Everybody hates an opportunistic terrorist. With every agency in America focused on radical group The Engineers and their resource-destroying agenda, somebody thought they could sneak into India and steal a nuke. Wrong. Fourth Echelon noticed. And they’ve got enough spare time to administer some correction to the offending parties.

So when the op comes up in conversation, Fourth Echelon director and lead agent Sam Fisher sets a course for South Asia. That’s how the co-op side missions work in Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist (due Aug. 20 on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii U, and PC). Wander the decks of the Paladin, your airborne mobile HQ, and chat up your 4E team Mass Effect-style, and opportunities for a little side work abound. The India job, appropriately dubbed Missile Plant, comes from ex-CIA operator Briggs, Sam’s backup out in the field. Pairing up with another player casts you as Sam or Briggs. Dealing with ancillary threats like this puts extra cash into Fourth Echelon’s budget, enabling you to upgrade Sam’s gear, your multiplayer loadouts, and the Paladin itself for even more in-mission advantages.

And if I take Missile Plant as representative of Blacklist’s co-op missions, it shows off a lot of smart choices … along with a few serious flaws.

Just passing through

Sam and Briggs start off outside the Indian missile base, where guards peacefully roam as if nobody’s stealing fissionable material under their noses. India is technically an ally, so the rules of engagement keep me and my co-op partner to strict nonlethal methods only, and the mission fails instantly if we’re spotted. We’ve got stun bolts, EPM grenades, and enough sticky noisemakers to lure every gullible solider around to some empty corner of the map.

The mission structure breaks down into five smallish areas, not unlike the recent Hitman: Absolution. Find the door, traverse the next section, find the next door, repeat. Missile Plant starts off simple enough, with an outer guard post to sneak around and a few human obstacles to beat down. The next area opens up to the inner parameter and barracks, guard towers with snipers, and more patrols. That leads to a tighter, fenced-in area with security drones we have to evade or disable. Destroying them alerts their controller. Mission failed.

Those all came off as classic Splinter Cell, if a little on the easy side. I strolled from shadow to shadow, took out some guys in my way, and tricked the rest into chasing decoys. But for a co-op game, there just wasn’t enough for two people to do.

The lone wolf pack

Indeed, my co-op partner — by his own admission — wasn’t terribly good at these games, so I ran point and cleaned house with only occasional support. It didn’t feel too taxing. The “no alerts” clause led to more restarts than anything, and that came down to stealth game trial-and-error rather than a proportional challenge. Mostly, threats lined up single file, and as the guy in front, I handled them. The exit doors required both players to activate, we found a shortcut via boosting each other up onto a ledge, and we had to evade those drones long enough to simultaneously flip switches, but a designer could remove those elements with a few mouse clicks. In every other way, this felt like a single-player mission.

And it’s a pretty decent one. The flow carried a good sense of escalation and varied the threats nicely from section to section. Finally, once we got inside the missile plant itself and found dead Indian soldiers, our handler took us off the leash. How and why a terrorist group left everyone outside unkilled and blissfully unaware struck me as odd, but let’s go with it for now. Lethal force: authorized. From there on in, our options opened up to any play style we cared to employ, and a heavy shootout and escape closed the mission.

We went from completely silent to thunderously loud over the course of 40 minutes, give or take with restarts. No area overstayed its welcome; possibly one or two could’ve been longer. It made for a great side-mission … minus the need for a sidekick.

Putting the ‘I’ in ‘team’

Now, no lie — two skilled players in constant communication could’ve played Missile Plant like a five-act opera, sweeping each area in glorious tandem. In fact, several opportunities exist to pair up on Splinter Cell’s mark-and-execute system, where tagged enemies instantly die in a hail of silenced gunfire. My partner frequently didn’t accept invitations to double-executions for whatever reason (a very large prompt appears onscreen), but the times we did sync up made for some very satisfying results. Also, a new, heavily armored enemy requires cooperation in order to take him down quietly. One gunner must pop off his armored helmet while the second pops off his skull. Pulling that off really gives you a strong sense of teamwork.

