pottedPlant7p The point of Kickstarter for games is to get the game development funded without a publisher fronting the money, setting deadlines, conditions, etc., that normally happens. A publisher wants more control because they’re fronting millions of dollars that they may or may not get back. Crowdsourcing works around that, paying for development without the same strings attached.

Selling the game is something else; EA is making a special offer to make sure they offer it in their online store. Steam is a store. Impulse is a store. You get the idea. The benefit to game makers is they don’t have to deal with the business aspect (processing payments, hosting, etc). That frees them up to do more development and/or get on with their lives. Certainly, the hope is that people other than those who funded the kickstarter will buy the game! And some of the kickstarter folks pitch in major money – hundreds, even thousands of dollars. I don’t think any of the major games I’ve seen say, “Hey, we’ll release the game for free if successfully funded!”

Also: EA doesn’t have the marketshare to ask for exclusitivity. Valve does.

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38 Studios’ massively multiplayer online game currently codenamed Project Copernicus is scheduled to arrive in June 2013. The news comes from Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee, who revealed the date today during a press conference attended by Joystiq discussing the future of embattled Providence-based 38 Studios.

How often does a state official announce a release date?!

Further details on the game were not revealed, as Chafee simply stated, “What I understand is Copernicus is June ’13.” Requests to 38 Studios for confirmation of the date were not returned as of press time.

Also during the briefing today, Chafee announced that 38 Studios’ $1.125 million check to the state of Rhode Island has cleared. This fulfills the company’s first obligated payment on the game studio’s controversial 2010 $75 million loan from the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC).

38 Studios founder Curt Schilling offered his first public comments on the issues surrounding the company last night through Facebook.

“To all the prayers and well wishes to the team and families at 38, God Bless and thank you! We will find a way, and the strength, to endure,” he wrote.

The RIEDC board Wednesday held an emergency meeting to discuss whether to provide additional assistance to 38 Studios to keep the company in business. While the board made no ruling on the matter, it is expected to consider the topic again on Monday.

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Earlier this week, a source told IGN Germany that Yager Development, which is presently finishing up Spec Ops: The Line for its June release, had been tapped to develop Dead Island 2. This is not the case, says Guido Eickmeyer, development director with the original game’s publisher, Deep Silver.

Dead Island 2 is not in development, at least not yet.

“We are neither working with Yager on Dead Island 2 nor do we have any contractual agreement with Yager about any project at this point,” he said.

The developer did not rule out working with Yager in the future, saying there is a “legitimate chance” the companies will one day team up. He even went as far as to say a future relationship could be on a project related to the Dead Island franchise.

Eickmeyer went on to explain that Deep Silver does not have Dead Island 2 “in concept or production with external partners” and that it is currently considering options for a sequel.

Dead Island was developed by Polish shop Techland and shipped in September 2011 to generally positive review scores. The game shipped 3 million copies and welcomed various add-on packs. Speculation about a follow-up sparked in November, when Techland filed a trademark application for Dead World.

Though a sequel to Dead Island is currently out of sight, a movie based on the property may see the light of day. Film studio Lionsgate optioned the rights from Deep Silver after the game shipped last year. Development of the Dead Island film will be led by The Mummy producer Sean Daniel and Stefan Sonnenfeld, who did postproduction work on various Pirates of the Caribbean films and X-Men: The Last Stand.

For more on Dead Island, check out GameSpot’s review.

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 gatz900 that had to have been a hard decision for the company. On one hand, if they don’t pay the loan, they’ll default, which will carry harsh consequences. By at least paying off the debt, they’ll have a bit of hope of receiving further credit, which may help stave off bankruptcy. On the other hand, they want to pay their employees for their work. They had to choose the lessor of 2 evils here.

If they paid their employees instead, assuming that money was enough to cover the wages, the loan goes into default, and that would severely hinder their credit options, and will likely lead them to bankruptcy. 

By paying off the loan, they keep the credit line open and they can keep hoping for help. Not saying it’s a good idea at all to take on more debt, but it might need to be done to keep the company running. If they do go bankrupt, though, and let’s say they go Chapter 7, then the employee wages/salaries are considered a higher priority creditor, and are second in line to get paid after creditors with secured loans for PPE.

So the choices to me were, 1.) default now and risk a quicker bankruptcy, or 2.) pay employees later, try to get some help before the next payment is due, and if they do enter chapter 7, then the wages they didn’t pay will be pretty high up on the list.

