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Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Announcement Trailer

Posted by John Ball Categories: Action, Activision, First Person Shooters, PC, PlayStation 3, Trailers, Wii, Xbox 360,

Was it going to be Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 or Call of Duty: Ascension? Some weren’t sure what game was next. Rumors have been floating around for the past few weeks about the game, and now those rumors can be laid to rest. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has been announced, and, man, does it look awesome.

Set in the year 2029, we find ourselves looking at an aged man tied to a chair, talking about the technology of the time. Warfare has turned its back on using soldiers, and has embraced newer, unmanned robotic technology. Everything from war planes, to walking tanks, to helicopter jets. Somehow, the enemy takes control of the drones and begins attacking the United States (and probably various other worldwide targets.) The result is a man vs. machine extravaganza. Check out the full trailer below.

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PS4 won’t be download only; digital future still a decade away

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Culture, PlayStation 3, Sony,

PS4Usually around this time in a console’s lifespan we would already be knee deep in talks about the succeeding console, if not already playing it in our homes. However, with the constant updates and improved network capabilities the need for a new console every five years is no longer necessary. Though, Sony’s Kaz Hirai did mutter some words about the eventual Playstation 4 system, stating that a “digital future is over ten years away”, and the PS4 will definitely not be a download only console à la PSP Go. Hirai noted that this is because “we do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn’t as robust as one would hope, [and] there’s always going to be a requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium.”

Read More | Eurogamer

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iPad: What it means for Apple and gaming

Posted by Drea Avellan Categories: Casual, Editorial, Electronic Arts, Portable/Mobile,

iPad AsphaltYesterday, many rumors were put to rest with the release of the Apple iPad. People were excited, joyful, angry, disappointed, or just plain indifferent. Whatever you stance, you had some kind of reaction to Apple’s announcement of the iPad. Is it a giant iPhone? A female hygiene product? A cool netbook replacement? That’s for you to decide.

Whatever iPad really is, and regardless of what it’s competing against, one thing is clear–Apple wants to make a dent in the gaming industry.  Developers and publishers were present at yesterday’s conference, including Gameloft and Electronic Arts (EA,) to show off their games running on the iPad, including a full-screen version of Need for Speed. EA made its presence clear, by announcing during the presentation they are to support the iPad platform with future titles built specifically for the device. This should come as no surprise to most, as EA has been a huge supporter of the and iPod touch as a gaming platform.

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Jim Kahle Talks Next Generation Cell

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Hardware, PlayStation 3,

CellJim Kahle, chief architect of Sony’s Cell processor recently talked with Dean Takahashi of Mercury News about the Cell, and the next generation of the cell processors. Kahle described the current Cell as handling roughly 200 gigaflops, but the next generation efforts are targeting a teraflop on a chip. Sony is currently targeting 2010 for the release of the new processor, anticipated to have about 32 special processing units. Kahle also discusses the potential of integrating the GPU with the CPU, but doesn’t commit either way on the process, other than to state that Sony is investigating the pros and cons of this approach.

Read More | Mercury News

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Peter Molyneux Talks Evolution Of Combat, Wii At Leipzig

Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, Fighting, Wii,

Peter MolyneuxSpeaking at the Leipzig Games Convention Developer Conference, Peter Molyneux spoke on the need to evolve next generation combat. Both 1up and GamesIndustry.biz have covered separately different aspects of the talk, with 1up focusing on Molyneux’s ideas for advancing combat in the next generation. GamesIndustry.biz focused on the challenges that the Wii controller will present.

Molyneux’s general commentary on combat in video games is that, by and large, the fighting is not realistic. He proposed that developers do away with hit points, life bars, and unrealistic fighting in games. Molyneux held up Tarantino’s Kill Bill as an example of an approach to combat that video games might emulate. This might have been an unfortunate choice, given that this movie isn’t the most realistic portrayal of combat in the film world, but the points he expressed were still somewhat salient. His proposal includes going towards “one button” combat, combining charge attacks with timing and context awareness to alter how the fight progresses. The approach sounds similar to the timer attacks utilized in Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue series. Molyneux didn’t necessarily advocate this as the end-all of combat implementations, but seemed to use this to urge developers to think more creatively when developing new games. This somewhat tied into his remarks about the Wii controller.

When talking about the Wii controller, Molyneux confessed that he is “…an incredibly lazy person when I play games… when I have to get up, it’s painful.” He urged developers to consider the physicality of the control schemes that they were implementing, using the example of a movement-sensing glove that they tested. According to Molyneux, using the glove was “like some sort of Japanese torture that we’d put him through…” It seems Molyneux finds the freedom that the new controller offers exciting, but that excitement has to be tempered and worked with creatively to get the best that the controller brings to the table. Overall, the tone of the talk seemed to advocate developers to seek innovation rather than fall back into older, easier development patterns.

Read More | 1up

Read More | GamesIndustry.biz

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