Navigating the free-to-play landscape in Command & Conquer

The term "free-to-play" carries with it a certain stigma in the video game industry. It invariably causes gamers to flinch, calling to mind social games like FarmVille. However, as more recognizable experiences enter the realm of free-to-play software, the knee-jerk reaction has begun to subside. With the Command & Conquer series launching under the freemium banner later this year, it would appear that EA is banking on tamer attitudes toward free, microtransaction-based titles.

Despite the simplified, non-sequel sounding name, EA's free-to-play Command & Conquer is a continuation of the strategy series. First announced as Command & Conquer: Generals 2 in 2011, developer BioWare Victory plans to launch the game this year with a campaign that continues the Generals lineage, and later refresh the free-to-play game with content set in the Tiberium and Red Alert universes.

There lies a very ambitious development plan in place for this series, with gamers playing a key part of the process. Immediately after launch, Victory says it will begin crunching numbers and plugging into the fan community to see what needs to be fixed, changed, or tweaked. Victory promises changes based on this feedback will be implemented every week. Calling it a "Live Service," Victory anticipates the instant feedback will allow Command & Conquer's new free-to-play focus to improve and expand quickly.

The downsides of shifting to a free-to-play focus are immediate for franchise fans. Though there will be single-player content, Command & Conquer will not include a single-player campaign and Victory has no plans to include cutscenes or cinematics, which is a massive blow to series supporters. Additionally, Command & Conquer is another in EA's growing list of games that require a constant internet connection.

Gallery: Command & Conquer (Screens and Renders: 02/25/13)

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Navigating the free-to-play landscape in Command & Conquer originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sony completely revises list of PS4 EU studios, down from 53 to 30 [updates]

Sony made wholesale corrections to the list of European/PAL companies confirmed as PS4 developers and publishers, reducing the list of named studios from 53 to 28. Curiouser, not one of the developers and publishers named on the previous list makes an appearance on the new roll call. A spokesperson for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe confirmed to us the first list, sent out last week, was erroneous, and this new one is correct. There are no revisions for any other regions.

The new list removes a number of significant names, including Mojang (Minecraft), Rovio (Angry Birds), Frozenbyte, Criterion Games, and City Interactive. In their stead are some new noteworthy studios, such as CD Projekt, who've confirmed The Witcher 3 as a PS4 game. Also included are Bohemia Interactive, Deep Silver, Ninja Theory, IO Interactive, Codemasters, 2K Games, and Sumo Digital. The full list can be found after the break.

We've reached out to a number of studios for comment. Mojang's Daniel Kaplan reiterated to us the comments he gave to Gamasutra, saying his studio hasn't decided anything yet, and that the error is "confusion from Sony's side." Gamasutra's article also confirms Super Crate Box developer Vlambeer and Skulls of the Shogun creator 17-Bit, both included in the original list, as not currently working on anything for the PS4.

A spokesperson for Monsters (probably) Stole My Princess developer Mediatonic, included in the original list but not in the corrected one, told us he couldn't make any comment on his studio and PS4 development. Meanwhile, Sumo Digital's inclusion adds weight to the rumor the British studio is working on LittleBigPlanet 3, but for the PS4. When approached previously about LBP3, a studio representative told Joystiq, "No comment."

Update 1: A spokesperson for 505 Games tells us the Italian company is "definitely" planning to publish games on the PS4. 505 Games was in the original list of European/PAL PS4 developers and publishers, but not the revised list. The spokesperson noted the company's logo appears in the image showcasing PS4 partners, as shown during last week's event, as do many of the names in the revised list.

Update 2: Sony Computer Entertainment Europe informs us the list of European PS4 studios has been further revised. Two more studios are now present in the form of Criterion Games and Ghost Games (an EA studio) - both were in the original list of 53. That takes the tally of confirmed European studios up to 30.

Continue reading Sony completely revises list of PS4 EU studios, down from 53 to 30 [updates]

Sony completely revises list of PS4 EU studios, down from 53 to 30 [updates] originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 25 Feb 2013 08:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and the power of customization

Those who don't own a 3DS or Wii may not be familiar with Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate - it's an updated version of 2010's Monster Hunter Tri, coming to both the Wii U and 3DS in North America.

Producer Ryozo Tsujimoto says the Wii U update is a logical fit based on Wii U's dual-screen setup. "When we decided to make the game on the Wii U, we actually brought out the game on 3DS first - the 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate came out in Japan about a year ago, so the game was designed from the very beginning to have that two-screen interaction. So when we made the game - although it was based on Monster Hunter Tri - we felt like we had put so much new content into the game that it deserved the chance to be played by more and more people. The Wii U was a perfect fit because of the fact it has the two screens and you're able to do cross-compatibility between the 3DS and the Wii U. It just made a lot of sense for us to bring that experience into the living room, into the HD realm."

