A thrilling ride of adventure, mystery and cliff-hanging suspense, perfect for children of all ages!

Vienna, Austria, April 1st 2009; JoWooD Productions and XPEC Entertainment are pleased to announce the successful PC adventure “The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft” is in development for Wii™. Players will face challenging puzzles and exciting dialogues embedded in a thrilling story, which is especially suitable for children! In The Hardy Boys: The Hidden Theft, the vault at Spencer Mansion is robbed, and the Bayport Police call on the Hardy Boys to help tie-up some loose ends, but they soon find themselves in the middle of a major criminal investigation that takes them on an adventure all over Bayport, and even into New York City. But the pieces don’t add up, and Frank and Joe find themselves embroiled in a drama of sinister proportions.

After their release on the PC, The Hardy Boys were able to obtain official awards including the “Ultimate Games Award 2008”, which focuses on pedagogical valuable games.

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Pub Company® presents a new generation of video games in San Francisco.

Password: innovation and… mental control!

A new generation of video games called “iii™” (Immersive Individual Interaction™) is born: from the revolution in classic Tetris to the first video game with “mental control” ready in Winter on Nintendo Wii™

The seventh video game era began in 2005 with the launch of the Xbox360® followed soon after by the PlayStation® 3. Now, thanks to the innovative game concept presented by Pub Company®, we can thus consider another step towards a new era. We are talking about the “3i™” or “iii™” (Immersive Individual Interaction™) generation in which interaction is absolutely original (the players define the interaction with the game and not vice versa through body or mental control) and “immersive” (the type of interaction is not “player’s finger – joystick button” but participation and sensorial, physical and mental immersion of the player).

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– Thousands of years have passed since the Yukos have disappeared
– Memories of magic have faded into myths
– Technology of Liltis used has guided the course of history
– Crystals that once had protected ancestors have become tools used in the industry
– The Crystal Bearers coming to Wii in a new format
– Spectacular effects, real-time action, motion controls, play in an open world
– Game marks a new beginning for both fans of the series and newcomers

Once again, this comes from one of the latest editions of Iwata Asks. This is what Nintendo President Satoru Iwata had to say when asked if Apple affected the development of the Wii or DS.

“I think Nintendo’s attitude in trying to fulfill its mission of creating entertainment that will be fun for anyone regardless of age, sex or experience shares a common element with Apple’s philosophy—or the set of values put forth by Steve Jobs—of making features as straightforward as possible, as easy to understand as possible, and as simple as possible because if there are too many options users will be confused. However, Apple is clearly a hi-tech company, whereas Nintendo is an entertainment company, so the ways we order our priorities are quite different. For example, we won’t hesitate to choose making something more durable over making it 0.5 millimeters thinner. By contrast, I don’t think Apple needs to perform repeated endurance tests dropping iPods from the exact height of a bicycle basket. If Apple and Nintendo have a similarity, I think it is enhancing appeal through simplicity. When you really pursue something, it rapidly gets simpler. But I do think there are differences between us. Because our priorities are different.” – Iwata

According to a source close to Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will support specific DSi functionality. Up this point, the only feature that has been shared is that gamers will be able to take photos of real-life trains and then use that image as a skin for Link’s train in-game. You know, I can’t help but remain circumspect on April Fool’s Day, but this seems like something that could definitely be implemented. If this is true, this would most likely mean that Spirit Tracks would be one of the first tiles to make use of the DSi Enhanced Game Cards.

Here’s a huge surprise: Nintendo has been ranked the lowest on Greenpeace’s latest Guide to Greener Electronics report. Greenpeace has given Nintendo just a 0.8 score out of ten and cites that the company scored zero “on all e-waste criteria.”

