Filed under: Interviews
id expecting to sign Doom 4 deal 'later this year,' publisher unknown
by Christopher Grant 
{ 8 months ago }
And when will that be? "We're taking Doom like we did with Rage, quite a way on our internal development funds," Carmack revealed. "It winds up getting us a better deal with the publishers who sign it but we do expect to be signing Doom deals later this year." So, in other words, after beating out other publishers on paper – including Activision, THQ, and Sega – to get the publishing rights for Rage, it's up to EA Partners to actually perform if they want a slice of that Doom 4 pie. With games like Rock Band, Rock Band 2, Left 4 Dead, Orange Box, Crysis, and unreleased games like Brütal Legend, and the as-yet-unnamed Epic / People Can Fly and Shinji Mikami / Suda51 games we think EA aims to please.
Check back later today for our full interview with id's John Carmack and Marty Stratton.
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id 'bullish' on iPhone: Wolfenstein RPG, Quake 3, 'experimental' game
by Christopher Grant { 8 months ago }
Carmack told us about some of those iPhone plans, saying that there "a lot of people [at id] that are very bullish" on the iPhone, including himself apparently. He told us that he was working on iPhone development stuff "literally today." One game Carmack dubbed "experimental" saying, "We're not positive that it's going to turn into a fun game yet and we may kill it, rather than release something that is not good." It's worth noting that one particular Wii project being "tossed around" is an "outgrowth" of this "experimental" iPhone game.
The other piece of iPhone development that Carmack mentioned is an "internal hack-around project." Namely: Quake 3. It "needs some significant amount of [his] time" to get a framerate worthy of the game, Carmack told us. He continued, "If we do turn that into a product I'm seriously considering going and taking over all of the Quake Live gameplay modifications and the updated maps" to make a "more modernized version." The aforementioned tour de force "would not be a new IP" according to Anna Kang, president of id Mobile though we're fairly confidant it's not this Quake 3 "hack."
Check back later today for our full interview with id's John Carmack and Marty Stratton.
Joystiq interview: Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi
by Kevin Kelly { 8 months ago }
Jun Takeuchi has been very busy the last few years, dedicating his time to franchises like Onimusha, Lost Planet, and of course Resident Evil. With the latest installment of Capcom-brand survival horror, Takeuchi has been battling accusations of racism and complaints about the dated controls, all while serving up four million downloads of the demo. He didn't have to deal with any such matters back in the days of Resident Evil 2, that's for sure.
We met up with Takeuchi during his recent stop in Los Angeles to discuss these issues and other hot topics. Find out what he had to say after the break.
We met up with Takeuchi during his recent stop in Los Angeles to discuss these issues and other hot topics. Find out what he had to say after the break.
Joystiq interview: Talking Uncharted 2 with Naughty Dog's Evan Wells
by Kevin Kelly { 9 months ago }
When he wasn't busy showing us the best way to get Nathan Drake killed, Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells was patiently listening to our questions about facial hair, multiplayer plans and the adventurer's latest female companion.Thankfully, he answered everything we lobbed at him (without lobbing any physical objects back). Read on after the break to find out what other secrets Uncharted 2: Among Thieves has to offer.
Joystiq interview: Unbolting Game Mechanic Studios
by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }
According to the studio, the game will cast players in the role of a "reclusive millionaire" and art lover hilariously named Warren Canvas, as he revisits famous past battlegrounds which have "all been re-imagined in an exciting new way." Little else is known, though the company notes that Mr. Canvas may have his work cut out for him, teasing that "20:1 odds will be a beautiful thing!"
Dazed and confused, we recently stumbled into studio co-founder Jason Alejandre, an industry vet who made his first footprint in the industry developing for the Sega Genesis. We took the opportunity to ask Alejandre more about Game Mechanic Studios and Art of War, as well as how he plans to make his studio thrive in such an uncertain economic climate.
Telling stories: The next hurdle for story telling
by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.
What's next for in-game story telling? In this, our final segment looking at video game narratives, our collective of industry professionals offer insight into what they believe is the next big challenge facing the evolution of story telling in the games we play.
What's next for in-game story telling? In this, our final segment looking at video game narratives, our collective of industry professionals offer insight into what they believe is the next big challenge facing the evolution of story telling in the games we play.
Telling stories: The games that got it right
by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.
It's rare that story tellers get all of the pieces of their narrative to fit together exactly right in any medium. But in this industry, where story shares a balance with gameplay and endings often get the short end of the development stick, weaving a complete and compelling tale must be a daunting task. Now, gifts unwrapped and bellies full, our panel of industry personalities sound off on those games that they feel were up to the challenge, delivering storytelling experiences above and beyond their peers.
