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via noobz ...

via yahoo

Yahoo! Video Games: You mentioned that one of the biggest pitfalls in making a "beat-'em-up" is repetition. How does 300: March to Glory avoid that pitfall?

Jeff Nachbaur: Good games are about engaging the player with meaningful choices. Most beat 'em ups feel repetitive because the combat system is overly simplified or superfluous to your combat goals. For instance, many games will tell you that you have combos and then allow you dispatch most foes by just pushing a single button.

We make combos necessary. We make sure that you need to accomplish something specific. Enemies have conditions to beat and we give you the tools to do it. Then, the player needs to make choices on whom to attack first, what they want to do to the enemy, and then, pile on some other choices regarding health management and your rage. So, very quickly, you find that all your choices are meaningful. If you make the wrong one, you can very easily fail.

This requires the player to constantly think and consider what choice is the best choice and this engages the player. He is no longer thinking about "how many more enemies until this level is over" but more about the moment to moment decision he must make and that really is the key. If the gameplay requires the player to be smart about his choices, the feeling of repetition quickly dissipates. You're too busy taking care of business to get bored.

YVG: How much of a stand-alone game is 300: March to Glory, as opposed to a game designed to appeal to fans of the movie?

JN: It's definitely a stand-alone game. It has to stand on its own merits. We designed it so that if you never saw the movie or read the graphic novel, you'd be just fine. But, we also provide a storyline that complements both. We also provide some extras for fans...like the movie trailers, film stills, and a four part interview with Frank Miller. But we're definitely a game that stands on its own.

More via Link above ...

After taking a beating in Gamespot's side by side Comparison of Xbox 360 and PS3 graphics, Playstation 3 owners may finally have something to hold over the 360 fans. Both Gamespot and IGN have previews posted yesterday that talk up the graphics and performance improvements over the 360 version. Load times and texture quality and draw distance have been improved, as well as 'new shaders dedicated to rendering the foreground cleanly with sharper details, so rocky landscapes now have craggy appearances instead of smooth, non-distinct surfaces,' according to IGN. They end with the ultimate hype, 'screens from the PS3 version should approach those from high end PCs running Oblivion, which is an impressive feat.' How is this possible? Gamespot reports that 'Oblivion will make extensive use of the PS3's hard drive by caching multiple gigabytes of data, which seemed to help with load times from what we saw.' While there are no official reports of this making it into the new 360/PC expansion Shivering Isles, a rumor on the Gamespot preview says that 1up might have the scoop

via /. ...

I-play CEO David Gosen has predicted that the console gaming industry will be left with a "niche audience" to target as mobile gaming becomes ever more popular.

Speaking at the Casual Connect conference in Amsterday yesterday, Gosen quoted figures from Informa and Montgomery which state that mobile has five times the installed base of consoles.

He went on to observe that the number of mobile subscribers is forecast to reach 2.8 billion in 2008, and said mobile games sales are expected to double those of console titles within two years.

According to Gosen, the mobile industry must focus on "balancing the demands of the present with the promise of the future".

He went on to observe, "Its reach and multi-functionality positions mobile as the number one mass market entertainment device of the future, rendering console as a platform for a niche audience."

Gosen also said that casual games will drive growth in the mobile and online sectors as convergence of content becomes increasingly important.

via gibiz ...

RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser has identified five key areas of development which casual games companies must focus on if the sector is to achieve mass market success.

Speaking at the Casual Games Association's Europe: West conference, which kicked off in Amsterdam yesterday, Glaser began his upbeat keynote speech by tackling the hot topic of monetisation.

Claiming that only 2 per cent of customers commit to purchasing a casual game after a free trial period, Glaser predicted that advertising would provide the bulk of the sector's future income. He cited RealNetworks's Clicktopia and streamed video advertising templates as examples of how ad-based revenue systems could be successfully employed in casual games.

Glaser went on to state that the sector must capitalise on its promising growth by branching into new formats, including next-generation consoles and handhelds.

"We're seeing a lot of consoles such as the Nintendo Wii and DS being aimed at a wider demographic, not just the hardcore gaming market," he explained.

However, Glaser also sounded a note of caution - warning that each platform has its own unique requirements, and that if true multi-platform success is to be achieved, every product will need optimising for specific formats.

"Just making a great game on the PC is hard," he stated. "It doesn't automatically translate to these other platforms. The games have to be optimised for each platform."

While Glaser was confident that these multi-platform markets would grow over time, he also warned that growth rates "may not be as spectacular as some people have suggested in the short and mid terms".

