Adventure Time Creator Dishes on the Season One DVD and More

Mathematical! Fans have been asking, and Warner Home Video and Cartoon Network have finally answered. Adventure Time: The Complete First Season will come to DVD this week (look for our review tomorrow).

In honor of this exciting release, we sat down with Adventure Time creator Pendleton (Pen) Ward to discuss what it takes for young prospective artists to break into the industry, the direction of the show, as well as Ward's amusing contribution to the DVD bonus features.

Before Ward was famous, he visited Simpsons creator Matt Groening to discuss what it took to make it in the animation industry. While Ward could not recall what transpired during that chat, he did offer some inspiration for young artists.

“My advice comes off as generic, but I think it's important advice – and that's to keep drawing.” Ward suggests. “I think if you persist, you keep drawing, you're already one step ahead of anybody who's quit. And that's probably the biggest challenge when you're learning, whether you're drawing, or really anything at all – is to keep doing it.”

Even in the show's early days, Pen Ward was always working hard at the series, attempting to craft a show that was not only fun and funny, but also refreshing and original.

“Every day I'm just focused on trying to keep the ideas fresh and interesting.” Ward states. “For example, I wanted to put a monkey in an episode, and one of the writers, Jesse Moynihan, told me not to. He thought it was jumping the shark, that is was just cheap humor. I told him, you're right, you're right. So we took it out.”

It's this sense of originality that's turned Adventure Time from a cult series into something of a phenomenon. But Ward isn't really phased by the show's new found mainstream stardom. “I don't have a real concept of it, honestly,” Ward said. “We just work on the show every day and keep doing it. But I see how much people really like it at Comic-Con, which is a lot of fun.”

Instead, Ward spends his time focused on the story. “We're always trying to top ourselves and make each episode better than the last,” Ward said. “We don't want to become stale.”

Ward is currently putting the finishing touches on season four, while also drafting episodes for the show's upcoming fifth season. While he remained mum on all the juicy details, he did offer hints as to what fans can expect. “In future episodes you'll get to see more of the history of Ooo.” Ward offers. “There's also a few more origin stories for some of the characters. There's going to be another Fiona Cake episode coming up, which features Marshall Lee more.”

In the meantime, fans can explore the various bonus features found on the season one DVD. One special feature was actually shot on Ward's own iPhone, using a handy $150 Steadicam unit. “I wanted to put something cool on the disc,” Ward explains. “I wanted to interview everybody and put it all in one shot. Then we decided to put animation on it.” The end results are nothing short of bizarrely humorous, with the featurette almost playing like a bonus episode of the show.

But the featurette isn't the only goodie Ward was excited about. Playing as sort of a complement to the “Mom-entary” from the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg film, The Other Guys, Ward sought out another helper to add some flavor to the supplemental material. “There's a commentary from my mother with Polly Lou Livingston, who voices Tree Trunks,” Ward admits with a laugh. “It's pretty funny.”

Obviously, because this first season took quite a while to make its way to DVD, fans might be worried it'll be a few more years down the line before future seasons arrive, but Ward attempts to put those worries to rest. “I'm positive they'll be coming,” Ward assures. “I'll have to stay up and do some more special features, too.”

With the release of Seth MacFarlane's Ted in theaters, naturally the thought of doing something live action came up. Ward was fascinated by the idea of doing a feature-length movie. “I think it would be great.” Ward said. “I want to do a live-action movie with the Adventure Time characters, actually. That would be interesting.”

We certainly hope he gets the chance to do that in the near future. But, in the meantime, you can check out Adventure Time on Cartoon Network, or pick up the show on DVD or digital download.

"A long time ago, when I was a baby, I went boom boom on a leaf. Then I fell backwards and sat in my own boom boom and cried for a day, but no one came to help me. That day I vowed to help anyone in need, no matter how small their problem! And that's why I need to go." Follow R.L. Shaffer on Twitter, Facebook andMyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!

Source : ign[dot]com

Activision Reveals Walking Dead First-Person Shooter

Activision has announced a new game based on The Walking Dead. Not to be confused with Telltale’s episodic The Walking Dead adventure game, Activision’s version is a first-person action game based on AMC’s The Walking Dead TV show.

Developed by Terminal Reality, The Walking Dead will revolve around Daryl Dixon and his brother Merle on a “haunting, unforgiving quest to make their way to the supposed safety of Atlanta.” Players will control Daryl as they attempt to avoid detection from zombies that hunt using sight, sound and smell and will choose between fighting them or using stealth to avoid detection. According to Activision, “No place is truly safe for Daryl as he makes his way through the Georgia countryside in this new, post-apocalyptic world.”

