Square Enix: Current Console Generation Has Lasted "Way Too Long"

Square Enix's worldwide technology director has said that the length of the current console generation is "the biggest mistake [Sony and Microsoft] ever made".

In an interview with GamesIndustry, Julien Merceron shared his opinion that those developers who grew bored of the current generation were pushed into exploring iOS and browsers, and were now unlikely to return to hardware.

“

We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting seven,eight, nine or even 10 years and it's the biggest mistake they've ever made.

"We have Sony and Microsoft talking about this generation lasting seven,eight, nine or even 10 years and it's the biggest mistake they've ever made," he claimed.

"This generation has been way too long, and I say this because you have a lot of developers that work on a new platform, and perhaps will not succeed, so they will wait for the next generation, and will jump on that platform. You could not do that with this generation though. So these developers went elsewhere to see if the grass was greener. They found web browsers, they found iOS, they found other things and a lot of them won't come back to the hardware platforms. So you could look at it that thanks to Microsoft and Sony and the length of this generation, it helped the emergence of other platforms and helped them get strong before the next hardware comes out."

Merceron elaborated by suggesting that future generations could afford to be shorter, thanks to simpler hardware and increased online functionality.

He explained, "With a simple architecture you do give more chances to everybody, which I believe is very important based on the critical business situation we're in. Games will be more costly. If you start to make the entry bar really high, more studios will die, more publishers will die, there'll be less titles on platforms, etc. If you make it accessible, you give more chances to people, you'll have a better portfolio at launch , but now you also have a problem with your longevity.

“

Now you don't need to manage longevity by complexity of programming, because your longevity is ensured by your online model. And I would suggest that maybe we don't want long generations.

"Now you don't need to manage longevity by complexity of programming, because your longevity is ensured by your online model. And I would suggest that maybe we don't want long generations."

The worldwide technical director concluded by discussing the company's latest tech demo, Agni's Philosophy, and asserted developers will always be plagued by the Uncanny Valley.

"As soon as we ramp up the quality on graphics, this level of quality on facial animations won't be good enough. Some games succeed to be at the limit of the Uncanny Valley, but … the problem is that as rendering quality will go up, new problems will surface. The quality of the facial and body animations and the acting won't be good enough. So that is why as you evolve, you have to upgrade your physics, rendering and animations," he stated.

"It will always be a problem. As you push something, you have to recalibrate and rebalance these out. You can't have these stunning graphics while characters are acting funny on the screen."

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant.  You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

Jeremy McGrath's Offroad Review

Those who've been gaming since the days when it meant being tethered to a console by a wired controller (crazy, right?) might remember Acclaim's Jeremy McGrath Supercross series. If you don't, consider yourself lucky—they were awful. Thankfully, McGrath's latest video game effort, Offroad, has nothing in common with it, save for the supercross star's name.

The desert can be hell on your paint job.

The first thing you'll notice about Offroad is its lack of knobby-tired motorcycles. Yep, despite Offroad starring the “King of Supercross,” it's all about McGrath's newest passion: racing dirt-kickin' four-wheelers such as Sportsman Buggies, Prolite Trucks, Pro Buggies, Rally Cars, and Trophy Trucks. The second thing you'll discover is that Offroad's a refreshingly accessible, arcade-y romp into a genre that often keeps rookie racers at arm's length.

The streamlined controls, trio of difficulty levels, varied vehicle set-ups, and manageable amount of modes and content welcome anyone to start their engines. Additionally, players aren't punished while learning the ropes; even those who consistently place last in events will see their careers progress and new challenges and vehicles unlocked. Despite being approachable to those whose racing experience is limited to tooling around the Mushroom Kingdom in a go-kart, though, Offroad still packs enough depth and nuance to keep seasoned speedsters engaged. Easy-to-learn, difficult-to-master mechanics make moves such as clutch boosts and powerslides a pleasure to pull off, while carefully maneuvering jumps offers its own brand of eat-my-dust thrills.

They're just a couple hood-mounted weapons away from being in Mad Max.

