Gadgets and Video Games

UFC Undisputed 2010 already has a shaved kodiak bear on its cover , so what else do you want? OK, how about a video of B.J. Penn just being sweaty and angry

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UFC 2010 features exclusive fights on PS3

Last week, Realtime Worlds MMO APB featured prominently during an in-booth press conference held at GDC. The game was playable (though, sadly, not by me), and the audience was treated to a live demo lead by the developer’s founder, ex-DMA and Grand Theft Auto co-creator, David Jones. Using two separate PCs hooked up to their own projection setups, Jones and another Realtime Worlds staffer hopped onto one of the game’s servers and began by giving a tour of one of three main areas, the Social District. As its name implies, this area — which reminded me more than a little of PlayStation Home — is where players can meet up, trade or sell their items, build custom music in the game’s built-in sequencer and buy a new set of wheels (or upgrade their current rides). When talking about the latter, Jones showed the vehicle customization tool, which featured not only cosmetic mods (custom designs can be sold to other players) but performance and aerodynamic tinkering, as well

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GDC Impressions: APB

In a panel titled “Where Did My Inventory Go? Refining Gameplay in Mass Effect 2 ,” BioWare’s Christina Norman talked about the radical changes made to the second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy.

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BioWare’s Christina Norman defines goals for Mass Effect 3

click to visit the new Albion Peter Molyneux has made it clear that Fable 3 is ditching as much of the 2D interface from Fable 2 as possible. Speaking at GDC , he finally showed us exactly how Lionhead will achieve this. According to Molyneux, Microsoft user research revealed that a majority of Fable 2 players understood fewer than half of the features in the game.

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Peter Molyneux explains Fable 3 menu, morphing systems

Based on the precedent set by your reaction to similar news for StarCraft 2 and Modern Warfare 2 , we’re guessing you’re not going to like the information Command & Conquer 4 lead designer Sam Bass recently shared with Destructoid . According to him, the FMV-filled strategy title won’t provide any LAN or dedicated server support to its players. These two features were apparently struck from the game in favor of a server-based character progression system .

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Command & Conquer 4 won’t have LAN support or dedicated servers

Valve has announced that THQ’s Metro 2033 will join the growing list of titles that support Steamworks. The PC version of the game will offer a number of Steamworks features, including Achievements, updates and DLC. So, you can look forward to earning some sweet, sweet cheevos while exploring the creepy environs of the Russian metro system. And trust us, it is creepy . It’s worth noting that with Steamworks support now official, it’s likely that Metro 2033 will also be joining the ranks of downloadable titles that won’t be offered by competing services like Impulse and Direct2Drive.

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Valve announces Metro 2033 will use Steamworks

AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! — A Reckless Disregard for Gravity developer Dejobaan Games is looking to take a “derivative of Aaaaa ” to other platforms. Studio founder Ichiro Lambe told us at DICE , “Over the course of 2010, we want to investigate branching out both to mobile, we’re talking about iPhone and Andriod, and also Wii and Xbox development.” One of those titles taking the multiplatform walkabout would likely be Musorqua , which Lambe describes as a game the studio is “very strongly prototyping.” He explained, “If that works, that’s the direction we’re going to take if people are excited, if the press is excited about it, if it excites us. If not, we’re going to tweak that a bit.” He also said that they’ll “definitely” be showing it off at PAX East next month. Dejobaan looking to branch out to other platforms, strongly prototyping Musorqua originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 19 Feb 2010 21:00:00 EST.

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Dejobaan looking to branch out to other platforms, strongly prototyping Musorqua

click to enable hardware embiggenation Even if you don’t know your tessellation from your displacement mapping, there’s no denying that these freshly delivered screenshots of THQ and 4a Games’ upcoming FPS Metro 2033 look stunning, thanks to the game’s support for “a number of advanced DX11 features with the latest generation of DX11 graphics cards.” These effects include the aforementioned tessellation, which produces rich detail from simple 3D surfaces, and some mighty-impressive depth of field camera focus effects. NVIDIA is using Metro 2033 as an example of what’s possible with its latest DX11-compliant GPUs, saying that “The 4A Engine is one of the most advanced game engines we’ve ever worked with, and with DX11 enabled, Metro 2033 is undoubtedly one of the best looking PC games of 2010.” We agree — it is very pretty in action, and the PC version we’ve seen wasn’t yet employing any DX11 voodoo. Also, remember: In Soviet Russia, hardware tessellates you ! Gallery: Metro 2033 (DX11) Metro 2033 supports DirectX11, as evident in eight new screens originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 17 Feb 2010 22:15:00 EST.

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Metro 2033 supports DirectX11, as evident in eight new screens

In the five-ish years since the Xbox 360 launched, ushering in the current console generation, we’ve heard a whole mess of talk about this console life cycle pushing past the usual five-ish years they tend to span. Given that we’re approaching the mark as we speak, MCV talked to execs from the big three and got an update on where each stands in terms of new hardware in the coming year(s). “The benefit of hardware remaining relevant for longer is the fact that it gives more developers a chance to get the very best and most out of current generation systems, rather than the cycle changing just as people have become used to maximizing a console’s performance and abilities,” says senior product manager at Nintendo UK Rob Lowe

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Execs from the big three weigh in on the current console cycle

Speaking to GI.biz , Ubisoft’s European Managing Director Alain Corre made it clear that the company plans to begin releasing new iterations of its major franchise titles every 12 to 18 months. Corre noted that his company is working toward the strategy, but stressed that each title “needs to be different enough from the previous SKU to make sure you’re not tiring the franchise or the consumers.” Corre pointed to the Call of Duty series as the best example of consistent releases and consistent quality, saying, “They never compromise on quality, which is exactly what we’re trying to do with our brands now.” His remarks strike a familiar chord, as Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot shared similar comments during a financial conference call earlier this month. Guillemot then stated the company’s goal of releasing more games more often, though he was careful to say that it still plans to invest in creating better game engines and development tools in order to avoid the franchise fatigue that seems to pervade certain titles

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Ubisoft may release franchise titles every 12-18 months