Supplies will be scarce and players will need to carefully manage food, ammunition and supplies as they make their way through the game. Daryl will encounter “a slew of other characters” along the way that can help or hurt him. Whether or not these characters accompany Daryl is completely up to the player and “represents just some of the major decisions that will constantly be made while fighting to survive.”

The Walking Dead will hit stores in 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. Few other details are available, but check out the game’s official site for more info in the future. Until then, keep an eye out for all the latest announcements about The Walking Dead TV show before it returns to AMC for season three later this year.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Asura's Wrath Devs Working On Jojo's Bizarre Adventure Adaptation

CyberConnect2 has unveiled that its next project will be Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All-Star Battle, based on the long-running manga series of the same name.

The news was announced during a press conference, which also confirmed that a new anime version of the popular Shonen Jump franchise will be airing in Japan.

Not much is known about the title just yet, other than that it's a Playstation 3 exclusive brawler, with the developer refusing to confirm on Twitter what year we'll be seeing the game on shelves.

The Jojo's Bizarre Adventure manga follows the misadventures of the Joestars, a strong family with British roots.  Despite this, the franchise hasn't received a large amount of localisation support in the past, and it remains unclear if this title will be launching in the West.

Check out the debut trailer below to see a man get kicked in the face by a horse.

Source : ign[dot]com

E3 2012: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes preview

To date, Frogwares has developed about 15 games; but perhaps none as big as their most recent project The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. A new classic adventure game, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes focuses heavily on the darker side of Holmes' story which, by the way, will end in his demise.

As you can guess, this game will be gruesomely dark, which is exactly what I was shown at E3 last week. In our brief demo session at the Focus Home Interactive booth, we were shown a brief gameplay demo which had us solve the beginning of a crime.

The demo began with us, playing as Holmes, investigating the death of the pope. It was a bloody mess of a murder scene that had us perform several actions that you can expect throughout the game: investigation, deduction, and puzzle solving. Our demo centered around the investigation and deduction elements.

We first had to investigate the crime scene to find clues. This was a fairly easy process that simply had us hover over the dead body and look for when the cursor changed into a magnifying glass. The clues we found helped us solve several questions like what social class the murderers belonged to and places they visited in the past.

After searching the body and the entire area surrounding for clues, we were able to make some deductions based on what we found.  This portion of the gameplay was a little more difficult. Now I'll admit I'm no detective, but with the help of two others we were able to arrive at some rather difficult answers based on our deductions.

The deduction portion involved us taking the clues and making educated guesses, eventually ending up with us getting a lead to question. For example, based on one the footprints we saw we were able to deduce that somebody changed shoes - or something of that nature. Like I said, I was horrible at making these logical decisions. Eventually, we came to some educated guesses and surprisingly only got one answer wrong.

I had asked if the variety of deductions changed based on our answers and while they do, it all eventually leads to the same outcome which is the eventual demise of Sherlock Holmes. After all, this is his story. It deals with the investigation of Sherlock Holmes being investigated, with his sidekick Watson even questioning Holmes' sanity.

There was no real punishment for getting a wrong answers, though you do get achievements for correct answers. If you find yourself stumped, as I often did, the game does offer a help system making Sherlock Holmes expand its reach to a wider audience. Once again, there is no punishment for using the help system though it is reflected in the achievements or trophies you will unlock.

In all, The Testament of Sherlock Holmes features about 15 hours of gameplay spread across 20 different locations. The game attempts to break up the dreariness of death by allowing you to play as Holmes' dog Toby. This adds for an extra layer of humor as you can investigate scenes from another perspective.

The game doesn't offer the sharpest of graphics, despite its improved graphics engine, but if you are into dramatic, puzzle solving games with a dark overtones you may want to keep an eye on . It is set to release in September of this year for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Source : gamezone[dot]com

E3 2012: Of Orcs and Men preview

Oftentimes, in role-playing games, the lead character is a typical male human off on an adventure to save the world/planet/galaxy. You may have some alien sidekicks, but for the most part you play as this human character.

So you can imagine my excitement when Cyanide Studios showed me Of Orcs and Men, an upcoming fantasy RPG that allows you to play as not one, but two fantasy creatures whose stories often remain unexplored in fantasy RPGs. Think of the last fantasy themed RPG you played; you likely encountered some orcs or goblins which you were tasked to kill for no apparent reason.

Of Orcs and Men plays off of this typical gameplay, but turns it upside down and puts you in control of two non-human characters - an Orc named Arkill and a goblin named Styx - who are off on a mission to assassinate the human emperor who waged war against their race. It may not be the most original story concept, man vs orc, but the different viewpoint could offer a different take.

