PC

When Psyonix first released Rocket League on Xbox One they asserted that cross-network play would not be coming to Xbox One players. However, a few months later a change of plans was announced …
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During the Game Developers Conference earlier this month, Lionhead’s head of engineering touched on the philosophy and technology that will be used for Fable Legends‘ cross-platform play. Raymond Arifianto explained …
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Originally released for the Xbox One, Press Play’s Max: The Curse of Brotherhood has finally leaped onto the Xbox 360 and PC after a short delay. The game, …
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Dungeon Defenders looks to be March’s Games with Gold offering. One of our favorite games of 2011, Dungeon Defenders offers a deep co-op experience merging tower defense with action-RPG …
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In a teaser trailer released recently by Frameworks Game Studios it was said to apply three different tags, one of them being an XBLA tag. What could this mean, …
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What we do at XBLA wouldn’t be possible by ourselves. It takes an entire team of people willing to devote the spare time to talk about video games. But …
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We recently had the opportunity to visit Dallas and talk with the team behind Orcs Must Die. We recorded our own version but after hearing the recording from our …
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Ensemble Studios shutting down was a bittersweet moment for a team that had grown extremely close over the years; however, as cliché as it sounds, the doors closing on Ensemble forced the team to look at open doors full of opportunity and new possibilities. For many this meant the first chance in years to break away from an already established IP in over fifteen years presenting a chance now to take risks and reinvigorate themselves. The tight-knit group showed that it really did believe in fostering community, as when the former Microsoft subsidiary disbanded as company but the majority of its members stuck together in one of four new studios: Robot Entertainment, Bonfire (now Zynga Dallas), Windstorm Studio and New Toy.

Recently we had the opportunity to visit Robot Entertainment in Dallas. While the studio may have a new name, they haven’t forgotten all the old lessons they learned. The team still believes in community both internally and with fans. Upon entering the studio, the open environment is striking: four main quadrants of desks with no cubicles or walls and a biergarten style lunch room comprise the majority of the studio. Outside of the two war rooms, server room and executive offices, it’s an entirely open floor plan mirroring the studios own level of openness with employees. The real decisions as to what games are made don’t come from a guy in a suit with a calculator, but from a collaborative process involving the entire team.

This “organic” process started six months ago. Development on Age of Empires Online was beginning to wind down, and the studio was looking toward what their next project would be. Instead of setting their sights on the traditional three year AAA development cycle, Robot chose to focus on the downloadable segment of the industry. The shorter development time allowed the fifty person team to the ability to not become re-tied down to a singular IP for the foreseeable future. Robot started to brainstorm and create basic prototypes for some of the better ideas, one of which was Orcs Must Die.

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The following article is based around an email interview conducted by our team with Jake Kazdal, CEO of Haunted Temple Studios. For the uninitiated, Haunted Temple Studios is currently developing Skulls of the Shogun for Xbox Live Arcade for Spring 2011 release.

Skulls of the Shogun is a turn based strategy title. Players take on the role of a Samurai General who was betrayed by one of his closest allies and slain in the moment of his greatest victory. Awakened in the afterlife, he finds the same opponent has betrayed him again in death. As a result, he begins a rampage trashing the laws of the Samurai afterlife as he seeks revenge.

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It’s been a while since we broke the big news that Czech studio Amanita Design will not be bringing their beautiful adventure game to XBLA. With the high …
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