Kid Icarus: Uprising Addresses Lack Of Creativity In Industry

Masahiro Sakurai has commented that his upcoming title, Kid Icarus: Uprising is his way of addressing the lack of creativity in the gaming industry today:

“As far as creativity, in designing Kid Icarus, I took a look at what I thought was an overriding problem with a lot of game design."

“I’ve found that, in the established genres, the controls are always the same. For example, in shooting games, you find first-person-shooters utilize all of the buttons on the controller and always do the same thing — the stick is for moving, triggers for shooting and they’re always trapped in this very restricted framework for gameplay."

“And, that’s just not creative. It feels like people are taking this empty shell and just swapping out the story and art and whatnot. This time, with Kid Icarus, we wanted to address that certain problem and not only because I think the industry deserves it, but also because it’s a more satisfying experience personally.

“In the same sort of way that fighting games started to feel stale, there was definitely something new to be had in a design like Smash Brothers. That series, I think, was able to allow new players to come in and made it more accessible. There are so many more possibilities for game design out there but I think a lot of developers are shutting out those ideas and it is definitely a creativity problem.”

The title, a remake of existing IP was announcing during Nintendo's press conference at E3 this month and is down to release on the 3DS next year. Best way to attack creativity is with a remake of an old franchise... just sayin'...

Rage Down For Five Game Critic Awards

It's a John Carmack game so you should be paying attention anyway, but RAGE has received five nominations for the 2010 E3 Game Critics Awards, including Game of the Show. You can check out all nominations and categories on the official site. Winners will be announced on July 6th.

Darksiders On PC Slips Back To September

Wondering where the PC version of Darksiders went? Well it was originally down to release by the end of June but THQ has confirmed a slip back until September 16th in the US and September 24th in the UK. Few more months to wait then.

Medal Of Honor - Wolfpacks Trailer

Hulu Coming To Xbox 360 And PS3

Hulu Plus will be coming to Xbox 360 and PS3 with Sony's machine getting first dibs in July. It'll only be available in the US, as with the website, and it'll cost you $10.00 per month. Internet TVs and Blu-ray players will also be getting the service by the end of the year, but Xbox 360 owners will need to wait until early 2011. Microsoft's Major Nelson commented on the delayed start for Microsoft:

“We are taking the time to ensure that the Hulu Plus experience for Xbox 360 is the best on TV and like our other entertainment experiences, it will not be a port, but rather a custom experience that leverages the Xbox Live community features”.

Microsoft also confirmed it'll only be available to US Xbox Live Gold members, and will make use of Kinect for controller-free browsing. Awesome.

Never heard of Hulu? Click here.

APB Releases On PC This Week

EA and Realtime Worlds have announced the release of All Points Bulletin (APB) in the US with a UK release date later this week on July 2nd.

The MMO takes the universal theme of Criminals and Enforcers and brings it to a persistent, open-world, online multiplayer setting in the modern, crime-ridden fictional city of San Paro. Some players achieve notoriety by feeding on the city, its people and its businesses…the Criminals. Some live by a higher code and instead feed on the criminals and their organizations…the Enforcers.

Dave Jones, Creative Director of Realtime Worlds, commented:

“APB shipping to retail represents the fruits of five-years hard work from everyone here at Realtime Worlds. We’re delighted that APB has launched and look forward to seeing how the player-base drives the San Paro story forward through urban conflict and in-depth customization.”

It's a PC only title.

Project Milo 'Absolutely' Still In Development

Wondering if Lionhead's demo of Milo for Kinect would ever actually arrive at retail? Well Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg has confirmed the title is still in development:

“Project Milo absolutely continues in development at Lionhead Studios. It is just not a product we plan to bring to market this holiday. The team at Lionhead has always been a center of innovation and will continue to deliver against that charter.”

Eyebrows were raised when Greenberg was quoted saying it wasn't going to ship:

“Milo; he’s safe and sound back in England. No… the Milo Project is something that Lionhead Studios in their labs had developed. Last year we unveiled the Project Natal technology, we showed a bunch of technology demos as part of that."

“And obviously [Milo] is a technology demo that continues to exist, but right now it’s not a game that we’re planning to bring to market.”

But it is coming, we just don't know when... apparently.

PS3 No Longer Selling At A Loss

Hurray! Sony is no longer selling the PS3 at a loss as Sony's worldwide studio boss Shuhei Yoshida has revealed the PS3 is no longer costing the company to sell them:

"This year is the first time that we are able to cover the cost of the PlayStation 3. We aren't making huge money from hardware, but we aren't bleeding like we used to."

But don't expect a hardware price cut any time soon:

"When we bring the cost of hardware down, we are looking at opportunities to adjust prices if we believe that will increase demand at the moment, we are trying to catch up our production."

Reeves: "New Consoles From Big Three In Two-Three Years"

Ex Sony-man David Reeves, who is now head of Capcom Europe has said he believes the big three, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony will launch their new consoles within the next two or three years with new gadgets like Kinect and Move reviving interest in the current market:

“Two to three years, I reckon so."

“I don’t have any inside information. All the first-parties have got to be working on something. The tricky thing is when do you put a stake in the ground on technology? That’s the problem."

“You can be waiting a few extra months to implement something, but you’ve got to set a date to go with a certain chip at a certain point otherwise you’re going to miss the key milestones.”

Microsoft has said Kinect will extend the Xbox 360 life cycle by five years, and Sony remains committed to its ten year plan but Nintendo haven't mentioned anything about a new console at any time yet... and why would they really...?

