of platform exclusives released about every six months.  But the truth is that the golden age of gaming has not yet arrived, and, if there is one, it might well begin in 2010.

Microsoft’s Natal, the Sony ‘wand’ (a non-official name), and the advances in home 3-D technology, represent an opportunity for developers to reacquaint themselves with one of the fundamental concepts of Virtual Reality: immersion.  After all, how we interface with our virtual entertainment is about a lot more than overcoming the inconvenience of not being in direct physical contact with the worlds we play in.

A good interface should be invisible (as small and neat as possible), intuitive and natural, causing no sense of disorientation between the real and the virtual.  Such an interface allows for a sense of immersion in the entertainment.  Both the 360 controller and the Dual Shock 3 do a decent job at being invisible, and, if the controls are laid out well, intuitive, but they are not natural.  They do not mimic or recreate natural motion, which is exactly why Wii tennis, though it bares little visual resemblance to the real game, definitely feels more like playing tennis.

However, if Natal and the ‘wand’ can match or better the accuracy and speed of the Wiimote, then it is possible to imagine 360 and PS3 games with much more visceral, much more natural and much more immersive gameplay.  The tech demos for both devices have hinted at mind-boggling possibilities: speech recognition in character interaction, melee combat that actually involves wielding a virtual sword and shield with your own hands, as well as speed and precision when moving, placing and selecting objects in the virtual world.

There will be those that say, ‘We’ve had the Wii for years now, and no one has succeeded in making a single hardcore game that plays better with motion controls, than on consoles or the PC.’

Well, that may be the case.  But remember, the Wii is too slow to deliver the definitive experience in any of today’s games.  No matter what happens with the next Zelda, it will still not be as advanced as TES: Oblivion.  The Wii wasn’t designed to be a machine for ambitious blockbusters.  The deepest experiences on the console are Nintendo’s trademark IPs (Super Mario Galaxy and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess), and, while each makes liberal use of the Wiimote, motion control has not been at the heart of any of these games (apart, perhaps, for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption – the best implementation of a motion controller in a FPS-Platformer to date.)  Let’s face it; we shouldn’t be looking to the Wii for experiences like Demon’s Souls or Bioshock.  Long may it continue to be the no.1 console for bowling titles.

It is reasonable, however, to expect these advanced experiences on the 360 and PS3. And, in this case, I think motion control gaming is going where it belongs – to the cutting edge.

Honestly, I will not hesitate to get my hands on the PS3 ‘wand’, when the inevitable sword and sorcery epic is released – be it Hack and Slash or RPG.  And I’m thrilled at the prospect of what the ‘wand’ can do for online shooters.  In my mind, if it really works at 60fps, it may elevate the biggest disadvantage about FPS gaming on a console – the fact that no analogue stick on earth will ever require as much precision and skill as a mouse.  Who knows, we could see the end of ‘Aim Assist.’  Consoles could become the place for competitive online gaming.  Similarly, RTSs may finally become playable with the precision of a fast pointer.

How to talk about Natal?  It’s hard to make any judgments before we’ve seen what the technology can do, but I’ve got a few ideas.  For the hardcore gamer, there are a number of benefits motion-tracking can offer, though they do not resemble what we’ve come to expect from the controller based systems (Wii, PS3).  The first is that of speech recognition in RPG games or adventure games, where interacting with NPCs is a large part of the gameplay.  If you’ve seen the ‘Milo Demo’, introduced by Peter Molyneux at E3 2009, you will know what I’m talking about here.  Sure, the demo is a set-up – there’s a script.  But if Microsoft can actually come close to the vision of that demo then we’ll have something special on our hands – or not on our hands, as the case may be.

One has to wonder, however, about the biggest issue with Natal, and how it can be resolved.  You can’t move your character in the virtual world: it’s a tracking system, not a control system.  Is there a solution?  Yes.  Will it be used?  Almost certainly.  What is it?  Simple, the 360 Wireless Controller isn’t going anywhere.  For 50% of all Natal games, 90% of all hardcore games, I am prepared to bet that you will control most of your in-game movement the same way you’ve always done it, with the analogue sticks and the ABXY buttons.  And, while this is not a bad thing, it reveals the limitation of Natal’s technology for the hardcore gamer.

