Player Choices In Videogames Is Strategic And Not Moral

Valve writer Chet Faliszek has commented on choices in videogames being about a strategic choice rather than about morals when it comes to choosing a path in a game such as Fable, BioShock, inFamous, Grand Theft Auto etc:

“There’s never a real moral choice you’re ever making in a game, because you’re never going to have to live with that choice. We do things in our game to get you to behave better, to make you play together, to have this interaction in a game, but I don’t think those are moral choices."

“I don’t think games allow you to make moral choices. Games allow you to be evil, to do bad things. In Grand Theft Auto, I’m going around running people over, and guess what, I’m not doing that in real life."

“So, in the context of games having moral choices, that’s a weird thing to me. I don’t think they have real moral choices when I think of that. They have something else, like strategic choices, choices inside their world, but to me a moral choice is something that would live outside of a game. I don’t see that.”

Nail on head, spot on.

Source: Toid

EA Release Need For Speed: Shift 'Drivers Experience' Trailer

EA's released a trailer showing off what the 'Driver's Experience' is all about in Need for Speed: Shift which is due for release in September. Watch it at the source.

Source: Joystiq

Delay In Brutal Legend Court Case

The Activision and DoubleFine lawsuit still goes on over Brutal Legend and the matter currently stands with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Craig Karlan delaying a ruling. This should not however, delay the release of the game with EA expecting a final finished version by August 8th.

Source: AP

Capcom Announce Dark Void Release Slips Into 2010

Another games lips into Q1 of 2010 for release and it's Capcom's Dark Void the publisher announced. It was originally down for release on September 22nd, the same day as Halo 3: ODST and surprisingly, that ain't gonna happen no more. Capcom's community director Chris Kramer commented:

“The move will be great for the game and for gamers. Less competition in the market (curse you, Halo!), more time for polish.”

The move like many other publishers is to get games out of the crowded Fall 2009 release window, but with practically every publisher deciding to do this, it's gonna be pretty fucking cluttered early next year.

Source: Joystiq

Assassin's Creed 2 Is More Vicious And Hardcore

Jade Raymond, executive producer on Assassin's Creed 2 has described the sequel as more vicious and less predicable than the first title meaning you won't be able to coast through it as easily as you did before. Another feature is that you won't be waking up on some cold science bed as often this time around, thank fuck. There's a big ass article at the source to read up on Jade's comments.

Source: Kotaku

Demigod PC Demo Now Available

Nice little surprise, Gas Powered Games and Stardock have released a demo for PC title, Demigod which you will find at the source. It's well worth a try if you haven't had a go already.

Source: FileFront

Lego Universe Will Bridge The Generation Gap

Lego Universe developer, NetDevil believes the MMO will bridge the generation gap between parents and children. The game’s creative director, Ryan Seabury explained:

“I talk a lot about the visual divide between generations, and I feel it quite acutely between, say my mother and my son."

“His grandmother I can’t drag onto email kicking and screaming. I’ve tried three times. But he’s going to grow up with email as just part of his vocabulary - it’s not like a new concept or anything. So how are they going to communicate? How are they going to have a relevant conversation?"

“I look at LEGO as a language, as an idea. She understands it: she bought it for me when I was a kid. My son likes it, I like it. So even though she may not be playing LEGO Universe, I’ll be playing LEGO Universe, he’ll be playing LEGO Universe and there’s a relevant connection there."

“Good games are fun to play, no matter what. There’s a lot of depth that we can offer that will be there. Obviously it’s family-friendly so it’s going to be in a different context to some of the more adult-themed games. But if you like LEGO and if you like playing MMOs or connecting with your friends and playing games then you’re probably going to like LEGO Universe.”

Jonathan Smith, head of Traveller’s Tales agrees and pitched in:

“Online games and the online communications experience are very accessible and children are ready for that, immersed in that, and parents are not. So this is where the children can actually lead the parents by the hand and show them what to do, and that can be a really powerful experience together.”

This one's expected to have a BETA test go live next year. We'll keep you posted.