Playing as an orc or goblin isn't the big catch here, at least for me it wasn't. What really helped Of Orcs and Men stand out was it's combat system which has you control both characters in tandem. In combat you can switch between Arkill, the incredibly strong orc who relies on heavy melee attacks, and Styx, the goblin trickster who relies on sneaking, stealth and ranged attacks.

The trick to the combat is to constantly switch between the characters and assign combat actions to them so that you aren't stuck with a useless AI partner that serves as nothing more than a punching bag. In combat you can slow down time to select these actions for your partner to perform and then switch to the opposite one that you want to control.  Although it sounds like a difficult slow process to slow time, controlling two characters actually creates a fast-paced feel. It's a little difficult to master at first, but once you get the hang of it the game provides rewarding gameplay experience.

The key to successful combat in Of Orcs in Men is how you initiate. The game allows you to plan your actions before performing them creating a multitude of ways to play; so for instance, you can control the goblin and sneak up on unsuspecting guards to take them out one by one or you can simply run in there with Arkill and pulverize them. Each tactic is feasible depending on how well you can assign actions.

It's hard to comment on story based on a 15-minute demo, but we were told that it will include a branching path with a variety of choices that ultimately lead to the same conclusion.  Styx will grant you the more conniving, lying route while Arkill is provides a more blunt, straightforward approach to conversations. Like I said, they will ultimately lead to the same ending for the main story.

The PC demo featured impressive graphics that created a dark fantasy world. There were some animation hiccups that you'd expect in an early build of a game, but other than that the game looked and ran surprisingly smooth for a game still in development.

Of Orcs and Men provides a unique twist on what some would consider a stale genre. You wouldn't think Orcs vs Men would be an interesting concept, but providing a unique aspect with exciting gameplay creates a solid game that RPG fans should keep their eye on. is set to release on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC this fall.

Source : gamezone[dot]com

Dead Island Game of the Year Edition Announced

Deep Silver has revealed the Dead Island Game of the Year Edition. The new version of last year’s first person zombie killing adventure includes all of the game’s previously-released DLC, including Bloodbath Arena mode, Ryder White's single-player story campaign and a blueprint for the Ripper weapon mod.

In addition to the announcement, Deep Silver revealed that more than three million copies of Dead Island have been sold worldwide.

The GOTY edition will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC for $29.99. It will hit stores on June 26th in North America and July 6th in Europe. For more on Dead Island, be sure to check out our review.

Source : http://www.ign.com

Diablo 3 Review

Diablo 3 Review:

It’s hard to believe that it’s been 12 years since Diablo 2 came out and continued the loot-frenzy, mouse-clicking adventure RPG Diablo series from Blizzard Entertainment. Since the game announcement in 2008, the title has had multiple revisions – no more Mystic artisan, delayed PvP, the addition of a controversial auction house that has the option to use real money – and plenty of criticism, including the much-maligned color palette that fans said didn’t truly represent the franchise.

But it’s now been a week since the game launched, which unfortunately meant a crippling period of time where Blizzard’s servers didn’t cooperate with the vast majority of players, keeping thousands of players from accessing the game. Because Diablo 3’s DRM requires an internet connection to be signed into Battle.net, this left the majority of players unable to play the game they had purchased. Complaints littered the internet, but quickly vanished once the servers were able to handle the load.

Are You Playing This For The Story?

Blizzard has a rich history of providing complex stories for their games: see StarCraft, WarCraft and of course the previous Diablo titles as examples of this. But it’s easy to lose to the entire scope behind all of those mouse clicks. Diablo 3 has a rich story with some of the most gorgeous cutscenes ever to grace a video game. (Seriously, if there was a feature-length Diablo movie told in this animation, it would sell tons of tickets). But much of the lore and history is told in dialogue with NPCs that you don’t’ have to access, and we wonder how many people will skip it altogether in the search for yellow epic items.

For those of you who might be curious, Diablo 3 is set 20 years after Diablo 2, with demon lords Belial and Azmodan trying to gain control of the Black Soulstone and destiny itself, either by freeing Diablo, or taking the power for themselves. The events are touched off by a meteor that opens an enormous hole in a Cathedral near New Tristram, swallowing wise man Deckard Cain along with it. As a Nephalem, the direct offspring of angels and demons, you have access to great powers, and must use them to try and stop hell from spilling into Sanctuary.

In order to do that, you’ll team up with Cain’s niece Leah and trace the path of the Dark Wanderer from Diablo 2. Along the way you’ll also meet several followers you can hire to join your party: the Templar, the Scoundrel, and the Enchantress.

Who Do You Want To Be?

