GDC 07: Games need to get serious

Developing serious games is crucial to the survival of the industry, believes Square Enix exec Ichiro Otobe.

SAN FRANCISCO–Serious games will be instrumental in expanding the audience and profile of the games industry and allowing the new media to gain widespread acceptance, Square Enix chief strategist Ichiro Otobe believes.Otobe told attendees of his Serious Games Summit keynote address this morning that he believes the industry is at a crossroads and the releases of the next few years will be crucial in deciding the market penetration of the industry.

“Not all new media become mainstream,” Otobe told the packed room. “We’ve got the market size, but if we can’t expand the scope of our content beyond the current core gaming market we could just become a niche media content type.”

Square Enix has partnered with Gakken, an educational publisher founded in Tokyo in 1946. Otobe commented, “In Japan, comic books have been elevated to the mainstream. The Himitsu or Secret series [educational comics which explained the ’secrets’ of various topics] by Gakken have sold over 20 million copies, and through these kind of activities, comic books have become mainstream media.”

Square Enix will be using a similar approach by partnering with Gakken to produce serious games, Otobe stated. He hopes that what helped convince people that comic books weren’t just a niche media will also work in the same way for games. The company is currently working with “many” corporate clients, including a fashion magazine, to create targeted content for each.

While Otobe didn’t reveal specifics, he did confirm that Square Enix currently has two serious games projects under way: SG Labs, which it is working on in partnership with Gakken, and Project GB (Game Brain), an in-house serious game project, which is developing a Nintendo DS game to teach game development skills to users.

Project GB was initiated in February, and the as-yet-unnamed game will be finished in approximately six months, although the company is not sure whether or not it will be releasing the finished product to the public.

Lego goes MMO

NetDevil, toy company team up to build massively multiplayer online “gaming experience”; details yet to be announced.

 

Lego my MMO!

One of the simplest toys of all time has found a profitable home in one of the most technologically advanced areas of entertainment. Lego building blocks have parlayed their appeal into video games, with the brand taking the spotlight in a pair of Star Wars-branded games from developer Traveller’s Tales, as well as several other games over the past decade.

Now, the interlocking toys will venture into another hot avenue of gaming–the massively multiplayer online space. Lego Group today announced that it is partnering with Colorado-based NetDevil to create a “massively multiplayer online gaming experience.”

Lego has not yet announced any specifics on the game, leaving the window open for speculation on what the game will entail. NetDevil previously created the vehicular MMOG Auto Assault. However, the emphasis on attracting a younger audience means the Lego MMOG is likely to go the way of Ubisoft’s Puzzle Pirates, which has a very Lego-influenced visual style.

NetDevil’s Web site says that the Lego MMOG is due out sometime in 2008.

Tecmo Bowl snaps on Wii VC

Old-school gridiron game leads Sonic Spinball and Double Dungeons onto Nintendo’s downloadable game service.

While the new wave of downloadable game services has already brought dozens of classic action and arcade titles back into the spotlight, the sports genre has been generally ignored in the trend. That might change as Nintendo today announced that a fondly remembered football game is headlining a slate of three new Virtual Console releases today.

Where you at, Bos?

Tecmo’s humbly named Tecmo Bowl didn’t carry an NFL license, but that didn’t stop it from creating a game with thinly veiled stand-ins for the league’s biggest teams. The NES game originally had an NFL Players Association license that let gamers storm the field with legends like Walter Payton, Bo Jackson, and Lawrence Taylor. However, all the players’ names have been stripped from the Virtual Console edition and replaced with their jersey numbers.

Tecmo Bowl features a dozen teams, each with a lean offensive playbook of four plays and a defensive scheme that consists of choosing which play the offense planned to run. The game is playable alone or with a friend and sells for 500 Wii points ($5).

