Video games are growing evermore sophisticated, so why is the approach to digital death so antiquated? John Robertson looks at how some developers are ushering in new beginnings for the ultimate end.
Modern video games on the other hand have, generally speaking, treated death as both cheap and ephemeral – something entirely temporary and often with little to no genuine impact on player or the player's world. Populist game design uses the term 'death' to represent failure, a means of punishment used to communicate to the player that their skills, tactics and/or tools are not quite at the required level.
Over the years the technological and social changes that the video game industry has gone through has resulted in adjustments to the ways we can overcome digital death and...
What the **** is this?! I remember sitting down with Yoshi's New Island at last year's E3 and being slightly perturbed how it was all working out. The demo thrown in front of me wasn't very long - 15 minutes tops - but even in that short timeframe I was concerned that not a lot happened. A lot of aimlessly walking right with not much challenge.
So, it was both unsurprising and disappointing when the final version landed on my lap… and was exactly the same! Either I've become the most impatient man on the planet, or Yoshi's New Island is actually bereft of ideas. You don't do...
"We've all worked really hard over the last two years to not let any spoilers slip."
The developer's comments follow footage posted online earlier in the week revealing the first 20 minutes of the game.
"Everyone here at Sucker Punch is extremely excited about inFAMOUS Second Son hitting stores on Friday, March 21st, but we're a little disappointed that people are releasing unauthorized footage of the game online before it officially launches,” the developer wrote on Facebook.
"We've all worked really hard over the last two years to not let any spoilers slip. We want to keep some of the most enjoyable moments of the game a secret for fans to...
Naughty Dog celebrates sales success following BAFTA wins.
The announcement follows the game's success at this week's BAFTAs, where The Last of Us walked away with five awards, including the coveted Best Game Award.
The game's single-player DLC Left Behind has also become the highest-rated piece of PS3 DLC, too, Naughty Dog states, achieving a Metacritic rating of 89.
But will the movie live up to the standard set by its predecessor? Only time will tell...
Scaling up overflow servers to prevent launch day issues.
In an update on the game's website, Bethesda explained that the game's beta testing had allowed it to tweak its online architecture to let "millions of players from Europe (and beyond)... play on our North American server and experience ESO as it was designed—without latency or lag problems."
It continued: "We will make sure that no matter where you live, every player in North America, Europe, Oceania and many places beyond, will have a polished, lag-free launch experience. Based on the existing number of our beta signups and because we anticipate that the ESO community...
New Amazon date suggests another major delay for PS4 racer.
In addition, pre-order customers also claim to have received emails highlighting a new estimated arrival date of early October.
Sony has yet to confirm a further delay for DriveClub, which is still officially supposed to be on track for an "early 2014" release.
However, speculation that the game has seen a further delay has grown in recent days after Sony Worldwide Studios America development head Scott Rohde revealed that the game had been taken "back to the drawing board".
While checking out the beta for Project Spark, Team Dakota's friendly game creation tool for Xbox One, Jim makes Chris play a game he made in an afternoon.
It's an impressive piece of software in the fact that it has a surprising amount of depth, but also because it does an admirable job of taking something many would consider a dark art and making it simple enough for a child to grasp.
Watch the feature below for an overview of Project Spark and its potential, which is currently in closed beta.
Resort Course first appeared in Wii Sports Resort.
Golf, as well as the other sports, Tennis and Bowling, can be played for free during a 24-hour trial. Once expired you have the option to buy each sport outright for £8.99 or pay £1.79 for a day's access.
Boxing and Baseball will be added to the Wii Sports Club in 2014.
Free-to-play City Rush coming to iOS and Android later this year.
The classic SEGA franchise has been re-imagined with one-touch swipe controls by Kenji Kanno, the creator of the original Crazy Taxi arcade title, and Hardlight Studios.
"I'm very excited to finally be able to share with you the first news of Crazy Taxi: City Rush," said executive producer Kenji Kanno. "We are delivering a truly fun game that captures everything our fans love about the original and infusing it with several new features to create an even more fantastic and memorable experience."
