Today's edition of the News Blips features a demoralized Crytek, a trepidatious 5th Cell, and lots of tanks. Oh, and enough 3DS launch titles to keep everyone's face glued to their handhelds for quite a while.
News Blips:
Crytek Executive Producer Nathan Camarillo recounts the horrific memories of the day an early version of Crysis 2 was leaked. "It was a very traumatic experience because we're really excited about the game and the quality that we were able to get into it and what we were able to accomplish," he said during The Guardian's Gamesblog Live event. "We're at the end and we're really excited about where we're at and your game gets leaked. And it's not even that the final version of the game gets leaked, you know? That build was already from the middle of January. So that version is like a really ugly version that we don't want anyone to see." Camarillo went on to call the leak a "real financial concern," deploring the ad revenue that was garnered from those who viewed the pirated content on websites such as YouTube. He then appealed to supporters to show their solidarity with a thinly-veiled "buy our stuff": "I've asked people, if you wanna support Crytek; we're an independent developer…go out and preorder it because I will see those numbers the next week and then I can tell the team, 'Hey, guess what? Our preorders went up by 200% 'cause everybody's really supporting us.' And then I'll see happy faces." [The Average Gamer]
EA has apparently formed a new internal studio to launch a "fresh" Command and Conquer title. Entitled Victory Games, the new development group is focusing on bringing a fresh round of strategy gaming to the PC platform — starting with a C&C reboot, whose website was quickly de-neuralized by the Men in Black last night. "We're not just working on a game. Our general focus is on the future of Command & Conquer," said Victory head Jon Van Canegham in a now-pulled interview on the website. "That means updating a lot of the core technology to create a stable base for future development, and leveraging that work on this first game." What can we look forward to in the latest entry into the series? According to Van Canegham, "bold new technology, innovative new concepts and, as always, tanks by the dozen."
5th Cell (Scribblenauts) Creative Director Jeremiah Slaczka believes Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network are the logical next steps beyond handheld platforms. "We want to start small, but we want smart growth," Slaczka told GamesIndustry.biz in an interview. "We're not hiring bodies and biting off more than we can chew. DS to XBLA makes sense as a next step. Whereas DS to Xbox 360 might be possible, it's maybe going to be a hard road." 5th Cell is currently working on Hybrid, an action-shooter for Xbox Live.
Nintendo officially announces its launch lineup for the 3DS. A total of 18 games will be available when the handheld ships on March 27, and the list looks eclectic enough to cover a wide range of genres — if you're a fan of third-party titles, that is. Check out the confirmed list below:
- Super Street Fighter 4 3D Edition
- Pilotwings Resort
- Steel Diver
- Nintendogs + Cats
- The Sims 3
- Madden NFL Football
- Pro Evolution Soccer 2011 3D
- LEGO Star Wars 3: The Clone Wars
- Ridge Racer 3D
- Super Monkey Ball 3D
- Bust-a-Move Universe
- Samurai Warriors: Chronicles
- Asphalt 3D
- Combat of Giants: Dinosaurs 3D
- Rayman 3D
- Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars
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