What remains is something that’s been around on the PC for a few years, and something that the PS3’s Eye Toy can also do:  head tracking.  Good news is that this is a damn cool feature which is excellent for action gaming.  Basically, the camera tracks your head movements and makes them correspond to where you’re looking in-game – aiming can then be handled separately by the analogue stick.  This means you can look in one direction, while pointing your gun in another.  It’s tactically realistic, immersive, and very, very useful.  Of course, with the advanced nature of Natal, you might also get the chance to duck and lean and jump, if you can be bothered, and don’t mind looking like an ass in front of your friends.

In conclusion, I must mention 3-D.  We won’t all have it in our homes this year, but there’s a fair chance that most of us will in 3-5 years.  Its benefits for gaming are self-explanatory, but it’s safe to say it can only enhance the immersion we have in our videogames.  Combined, as it must be, with motion technology it could literally add another dimension to the experience.

So, with 3-D TVs, motion trackers and motion controllers becoming commonplace in our living rooms, the notion of ‘Full Immersion VR’, for everyone is easier to imagine than ever before.  Are you ready to embrace these technologies, and be the first to score a headshot with a virtual gun you had to physically aim?  Or will you rail against them, clamouring for the good-old-days when games were simple, and when GTA’s hookers didn’t meet your eye in defiance when you beat them to death with a baseball bat?

One thing’s for sure: we live in exciting times for interactive entertainment.  The games of the future are being born today.

Further to my recent article on loadscreen.net concerning the Death of Real Gaming, I’d like to take this guest posting opportunity to explore something that is very close to my own, and hopefully my readers, hearts: The State of Modern Gaming.

Recap:

In recent years, as I’m sure you’ve all noticed, gaming has enjoyed (or suffered, depending on your point of view) a huge popularity explosion leading to a proliferation of watered down quasi-games that barely  deserve mentioning in the same media category as classics such as Deus Ex, Half Life, Goldeneye, Mario 64, Zelda: OOT and many, many others. This is clearly bad for the art form, and only serves to pander to the tabloid media’s view of gaming as something that corrupts the soul and twists young minds in to performing acts of extreme violence. There has been enough written on that subject to sink a battleship so I will not open the Pandora’s box of gaming violence or the amount of pure tripe that is currently assaulting the gaming market (at least not in this article…).

On the other side, many of you will realize that the proliferation of modern gaming and its meteoric rise in sales and popularity has given rise to another, more powerful animal: The Blockbuster game. You know what I’m talking about; those games that have been wrung through the hype machine so many times that they almost cease to exist as a game and transcend in to the realm of entertainment franchise. Games such as MW2, UC2, the eponymous Halo series, these are not mere games, no, they are media giants branching out in to film, music, internet and getting their sticky fingers in to so many pies that you cant avoid knowing about them.

This fact is known of course, the Blockbusters have been around for ages, but is it good for gaming?

Analysis

Consider this: the recent juggernaut FPS, Modern Warefare 2, was recently reported as having grossed over one billion dollars with sales figures in excess of 15 million units. So, more people buying games = more money in gaming = better games for gamers, right? Wrong. At least in my opinion. For me, modern gaming has become more about churning out more of the same carbon copy games that about forwarding the development of the medium. Games such as MW2 and Halo become so huge that the spawn whole ecosystems of copycat games around them with small games publishers trying to cash in on the popularity of the blockbusters with quick, dirty builds of games that bare a resemblance to the real deal. Parents at Christmas and birthdays don’t know the difference and before you know it kids hopeful for their next dose of Modern Warfare end up with a copy of Rogue Warrior (lasting appeal 1/10 !!!).

The Blockbusters themselves are almost invariably excellent, even if they do lack a certain innovation factor, and are known for delivering a level of shine and polish that makes other games seems amateurish in comparison, so I don’t have too many complaints there. However the effect that they have on the industry is in my opinion pretty devastating; the amount of terrible games plopping out of the dark unplumbed depths of the bottom of the gaming industry is frankly appalling. It all comes back to something I’ve mentioned before: the greed factor. The ratio of devoted games developers with a passion for their work to greedy corporate publisher drones is quickly diminishing and I fear soon all we will have left is a huge creativity vacuum where the same content and ideas a rehashed just enough to provide the ever hungry gaming masses with something new to satiate their lust.