On top of putting players at the front of the pack, these moves rack up XP which can be spent between events to tweak each vehicle’s handling, brakes, acceleration, and top speed. Our most adrenaline-amping moments came not from winning races, but from successfully powersliding into hairpin turns seconds before clutch-boosting out of them to simultaneously pass opponents and collect triple-digit XP. So, while anyone can cross the finish line, only the best will be able to properly pimp their rides.

Visually, Offroad's a bit hit or miss. From snow-blanketed mountains to dusty deserts, the track environments are drenched in postcard-pretty detail. Vehicles, however, are a bit bland, and their occupants could pass for crash test dummies. We also could've done without most of the “dynamic obstacles”; turning a picket fence into a pile of matchsticks is a fun, XP-earning affair, but having a perfect run spoiled by a wayward, cartoony-looking snowball or bale of hay only serves to break the pedal-to-the-metal immersion.



Source : ign[dot]com

Resistance: Burning Skies Review

Looking back at IGN's previews of Resistance: Burning Skies, the same idea keeps popping up: this is a handheld first-person shooter that feels like its console brethren. After shoehorning FPS games onto portables for years, having a true dual-stick shooter on the go is exciting -- it's just that Resistance: Burning Skies isn't. Burning Skies is a competent shooter with presentation problems that does little to thrill you.

Like most shooters these days, Resistance: Burning Skies is broken into two parts -- single player and online multiplayer. The solo campaign casts you as Tom Reilly, a New York firefighter thrust right into the action as the Chimera invade America for the first time. Tom's just doing his job and rescuing people, but when the Chimera abduct his wife and kid in front of him, he's committed to the fight until he gets them back (translating into six chapters of gameplay that should take you six or fewer hours).

“ Burning Skies is a competent shooter with presentation problems that does little to thrill you.

Unfortunately, most of that is straightforward and mindless. Tom rarely speaks, and when he does, it's rarely about his emotions. We're just some dude blasting and hacking our way across a bridge because getting there is the objective and we're hoping to find some weapon upgrades on the linear path. There are cutscenes between each chapter, but they're always told from another character's perspective. We never get a genuine moment with Tom, so why should we care about his motivation?

As such, the action is the main focus in Resistance: Burning Skies, and again, it's competent but lackluster. If you want to shoot things and peek out of cover, Burning Skies has it, but it doesn't have much more than that. Each time you run into a room, there are a bunch of Chimera to shoot. Most of these guys will just stand there and fight from one spot. Bosses are a breeze, and I think that has something to do with the way the game is controlled on the Vita.

Oddly, Burning Skies disables the Vita's ability to take screenshots.

See, the dual sticks and shoulder buttons allow for the console FPS basics that everyone knows. It's tight, responsive and going to make most feel at home. However, the Vita makes up for the buttons it's lacking with the front touch screen and the rear touch pad. You can double tap the back touch to run, and tap or hold the front touch to melee, interact with the environment and utilize each of the eight guns' secondary fire modes.

Here's where the breezy feeling meets the controls. These touch mechanics work and were only annoying when I'd accidentally melee a door or fire a tag round into the floor trying to interact with an object. However, holding the screen to fire an RPG or mark an enemy for the Bullseye takes time, and I think that's why the enemies aren't all that challenging; they're giving you a chance to use the touch screen mechanics.

There's a Burning Skies Trophy for killing a bunch of Executioners -- huge enemies each with a cannon for an arm -- but when one of these guys would show up, I'd stand in the open, tag the cannon with the Bullseye, and then empty a clip from cover. The game gave me ample time to do this without getting blown away by the beast. I didn't need a crazy strategy or to stay on my toes. It was as if the game was saying "Use the secondary now!" Even though the game does offer different difficulties, I found the ones unlocked from the get go to be like this but with less health for Tom.

In the spots where I did die, Burning Skies became all the more frustrating due to its poor checkpoint system. Sometimes, I'd start quite a ways back from where I perished (the bridge section), and other times I'd start before a pivotal moment and have to listen to the same conversation over and over (the final boss).

When you switch to multiplayer, you lose the gripes about story and the ho-hum enemies, but you don't find the hook that'll make Resistance: Burning Skies a must have. Good for up to eight players, the online options are limited at best. There are no clans, a handful of maps, and perks that are just unlockable weapons and mods from the single-player campaign. If you're aching for a handheld shooter, the game's three modes (deathmatch, team deathmatch and survival) will be here for you, but I don’t know how much of a community will sprout up around this.

