Our partners in crime at Edge magazine have internet-ised a splendid feature on their recent visit to Halo developer Bungie, and what stands out the most is technical lead Chris Butcher's comments on his disapointment with Halo 2:

"We had about four to five weeks to polish [the first] Halo at the end. No more than that. And that last five per cent is responsible for 30 per cent of the success of the game, or more," Butcher tells Edge. "The entire game came together within that four- to six-week period.

"One of the things that stuns me when I think about it, and I can't believe this is true - we had none of that for Halo 2. Take that polish period and completely get rid of it. We miscalculated, we screwed up, we came down to the wire and we just lost all of that. So Halo 2 is far less than it could and should be in many ways because of that."

He continues: "It kills me to think of it. Even the multiplayer experience for Halo 2 is a pale shadow of what it could and should have been if we had gotten the timing of our schedule right. It's astounding to me. I ****ing cannot play Halo 2 multiplayer. I cannot do it. And that's why I know Halo 3 is going to be so much better."

Good news then for fans who felt that Halo 2 was a little unpolished compared to the first game - hopefully this means Halo 3's ending won't be as anti-climatic as the Keeley Hazell sex tape.

via cvg ...

via cvg

Shigeru Miyamoto will give a keynote speech at the 2007 Game Developers Conference in March dubbed 'A Creative Vision'.

The speech will reveal how a singular creative vision drives his work, not only in terms of the games he's famed for but also in generating technologies such as DS and Wii.

"The Game Developers Conference is a place for developers to learn from one another, and I think it is safe to say that every member of the community has at one time or another fantasized about having Shigeru Miyamoto as a mentor and teacher," said Jamil Moledina, executive director of the GDC. "By guiding us through his creative vision with a keynote at this year's GDC, Miyamoto is allowing all attendees this incomparable privilege."

Miyamoto's keynote will last one hour and take place on Thursday, March 8. We'll let you know what he's got to say for himself. ...

US online retailer Gamestop has listed Mystwalker's Blue Dragon RPG for a June 5 release in the US. Unfortunately that means we might not see it until the end of the year.

Microsoft has yet to give us any official release date for the popular Japanese 360 role-playing game over here but the game went down a storm in Japan and we'd expect a similar debut over here.

If Gamestop's suggestion that Blue Dragon will land in the US on June 5 turns out to be true then UK and Europe wouldn't see it until the end of the year at the earliest, given that all the text would have to be translated in several different languages.

And we know how long that can take... Final Fantasy III STILL isn't out over here yet on DS.

via cvg ...

The latest update from Bungie on the progress of Halo 3 has revealed that a newly released build of the sequel is virtually level-complete, which is allowing the developer to start "testing properly for difficulty and length." Listen very carefully, and you can hear the sound of 'closer, it's coming closer' echoing around the videogaming ether.

In the update, it's explained too that layers of detail are now being added to Halo 3's campaign at an astonishing speed, Bungie's Frank O'Connor describing his experience when "tooling around in a huge indoor environment and admiring the light shining softly through the dirty skylights above".

"I was getting up close to a chain link fence and enjoying the rusty steel texture visible on the quarter-centimeter wide chain link... I noticed that there's a lot of extruded detail - that is to say, 3D objects on what would normally be flat surfaces. Think at the simplest level, a real drainpipe against a wall, but more impressive were these brilliantly done, and wonderfully conceived things like taut steel cables, the aforementioned chain link fencing, realistic electrical and communications wiring and just the random garbage that covers the world - all lovingly recreated with a futuristic bent."

Adding that lighting "is still being introduced in new and exciting ways" and talking about work with in-game water, O'Connor then goes on to discuss combat dialogue and says that "We have a lot more characters this time around, with more Marines, Grunts, Brutes, Elites and more to write dialog for", adding, "The acting roster is being filled out now, and the people involved are going to be amazing folks to work with. True talents, old and new, famous and obscure. It's going to be a riot."

"...one thing I noticed is that the sheer number of characters on screen, talking simultaneously, affects the flavor of combat. Hearing three grunts panic while two charge you, yelling, makes combat feel way more intense. Grunts are still funny, but it's not so funny when they're winging plasma 'nades at you like The Big Unit after a bad haircut. The number of times I have been taken by surprise by a gang of angry Grunts - I can't even tell you. And don't even get me started on Brutes and Jackals."

He also reveals there's "a working, controllable version of a brand new vehicle", featuring in the latest Halo 3 build, explains that the difficulty levels are implemented in single-player - but "Nothing like ready, or finished" - and that new voice announcements for multiplayer will accompany original favourite announcements "so you'll be aurally rewarded or punished for various multiplayer antics.".

via cvg ...

via gibiz

Nintendo of Europe has announced that 10 million DS units have now been sold across the continent, making it the fastest and best-selling handheld in history.

The DS launched here in March 2005, and was followed by the redesigned DS Lite in June last year. It was one of the most popular products for European consumers at Christmas, with 1.7 million units sold during December alone.

"This landmark figure of 10 million Nintendo DS gamers cements the console?s position as undisputed leader of the handheld market, bringing gaming to a whole new audience - something that was unimaginable a few years ago," said European marketing director Laurent Fischer.

"The DS is now helping to shape the whole market with sales of the Nintendo DS console and games being the main drivers behind recent market growth all across Europe."

The original DS is priced at EUR 130 / GBP 89, while the DS Lite retails for EUR 150 / GBP 99. Forthcoming titles for the handheld include Mario Slam Basketball, Star Fox Command and Final Fantasy III. ...

via gibiz

Google is currently in talks to buy in-game ads company Adscape, a company that specialises in technology that allows adverts to be placed in online videogames.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, a deal could be announced as early as this week.

"We are always considering new ways to extend Google's advertising program to benefit our users, advertisers and publishers," said a spokesperson for Google.

"In-game advertising offers one such possible extension among many others," said the company.

The deal would follow Microsoft's purchase last May of Massive Inc, a firm that has numerous gaming partners including 2K Sports, Codemasters, Eidos, Konami and NCsoft. ...

CMP Group, the organisers of the Game Developers Conference, have announced that this year's event will feature presentations from two key Nintendo figures.

First up is Eiji Aonuma, who began working on the Zelda series with The Ocarina of Time and more recently was responsible for overseeing the development of Twilight Princess.

Aonuma's speech will take a behind-the-scenes look at the development process, and discuss the challenges of bringing the series to different Nintendo platforms.

Koji Kondo's presentation is titled Painting an Interactive Musical Landscape and will focus on his work as a composer for games in the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda series. He'll describe what inspires him to create videogame uses and the methods he uses when composing.

Other recently announced speakers include Tsutomu Kouno, who will present a Loco Roco post-mortem, id Software's Todd Hollenshead and Konami's Koji Igarashi.

The Game Developers Conference will take place between March 5 - 9 at the Moscone Convention Center, San Francisco

via gamesindustry ...

Nintendo offers Wii owners a figurative link to the past every Monday with a new batch of retro releases on the system's Virtual Console service, but this week the company is literally offering them A Link to the Past, the Super Nintendo installment of The Legend of Zelda series.

Originally released 15 years ago, A Link to the Past follows the story of Link as he tries to rescue the kidnapped Princess Zelda. Along the way he'll travel through light and dark versions of the game's world, and attempt to thwart the evil wizard Agahnim's plans to resurrect Link's nemesis, Ganon. A Link to the Past was inducted into GameSpot's Greatest Games of All Time last year.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is rated E for Everyone and sells for 800 Wii Points ($8).

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