Conclusion

Although the situation seems good at the moment, with new IPO’s such as Heavy Rain pushing the boundaries of gaming, I think that within the next year or two we may begin to see a steadily diminishing quality in the games that make up the large majority of the market. That being said, the state of modern gaming is currently very healthy, I wonder what the future holds?

Comments appreciated.

This year’s North American Expo will take place on June 15th-17th at its usual home: the LA Convention Centre.

Along with platform holders Playstation, Microsoft and Nintendo are big names Ubisoft, Disney Interactive, Warner (Woo!), Sega, Bethesda, Konami, Capcom,Activision, THQ and LucasArts.

Last years E3 pulled in more than 41,000 attendees from 78 countries who had the opportunity to view hundreds of new titles.

Exhibitors confirmed so far include:

• Activision
• A.L.S. Industries/R.D.S. Industries
• Atlus USA
• Atomic-Accessories
• Autodesk
• Azuradisc Inc
• BDA
• Bethesda Softworks
• Bigpoint.com
• Blitz Games Studios
• BradyGames
• Capcom Entertainment Inc
• City Interactive
• Creative Mind Interactive
• CTA Digital, Inc
• DDR Game
• Deuce Entertainment
• Digiwinner
• Disney Interactive Studios
• dreamGEAR
• DXT
• Dynaflex International
• Electronic Arts
• Epic Games
• Exspect
• EZ Games Distribution
• ForceTek
• Game Outlet Europe
• South Game Source
• Gamepark Holdings Co
• Gamer Grub
• GameSpot
• Gazillion Entertainment
• Grace Marketing Company
• Havok
• Hollywood Archives Collectibles
• Hori (USA)
• iBeta Quality Assurance
• IGN.com
• InComm
• Infernal Engine
• Innex Inc
• Iode Inc
• Iron Will Innovations
• JFJ Disc Repair
• K2 Network/GamersFirst
• Konami
• LucasArts
• Majesco Entertainment
• Marjacq Man
• Mastermedia
• MTV Games
• MusicSkins
• nDreams
• Nintendo
• Nordic Game Resources
• NVIDIA
• Nyko Technologies
• OnLive
• Paradox Interactive
• Parature
• Parrot
• Pega HK Limited
• Penguin United
• Perfect World Entertainment
• Performance Designed Products
• Playseat
• Prima Games
• Proximo Games
• Rebellion
• Royal Electronics
• RTI Disc Repair
• Sakar International
• Scanavo North America
• Sega of America
• Slang
• Sony Computer Entertainment America
• Sony DADC
• Sony Online Entertainment
• Square Enix
• SureDisc Disc Repair
• Take-Two Interactive
• Taiwan Pavilion
• The Get-Well Gamers Foundation
• The Video Game Club
• THQ
• Trion World Network
• Tritton Technologies
• Turtle Beach
• U-Way Corporation
• US Games Distribution
• Ubifrance
• Ubisoft Entertainment
• Univenture
• Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment
• Xbox 360
• X-Games Inc
• Zeroplus Technology Co.

With the recent unveiling of eight new screenshots for the upcoming “psychological action thriller” Alan Wake, the buzz is back and I can just feel the hype rising around me. I have been trying my best to avoid all the high praise of a game that has yet to been released, but as a huge fan of games that want to make me wet myself I can no longer ignore the fact that this Xbox 360 exclusive is only 4 months away. One of my main concerns is that Alan Wake will not live up to my expectations of getting my heart thumping, my palms sweaty and my bum constantly situated at the edge of my chair.

To create a great thriller you need to think about how you’re going to inject the “Fear Factor” into your game and today I would like to tear apart the information we know about Alan Wake and see if I should order myself a new set of underwear so I am prepared for the best case scenario.

Fear Factor 1 – Atmosphere & Environment

Games such as Silent Hill are the masters of creating an environment that gets the hairs on the back of your neck standing to attention and that awkward lump forming in your throat. Here we have an old, deserted town full of fog, eery sounds and dark secrets that quickly fill all of your senses. With twisted creations, a history packed with violence and the ability to burn gruesome images into your retinas (check out “Silent Hill Fukuro” if you don’t believe me), Silent Hill is the Godfather of the thriller genre.