Gallery: Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate (2/14/13)

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Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and the power of customization originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NIS America bringing Disgaea D2, The Guided Fate Paradox, and Time and Eternity west

NIS America's lineup of RPGs for this year includes the required Disgaea game, and a couple of surprises.

This year's Disgaea is Disgaea Dimension 2: A Brighter Darkness for PS3 sees the return of Laharl, Etna, and Flonne from the first Disgaea, and adds a "master/pupil" system to the insane tactical strategy gameplay to help you transfer skills and boost stats. It's due this fall in North America and Europe.

The Guided Fate Paradox is a PS3 roguelike developed by NIS's Disgaea team. NIS bills it as "the spiritual successor to ZHP Unlosing Ranger vs. Darkdeath Evilman" for PSP, which suggests Disgaea-esque humor and a lot of customization. It's out this fall.

Time and Eternity for PS3 was published in Japan as Toki to Towa by Namco Bandai. It's a role-playing game by Imageepoch with a weird 2D/3D hybrid style, in which hand drawn anime-style characters move around in 3D backgrounds (see what that looks like after the break). It stars a time-traveling princess who can switch personalities to her alter ego Towa. NIS will release it both retail and digitally this summer.

Gallery: Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness

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NIS America bringing Disgaea D2, The Guided Fate Paradox, and Time and Eternity west originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Infamous: Second Son coughs up details on smoky hero, Seattle setting

Sucker Punch announced Infamous: Second Son at this week's PlayStation 2013 event, following an intro by game director Nate Fox that can only be described as... disturbing. So can the electric series' latest entry live up to his intensity? Well, there's a ways to go yet before we'll find out - Sony hasn't revealed if Second Son will be at the PS4's launch - but Sucker Punch took to the PlayStation Blog to shine a bit more light on the game.

Second Son is set seven years after Infamous 2, and in Seattle - a real-life location as opposed to Empire City, which was based on New York. It stars 24-year-old Delsin Rowe, who Sucker Punch paints as a self-described underachiever. Whereas previous protagonist Cole McGrath was all about electricity, Rowe's superpowers, at least initially, revolve around smoke. That may not sound as badass as electric powers at first, but the game's debut trailer showed a smoked Rowe can whip up plenty of havoc.

As for Fox's (melo)dramatic intro, that was designed to underline the paranoia and restricted freedoms of Second Son's world in the wake of the last game's cataclysmic events. As you might expect, the prohibitory forces in charge and new hero Rowe aren't exactly best mates.

On a final gameplay note, Sucker Punch suggested we could see the return of good/evil choices as per previous games: "As with all games in this series," said producer Brian Fleming, "the path the gameplay and story take will depend on the decisions you make along the way."

Gallery: Infamous: Second Son

Infamous: Second Son coughs up details on smoky hero, Seattle setting originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 22 Feb 2013 09:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Mass Effect 3 'Reckoning' and 'Citadel' DLC on Feb. 26, Mar. 5

BioWare and EA have announced two more bundles of DLC for Mass Effect 3, with one focused on multiplayer and the other serving as "one final, sentimental journey with Commander Shepard and their squad," according to the press release.

The first batch of content, "Reckoning," is a free bundle of multiplayer DLC that'll be available for free when it lands this Tuesday, February 26. The pack adds new characters, weapons and item upgrades for use in multiplayer, though what any of those things are specifically remains to be seen.

"Citadel," meanwhile, is Mass Effect 3's last chunk of single-player DLC, arriving on March 5 for $14.99/1200 MS Points. The pack returns Shepard and crew to (where else) the Citadel, on a mission that will give players the "opportunity to reconnect with some of their favorite characters from all three of the Mass Effect games." Well, provided you didn't get them horribly murdered, we figure. You know what you did.

Gallery: Mass Effect 3 - Reckoning

Gallery: Mass Effect 3 - Citadel

Continue reading Mass Effect 3 'Reckoning' and 'Citadel' DLC on Feb. 26, Mar. 5

Mass Effect 3 'Reckoning' and 'Citadel' DLC on Feb. 26, Mar. 5 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 21 Feb 2013 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What we learned at the PlayStation 4 event

Sony didn't disappoint with its super-secret conference today, unveiling the PlayStation 4 and a heap of games to go with it. While some of our predictions went unfulfilled - we didn't really expect to hear anything about The Last Guardian anyway - Sony made up for it with a few surprises, such as Diablo 3 coming to PS4 and PS3.

Here's a quick roundup of the major announcements from Sony's two-hour-long conference:

• The PlayStation 4 is a thing, and it's coming holiday 2013. The PS4 has 8GB of memory, a local hard drive and x86 CPU, alongside a secondary custom chip that allows users to play games while they download (and will eventually read our minds).
• The DualShock 4 controller features a touch pad front-and-center, alongside a headphone jack and share button that broadcasts games to other players in real-time. An additional "light bar" helps identify individual players and turns the gamepad into a Move controller, though the Move still works with PS4. The share button uses tech from Gaikai.
• The PlayStation Cloud streams PS1, PS2 and PS3 games, since it appears the PS4 won't be able to play legacy discs. The Vita will be able to play PS4 games remotely.
• And then there are the PS4 games: Knack from Mark Cerny, Killzone: Shadow Fall from Guerilla Games, Driveclub from Evolution Studios, Infamous: Second Son from Sucker Punch, The Witness from Jonathan Blow, Watch Dogs from Ubisoft, Diablo 3 from Blizzard, and Destiny gets Sony-exclusive content from Bungie. Quantic Dream and Capcom showed off some pretty tech demos, including one for Capcom's new original IP, codenamed Deep Down.

