Adam sits down 1-on-1 with Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski as they discuss the new features of the highly anticipated Gears of War 2.

Talking as part of an in-depth interview published on Gamasutra, Game Republic founder and Street Fighter II creator Yoshiki Okamoto has issued a sharp warning on the glut of DS software

Okamoto was a 20-year veteran of Capcom, creating titles such as Time Pilot and 1942, and also ran independent developer Flagship (Zelda, Resident Evil titles), before going on to create Genji and Folklore developer Game Republic in 2004.

According to initial comments from Okamoto, whose firm recently signed a deal with Brash Entertainment to work on a major Western movie license, Nintendo’s success is still leading to problems in the market - firstly with first-party game software dominance:

“Looking at the way things are right now, it is a fact that first-party Wii games are the only titles selling well. But if the first-party titles are selling, third-party games should be able to sell too, so long as their creators have a good working relationship with Nintendo.

I think the problem is a lack of understanding between third-party developers, like us, and Nintendo, and this relationship needs to improve for the games to improve.

Also, as a developer, when you admit that Nintendo’s games are selling well, you also have to face the fact that the games you’ve made that flopped haven’t been good enough.”

Later on, when asked for specifically about the Nintendo DS market in Japan and worldwide, Okamoto explains the concerns of some:

“…actually, and again, and this is those whispering voices saying this, but you’ve started hearing the phrase “Atari crash” pretty frequently. People are talking about how the second “Atari crash” is around the corner. And Nintendo is the one that has to figure out a way to stop it.

In Japan we often say that history repeats itself, and it’s going to take some serious effort to keep it from happening this time.

Japan had its economic bubble in the late eighties, and that burst. I think some of the same things are happening in the American economy right now. Like, they’re going to have to do something to prevent it. It’s foolish to keep making the same mistakes people have already made.

So, Nintendo’s going to need some sort of strategy to deal with this. I think it’s a fact that the market blew up more rapidly than even they thought it would. And the faster something expands, the easier it is for it to deflate again, right? I hope they come up with a way to avoid this with the DS. But for one thing, there are way too many titles out all at once.”

Finally, when asked about the expansion of the kind of companies making DS software - particularly true in Japan, Okamoto explains:

“[At least in Japan] all sorts of companies that have never made games before are getting involved. I mean, the cost of development is really next to nothing. And what about this flood of “brain training” games? Can they really keep that up?

Nintendo put a lot of thought into the original, and ran some really cool commercials for it. But some of these companies just slap something together, put the word “brain” in the title, and release it. There are a ton of them, and barely any of them are interesting.”

The full interview with Game Republic’s Okamoto is now available on Gamasutra, with a wealth of other information about the executive and designer’s history with Capcom, his views on Game Republic’s titles to date, and much more.

IAMfourzerotwo just released his first episode of his new video blog about video game development, the game industry, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and various other video game and entertainment topics.

He announced that the Variety Map Pack will be available April 24th on PSN (PlayStation Network) and with double XP earned over the weekend you can rank up twice as fast which makes for a great excuse to play Call of Duty all weekend!

Chrono Trigger fans unofficially remade parts of the game for PC with a custom 3D graphics engine (that would run on GameCube, PlayStation 2 & Xbox platforms). Chrono Resurrection was forcibly terminated by Square Enix by way of a cease and desist order September, 2004.

This is a good example of why you may not want to base a creative project on someone else’s already well established intellectual property.  Who knows if Square would have reacted in the same way if they didn’t follow their original so closely.

Check out a demonstration of this ill-fated project:

From the designer’s website:

Read the rest of this page »

Watch Yahtzee - no not the game were the object is to score the most points by rolling five dice to make certain combinations - but the Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw the British-born, currently Australian-based writer and gamer with a sweet hat and a chip on his shoulder… at least that’s how Escapist Magazine refers to him… anyways he was invited to the Game Developers Conference this year where he presented the following summary of the 2007 year in gaming to those in attendence.

Covering many topics such as BioShock, Guitar Hero & Rockband, World of Warcraft, PlayStation 3, Mario & Sonic, even Duke Nukem Forever with his trademark rapid fire pace.

Check out the following two tech demonstrations that motion capture company Mova, whose Contour Reality Capture system was presented recently at GDC08.

“People have never had this kind of data available before in a game context … their heads are spinning,” he said. “What you’re seeing right there is the result of, having time to wrap our heads around this thing and see how we’re going to use it, and yes, we can in fact get a face that looks almost photo-real — you know, not quite, but almost photo-real — running in a game engine today.”

“You can see the difference then between what’s achievable in cinema and what’s achievable right now in video games,” Perlman says. “But next generation game machines, they’ll be able to essentially show in real time what we can do currently in non-real-time using renderers. … Next generation, you’re going to have interactive sequences where people think there’s a live person in the game.”

If you want to read more about this technology head over to Joystiq.

With Spore set to take fire on PC’s & Macs this September 7th, and scaled back versions of the game also being released for Nintendo DS & mobile platforms there has been relatively little information regarding gameplay and online aspect of the game.

A grandiose simulation of every stage of life, from the primordial soup to space exploration is how Wired.com’s Chris Kohler described Spore in his extensive first look at the latest version of the game.

The following video interview features designer Will Wright & EA producer Caryl Shaw describing the massive online scope of this massively single player game. Huh? Watch the video and you will understand.

Have you ever wondered how much work goes into the creation of your favorite game?

We have too, which is why we approached Ubisoft about breaking down the making of Rainbow Six Vegas. They were kind enough to explain the timelines behind the scenes and each of the major steps behind the game’s development.