(This is all generally speaking and it’s also coming from Business Legal Studies and Finance senior, so I’m not an expert….yet)

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Epic Games is calling on Microsoft and Sony to offer bleeding-edge visuals with the next wave of consoles, and it believes the Unreal Engine 4 can spur such an advancement in fidelity. In an interview published today at Wired, Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski said the company’s proprietary Unreal Engine 4 needs to be at the forefront of next-generation technology.

The next wave of consoles are going to offer impressive visuals, if Epic has its way.

“There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of our engine team and our studio to drag this industry into the next generation,” Bleszinski said. “It is up to Epic, and [CEO] Tim Sweeney in particular, to motivate Sony and Microsoft not to phone in what these next consoles are going to be. It needs to be a quantum leap. They need to damn near render Avatar in real time, because I want it and gamers want it–even if they don’t know they want it.”

Why should Microsoft and Sony listen to Epic? Sweeney says his company has a more intimate relationship with manufacturers than others do.

“We’re much more in sync with the console makers than any other developer is,” he said. “That means we can give detailed recommendations with a complete understanding of what is going to be commercially possible.”

A preview of the Unreal Engine 4 was offered to select licensees, partners, and prospective clients during the 2012 Game Developers Conference in March, with those parties required to sign a nondisclosure agreement.

As for advancements of the Unreal Engine 4 over its predecessors, Sweeney said the new framework includes tools that allow for shortened production cycles and lower development costs. In terms of technical specifics, the new engine includes a new dynamic lighting system, which operates based on calculations of objects’ inherent properties, as opposed to being dictated by preprogrammed effects. This technology will supposedly allow for more realistic lighting, where “colors mix, translucent materials glow, and objects viewed through water refract.”

For more on the Unreal Engine 4, and to see images rendered by the technology, check out the full Wired interview.

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Far Cry 3 doesn’t come out until September 4, but eager gamers can get a taste of Ubisoft’s upcoming first-person shooter a little early. The publisher today announced that it will hold a two-week-long multiplayer beta this summer, with specialty retailer GameStop giving away invites to customers who buy Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

Do not trust this man. He is not a GameStop employee and will not assure you a copy of Far Cry 3 when it launches in September.

There is a catch, as customers will need to be enrolled in GameStop’s PowerUp Rewards customer loyalty program in order to receive the invite. When they purchase Ghost Recon on its May 22 launch, PowerUp members will be given a code to redeem at a GameStop website. On that site, players choose whether they want to be in the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 beta test, and they will receive the actual code via email once the beta goes live. Ubisoft will also be giving codes out through its social channels and the game’s official site.

The Far Cry 3 beta will include six playable classes, as well as multiple maps and modes. Players will be able to upgrade and customize their characters, as well as get a feel for how the game’s zip lines and combat sliding mechanics will impact multiplayer.

Far Cry 3 will cast players as Jason Brody, a man stranded on a strange tropical island similar to the setting of the first Far Cry. Gamers will head out into this “savage paradise” and “slash, sneak, and shoot” to survive in a world that has “lost all sense of morality.”

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Burnout developer Criterion Games is reportedly hiring for a PlayStation Vita project. Eagle-eyed Internet sleuth Superannuation spotted a job listing for a software engineer at the United Kingdom-based developer that called for a person to optimize and tune the “game resource system for the PS Vita.”

Is Criterion bringing a new racing game to the PS Vita?

The job listing has apparently been amended, as it now states this person will optimize and tune the “game resource system for other platforms.” As of press time, Criterion Games parent company Electronic Arts had not responded to GameSpot’s request for comment.

Criterion Games released Burnout Crash last year on Xbox Live, but has not made public any new projects. The last retail effort from the shop was 2010′s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, which won warm reviews and shipped over 5 million copies. A new Need for Speed title has been confirmed to ship in 2012.

Last August, job listings at the studio hinted that a forthcoming project from the company would be set in an open world–like the studio’s 2008 hit Burnout Paradise–and ship for new platforms. For more on Criterion Games’ latest title, check out GameSpot’s review of Burnout Crash.

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After the Golden Week period, sales in Japan were expected to take a slow turn. This was evident with this week’s recent Media Create update for the week of May 7 to May 13. Regardless, Mario Party 9 was still the top-selling game for the week. The Wii title’s numbers went down from 152,883 to 37,353.