Joining Tecmo Bowl on the Virtual Console is Sega’s mascot twist on another, less contact-intensive form of recreation, Sonic Spinball. Players take control of Sonic as he is launched into a series of pinball levels. But unlike an ordinary pinball game, Sonic Spinball features sprawling playfields laden with enemies, chaos emeralds to collect, and boss battles. Originally released on the Sega Genesis, Sonic Spinball is available for 800 Wii points ($8) and features support for up to four players.

The last Virtual Console release of the week is the TurboGrafx-16 first-person role-playing game Double Dungeons. Sporting two-player simultaneous play, Double Dungeons includes 22 scenarios for players to tackle and is available for 600 Wii points ($6).

Microsoft goes bigger in Arcade, memory units

XBLA Jetpac Refuelled, 512MB memory unit preloaded with Geometry Wars announced; size of Xbox Live Arcade games officially bumped up to 150MB.

Microsoft is a titan in the software industry–there’s no denying that. In keeping with its gargantuan reputation, the company has announced that it is supersizing two of its products.

Enhanced graphics, indeed.

Xbox 360 owners will be able to carry more with a single memory unit, as a new 512MB version was revealed today. Previously, memory units were sized at 64MB. The new half-gig units will come preloaded with the Xbox Live Arcade title Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved (for a limited time) and retail for $49.99 when they arrive in stores on April 3. At that time, the price of the 64MB units will drop from $39.99 to $29.99.

The announcement comes in conjunction with the revelation that Microsoft has increased the size limit of Xbox Live Arcade titles from 50MB to 150MB, a move the company says will give developers “greater flexibility in game design and [expand] the opportunity to add advanced game features while still keeping games compact.” Today’s news is the official confirmation of the increase, which was previously given the thumbs up for the upcoming Castlevania: Symphony of Night.

Microsoft also formally confirmed the Xbox Live Arcade game Jetpac Refuelled from Rare Ltd. The game is a remake of the 1983 shooter Jetpac released on the UK ZX Spectrum computer. The XBLA version will feature enhanced graphics and more than 100 levels. Jetpac Refuelled will be shown off this week at GDC, along with the previously announced Pinball FX, Boom Boom Rocket, 3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures, and Eets: Chowdown.

Sony goes back to school

UK managing director explains Sony’s involvement in a project using PSPs in schools; Relentless demonstrates Buzz! The Schools Quiz.

Teachers have traditionally not been keen on students bringing handhelds or games into the classroom, but a new initiative supported by Sony aims to change that. At a “PSP in Education National Launch” event held today at its 3Rooms brand space in London, Sony Computer Entertainment UK’s managing director, Ray Maguire, introduced a project organised by ConnectED that sees the PlayStation Portable being used in schools as a learning tool.Maguire explained that Sony has been linked with education for some time–in 2003, there was a trial of using the PlayStation 2 and EyeToy as a communication method between students in different schools. However, the development of “connected” devices such as the PSP, and the increase in the availability of wireless broadband, has really opened up the opportunities for a link with education, Maguire said. While he commented that Sony was not aiming to be a leader in the education space, he pointed out that there were lots of opportunities for content providers to make use of the portable, connected nature of the PSP as a way to provide data and programs.

Richard Owen, from Maplesden Noakes school, which tested the use of PSPs in several different classes, said the experiment had been very positive. Owen said that teachers found that students benefited from being able to work at their own pace–for example, being able to rewind an audio file and listen again to ensure they didn’t miss anything, or to view a video several times. Another trial is set to start shortly in Newcastle, involving 10 schools.

Continuing the “PlayStation in education” theme, Relentless Software also used the event to demonstrate its latest iteration of the Buzz! quiz series–a version of the game designed specifically for schools. The questions are all designed to cover the Key Stage 2 elements of the National Curriculum, and Jeff Gamon, executive producer at Relentless, said that classroom trials of the game had proved extremely successful.

C&C3 blasts down factory

PC version of Tiberium Wars finishes development, invades stores March 26; demo downloaded more than 1 million times since release.