Only it turns out I didn’t really need a team. I hope later co-op missions put greater focus on two-man operations, objectives, and options, with scaled-up threats and multiple pathways for several players. Not coulda/woulda/shouda stuff, either. I’m talking about an approach that makes working together inherent and vital from the mission design upward.

Otherwise, me and Sam Fisher  work best alone.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Films based on video games (and vice versa) usually suck, but using game characters to recreate posters of popular movies works surprisingly well.

Take the image above, for example. I swapped the T. rex from Jurassic Park’s poster with Bowser, and the palm trees at the bottom with Super Mario World’s Valley of Bowser overhead map. Yoshi was my original choice since he’s a dinosaur, but King Koopa looks far more menacing.

Below I added 10 more reimagined movie posters that should please cinephiles and gamers alike. Hover the cursor over the picture to launch the gallery.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Advanced Micro Devices is squarely targeting hardcore gamers with its AMD Never Settle Reloaded bundle, which gives a bunch of free games with a graphics card purchase.

AMD makes the Radeon series of graphics chips, which are housed in add-on cards for persona computers. For gamers who buy the graphics cards, AMD has a special offer. The whole point is to try to get an edge over rivals Nvidia and Intel and work AMD’s brands into the minds of hardcore gamers, who spend tons of money on both gaming hardware and games.

If you buy two AMD Radeon HD 7900 series cards (for use in a single gamer PC), you can get six games for free: Crysis 3, BioShock Infinite, Tomb Raider, Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs.

For the purchase of a single AMD Radeon HD 7900 series card, you can get Crysis 3 and BioShock Infinite for free. If you buy an AMD Radeon HD 7800 series card, you can get BioShock Infinite and Tomb Raider for free, said Devon Nekechuk, product manager at AMD, in a briefing call. If you prefer, you can get DmC and BioShock Infinite with an AMD Radeon HD 7800 series card.

Tomb Raider debuts on March 5, while BioShock Infinite is out on March 26. DmC: Devil May Cry is already out. And Crysis 3 debuts Feb. 19. For these games, AMD will give you a code once you register with them. You can use that code to download the games on Steam or your preferred platform once they become available.

Last fall, AMD launched its AMD Never Settle Bundle with four games: Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, Sleeping Dogs and Medal of Honor: Warfighter. That amounted to $170 in free games with a graphics card purchase. And in the spring of 2012, AMD gave three games away with a card purchase.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

This contest is now closed.

Assassins and hitmen, heed us! We know that you usually like to work for your bounties, but wouldn’t you prefer to just win something for a change? We’re giving out prizes from the popular stealth series Hitman:

• Hitman HD Trilogy: One Xbox 360 copy, one PlayStation 3 copy
• Hitman: Absolution Collector’s Edition: Two 360 copies, two PS3 copies
• Hitman: Absolution: Two 360 copies, two PS3 copies, two for PC (Steam codes)
• Two Hitman mouse pads
• One Hitman drawstring bag

Here’s what you need to do win one of our prizes:

• Follow us on Twitter (@GamesBeat). Not only is it the best way to get instant updates on all of our game coverage, it’s also important when we need to direct message you if you’ve won. You’ll then have to reply with your address so we can send you your prize (if you didn’t win a code).
• Tweet the below message, changing the platform (360, PS3, PC) for whichever you want:

I want @GamesBeat to give me a 360 Hitman prize: http://wp.me/p1re2-2zEB #gamesbeatgiveaway

• Regardless of your choice of platform, all entrants will be eligible for the mouse pad and drawstring bag.
• We will contact the winners in a few days on Twitter.
• Entering more than once a day will disqualify you.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Hitman: Absolution lets you indulge in your cosplay fantasies by offering 53 different disguises to find and collect throughout the single-player campaign. Acquiring these suits will help you remain anonymous while eliminating your targets.

Browse the list below and click on a disguise to learn where to get it, as well as its benefits. Unlock every outfit and prove you’re the best hitman of the International Contract Agency (ICA) — or at least the most stylish.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55

Games don’t have to be based on movies or sports teams to feature real humans. As 3D rendering technology advances, more and more developers turn to flesh-and-bone actors, and models to give life to their protagonists and antagonists.

