Joystiq is reporting that Bungie’s audio lead Jay Weinland and director of cinematics CJ Cowan will give the keynot at the Games Development Expo 2008, running January 19th and 20th in Vancouver. They are expected to talk about the techniques used in the creation of Halo 3’s visual style.
From the article:
‘…once the microphone is turned over to the audience it won’t take long for the topic to turn to what life is like after the dev’s much-publicized divorce from Microsoft, including how they are holding up and, more importantly, who got to keep the dog.’
Wired Blog is reporting that Atari, in the wake of horrid earnings reports and corporate shake-ups, will be leaving game development and intead will focus on distribution and publishing. Atari is planning to license out the Test Drive franchise to its parent company, Infogrames, and previously sold its Driver and Stuntman game franchises to Ubisoft and THQ, respectively.
Gamespot is reporting that Interplay, former game developer extraordinaire, is planning to re-start it’s in-house development studio after many years of defunctness.
Interplay was the developer of many great games of the past including the Fallout series, Baldur’s Gate series, and the Freespace games. They were planning to build an MMO out of the Fallout universe, but at this time the funding they required to do so has yet to materialize. The sale of Fallout 3, being developed out-of-house by Bethesda will hopefully spur future Interplay offerings as well.
From the article:
Saying it is looking at ways of leveraging its stable of franchises ‘through sequels and various development and publishing arrangements,’ Interplay announced it is restarting its in-house development studio. The money to establish that studio will come from the recent sale of the Fallout franchise to Bethesda Softworks. (Interplay is now licensing the Fallout IP for its upcoming MMOG from Bethesda.) The publisher also said it has brought back Jason Anderson, a lead artist on the original Fallout game and cofounder of the defunct Troika Games, to serve as creative director for an unannounced MMOG.
MSNBC reports that shareholders of both XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio have approved a merger between the two companies.
While a major hurdle has been cleared, the companies need regulatory approval from the FCC. The FCC had previously issued a ruling that the two companies could not combine, citing potential anti-trust violations. With the increased popularity of portable mp3 players and ‘pod’-casting (with all my heart I sincerely hate this term), XM and Sirius have convinced the FCC that there is adequate competition from other digital music sources to allow the merger.
It remains unclear at this time what access XM and Sirius customers would have to the other’s stations after the merger.
Gamespot has posted it’s review of Crytek’s latest FPS, Crysis. They scored it a 9.5 out of 10 editor’s choice rating! With the hype this game has been generating, it is nice to see a very positive review.
From the article: If you put it all together, Crysis is just remarkable. This is a game that pushes the envelope in terms of both technology and gameplay and does so with aplomb. Crysis raises the expectations for every shooter to follow when it comes to graphics, interactivity, environments, immersiveness, AI, and gameplay. Quite simply, Crysis represents the first-person shooter at its finest, most evolved form.
1up has posted the Assasin’s Creed launch trailer! This latest trailer shows some amazing fight footage as well as just being badass. The game takes place during the Third Crusade, in the year 1191. The player assumes the role of Altaïr (??????, Arabic, ‘The Flying One’), a member of the Hashshashin sect (the original ‘assassins’), whose objective is to slay the nine historical figures who are propagating the Crusades. As the player finds and kills these targets, their conspiracy is unveiled. The player will be able to travel through three cities: Jerusalem, Acre and Damascus.
Engadget is reporting on today’s launch of the next generation Zune audio players by Microsoft. These include the Zune 2 (also known as the Zune 80), the Zune 30, and smaller Zunes 4 and 8. In addition the new media software has gone live and is available for download or upgrade if you have the older version. In fact, the older Zunes will be privy to the upgrades of the new Zune 30 via firmware updates. That includes the wireless PC-to-Zune music transfer!
AICN has posted the latest leaked images of the actor Zachary Quinto in full Spock makeup on the set of JJ Abrams’ Star Trek flick. The makeup looks great and he really embodies Spock visually. I just hope his performance matches up to his look. Pictures down below along with an image of the retro-style teaser poster. Enjoy!
Joystiq is reporting that a non-profit group calling itself ‘Fun For Our Troops‘, or, FFOT is raising money to buy video games for troops in Iraq and Afganistan. They are currently accepting donations at their site linked to earlier and we would love it if some GamingShogun readers would give something too.
1up has posted their review of DiRT for the PS3, giving the racer a solid 8.4 out of 10. They seem to really like the rally-racer game which has sold very well on the XBOX 360 as well as the PC.
From the article: DiRT still does the same man vs. clock thing McRae has always done. It continues to place drivers on unpaved tracks that feel too skinny for a tricycle, never mind a full-grown automobile, and it certainly hasn’t let up on a car-physics model that’s been dubbed by some as too difficult and by serious car jocks as admirably authentic. But now there’s so much more.