Diablo 3 features five characters classes: four brand-new ones, and the returning Barbarian from Diablo 2. What is impressive here is that Blizzard has managed to pack different types of gameplay options into each class, meaning you can have a Witch Doctor who fights up close and personal, or one who hangs back and deals DPS and uses minions do deal damage. Plus, each class has it’s own “fuel” that powers the special abilities. Choose carefully your first time around, because you’ll be stuck with that character through your entire campaign unless you want to start over.

Wizard: If you liked the Sorcerer or Sorceress from past games, the Wizard fills that slot and offers a slew of different spells from slowing down time, to blasting out beams of ice and energy. This class is fueled by Arcane Power, which regenerates quickly.

Monk: A strange (but very fun) new addition to Diablo despite the Monk class in the Hellfire expansion to the original Diablo game, the monk uses extreme speed and powerful combination moves to vanquish enemies. Powered by Spirit, the monk isn’t one you’ll want to use for ranged combat, but they offer a unique melee combat option.

Demon Hunter: This class uses two types of resources – hate and discipline – to deploy traps and rain ranged fire from dual crossbows down on their enemies. With a powerful hatred of all things demonic, there are a lot of fun options like bombs and gadgets in their arsenal.

Barbarian: The powerhouse of the group is the Barbarian, who you will definitely want to have in your lineup if you form a party with friends. Powered by Fury, the Barb leaps, whirlwinds, and pounds into foes. If you’re into tanking, look no further. Barbarians also tower over the other classes, and as a result their gear stands out more as you outfit them.

Witch Doctor: Arguably the most visually impressive of the new classes, the Witch Doctor is powered by Mana and can raise zombie dogs, corpse spiders, acid clouds, gargantuan voodoo-fueled companions, and more. Favorites include the Enormous Toad option that swallows enemies whole, and the Fetish that turns enemies into chickens. This was the class that I took all the way to the end of the game the first time around, and I’m in love with them.

Click Click Click Click

Diablo 3 doesn’t vary from its mouse-clicking heritage, but it does offer up some tweaks. You’ll use your mouse and the left and right mouse buttons to move and trigger attacks, while the number keys 1 through 4 trigger additional abilities. Q will instantly quaff whatever potion you’ve slotted in there, and … that’s it. You can hit various other keys for menus – I for inventory, S for Skills, and so on, but as far as gameplay goes, you’re going to rely on the first three fingers of your left hand, and your index finger on your right hand to play through this game.

As with other Diablo titles, things can get frenzied and hard to follow when you’re swarmed with multiple enemies. Combine that with followers and abilities, and there are plenty of times where you’re going, “Well, I know I need to click a ton right in the middle of this mess, but I’m not entirely sure what’s going on.” In those situations, you’ll play the “Watch The Health Meter” game and pray for globe drops and fast potion recharge times.

To streamline the process, Blizzard has introduced Health Globes that occasionally drop from enemies, and you can augment that through abilities and gear as well. For instance, higher-end gear will give you more health from globes, if imbued with that ability. You can also pick up gold now just by walking over it, but you’ll quickly find that the name of the game is loot juggling. You’ll have to click on each piece that you want to pick up, and once you get to hire levels and start finding the really good stuff, it’s hard to let it go.

Thankfully, you have a Stash in town once again that you can store stuff in to be used by any of your characters, but it’s both a blessing and a curse. It’s a blessing to have, but a curse that it’s so small. Still, if you find a great piece of epic gear meant for another class, it’s nice to have the option to hand it off to that class or even sell it. Right now, the real money auction house hasn’t been activated in Diablo 3 yet, although we’re already seeing some exorbitant prices in the ten million gold range for high-end items. Like the futures market, this bears keeping an eye on. We’ll be interested to see who actually turns a decent profit from loot whore-iteering.

One Time, At Diablo Camp…

While Merchants are a long-standing staple in Diablo, allowing you to buy and sell new items, Diablo 3 introduces a very robust artisan system that has a blacksmith and a jeweler following you from town to town and setting up camp. You can use them to craft new gear and gems using supplies: elements from breaking down rare and epic items for the blacksmith, and lower-quality gems for the jeweler (who is hilariously voiced by James Hong).

You can also level these artisans up by training them (at a cost in gold), and when you’re ready to boost them into higher levels after completing the game and moving into Nightmare mode, you’ll find additional supplies that can improve them even more. The smith can create rare and epic items with random magical properties and break down the same into their base elements, eliminating the faithful Horadric Cube. The jeweler will create new gems from lesser gems at a ratio of 3 to 1, and he can also remove jewels from sockets, which means no more permanently fused sockets.

Blizzard had announced a Mystic as an artisan who would accompany you as well, creating magical items for your character, but they aren’t currently in the game. With the blacksmith able to create magic items, it isn’t missed that much, but it would be nice to tinker more with the magic properties that are bestowed on things. But there are enough merchants in town that have enough variety on display to tide you over for now. Hopefully the Mystic will appear in an update or an expansion.

