Releasing Too Many ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Games Would ‘Fatigue’ the Brand, Rockstar Says

By Joseph Leray

 

The games industry -- and the media that covers it -- is kind of predicated on the idea that the people that play videogames will just keep buying them indefinitely. It’s part of the reason store shelves are filled with sequels, spin-offs, and reboots.

During a speech at the Wedbush Transfomational Technologies Conference earlier this week, Rockstar chief operations officer Karl Slatoff explained that “Often times people ask us 'Why don't you come out with Grand Theft Auto every two years?'”

The answer, in what I can’t help but read as a dig against Activision’s “Call of Duty” franchise or even Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed” series, is that a yearly model “doesn’t make sense” to Rockstar. “Grand Theft Auto, every single time it comes out, is a brand new experience. You can't possibly do that in two years,” Slatoff explains.

“And if we did that, our product would fatigue and the franchise would degrade from a value perspective.”

I’m not the biggest fan of “Grand Theft Auto” -- or, really, open-world games in general -- but it’s got to be one of the strongest brands in the industry, providing a unified and thematically interesting series consistently for over a decade. No other studio does Americana better, ironically, than Rockstar.

“Grand Theft Auto V” will be released in September for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, a healthy five years after “Grand Theft Auto IV.” It’s worth noting that the DS, PSP, and iOS devices were graced by “Chinatown Wars” in 2009, but even that was four years ago -- surely fans of the series are chomping at the bit by now.

So take your time exploring Los Santos -- it’s going to be a while before you’ll get another chance.

[Gamespot]

Tags Grand Theft Auto V, gta, rockstar games

View the original article here

'Super Hexagon,' 'Hotline Miami,' 'FTL' Among Independent Games Festival Finalists

 

Want to know what games the Independent Games Festival picked as their nominees in their top categories this year?

Hit the jump to see what categories "Hundreds," "Hotline Miami," and more got nominated for.

I haven't been able to pick out a particular pattern among this year's IGF nominees in terms of genre or game type--it's a pretty open and diverse field. I will say many of the entries here make me consider heading over to Steam, iTunes, and other handy download services today to catch up on a bunch of under-the-radar titles from 2012 that I missed.

Here's the final list of nominees:

Excellence In Visual Art
Incredipede (Northway Games and Thomas Shahan)
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
Guacalamelee! (Drinkbox Studios)
Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime (Asteroid Base)
Year Walk (Simogo)

Honorable mentions: Fly'n (Ankama Play); Eleven (Christoffer Hedborg, Datahowler); The Bridge (Ty Taylor and Mario Castaneda); Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, David Housden and Danny Wallace); Hundreds (Semi Secret feat. aeiowu)

Excellence In Narrative
Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games)
Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
Dys4ia (Auntie Pixelante)
Gone Home (The Fullbright Company)

Honorable mentions: Goblet Grotto (thecatamites, j chastain, NEW VADERS); Analogue: A Hate Story (Christine Love); Papo & Yo (Minority Media); The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe); 7 Grand Steps (Mousechief)

Technical Excellence
StarForge (CodeHatch)
Perspective (DigiPen Widdershins)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
Intrusion 2 (Aleksey Abramenko)
LiquidSketch (Tobias Neukom)

Honorable mentions: Mobiloid (Monty Melby); Skulls Of The Shogun (17-BIT); Foldit (University of Washington); 140 (Jeppe Carlsen); Gateways (Smudged Cat Games)

Excellence In Design
Samurai Gunn (Beau Blyth)
FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth)
Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh)
Super Space ______ (David Scamehorn & Alexander Baard/DigiPen)

Honorable mentions: Spaceteam (Henry Smith); Helix (Michael Brough); Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation); Rymdkapsel (Martin Jonasson, Grapefrukt Games); Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)

Excellence In Audio
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)
Bad Hotel (Lucky Frame)
140 (Jeppe Carlsen)
Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
Pixeljunk 4AM (Q-Games)

Honorable mentions: Thomas Was Alone (Mike Bithell, David Housden and Danny Wallace); Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation); Gone Home (The Fullbright Company); Fract OSC (Phosfiend Systems); Dust: An Elysian Tale (Humble Hearts)

Nuovo Award
[Designed 'to honor abstract... and unconventional game development'.]
Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
Spaceteam (Henry Smith)
Dys4ia (Auntie Pixelante)
Bientot l'ete (Tale of Tales)
7 Grand Steps (Mousechief)
MirrorMoon (SantaRagione + BloodyMonkey)
VESPER.5 (Michael Brough)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)

Honorable mentions: Renga (wallFour); Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth); Frog Fractions (Twinbeard); Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games); The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe)

Seumas McNally Grand Prize
Hotline Miami (Dennaton Games)
FTL: Faster Than Light (Subset Games)
Cart Life (Richard Hofmeier)
Little Inferno (Tomorrow Corporation)
Kentucky Route Zero (Cardboard Computer)

Honorable mentions: Gone Home (The Fullbright Company); Thirty Flights of Loving (Blendo Games); The Stanley Parable (Galactic Cafe); Super Hexagon (Terry Cavanagh); Starseed Pilgrim (Droqen & Ryan Roth)

If you're headed to GDC, the finalists will be playable at the IGF Pavilion during GDC, March 27-29.

