Return dates have just been announced for HBO's Boardwalk Empire and Treme, which are both back for their third seasons.
Boardwalk will debut its 12-episode season on Sunday, September 16 at 9pm ET/PT. Treme, meanwhile, launches its 10-episode season the week after that on Sunday, September 23 at 10pm ET/PT.
Stay locked in to IGN TV for more info on HBO's upcoming fall lineup.
ZombiU was one of the surprise hits of this year's E3. A return to classic survival horror gameplay, it makes extensive use of the Wii U controller's screen and shows Ubisoft is serious about supporting Nintendo's new platform. But is it really going to be a great game, or were gamers just excited to see something that isn't a sequel?
IGN Australia's Lucy O'Brien and Cam Shea have both played the game, but came away with contrasting opinions. They battle it out in another classic IGN AU Good Cop / Bad Cop debate...
Good Cop Lucy: As you know Cam, I am a massive survival horror fan. My love for the genre knows no bounds. Well actually it does; I played Silent Hill: Homecoming. But as we all know, it’s a genre on its knees, long overtaken by balls-out action clamoring for our attention spans. Remember when the scares in video games came from what we couldn’t see? Remember when we weren’t ultra-powered space marines with muscle to spare, but weedy everymen? Remember that frantic scramble past packs of zombies to reach that single green plant?
Luckily for me, a bunch of good folk at Ubisoft remember all that stuff too, and are currently developing something remarkable on the new Wii U tech – a game that actually evokes our sense of dread. The use of the Wii U controller as both a useful tool and a means to put your character into a vulnerable position is a killer blow to our senses, and I found myself terrified despite the fact I was surrounded by a bunch of media and a Ubisoft rep who politely ignored my loud swearing. I caught up with you later that day, sure we were going to riff gleefully on ZombiU’s virtues, only to find the game left you cold. What gives?
Bad Cop Cam: It's not that I hated ZombiU, more that I found the demo resolutely mediocre. I agree that there's a lot of potential for tension in the inventory mechanic, which leaves the player vulnerable while they rifle through their backpack on the Wii U tablet screen, or pick items off a corpse, but the gameplay itself was too predictable for this tension to ever come to fruition. I didn't ever feel I was doing anything I haven't done before, so whether it was zombies shambling towards me on the post apocalyptic city streets or zombies lurching at me in the darkness of a dank basement, it just didn't get my blood pumping. I may be way off, but I wonder whether the fact that the traditional survival horror genre is "on its knees" means you're willing to cut this a lot more slack than I am. For me, very little about the E3 demo seemed particularly fresh or compelling.
Even what is arguably the game's most interesting feature - the fact that the player starts afresh as a new survivor when they die - isn't something that I think is necessarily going to work that well. On the one hand, I like the idea that you'll have to find the zombie version of your former self to retrieve your stuff. This should make for some incredibly tense sequences. On the other, it's still really 'gamey'. I can see waking up over and over again in the safe house, then - essentially - teleporting back to the start of the area you died in, getting old really fast. Are all these survivors just lining up outside the safe house? Twiddling their thumbs waiting for their turn? Ubisoft is selling this as something unique - no checkpoints and no game over screens, but the system effectively is just another form of checkpoint… with infinite lives and more time required to get back into the action.
There's also the potential for horrendous bottlenecks where the player dies in a situation that's going to take a lot of attempts to get through. Oh great, I'm back in the safe house. I'm all for making it challenging, but this is going to have to be balanced really tightly to work. I also thought it was interesting that the team has said that survivors gain 'skills' the longer they last. When a survivor dies, you can retrieve their stuff, but not their skills. This may make sense, but - again - could be a source of frustration and feel overly punitive. Am I missing the point?
Good Cop Lucy: It’s a pity you found the gameplay mediocre. I agree that my love of the genre could have meant I was more ready, more open, to being scared, but I found the careful dispersion of zombies and claustrophobic environments absolutely terrifying. So while the demo may not have been ‘fresh’ as you say, it struck me as very finely-tuned. And that’s not taking into account the implementation of the gamepad.
I’m sure Ubisoft will build a narrative wrapper around the survivors being re-spawned, and considering you re-spawn as a whole new person, losing your skills whenever you die makes sense. And it’s a brilliant punishment, too, as the finality of every playthrough demands a hugely considered approach. I don’t know about you, but I was moving forward at a snail’s pace, taking into account every part of the map, every corner of my current surroundings and nerve-jangling groan in the background. In this sense the game can be compared to Dark Souls, another game where achievement feels more euphoric thanks to punishing mechanics. ZombiU’s online integration – where you can encounter other zombified-survivors – also echoes Namco’s title, their presence acting as both a warning and a threat. Isn’t it time for more games where greater punishment offers greater reward?
The best backpack management sim ever?