“Nintendo remains in last place with a pitiful 0.8 points out of 10, scoring zero on all e-waste criteria. The company has banned phthalates and is monitoring use of antimony and beryllium and although it is endeavouring to eliminate the use of PVC, it has not set a timeline for its phase out. Nintendo discloses carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from its own operations and commits to cutting CO2emissions and other greenhouse gases by 2% over each previous year. However, Nintendo admits that an increase in business led to a 6% rise in CO2 emissions in 2006.” – Greenpeace

Source

GHOSTBUSTERS DEVELOPER DIARIES: ORIGIN AND THE MAKING OF

PART 2

Proving It

Now, and to be completely candid about this, as a game developer Terminal Reality had something to prove. At that time our most recent titles, Aeon Flux and Spy Hunter, each featured some great elements but neither of them exactly set the world on fire.

We had recently undergone extensive management changes and company reorganization. We firmly decided that we no longer want to be known as a developer that ships decent games on time, but instead one that focuses solely on top-quality entertainment. This had been the central message of our ‘reboot’ publisher tour in LA.

We had just proven our commitment to quality (to ourselves, anyway) by reluctantly turning down the offer of an extremely high-profile project that we felt just didn’t offer enough development time to really perfect the game.

A few months prior to that we had gone out to pitch an (different) original game IP. We had a strong document, a gameplay concept that everyone was dying to play, and even a development partnership with a high-profile, stellar, and very cool movie director who worked a room like no one I have ever seen. But what we didn’t have was a demo, and thus we never got out of the talking stages.

We learned from that experience that we have to put everything onscreen. Given this opportunity, that’s exactly what we did for Ghostbusters.

We rushed back to Texas and told the team, who was as excited by the news as we had been. Everyone jumped into making the proof-of-concept with full exuberance. This was the first official next-gen effort for the newly combined ‘big team’ at Terminal Reality. We had been dying for the chance to really show off what we can do.

The result was a playable proof-of-concept that felt, almost eerily, just like a pivotal scene in the movie: a Ghostbuster fought and captured Slimer while brutalizing a ballroom in the Hotel Sedgewick. Everything in the room, from the three-tiered cake on the buffet table to the nondescript bottles behind the bar (they’re labeled ‘Bottle’) to the heavy crystal chandelier on the ceiling could be broken, shattered, or incinerated in blazing flames.

Getting the look and functionality of the proton/capture stream right was absolutely crucial to gameplay and authenticity, so that was our first order of business. Properly scarring the walls was the second.

Within three weeks we had implemented both of these elements, as well as a fully breakable ballroom, fully animated Slimer, a ghostbuster character with working proton pack, slime and hurt reactions, a functioning ghost trap, and both blasting and rudimentary ghost-trapping gameplay.

This was the demo that we showed to our publisher, then Sony Pictures, and then to Dan Aykroyd. Everyone that saw it said that while the quality was definitely there, it also showed the team’s passion for Ghostbusters and getting it just right. Once Mark Caplan from SPCP selected a publisher, we had proved to all the parties involved that we were the right developers for this game.

Authenticity

There’s really only been one goal for this game from the very beginning: create and present a 100% authentic Ghostbusters gameplay experience. That meant the perfect Ghostbusters game would have mainstream appeal, would be action-packed, and would need to masterfully blend elements of fun and funny and scary, just like the original movie had done.

“Fun, Funny, Scary,” in fact, became our mantra. Anything that didn’t fit those criteria had to go.

We knew from the outset that lot of people would automatically assume this game was nothing but another licensed cash-in gimmick. This happens a lot, and that’s mostly a result of the fact that good movies are usually made much faster than good games can be, and tie-ins pretty much have to be released within two weeks of each other.

A tie-in rip-off is the exact opposite of anyone’s intent for Ghostbusters. We seized on the idea to embrace the property’s icons, and present them in new, fresh perspectives, as a way to convince the player that we’re on the up and up.

It’s funny, considering that almost every really enduring element from the property comes from just one movie. Ghostbusters is seriously hip-deep in icons. You’ve got the proton pack, Slimer, the Hotel Sedgewick, the PKE meter, the paragoggles, the Ecto-1, the Firehouse Headquarters, The Public Library, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, Janine, that incredible logo, and the city of New York itself, which is as important a character in the Ghostbusters universe as any of the others.

