If you can figure out what’s going on in this BurgerTime HD multiplayer footage IGN shot during GDC, we’ll … buy you a (virtual) burger.

Here’s the deal: It sort of looks like Data East’s 1982 original in terms of the basic burger-building gameplay, but the HD-ification has clearly been taken to an extreme. The levels twist, the art style screams “cyberspace” circa 1992 and there’s just so much happening.

But hey — it could be weirder.

Continue reading BurgerTime HD footage shows a twist on the coin-op classic

BurgerTime HD footage shows a twist on the coin-op classic originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Not only does the CryEngine 3 GDC tech demo posted below give us hope for the future of video game visuals — it also fills us with anticipation for the future of dune buggy technology. Sure, pretty video games are great, but they can’t hold a candle to a sleek recreational motor vehicle.

Continue reading CryEngine 3 GDC tech demo is all kinds of futuristic

CryEngine 3 GDC tech demo is all kinds of futuristic originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Wondering exactly how many people you need to be supremely jealous of, thanks to the fact that they got to hang out with and generally become best buds with Eric Chahi, Clint Hocking, Peter Molyneux and other gaming inudstry legends at GDC 2011? According to the event’s official blog, this year’s conference was attended by a record 19,000 gaming professionals, who attended over 450 lectures, tutorials, keynotes and friendship bracelet craft circles.

Want to help add to that number next year? Well, check your calendars — the Game Developers Conference is going to roll back into San Francisco like a brisk wind March 5 – 9, 2012.

GDC 2011 reaches record attendance, GDC 2012 scheduled originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Curt Schilling and company made a lot of promises last year about Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, the first title from 38 Studios’ long-awaited IP. He said that we’d see “combat that keeps you doing combat” along with a “deep quest narrative” and old-school RPG tropes brought around to match up with action gamer tendencies. “I don’t know a way to tell you,” Schilling said at the time, that “‘Hey, we’re taking God of War and marrying it with Oblivion.’”

That’s a tall order, made even taller by 38 Studios’ origins — while there are a lot of veterans working on this game, this is the first time they’ve all worked together, and certainly there’s enough pressure and hype on the project that it seems like it could very well fall apart in disasterous fashion.

And then we saw the game running in full motion for the first time this week here at GDC 2011. Sure, it’s only an hour of directed gameplay, and sure, there’s lots of work yet to do on the title. But there’s this: All of Schilling’s promises were up there on the screen, and it seems more likely than ever that 38 Studios might just pull this off.

Continue reading Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning preview: The path of promises

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning preview: The path of promises originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 12:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We don’t want to spoil the ending of Ryo Hazuki’s saga ourselves, so we’ll just tell you to go past the break and let Suzuki tell the story of the vengeance-obsessed teen’s trans-Pacific ride on a levitating sword, with live-action performances of key scenes by Mega64 and a special guest. Perhaps we’ve already said too much. It’ll be entirely our fault if the story lacks dramatic impact.

Continue reading Mega64 and Yu Suzuki reveal Shenmue’s conclusion at last

Mega64 and Yu Suzuki reveal Shenmue’s conclusion at last originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 07 Mar 2011 11:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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At last, we know why ArenaNet and NCSoft haven’t realeased too many gameplay trailers for their upcoming MMO, Guild Wars 2 — they were just waiting for GDC 2011, where they’d reveal enough video from the game to drown the internet. Check out four clips from their presentation below!

Continue reading Guild Wars 2′s GDC presentation now available on video

Guild Wars 2′s GDC presentation now available on video originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During a GDC postmortem for the classic game, Cerny said that the concept came about because the post-crash game market (and Atari) demanded totally unique concepts with two-player functionality. Two players meant twice as many coins per play, after all. And so Cerny set about with a minigolf-inspired game that used new 3D hardware — which eventually ended up 2D, with a new “budget” arcade board that used interchangeable cartridges and afforded a bit more storage space.

Cerny gave an abstract look to the game, with enemies like Slinky creatures and transparent blobs (the transparency was simulated by drawing the floor grid onto the enemy sprite). So he was understandably irritated when the cabinet designers decided to make the trackball controller a smiley face. Eventually, they reached a compromise, with a sort of smiling character on the panel, but not quite a face, and not on the trackball itself.

After the year or so of design, Cerny and Atari ended up with a hit — for about six months. Sales dropped off, he said, because the game could be completed in four minutes. He lamented not spending more time designing levels after getting the tech in place; at eight minutes, it could have remained a hit, he said.

The (Marble) Madness of Mark Cerny originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 16:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In a candid talk during the Game Developers Conference on Thursday, Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinksi advised attendees to “have an educated gut,” and to be cognizant of the value of marketing and long-term relationships with customers. He encapsulated his talk in the “power creative,” a project member who is unique, valuable and visibly tied to the game’s identity. “This could be anyone,” Bleszinski said.

With consumers constantly immersed in an information feed — via social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook — it’s important for game designers to be “surgical” and “devious” in creating IPs that thrive in an always-on, heavily branded world. According to Bleszinski, the market only tolerates games that land on the far ends of the spectrum between freemium or “snack” games and big-budget productions like Gears of War. “I believe the middle class game is dead.”

Continue reading Bleszinski: Marry gamers, don’t date them (or: design long-term engagement for fans)

Bleszinski: Marry gamers, don’t date them (or: design long-term engagement for fans) originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bangai-O HD: Missile Fury feels a lot more like an Xbox 360 successor to Bangai-O Spirits than it did when I played it at TGS. The demo available in Tokyo seemed a lot more straightforward, more “here are a bunch of enemies for you to shoot” — in other words, more original Bangai-O — than the cleverly-designed, semi-puzzle stage design that the DS game brought.

But that was just the TGS demo. Most of the elements that made Bangai-O Spirits what it was have carried over into the XBLA game, with a few important changes. Perhaps the most notable change is the addition of multiplayer. You might not think putting one more thing (another player) on the screen in a game about filling the screen with objects would be a big deal, but it doubles the unfathomable insanity.

Continue reading Bangai-O HD Missile Fury preview: Co-overboard

Bangai-O HD Missile Fury preview: Co-overboard originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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During the Xbox Live Indie Games panel at GDC, a who’s who of XBLIG developers (James Silva, Nathan Fouts, Robert Boyd and Ian Stocker) talked about their experiences, successes and failures self-publishing on the service. Perhaps of more use to budding XBLIG developers are some facts about the service, including the revenue split between Microsoft and the developer, as well as some gameplay restrictions.

For anyone who publishes an Xbox Live Indie Game, Microsoft takes 30 percent of the revenue, leaving 70 percent for the game maker. Even more interesting are some of the restrictions for games. James Silva of Ska Studios said it’s impossible to have an XBLIG title where the player kills nazis, for example.

“That’s like an inherent human right that’s been taken away from us,” Silva said. “We grew up on killing Nazis.” Silva then went on to provide an anecdote about a game concept he had, about a burly mountain man who hunts people, but it turns out XBLIG isn’t murder-friendly, either.

We’ve followed up with Microsoft for some more information on the guidelines of Xbox Live Indie Games.

XBLIG facts: Nazi-killing a no-no, revenue a yes-yes originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 06 Mar 2011 02:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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