It's rare that story tellers get all of the pieces of their narrative to fit together exactly right in any medium. But in this industry, where story shares a balance with gameplay and endings often get the short end of the development stick, weaving a complete and compelling tale must be a daunting task. Now, gifts unwrapped and bellies full, our panel of industry personalities sound off on those games that they feel were up to the challenge, delivering storytelling experiences above and beyond their peers.
Telling stories: How much is that ending in the window?
by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }
As games have evolved, so too has the role of storytelling in the titles we play. As we turn the corner on 2008, we asked multiple industry personalities across all walks of game development on titles such as Dragon Age: Origins, Bionic Commando and Guild Wars for their thoughts.
Epic Games' Michael Capps recently caused quite an uproar among gamers with his suggestion to offer the conclusion to games as premium DLC rather than as part of the core experience. As the latest in our continuing week-long feature, we asked our panel of industry personalities what they thought of the proposal. Interestingly, much of the group was noticibly more tight-lipped in their responses than when answering other questions.
Epic Games' Michael Capps recently caused quite an uproar among gamers with his suggestion to offer the conclusion to games as premium DLC rather than as part of the core experience. As the latest in our continuing week-long feature, we asked our panel of industry personalities what they thought of the proposal. Interestingly, much of the group was noticibly more tight-lipped in their responses than when answering other questions.
Telling stories: What's up with lame endings?
by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }
While narrative has taken on a larger role, time and again we end up being left unsatisfied in the final moments with endings that fail to wrap up stories in interesting or compelling ways. In our continuing week-long feature, we asked our diverse collection of industry personalities why so many endings in the games we play leave us cold.
Telling stories: Balancing gameplay v. narrative
by Jason Dobson { 10 months ago }
How important are stories? How about endings? Over the next week this diverse group of personalities sounds off on these and other story-driven topics, starting today as we open up by asking whether or not narrative shares an equal burden as gameplay in carrying the video game experience.
Joystiq Interview: How to quit games for a year
by Justin McElroy { 11 months ago }
He's getting close to the 365-day finish line, and in the interim he's managed to read more, learn some recipes, travel, run a half-marathon and catalog all his progress on his blog Paused. We recently caught up with Shafeek via an email exchange to find out why he quit, when he's going back and from where he draws his staggering, iron resolve.
Joystiq interview: NCsoft talks about updating City of Heroes, keeping it relevant
by Jason Dobson { 11 months ago }
Of course, the now wholly NCsoft-owned super powered MMO has released updates of its own to keep from becoming stale, including everything from the libertine City of Villains to this week's latest addition, dubbed Issue 13. We recently caged Matt "Positron" Miller, and spoke to the senior designer for NCsoft NorCal at length about the unluckily numbered update, as well as a number of other topics, including the availability of City of Heroes on the Mac and the superhero MMO's relevancy in today's overcrowded market.
Joystiq interview: An update on 'The Agency'
by Alexander Sliwinski { 11 months ago }
Joystiq: So, what's going on with your game? It keeps popping up on radar, but it appears like nothing seems to be going anywhere.
Lead Designer Hal Milton: (laughs) Well, it's going a lot of places in our studio. We announced the title rather early, showed some pre-alpha last January. It's really important that we did this. But, if we have the team in different places around the world talking about the game, how are they supposed to be working on the game?
So, you've got your heads down right now making the game?
Yeah, since we showed off some stuff in January, now our designers are fleshing out about six or seven locales. Working on Operative functionality, backstories, story lines. It's a lot of content. Between content and feature support, there's a lot of work to be done. We don't want to keep having hype sessions just showing movies and crap. We need to make the game and not just keeps promoting it. After we went dark in January, it's been a really, really, blessed thing.
Joystiq interview: Hitting the open road with Vigilante 8 dev Isopod Labs
by Jason Dobson { 1 year ago }
The game's developer, Isopod Labs, was co-founded by both Peter Morawiec and Adrian Stephens, the same two individuals behind Luxoflux, in January 2007. Vigilante 8: Arcade represents the studio's first title, and on the heels of the game's debut we cornered one half of the founding duo in Adrian Stephens to speak more in-depth about his company and why it was important to the team to revisit their past.
Joystiq interview: Hifumi Kouno on Infinite Space
by Majed Athab { 1 year ago }
Ever wanted to create your own spacecraft and sail the ocean of stars? Well, you can do that with Nude Maker and Platinum Games' Infinite Space for DS -- sorta. We caught up with Hifumi Kouno, both president of Nude Maker and director of Infinite Space, to find out more about the spaceship-building title that's due out next year.
