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Digital Leisure, a company that makes casual DVD-player games, has announced the upcoming release of Space Ace on Blu-Ray and HD DVD formats on April 8th. Similar to Dragon's Lair, Space Ace is a sort of interactive movie. Fully animated (hand-drawn animated lead by Don Bluth, of An American Tail and The Land Before Time fame) sequences are controlled by the player/viewer at certain junctures in the story, sort of like those "chose your fate" novels of yesteryear, except they're movies, or games.

The gamemovie...moviegame will have special features shot in 1080i, with an exclusive "Head 2 Head" online multiplayer type thing on compatible HD DVD players.

Thanks for sending in the tip, Robert!

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In Asian gaming markets like Korea and, to a lesser extent, Japan, there is an entirely distinct business model for video game releasing that's never been tried here in the US at any broad scale or with any success: free games, supported by ads and micro-transactions.

Certain games, like EA's FIFA and a few titles from NC Soft are released for free to download in Korea but give players the option to purchase in-game objects and upgrades. EA's FIFA, for instance, lets you pay a few bucks for customized jersies as well as limited upgrades to a player's stats. Most people just play with what they can get for free, but enough people buy the extras that, combined with revenue from ads placed inside the games (be it actually within gameplay itself or just ads that appear within the interface) for the game to turn a profit.

EA's new chief executive, John Riccitiello, and Gerhard Florin, EA's executive vice president, aim to bring that model to the US starting with a brand new game just announced: Battlefield Heroes.

Not to be confused with Medal of Honor: Heroes, Company of Heroes, Bionacle Heroes, Sonic Heroes, City of Heroes, Heroes of the Pacific, Heroes of Might and Magic, or the TV show Heroes, Battlefield Heroes is a "dumbed-down", cartooned-up entry to the Battlefield franchise aimed at slightly more casual gamers.

“The existing Battlefield games are fairly deep; you have to be pretty good or you’ll die pretty quick,” Gerhard Florin told the New York Times. “Now we’ve toned down the difficulty, shortened each game session to 10 or 15 minutes and made the visual style more cartoony.”

He says that if this is a success, other EA library titles could be given the ad-supported treatment. Worth noting is that these are only PC titles we're talking about here, there's been no mention of applying this model to the console realm.

Here's to goofing off at work and not having to pay for it.

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Are you interested in improving your video game skills? You might be in luck if you have DS. Namco Bandai announced a new game that supposedly trains you to play video games which improves your gamer skills such as reflexes and memorization. Video Game Training DS is a collection of mini-games based on Namco's classic games which include Galaga, Xevious, and Mappy. The new DS game reportedly has over 500 mini-games based which are based on over 30 different titles developed by Namco.

How much will this actually help your skills? Will it be fun? We'll find out in time. The game is will be released in Japan on March 20, 2008. No announcement for release in the United States as of yet.

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This might not be news to everybody, but it's news to me: you can download a free 10-level demo of Peggle Deluxe via Steam.

This version of the crazy-addictive PopCap game features several Half Life 2 elements and backgrounds and also includes many puzzles that make use of portals just like in Portal. Fun times.

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If you've been playing Lost Planet: Extreme Condition on the Xbox 360 and have been wondering why it just feels a little... different from recent games like Gears of War or Halo, that's because it was made in Japan, silly.

The game's Japanese feel comes from its use of some design elements that the Western market has all but abandoned, things like clear-cut missions with a mostly-pointless "mission briefing" screen between each; and a boss battle at the end of every level, where the boss has a clearly-identifiable weakness. Even the somewhat-clunky control scheme is a carryover of the Japanese design industry.

Everything else, the gigantic levels and sweeping cinematic visuals, are all inspired by recent Western games. It is very rare these days for a Japanese action game to be designed with a Western and Asian market in mind.

Jun Takeuchi, the game's producer, says that if Japanese companies aren't careful, they could be overrun by Western studios. Currently, Western companies design for Western audiences and Japanese studios design for Japan; but if Western studios started aiming at Japan, they might be able to take over the market without a fight.