Starhawk’s Emmet Graves isn’t too happy about partying plumbers raining on his debut.

The PS3 version of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City also went down in sales. The third-person shooter’s sales numbers went from 252,525 to 14,553 units, and it was at third place.

Speaking of Sony’s console, the multiplayer action game Starhawk was the only new title that made its debut in Japan. Sony’s PS3 title was at fourth place, with 12,873 units sold. The game was praised for its diverse combat, visuals, and cooperative play; check out GameSpot’s review for more information on the title.

Other than that, portable games ruled the top 10 roost for the week. Fire Emblem: Kakusei stood strong at second place, with 16,530 units sold, while Super Mario 3D Land was holding the middle ground, with 11,260 units sold. Capping off the list was the sole PSP entry Conception: Please Have My Children! The game sold 4600 copies.

On the hardware side of things, the 3DS numbers went down from 91,868 to 46,425 units, while the Wii went from 15,789 to 6073 units. The PS Vita went down from 10,583 to a staggering 6340 units.

Top Japan game sales May 7 to May 13

Software
Rank/Title/Publisher/Platform/Unit sales
1. Mario Party 9/Nintendo/Wii/37,353
2. Fire Emblem: Kakusei/Nintendo/3DS/16,530
3. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City/Capcom/PS3/14,553
4. Starhawk/Sony/PS3/12,873
5. Super Mario 3D Land/Nintendo/3DS/11,260
6. Monster Hunter 3G/Capcom/3DS/9,105
7. Mario Kart 7/Nintendo/3DS/9,045
8. Kid Icarus: Uprising/Nintendo/3DS/7,636
9. Mario Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games/Nintendo/3DS/4,933
10. Conception: Please Have My Children!/Spike Chunsoft/PSP/4,600

Hardware
3DS- 46,425
PS3 – 12,996
PSP – 12,247
PS Vita – 6340
Wii – 6073
PS2 – 1212
Xbox 360 – 1023
DSi XL – 819
DSi – 387

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Blizzard has issued an apology to Diablo III players affected by the game’s technical issues, including the discovery of a game-breaking bug.

Posting on the Diablo III forums, Blizzard said that their preparations for the launch of the game “did not go far enough”.

Evil has returned…it’s just a little slow.

“As many of you are aware, technical issues occurring within hours after the game’s launch led to players experiencing error messages and difficulty logging in. These issues cropped up again last night for the Americas and Europe servers. Despite very aggressive projections, our preparations for the launch of the game did not go far enough.

“To that end, we’d also like to say that we’ve been humbled by your enthusiasm–and we sincerely regret that your crusade to bring down the Lord of Terror was thwarted not by mobs of demons, but by mortal infrastructure.”

Blizzard announced that it has been monitoring the game around the clock, and said it has applied several optimisations to help the servers deal with the global rush. According to the publisher, all systems are now back online, and “running relatively smoothly”. The company said that it is also investigating a fix for a service issue linked to the achievement system, which saw achievements not being earned properly or not being saved between multiple log-ins.

As a result of the technical difficulties, Blizzard has decided to push back the target launch for Diablo III’s real-money auction house, originally estimated for May 22. The company said it will post further information about this in the near future.

The publisher stated that it would continue to monitor global performance of the servers, and will be taking further measures as needed, including maintenance to improve each region.

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This developer is useless,only recognition they ever got was simply because CoD “hate” was extremely popular at the moment of their forming,and Activision was being vilified for every single move they made…

In the end,Activision is a much more respectable company than EA,they only found a perfect FPS formula,and are fulfiling the market’s demand for it.They don’t force you into anything,map packs,Elite,etc,nothing is shoved down your throat,all is optional.Ppl pay for that only because they find CoD very fun,and enjoy playing it…

Activision constantly pushes CoD’s biggest strength,accessibility.They don’t bother you with any crap,for example,there aren’t even Online Passes for used CoD copies.You just jump in and play…

Oh,and for those who consider Zampella and West some sort of “heroes”,keep in mind they are a part of a legal battle you know very little about,except for some news articles released to the public…

Lastly,before “Ur a CoD fanboy” repllies start pouring in,I’m not a CoD player,I don’t play the game,but I don’t “hate” on it either.I simply give my money to other developers whose products I find appealing…

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