AusGamers :: News

Far Cry 3 is "Assassin's Creed in First-Person with a Gun" - Ubisoft

Wed, 30 May 2012 17:44:56 +1000

In an interview we had with Far Cry 3 lead writer, Jeff Yohalem, the scribe explained that part of the design and narrative goal behind the series' latest entry was to convey the heavy sensation of taking a life for the first time; to, in effect, bring shooting to the shooter genre - a "revolutionary" concept, according to Yohalem.

"The first kill in the game is a big deal," he expressed to us. "And the first series of kills are a big deal. And the main character experiences dreams and hallucinations in which you relive moments from those. So it really affects his psychology and the island and the level-design is affected by his psychology.

"So this game is about what it takes to be a killer and we really looked at a lot of other games and saw how much killing was going on in them, and wanted to make a statement that killing shouldn’t be taken lightly," he added.

The full interview also goes into detail about the game's renewed jungle setting, what the team learnt from Far Cry 2, how it stacks up to other shooters in the market and reveals that the touted marketable bad guy, Vaas, is just one of an ensemble of ill-balanced individuals you'll come across in yoru experience.

Check out our full video interview feature, replete with written transcript, right here.

Resistance: Burning Skies Review

Wed, 30 May 2012 16:23:51 +1000

The PlayStation Vita might be suffering a bit from teething, but there's no denying the portable system's potential. Specifically, with the addition of two analogue sticks on the face of it, first-person shooters finally have a home in the handheld space.

Unfortunately, the first cab off the rank, Resistance: Burning Skies, does little to capitalise on this potential, and while feeling decent under the thumbs, as James "Jickle" O'Connor discovered as our reviewer for the game, being comfortable to control isn't enough to put it over the FPS lines.

Learn more in his review right here.

New Metro: Last Light Gameplay Footage is Haunting

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:42:09 +1000

Ahead of what will no doubt be more reveals from THQ in the days surrounding the E3 Expo (although the publisher won't have a booth on the show-floor itself), some new gameplay has surfaced at VG247, as part of a recent interview they filmed with THQ Communication Lead Huw Beynon.

As Beynon describes the tone and features of the post-apocalyptic shooter sequel, new gameplay scenes showing off environmental effects and some of the cinematic scenes and eerie enemies you'll be encountering on this next voyage into subterranean Russia. Watch the video embedded below.

Metro: Last Light is due on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in early 2013.

New Dead Space Video Teases New Character, Setting

Wed, 30 May 2012 12:24:23 +1000

It's not officially labelled as Dead Space 3-related, but a new video that popped up on www.deadspacegame.com overnight, simply dubbed "Dead Space Graphic Novel Short", is likely giving us our first real glimpse at new locations and characters for Visceral's heavily rumoured third entry in the series.

The video is a highly stylised, barely animated graphic novel presentation introducing a character called Earthgov Sergeant John Carver, who also happens to have red glowing eyes in his rig, and a massive scar on his face - details that are consistent with reports of a new character joining series protagonist, Isaac Clarke, in Dead Space 3, which it is also heavily rumoured will feature drop in, drop out co-op.

Watch the video embedded below, or click here for a direct link. Be sure to stay tuned with E3 kicking off next week for official news on Dead Space 3 and more, right here on AusGamers.

Wednesday Media Matinée 2012-05-30

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:14:23 +1000

Another day, another matinée - here are all the gaming-related videos that have crossed our desktops since the last screening:

As always, stay tuned for the latest game videos as we get them online!

Mad Riders Review

Wed, 30 May 2012 11:14:02 +1000

Offroad racing is a bit of a hot arcade thing at the moment, especially with the absolutely brilliant Trials: Evolution eating up everyone's OCD, so it's with no surprise we see yet another release published by Ubisoft in a similar vein, though this time you're riding quads and instead of being about precision riding and jumps, Mad Riders is all about speed.

We gave review duties to James "Jickle" O'Connor as he's a bit of an old hand at these types of things, and he rode away from the game with mixed feelings.

Click here for his full review.

