vg247.com are reporting that IW have dropped the Modern Warfare 2 Campaign co-op as it “ruined the experience" the dev was aiming for.
Infinity Ward’s Rob Bowling’s revealed to VG247 that Modern Warfare 2 was initially supposed to have full co-op in the its main Campaign, but was dropped as it “ruined the experience” the developer was aiming for.
The final game instead has Spec Ops mode – a dedicated, mission-based co-op section playable either online or locally in split-screen.
“We did it early on; that’s what Spec Ops started out as, as co-op through story,” said Bowling when asked why Campaign co-op didn’t make the final game.
“But it really broke the cinematic experience, took the immersion out of it, out of the story and the pacing and everything we’d spent so long crafting. It just ruined the experience we were aiming for, so we took it out, kept the single-player for that one player intact and polished it.”
Spec Ops was born from the good parts of the ditched co-op mode, Bowling said.
“But then there were moments that were really fun with two players, so we took those moments and put them in Spec Ops,” he added.
“So you can play moments directly taken from the single-player, in Spec Ops, but it’s polished towards those two players so the experience is pure. You really get the best of both worlds: you get the moments that were fun, but the moments that were shitty we took out.”
We just played a Brazilian Spec Ops level with Rob at a London hotel: it’s awesome. We’ll knock up some impressions tomorrow.
Microsoft has announced a new Xbox 360 holiday bundle. This November, a new Xbox 360 Wireless Controller Game Pack will be available worldwide for $59.99..
The new Controller/Game Pack includes the black wireless controller, and four hit arcade titles. That's a pretty slick deal..
This special bundle contains an Xbox 360 Black Wireless controller and a copy of four hit arcade titles: Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2, Lumines LIVE!, Bomberman LIVE! and a downloadable token for Ms Pac-Man.
This is a great deal for anyone looking to get some easy achievement points while grabbing a new controller at the same time.
Microsoft has also announced a new Xbox 360 Console & Game holiday bundle. For $299 you get an Xbox 360 Elite Console , Lego Batman, and Pure.
For more Xbox 360 compatible hardware & accessories be sure visit the Xbox 360 Hardware Database right here on 360-hq.com via the links below.
The word from Infinity Ward's community manager is that the list was pure BS and that some of it was right but it was all things any goon with COD 4 could have guessed at, so there went all that down the hole.
Bluesnews.com reports: Infinity Ward sends along a follow-up to the rumored feature list for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 reported last night, saying that theories it was a leak from a knowledgeable insider are false, as are the contents of that list:
The very same neogaf thread posted in the news article already has posts from Fourzerotwo (our community manager) as well as Rayme (one of our programmers) debunking the rumored list.
It didn't come from anyone who has access to our internal builds and indeed contains several features that are already in CoD4 such as grass camo for snipers. In short, it's BS.
I knew it was a bit to soon for any real info to leak out, at least news that big.
Like the title said Splatterhouse got a new trailer but still no release date so if you like to stomp things in to little tiny bits and do it to hard rock instrumentals we may have just found your game.
I know that SEGA had a cut or two of this game but i recall playing this game on TurboGrafx-16 and thinking to myself that it had to be the bloodiest game ever, lets just hope it will be just as bloody by todays standards.
Xbox-360HQ Overview: Splatterhouse follows college student Rick Taylor as he tries to rescue his girlfriend, Jennifer, who has disappeared after entering the mysterious and run-down West Mansion. Confronted by horrific other-worldly creatures, Rick comes across a mystical sentient mask that promises to give him the power to find Jennifer. Full of desperation and rage, Rick puts on the “Terror Mask” and is transformed into a juggernaut of pure violence and destruction. Featuring an original storyline by critically-acclaimed comic book writer Gordon Rennie (Necronauts, Judge Dredd), Splatterhouse takes Rick beyond the mansion as he scours the ends of the world to rescue his beloved Jennifer.