CONCEPTION [ 11 MONTHS ]

• Ubisoft gives a core design team composed of five people (producer, senior producer, creative director, art director, and lead programmer) a mandate outlining the project’s objectives and the target audience.
• Since this is Ubisoft Montreal’s first next-gen title, the team is given more time than is usually allotted for conception.
• The creative team brainstorms to outline the game’s plot, location, and player experience.
• The technical minds decide which engine and tools will be used to create the game.
• The team then comes together to build cheap prototypes to test core gameplay ideas like the new cover mechanic and multiplayer.
• Once the concept and prototype are ready, the team presents them to management in hopes of receiving a green light.

STORY DEVELOPMENT

• One of the big differences between how a story is created in games as opposed to film and literature is the amount of people involved in the process.
• Crafting the story is largely a team effort; while the creative director is responsible for the overall vision, the screenwriter, art director, and level designers are all involved in the process.
• The team brainstorms to draft a general synopsis, then writes the dialogue and fills in the minor details right down to each level objective.

RESEARCH

• Because popular casinos weren’t interested in being targeted by terrorists in a video game, Ubisoft Montreal was faced with the unique challenge of recreating Vegas without destinations that make the city famous.
• The producers sent a team to Vegas for two weeks to capture the essence of Sin City so they could use it to create a believable Vegas doppelganger.

PREPRODUCTION [ 8 MONTHS ]

• The team now brings in a larger production team to build what’s called a “vertical slice” of the game.
• One single-player and multiplayer level are created and polished so they are nearly final.
• The goal is to ensure that the engine and tools are mature enough to incorporate all the ideas brainstormed during conception.
• This test level gives the producers a general idea of how to schedule production, and confirms that the idea will work before Ubisoft commits more money and staff to the project.

PRODUCTION [ 10 MONTHS ]

• As Rainbow Six Vegas enters the production stage, the development team now ramps up to maximum capacity, nearly 150 people.
• The team has answered all of its questions about the game, and now it’s all about execution. Levels are built, code is refined, and art is sculpted.
• The producers have defined the scope and number of question marks facing the game, but must remain flexible to overcome the unforeseen challenges.
• The first major milestone is the alpha stage, where a rough build of the entire game comes together.
• This allows the team to begin the six month process of play testing, during which quality assurance and quality control teams will comb over the game to balance the game mechanics and make sure objectives are clear to players.
• The team continues to fine tune the graphics, audio, and game engine until it reaches the beta stage, which is a complete build with finalized art and audio.
• Now that the game has reached beta, programmers optimize the framerate while the play testers continue to hunt down the remaining bugs.

MARKETING

• One of the major decisions discussed in the first conception meeting is how the game will differentiate itself from the hundreds of titles on the shelves during the holiday.
• Ubisoft decided to keep quiet about Rainbow Six Vegas until it had something that would blow people away.
• That something was the gameplay demonstration unveiled during E3 2006.
• The game had a great buzz around it after the unveiling, so the team decided to create a demo for the public so players could experience Rainbow Six Vegas firsthand before it was released.
• This was a major production challenge because the team needed to pull some people away from the main production schedule to finalize the demo level.
• In the end, Ubisoft believed the exposure paid off.

SUBMISSION & RELEASE [ 3 MONTHS ]

• Once the game finishes beta it goes ‘gold.’ At this stage it is sent to Microsoft and Sony for final approval.
• Each company has its own teams of testers to make sure the title meets quality expectations for the console.
• Once the game is approved, Ubisoft can begin manufacturing discs and shipping to retail.
• The development team can then take a well-earned vacation before starting its next big project.

[source]

SCEA president Jack Tretton has confirmed that the company has long term plans for PlayStation 3, playing down concerns over initial sales figures.

As reported by the LA Times, 1.2 million PS3 consoles have been sold in the US since November. The figure for Wii, which launched around the same time, stands at 2.1 million, while Microsoft’s 18 month lead has given Xbox 360 an installed base of 5.3 million units.

“We didn’t get into PS3 for the first six months of 2007 - we’re into this for the next 10 years and beyond,” said Tretton.
“A million units one way or another at this point isn’t going to worry us.”

Tretton’s argument was backed up by IDC analyst Billy Pidgeon, who agreed that Sony is playing a longer game.

“The PS3 is ahead of the market, while the Xbox 360 and the Wii were designed for immediate market impact,” he said.

Pidgeon also confirmed that he expects sales of Sony’s next-gen console to ramp up in 2008.

However Kyoshi Shin of Japan’s International Game Developers’ Association was less positive, suggesting that many developers are shifting their focus to Nintendo Wii.

“When people talk about the PS3 on chat forums, they say it’s like going to a very expensive restaurant and not getting anything to eat,” he added.

[source]

Mike Jackson over at CVG posted this earlier regarding last weeks interview with Newsweek, saying,

Fils-Aime acknowledged the importance of support from developers like Rockstar, saying: “they bring content that we just don’t do.”

He went on to explain “In the case of Take-Two and Rockstar, it was a series of conversations, predominantly with Paul Eibeler, around what made sense for them, what makes sense for us, and frankly, those conversations continue“I fully expect we will see even more support out of Take-Two in total,” he went on to say. “They have fantastic capabilities in sports - sports other than the Mario genre of sports Nintendo doesn’t do - so it’s a match that needs to happen.”

Reggie also spoke about Nintendo’s pledge to aid first party devs in producing games for its platforms.

“We acknowledge that Nintendo needs to do a better job sharing technical expertise and sharing insight from our own creative process,” he said. “What we are doing is having our very senior developers spend time with publishers and their development arms helping them understand our platform, and hopefully leading to better games.”

We imagine Miyamoto is furiously up-ending tables at third-party development offices as we speak.