Movin' on Up, or Out? THQ's Core Games Boss, Danny Bilson, Departs

Wed, 30 May 2012 10:14:48 +1000

THQ's oft outspoken and very candid head of core games, Danny Bilson, who is also a friend of the site has departed the troubled publisher to "pursue other interests". Stepping into his role is Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, whose position at the publisher comes into affect immediately.

"Jason's proven track record in the industry speaks for itself, and he is one of the brightest minds in the business," THQ CEO Brian Farrell said. "We believe he can be a game changer and can contribute immensely to executing on our strategy of delivering quality connected core game experiences."

Whether or not Bilson was pushed out of the company in the wake of financial turmoil and a seeming lack of direction is anyone's guess. In the past year THQ has closed up shop from a development perspective here in Australia and abroad, their hotly anticipated Warhammer 40K MMO being handled by Vigil was put on the shelf while more recently, Devil's Third, the new action slasher from former Team Ninja founder, Tomonobu Itagaki, was let go. They've also pushed a handful of titles back into 2013 including Metro: Last Light and South Park: The Game.

There's no doubt Rubin will be good, but we're certainly going to miss Bilson, he was definitely one of the more affable and reliable publsiher bigwigs we've had the pleasure of meeting.

(Source: Eurogamer.)

CD Projekt RED Teases New Sci-Fi RPG with Concept Art

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:19:14 +1000

Ahead of what is expected to be a full announcement in their "Summer Conference 2012" presentation, Polish developers of The Witcher, CD Projekt RED have released a teasery piece of concept art for their all-new RPG.

The developer first revealed work on the new game in a job listing a couple of weeks ago, revealing only that it would have the same dark and mature themes as The Witcher, but with gunplay -- suggesting that it would have a more contemporary or futuristic setting.

Today's concept art however, seems to all be confirm that the new game will feature dystopic sci-fi setting as you don't get more cyberpunk than this guy. Hit the thumbnail below for a closer look.

CDP's Summer Conference will be live-streamed at both http://www.thewitcher.comthewitcher.com and facebook.com/thewitcher on May 30th 2012 at 5pm GMT, which equates to 2am, Thursday, June 1st here in AEST.

More Witcher-related announcements as well as more GOG.com goodies are also expected to come out of the event.

Next Guild Wars 2 Beta Weekend Announced

Tue, 29 May 2012 18:10:27 +1000

NCSoft has today announced the second beta weekend for their upcoming next-gen MMO, Guild Wars 2. Featuring a level cap of 35 and a select few of the races, the beta weekend will be available for all players who have pre-purchased the game.

My name is Chris Whiteside, and I’m the lead producer of Guild Wars 2. Normally, I’m head-down in the trenches, making sure we’re producing the best MMO possible, but I wanted to come up for air and share some exciting news with you:
Beta Weekend Event 2 will begin on Friday, June 8th, at noon PDT (June 9th, 5am AEST) and will run until Sunday, June 10th, at 11:59 p.m. PDT (June 11th, 4:59am AEST).

If that wasn't enough to get you eager for the upcoming beta, NCSoft has also stated that previous beta characters have not been deleted, so you can start off from where you were previously.

The beta will also portray all the new bug fixes, tweaks and changes that NCSoft have gone through with the enormous feedback, something that they are very proud of. You can check out the official announcement over on their blog which details a bit more of what to expect in this beta, as well as a personal thank you for previous participation.

Dragon's Dogma Review

Tue, 29 May 2012 15:46:49 +1000

It's been a good couple of years for the fantasy genre, capped off with the massively successful The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a game that has a rampant, divided community of hardcore gamers, and one that certainly can't be ignored.

However, there are other, smaller names out there attempting to throw their own dragon weight into the popular fantasy action-RPG genre, and Capcom's foray, in the form of Dragon's Dogma, is no light weight, adding its own flair, homages and challenges for the truly fantasy elite. AusGamers newcomer, Dylan "Gameboffin" Burns, took the game for the review spin for us this week and walked away with a bit of a limp, but a smile on his dial nonetheless.

Click here for his full, in-depth review.