Besides buying/selling and artisaning, you’ll also come back into town via Waypoints or the Town Portal spell (which is now automatic and unlocked early on and not reliant on finding Town Portal scrolls) to hire or swap out Followers. These range from the melee/tankish Templar, to the ranged Scoundrel, to the DPS/effect Enchantress. You can only have one in your party at a time, and if someone joins your game via co-op, your Follower will head back to town.

These Followers will level up alongside you, allowing you to choose abilities for them along the way in a “Choose A or B” option, and you can outfit them as well, but only with rings, an amulet, a weapon, a shield, and a focus. A focus grant additional stats to your Follower, and take the form of things like a pair of dice for the Scoundrel, spear shards for the Templar, and a mirror for the Enchantress. You’ll find these randomly, although not as often as you’d like.

Unfortunately, you can’t change your Followers armor, which would have been helpful because you find so. much. of. the. stuff. Besides selling it, saving it, or breaking it down, it would be nice if you could dress up your buddies and improve their stats as well.

It’s A Dead Man’s Party

With PvP nonexistent (for now), the best way to blast through the game and pick up the good stuff is to party up. Battle.net makes it very easy to jump in and out of games with people on your friends list. Need help passing a boss? Belial was kicking my ass repeatedly, so I asked a cohort to help me out. He popped over, joined, and we were able to power through after a couple of tries. Then he hopped back into his own game.

It’s very easy to see who is what and where, and the banner system lets you instantly teleport to a party member’s location simply by clicking on their banner in town. You’ll get zapped to their proximity, without any need for a Town Portal. You can also join public games, where your mileage may vary. Meaning, you might end up with a team of duds, or something rivaling the Avengers. You never can tell until you join. Without any sort of a real match ranking system, it’s the best way to meet new players, for now.

Hopefully the PvP will expand horizons and make it easier to meet fellow players of equal skill levels and party up. Thankfully, when joining a public game, you can narrow it down to the portion of the act and the difficulty that you want to jump into. So if you’ve beaten the game, set your phasers on Nightmare and join a public party for maximum lootation. Within five minutes of beating the game, I was picking up new gear with a party of people I didn’t know. This should become the gold standard for adventure game co-opping.

So What’s Wrong?

Besides the occasionally confusing combat, which is also a staple of this series, the only real problem with the game seems to be the abrupt ending. We won’t spoil what your final battle is (but it doesn’t take Rain Man to figure it out), and when you’re done with that, there’s a “Hey, congrats!” message, and you’re done. You can continue the game and start in Nightmare mode, or switch off and go outside and read a book.

With such a strong emphasis on story, it’s strange and almost upsetting that there isn’t some sort of endgame cutscene or event. It almost feels like they got to that point and just had no idea what to do, or despite their “We ship when it’s ready” tenet… it just wasn’t ready.

Besides that, it’s more what isn’t in the game that’s a problem. Where is the promised PvP that was so hyped? With so many players loving that from Diablo 2, it’s a glaring omission. What about the character-specific side quests? I found out a lot about the Barbarian though some of Deckard Cain’s journals that I found, but what about background on my creepy/cool Witch Doctor? Perhaps there is more to be revealed on additional playthroughs, but I would hope I would learn about my own class while playing.

And What’s Right?

What’s more impressive, however, is what Blizzard got right. The game is truly impressive on nearly every level. From the graphics, to the fantastic soundtrack, to the towering scads of loot and extremely varied gameplay, there’s a lot to like here. It was very disheartening to hear that Blizzard was jettisoning the Rune system where you would find and socket your own Runes, but the unlockable system they use now that improves skills is a terrific solution to rune-juggling.

Additionally, the Followers have so much recorded dialogue that you will hear as they tag along with you, and they’ll even chatter back and forth with each other when you’re in town. You’ll learn all about their lives, loves, fears, and more as they ask you questions or banter back and forth. They even manage to crack a joke or two here and there.

Then, there’s the crack factor. The game is as addictive as ever, and you’ll find yourself saying “Okay, just five more minutes” for hours on end, often just hoping for a decent loot drop before you can finally turn in. The game keeps track of your playtime and progress with each class, providing a visual record of your addiction, and additionally the visual banner system lets you know how awesome both you and your friends.

The End Is Not Nigh

The bottom line is that Diablo 3 is a triumph for Blizzard, despite the painful server problems that plagued the launch. It’s only because Blizzard themselves pull back the curtain so often to show us the development process that we are lamenting the absence of things like PvP and the Mystic. What you get in this package is an addictive, satisfying game that feels very polished, offers a wide range of gameplay options, introduces an insatiable lust for loot, and does co-op right. This is what PC (and Mac!) gaming is all about.