In celebration of the announcement, SEGA has made the original game...
"Lack of news about the 360 version of Titanfall isn't all about pushing the XB1," Dodd said via the twitter account of his website Dodd Scientifics. "The 360 version is 30fps and sub-720p."
Dodd previously revealed that the Xbox 360 version of Titanfall was being developed by Bluepoint Games, weeks before the developer was confirmed by Respawn.
The Xbox 360 version has yet to be shown publicly, but comments from Respawn engineer Richard Baker yesterday suggested that the game was still being optimised for Microsoft's last-gen console - just two weeks away from...
Pay more than $1 and you'll receive Alpha Protocol, Company of Heroes, Rome: Total War and Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit.
Pay more than $5.99 and you'll also receive 10 Classic SEGA Genesis Games, Medieval II: Total War, The Typing of The Dead: Overkill, Binary Domain and Renegade Ops.
If you're willing to pay more than $14.99 you'll also get a copy of Total War: Shogun 2.
All games can be redeemed on Steam, but only on Windows.
When paying your contribution you have the option to decide where the money ends up, shared between SEGA, and/or...
Painful to lose staff, but necessary for the future of the studio, says PopCap boss John Vechey.
PopCap co-founder John Vechey told Gamasutra that the "changes we made today at PopCap were painful and we're sorry to lose some of our friends and colleagues. But it was also necessary in order to stay on course with our future plans for mobile games, live services and new IP."
He added: "PopCap is a studio that made its name building great games that the world can fall in love with, and that's what we'll continue to do."
PopCap HD, the team responsible for Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, has not been affected.
Not yet sure how it will be realised, says Last of Us creator Druckmann.
"It's an adaptation of the story of The Last of Us," Druckmann confirmed. "As far as where we go and how we make it fit into a film, how it takes into account the unique properties of film... We're not sure yet. We're only just scratching the surface."
Earlier this month Deadline reported that the Screen Gems movie will be written by Druckmann.
BreathingReciting the alphabetAnswering this question: 2+2 = ?A ripe bananaBon JoviSunday morningSouthern fried chickenNot Dark SoulsComing up with a list of 10 things that are more difficult than Yoshi's New Island...
Completely uninspired and by the numbers, it's crazy to think this is a sequel to a title that genuinely had a huge impact on the industry back in the day. It certainly has some personality given its art style and how laidback it wants to make you feel, but after a few hours this becomes horrifically dull.
Are supermarkets stomping down on price or are you better off online? We round-up the lowest prices on the high street for Respawn's online shooter.
But if you're still to pick up your copy, where's the cheapest place to get a hold of it? We've rounded up a list of high street and supermarket prices below, with the cheapest appearing to be Tesco, who is offering the game for £32 when bought with Xbox Live credit or an Xbox Live subscription.
We'll be adding more prices to the list as they're confirmed. Prices apply to the Xbox One version unless stated otherwise.
GAME: £44.99 (PC £39.99)
ARGOS: £44.99
CURRYS: £43.99 (Reserve Online)
TESCO: £32 when bought with Xbox Live credit or an Xbox Live subscription....
"In this playthrough, Delsin has convinced Fetch Walker, a Conduit with the power to control neon, to help him take out a group of anti-Conduit protesters," explains game designer Darren Bridges. "With Delsin's influence, Fetch is willing to exterminate the 'haters' and anyone else who gets in their way."
inFamous: Second Son launches for PS4 on March 21.
Wii U sales are up, but is lagging behind the Xbox 360.
Microsoft confirmed that Xbox One "continues selling at a record-breaking pace" with 258,000 units shifted during February – approximately 90 per cent of the PS4's Feb total.
Wii U sales were up 25 per cent compared to February 2013, giving a monthly haul of around 82,000 units. However, this wasn't enough to outpace the Xbox 360, which totalled 114,000 for the month.
Call of Duty: Ghosts was the top-selling game of February, followed by The LEGO Movie Videogame, NBA 2K14 and Thief new at No.4. Square Enix's Lightning Returns is new at No.8.
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