New Game From Assassin's Creed Developer "Osiris"?

Users on neoGAF have found evidence of a new game from Ubisoft Montreal through a video on Vimeo.

The video was posted on the account of composer Mark Kilian. According to the page, the video was posted five months ago and is a demo commissioned by Ubisoft Montreal.

The video features actors in motion capture suits "muttering incantations", civilians fighting in the streets and a hero entering the scene dragging another actor.

At E3 last year, images were leaked that were supposedly of a new Prince of Persia game:

The second image is clearly related to this project, now thought to be a new project as Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat said "I think it is fair to say that, right now, Prince of Persia is being paused."

Osiris points to an Egyptian setting for the new game and some of the scenes in the trailer suggest the same. Osiris was (according to Wikipedia) the Egyptian God of the afterlife, the underworld and the dead.

Could it be a new entry in the Assassin's Creed series, as Egypt was a much speculated setting for a future game, or just a new project all together?

Gabe Newell and JJ Abrams to Speak Together at DICE

JJ Abrams, director of Star Trek and soon to be director on the new Star Wars, will team up with Valve co-founder Gabe Newell for the opening keynote at DICE 2013. The discussion will be titled “Storytelling Across Platforms: Who Benefits Most, the Audience or the Player?” on February 6th.

An extract of the press release says: “From TV to film and now award-winning mobile apps, there’s no question that J.J. has his finger on the pulse of the entertainment industry, and we’re thrilled to welcome him and our 2013 Hall of Fame inductee, Gabe Newell, to the D.I.C.E. stage,” said Martin Rae, president, Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences. “J.J. thoughtfully weaves together suspense, action, emotion, and fun into every one of his projects – elements every game developer aspires to capture as well. Each year, the D.I.C.E. Summit sets the tone for the year ahead in games and adding J.J. and Gabe’s shared insights is a natural fit as we see all forms of entertainment converge.”

DICE will be held from February 5-8 in Las Vegas and all of the speakers presenting at DICE are available on the summit’s official site. On February 7th, the DICE Awards will take place.

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/28/gabe-newell-and-jj-abrams-to-speak-together-at-dice/

China Ending 13-Year Ban of Games Consoles?

Authorities in China are reviewing the games console ban that has been in place since 2000.

There had been fear that video games would have a negative effect on the Chinese adolescents both mentally and physically. This caused the Chinese ministries to block the sale and import of the consoles in China.

An unnamed source, via China Daily, has said “”We are reviewing the policy and have conducted some surveys and held discussions with other ministries on the possibility of opening up the game console market,” he also added that “”…since the ban was issued by seven ministries more than a decade ago, we will need approval from all parties to lift it.”

The possibility of the ban being lifted has reportedly seen an increase of stock for both Sony and Nintendo, according to Bloomberg  Sony’s stock increased 9.1 percent in Tokyo trading to 1,407 yen. Nintendo added 3.4 percent to 9,630 yen. A Tokyo based analyst, Mitsuo Shimizu said that “It would open up a new and huge market for the video-game makers.”

As the law was passed by seven of the Chinese ministries and the ban would only be lifted if all of them agreed, don’t be surprised if there ends up with no change at all. However, the prospect of the major console manufacturers selling their hardware in a new region would be fascinating.

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/28/china-ending-13-year-ban-of-games-consoles/

Quantic Dream Outing the Name PS4 not Orbis?

For a long time, reports had the next Playstation console being called Orbis rather than PS4. However, today, Quantic Dream filed for the domain name of "Singularityps4.com".

Previously, the developer had registered such names as "heavyrainps3.com" and more recently "Beyondps3.com" for their upcoming game Beyond: Two Souls.

This has led the industry to speculate as to whether the name of the next generation console will be PS4 after all, seeing as the Playstation brand followed by the number has become synonymous with the consoles.

This provides an interesting look at where the company want to take the console, be it just a new iteration of the tried and tested or a step away and into the unknown.

Sony to Wait for Rivals to Announce Next Gen

Sony CEO Kazuo Hirai has said that Sony will let the competition take the lead in announcing the next generation in console gaming.

In an interview with The Times (Via IGN) he said:

“Why go first, when your competitors can look at your specifications and come up with something better?”

