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Feature

By Ray Barnholt

Ryozo Tsujimoto

Capcom
Producer, Monster Hunter

As one of the main brains behinds the Monster Hunter series, Ryozo Tsujimoto is also one of the people who stand in the eye of the storm that is the Monster Hunter phenomenon: an action RPG series that has become practically as prominent as Dragon Quest in Japan. Part of that has to do with its multiplayer modes, where both solo and co-operative play coexist, with the player free to take their characters far in either direction. Although the series gained decent popularity when it started on PS2, it wasn't until the Monster Hunter Freedom series on PSP when a groundswell among gamers (mostly teenage boys; the PSP's prime market) transformed the franchise into a powerhouse.

Its existence was actually first made public earlier this year when a listing for an Activision-published game called Death Drive showed up on GameFly, though if didn't offer up any information about the game. Then, earlier this month, "Blood Drive" was rated by the BBFC (via CVG) and a listing with some actual details about the game appeared on Amazon.

Activision officially announced the M-rated title today. The premise is that you're a driver on a TV game show where drivers try to kill each other while also competing against zombies, of which there are many varieties, including zombie frat boys, cops, strippers, and bachelorette partiers. It also promises to have multiplayer support for up to four players who can drop in and out at any time.

There aren't many details available yet, although you can see some gameplay footage in the debut trailer over on GameTrailers. The game is once again in development at TimeGate, but there aren't any specific new features to glean out of the trailer, besides vague hints from the narrator about "better technology" and "more powerful weapons" and "smarter soldiers."

If you never played the original Section 8, it had a couple of standout features to differentiate it from the glut of other shooters on the market -- most notably the ability to spawn in by dropping from orbit, controlling where on the battlefield your character will land and enter the fray (a feature that'll be returning in Prejudice, as evidenced by shots of orbit-dropping combatants in the debut trailer).

With the folks at Zipper busy getting SOCOM 4 out the door for Q1 of next year, we're not quite sure what to make of this retail slip-up. Could another studio be stealthily assembling a follow-up to MAG for early next year? Was Zipper somehow working on both sequels concurrently? Or is someone at Walmart just really terrible at their job?

We'll keep you updated as soon as somebody announces something.

"You won't see that for Black Ops," said Lamia to MCV, regarding the online pass model. "The multiplayer comes with the game you buy -- you don't have to do anything else for that.

"I want to take that in the other direction and bring consumers really great reasons to keep their games, rather than trade them in," Lamia said. "Multiplayer is critical to the success of this series. It has such tremendous staying power -- there are millions of people playing Call of Duty every day. It's entertaining people on a magnitude that's mind-blowing and we work really hard to make sure it's supported for a long time."

If everything goes according to plan, Oddworld fans will have a lot to look forward to from developer Just Add Water. The architects of the upcoming PlayStation 3 remake of Stranger's Wrath hope to create a total of six Oddworld games in the coming years.

Speaking with Joystiq over email, Just Add Water managing director Stewart Gilray discussed some of the company's goals for the franchise (planned by original developer Oddworld Inhabitants as the five-part "Oddworld Quintology"). According to Gilray, the company's starting with side story Stranger's Wrath rather than the first true entry, Abe's Oddysee, because of the game's high marks on Metacritic, and due to the "astounding technology" Oddworld Inhabitants created for Stranger's.

"As I've said in the past the relationship is very symbiotic," Gilray explained. "Whilst we are doing the work on it, we like to involve [Oddworld Inhabitants], so they can see progress, they can suggest things, we can ask their thoughts/opinions on stuff, it's very much a co-production in some respects."

Joystiq reports that a batch of new screenshots and details from Capcom show off the character and level editing tools. Players assemble their own Mega Man by mixing and matching sets of parts, and his abilities will change depending on which parts you equip.

Players can also create their own stages and share them online. Capcom experimented with a level editor in Mega Man Powered up, but dropped a hint that this game will sport "a variety of custom stage parts" besides those from the Mega Man series. This leads us to think that, like the custom character features, the stage editor will let you add pieces from other Capcom franchises. The game is set to be shown at the Tokyo Game Show, so we'll keep you posted.

The NPD Group has released its videogame industry sales data for the month of August, 2010, showing continued growth in Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 hardware sales as the Wii continues to decline.

As it was in July, the Xbox 360 was the top-selling console for the month, pushing 356,700 units. The PlayStation 3 meanwhile sold 226,000, and for the thirteenth consecutive month, showed growth compared to its sales one year ago.

