Gaming sure seems to have its fair share of legal disputes. This time, it’s Duke Nukem creator 3D Realms filing a lawsuit against Gearbox over $2 million in unpaid royalties and advances for Duke Nukem Forever. Evidence cited in the Texas court filing include emails sent to 3D Realms’ George Broussard and Scott Miller from Gearbox president Randy Pitchford allegedly agreeing to the terms of the deal.
“Even in the worst case, I am prepared to make sure that debt is repaid in exchange for the opportunity to drive the brand forward and generate profit through the development of the big ticket Duke Nukem video games for many years to come.”
Although Gearbox has not formally filed a response, they did supply Kotaku with a statement.
“Ironically, Scott Miller himself provided the best response when he wrote: ‘… filed lawsuits are entirely one-sided statements, based on knee-deep BS and with more spin than a top.'”
One of the things that Microsoft got right with their Xbox 360 system is the little popup and sound of getting an Achievement. Love them or hate them, that indicator is a direct ping to the human need for immediate positive feedback. The Xbox One will change the Achievement system a bit. Major Nelson and Cierra McDonald, the Xbox Live Achievement Service Program Director, explained some of the details.
The new system will have Achievements and Challenges. Achievements will work much like they do now. Games will come with a list of goals that you can complete in-game to get the Pavlovian ding and some points added to your Gamerscore. You can attempt to fulfill an Achievement at any time because they don’t officially expire. (Ha! Just try to get those multiplayer Achievements for Perfect Dark Zero now!) The new wrinkle is that Xbox One programs outside of games, like music and video apps, can also have Achievements. App-based Achievements will not have Gamerscore points.
Challenges are new. They are time-limited. Developers and publishers can add or subtract them at will, like a weekend event challenge, or a themed goal based on a hot new internet meme. Challenges can’t have Gamerscore, but they can unlock other rewards.
– Challenges are time based.
– Challenges do not give out Gamerscore.
– Challenges may cross titles, but achievements cannot.
– Challenges can be unlocked by the community.
An Achievement activity feed will also be a part of the Xbox One Dashboard to keep you up to date on what your friends are accomplishing and what new Challenges are being offered.
The Last of Us is the most emotionally resonant game you will ever play about plank, ladder, and pallet management. To be fair you’ll sometimes scooch dumpsters around. At one point, you scooch a piano.
After the jump, are there crates? Continue reading →
Everyone knows Jean Grey died after being possessed by Apocalypse. What Marvel Heroes presupposes is maybe she didn’t. We discuss whether Marvel’s superheroes are suited to a free-to-play Diablo style action RPG called Marvel Heroes. Is it good? Does it cost too much? Is there enough variety? What is the endgame? And when can we play as Batman? We also consider games of the week, which include iOS titles Puzzle & Dragons and Agricola, but not The Last of Us.
Podcast (games): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Telltale’s The Walking Dead game was a hit with the zombie point & click adventure game crowd, and the folks that like making emotional attachments to various flawed characters and seeing them die. The upcoming 400 Days DLC promises to continue presenting those difficult choices that players love to hate.
The DLC will take place in and around a truck stop near the events of Season 1, but will feature five separate characters’ stories in their own mini-episodes. Telltale says “this is not Lee or Clem’s story.” 400 days promises to make decisions meaningful for players.
400 Days will check to see if you have a Season 1 save file. The decisions you made in Season 1 will have an effect on your 400 Days experience. And yes…choices made in 400 Days will resonate in
Season 2.
400 Days will launch in July for XBLA, PSN, Steam, and iOS for $5. The PS Vita version will be bundled with all of Season 1 in a new package.
Microsoft’s Xbox One has a built-in DRM feature that makes freely lending or reselling games impossible at this point. You need to go through some kind of verification system and you can only resell your used disc-based games through participating retailers. Sony’s PS4 maintains the status quo of this generation’s rules. As illustrated in a tongue-in-cheek instructional video, you own the game so do what you want with it. Sony representatives did clarify that third-party publishers will be able to set up whatever rules they want – just like they can currently.
Electronic Arts is one of the publishers faced with these different rules and according to chief operating officer Peter Moore, they don’t yet know what they will do. Moore spoke to Polygon about the internal debates they are having.
“We’re focused at this point in time in new games and our official position is, ‘I’ll get back to you’. Sony have announced what they are going to do which is, y’know, business as usual, and then Microsoft are looking at allowing a publisher to opt-in, should they choose to do so. But if we opt in, do [Microsoft] charge a fee, and if so, how much? We have not internally even begun to sit down and answer those questions.