I know a bunch of the old school guys in here know the name TRON and may have even played the Tron 2.0: Killer App game for the first XBOX and if this includes you you might find this rumour to be a ray of hope, i know i want it.
A Variety.com blog reported: Disney Interactive Studios is starting work on a new Tron game at the same time it's joining the long list of companies laying off staff and consolidating development studios.
A spokersperson declined to comment, but sources tell me DIS is talking to developers about a "Tron" game that will be tied to "TR2N," the film sequel that its sibling studio is producing. The movie, which will star Jeff Bridges, Garret Hedlund and Olivia Wilde and be directed by Joseph Kosinski, is tentatively scheduled for 2011, which is when we can expect to see the game too.
This is, of course, a no-brainer. "Tron" was a movie about videogames that spawned several successful arcade games (classics of my youth), as well as a sequel in 2003. So with a new movie coming out, what were the odds Disney was not going to do a new videogame?Tronlightcycles
Nonetheless, it's exciting news to have a full fledged new Tron coming. And it's good news that the movie is more than two years out (i'll go out on a limb and say Disney won't release it in the Winter), since that means the game will have a solid amount of production time.
But it's not all light cycles and ricocheting discs at Disney Interactive. The media conglomerate's videogame arm laid off almost 30 people at its Propaganda Games studio in Vancover, maker of last year's fairly well received (I thought it was pretty good), so-so seller "Turok." According to Kotaku, that's tied to the cancellation of "Turok 2." From what I can gather, a sequel isn't necessarily dead, since Disney retains the rights it to the character it optioned from Classic Media, and two teams remain at work at Propaganda. But it is likely a follow-up is on hold, or back to the drawing board.
Also feeling the pinch are a pair of DIS's six internal developers: Fall Line and Avalanche. The two Salt Lake City-based studios are merging together into one entity that will focus on games based on Disney animated films. That has already been Avalanche Games' raison d'etre, while Fall Line's latest game was "Ultimate Band," which didn't sell too well or win over many critics (Variety's Chris Dahlen panned it). A Disney rep said that Fall Line will bring Avalanche expertise on Wii and DS, which are more than ever the platforms that matter for kid-focused titles. Upcoming games in the works from the newly merged studios include "Toy Story 3" for 2010 and, though it hasn't yet been announced, probably "The Princess and the Frog" for this December.
Other Disney studios unaffected by the layoffs include U.K.-based Black Rock, maker of "Pure" (a racing game I loved that just missed my top ten for 2008), Junction Point in Texas, Warren Spector's company that's rumored to be making some kind of platformer starring Mickey Mouse, and China-based Gamestar, which does outsourcing work.
Need For Speed fans that need there new fix wont wait to long from the looks of this EuroGamer post on a quote secret NFS game (not much of a secret if you announce it to the world now is it).
EuroGamer.net reports: EA Games marketing bigwig Keith Munro has told Eurogamer there is one more secret Need For Speed game in development beyond the three titles revealed earlier today.
"Black Box is currently working on a future action title in the franchise," said Munro, playing his car-cards close to his car-chest. [Are you phoning this in? - Ed]
Presumably this game will continue the street-racing series trend of late, as the newly-announced Need for Speed: Shift (PC, 360, PS3, PSP) moves towards simulation racing and away from urban culture. But otherwise, details are scarce.
That's four games. Could this be a case of EA playing safe in the face of the economic crises and milking a safe and proven brand?
Not according to Munro, who said the credit crunch had "not played any role" and that work began "long before" we all began feeling the pinch.
"This isn't about quantity, this is about crafting different games for different audiences and their unique tastes in the driving category," he explained.
"The motivation was purely driven by our understanding of racing gamers and their desire to experience different kinds of racing games. I would say that our strategy is the inverse of milking; it is an intentionally non-traditional approach."
"We took a consumer-first approach and spoke with the fans about what they would like from their Need for Speed. Player feedback was consistent - create custom simulation and arcade experiences but maintain the franchises' core values of street culture, attitude and beautiful licensed cars," he added.
