Earlier this year at the Game Developers Conference, I spoke with Redacted Studios president David Robinson about the upcoming Afro Samurai 2. It was a lengthy conversation, in part because I enjoyed the original
Being episodic allows us the flexibility with development to experiment more with some crazy ideas.
David Robinson
Unity has been the team's saving grace; Afro Samurai 2 is being made by less than a dozen people working on a shoestring budget, so utilizing every potential resource is vital. Says Robinson, "That's where the Unity Store has also been a lifesaver for us. It's cool. We sell some bottles and cans we collected from the neighbor's trash, and boom! We can afford that plugin that saves us three weeks' programmer time we didn't have in the first place. I wasn't a fan of Unity before I became an indie. Now, it's literally the oxygen we breathe. No shit. Pardon my language. Engines make me emotional."
Robinson is an emotional guy in general, actually, clearly excited by his game, his studio, and the partnerships he's created. Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA is again on board as Music Director; American Sniper co-author Jim DeFelice is penning the story. I haven't yet played Afro Samurai 2 myself, save for a few moments of button-mashing at GDC. But when a designer is this enthusiastic, the joy is contagious. "What carries us is the passion for making games and telling stories we think fans want to see, play, and hopefully buy," says Robinson. From almost anyone else, I'd dismiss this statement as typical public-relations-speak. When Robinson says it, I wholeheartedly believe it.
The latest "react" video is now available, this one focusing on NetherRealm's fighting game . We've also collected some of the best quotes below the video.
"I don't like the blood shooting out of the head; that's gory."
"That's gotta hurt!"
"That's disgusting; that should be illegal."
"Eww, I don't want to watch this."
"I guess they're always pushing boundaries. It's just like Saw. How many creative ways can we torture and kill someone?"
"No, I can't watch this."
"Gonna need some dental work there."
"I bet the people playing this don't even understand the reference; the 'Here's Johnny' reference."
"I think that's absolutely horrible; shame on whoever put that out. Shame."
"Don't do that! You don't eat the face! Come on."
"Here are these incredibly creative people, these are people who could change the world. And I go, 'Why are you putting your energy into really gratuitous and obscene violence?"
The evidence that Ubisoft is working on a sequel to 2014 open-world action game .
However, this resume--which has since been scrubbed clean of any mention of Watch Dogs 2--doesn't provide any additional information about the game, like when it might be released or on which platforms.
Ubisoft declined to comment.
If Watch Dogs 2 is indeed in development, one venue where Ubisoft might announce it is E3. The publisher has not announced its plans for this year's show yet, but it typically holds its press conference on the Tuesday of E3 week, which would be June 16. GameSpot will be reporting live from Los Angeles all week.
Nearly 15 million PS4s have sold around the world since April 2014
Sony's games division has recorded $404 million operating profit during the twelve months following April 2014.
The upbeat financial results were in part due to strong hardware and software sales also continued to decline.
Sony noted that the strong overall performance for its PlayStation division was also due to a "significant" increase in network revenue, as well as robust game software sales.
Encompassing all its business performances, from photography to phones, the wider Sony corporation announced a $576 million profit, a figure up 159 percent year-on-year.
This year's earnings mark Sony's biggest annual operating profit in the past seven years, a dour period for the company, in which it had to revise its income projections downwards on fifteen separate occasions.
More promising news for investors came from Sony's FY15/16 projections, with the company expecting its profits to quadruple over the next twelve months.
Some games are just likable. Take The Weaponographist, for instance. This top-down dungeon crawler doesn't do anything in an obviously outstanding way. At a glance, you've got a standard, forgettable, dumb
The action gets repetitive, however. Combat involves doing the same thing over and over again while slightly adjusting your approach to deal with different types of enemies. Depths are tough in the early going, meaning that you have to replay rooms on a regular basis. I found that I had to die a number of times in the first rooms of each depth to trigger a respawn back in the village hub, where I could spend the demon goo acquired from vanquished foes on buffs for weapons, magic gear, and so forth. I had to build Doug up in this way in pretty much every depth, having to die on at least three or four occasions before I was tough enough to start overwhelming the opposition. Be prepared for a fair amount of grinding.
Despite its reliance on a familiar formula and some repetition, The Weaponographist is a dumb, fun arcade romp due to its quick pace and interesting concepts governing weapon use and skills. This is one of those friendly games that just about anyone would enjoy picking up for short play sessions every now and again, especially those who like their dungeon crawlers tinged with a sense of humor and a retro flavor.
Microsoft is setting its sights on a major milestone for Windows 10. The company said today during its Build conference in San Francisco that it's aiming to have 1 billion devices running the new OS by 2018.
"Within two to three years of Windows 10's release, there will be 1 billion devices running Windows 10," Microsoft VP Terry Myerson said during the keynote address, as reported by . The event runs through Friday, so keep checking back for even more news from the show.
PlayStation 4’s with P.T. are popping up on eBay, Steam is publishing its first Adults Only-rated game in June, and Final Fantasy XV complaints answered!
Payday developer Overkill Software's cooperative first-person shooter based on The Walking Dead will release on Overkill's The Walking Dead will deliver a "completely new co-op experience" to the Walking Dead universe that will explore new characters and storylines. The game is being made with the blessing of The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman, who says he was certain from the first day he saw the project that it was the "co-op action game fans have been waiting for." It is also the result of a new "long-term" partnership between Starbreeze and Kirkman's Skybound Interactive company. This partnership will extend "into the next decade" and marks a new era for Starbreeze, the company said.
Our friends over at Giant Bomb are hosting the live streaming extravaganza The Big Live Live Show Live right now! And you should check it out, because they're all pretty great guys doing funny things.
That video above, it's just the trailer, don't worry. .
The main stream will wrap up at 5:30 PM PST today, but it doesn't end quite then. You'll still have a chance to enjoy a few hours on the after party stream, which runs until 7:30 PM PST for 100 premium members.
During Microsoft's Build conference today in San Francisco, the company officially announced a partnership with Unity Technologies--maker of the Unity game engine--related to the .
PlayStation 4’s with P.T. are popping up on eBay, Steam is publishing its first Adults Only-rated game in June, and Final Fantasy XV complaints answered!
Piracy is a huge problem for games developers, so some took things into their own hands. A Batman who can't fly? Corrupted saves? Tough luck, pirates.