We will figure out what we need to do. I’m not trying to back-pedal but this thing just happened and we need to reconvene and hear what people think and talk to our retail partners and our first party partners. We had no idea what Sony was going to announce. We’ll reconvene next week and figure it all out.”
On the subject of whether or not EA had pressured Sony or Microsoft to build DRM features into their next-gen consoles, Moore denied the rumor. He also reiterated that the Online Pass program was cancelled because consumers made it clear they didn’t like it.
Microsoft may not have DRM-free disc-based gaming on the Xbox One, but they do have an “exclusive achievement” available for people that order the Xbox One Day One Edition package. They’ll also print “DAY ONE 2013” on the commemorative controller. That’s got to be worth something, right?
Sony released the specifications for the PS4 system early this morning and some of the details should please PlayStation fans. As previously revealed by Jack Tretton during the Sony pre-E3 stage presentation, the basic hardware will cost $399 in the US. A mono headset, HDMI cable, and a wireless controller are included in the box. An additional wireless controller will be available for $59. The optional PlayStation Camera will also be available for $59.
The launch unit will come with a 500GB internal drive and users can replace the drive themselves with a standard 2.5 inch hard drive. Always a nice touch when you’re installing multiple games from Blu-ray discs and need to cheaply expand storage.
In related news, Sony representatives verified that there will be no region-lock on the PS4. They also used Twitter to confirm that gamers without PS Plus subscriptions will not be able to participate in multiplayer gaming on the PS4, but that singleplayer games and media streaming will be permitted.
Nintendo didn’t have an E3 stage show this year. Instead, Nintendo decided to to just have a short 40 minute video presentation to communicate to their fans. The Nintendo Direct show was hosted by an uncomfortable-looking Satoru Iwata.
Games shown included Pokemon X and Y, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Wii Party U, Wii Fit U, Art Academy, Sonic Lost World, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, The Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, Project X, and a new Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and the 3DS. Nintendo also showed about 20 seconds of some AAA third-party titles in a montage, once again illustrating how important AAA third-party relationships are to them.
Wii U eShop games were also previewed with a quick snippet of footage. Mutant Mudds Deluxe, Oddworld: New & Tasty, Shovel Knight, and A World of Kelfings were included. Most of Nintendo’s upcoming first-party games will be available as direct eShop downloads as well.
Fans can go to select Best Buy locations and check out some of Nintendo’s E3 games for themselves. (Thanks, Locker K!)
This week we skip the summer releases to catch up on Upstream Color, a sci-fi movie about, well, we’re not entirely sure what. But it’s a synopsis you won’t want to miss. At the 53-minute mark, this week’s 3×3 is about jewelry in movies.
Next week: Man of Steel
Podcast (movies): Play in new window | Download
Subscribe:
Sony Computer Entertainment CEO Andrew House closed out the Playstation 4 presentation with the following line:
Concepts like true consumer ownership and consumer trust are central to everything we do.
These words sum up how Sony cashed in on Microsoft’s ungainly fumbling as they tried to finesse various announcements about policies hostile to consumers. The words are a carefully crafted emollient that could only be made by listening to consumers, by being nimble enough to react, and by making specific and difficult decisions about whether Sony’s priorities are with consumers or with publishers. They chose consumers. By singling out the contributions of independent developers, by focusing on games over shoehorned transmedia and unnecessary proprietary interfaces, and most importantly by continuing the status quo on used games and DRM — two issues that go hand-in-hand — Sony has effectively won E3 before the doors of the show floor even opened.
The $100 cheaper price point is just gravy.
That’s the PS4 pictured above. Drink it in. Sony had their E3 presentation as today, closing out the E3 stage demo rodeo, and they finally unveiled the PS4 hardware.
Before they got to good stuff, Sony showed off the PS Vita and the PS3, just to remind everyone that both still existed and would continue to be supported into the near future. The PS Vita will get The Walking Dead with the upcoming 400 Days chapter, and the PS3 will get a scary digital Willem Dafoe in Beyond: Two Souls.
Because Sony didn’t have a pre-E3 event to talk about media streaming, they got to waste some time on that. Did you know Sony publishes music and movies? They do! The PS4 will have all sorts of ways to consume (and pay) for media.
Sony finally moved on to the PS4 by showing off the sexy hardware. PS4 games previewed included The Order: 1886, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Drive Club, Infamous: Second Son, Knack, The Dark Sorcerer, Assassin’s Creed 4, Watch Dogs, NBA 2K14, Mad Max, and Destiny. Square Enix showed a trailer for a game containing fops. We need more fop-based games. SE also teased Kingdom Hearts III. Dumbledore narrated a new Elder Scrolls Online trailer.