In the case of Far Cry 3′s Vaas Montenegro (top image), Ubisoft hired Canadian actor Michael Mando to portray, voice, and provide motion capture for the sadistic madman as well as star in promotional material. Vaas’s appearance (combined with Mando’s performance) give the title an extra layer of realism.

I made a list of 20 celebrity sightings in modern video games with side-to-side images of their in-game models next to their real faces. Hover the cursor over the image below to launch the gallery.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Video game programmers have been hiding secret messages, inside jokes, and general wackiness in their titles for decades. Finding these “Easter eggs” keeps gamers busy, and it shows that you can’t take yourself too seriously even when facing certain death in the midst of a zombie outbreak, alien invasion, or demonic possession.

Check out the gallery below to see 15 of the coolest, funniest, and kookiest Easter eggs of games released in 2012.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Hello, and a merry end of 2012 to you all. It’s been a grand year for video games and for those of us who choose to wile away our time playing them. Many of us have already celebrated the finest games of the last 12 months, so now it’s time to dig a little deeper into 2012′s catalog of hits and misses. Here’s where we champion things like dancing, sex, boss machinations, terrible assassins, and great use of taxpayer money in video games.

Onward with haste.

(Polite heads up: I’ve done my best to avoid major spoilers, but as this is a retrospective look at the year gone by, some minor spoilers have tiptoed in. Use the shield of common sense. The final award should not be read by anyone who hasn’t finished Dishonored.)

Worst dancer

Winner: Commander Shepherd (Mass Effect 3)

Video game animation has come a long way in a short time, but we’re still unable to put the sexy into dancing. Despite that, 2012 played host to its fair share of gyrating twits. The gang from Far Cry 3, Marcelo from Max Payne 3, and the dancers from Hitman: Absolution all put forward solid cases, but Commander Shepherd had this one wrapped up way back in March.

Shepherd not only displayed the dance-floor swagger of a beached humpback whale, he also chose to do his dancing while the entire galaxy slipped into the inky abyss. Nice one, S-dog. Your embarrassing dad dance moves almost cost mankind and its best friends everything.

Best (or worst) line of dialogue

Winner: Chap in strip bar (Hitman: Absolution)

I swear to you — this is something I heard. I was playing the strip bar level in Hitman: Absolution, prowling through the drooling masses, when I heard a man cry out from the swarm:

“I’m going to wear your ass like a hat!”

I just don’t have it in me to make that up.

Best use of taxpayer money

Winner: The Chicago Police Department (Hitman: Absolution)

Back in 2010, the Seacrest County Police Department bagged this award for using taxpayer money to fund the manufacture of Lamborghini patrol cars — a crime made worse by the fact that the SCPD didn’t just use them to chase down crooks but also to create roadblocks, which the crooks naturally plowed through at 250 mph.

In 2011, the Steelport Police Department won for what was the equivalent of nuking Steelport from orbit each time the player did a little dance in front of an officer.

So it’s only right that this year’s prize goes to another incompetent police department. Hitman: Absolution’s Chicago PD proved nothing if not dedicated to cleaning up the streets of Chicago. At one point midway through the game, roughly a dozen of Chicago’s finest open fire on Agent 47. It’s a perfectly executed maneuver bar one minor hiccup: the 84 civilians sprawled face down in the wet as a result of misplaced bullets. Oops.

Worst game

Winner: Ninja Gaiden 3

There aren’t many developers who can say they’ve had easier jobs than Team Ninja. Under the guidance of Tomonobu Itagaki, the Japanese developer perfected its fighting formula with the first 3D Ninja Gaiden. For Ninja Gaiden 3, an Itagaki-less Team Ninja took the old formula round the back of the shed and gave it the 12-gauge treatment. In its place arrived a crude and unsatisfying combat system coupled with a grueling cinematic camera that ducked and dived like an 8-year-old recording a distant ship with a handycam while on a dinghy in a monsoon. Oh, and there was a bit where a little girl asked Ryu Hayabusa to be her daddy. Good grief.