With Alan Wake we know that light and dark play major roles in this game, ( Remedy have implemented a day-time and night-time cycle) to the point where your flashlight may actually be the best weapon in your arsenal. From the screenshots we can tell that the town of Bright Falls, where the game is due to be set, is a location that most would find scary at night – You are in the middle of nowhere, away from the bright lights of a city and dense forestry surrounds you, cutting you off from the rest of the world. Take away the comfort of being able to actually see what is around you and you find your heart rate beginning to increase.

Fear Factor 2 – Tension & Apprehension

Dead Space was a real winner for making me jump out of my skin. The premise of the game meant that at any moment a large, rabid creature with razor-sharp appendages could fall from the ceiling above me and tear me to pieces in seconds. A memorable moment for me was standing in a room full of mutilated corpses and hearing a voice singing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” echo around me through the ship’s ventilation system. There was a strong sense of doom about the situation and you could cut the tension in the air with a knife.

I can only hope that Alan Wake is on par with this game, but I have a feeling that the nail-biting moments will be created through the means of the story and not through the actions of the enemy themselves. Alan is a writer who finds himself facing up to his latest piece of fiction, a horrific tale that he cannot remember writing, being played out right in front of his very eyes. His wife has gone missing and he finds himself trapped in a waking nightmare. I believe the anxiety we will feel, as the gamer, will stem from Alan himself and the hurdles he will face in this game – Both physical and mental. I made a note that during the trailer a man was to be heard telling Alan “it’s all in your head”, something that anyone with a distressing story to share would hate to hear. I have a theory that we may become witness to a man’s descent into madness, but I could be wrong. We’ll see.

Fear Factor 3 – Beyond Control

The quickest way to get someone feeling dread in the pit of their stomach is to put them in a situation that they cannot control. In a game this is not something that is difficult to achieve at all as every decision you make is pretty much pre-determined by the the creators of the game.

A good example of how the developers throw their players into uncontrollable situations is by introducing an enemy that is unlike any other. In Silent Hill it was Pyramid Head, who wanted nothing more than to slice and dice you; in Dead Space it was The Hunter, who was out to rip your body into two; and in F.E.A.R it was Alma, who loved nothing more than to fuck with your head. I have no doubt that there is going to be something in Alan Wake that requires the gamer to turn on their tail and run for the hills. I will be extremely disappointed if the game lacks that “OH SHIT.. RUUUUUN!” factor.

There are not many games under the “Psychological Thriller” genre so Alan Wake does not have much competition in this field, but it will have some tough critics to please. As I have done so above, it WILL be compared to the top games of its category and let’s keep our fingers crossed that Remedy have risen to the challenge. They had great success with the Max Payne series (before they sold the rights to TakeTwo) and if they play their cards right, Alan Wake will be the game that gets their name back on gamers’ tongues.

Happy Grinding!

The publisher famous for Final Fantasy (of course) and recently released Dragon Quest will be partnering up with Japanese publisher Gamepot for the release.

Courtesy of CasualGaming.biz, Senior Director of Business and Marketing Thomas Lee (phew) briefly described the game:

“Imagine a world of perpetual warfare, legions of unique classes, and a Hyper-Active Battle System. Think the best scenes in Gladiator or Braveheart, with the action ratcheted up to 20. It’s quite unlike any MMORPG available. Our 50 vs. 50 PvP system is pure, pulse-pounding excitement. And now, for the first time ever, North American players can step into a world from the creators of so many high-quality RPGs, completely for free.”

Mass PVP,meh… however it could be interesting! In typical fashion, news of BETA has only been made for North America.

However, keep your eyes peeled and your fingers crossed for news of a European BETA.  Here’s hoping!

So far this generation of hardware has seen a dearth of quality RPGs.  And by RPGs, I mean actual RPGs (aka JRPGs), not Mass Oblivion.  I have nothing against those games or their ilk, but for me they belong in a different genre.  So, as for ‘actual’ RPGs, the only reasonable options that come to mind are Lost Odyssey (2008), Star Ocean 4 (2009), Tales of Vesperia (2008) and Eternal Sonata (2007).  All are decent games, but none is particularly memorable or deserving of the large amount of time required to complete it.

