When developing a big blockbuster which needs justice done to it on PC, 2K Games knows who to call.
"Get me Drobowiecki!*" the call came down from Take-Two head Strauss Zelnick. "We need our best PC man on this!"
And so it was Jake "the Muss" Drobowiecki, humble Assistant Producer at 2K Australia was pressed into action as the PC project lead for BioShock 2.
You're probably wondering how JD sounds like - what subtle tonal variations are at play in his voice. How much of an Australian accent has he retained after years of screaming himself hoarse on conference calls demanding that extra surge of excellence from Creative Director Jordan Thomas and the 2K Marin team**.
Well now you can find out for the low entry cost of five unmetered megabytes. Andy Wells - star of the Andy Wells weekly update - has generously prepared an interview with Jake for your listening pleasure. Pop this into your audio device and listen to it while you powerwalk. Or maybe even play it on your PC, mix in a fat bassline and use it as your own "BioShock 2 theme".
Either way check it out:
BioShock 2 - Jake Droboweicki interview * Didn't actually happen.
** This also didn't actually happen.
EA's earnings call is scheduled to be on its way any moment now. The company's put out its planned slate for fiscal year 2011 - some interesting reading in their planned 4th quarter (i.e about a year+ from now) - here's a few releases we selectively pruned:
Q4
Dead Space 2
Dragon Age Title TBA
Shooter from Epic TBA
New Sims Title TBA
Spore Title TBA
Q3 isn't a snooze either - that's when Crysis 2 is expected to drop. It would be nice to know more about this Epic shooter, though - like Crysis 2 it's slated for consoles and PC.
There's every reason why EA are all about the future right now - as the present is kind of unpleasant. According to its figures, the company lost million the last quarter.
Try to imagine a world where the very air outside is poisonous to breathe. To live, you either wear a gas mask and re-breather constantly or you spend your whole life living underground - breathing recycled air. Every day your underground home is attacked by a combination of mindless drone creatures and bandits - and this doesn't even take into consideration the Dark Ones.
This is the world of Metro 2033 - one of the most atmospheric first person shooters I've encountered since BioShock. You play Artyom, a young man brought up within the expansive Moscow underground. After the world is decimated by an as yet unexplained event, your family is pushed underground - you've lived at your station of the subway system your entire life, but you're about to branch out.
The game is based on a novel by Dmitry Glukhovsky - for now only available in Russian. The developers, 4A Games, have experience working with books as most of them come from working on the original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game at GSC GameWorld. S.T.A.L.K.E.R., as you might or might not know, is also based on a book - Eastern European devs and Russian novels about post-apocalyptic worlds go well together, it would seem.
There's a naked guy on the tracks!(continues...)
The gift that is ratings boards never ceases to keep giving. The US-based ESRB, doubtless jealous of the attention our own Classification Board receives - has a synopsis of Battlefield Bad Company 2's single player element. Included is the revelation that the game's campaign mode will commence in the dreaded WWII era:
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It should come as no surprise that THQ's selected Brock Lesnar to be its cover athlete on UFC 2010 Undisputed. The man-mountain pummelled Frank Mir to a bloody pulp in their meeting last tear, and currently holds the UFC crown.
Regional differences aside, this is what it will look like:
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It seems piracy is almost old news nowadays - YouTube punters posting videogame spoilers are the real new villains.
BioShock 2 is the latest victim - a punter's posted the ending of the game online, which in a title like BioShock 2 is a considerably inconsiderable move with the potential to give sales a hit.
Apparently 2K's legal team has been busy issuing takedown notices, and moreover creative director Jordan Thomas told press punters who had seen the footage probably wouldn't be able to make much sense out of it, as it's lacking in context.
Even so, you wouldn't want to be busted putting that up - especially ahead of release. Might lead to all kinds of uncomfortable questions. If Activision can get Modern Warfare 2 pirates locked up with rapists and murderers, we're pretty sure 2K can at least bankrupt someone who damages their IPs ahead of launch.
Yelling at your units is something any RTS player is occasionally guilty of, but it looks like you won't be doing it in EndWar 2. Work on a sequel to the voice-controlled RTS was underway, but original lead (and proud Aussie) Michael de Plater has confirmed to overseas media the project has "on the backburner"
The first EndWar had some potential (cmon, it did), but never really fulfilled the expectations Ubisoft had of it. Its global war setting had the makings of a long running, theatre-specific series - but perhaps Ubi have moved from voice to touch control in their RTS tastes, with R.U.S.E the new hotness.
Evolution can be a cruel mistress. While Sony still continues to sell PS2 consoles at a fair clip, Microsoft is loading the shells into the shotgun and getting ready to put old faithful - the original Xbox Live - out of its misery.
Microsoft spokesman Larry "Major Nelson" Hyrb updated his website to drop the news. The bolding is us, not them:
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While Game Informer's Battlefield Bad Company 2 review (you know, the one finished before the game was) still makes the rounds, another tidbit from an upcoming issue has been catching people's eyes: a profile on Rockstar/Team Bondi's LA Noire.
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Something that slipped through the cracks yesterday: THQ's CEO Brian Farrell has promised the Warhammer 40K MMO will be aired for the first time at this year's E3 show. Farrell made the comments during THQ's quarterly investor call:
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