Source : http://www.g4tv.com

Outernauts Facebook Game Coming From Insomniac, EA Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Outernauts is coming to Facebook. EA and Insomniac have teamed up to create an adventure role-playing game that aims to bring something new to the social media space. The game casts players as members of United Earth’s elite Outernaut force. The Outernauts capture and train exotic alien beasts and uncover the riddle behind mysterious “ancients” while battling pirates and evil corporations seeking to control the galaxy. All that on Facebook.

"As we have demonstrated for nearly twenty years in the console games space, we're confident we can help evolve the definition of a game experience on Facebook," said Insomniac prez Ted Price. "With Outernauts, we are delivering a deep story with real RPG strategy, coupled with Insomniac's signature sense of humor."

The game aims to combine Insomniac’s immersive storytelling with "a unique art style and sense of wit." If it goes off the way it's planned, it will bring something really special to Facebook gaming. I'm looking forward to it.

Outernauts will launch this summer and is currently in closed beta.

All of the best people are following Stephen Johnson's twitter feed. Also, email me if you wanna.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723615/outernauts-facebook-game-coming-from-insomniac-ea/

Interview with Jane Jensen: Her new project and the art of storytelling in games Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Fans of the classic Gabriel Knight PC adventure series are already aware that game designer and novelist Jane Jensen is one of the medium's most gifted storytellers. Even those who haven't pointed-and-clicked through one of her twisty tales, though, may have recently noticed her name buzzing about the net.

Jane's pulling a Tim Schafer to fund her new studio Pinkerton Road and its first title Moebius. We recently caught up with the master mystery writer to discuss her upcoming projects, her approach to weaving an engaging yarn, and what she thinks of David Jaffe's recent rail against videogame storytelling.

What's your take on the current state of storytelling in videogames?

Jane Jensen: I'm really not an expert as I tend to focus on the games that I like and I don't play widely in other genres. But it seems like it's about what it has always been -- lots of people saying you can't do story, or wondering how it might possibly be done, and then some strong games that just do it. It's been that way since the Infocom days. There have been some good story games out recently and seems to be an uptick in interest in it.

Have you played anything recently you feel has told an especially good story?

JJ: I like the Blackwell adventure games and I'm fond of some of Telltale's games, like Hector and Puzzle Agent -- simple stories, but fun. I thought Heavy Rain was amazing.

More than ever it seems game designers are attempting to tell absorbing stories. As someone who's always placed a premium on narrative, do feel like you were ahead of your time?

JJ: Well, it's been in, and out again, several times in my career. I'm sure it will be out again. I don't know that I'm ahead of my time -- it's probably more accurate to say 'permanently on the fringe' in the game business. It's just my passion and I really don't know how to write a game any other way.

Do you see any consistent or common flaws in the way most stories are told in games today?

JJ: I'm really pretty tolerant of most stories and characters. If there's one thing that I don't like is when things ramble on when it's just not new or interesting information. But really, most games are short on story rather than long on it.

What advice would you offer prospective game-makers trying to craft a compelling story?

JJ: I went to a seminar early in my career on the craft of storytelling by Robert McKee. It was really life altering. There are basic principles on how to craft an engaging story and he covers them well. He's got a book out, Story, that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in improve their story-telling.

How do you feel about the comments designer David Jaffe recently made about storytelling in games? I imagine you might have a counterargument to his point

JJ: I can only assume that he's referring to a certain type of game. Story may not be a great addition to some games -- games where action is the whole reason for the game to exist. But it's a bit like saying that people only watch movies for car chases and sex scenes. There are game genres in which story is an integral part of the game, and there are gamers who like to play them. I've been designing games for 20+ years and I have certainly not found the pursuit of story to be a dead end for me. Storytelling has always been my focus as a game designer and is today as much as or more so than ever.

Are you a storyteller first and game-maker second? Do you build your games around the story or vice versa?

JJ: I would say I'm a storyteller first, but game making is very wrapped up in how I think of story. If I were to have a story idea, and I decided to write a novel with it instead, I'd have to very consciously de-couple it from gamedom -- for example, deliberately add in things that could not be represented in a game scene. Because I'm so used to games I think in those very literal terms.

How do you balance telling a great story for those who want it, while also keeping the gameplay interesting for those maybe less interested in the narrative?

JJ: One reason why I wanted to return to adventures, is that it's accepted that adventure games are story-driven, so you don't have to sort of design a lot of extra hoops or escape clauses for people who 'don't want story'. But I have certainly done that with some games I've worked on in the past. It usually boils down to keeping the story as short and punchy as possible, letting players skip the story bits with a nice fat SKIP button, and representing things visually as much as possible.