If you are a big fan of the Mirror's Edge and just cant wait for the anticipated downloadable content then here is the bad news, it looks like the wait just got longer and just keep it clear it is to keep the game play smooth.
ShackNews.com reports: Update: Electronic Arts has confirmed the delay with Shacknews, writing that developer DICE deemed it necessary in order to provide "a completely smooth experience."
The $10 Pure Time Trial Map Pack is now expected to hit PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in February, with the free PS3-exclusive "Synethesia" map still coming tomorrow.
Original: Once expected tomorrow, the downloadable content for Mirror's Edge may have suffered a slight delay, according to a PlayStation.Blog post by producer Tom Farrer.
A free PlayStation 3-exclusive map for the parkour game will be released tomorrow, he wrote, noting that the full "Pure Time Trial Map Pack" wouldn't hit until early February.
Publisher Electronic Arts had previously specified a January 29 release for the $10 pack, which adds seven maps and nine races to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 versions.
The facts and figures are in and it looks like Guitar Hero is on top of the rhythm games, no big surprise here but i must say i never would have guessed it would turn out as bad as 2 to 1 and as much as 4 to 1 in the UK.
GameSpot.com reports: Last week the NPD Group, the industry standard of game-industry research firms, released its US sales figures for 2008. However, the company's top 10 game rankings only tracked individual products, or SKU (Stock Keeping Units), sold at retailers in the US.
As a result, it was unclear how two of the year's biggest rivals--Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2--fared against one another. Besides being multiplatform releases, the two solidly reviewed rhythm games each came in various retail configurations, such as a la carte or with one or more instruments.
Now, NPD has shared the combined US sales of both World Tour and Rock Band 2 across all platforms and SKUs. The result? The first full-band (drums, guitar/bass, and vocals) installment in Activision's billion-dollar franchise sold 3.4 million copies domestically, twice as many as Rock Band 2's 1.7 million haul. Analysts had the latter game, developed by former Tony Hawk shop Neversoft, selling nearly 1 million units in November alone.
Though the two-to-one ratio is a blowout victory in purely dollar terms, several factors play a role in World Tour's success. For one, the Guitar Hero brand is better known than Rock Band, even though the latter series is generally better received by critics. Besides being available in more retail configurations, Guitar Hero World Tour also went on sale on all platforms--the Wii, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3--on October 26. By contrast, Rock Band 2 rolled out onto its console on a staggered schedule, hitting the 360 on September 14, the PS3 October 19, and the Wii and PlayStation 2 on December 18. That means that only 13 days' worth of sales on the two latter platforms--which have the biggest installed bases in the US--were recorded by NPD.
Once again my favorite game tambourine hero fell short and didn't even make the article, oh well theres always next year.
Looks like good news for all the fable fans out there that wanted the co-op feature on the first day, i like to play all the way through a game before i do any online play but i know most of you hit the online play first and it sounds like you will be good to go with this game.
Speaking to VG247 yesterday: Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux said that it was his “ambition” to include online co-op in Fable II in a first day patch, and that everything was “going well” to achieve the goal.
“It is a very usual thing with anything to do with co-op and it relies upon the Live service,” he said. “It gives us a tiny bit more time to polish it and make sure it’s working right. Anything to do with Live is much more complex than single-player, so out ambition is to get it out on day one release patch.
“Now, I can’t absolutely confirm that at the moment. It’s all going well. It’s looking like it should be spot on for that. It is down to a few minor little things, and we’re pretty close.”
Molyneux added: “This is purely me as a guessing man - remember, I haven’t been in the office for quite some time - but it’s all looking good to be a day one patch.”
The developer said the situation with the feature was preferable to having the game slip.
“I’d much rather have done that than to have delayed the product, obviously,” he said, saying patching in this way was a throwback to older PC development.
“This is kind of like a heritage from the PC days, of course, when you did always used to patch with a day one patch, and because you’ve got Live now you can do these things,” he said.
And yep, we did ask him some of your questions. We’ll put up his answers this week.
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