For most people, the only really strong memories from the second movie tend to be mood slime, the walking statue of Liberty, and Vigo the Carpathian (we’ve got two out of three in the game).

We hit the ground running. We watched and re-watched and dissected the movies, and endlessly speculated and debated the gameplay-relevant functionality of proton streams and ghost traps and how the PKE meter works and exactly how fast four not-especially-athletic middle-aged men wearing very heavy proton packs should be able to move.

Should the player take the role of one, or any, of the Ghostbusters? We decided early on that tampering with the near-perfect dynamics already established between the Ghostbusters was flirting with disaster, so decided to introduce a cipher player character: a rookie that could both play alongside and be a Ghostbuster while still getting to sit back and enjoy the interplay between the original cast—like playing a movie and watching it at the same time. A few of us (including myself) originally wanted him to talk, but when it came time to manage the dialog for all the characters, we were very relieved there wasn’t an additional voice in the mix!

We knew the story had to be set in New York City. Trying to go anywhere else would have been coloring too far outside the lines for Ghostbusters, especially for our first time out.
We wanted the game to synch with and progress Ghostbusters canon, so we placed it just a few years after the events of the second film.

We all agreed that the sad-sack beginning of GB2, in which the city had abandoned the Ghostbusters, was too much of a downer, and you couldn’t retread that same patch anyway. So when we open the city loves the Ghosbusters, who have become New York’s official, contracted Paranormal Investigations and Eliminations experts (we ended up going heavier on the ‘Elimination’ than the ‘Investigation’, as a result of focus-testing). The new Mayor was even elected as a result of the Ghostbusters’ endorsement.

One really cool thing we’ve heard is that the overwhelming public interest in the game played a pivotal role in prompting the studio and talent to move forward on a Ghostbusters 3 movie! We’ve also heard rumors (completely unfounded allegations, and it’s irresponsible to repeat them here) that some elements from the game, and even some of the ideas we weren’t able to use, may be showing up in Ghostbusters 3, if it comes to pass. It’s hard to imagine anything much more gratifying than that. And if it doesn’t happen, we still have played a part, however small, in helping get the movie made.

More Than 17,000 Game Industry Professionals Converge in San Francisco for Annual Week of Learning, Networking and Inspiration

SAN FRANCISCO—March 31, 2009—Think Services’ 2009 Game Developers Conference® (GDC) hosted more than 17,000 game industry professionals last week at San Francisco’s Moscone Convention Center. The world’s largest industry-only event dedicated to the advancement of interactive entertainment attracted the full spectrum of game industry professionals from known luminaries to aspiring and established game developers, to publishers and deal makers to members of the working press. With more than 500 lectures, panels, summits, tutorials and roundtable discussions covering all aspects of the games business, plus a robust Expo and Career Pavilion, the Game Career Seminar, the 11th Annual Independent Games Festival (IGF), the 9th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards, Game Connection America, and more, the five day conference provided innumerable opportunities for sharing knowledge, discussing opportunities, making new connections and celebrating the passion and dedication of fellow game-makers. GDC returns to the Moscone Center March 9-13, 2010.

Satoru Iwata, President of Nintendo Co., Ltd. kicked-off the GDC09 main conference schedule with a keynote address providing an insight into his company’s development processes and thoughts on the opportunities developers have on Nintendo’s platforms Wii, DS and DSi . Hideo Kojima, Corporate Officer, Executive Producer and Director of Kojima Productions, delivered a second keynote address focusing on how he has conquered various development obstacles with creative game design, using the driving game design philosophies behind the Metal Gear series as reference. GDC09 also included the 11th Annual Independent Games Festival and the 9th Annual Game Developers Choice Awards. Erik Svedang’s Blueberry Garden, an exploration game set in an ever-changing ecosystem, received top honors at the IGF, while Bethesda Softworks’ epic post-apocalyptic open-world adventure, Fallout 3, received the Game of the Year Award at the Choice Awards.

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