Interestingly, one of my biggest complaints about Resistance: Burning Skies is the game's audio. The orchestral score is beautiful, but it doesn't seem to get used all that often. Instead, it seemed like my soundtrack was my own footsteps as I ran through single-player and multiplayer. In multiplayer, another issue arose where I'd be all alone in an area but gunfire would sound as if it was raining down on me. No matter where I was in a match, it sounded like I was in the heat of battle as long as someone somewhere was using his or her gun.



Source : http://www.ign.com

Battlefield 3's Dedicated Console Servers Are Disappearing Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

It seems that dedicated servers in the console versions of Battlefield 3 have largely disappeared since Electronic Arts and DICE launched the recent rent-a-server patch, allowing players to pay $30 for 30 days of private hosting. These lobbies can still be accessed from the in-game server browser, but they are subject to whatever rules that the renting player has established.

The news comes from various players via Venturebeat, which went and peeked at the server browser in the PlayStation 3 version of the game. Sure enough, only 17 EA-operated Battlefield 3 servers could be found amidst the multi-page list of multiplayer lobbies. I took a peek this morning at the Xbox 360 version of the game; without the rent-a-server patch downloaded, I found just three lobbies to choose from. Downloading the patch brought a flood of other servers into the browser, and just about all of them were of the rented variety.

This development isn't sitting well with some players. DICE community manager Daniel Matris took questions from fans on Reddit, responding that "there is only so much physical space and digital space where yo ucan have servers. The community requested [a rental program] and we delivered."

Matros went on to indicate that the change isn't necessarily permanent, and that the complaints aren't news to him. "I've heard this for awhile now and the feedback has gotten louder," he said in a May 7, 2012 posting. "This is definitely something I will raise when I get back into the studio tomorrow."

There's been no further official word on the matter yet. We've reached out to EA for comment and will update this post according if and when we get a response.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723702/battlefield-3s-dedicated-console-servers-are-disappearing/

Xbox 360 Rumor Points To Internet Explorer App With Kinect Controls Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

The Xbox 360 is all sorts of Internet-connected, but a newly surfaced rumor suggests that Microsoft will be revealing a dedicated Internet Explorer app for the console at E3 2012. The app will also include non-mandatory support for Kinect gestures and voince controls, The Verge reports via unnamed sources.

It's not terribly different from the current Bing search feature that is available on the Xbox 360, though that limits results to just media. The IE app would instead be a full-blown browser. There's no word on when this news will be officially revealed, though E3 2012 is of course the most likely bet. As for release timeframe... assuming this is true, Microsoft traditionally releases major dashboard/console updates in November, around the time of the Xbox 360's yearly anniversary.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723700/xbox-360-rumor-points-to-internet-explorer-app-with-kinect-controls/

Sons Of Anarchy Creator Reveals Console Game Plans Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

The previously mentioned possibility of a video game based on FX's biker gang series, Sons of Anarchy, looks to be moving forward for a console release, as confirmed by the show's creator, Kurt Sutter, on Twitter. Sutter writes in a new tweet that he "had a great meeting with a big distributor" and that he along with "everyone at FX and Fox is committed to making this happen."

This whole affair started back in February 2012 when the outspoken Sutter mentioned on Twitter that he was going to be taking meetings for a possible game adapation of the FX series. The plan at the time was for a "high-end browser game" since, as he put it, "to do a quality [console] platform-based game costs tens of millions and takes years." If I had to guess, I'd say that someone set him straight at the aforementioned meetings on the reach of a console game versus a browser game.



It's still very early on in the planning process, but Sutter confirmed his commitment to doing a proper console game in a subsequent tweet. "Yes, we definitely wanna do a REAL game. Console based. Not some slapcrap browser MP thing. It'll take awhile, but it's the right way to go," he wrote.