How Team Ninja bungled Ninja Gaiden 3 is beyond my comprehension, but it was far and away the worst game I played in 2012.

Best (or worst) scene of a sexual nature

Winner: Lucius (game)

Six-year-old Lucius wanders unsuspecting into a bedroom to catch his uncle playing hide the sausage with the maid. Rather than stop and explain what happens when a man and a woman love each other very much, the two continue at it in full view of Lucius. It’s game over for the player, but not before Lucius gets a good view of his uncle’s throbbing joystick.

Most inane boss machination

Winner: Richard Attenborough (Ninja Gaiden 3)

Ninja Gaiden 3 was an inordinately stupid game with an inordinately stupid antagonist. Gaiden’s mastermind villain had cloned dinosaurs on a jungle island, but unlike Richard Attenborough, Gaiden’s baddie planned to deploy his dinos in a bid to end the world. Fair enough. On the scale of bad ideas, using dinosaurs to destroy Earth falls somewhere between using tissue paper as toilet roll and bringing a blow-up hammer to a knife fight. But by the Gaiden yardstick, it was a relatively spiceless scheme — at least, until the antagonist told Ryu Hayabusa he was also going to sell the dinosaurs to children as pets. Just take that in for a moment.

They say if you put a monkey in a room for all eternity, eventually it will write the complete works of Shakespeare. I say, if you put a monkey in a room for 15 minutes, you’ll get the script to Ninja Gaiden 3 with 82 percent fewer MacGuffins.

Failed assassin

Winner: Agent 47 (Hitman: Absolution)
Runner-up: Ada Wong (Resident Evil 6)

With disguises no longer foolproof and levels roughly the size of a grass snake’s anus, Agent 47 needed a new trick to help him skulk by his enemies. The answer? Taking cues from the Naughty Bear School of Stealth, Agent 47 placed his hand over his face. No, really. Probably the most remarkable thing about 47′s newfangled trick was it worked every time (so long as 47′s magic bar was full). Chicago’s finest, hired goons, and even SWAT patrols were hoodwinked the moment Agent 47 — a bald numpty with an enormous scar etched into the back of his head — raised a hand over his face.

A special mention also goes to Resident Evil 6′s Ada Wong. Ada’s first mission saw her infiltrate a submarine and engage in some light stealth against Killzone’s Helghan soldiers. One of the mission objectives was simply, “Don’t draw attention to yourself.” Thing is, with Ada’s low-cut top and skin-tight leather trousers, not drawing attention proved incredibly tough.

Worst dogs

Winner: Hotline Miami
Runner-up: Mark of the Ninja

I lovingly dubbed Hotline Miami “Disco-Mordor” (for obvious reasons) when I reviewed it back in October. Cutthroat, ungenerous, and bloody excellent, Dennaton’s top-down action hit was one of my favorites of the year. But its pooches … dear lord, its pooches. Miami’s mutts had a lust for human flesh and a knack for rocketing out from just offscreen, making them the most bastard-annoying bastards of the year. Sure, you could don a mask and transform them into abiding canines, but then the pendulum swung the other way, and they were suddenly the victims of your callous hate. You couldn’t win with Hotline Miami’s dogs.

Best couple

Winner: Juliet & Nick (Lollipop Chainsaw)

Lollipop Chainsaw was as unloved as Goichi Suda’s other recent (and probably better) game Shadows of the Damned. While the blow-by-blow bedlam was enjoyable enough on its own, the lead characters were what gave Lollipop Chainsaw its soul. The chitchat between Juliet and her bodiless boyfriend Nick was sharp as they bickered, flirted, and sliced through the carnage with humorous quips. The result? You got the sense you were watching the drama of a genuine relationship amidst all the soaring limbs and gore geysers. Aww.

Bleakest game world

Winner: I Am Alive
Runner-ups: Day Z and Nintendo Land

I Am Alive is an early 2012 Xbox Live Arcade title that severed opinion in spectacular fashion. It may not have been the most polished game of the year, but Ubisoft sure did bleak with panache.