This seems to conflict with the fact that RPG games are freaking HUGE in Japan and only partially accepted in the states. I find it hard to believe that any Western studio could infiltrate the diluted Japanese RPG market.

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At any media event where the press are allowed to interview game developers or executives (pretty much anybody but the booth babes) there will always be a marketing rep from his company standing right over his shoulder the whole time. This is a rule, and something we have to agree to, but it can get a bit tedious at times. It's like trying to talk to a girl at a bar when her parents and pastor are standing there making sure you stay on subject.

In the video below, someone from GameTrailers is interviewing David Jaffe, and Jaffe seems pretty annoyed by the Sony marketing rep standing there and by the very annoying line of questions.

The interviewer keeps trying to get Jaffe to "spill the beans" about God of War 3 when God of War 2 wont be on shelves for another 3 months. The game hasn't been approved for production yet, so it isn't as if David Jaffe is going to be able to say anything at all. All he wants to do is talk about God of War 2 (the game he just spent a year or so working on), and gaming journalists are trying to get the big scoop by having a developer talk about a game that hasn't been developed.

Jaffe handles it pretty well, considering. He dismisses the marketing bullshank being issued by his shoulder-perched marketing fairy and somewhere in there even acknowledges that his fighting system isn't as good as Devil May Cry (though I'd argue with anybody about that).

Imagine how much better things would be if gaming reporters weren't all trying to get some imaginary scoop and developers didn't have to be protected from that by marketing firewalls.

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This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor.

Note: This article was originally posted in two weekly installments during the weeks of September 19th and 27th 2004. For archival's sake, both parts are being reprinted here. All mentions of dates (past and present) should be considered relative to the time in which they were written.

Since January of 2003, when we first announced that industry newcomer Infinium Labs intended to make a new game system, there has been an endless debate as to the system’s validity and the company’s legitimacy. It seems like every time we lose interest in the controversial Phantom, Infinium lands themselves in the media spotlight for some fantastic claim or some PR fiasco. Just recently, the company’s financial security has been brought into question, and I’m beginning to wonder if all the fanatics who’ve been calling the Phantom “vaporware” for two years might be right on the money.

Rough Beginnings

The Phantom started off on a bad foot. Infinium Labs issued a press release stating that they will soon release a revolutionary gaming platform. The end. What were the system specs? What media format will the system use? What third-party developers were lining up? Who is Infinium Labs? None of these questions were answered and fans threw a fit. You can’t just come from nowhere, say you’re going to put a game system on the shelf, and disappear for five months. Not in this era.

Questions Arising

Continue reading...

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This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor.

Remember the first time you played Mario? The first time you picked up a Power Star? The music revved up, Mario started flashing, running faster, and stomping enemies like june bugs. Can you remember that feeling, to completely break from the boundaries of physics and for once be afraid of no red turtles or fireball-spewing plants? That’s what I call a high-point in gaming; a Gaming High: complete immersion and disregard of the constraints we’re all so used to.

At the core that’s what we want out of gaming, to be completely invincible and all-powerful. Game designers have long misunderstood that a compelling game is a challenging one, and that is essentially true. Obstacles and puzzle-solving are great ways to make a challenging game that people will enjoy coming back to, but too often games attempt to be challenging by just being frustrating.

Continue reading...

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This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor.

The Ninja Turtles rock; there’s no way around that. As a child of the 90s, I was reared into adulthood by four walking, talking turtles who all knew kung fu and were named after artists of the Italian Renaissance.

I had all the action figures; I had the realistic Technodrome with the trap door that led to a pit of acid and snakes; I had the Turtle Van with the side door that opened up to reveal a laser-gun turret; and boy-oh-boy did I have the Turtles. Samurai Turtles, Turtles with shells that you could store weapons in, Turtles that actually transformed into regular-looking turtles, and Turtles who would swing their arms with combat precision when you pressed a lever on their backs.

Continue reading...

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