Bad Cop Cam: Sure, and hopefully the development team can make the most of it. I just worry that the kind of game design where dying actually punishes the player - or is something to be avoided at all costs - and this particular game may not gel that well. Survival is a reward for skilled play, but this is a horror experience built on manipulating the world around the player to surprise and scare them, as opposed to giving players a lot of choice in how they're going to play, thereby putting survival on them in no uncertain terms. Survival horror games need things jumping out at the player, they need claustrophobic environments where there's very little room to move, they need weapons and ammo to be scarce. Do you think it would be fair for ZombiU to, say, drop the player into an enclosed space with five zombies, then punish them for failing to find the door quickly enough, or having the wrong weapon equipped? That's what's going to happen, and the fine line between fair and frustration will be crossed - particularly if you lose something significant as a result. Compare this to a game like Diablo III and its hardcore mode. A hardcore character's death is permanent, but players with skill and a deep understanding of the game mechanics will be able to survive. Such are the options available to the player that if they die, it's pretty much their own fault.
I'm getting a little sidetracked here, however, as we don't yet know what skills the player will earn in ZombiU, and thus what will be at stake. I will say, however, that you very clearly played through the demo in the spirit of the game more than I did. I assumed I'd be able to take on whatever the game threw at me, so wandered about hitting zombies with cricket bats then shooting them in the face with relative abandon. If death had been permanent in the demo I would have played it differently, but instead I wasn't too worried about dying, because hey, I wanted to see how the safe house mechanic worked, anyway. This obviously means it was stripped of a lot of its atmosphere, and is probably the reason it felt so unremarkable. I just wasn't doing anything all that interesting. Shooting zombies? Done it a million times. Finding a key card to open a locked door? Ditto. Finding medicine for some dude? Yawn. Being forced to step on a burnt section of floor that I know is going to collapse then having it collapse? C'MON!?
Did any of the uses for the Wii's second screen - aside from backpack management - excite you? Lockpicking? Scanning the environment?
Dying on work's Stupid Hat Day... how embarrassing.
Good Cop Lucy: I understand your concerns regarding ZombiU’s ‘survive at all costs’ pillar, but the game isn’t quite as ruthless as you’re suggesting. The game always presents the player with a variety of options, so it’s up to you to decide if you’re going to crouch in a darkened corner, hands over your ears while mumbling the national anthem, or if you’re going to quickly scan the room, bolt towards some ammo and carve your way through. At one point during my E3 playthrough I was totally overwhelmed by a horde and seemingly trapped without an escape route or ammo, and my first instinct was to back into a wall and more or less crucify myself. But somehow – and honestly, I experienced an inexplicable zen - I put some space between the horde and myself, enough to spot some obstructed stairs. Anyone who’s played a Resident Evil or Dead Island will know that the top of a flight of stairs are your friend, particularly when you have a cricket bat. Sure, it’s not a great example of rewarding knowledge of comprehensive game mechanics, but it’s a great example of the minute-to-minute challenge to keep your sh*t together. In this regard, the player takes total ownership over the outcome.
And while I wasn’t thrilled by lockpicking and scanning the environment as singular experiences, I did enjoy the way they helped gel the experience together into something more cohesive. It’s a tactile thing, nothing more, but having an actual 'toolkit' in your hands helps immerse you in the game, doesn’t it? For me, that immersion has always been the appeal of the Wii U’s second screen. And ultimately, I think it’s exciting to see Ubisoft doing new things with the tech. They’re paving the way for other publishers, and they’re being bold with their experimentation. For that reason alone, I’m glad ZombiU exists.
(Not Particularly) Bad Cop Cam: Here's hoping I got the wrong impression. This game definitely has potential, and while the demo didn't excite me a great deal, there's no doubt that there are some good ideas here. I liked the sequence, for instance, when you encounter that teleporting mini-boss and the feed to your "prepper" (the player's guide, essentially) is cut. Suddenly the second screen's only showing static and your ties to everything you've been relying on is gone. Doesn’t necessarily make a great deal of sense, but it shakes things up nicely.
Coming back to the parallels with Dark Souls, you can also leave messages on walls for other players that are only visible using a black light pick-up you get at some point. I should also mention that when you finish the game you unlock Nightmare mode, where you have just the one survivor. I've already voiced my concerns about this, but that's a good addition if they can make it work. And last but not least, I also agree it's great to see Ubisoft taking a leadership position with Wii U and creating a game that isn't based on an existing franchise. Fingers crossed you make me eat my words later this year!
The man behind the Final Fantasy series, Hironobu Sakaguchi, made his return to the director's chair with The Last Story for Wii. This epic RPG hit Japanese store shelves in early 2011, and will finally be making it's way stateside this summer.
Recently IGN had the chance to chat via e-mail with Sakaguchi-san. We talked everything from The Last Story to his directorial return to his current projects. Check out the full interview below, then be sure to sound off with your own thoughts in the comments afterward.