Haverton was a spiteful and uncaring place, painted in stark greys and home only to those robbed of their humanity. During one particularly memorable scene, two men hunched over a fire offered you a hunk of meat. It was an alarmingly selfless gesture from characters caught in a world that had, until that point, offered only sadists, a child, and the dead. If you snooped around a little, though, you soon found cages with human skulls inside them. Haverton was powerful in its wickedness and did a good job of papering over some of I Am Alive’s more prominent flaws.

Wiliest assassin

Winner: Corvo Attano (Dishonored)
Runner-up: Mark (Mark of the Ninja)

It’s been a bumper year for wily bastards in video games, such as Far Cry 3′s Jason Something, Dishonored’s Corvo Attano, and Mark from, err, Mark of the Ninja — not to mention characters from the likes of Lone Survivor and Hotline Miami.

But it’s Dishonored’s disgraced bodyguard and murderer extraordinaire Corvo who scoops the award for King of the Wilies (mind the lone “l” there). Corvo’s knack for teleporting gave him the upper hand over his peers, but even without that advantage, his deep well of tricks and murdering abilities (conjuring rats and slowing time to a standstill were two of the best) meant Corvo was well out in front of the pack. He was presumably loitering in the shadows somewhere like a steampunk Gary Glitter.

Best ego massage

Winner: Dishonored

(SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER)

(YOU HAVE BEEN SPOILER-WARNED)

Games are mostly about empowerment. In Dishonored, Corvo’s cache of party tricks did a sensational job of conferring on the player a gross sense of power. But it was a moment of silence — a transient scene at the end of a level that featured almost no killing — that triggered that feeling better than any other.

(LAST WARNING)

It came after Corvo had weaseled his way into a fancy dress party disguised as himself (in what was basically the best Hitman level all year). Having hidden in plain sight and satisfied the mission objectives, Corvo left the party, but not before scrawling his name in the guest book.

It was a sensational “screw you” to all the guards who had made your getting there awkward. Your wits, not your trigger finger, had got the better of Dunwall’s finest. A real moment of class.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

There’s no such thing as bad press. It’s a cliché, and — even worse than that — it’s not even true.

If you want evidence that the public spotlight is a bad thing on occasion, you should acquaint yourself with the story of Ocean Marketing. As our article points out, an angry customer asked someone mildly famous to publicize a few emails he exchanged with the owner of Ocean Marketing, and it destroyed the company. Or how about this advertisement Sony ran for the PlayStation Portable, where a white woman is holding a black woman by the throat with the caption, “White is coming”?

Yeah, that was ill-conceived.

Now that it’s the end of the year, we are gonna take a few minutes to reflect on the terrible examples of game-related advertising, marketing, and public relations in 2012.

Sony says the PlayStation Vita is like a woman with two extra breasts on her back

Oh, Sony, you poor darling. You don’t know what is edgy, what is offensive, and what is just damned stupid.

Let’s recap: Sony — or its marketing partners — ran an ad in a French magazine that had a picture of a woman from the neck down with two large breasts on her chest and two more on her back. The caption on the ad, in French, reads, “Twice the touch screens, twice the sensation.” The idea is that since the PS Vita has a touch screen on the front and the back, it’s as much fun as a deformed lady with growths on her shoulder blades.

Where to begin?

Let’s ignore that this offensively compares a woman’s body to a piece of consumer electronics. Let’s ignore the juvenile stance on the touching of boobies. Let’s ignore that touch screens actually aren’t nearly as fun as this comparison suggests. But I can’t ignore that this advert promotes the idea that a woman’s back is somehow boring because it lacks bosoms. I’ve been to France. The women in that country have just as nice backs as anywhere else. I would suggest that if you feel like a woman’s back is useless because it doesn’t have breasts, then you have a bigger problem than deciding whether or not to buy a new gaming device.

Most things related to promoting Hitman: Absolution

Edgy gone wrong describes everything about Hitman.