Next up was the subject of casual gaming growing into a worldwide industry - with Glaser stating that many rapidly growing markets such as South America and Asia still remain relatively untapped.

Pointing to RealNetworks's new deal with Yahoo to power game sites across Europe as an example of how the industry must become more global, Glaser moved on to his fourth tip for future success - the need to integrate into communities and social networks.

Citing Asia as an example of how the industry needed to adapt, Glaser pointed to the failure of the Try Before You Buy model in most of the continent's major countries.

"[Try Before You Buy] works in Japan, but in the very large markets such as India, China and Korea, there's not a tradition of this model working," he observed.

"However, there is a model that's working great, and that's about being members of a community. If we want to become a global business we have to get smart at that approach."

Glaser rounded off by insisting casual gaming must start establishing itself as a mainstream entertainment medium on a par with hardcore gaming and film. He said that that in order to do this greater press awareness and wider review coverage is paramount, along with the introduction of known and trusted brands - like Monopoly and Scrabble - into the marketplace to attract new customers.

"Our goal is to make casual games to be seen as just another form of entertainment, where the press will review it just like they would a movie or a hardcore game," stated Glaser. He concluded that, "It's just a matter of time till we get into the mainstream."

Despite Glaser's perhaps overly optimistic final conclusion that the casual gaming market was the healthiest industry of all of the entertainment mediums, his assertion that the sector has one of the largest growth possibilities is far harder to argue against - and it's a sector that Glaser and RealNetworks are clearly determined to remain at the forefront of for years to come.

via gamesindustry ...

Sony Online Entertainment is fed up of men in tights and strangling itself in the fantasy genre, which is why its swapped maces for silencers, and delved into the world of espionage.

Its new game, a spy-themed MMO, looks set to feature a strong team-orientated focus, with a big emphasis on objective based PvP.

Speaking at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas this week, SOE president John Smedley confirmed the game's tuxedo-like existence, and was keen to highlight the various influences for the project.

"It's not really just an espionage game," he told our sister site GamesIndustry.biz. "It's a combination of espionage... Think 24 meets Alias meets Counter-Strike."

Unfortunately there's no word on which platforms the game is going to appear on, though we expect PC to be a fairly safe bet.

SOE has another unannounced project in the works too, and it's due for release before the end of the year, Smedley said.

No word on the name, either, although Sony Pictures boss Yair Landau let us in on a secret. "It's code-named Vista, because we pushed it back about a year," he giggled.

via eurogamer

Lets hope for a PSP Version ...

An unwitting modeller at Naughty Dog has accidentally revealed the name of the team's upcoming PlayStation 3 game in his online portfolio, referring to the upcoming 2007 release as Uncharted: Drake's Fortune.

Along with this he also posted new screenshots showing lush jungle environments (in the game, that is). Unfortunately, this has all mysteriously disappeared, leaving us with only PlayFrance's word for it.

Publisher Sony was unavailable for comment at the time of writing, but we expect little more than what it said to US gaming sites: "We do not comment on rumors or speculation. No official announcement has been made."

Naughty Dog's game was shown at last year's E3, and has had no previous name associated with it. All we knew about it was from a one minute-long teaser trailer, showing a third-person action title that looked strikingly similar to an Indiana Jones adventure, with the protagonist monkeying around in a tropical forest with shotguns and pistols.

It sounds like a fairly convincing rumour to us.

via eurogamer ...

UK games retailer HMV has pulled its plans to allow gamers to pre-order PS3 only if they agree to buy a bundle that included a PSP for a whopping £625.

HMV had said that anyone who takes advantage of the offer will get priority over other customers when it comes to buying a PS3. But after the outrage that followed, the company has changed its mind. Funny that...

Computeract!ve received this statement from HMV: "Now that we've been able to confirm our level of PS3 stock with Sony, we're in a position to revise our original online offer. We will therefore be writing imminently to all the customers who have indicated that they wish to make the dual purchase to advise them that they can now pre-order the PS3 console by itself, if they prefer."

Yes, we prefer.

via cvg ...

UK games retailer HMV has pulled its plans to allow gamers to pre-order PS3 only if they agree to buy a bundle that included a PSP for a whopping £625.

HMV had said that anyone who takes advantage of the offer will get priority over other customers when it comes to buying a PS3. But after the outrage that followed, the company has changed its mind. Funny that...

Computeract!ve received this statement from HMV: "Now that we've been able to confirm our level of PS3 stock with Sony, we're in a position to revise our original online offer. We will therefore be writing imminently to all the customers who have indicated that they wish to make the dual purchase to advise them that they can now pre-order the PS3 console by itself, if they prefer."

Yes, we prefer.

via cvg ...