He had nothing to say about what fans might expect from the Sons game, though yet another tweet nods to another recently released title with ties to a popular cable TV series: The Walking Dead. Sutter wasn't a fan, explaining that he "really wanted to love it... but it felt rushed and a bit unsatisfying" without showrunner Glen Mazzara's "magic touch." Whether or not his words are an indication that the Sons game won't be going in an adventure game direction is anyone's guess, but it's all we have to go on right now.

Regardless, a proper biker gang game of some kind would be pretty nifty, and all the better if it's one that let's you cruise around the streets of Charming in a SAMCRO kutte. Aren't Deep Silver and Eutechnyx working on a open-world biker game, Ride to Hell? Since, like, forever? Wouldn't it be sweet if that project magically transformed into a Sons of Anarchy game?


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723654/sons-of-anarchy-creator-reveals-console-game-plans/

Minecraft 360 - Finding the Missing Pieces Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Playing this week's Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition is like stepping into a time machine for fans of the PC game. The console port from 4J Studios faithfully re-creates Mojang's blocky world-building game, but it's an earlier version of that game, and a somewhat stripped-down one as well, in comparison to the original. It's still totally fun and addictive, but fans of the PC version will experience a somewhat unpleasant sense of deja vu the first time they play.

The most important addition that we'd like to see is of course the release of the various updates that would bring this Minecraft alongside the PC version in terms of in-game features. We're talking hunger and experience meters, jungle biomes, ravines, Nether Fortresses, Strongholds, abandoned mine shafts... lots of cool stuff that adds to the experience of exploring the world. This content is supposedly coming in future updates, though no release plan has yet been revealed.

There are other features though, elements from the PC version of the game that don't necessarily fit into one of the capital-U Updates, but are nonetheless essential to delivering a proper Minecraft experience. We're going to take a moment now to highlight those, in the hopes that mentioning these absent features will somehow magically transport them into the Xbox 360 game.

Or, you know, 4J will take notice and do something about it. Magic would be cooler though.

On-The-Fly Difficulty Adjustment

Jumping in and out of Minecraft's Peaceful difficulty -- which stops monsters from coming after you -- is a hallmark of the PC version of the game. Sometimes you just want to explore and not worry about dying 56,015,963,831 miles from your spawn and losing all of your hard-gathered resources in the process. You can adjust the difficulty of a saved world on the Xbox 360 anytime you load it up, but there's no option for doing that in-game, like you can in the PC version.

Rent-A-Server

Players can't rent their own servers in Minecraft on PC, but they can create one using a secondary piece of software. That's not really an option with your Xbox 360 for a variety of reasons, but being able to rent server space and store a persistent Minecraft world somewhere in the cloud would go a long way toward creating the sort of multiplayer community that exists on the PC side. The max player count would also have to be upped from the current eight-player limit on the console side, but it would be cool to see some of the elaborate group construction projects from the PC world find life in the Xbox 360 version as well.

On-Screen Coordinates

In the PC game, you can press F3 at anytime to bring debug information up on the screen. It's a common enough thing in PC games, but it's especially useful in Minecraft since your coordinates within the world along X, Y, and Z axes are listed along with the rest of the info. For those who are serious about Minecraft building, having access to those coordinates is invaluable. Since the world is laid out along a blocky grid, being able to use numbers makes construction planning -- both aboveground and below -- much easier to deal with.

Creative Mode

This is a serious no-brainer. Minecraft didn't start out with the survival elements you see now that turn the experience into more of a "game." It was born as a sort of virtual LEGO set, and that prototypical take lives on in the PC version as Creative Mode. Loading up a new world in this way starts out just like any other. You're deposited at a random spawn point and the world then becomes yours to explore. The difference in Creative Mode is that there's no need for resource management. Your inventory is filled with an infinite supply of every block, resource type, and craftable item in the game. Also, you can fly. Creative Mode strips out the "game" portion of Minecraft and lets you focus squarely on the building.

Bigger Maps

This could simply be a hardware limitation, but you'll quickly learn as you explore your world that the overall map size in the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft is actually quite small compared to what you get in the PC game. Surely we can go bigger, right? Walk for 10 or 15 minutes in one direction in this console release and you're going to hit an invisible wall. Walk for the same amount of time in the PC game, and you'll just have that much distance to cover as you retrace your steps back to wherever you were carving out your piece of the world.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723634/minecraft-360-finding-the-missing-pieces/

Electronic Arts To Spend $80 million On Next-Gen Games In 2013 Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

Electronic Arts is committed to the next generation of consoles. In a recent financial filing, the company said it will spend $80 million on "development of games for Gen4 console systems."