Valve isn't a company that gamers would generally associate with failure, but in an interview with PC Gamer, the subject of their biggest mistakes was raised and it resulted in some fascinating answers -- particularly when it comes to Valve's past on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

"PS3, so far. The way we've dealt with those customers so far, and the product that they have, and the lack of updates on the 360 for [Team Fortress 2] is also a total failure," said project manager Erik Johnson, reflecting on Valve's mistakes. "Those are the ones that sting the worst because it got all the way through to customers. It's like a bug. If you fix a bug before it ever ships, it's pretty cheap. If you ship it and then fix it, it's really expensive. Those ones are really bad."

Things are going better on the PS3, though, as Valve boss Gabe Newell says they're pleased with their newly repaired relationship with Sony. "That's why we're really happy with the current situation with the PS3...We're solving it now in a way that is going to work for our customers, rather than assuming something is going to emerge later that will allow us to fix this," Newell said.

VG Tribune spotted the mid-August application (via Joystiq) for Oblivion, which covers "Motion picture film production; entertainment services, namely, providing motion picture theatrical films in the field of fantasy games."

ZeniMax picked up a pair of similar trademarks for movies and television series set in the Fallout universe well over a year ago. Nothing's come of that as of yet, so you shouldn't necessarily take these filings as a guarantee that an Oblivion flick is actually on the way anytime soon. We'll keep an eye out for any further developments, though.

"While this issue is not affecting the majority of people, it is still a significant issue that we will address," Darrah wrote. "We apologize for any inconvenience this may be causing anyone. Clearly, it was our responsibility to catch this sort of issue in the interaction of Witch Hunt with Dragon Age: Origins. Our team is doing everything we can to fix this in a timely manner so those who are affected can go back to enjoying Witch Hunt as soon as possible." BioWare's Fernando Melo also chimed in to point out that the team is also working on fixing a bug that won't let users create a save file after completing the DLC.

This is the final piece of DLC for Origins, and has been dubbed the "dramatic conclusion" to Morrigan's character arc. We expect to see her actions factor in to the future of the Dragon Age universe in some way, which makes it especially important for fans to complete the DLC, bug-free.

"With Heavy Rain it was right [to be a PlayStation 3 exclusive], but after Heavy Rain the question can be asked whether we should stick to one platform or open out to different platforms," said Quantic Dream founder David Cage to GamesIndustry.biz. "Now that we're established, why are we limiting ourselves to one share of the market when we can reach more? There are pros and cons and it's not an easy decision."

But even as they're looking at possibly developing for new platforms, Cage also had nothing but nice things to say about their arrangement with Sony. "We're really thankful of Sony's support and the relationship we have because there are very few publishers that would have supported Heavy Rain the way they supported us," Cage said. "[PlayStation 3] was the right platform for what we wanted to achieve. It was the platform with the Blu-ray disc, promoting movies, promoting a more sophisticated entertainment experience."

"Wanted" is a scored mode in which players try to be the first to reach a set number of assassinations. "Alliance" is a cooperative mode that matches players to fulfill killing contracts. The company hasn't announced how long before the game's November 16 release date the beta will end. Since this test is exclusive to PS3-users, it will probably give Ubisoft feedback on balance and usability issues, rather than system-specific game bugs.

Check out our multiplayer preview for more details, but don't forget the game has a single-player component as well. We recently took a closer look at that too.

Feature

The Least Flattering Nudity in Videogames
Digital ding-dongs and other bathing suit areas we wish we could unsee.

By David Wolinsky

Whenever a cut-scene pops up unexpectedly, there can be one thing that will momentarily keep players from mashing the "Start" button: the chance that maybe there'll be some nudity. All games offer a nice escape from reality, and whether it's laughably bad or legitimately arousing, who among us would ever turn down some extra T&A or C&B along the way -- it's like finding a crisp $20 bill in an old pair of pants. And unless you're playing one of those creepy Japanese rape games ordered from a special catalog, chances are you aren't even getting off on it, so what's the harm? Well, some games go out of their way to inject unfortunate, soul-scarring, flat-out ugly parades of dangly bits. In no particular order, here's a look at some games that touched us here [pointing to eyes] on the doll.

