12 years ago
Phil Harrison to become head of Microsoft Studios Europe
Microsoft announced today that former Sony Computer Entertainment and Atari bigwig Phil Harrison has joined the software titan as the corporate vice president of its European Interactive Entertainment Business (IEB). Harrison will be tasked with overseeing the entirety of the Microsoft Studios European division as well as running the war room for the rest of IEB.
“I am excited to be joining the senior team at Microsoft at a pivotal time for our industry,” Harrison said of his move. “I am really impressed with the company’s long-term vision for growing the market for interactive entertainment globally and also with the incredible wealth of talent, technology and resources the company has available to succeed.”
Harrison will be the top man presiding over operations at UK-based developers Lionhead Studios, Soho Productions and Rare Ltd. Contrary to rumors that ran rampant across news outlets and social media sites earlier in the day, however, Harrison will not be replacing former Microsoft Studios Creative Director Peter Molyneux in the ex-Lionhead Studios boss’ recently-vacated position. Microsoft’s Major Nelson explained that “Phil’s role on the IEB leadership team is completely unrelated to Peter’s departure.”
12 years ago
Zen announces Marvel Pinball DLC and Pinball FX 3
Zen Studios’ Mel Kirk, vice president of marketing and public relations, has confirmed that another four-pack of tables is coming as DLC for the developer’s Marvel Pinball. The Avengers, World War Hulk, the Infinity Gauntlet and Fear Itself will make up the quartet of digital pinball tables included in the content pack that will be titled Avengers Chronicles. Kirk’s statements substantiated what appeared to be a Game Informer article betraying the pack’s existence that hit the internet over the weekend.
The manner through which these particular motifs were chosen for this fourth downloadable grouping (a couple of four-packs and a two-pack were previously released) is detailed in the Game Informer piece. “The customers liked the tables based on characters, but they wanted to see some variety,” Neil Sorens, creative director at Zen, explained to Game Informer. “The storylines are a way of providing that.”
12 years ago
XBLA games to get more Gamerscore points and Achievements
All new Xbox Live Arcade releases will have the option to carry up to 400 Gamerscore points and 30 Achievements, Major Nelson has revealed. This new scoring system …
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12 years ago
Tony Hawk gets what Tony Hawk wants
Last summer, skateboarding legend Tony Hawk made use of Twitter to call upon fans of his videogame series to vote in their top 10 favorite maps from the series. Fans happily obliged, but Hawk was dismayed when his own fave, Downhill Jam, failed to make the cut. One of the advantages of being Tony Hawk, however, is that people tend to listen when you talk. Since the titular skater is such a mega-fan of the stage, Josh Tsui, co-founder of developer Robomodo, says the team decided to toss it into Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD despite it not cracking into the fan list.
Speaking at San Francisco’s Game Developers Conference, Tsui said that Hawk has remained “very involved” in the development process of the game. He’s also remains a big fan of his own games, and was seen playing the newest title while fielding questions during yesterday’s press event. It wasn’t just for sure either, as he appeared to be one of the best players of the day. Basically, the man has no shortage of clout when it comes to his licensed video game franchise.
As for the game itself, Hawk’s favorite map will join Warehouse, Mall, the Hanger, School II, Venice Beach and Marseilles as the stages in the HD remix, Tsui told you GDC man on the scene, John Laster. In addition, Joystiq has reported that Pro Skater HD could potentially receive some maps from the third and fourth games in the series as DLC. “The dream of doing this is we can throw levels from 3 and 4 and make them downloadable in this,” Hawk told them.
12 years ago
Frozenbyte talks Trine 2 DLC and a new IP
This summer’s Trine 2 DLC will include six fresh stages, an entirely new story and plenty of new skills to complement some returning old ones, Frozenbyte Marketing Director …
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12 years ago
Why has it taken Polytron so long to complete Fez?
A lot of people have been looking forward to the release of indie developer Polytron’s Fez for a very long time. The platformer has been in development for almost half a decade. It has made appearances at a plethora of industry conventions. Fez even took home top honors at the Independent Games Festival…in 2008. Rumors of a May release sprung up not long ago, and were then quickly debunked by Polytron’s own Phil Fish. No matter how badly the gaming public wants the title to finally see the light of day in the near future, however, it only just recently entered the certification process and is unlikely to be available before the summer.
Developer Renaud Bedard recently addressed a crowd at this week’s GDC in San Francisco about the prolonged process of making Fez a reality. “The fact that Fez was such a long project means that we kept upgrading,” explained Bedard. “Fez is our first game, our first project. It’s hard to manage the fact that you want the game to be perfect.”
No studio ever sets out to release a bad game, of course; they all want their baby to be flawless. Yet not everyone spends close to five years chasing down that dream. Joystiq, who was on-hand for Bedard’s GDC presentation, reports that the main reasons why protagonist Gomez’ adventure remains unreleased is technical enough that Polytron had to make up internal design terms to describe it.
As the Fez turns
Polytron’s latest trailer for its platformer Fez has arrived in dizzying fashion. Poor little Gomez isn’t quite tall enough to ride the Gravitron when the carnival comes to …
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12 years ago
Supergiant cut a planned gardening feature from Bastion
A number of things pop out of the ground in the hub of Supergiant’s wonderful action-RPG, Bastion. Anklegators and blacksmiths weren’t the only things the developer originally envisioned …
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12 years ago
Reverb Publishing and Epic ink Unreal Engine 3 licensing deal
Reverb Publishing has agreed to a licensing deal with Epic Games that will allow the publisher’s development partners to make use of Epic’s omnipresent Unreal Engine 3 (UE3). Unrestrained access to the engine’s source code will now be at the disposal of all devs who release their titles under the Reverb banner.
“This UE3 site license gives Reverb another tool we can add to our menu of services for independent developers,” Reverb’s Vice President of Business Development, Katie Morgan, said of the arrangement.
The deal is the first of its kind between Epic and a publishing house that focuses solely on downloadable titles. Cary, North Carolina-based Epic’s UE3 has previously been used to power games as diverse as Mass Effect 3, Gears of War 3 (Unreal 3.5) and the Reverb-published Dungeon Defenders.
12 years ago
Minecraft won’t get Kinect support until post-launch
When Mojang’s Minecraft launches on XBLA, supposedly later this month, it will do so sans Kinect functionality, according to statements made at Microsoft’s Spring Showcase event. However, 4J Studios — the team responsible for the Xbox port of the popular world-building PC title — has plans to eventually patch support for Microsoft’s motion controller in at some point after the launch.
Roger Carpenter, lead producer of the XBLA version, told Eurogamer that there is good reason for the delay. They were afraid that if they crammed Kinect controls in on day one, there was a chance they would “for want of a better phrase, mess it up,” Carpenter explained. “Minecraft’s so dear to so many people that we had to nail it on a controller, and on Xbox.”