So what can you share about your upcoming project Moebius?

JJ: It's a 3rd person adventure game, a metaphysical thriller with a little bit of a sci-fi slant. In the game you play a guy named Malachi Rector. He travels the world buying unique artifacts and researching their history for his clientele. He's hired by a billionaire to investigate and document a series of events that are going on around the world. As Rector, you investigate the events in these exotic places and you have to put together the big picture of what's going on behind the scenes. It's planned as an ongoing series.

Can you offer any specifics on the actual gameplay?

JJ: The gameplay will be classic adventure -- probably with a radial menu of action choices on hotspots. And I'd like to do some cool things with the touchscreen for the tablet version, like dragging drawers open, tapping for hit, etc. It's in early days of production still.

What sort of visual style and sound design will it adopt?

JJ: Art style will be very high-end, high-resolution 2D. Robert Holmes, my husband, will be doing the music but he hasn't filled me in yet on what he's planning.

Will fans of your previous titles instantly recognize Moebius as a Jane Jensen production? If so, can you offer some examples of how?

JJ: Yes, I think so. There's sort of a "big idea" in Moebius that I can't really explain without it being a spoiler. But it's on the more philosophical end. That and the sort of mystery/thriller aspect of it should feel familiar to Gabriel Knight and Gray Matter fans.

Are you doing anything to make Moebius an experience that will appeal to more than your existing, passionate fan-base?

JJ: I think making it have a true classic adventure mode, as opposed to Gray Matter which was easier, is a nod in that direction. Also, we will be using our CSG members (the people who pledge to our campaign on Kickstarter) to alpha and beta test, so we'll definitely be getting the input from the hard-core base. (CSG stands for Community Supported Gaming - learn more on the Kickstarter page.)

How do you market an experience like Moebius to gamers unfamiliar with the point-and-click adventure genre.

JJ: Good question. Great graphics and a compelling trailer help. A strong publisher and big marketing budget helps! (ha) We'll be looking for opportunities to cross-promote with the casual game market and e-book market.

Do you think the genre needs to evolve to attract beyond its existing audience?

JJ: Yes, I think so. The casual game market is quite large and that's a perfect audience for adventure games, so that's the next nut to really crack.

You mention the e-book market and casual audience--do you think Moebius would also be a good fit for services such as XBLA, PSN, and the App Store?

JJ: We do plan to support iPad and Android tablets but have not looked at XBLA or PSN seriously as of yet. It's a possibility.

What can we expect from Pinkerton Road after Moebius?

JJ: Many more titles, hopefully. It's a bit early to say exactly what. I'd love to do Gabriel Knight at some point, if I can work out something with Activision. And Gray Matter II and a concept we called "Anglophile Adventure" on our CSG concept vote are definitely on my to do list.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723350/interview-with-jane-jensen-her-new-project-and-the-art-of-storytelling-in-games/

Adventure Time Game Coming To Nintendo DS And 3DS Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

It's Adventure Time, everyone! Adventure Time: Hey Ice King! Why’d you steal our garbage?!, a game based on the oddly hysterical cartoon from Cartoon Network is coming this fall for the Nintendo DS and Nintendo 3DS. Described as a “unique action-adventure experience," Adventure Time allows you to put on the shoes of both Finn and Jake and go on an adventure through the Land of Ooo to find out why the Ice King is stealing everyone's trash.

Series creator Pendleton Ward is working with the developer WayForward on the game, and WayForward are really good, so I'll bet we're in for a strange and enlightening DS game.

No word yet on whether Princess Bubblegum, Marceline the Vampire Queen and the great BMO show up in the game, but I can only assume they do.

Also: Adventure Time is totally great.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723595/adventure-time-game-coming-to-nintendo-ds-and-3ds/

A Valley Without Wind Review

As someone who cut his gaming teeth on 2D platformers like Manic Miner and Adventure Island in the 1980s, I was looking forward to losing myself in A Valley Without Wind. On paper, at least, there's a lot to love here. Nostalgia-laden platformer mechanics rub shoulders with "procedurally generated worlds" in Arcen Games' new creation, and a dizzying array of craftable spells trade nervous glances with playable characters that permanently die. It's a fantastic concept that screams of the flashes of indie genius we've come to enjoy in recent years, but in execution it plays like a rough draft that's unable to wiggle out from under the weight of its own ambition.