Duke Nukem 3D

Well, you can say this much for the strippers in Duke Nukem 3D: they are dedicated to their profession. Gun-toting aliens are invading earth, "kidnapping our chicks," and what're these ladies doing? Gyrating in abandoned strip clubs, honing their craft for an audience of none. If you were a preteen at the time of Duke 3D, chances are you'd only recently just learned the word "tits," and giving wads of stinky cash to these gals so they'll unhook their bras doesn't really teach you what they look like. Obscured by pasties and a cornea-scorching amount of pixelization, laying eyes on these blocky bodies hardly makes up for the good karma you'll get in funding these ladies' way through college. Maybe Duke is just chewing gum and kicking ass to forget.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

From the super-shaky camera to the intentionally crappy video compression effect, Kane & Lynch 2's biggest hook is its gritty realism, and nothing says "gritty" like an entire level that puts you in control of both of the titular scumbag criminals as they hoof it, completely nude, through Shanghai trying to dodge the cops. True, the game blurs out their modest (and therefore realistic) members -- and true, the guys were both tortured and left for dead; that they can walk at all, covered in razor cuts, is astonishing. But nobody wants to see the balding, paunchy Lynch or the curiously wiry Kane's birthday suits lit harshly by Shanghai's neon streets.

Indigo Prophecy

As he just recently said himself, Penny Arcade's Jerry Holkins often refers to the Penny Arcade Expo as a "nation," and it looks like they're slowly reaching toward attendance numbers to justify it. With PAX Prime having come and gone in Seattle over the weekend, Big Download reports the attendance reached 67,600, making this the biggest PAX yet.

It's a big increase over the attendance of PAX East (held in Boston) earlier this year, which was tallied at 52,290. However, there are already plans to move PAX East into a larger venue, so attendance for the east coast expo could soon balloon as well.

And what's more, it looks like there could possibly be a third event added down the line -- and it may be international. Gamasutra reports that while speaking to the Penny Arcade team -- Hokins and artist Mike Krahulik -- they hinted that a third event may be held in another country.

Madden Moments Live is a new, free game mode that drops you into specific situations and asks you to recreate moments that will take place throughout the upcoming NFL season. For the time being, there are a number of moments to currently play through from last year's New Orleans Saints team. Two to four moments will be added each week throughout the season. In return for Madden coins, you'll be able to buy future moments either individually, or you'll be able to buy the entire season's worth at once.

Other additions in the title update include altered pre-play functionality that will let you alter hot routes, make line shifts, and so on with the same buttons used in Madden NFL 10. Either by selecting it from the Play Now menu or during October (the in-game month) in franchise mode, a Breast Cancer Awareness Month mode will alter the game's theme to help support the cause. Additionally, you can now scout opponents in Online Franchise games, your opponent's lineup can now be seen in Ultimate Team mode, and various balancing issues have been fixed.

ESPN has revealed the full rosters for the 15 Eastern Conference teams, with the Western Conference set to be revealed next Tuedsay, September 14. A total of nine teams from the league have four current players as opposed to three due to fan voting being too close to make a cut. Each team (with the exception of the New York Knicks) has no more than two legends, with those players who were in the original arcade NBA Jam being favored over others.

Due to contractural issues, certain legends you'd expect to be in the game, like Reggie Miller -- and much more notably, NBA 2K11 cover man Michael Jordan -- aren't in the game. Besides those issues, as a result of having to lock down the roster before certain moves were made, some players are on the wrong team. For instance, Al Harrington is still on the Knicks and Courtney Lee is still on the New Jersey Nets. According to ESPN, that will only be fixable on the PS3 and Xbox 360 version of NBA Jam, which is included with NBA Elite 11.

The news was revealed in a roundtable discussion published in this week's issue of Famitsu magazine, where CC2 president Hiroshi Matsuyama and Capcom producer Kazuhiro Tsuchiya discussed how the collaboration came about. According to Tsuchiya, the two outfits began talking to each other soon after the 2008 Tokyo Game Show. "Capcom has always had a sort of affinity for CyberConnect2," he said. "It was like they were making the sort of games that we ought to be doing, something which occasionally became a source of frustration!"

"From the second half of 2008 through 2009, we visited each other's offices and got to gradually spend more and more time with each other," Matsuyama added. "The one thing that really struck home was that the more we got to know each other, the more plain it was how similar our two companies are. The creative people on both sides are totally immersed in the development process -- we both have a common outlook on that."

Dead End of the Decepticon camp joins the fray, and Optimus' (SPOILER!) doomed predecessor Zeta Prime fills the new Autobot slot. Pulse and Static are Escalation maps that take place inside Trypticon and a trap-filled building, respectively. The new competitive multiplayer maps include Horizon, Sector, and Metropolis.