What we learned at the PlayStation 4 event originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Metareview: Crysis 3

Do you really think Crysis 3's Prophet cares what a bunch of reviewers think of his game? Yeah, the guy in the multi-million-dollar Nanosuit is going to waste his time reading the opinions of some people on the Internet. Come on!

But if you're not Prophet then why not take a quick glance at what those other reviewers had to say? And don't forget to read our review too, you scallywag!

• Game Informer (85/100): "This impressive graphical fidelity takes a serious hit in the transition to multiplayer. Though Crysis 3 has some of the better-designed maps in the series, the muddied textures are a far cry from the jaw-dropping visuals of the single-player campaign, especially on consoles."
• IGN (85/100): "It's not quite a next generation experience come early, but it's a superbly controlled, tightly paced and tactically flexible shooter with a satisfyingly focused story, and an excellent way to tie up the Crysis series... for now."
• Destructoid (75/100): "Crysis 3 attempts to strike a balance between Crysis and Crysis 2, but in doing so manages to lose a little bit of what made each game appealing. The result is a title that doesn't truly match the open-ended excitement of the first game nor the revelatory empowerment of the second, yet manages to provide enough of both to at least tantalize, even if it doesn't completely satisfy."
• GamesRadar (70/100): "A gratifying shooter experience. Even though the campaign is on the shorter side, there are a few visual hiccups, and some of the enemy AI is unbalanced, those small gripes get overshadowed by Crysis 3's tactical gameplay, beautiful environments, and superb online multiplayer. While not treading new ground for the FPS genre, Crysis 3 is a solid shooter."
• VideoGamer (60/100): "By the end of the game I was bored silly, and considering the scope of what was going on that shouldn't have been the case. Sadly, bar a few exceptions - a Jurassic Park-style hunting section in long grass, an open-ended assault on Ceph AA emplacements - I'd rinsed and repeated the same thing so much that I couldn't care less."

Metareview: Crysis 3 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 19:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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From city-builder roles to caring for citizens in SimCity

Regions are the beating heart of Maxis Games' upcoming SimCity revival. The always-online game places a lot of emphasis on community, but it's less about the global fellowship and more about the ties that bind neighboring cities together.

Players face a choice when they're first starting out: break ground in a small region with only two or three city-sized plots of land to develop ,or jump into a more expansive location, one that supports as many as 16 cities. The cost/benefit for each choice is simple enough to break down; it's the difference between carving out your own, private space in the world versus leaving the door open for other players to join.

All of SimCity's regions are created in-house at Maxis - there's no plan to let players mold their own regions - and each plot of claimable land comes with its own advantages and disadvantages. A helpful status bar pop-up points out which resources are and aren't available when an unclaimed plot is highlighted, so you know what you're getting before you settle on a civilization site.

Maxis has been working to test against a whole galaxy of possibilities in the run-up to SimCity's March 5, 2013, release. It's to the point that sizable portions of the working day at the studio are now devoted purely to play, with staffers being assigned to a range of discrete city-builder roles.

"It's hard to go into every nook and cranny of the game because there's just so much. The breadth of the game is really large," lead designer Stone Librande told Joystiq. "We have different designers who are assigned to different tasks. Like, 'You're making university town, you're making casino town, you're making ore and coal mining town.'"

Gallery: SimCIty (02/19/2013)

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From city-builder roles to caring for citizens in SimCity originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 19 Feb 2013 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paper Mario $20, Kid Icarus $15, Darksiders 2 $15 at BestBuy.com [update: moar!]

BestBuy.com wants you to start your weekend with some much needed self-indulgence, because, like a supermodel slathered in megaprettyoxide-infused war paint, you're worth it. So why not treat your beauticious self to Paper Mario: Sticker Star, going at $19.99, or Kid Icarus: Uprising for $14.99?

Of course, you might feel you're worth that and quite a bit more. If so, you could always plump for Epic Mickey 2 on Wii at $11.99, or Darksiders 2 on PS3 or Xbox 360 at $14.99.

Update: As you eagle-eyed commenters spotted, Professor Layton and Miracle Mask, which was sold out at the time of writing, is available once more at $14.99. Also going at $14.99 is Pokémon Black/White 2.

Paper Mario $20, Kid Icarus $15, Darksiders 2 $15 at BestBuy.com [update: moar!] originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 15 Feb 2013 11:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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