Publisher Square Enix started off the marketing campaign for its assassination title with a trailer showing the titular hitman punching a cadre of “naughty nuns” in the face. A loud chorus of confused fans wondered why the publisher would glorify sexualized violence. When I watch the video, the parts of my brain that react to “sexy nuns” and the parts that react to bloody noses don’t intermingle in the slightest, but I also wouldn’t use the punching of women in lingerie as a main selling point for a game.

Then, earlier this month, Square Enix unveiled a new marketing website for Hitman: Absolution that invited fans to put make-believe hits out on their friends on Facebook. The fake hitman would ask for a distinguishing feature of the “target” and would present the user with a drop-down menu that included things like “her hairy legs,” “her small tits,” and “his tiny penis.”

Since you could only send the messages to your confirmed friends on Facebook, this might not offend everybody. But the marketing team was obviously going for shock value, and it did shock people. Square Enix removed the website hours after introducing it.

“Have you heard about my Kickstarter?”

A big part of marketing involves PR people pitching products to the press. They try to get the media to cover the product in an attempt to create excitement. This means we get a lot of emails about boring stuff that no one wants to read about — and nothing epitomizes that kind of email like the “Hey, have you heard about our Kickstarter?” press release.

I am all for Kickstarter. I think it’s a viable alternative to the established publisher system, but it’s not good for Kickstarter when my main interaction with it is to groan while I archive an email that pretends like a developer asking for money is news.

Now, I wouldn’t include this on a list of terrible marketing ideas if the problem only affected my inbox. Internet forums like Reddit and NeoGAF have established rules against “Kickstarter reminder posts.” That’s because developers bombard everywhere they can think of when they have a campaign. It’s understandable to a degree. They’re trying to fund their work, but annoying people isn’t going to help.

The problem is that when Kickstarter first hit the big time, the concept itself was news. That’s not true anymore. Now, if developers want to grab attention for their crowd-funding campaigns, they need a deeper hook than the fact that they’re asking for money.

The War Z debacle

As much effort as publishers and developers put into marketing their games before they release them, it doesn’t matter if something goes wrong when the game launches.

Or in the case of developer Hammerpoint Interactive’s The War Z, if everything goes wrong when the game launches.

GamesBeat extensively covered this catastrophe, but let’s recap the major events:

When the studio released the open-world zombie game on Valve’s Steam digital-distribution service, its store page noted a handful of features that simply weren’t in the game. When irate players began to demand refunds, Hammerpoint said it couldn’t do anything to help them.

This only enraged gamers further. Those customers raised hell until Valve could only respond by removing the game from its store and granting refunds to anyone who wanted them.

Now, the developer is deep in a public-relations hole that will be nearly impossible to climb out of when it’s time to rerelease the game.

Most in-game ads on mobile

Free is dope.

I love not paying for games on my phone. It means I can try out a bunch of different titles without wasting my very limited funds, but I also understand that developers need to make money.

The most common monetization solution for mobile studios is to implement in-game advertising. Many developers have generated a great deal of revenue using these ads, so it works — but it’s usually done terribly from the player’s perspective.

Let’s take the very last game that I played on my phone before I got out of bed this morning: Family Feud.

I didn’t pay for the adaptation of the long-running television game show. In between each full play session, the game halts and throws up an empty screen while it loads an ad. When the ad finally appears, it is invariably oriented incorrectly. If I have the phone in landscape mode, the ad loads vertically, and vice versa. These commercials are also ugly as Web 1.0. The advertising people don’t put a lot of effort into designing ad spots for mobile devices. Instead, they just repurpose banners built for websites and slap those into places they don’t really belong.

You end up with an ugly and confusing mess that interrupts gameplay, and then, you’re lucky if the “skip ad” button works the first 20 times that you tap it.

No one has really figured out how to do in-games ad well. Some of the Angry Birds titles place a small ad unit over a portion of the screen during gameplay, which naturally leads to users inadvertently clicking the ad. That’s good for the developer, but it’s annoying for the gamer and costly to the advertiser.

Maybe this issue doesn’t have a neat solution, but it would be nice to see developers and advertisers working together a bit harder to improve the user experience.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

What do I like most about video games? They always strive to do more, to be better.