In fact, the best RPG of the last few years is a PS2 game, Persona 4.  There are several conclusions to be drawn from this observation.  There is the possibility that Persona 4 (2009 Europe) just happens to be a particularly outstanding game and all the RPGs released for Xbox 360 and PS3 just happen to be poor.  Similarly it could be that because the PS2 has been around for so long and so many RPGs have been released on it, the quality of those RPGs has gradually improved to the point of Persona 4.  Perhaps though it could also be that the technological difference between a PS2 and a PS3, or an Xbox and an Xbox 360 is so great that developers simply haven’t been able to transfer the good bits of RPGs from the former generation into the latter.  I mean, what exactly is a next-gen RPG supposed to be?

Persona 4: Last-gen perfection?

You would think that RPGs as a genre would be among those with the most potential gain from any advances in hardware.  After all, RPGs are by their nature reliant on successfully transporting the player from the real world to another.  What better way to do this than with more emotive visuals and larger, more convincing environments.  Yet still we find RPGs on this generation of consoles living or dying by their stories and their combat.  Admittedly these are two of the staple elements of RPGs and very important parts to get right, but they have a small bearing on the overall feel or atmosphere of the game.  This bit, the feel or atmosphere, comes from the game’s designer.  If they are unable to craft the game in such a way that all the stories, characters, music and artwork are parts of the same idea, the feeling of immersion is lost and you may as well be reading a novel interspersed with sudoku.

Incidentally, we shouldn’t ignore the fact that Persona 4 is actually an exceptional game and would probably still be the best RPG of the last few years even if the current-gen releases weren’t so terribly average.  Likewise Atlus did have Persona 3 to practise with and none of the current-gen RPGs has had a sequel yet, so I may be jumping the gun a little.  However, what all this says to me is that the great RPG designers at the great RPG developers are still finding their feet on the new consoles.  A strange thing to say maybe considering the Xbox 360 has been around for over four years now, but there really has been that much of a stagnation.  It appears that for RPGs to truly take the next step in the progression of storytelling in games, someone is going to have to release something epic.

Something epic in the sense that the Final Fantasy series has always been epic.  So we come to Final Fantasy XIII.  It’s the first Final Fantasy of the generation and represents what may be the sole opportunity to save real RPGs from an endless repetition of mediocrity that slowly merges into one big glut of Western action RPGs.  I should be confident then that this opportunity falls to Square.  I mean if they can’t think of a way to push RPGs into the next decade, we are really in trouble.

This is why I’m dreading it, because of what it means if they can’t do it; if Final Fantasy XIII is similarly as bog standard and boring as the rest of them.  And from what I’ve seen and played so far, the outlook may be bleak.  Still, the budget is there, the experience of breaking new ground is there, the significant staff are there, so let’s remain hopeful for now.  Finally, if anyone at Square happens to read this, please give us English speakers the option of subtitled Japanese voices.  A tiny option, I know, but its inclusion just might go someway to safeguarding the future of the RPG.

Final Fantasy XIII is released in North America, Europe and Australia on March 9th 2010.

IPO’s don’t usually get any bigger than this so we were really excited to get our hands on it and will be posting our impressions and a Q&A interview with the Star Trek Online development team later on today.

Before that however Cryptic have kindly given us 500 Beta keys to give away on Loadscreen.net

Update: Over 450 400 350 300 250 69 32 ***13*** NO KEYS LEFT (as of 24th Jan 2010 @ 16:50 GMT)

To get your hands on a key simply head over to our forums, register, and post in the Star Trek Online Beta key thread here requesting a key along with your favourite Star Trek quote, character or reference AND how you found out about this giveaway. The keys will then be mailed out to you in batches at 2 hourly intervals. Hurry as they are sure to disappear quickly!

Attention: If you do not REGISTER in the forums, your email will not be included in the list, please do not just comment on this post but REGISTER in the forums. This puts your email address in the correct database.

Update: Keys are being sent out in batches of 50. Please be patient, if you post before the 500th post you WILL get a key.

Don’t forget to check back later as well for our interview with the STO Dev team along with our personal impressions of the beta.