Related posts:

MTV Multiplayer's Best of 2012
Next For Former 'LittleBigPlanet' Devs: Plague Strategy Game 'Death Inc.'

--

Follow @MTVMultiplayer on Twitter and be sure to "like" us on Facebook for the best geek news about comics, toys, gaming and more! And don’t forget to follow our video gaming and TV writer @TheCharlesWebb.

Tags GDC 2013, Independent Games Festival

View the original article here

Here's Your Chance To Own A Costume From 'The Hunger Games'

By Hannah Soo Park

"The Hunger Games" is hitting the road!

And no, we're not about to announce the dates for a Capitol-inspired rock group tour (we'll leave the tribute band territory to the Potterheads). It turns out that the collection of eccentric costumes seen in the first installment of the series will be making appearances in three major cities this year: Seattle (March 1-3), Chicago (April 26-28) and New York (October 10-13).

Did Jennifer Lawrence's scarlet dress really spew flames when she gave it a twirl as Katniss Everdeen? Probably not. Either ways, her amazing gown (sans the fire) might be one of the 200-plus outfits you'll be able to feast your eyes on in Haxbee, Inc's Costumes Exhibit & Auction. The display "encompasses original screen-worn costumes" worn by major characters, including Peeta, Effie, Caeser, Gale, Haymitch, Cinna and more.

The pieces will finally be auctioned off at Comic Con in New York, which leaves us wondering: Does this mean that a few super fans will have authentic "Hunger Games" costumes to wear on Halloween this year?

While you're marking your calendars, don't forget to make a note about "The Hunger Games: Catching Fire," which recently completed filming in Hawaii and is set to play in theaters on November 22.

Will you be rushing to catch these costumes in person? And are you also wondering if we'll be able to try on Effie Trinket's hats?

VOTE FOR "THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE" IN MTV MOVIE BRAWL 2013!

Tags The Hunger Games, the hunger games: catching fire

View the original article here

NVIDIA showing off five new Tegra 3 games at E3

NVIDIA knows graphics. Their graphics cards are powering the most powerful gaming computers in the world, and are also found in the high-end Android tablets. Tegra 3 takes mobile gaming to a whole new level, a fact NVIDIA is proud to show off every time we hear from them. Gaming on Tegra 3 is awesome, often coming close to a true console gaming experience.

Today, at the E3 show in Los Angeles, NVIDIA is showing off 5 games that are coming soon to Tegra devices, optimized for the Tegra 3 platform. Full descriptions of the game straight from NVIDIA follow, and some of them should be available on the Play Store for your Tegra 3 device very soon.

The world has collapsed and meat-eating zombies are after you! This first person shooter takes advantage of the Tegra 3 processor to provides exclusive effects like enhanced water, specular lighting, volumetric fog and ragdoll physics.

The hot Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network console game is now being shown off on an NVIDIA Tegra 3 device at E3. The game mechanics are simple and intuitive – guide the water to a target destination through tilt controls. On Tegra 3, you’ll get higher resolution textures, advanced fluid effects, better shadows and advanced physics effects.

A break-beat action game that integrates music with battles. It’s developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 to produce high-quality 3D graphics and a user interface optimized for smartphones and tablets. Tegra 3-exclusive features include higher resolution textures, advanced bloom effects, rim lighting, dynamic shadows and depth-of-field effects.

This exciting 3D side-scrolling action game will be playable for the first time at E3. Open-Reset and Luma Arcade are working closely with NVIDIA to create Tegra-exclusive enhancements for Bounty Arms on Android, tapping the graphics potential of Tegra 3.  These enhancements include visual and performance upgrades and exclusive content like co-op play and advanced particle effects.

Heroes Call is a playable action RPG that brings next generation gaming to Tegra devices. Lush graphics, deep quests, multiple characters and varied abilities make Heroes Call an experience unlike any you’ve seen on your mobile device before. The Tegra 3 exclusive features here are higher resolution light maps, spectacular maps on character weapons and armor and additional physics interaction on objects and particles.

We don’t know when these games will be coming to Tegra devices, though we’re obviously pretty excited to see them make their debut. I’m personally looking forward to Dead Trigger and Heroes Call. We will bring you more information about these games as we learn them. If you happen to be at E3, be sure to check out NVIDIA’s booth to grab a sneak peak.

View the original article here