One of gaming’s biggest franchises is one step closer to making its return to the limelight this month. The PC version of Electronic Arts’ Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars has gone gold and is expected to be in stores on March 26.

“Everyone fights, no one quits!”

Tiberium Wars is the first game in the series since 2003’s Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour and brings back one of the trademarks of the early games in the franchise–live-action video. Full-motion video cutscenes return with a bang, sporting the acting talent of sci-fi vets Josh Holloway (Lost), Billy Dee Williams (The Empire Strikes Back), Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), and Joe Kucan, who reprises his role as the archvillain Kane. Also appearing is Michael Ironside (pictured), the voice of Sam Fisher in the Splinter Cell games and star of sci-fi classics such as Starship Troopers and Total Recall.

EA also announced that several PC gamers have already done a few tours of Tiberium Wars–the demo for the game was downloaded more than 1 million times in its first week. The demo, which includes a tutorial and two single-player missions, is currently available from GameSpot Downloads.

Command & Conquer 3 Tiberium Wars is rated T for Teen and will retail for $49.99. An Xbox 360 version is also in the works and will be released later this year. For more information, read GameSpot’s previous coverage.

No, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. As the headline above indicates, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl has indeed gone gold. The announcement was made this evening by THQ executive vice president Kelly Flock at the company’s Gamers’ Day event, which is currently being held at a nightclub location in San Francisco’s SoMa district.

It’s been six years since Ukrainian developer GSC Game World first announced S.T.A.L.K.E.R., then called Oblivion Lost. In the intervening half-decade-plus, the game has alternatively tantalized PC gamers with its lush visuals and frustrated them with its frequent delays. GameSpot’s previous coverage highlights both the ups and downs of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.’s long road to retail.

Tonight, Flock–speaking to a crowd of about 100 journalists–said S.T.A.L.K.E.R. will “ship in March,” and online retailers are listing it as having a March 20 release. The game is rated M for Mature (blood and gore, intense violence, strong language, use of alcohol), and will retail for $39.99.

Exclusive titles like Gears of War have helped Xbox 360 sales

Rising development costs and small user bases mean games developers are unlikely to make a profit on new titles until 2008, according to a report. The report by media analysts Screen Digest said that the complexity of next generation games made it hard for publishers to cover production costs.

Long development times and large production teams also affected profitability, the report found.

Sequels to popular games or those based on films are now the focus, it added.

The report models sales forecasts for next generation games until 2010.

Its author Ed Barton told the BBC News website that many games publishers were choosing to release the same game across as many different hardware platforms as possible to access the widest possible user base.

Exclusive deal

But while some publishers seek to spread their games appeal across many platforms, at least one hardware manufacturer is basing its strategy on exclusivity.

Sony has scaled up its own internal development resource, basically becoming one of the largest makers of gaming content on the planet Ed Barton, Screen Digest

Microsoft has adopted a policy of forging relationships with third party publishers to produce games exclusively for the Xbox 360, a strategy which may involve making financial assurances to publishers.

“It’s hard to see how anyone would commercially agree to that without a relatively substantial payment to mitigate the risk of that game being only on a single platform,” said Mr Barton.

However, it seems the strategy is beginning to pay off with the success of exclusive titles like Epic’s Gears of War for Xbox 360.

Sony’s strategy is based on the belief that sales of consoles are based on the number and quality games available for the hardware.

“Sony has scaled up its own internal development resource, basically becoming one of the largest makers of gaming content on the planet,” said Mr Barton.

Sony now employs more than 2,000 development staff across 14 studios worldwide.

With the Wii Nintendo is focusing on game play innovation to attract a wider range of consumers, a strategy which has proved very successful for the company’s handheld DS platform, said Mr Barton.

Some industry figures believe that despite mounting costs, games publishers who can adapt to changes in the market will not only survive, but flourish.