CCP Newcastle Will Focus On Console Based Development

Richard Smith, technical director of CCP Newcastle has confirmed the Newcastle studio will focus on console development for the studio's upcoming title, Dust 514:

"The decision to establish a UK studio was an easy one for CCP. The North East has a distinguished heritage of game development, an experienced console-development talent pool and local universities producing exceptional graduates."

"We have been able to assemble a world-class team of console developers with unparalleled Unreal Engine expertise and integrate them with CCP’s global organisation."

Dust 514 is a console FPS MMO spin off from the EVE Online MMO PC based title and is down to release on Xbox 360 and PS3.

New Bungie Title Will Be Incredible Says Stohl

Activision’s EVP of studios, Dave Stohl, has said the company's upcoming release from Bungie will be incredible:

“Obviously, we haven’t announced timing, or anything like that: they’re focused on launching [Halo] Reach."

“But the process is going to be cool, the launch is going to be incredible. I’m really excited.”

We have no idea what the title is yet, but we're hoping some thing's announced soon.

Nintendo Boss Only Earns $770,000 A Year

It would seem being an overlord in Japan doesn't pay all that amazing, compared to the revenue generated by the company as Nintendo president and CEO Satoru Iwata has been revealed to earn a basic salary of just ¥68 million ($0.77m), rising to ¥187 million ($2.11m) with performance-based bonuses.

Iwata's wages are considerably low when compared to that of Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer who earns around ¥816.5 million ($9.20m). The salary info comes as a result of new legislation in Japan, which requires companies to reveal the salaries of any board member earning over ¥100 million ($1.13m).

Sega Sammy Holdings CEO Osamu Satomi is on ¥435 million ($4.90m), Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada is on ¥240 million ($2.70m), and Namco Bandai Holdings president Kazunori Ueno earns ¥137 million ($1.54m).

Gears Of War 8x XP Events Announced

Epic Games producer Rod Fergusson has made official via Twitter that this week Gears of War will have events with up to an 8x XP multiplier (8x!) starting from July 1st to July 6th. The announcement reads:

Next explosive XP event - "Tick, Tick, Boom!" Horde waves 1-9 all Tickers, wave 10 all Boomers and 8x XP.

Next XP event runs July 1st (Canada Day!), 9 AM EDT through to July 6th, 9AM EDT to cover the holidays.

To answer some questions - XP applies to all modes, also Tickers 11-19 and Boomers on 20 (repeat) and it's 4x the now default double XP.

Happy killing everyone!

Warriors Of Rock Puts Soul Back Into Guitar Hero

We're at the point now where we really need a reason to buy another peripheral based music title and Neversoft’s Brian Bright believes Warriors of Rock is just that, replying to comments that the series had lost its way:

“Yeah, I do. I think the first 3 had a very strong idea of rock n roll with very strong, very focused set lists and I think Metallica could fit in that bunch as well."

“World Tour we went to a full band and with Guitar Hero 5 we were trying to please everyone out there and I think in the end you end up not pleasing any one person a lot."

“We wanted to make this game with a set list for people who liked Guitar Hero 3 and the challenge that it had. We don’t have pop songs on there – it’s mainly a rock n roll influenced game.

“A few articles said [Guitar Hero 5] was a bit soulless. We wanted to put more into this game and give it its life back.”

We'll see towards the end of the year.

Infinity Ward To Work On New IP?

Activision executive vice president Dave Stohl has hinted that Infinity Ward may be working on a totally new IP, leaving the Call of Duty franchise to other developers. Infinity Ward is currently undergoing a mayor restructure and is recruiting staff to substitute the general reassignments that followed Activision's decision to fire Infinity Ward's former leads, West and Zampella. Stohl commented on the current recruiting situation of the Call of Duty developer:

"Recruiting at Infinity Ward is not a problem. What we’re trying to do is say that Infinity Ward is a culture, it’s a way of doing things."

When asked if Infinity Ward was working on a new Call of Duty, Stohl fired up the rumours:

"We’re not saying right now. There is definitely a strong shooter philosophy there, for sure, and I think that there’s a short- and long-term view on the whole thing. But I think we’re rebuilding a studio that can go off and build great new franchises in the future."

This would be the first time since its foundation that Infinity Ward would be developing a title other than Call of Duty. It is rather ironic since it is rumoured that one of the reasons that followed all the fuss inside Infinity Ward was Activision's decision to dedicate it solely to the Call of Duty franchise... Maybe Activision has learned from this one?

Ubisoft Publishes Q4 Releases

Ubisoft has published what will be releasing in the final quarter of the year and revealed Splinter Cell: Conviction will release for Mac on 19th October.

Shaun White Skateboarding will release on Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC on October 1st, along with Just Dance 2 on October 15th for the Wii. (Fuck...). Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring is also due in the same month on Wii but specified date was revealed.

Rayman: Rabbids Travel in Time will release for Wii on 12th November with Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood down to release for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on 19th November.

Titles including Driver: San Francisco, HAWX 2, Michael Jackson: The Game and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved are all down to release by the end of the year/early 2011, with Child of Eden and Ghost Recon: Future Soldier definately not arriving by Christmas.

New Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution Screenshots

We've stumbled across some new Deus Ex 3: Human Revolution screenshots, more of which you can find below. Some of them you may have seen before, but some like those above are new to us. It's continuing to look rather promising.

Black Rock Hiring For New Racing Title

Them blokes who make the racing games, Disney's Black Rock studio are working on a new title, and to no surprise, it's a racer. The title will be an Xbox 360/PS3 release and was revealed through job listings on the company's website.

The Brighton, UK based studio has eight openings online looking for someone with a strong passion and knowledge for racing and driving games. See for yourself here. The developer previously released Split/Second and Pure.