There's not much of a story in A Valley Without Wind aside from a block of text that boasts a variation of the usual post-apocalyptic babble, partly because each game begins with a randomly generated world in the spirit of Minecraft and Terraria. That might be nice for players wishing to experience new and unfamiliar landscapes with each playthrough, but it also means that the almost nonexistent narrative limits itself to vague references to evil overlords out of necessity. As a "glyphbearer," it's your job to scrounge around the shattered husk of the world for resources and the occasional survivor to build up settlements, and once you've finally done all that and beaten the bad guy, you do it all again on another continent. Let's admit it: when the world around you is called "Environ," story's probably not going to be a major selling point.



Instead, much of the game's charm rests on its retro visuals and audio. A Valley Without Wind looks so "Metroidvania" that you could probably swap the randomly generated avatars you choose from after each death with Simon Belmont's original model and no one would be the wiser, and most levels feature music that sounds like it came from discarded drafts for the score to Mega Man 2. In fact, the eclectic art style comes off as an homage to those golden years of platforming, with building entrances that perform like those in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link to blocky interiors that look like they were borrowed from the castle levels in Super Mario Bros.

At times, though, it's frankly jarring. Part of Valley's block of story states that a cataclysm shuffled eras of time so they exist at once in the same world, but when you jump from futuristic villages with decent textures into simplistic dungeons that look like they were transposed from 1985's Gauntlet, you could be forgiven for thinking they meant eras of video game history as well. At the very least, it makes for ugly settings; at the worst, some of the enemies almost disappear into the shoddier backgrounds.

That might have been a problem if so many of these baddies didn't look the same. There are plenty of bats and the occasional rhino lurking about Environ, but most of the time you'll be fighting goons like slender robots or floating blobs of liquid. I'm not saying floating spheres can't be scary (cue: "That's no moon!"), but when one hovers toward you with a name like "Oldsto the Warlock," it's worth wondering if some dude with a skull-capped staff and a demon sidekick wouldn't have done a better job. They're not even all that challenging once you learn a few tricks. Since one of your key abilities lets you place wooden platforms anywhere at will, you can just make one above you and fire down on the robots below. As for blobs like Oldsto? Just keep moving, avoid their ranged spells, and blast them with ranged skills of your own while you bounce around.

The good news is that you have plenty of things to blast them with. One of the big selling points of Valley is that it allows for a ridiculous number of spells. You can throw rocks if that's your thing, or you can fling fireballs and shoot lightning bolts. That's exciting in theory, but in practice you'll likely only use about three good ones most of the time and switch out when you find enemies with immunities to certain spells. At times, enemies that weren't immune before become immune for the rest of the game. Kill enough bats, for example, and all future bats become flame-immune "fire bats," which means that calling down a meteor shower on them has all the effect of using a feather to stop a freight train. If you find that you don't have the spell you need, you're expected to retreat and explore levels for rare materials that can be used to make new spells.

That exploration lies at the heart of A Valley Without Wind, and it's where you'll find the most fun--that is, if mining nodes for hours on end without much knowledge of where the right ones are sounds exciting. Unfortunately, these subterranean expeditions also showcase the shortcomings of marrying platformer gameplay with randomly generated levels. Platformers work best when there's a grand design behind them, and Valley's rambling open spaces and hodgepodge of caverns never reach the glory of carefully planned stages in games like Outland or Super Meat Boy. The very continents are random, and they unfurl on blocky maps with the titular windstorms deciding where you can travel.

There's a constant tease in play here since you can access the lair of a continent's evil overlord at any time, only to find that advancement is impossible because you don't have the proper abilities. The same holds true for most of the regular levels as well. Indeed, much of what counts as progression in Valley consists of coming back to areas you've already visited with new spells and seeing if you're ready for them, which you may not even know until you reach a crushing difficulty spike midway through a level.

You'll usually die in these cases, and the game's multiple achievements for getting yourself killed prove that this is exactly what's supposed to happen. That sounds ominous, but it's not all that bad aside from running the risk of battling the angry ghosts of the fellows you let die, which adds a extra touch of difficulty to the scenario that killed you in the first place. Your new character has all the same spells as the last one did (but not the upgrades); you'll just have a different name and different stats. More than a mere inconvenience, the design discourages you from the trial-and-error suicide runs in other platformers and forces you to look elsewhere for advancement, as in simple quests or missions against mini bosses that grant civilization points so you can nab better spells and tackle harder areas with greater ease.

The whole process gets rather tedious when you're alone, but the online multiplayer mode livens things up a bit. Here you can chat and tackle obstacles with other players (with the caveat that enemies scale according to how many players are around), although you might have a problem finding them since the infinitesimal level map used for quick travel merely gives a general idea of their location. When you finally find them, however, it plays sort of like a primitive MMORPG, right down to concerns of "ninja looting" since drops always go to the first person that picked them up.


Source : http://pc.ign.com/articles/122/1224384p1.html