This suggests that Sony are willing to allow Microsoft to announce their new console first to judge specifications (and probably pricing details too knowing Sony and their history of product pricing) so that they are not beaten by the competition before they have even released. This is a good strategy for Sony to take however, if they leave it to long such as with the launch of the PS3 they will be put at a major disadvantage for a second generation running.

Running up to the announcement of the consoles there are sure to be many different “leaks” spouting what people believe to be the next console. Expect full details from E3 at the latest but as long as Sony don’t come up with a boomerang controller again I am sure they should be OK.

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/21/sony-to-wait-for-rivals-to-announce-next-gen/

Games for Noobs?

NOOBS!

You are the people who think that being a gamer is owning Words with Friends on your iPod touch… Or the ones who think the Wii is the best thing since sliced bread! For these people I have compiled this very simple list of three games which are built specifically for you.

3: Call of Duty (Any of them) – This is the game series that, despite being an 18 rated game, caters to those slightly racist and homophobic 8 year olds who think that being offensive and annoying makes you better at the game. It doesn’t. This game is built for noobs, just start out and run around like a lunatic shouting down your microphone so that people who are good at games know you’re coming. Or better yet, use one of those new-fangled things called “Explosives” just to annoy the living hell out of everyone. These things have a cool nickname, the noobtube. If you use this on this game at any point, YOU.ARE.A.NOOB.

2: Anything on the Nintendo DS with Dogs or Cats or any other animal on the front cover – Here’s an idea, for you people who love buying “Dogz”, “Catz”, “Horsez” or whatever other abomination the world has created for you noobs, BUY A REAL ANIMAL. These games are a poor “simulation” of real animals and thus, stupid. If the response to this is “Pokémon are in games and they are like so totally animals too!” then I say to you that you have a point, except we fight these Pokémon against each other and whoever wins is the best. I cannot fight your overly domesticated “Nintendogs/cats” against each other, I can just pet them and throw tennis balls at them which gets old. Quick.

1: Angry Birds – The premise of Angry Birds is simple, throw your colourful and slightly suicidal birds at structures made from flimsy wood, glass and stone to destroy pigs. You get more points the more stuff you destroy, which add up to get stars! If this is too hard for you to understand then don’t even try going towards the Angry Birds Space… It’s got a really confusing thing called Physics. That was sarcasm, nothing about Angry Birds is confusing. If you find it difficult… Go home, cry and wonder how you managed to muster the brainpower to stand up.

PS3 Skyrim DLC Finally Coming

After months and months of watching Xbox users getting each of the DLC drops for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Playstation 3 users will finally be able to purchase them all this February.

The announcement was made on Twitter by Pete Hines, the Bethesda President. It seems all of the DLC (Dawnguard, Hearthfire and Dragonborn) will be released simultaneously and will, for the first week, be half price presumably by way of an apology for being unable to release them on time due to technical problems on the Playstation platform only. In my opinion, this is a little bit late for it to be popular as the game was released over a year ago!

Except for this tweet there are no details on pricing or a concrete date, so don’t be holding your breath for it in the first few days of the month.

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/18/ps3-skyrim-dlc-finally-coming/

HMV Enters Administration

Today HMV, a company that has been around since 1921, has entered administration with administrators Deloitte.

The company has been in trouble for a few months and, after poor sales in a crucial Christmas period and massive competition from the online retailers Amazon and the iTunes Store, finally succumbed to the pressure upon it. The company currently has over 200 stores and also employs around 4,000 people in the UK.

Part of the statement from HMV read:

The Board regrets to announce that it has been unable to reach a position where it feels able to continue to trade outside of insolvency protection, and in the circumstances therefore intends to file notice to appoint administrators to the Company and certain of its subsidiaries with immediate effect.

The Directors of the Company understand that it is the intention of the administrators, once appointed, to continue to trade whilst they seek a purchaser for the business.

The company have been able to stock the newest game from Capcom, DmC: Devil May Cry, but may not be able to stock brand new games from other publishers which, last year, happened to GAME when they could not stock new releases such as Mass Effect 3.

According to the Financial Times, the company that purchased the Canadian branch of HMV IN 2011 is considering buying some of the UK stores. While administrators look for a buyer HMV have suspended the use of gift cards and vouchers in addition to their online store.

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/15/hmv-enters-administration/

Another Thank You

Thanks to Amar Puaar! For posting my website on his Twitter feed.

Found here: https://twitter.com/AmarPuaar

Warner Bros. To Buy THQ?