Indie games got a special shout-out. The Witness, Transistor, Don’t Starve, Mercenary Kings, Ocotodad, Secret Ponchos, Outlast, Oddworld Inhabitants, and Galak-Z were shown together to show off Sony’s commitment to the indie developers. This is an area that Microsoft has been criticized for in recent days.
Jack Tretton made sure to fire some shots at a competitor. The PS4 will support lending and resale of used disc-based games with no restrictions. The PS4 will not require periodic online checks either. I wonder who they were directing that towards? You’d think they had it in the bag, but then Jack slipped a quick change-up into his presentation. Multiplayer access on the PS4 will be locked behind PS+. Boo!
Just to rub it in Microsoft’s face, the PS4 is launching at $399. Someone’s been listening to gamers talk the past few weeks.
Ubisoft always has entertaining E3 shows. Not only do they normally have no shame about the presentations, they also seem to understand that normal people are actually watching. Jerry Cantrell opened up the festivities and jammed in a way that no player of Rocksmith 2014 will duplicate. Aisha Tyler then came on stage to host the show and wore a t-shirt with #girlwood printed on it, if that helps you paint a mental picture.
Games shown included the aforementioned Rocksmith 2014, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Rayman Legends, The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Watch Dogs, Just Dance 2014, Rabbids Invasion, Assassin’s Creed 4, Trials Fusion, Trials Frontier (a mobile game) and The Division. Yves Guillemot stood next to Aisha Tyler to illustrate how wee he is compared to her. He also said that Ubisoft is excited for new consoles, I guess because of money. If I were in charge of Ubisoft, I’d be excited by all the money the next-gen consoles could mean for big budget publishers too. Rabbids Invasion is some kind of mad TV show and game crossover thing. One of the little guys snapped his own thong in the trailer which is all I needed to know. It ties into the whole Microsoft Xbox One television interactivity stuff which is probably all you needed to know. The Divison is about a global pandemic. Lot’s of next-gen doom & gloom in a RPG shooter. Tom was quite taken with The Crew and The Division.
Unsurprisingly, no one talked about Uplay.
We already knew about Ubisoft’s new Splinter Cell, the new Rayman, the next Rocksmith, whatever The Mighty Quest is supposed to be, Watch Dogs, Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, more insufferable Rabbids, more Trials, and another Just Dance. What we didn’t know about were the standouts of today’s E3 presentation. Some former Test Drive Unlimited developers and Driver: San Francisco developers are working on The Crew, an ambitious open-world driving game set on a map of the United States that makes me wonder why anyone would bother with Forza 5 and Need for Speed: Rivals. As some cars rounded a bend overlooking Las Vegas, the guy presenting the demo said, “You could drive all the way down there and drag race the Strip.” That’s what I like to hear.
The Division, from Ubisoft’s Massive studio in Sweden, is an equally ambitious and enthusiastically presented MMO/shooter, laid out in a canned demo convincingly acted by a group of players who put to shame EA’s godawful commander mode gameplay session for Battlefield 4, in which 63 people rode boats to the top of a skyscraper while a 64th player identified himself as a commander as he poked at a tablet. In The Division demo, a group of players used various cool gadgets to liberate a besieged police station, showing off gameplay that would do any single player shooter proud. The Division claims it’s a massively multiplayer open world with some players on the ground while other players fly drones around. And sometimes PvP just breaks out. Then confetti fell from the ceiling. Ubisoft knows how to make a party out of a presentation.
EA had their E3 presentation today. Did you kow EA has a lot of big-budget action games? Games previewed included Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare – a third-person shooter and tower defense mashup – Titanfall, a quick tease for Star Wars: Battlefront, Need for Speed: Rivals, Dragon Age: Inquisition, Madden 25, FIFA 14, UFC, Battlefield 4, and Mirror’s Edge 2.
Aaron Paul showed up to preview the Need for Speed movie. It had lots of car crashes and loud music. It looked like a certain other movie francise with fast cars, stunts, and wacky plots. We’ll see if Need for Speed has the audience appeal to attract all those Death Race fans.
EA Sports Ignite was shown. It’s the new engine that powers all of the next-gen EA Sports games. True ballin’ yo! Drake came on stage to tell everyone that he does a lot of traveling and watching foreign sports. Apparently, he’s a big fan of FIFA and money. Bruce Buffer then jumped on stage to announce some names in his professional MC voice. I guess he also likes money.
We got to watch a bunch of players do their thing in a Battlefield 4 level with someone in Commander Mode. Apparently, that means someone gets to use a tablet to poke at a screen and yell at his team. A building collapsed in the now trademarked Frostbite way.
EA did not talk about Simcity.
