Gadgets and Video Games

Up until now, we hadn’t the slightest inclination that Codemasters was hard at work on a third installment in the rallycross racing series, Dirt . According to a recent interview with Edge , though, studio vice prez Gavin Cheshire confirms not only the game’s development, but also says, “there’s some really great stuff coming from Birmingham that’s going into Dirt 3 .” Cheshire was being interviewed on the subject of Codemasters as one of the last “big British publishers” when he revealed the publisher’s development plans for the sequel. The exec hopes to see more of the company’s home of origin (and its culture) leak into the next Dirt game, saying ” Dirt 2 : brilliant game, but it’s all American accents, so maybe we’re a little over the top with those … maybe we should fly the flag a bit more.” In addition to this week’s announce of Bodycount , that brings the publisher’s GDC new game reveals up to two

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Codemasters VP casually reveals Dirt 3

There is one drawback to seeing Uncharted 2 ’s co-lead designer, Richard Lemarchand, unfurl the development process behind the most successful and most ambitious game in the studio’s history. A post-mortem panel, held on Thursday afternoon at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, delved into developer Naughty Dog’s pre-production process, its production pipeline and the climactic rush to a spectacular end. It also highlighted some of the studio’s misjudgments, which resulted in a difficult crunch time toward the end of development.

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GDC: ‘Among Friends: An Uncharted 2 Post-mortem’

Following last night’s NPD report for February, Nintendo has issued a press release lauding the amazing selling power of its own products. In typical fashion, the gaming giant that got your grandma into gaming has managed to sell a ridiculous amount of DS and Wii systems in the U.S. — 1.9 million in the first two months of 2010, to be exact. As impressive as that 1.9 million figure is, Nintendo’s ability to break its own records is even more impressive.

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Nintendo sells 1.9 million DS and Wiis through Feb. 2010

Ubisoft has issued a recall for Collectors Edition copies of the submarine sim Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic , According to a report from the German site ComputerBase . Apparently, some offending World War II-related symbols (we’re guessing swastikas) were left in some of the bonus content, which violates German law . This only affects the Collectors Edition. The ComputerBase post briefly mentions the Ubisoft DRM that has been so problematic for players of Assassin’s Creed 2 and this game, confirming that the same scheme is in use there.

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Report: Silent Hunter 5 recalled in Germany

Immediately following his well-attended GDC panel , Nintendo’s Yoshio Sakamoto talked with us about (what else?) Metroid: Other M . In addition to all sorts of questions on the unique Team Ninja collaboration, we asked Sakamoto about the long-rumored Metroid Dread project and, barring a confirmation of that product, when we’d see another 2D handheld Metroid. Joystiq: Speaking of the core Metroid development team that last worked on the GBA, there have been rumors of a game known as ‘Metroid Dread’ – purportedly a 2D Metroid game for DS

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Metroid Dread concept is something Sakamoto ‘can’t say never existed’

There was an interesting moment during the Q&A session of Peter Molyneux’s Fable 3 panel at GDC this year. When asked if Fable 3 will be released on PC, Molyneux was cagey though he did say that he would ‘love’ to see the game appear on the platform. He was careful not to raise the ire of Microsoft’s “PR police people ..

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Peter Molyneux would ‘love’ to see Fable 3 on PC

Fantasy author R.A. Salvatore took the stage at GDC 2010 today and, while he made it clear that his talk about how to create believable fantasy worlds wasn’t specifically about his work with 38 Studios’ Copernicus project , he did talk a little bit about what he wants from an MMO game and gave the first mention of what the world of Curt Schiller’s game is like. Salvatore talked for quite a while in his thick Massachusetts accent about his time in Everquest , which he said was “the best world in a game I’ve ever seen.” He also lauded the idea of a death penalty in an MMO, and said that during his formative MMO experiences the threat of death (he once lost a hard-earned level when he was killed by an NPC that he accidentally clicked to attack) made living that much better. “If you take the pain out of the world,” he said, “you lose the accomplishment of winning.” And while he admitted that the Copernicus designers were fighting with him on whether or not to include a death penalty in the game, the company would at least make sure that a return from death was explained. His team has written over 10,000 years of history for the game’s world (all compiled on “a wiki with over hundreds of pages in it”), and one of the major features of the setting’s lore is a “device that’s perfected” called the “Well of Souls.” The Well, “when you die, will bring you back — if you meet the conditions.” He didn’t elaborate about what those conditions were, but he asked the audience what a worldwide death-prevention device would do to institutions like kings and religions.

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GDC: R.A. Salvatore wants you to die

Click to Super Mario-size We like a pretty picture just as much as the next Tom, Dick or Monet, but the art featured in the Into The Pixel exhibit – which opened to the public last night at GDC – is some of our favorite. You can experience the aesthetic splendor second-hand by checking out the gallery posted below. See if you can identify the games each painting is based on! (Spoiler alert: You’ll never , ever guess some of them. Not in a billion, trillion years.) Gallery: GDC 2010: Into the Pixel GDC: Gaming gets framed for Into The Pixel exhibit originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:30:00 EST.

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GDC: Gaming gets framed for Into The Pixel exhibit

A new company debuting at GDC 2010, Super Giant Games is largely comprised of ex-EA LA members — you know, the guys and gals who made those Command & Conquer games you like so much. The new studio’s project is something for “digital platforms,” destined for a 2011 release.

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Super Giant Games: New studio of former Command & Conquer vets

The first details about Mistwalker’s mysterious Wii RPG The Last Story have been released, in the form of a blog entry on Nintendo’s Last Story site . The game takes place on Ruri Island, which, as home to a necessary harbor, has become a wealthy and important city. The affluent island is run by “Lord Arganon,” a power-hungry ruler who is well-versed in magic

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The Last Story’s first concept art