According to reports, Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment is a potential buyer for THQ.

Distressing Debt Investing, who were present at the bankruptcy hearing yesterday, posted various tweets quoting THQ banker Sam Greene who had said that five buyers are interested in purchasing THQ. However some of these buyers may not want the whole of THQ and it’s library, but may place a bid for individual properties owned by the company. Clearlake Capital, the company who wants to buy THQ for $60 million have said that the sale of individual properties is not allowed.

Just yesterday, US Trustee Roberta DeAngelis said THQ’s sale of assets to Clearlake Capital within 30 days stopped other companies from  bidding. This was not the only objection to THQ’s practises, the full article ishere. No other potential buyers except Warner Bros. have been revealed however there have been reports that Ubisoft are interested.

Another hearing is to be held on Monday 7th January.

Source: Gamespot

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/05/warner-bros-to-buy-thq/

PS4 Rumours Spark Gamestop Investor Panic

This morning, a patent filed by Sony which will render second hand games useless caused investors to start selling off their shares in Gamestop, a video games store which makes a large amount of money from used games sales.

The technology proposed would tag the game to the user’s console and / or PSN ID, which would mean that you would be unable to sell the game back to stores. Thepatent even states that ”As a result, the dealing of electronic content in the second-hand markets is suppressed, which in turn supports the redistribution of part of proceeds from sales of the electronic content to the developers.”

This technology would mean that stores who buy and sell second hand games would lose a massive amount of money and many customers who would buy the second hand games only. These ideas have obviously gotten into investor’s heads as Gamestop stock dropped $1.57 or 6.1% to $24.09. This came despite many people suggesting that companies always file patents and none of them will necessarily be used in future products.

To try and calm the investors, Michael Pachter gave his advice. ”Sony would be materially hurt if its console blocked used games and competitor consoles from Microsoft and Nintendo did not,” Pachter said to investors.

As Sony has been filing various patents recently (such as a dualshock / move hybrid and in-game advertisements), I wouldn’t worry too much that this will be used on the much rumoured PS4 / Orbis as drastic changes which seem negative for consumers would risk the competitors gaining an advantage.

Source: Eurogamer.net

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/05/ps4-rumours-spark-gamestop-investor-panic/

Tomb Raider Multiplayer Detailed

After revealing that there will be a multiplayer mode in the reboot of Tomb Raider, details of the mode have been released. It comes from a Tomb Raider forum user who took the info from the new Official Xbox Magazine. The magazine says that there will be at least two modes, Team Deathmatch and Rescue, but a third mode has been hinted at called “Cry For Help”.

Team Deathmatch, setting groups Lara’s survivor friends against natives named “scavengers”. Matches will be ”Best-of-three matches, alternating between sides.” Rescue tasks survivors with collecting med packs and delivering them to set destinations on the map while the scavengers must kill a set number of the survivors to win. The hinted at third mode will “place a strong emphasis on discovery and collection” but nothing else has been detailed.

Maps are apparently not too “wide open” and features “traps that shot spikes out of walls, climbable surfaces, destroyable environmental elements (like bridges), and weaponry like Lara’s now trademark bow and arrow.” XP and load outs also feature.

There seems to be no playable Lara Croft so far which makes the mode slightly less exciting for me. A feature where the best player gets access to a hero character, seen in the Star Wars: Battlefront games, or spending currency / XP on a Lara skin, such as in the Uncharted multiplayer mode, would make for a great addition.

http://invalidopinions.com/2013/01/03/tomb-raider-multiplayer-detailed/

DmC Review Scores Coming In

The reboot / prequel of the Devil May Cry series, named just DmC, has had a controversial beginning. The fans of the series were up in arms over the developer, Heavenly Sword creators Ninja Theory, deciding to change from the original Dante to a new version who looks, sounds and acts extremely different. It may put the doubters to bed that the game is apparently very good.

Firstly, a Swedish magazine called Level gave the game a high 9 / 10 rating, praising controls, combat, story and level design. Now, more scores have come in with Gamesmaster and X360 Magazine giving the game 89 / 100 and 9 / 10 respectfully. The magazines also praise the story and gameplay, but take the game down a notch for the game's boss fights.

If the game can get more high reviews then this could silence the people who rejected the game from the beginning. More reviews will be released before the game's release date January 15th.