Source: EG

THQ Boss Admits Red Faction: Guerilla Marketing Wasn't Good Enough

THQ CEO Brian Farrell has admitted the publisher didn't quite achieve what it should have with marketing the release of Red Faction: Guerilla and promised next time around, things would be different:

“Frankly, I think on the next generation of Red Faction Guerilla we need to do a better job of creating day one demand. That being said, we do like the sales curve that its been exhibiting which shows that quality and word of mouth and downloadable content matters."

“I’d give us a B on the launch of Red Faction Guerilla. I think we did a good job, but I think we can do a better job with the next generation creating day one demand. As you know we moved the title a couple of times. That’s doesn’t help. I’m very pleased with a lot of the strides we’ve made recently, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do some things better."

Loads more from Farrell at the source.

Source: SeekingAlpha

BioWare Show Mass Effect 2 Box Art

BioWare has posted up the official box art images for Mass Effect 2, on their Facebook page of all places. No PS3 box art though. Game's out next year exclusively on Xbox 360 and PC.

Source: Internal

PS3 Console Production Costs Down By 70%

Sony corp CEO Nobuyuki Oneda has revealed PS3 console production costs are now down by 70%:

“The cost reduction since we introduced the PS3 is very substantial and this is on schedule. We don’t disclose how much of the PS3, specifically the cost deduction was achieved during the past two years. But that is on schedule.”

Price cut announcement to follow...

Source: TVG

Japanese Hardware Sales Week Ending July 26th

The latest Japanese hardware sales charts show a decline in the sales again. The boost from Dragon Quest IX's release is clearly depleted. Xbox 360 sales are just laughable.

• DSi - 80,362
• PSP - 30,523
• Wii - 23,995
• DS Lite - 12,385
• PS3 - 8,997
• PS2 - 3,305
• Xbox 360 3,080

For previous Japanese hardware sales charts, click here.

Source: Internal

Sony Sees Big Losses Year On Year For Q1

It's not good news for Sony so far this year with first quarter sales in 2009 down year on year. Software sales stood at 14.8 million whereas last year's Q1 sales reached 22.8 million.

PSP Software sales were down too, at 8.3 million first party sales compared to last year at 11.8 million. PS2 suffered greatly too only selling 8.5 million titles compared to 19.3 million last year.

Source: GI

Bionic Commando Ships 550,000 Worldwide

Capcom has announced that Bionic Commando has shipped 550,000 units worldwide in its Q1 financials last night. The figure doesn't represent actual consumer sales however, as the game hasn't really sold well at retail.

Source: Kotaku

Gameloft Reports 20% Increase In Profits For First Half Of 2009

French publisher Gameloft has reported the company saw a 20% increase in profits in the first half of 2009. Figures showed a 22% increase during Q1 and 17% in Q2, putting the publisher’s sales at €60.1 million with a 16% growth.

The majority of sales came from mobile sales accounting for 95% with console software sales only making up 5%. North American sales saw the latest growth at 39% with Europe at 38% with sales on iPod and iPhone.

Source: GI

Downloadables On LittleBigPlanet PSP

Those sneaky bastards at the source have had a look at LittleBigPlanet on PSP and managed to grap a snap of the game's menu showing an option 'purchased levels' no doubt meaning you'll be able to buy extra stuff for the PSP version too, sweet.

Source: Siliconera

Assassin's Creed 2 Comic Con Panel Discussion

GameTrailers has a video of the panel discussion of Assassin's Creed 2 at Comic Con which you can check out at the source. The panel show off gameplay and new assassination features of the game.

Source: GT

Rage Runs Better On Xbox 360 - Has Higher Frame Rate Than PS3

Hilarious, while Rage is set to arrive on 4 discs for Xbox 360, id Software's John Carmack has commented the Xbox 360 version actually runs better than the PS3 version, with a higher frame rate.

The Xbox 360 makes use of id's new tech engine, Tech 5 which runs at 60fps alongside the PC version where the PS3 version of the game manages 20fps-30fps.

Source: CVG