Ostensibly a screenshot from Team ICO’s upcoming production:
Never mind that it tells me absolutely nothing about the game. It’s still enough to temporarily provoke near-rabid anticipation.
Lucasarts alum, Monkey Island creator, and all-around smart guy Ron Gilbert announced something super cool at Grumpy Gamer today. After unsuccessfully courting the usual suspects, he recently struck a deal with Hothead Games (the studio behind the upcoming Penny Arcade Adventures) to develop and publish his upcoming game, DeathSpank. And there’s more:
I called up Tim Schafer and said “Loan me a desk, I have a game to design!” and I proceeded to crank out what can only be called the perfect melding of a Monkey Island style adventure game with the wicked RPG game play of Diablo. Clayton [Kauzlaric] and I got together and banged the kicks out, slapped some meat on the characters and tightened up our story and world, and damn it, we had a design you could cook an egg on.
The more I talked to the fine people at Hothead about the deal, the more I liked what I was seeing in them. They had that spark of independence, a lot of experience and were all mighty fun people to boot, so I decided to move to Canada and go work for them as their Creative Director as well as leading the DeathSpank project.
Good for Ron. I’ve long felt that his talent and experience weren’t being put to enough use, and I’m very happy to see him over at Hothead.
What do we know about DeathSpank? Apart from the above Diablo-meets-Monkey Island description, not much, except that It’s coming “soonish,” and it looks to be episodic.
Three and a half years ago, Crytek didn’t have a reputation to worry about. No one could’ve guessed that the unknown German studio’s debut game, FarCry, would reset the standard for graphics and convince droves of PC gamers to pony up for the latest generation of video hardware. FarCry’s visual wizardry surprised just about everyone.
In contrast, Crytek’s sophomore effort, Crysis, finds itself on the opposite end of gamers’ expectations. Eighteen months of stunning previews and tech demos left almost no question as to whether Crytek could once again raise the graphical bar. PC enthusiasts stockpiled funds in anticipation of Crysis‘ unforgiving hardware requirements, and those unable to deny DirectX 10’s siren song actually installed (gasp!) Windows Vista.
It will come as no surprise to anyone, then, to hear that Crytek’s latest creation is often wondrously beautiful. And the gameplay isn’t half-bad, either. You can read my full review of Crysis’ single-player campaign over at The Escapist.
Poking through the contents of Sony’s GDC keynote, I didn’t expect anything nearly as cool as Little Big Planet. I don’t think I’ve been this wowed by a preview since Valve demoed HL2’s Source technology. It put a huge smile on my face, and so far it’s the first PS3-exclusive content that makes the console look really attractive. Video can be found in all the usual places, so if you haven’t seen it, go find it now.
I’m unexcited about Home, as I expect most serious gamers will be. Russ predicts failure. He may be right.
I’ll give Sony this: their Second-Life-like virtual community seems ideally poised to capture the attention of the vast demographic that keeps Sims titles moving. Unfortunately for Sony, this demographic isn’t buying the PS3. Instead, they’re buying Nintendo’s hardware. And I doubt that Home’s appeal is going to overcome the aversion consumers have to the PS3’s $600 price tag. It’s going to take a major price drop, or a sea change in consumer attitudes, before the PS3’s appeal expands beyond the gamer and technophile crowds.
Now that I’ve reached the latter stages of post-E3 recovery and collected my thoughts, I think I’m ready to sum up the experience.
First, the previous coverage: all of my game-related commentary can be found sprinkled throughout the unwieldy, comprehensive tome that is GWJ’s E3 2006 Compiled Coverage. And GWJ also has my thoughts what really impressed me about the event—the warmth and enthusiasm of so many of the people I met.
This year, the crowds were lighter, there were less booth models, and overall there was a notable shift in focus towards actual hardware and software instead of nebulous concepts and empty hype. I’m hesitant to repeat what’s been covered ad nauseum elsewhere in terms of overall impressions, except to note that, like most attendees, I came away with the feeling that Microsoft made a very strong showing, Nintendo generated the most interest, and Sony appears to be poised to wage a bit of an uphill battle (at least in the initial years of the new console generation).
There was a very brief time period, near the release date of the 360, when I imagined that the offerings of the new console generation would largely negate any interest I might have in ever upgrading my PC again. The undeniable allure of the PC’s upcoming gaming possibilities has completely ruined that little fantasy. So I’m committed to a major PC upgrade, probably to coincide with the release of Vista next year. And the rest of my major gaming purchases are probably decided as well. In all likelihood, I will be buying a Wii at launch. I can’t imagine that I will be purchasing a PS3 until years after its release. And while a DS Lite is definitely in my future, I’ll probably never buy a PSP. So it looks like my money’s headed for Microsoft and Nintendo.
There were a lot of great looking games this year, far more than I was able to see myself. And a lot of new IPs as well. I won’t bother discussing the AAA titles that are getting the lion’s share of the attention, like Crysis, The Twilight Princess, Gears of War, Spore, Bioshock, etc. I do want to mention a few games, though, that seem more likely to be overlooked: The Witcher, a dark, mature, carefully envisioned, and lovingly crafted RPG for the PC; Okami, the Zelda-esqe and visually stunning PS2 title by Clover Studios; Contact, SUDA-51’s quirky, conceptually deep RPG/adventure for the DS; and Paraworld, a beautiful, unusual, and extremely elegant strategy PC title from Sunflowers. I’ve got every reason to believe that if any of these deliver on their potential, they’ll be fantastic.
I’ll be buying Oblivion tomorrow, driven in no small part by vicarious enthusiasm I’ve obtained from friends foaming at the mouth at the prospects of a next-gen Morrowind sequel. I’ve mentioned before that I never played Morrowind, but hey, if devoted fans of that game have reasons I should be more excited, I’ll get more excited. I’m easily excitable about these sorts of things.
I’m envisioning a scenario where I adore Oblivion to the point that its expansive, explorable world negates any motivation I may have to play any other game or engage in any other game-related pursuits. It happened last year with World of Warcraft. It could happen again.