IGN: How did you go about creating the battle system in The Last Story? It’s decidedly less traditional than many people were probably expecting - was this intentional?
Sakaguchi: In the three years of development, we dedicated the first year to research and development, mainly as a trial and error period for the battle system. The battle system in the game is the culmination of that phase.
IGN: The Last Story marks your first return to the director’s chair in quite some time. Was it difficult getting back into the swing of things, or is directing something like riding a bicycle?
Sakaguchi: Since I was working with the same members as the Blue Dragon team, I was able to get back into it fairly smoothly. Also, from my experience, the producer and director do the same type of workload in the initial development phase, which I think is another reason why it wasn’t so difficult getting back into things as a director. I guess I’m the type of creator that wants to get involved in the grunt work.
IGN: What was the greatest challenge you encountered in your quest to make a brand new RPG adventure from the ground up? Alternately, what was the most rewarding aspect of this project?
Sakaguchi: At the initial stage our plan was completely shot down by Nintendo. To create an entirely new world view and characters again was a bit challenging, but rewarding in the end. That would probably be the answer on both accounts.
IGN: Music always seems to play a huge role in your games, if only in terms of setting a certain atmosphere and tone. What tracks stand out to you from The Last Story? What’s the overall tone you hope to invoke as readers play through the story (whether it be through music, dialogue, backgrounds, etc.)?
Sakaguchi: That would be the track called “Toberumono (The Flying One).” There’s a lot of sentimental value attached to it since I wrote the lyrics, and it also voices the “foreignness” that the game has. The song is about the world you are in not being the place where you are meant to be. The phrase “going home” is used positively as you fly towards the future.
The tone I would like players to invoke while playing this game is “warmth” and a sense of “texture.” I want players to experience the sensation of a handmade craftwork that feels natural, yet very detailed, with beautiful workmanship.
IGN: Creating a game as vast and fresh as The Last Story must have taken quite a bit of trial and error. Was there anything you tried to fit in but for whatever reason just couldn’t make it work?
Sakaguchi: That would be the “Rewind Function.” This was a feature that when a mage’s magic was successful, an icon would appear for the player to shake the remote. By shaking the controller at that moment it would rewind the battle to just before the mage unleashed their magic. From there it would show the sequence again from an overhead view.
Using this feature, players would have been able to see who used what magic, check the battle situation and then strategize on what to do next. However, the feature slowed the battle tempo too much, so unfortunately we decided to take it out. You can still see remnants of this feature in the overheard view while in command mode, or while watching the Lazulis Knights cheating in the match at the arena.
IGN: Characters play a key role in The Last Story. How did you go about creating a cast of characters that players can relate to?
Sakaguchi: We put together most of the characters’ bios while creating the plot. Then, while Fujisaka (artist of The Last Story) was finalizing the illustrations, I’d get inspiration from the art which I used to fine tune their characteristics and backgrounds.
This title also has a lot of voices. In the dungeons the characters converse with each other about random things, and this was something that was very important for me in the game. Because I wanted to convey some of their personalities through this small talk, it was crucial to include some of the voice actors’ adlibs and make small changes to the actual scripts to keep refining them and carefully mold each character.
IGN: As an overall experience, how was working on The Last Story different from working on other RPG franchises you’ve been linked to in the past (which shall remain nameless).
Sakaguchi: The biggest difference is the battle system. I was aiming to create something that would make people say, “This is the new RPG battle style,” if possible. Additionally, we were really careful about the collision detection in the background graphics. I wanted to be careful about those small aspects because I thought they would affect the overall feel of the “texture” of the game while walking around in the world.
IGN: What’s the one thing you want players to take away from The Last Story?
Sakaguchi: To feel as though they are having an adventure together with the characters. I would be very pleased if players are able to feel truly immersed in the world and share the moments together with the characters.
IGN: Now that development on The Last Story has concluded, what are you working on next?
Sakaguchi: Currently we are developing a surfing game for the iOS. It’s called Party Wave, and is scheduled to come out this July. It’s a small development project, but the environment is very free and open which reminds me of the early Final Fantasy titles.
I’m very excited as I’m involved in creating some number fonts which I haven’t done in a while and writing the music. I’m enjoying it, and at the same time I think it’ll become another title that has that handmade warmth to it. We are also developing two more iOS titles. We’ll be able to release these shortly as well.
IGN: Lastly, what was your experience creating a sweeping RPG for the Wii? Did you enjoy the creativity yielded by having technical limitations to work within, or do you ultimately wish you had created the game on more advanced hardware?
Sakaguchi: It’s unfortunate, but the final issue that always seemed to deny certain ideas was the SD resolution limitation. However, within those parameters we aimed to create a title with beautiful graphics that can compete with modern day specs. I would be pleased if people would view our efforts to their best by switching their cables to advanced connection cables or by playing it in the best environment possible. And though the resolution may be SD, I think players will really enjoy the sophisticated world.
