Two Cents – Page 5 – The Slowdown

Multiple Middles in Alpha Protocol

02/04/2010 Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

We haven’t said much about Obsidian Entertainment’s upcoming RPG-Shooter Alpha Protocol here at the Slowdown, tweeting updates on the game instead. I think what has kept us from being too enthusiastic is the confusing nature of the media coming out of Sega; an interesting weapons showcase is followed by a lame cinematic trailer, and so on. But what keeps me interested is the potential of the team behind the game. As I related recently, I’m a huge fan of Planescape: Torment, a 90’s RPG created by some of the developers who are now at Obsidian, including writer/designer Chris Avellone. So I’m hoping that the mixed messages are a result of sloppy marketing.

It wouldn’t be the only thing Sega’s screwing up: the game was initially to drop in October last year, but was then pushed back to “Summer 2010” without an announcement ¹, only to be finally dated for May 28th in Europe, and June 1st in the US. Much of the team has already moved on to their next title, Fallout: New Vegas ², also slated for this year.

So, Alpha Protocol. The “first modern day spy role-playing game” puts you in the shoes of Agent Michael Thorton on a covert ops mission to investigate terrorist activity and all that jazz. It seems to be more traditional with its RPG mechanics than most RPG shooters these days (which usually only go as far as incorporating “RPG elements”), featuring a full skills system allowing you to customize your character’s physical attributes and ability to use weapons and gadgets. Each ability tree can be upgraded with skill points with passive and active skill milestones. A point in the Pistols tree, for example, can improve accuracy with the weapon; one of the passive skills early on improves critical hit chances, and an example of an active skill is the Chain Shot, which momentarily slows down time to let you mark one or more enemies before your character executes an efficient series of shots to take them all down. It reminds me of the V.A.T.S. feature in Fallout 3, or perhaps the Mark and Execute feature in the upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction.

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References

Revolutionary Title, Devolutionary PR

06/03/201006/03/2010 Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

Square Enix Ltd recently grabbed the trademark name “Deus Ex: Human Revolution” (008862153) for decidedly game-y purposes; should the forthcoming Deus Ex 3 be subtitled as such remains unconfirmed, though, but at the time of writing, that’s as close as it gets.

The company has also started an underground advertising campaign for the game – one that might not reflect as well on the game’s profile as they might have hoped, for reasons that are rather out of the company’s hands: While Valve is going all out and wooing the games press with massive high-profile PR stunts like there was no tomorrow, all we got from Eidos was these lousy renders:

Then again, it seems almost cruel to expect the same level of commitment as we do from Valve at this point, so… in case you’re stoked to see these images, you should keep on checking out the official thread in the Eidos forums.

In the meantime, do check out our Deus Ex 3 teaser trailer image gallery which contains full captioned explanations for each subliminal image present in the trailer (It was a lot of work).

It’s Not Too Late / To Spank It

05/03/201006/03/2010 Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

First, Tim Schafer and Brütal Legend.

Then, Ron Gilbert and DeathSpank.

According to EA Partners, DeathSpank will be published via Xbox Live and PSN:

EA Partners … and leading independent developer Hothead Games announced today an exclusive publishing agreement that will bring DeathSpank to Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation®Network in 2010.

Does “exclusive” mean what I think it means? In that case, I suggest a solution:

Now spank it
Into shape
Shape it up
Get straight
Go forward
Move ahead
Try to detect it
It’s not too late
To spank it
Spank it good

Spank you, Ron! Spank you very much. In the meantime, new screens for you console folks:

Subversion, Procedural Cyber-Espionage From Introversion

20/02/201021/02/2010 Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

It’s been more than three years since Introversion, indie developers behind Uplink, Defcon and Darwinia, first dropped the name of their new project, Subversion. That blog post and every subsequent entry were incredibly candid about the process of building the systems behind the game with screenshots and videos. But what kind of game it actually is was never revealed, until now. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has the scoop with news from Introversion’s launch event for Darwinia+, where Subversion was demoed for the first time.

From the very early work-in-progress demo that was shown, it appears that the game is about infiltration and sabotage. Where Uplink was a game of hacking and espionage on the intangible, ethereal level of the internet, Subversion takes place on the physical, infrastructural level, with the same kind of goals to accomplish. In the examples given the player was tasked with finding a secure server room in an office building, and had certain tools at his disposal including a stolen keycard and a wallscanner. A second run demonstrated a brute-force approach with guns and explosives ¹. The way RPS’ Jim Rossignol puts it excites me:

On a wider, genre basis, it sits roughly in the Commandos area of careful execution of planned procedures. Or perhaps it is to Syndicate as Thief was to the shooter tradition…

The visuals of the game will no doubt use the neon-retro style that Introversion is known for. As you can see in the early development screenshots, flat-shaded and wireframe graphics portray the city blocks and interiors. It suggests an abstraction of the action, placing the player in the role of an overseer, able to witness the situation from various camera views.

As explained in the blog posts (and in the video embedded below), the art assets like the buildings and room layouts are all created procedurally – that is to say, generated by a computer algorithm as opposed to hand-crafted by a person. Changing certain values or randomising them produces completely different results, and in this way whole cities and offices can be created. Perhaps this will be done every time you play a level in Subversion, which would mean that each playthrough would have different maps to infiltrate.

Update:
Chris Delay of Introversion has updated the blog with a post about the Subversion demo, with screenshots of the build shown. Hit the jump to check them out.
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References

http://shfts.com/?p=2497[↩]

Alan Wake No Longer PC Bound, Heading To 360 In May 2010

12/02/201020/02/2010 Nabeel Burney Leave a comment

This will probably be the last update of Alan Wake that I will do here or on our Twitter, as the game has fallen swiftly off my radar with the confirmation that it will no longer be coming to the PC. This disappointing news came on the heels of other announcements by Microsoft at their recent X10 media event, including the release date and details of the collector’s edition of the now 360 exclusive. A new trailer, embedded below, was was shown off and the game was announced to be hitting stores in the US on May 18 and in Europe on May 21.

Pre-ordering the game will net you the ‘Bright Falls Bonus Pack,’ which offers “avatar gear, an Xbox LIVE theme, and a ‘making of’ video.” The Collector’s Edition will include a number of bonus items:

– Game Disc in box with unique art
– Exclusive In-Game Audio Commentary and Hints by Remedy
– “The Alan Wake Files” – a 144pg book that includes a short story written by Alan Wake and compiles the FBI dossiers investigating the events in Bright Falls, WA
– Exclusive Audio Disc with Soundtrack and Score
– Game Add-on token redeemable on Xbox LIVE for the first Alan Wake add-on content pack
– Exclusive Xbox disc with special content: Alan Wake Xbox Live Theme and Alan Wake Avatar for Xbox LIVE

The ‘add-on content pack’ possibly refers to the additional DLC promised earlier this year. The book sounds intriguing, providing substantial back story and detail to the world created by Remedy. I am impressed that there will be audio commentary, a feature very rarely offered by developers and one that usually proves insightful. After the jump, the new trailer unveiled at X10. It was nice knowing you, Alan.
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