While the company isn't ready to say which titles it's developing for the PlayStation 4 (or whatever it will be called) and the next Xbox, it's nice to know that EA is thinking ahead, and when these systems do eventually launch, their will be games out for them.

Let's move from EA's future to its past. In the last year, EA reports a strong quarter and a fiscal year highlighted with $1.2 billion of digital revenue,

"In the coming year, we break away from the pack," said Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello. "With a very different profile than the traditional game companies and capabilities that none of our new digital competitors can match."


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723538/electronic-arts-to-spend-80-million-on-next-gen-games-in-2013/

Microsoft confirms $99 Xbox 360

Microsoft is making it cheaper than ever to get an Xbox 360, as the console maker today confirmed a deal that will sell the 4GB Kinect-equipped Xbox 360 hardware bundle for $99 if customers commit to a two-year Xbox Live Gold subscription at a cost of $15 per month.

Will consoles convert to a cell phone pricing model?

The deal would cost less up front, but consumers will wind up spending more in the long run. If purchased separately at today's standard prices, the console and two-year Xbox Live subscription would cost $420. If purchased under this promotion, the total cost at the end of the two years would come out to $460.

The offer is currently only available at the 21 Microsoft Store retail locations in the US. There is also an early termination fee for those who want out of the contract, with the penalty starting at $250 in the first three months of the contract and scaling down to $12 in the 23rd month.

The Xbox 360 hasn't received a price cut to its entry-level configuration since September of 2008, when the hard-drive-less Xbox 360 Arcade was dropped to $199. However, when the redesigned Xbox 360 was launched in 2010, previous bundles of the hardware were dropped by $50, putting the discontinued Xbox 360 Arcade at $149 for a brief time.

For more on the offer, check out Microsoft's offer page.


Source : http://gamespot.com/news/microsoft-confirms-99-xbox-360-6375386

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse hitting this fall

Gamers yearning to take part in the wacky hijinks of the Family Guy series will have a new console title to play this fall. Activision and Twentieth Century Fox this morning announced Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse.

Somewhere, Peter Griffin is saying "freakin' sweet!"

Due out on unspecified "gaming consoles," the title is inspired by the 2009 Family Guy episode "Road to the Multiverse." In this episode, Stewie and Brian use a remote control to travel to parallel universes, including destinations inspired by Walt Disney, The Flintstones, and one where Christianity never existed.

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse will be the first console game set in series creator Seth MacFarlane's cartoon universe since the 2K Games-published Family Guy in 2006. That game was developed by High Voltage Software, and shipped for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, and PSP. It featured the original voice cast of the TV series, including MacFarlane.

Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse follows Family Guy Online, which is a free-to-play PC title currently in beta. A new console Family Guy game was announced by Activision in February 2011, when Activision Publishing CEO Eric Hirshberg described the franchise as "strong," with "passionate niche audience that can achieve repeatable and profitable success."


Source : http://gamespot.com/news/family-guy-back-to-the-multiverse-hitting-this-fall-6375382

Next Xbox hardware already in manufacturing - Report

Microsoft has said gamers shouldn't expect to see its next gaming console anytime soon, but developers might already be getting their hands on the system. IGN is citing an unspecified source with the news that the next Xbox hardware has entered manufacturing.

The next generation of hardware is beginning to loom large over the industry.

The report says hardware for the next Xbox has been produced at the Austin, Texas, branch of electronics firm Flextronics, which was the first manufacturer of the original Xbox and one of three Microsoft initially employed to work on the Xbox 360. The firm also reportedly created a testing group focused specifically on "comprehensive marketing, software, and hardware tests of the next Xbox."

As for what exactly is being produced, IGN speculates Flextronics is producing dev kits so the next Xbox developers have hardware on which to create their games. Microsoft had not responded to GameSpot's request for comment as of press time.


Source : http://gamespot.com/news/next-xbox-hardware-already-in-manufacturing-report-6375148