Paul Jackson, the head of the UK’s Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa), said games publishers are under threat “only if they are not ready to move up a gear”.

“The UK is a very successful place to be a games producer,” said Mr Jackson.

“We have come out of every technology change stronger and I don’t anticipate this transition to be any different.”

FASA Studio’s controversial decision to apply the Shadowrun license to an online first-person shooter game may still cause hardcore fans of the IP to feel a slight burn behind their eyeballs whenever news of the game surfaces, but we can’t deny FASA’s product, now in the final phases of bug testing, is an entertaining one. This game’s of particular interest since it represents one of the first games to support Live Anywhere (also known as Live for Windows), letting Xbox 360 players and PC enthusiasts square off against each other through Xbox Live. When the game finally releases in the second quarter of this year, PC gamers using Vista will find a Live Anywhere install included on the game disc, whereas Xbox 360 owners will get the update through Live.

In addition to competing against console owners, Live Anywhere on the PC means gamers can voice chat with X360 owners, sign into their Gamertag, and get achievement points. Note that as of its initial release, Live Anywhere will only function while within a Live Anywhere supported program. You won’t be able launch Live Anywhere from your desktop like you would AIM or Trillian or whatever you use, but rather only have access while running a game like Shadowrun or Uno PC. Given how many other options PC users have to voice chat and download digital content, Live Anywhere’s progress toward becoming a comprehensive extra-program communication and download tool shouldn’t be a concern for now, at least until the exotic examples of console-PC-mobile interconnectivity, so far only teased at by Microsoft, solidify in reality.

We got a chance to go hands-on with the game again, this time on two new maps, Nerve Center and Favela. The game is looking more polished than when we last visited FASA to check it out, and the framerate held up well across the PC and Xbox 360 gap. The room in which we played had a bank of computers set up opposite to TVs hooked to Xbox 360s, and the teams were split up to trigger as much platform rivalry as possible. Before jumping in to a game, we were able to select one of four races, Dwarves, Trolls, Humans, and Elves from either Lineage or RNA Corp. sides. There’s no real difference between sides for any race outside of character model variations, but each race has their own unique abilities. Dwarves siphon essence used for magic attacks from players and magic structures, meaning they can disable barriers or summoned minions simply by walking by. Trolls gain extra armor as they take damage, Elves heal out of combat, and Humans take lesser essence penalties for using technology items like enhanced vision or gliders.

Shadowrun supports up to 16 players per server and is set to ship with three game modes, Raid, Extraction, and Attrition. In Raid, one team tries to grab a staff-like artifact and safely return it to a designated point on the map while the other team defends. Extraction uses the same idea, but both teams have return points for the artifact, meaning if one team successfully stops another’s escape with the item, they’ll need to take it to their own capture point to win the game. In addition to securing the artifact, a side can also win the round by killing all the opponents. Attrition is basically a team deathmatch with no respawns, like rounds in Counter-Strike, although you can still revive teammates with the proper spell. For each mode, players will have a bunch of icons popping up on screen to let them know the artifact’s current location and that of other curiosities, like trees of life.

The first map we checked out, Nerve Center, was a corporate-type building with sharp, rectangular hallways, grey stone floors, and an overall uninspiring appearance. It’s most striking features were the giant windows lining its outer walls, giving players a view of the other maps in the game that rested in the valleys and hills below. During a game, though, you’re going to be far too busy managing magic, tech, and weaponry to notice. Within an especially spacious room around which was scattered what appeared to be construction equipment lay the artifact. This is where most of the action took place. We had a good time using a Troll in this level, picking up a minigun, tree of life magic, and a minion summon. This way, we could teleport into the room as quickly as possible, toss down a tree of life to keep our health replenished, summon a minion to guard the area, then hammer away at opponents with a the minigun while our armor increased as we took damage.

Played this game in the past, will not have the time to play it now though yet, i think it should be something. Got no more opinions so feel free to comment.