Games On Net ::

By Matt Keller - Sun Jul 12, 2009 9:02am

After a couple of months of collecting older video games, my partner and I finally found copies of what’s effectively known as the “holy trinity” of Super Nintendo RPGs – Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars – in excellent condition. She’s delighted, being a fan of Japanese RPGs since the dawn of gaming, but I’ve got this feeling of emptiness. That got me thinking about things in a gaming context – how often do you feel that the quest is the more rewarding part of the experience, and that the ending is a bit of a letdown?

This week, The Warp Pipe is going to serve up another round of quick thoughts and observations loosely associated with video gaming.

By Jessica Citizen - Fri May 22, 2009 5:15pm

When we were in San Francisco for GDC SF 2009 recently, we met a very tall man, who knew a lot about destroying things. His name was Luke Schneider, and he is the Design Architect on Red Faction: Guerrilla - a position he's held for four years, and one which sees him dealing with all sorts of game mechanics, from aiming, movement and cover, to physics, weapons, camera shakes and (of course) destruction.

We sat down with Luke, to find out what Volition, Inc had been working on with Red Faction: Guerrilla - with a particularly destructive flavour. Why not check it out - and our on-the-spot video, while you wait for the Multiplayer Demo for the game to download on your Xbox 360 or PS3?

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The Warp Pipe - 05/10/08

By Matt K - Sun Oct 5, 2008 9:07am

For many days during this year, I’ve often sat and pondered the changes that have occurred in our industry since I first started gaming. Industry leaders change, talent moves around, new series rise to prominence and sometimes fall from grace after overexposure. New technology is often the catalyst of many such changes; look at what the rise of the HD consoles has done to the Japanese development scene. With the first rumblings this week about the successors to the Wii and PlayStation 3, I can’t help but wonder what the next formats will offer, and what direction the industry will take.

This week The Warp Pipe looks back on how LucasArts transformed itself from one of the most innovative developers in the industry to the unfortunate place it is today.

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The Warp Pipe - 14/09/08

By Matt K - Sun Sep 14, 2008 10:37am

2008 has been a little different from the standard industry year, in that we’ve seen a lot of major titles released outside of the holiday shopping season. Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Grand Theft Auto IV and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots were all released in the first half of the year. One would think that that might make for a less than stellar holiday line up, but the game publishers of the world (bar Nintendo) are inclined to prove otherwise.

Over the next two weeks (due to the sheer number of releases), The Warp Pipe will be boldly predicting the quality of new games in the next quarter.

By Matt Williams - Fri Sep 12, 2008 6:25pm

So here we are at the final instalment of Games On Net’s coverage of Activate Asia 2008. After four days in the land of the Kiwi, many games were played, much beer consumed and surprisingly few sheep spotted (only one! And I could have sworn it was just a non-descript white blob in the distance...).

In our final article today, we’re going to take a look at the latest offerings from Sierra, with two new updates of some original Playstation classics, with Crash: Mind Over Mutant and The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon.

By Jessica Citizen - Thu Sep 11, 2008 4:47pm

Last night, Matt Williams covered the LucasArts showcase from Activate Asia 2008. One of the games included in the lineup was a little terrain-deforming shooter known as Fracture. We also recently heard from David Wildgoose, who had a hands-on with the game, and managed to interview the developers, too.

While there wasn't much hype for the game beforehand, it's certainly starting to ramp up a bit now in preparation for next month's launch. Not only is there more news floating around for the title, but you'll soon be able to try it out yourself, with a demo arriving on September 18th, for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

By Matt Williams - Wed Sep 10, 2008 6:16pm

After a windy ferry ride that felt more akin to horizontal skydiving than nautical travel, we arrived at a secret destination on Waiheke Island for the next part of Activate Asia 2008 - a presentation of Lucasarts’ upcoming releases - Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Fracture and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

Hosted deep in the bowels of a winery, among the barrels of a finely aged drop, we were welcomed to the presentation by the voice of ‘Proxy’ and audio lead behind The Force Unleashed, David Collins, and Troy Sims, the QA lead on the project.

By holo` - Mon Jul 21, 2008 3:29pm

One piece of new intellectual property that has emerged recently from LucasArts is Fracture. Chienne has given us some fairly conclusive coverage on the title in the past, which outlines Fracture's dystopian imagination of potential future events.

While other titles may have had monolithic accounts of their features emerge from E3 along with tons of screenshots, trailers and the like, LucasArts have been quiet with Fracture, releasing only three! new screenshots from Fracture, along with an updated fact sheet.

By Chienne - Tue Jul 1, 2008 11:59am

The Fracture community recently bailed up the development team at Day 1 Studios, and asked them a range of questions about their upcoming third-person action/shooter, published by LucasArts for PS3 and Xbox 360.

If you wanted to know details about the length of the singleplayer campaign, plans for DLC, the inclusion of Achievements and Trophies, and the reason the Alliance soldiers never seem to wear helmets - look no further, we've got 'em all here for you in one handy-dandy package.

(...want to refresh your memory on Fracture? Check our earlier coverage.)

By Chienne - Tue Jun 3, 2008 4:29pm

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Fracture, the third-person action/shooter from LucasArts and Day 1 Studios. So long, in fact, you'd be forgiven for forgetting almost everything you ever knew about the game, and having to look it all up again so you know what I'm talking about when I say this new trailer is pretty shiny.

Don't look too far though, I've got a recap for you about what we know so far, and in case you'd like to see explanations in video form rather than words, we've got the latest webisode for you to view, as well.

If all else fails, just head over to the newly improved and revamped Fracture website over at fracturegame.com, for blogs, podcasts, contests, story details and background info.

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