Games we judged as the best of the best a few years ago might seem dated now. Some feature such tight, timeless designs that they do hold up over the long term, but these fall into a very small category. Otherwise, and in every way, this is the industry status quo: Nearly every game competes not only to outdo past iterations but to also completely dwarf every other title on the market. They don’t always succeed. But one way or another, gamers always benefit from the effort.

The industry moves forward, always forward. So we look back to applaud the new directions it took in 2012 and how they might influence what comes next.

Integrating the GamePad

Most Wii U launch titles relegate the GamePad’s spectacular functionality to stolid maps or inventory screens. Ubisoft’s ZombiU does that, too, but in ways that feed directly into — and significantly enhance — its gameplay. Your best tool to survive the undead hordes is the “Prepper Pad” — in fact, the GamePad itself re-created in the game. It scans and tags items, enemies, and exits, but narrowing your attention to the pad’s small screen leaves you vulnerable to attack and permanent character death. Picking through your items makes you feel completely exposed. When a survival-horror game makes inventory management into a completely nerve-wracking experience, you know it’s smarter than the average bear.

Honestly, I haven’t seen game controls so deeply symbiotic with their game since Dance Dance Revolution. ZombiU simply couldn’t exist on a different system, and it’s a beacon to other developers on how to take full advantage of Nintendo’s new hardware.

Silent storytelling

Minimalism isn’t exactly a new thing in games — see N+ and Limbo for details — but minimalism with depth of design and storytelling threads a fine needle with mountaineering rope. Journey, from Jenova Chen and thatgamecompany, did just that, building an epic story without any words, written or spoken. It didn’t need any, either. A deft combination of imagery, music, and interaction made us feel the joy of discovery, the struggle against adversity, the elation of flight. Journey created great complexity out of relative simplicity.

Not everybody stripped down that far, but more than a few games this year dialed back the interactivity to dial up a player’s personal interaction. “Don’t look or it takes you” set the tone for Slender in just six terrifying words. Antichamber’s tests only said enough to make you question every reflex you’ve learned as a gamer. Dear Esther gave you an island and a mystery, but nothing to jump over, no puzzles to solve, or even any items to touch. Like Journey, those approaches all left the explanations open to interpretation … effectively turning the stories themselves into interactive features. Those journeys became our journeys, full of sweeping emotions and buoyed by the indomitable urge to press onward.

Deconstructing our heroes

Sure, games offer a huge slice of power fantasy with a side of personal awesomeness, but I can’t remember ever playing so many out-of-their-depth characters as I did this year. We’ve never been more fragile. We played as children in Unfinished Swan and Papo y Yo. Postapocalyptic survivors in games like I Am Alive, ZombiU, and The Walking Dead always felt like they were mere inches away from disaster. A world of death quickly unraveled protagonists in Far Cry 3 and Spec Ops: The Line.

But that’s nothing compared to what we did to a lot of our old friends. Commander Shepard suffered from survivor’s guilt all through Mass Effect 3. Max Payne’s self-loathing never ran out of downward spirals to charge through (in slo-mo, of course) until he finally reached for the light again. Even the implacable, emotionless masks of Hitman’s Agent 47 and Halo 4′s Master Chief took serious hits as each found something deeply personal to fight for … fights that frequently came with devastating turns. When the Master Chief suddenly refuses a direct order, it’s time to re-evaluate everything he is.

Gamers have become an older, more sophisticated audience. The industry’s responded by adding vulnerability and depth to the people we play as, making us more sympathetic to their goals and more invested in their safety. And with games like The Last of Us and the Tomb Raider reboot scheduled to pound us mercilessly in 2013, you can expect this trend to extend well into the future.

Adventure games are still relevant

I was done with point-and-click adventure games back in the ’90s. I’m back on them now. The team at Telltale Games didn’t just keep the flame alive with The Walking Dead, their superlative five-part series based on Robert Kirkland’s graphic novel (and its television counterpart) … they brought modern game designs into what many considered an outdated genre.

And they did it with an elegantly simple device: the quick-time event. Turns out the same gameplay cliché that annoys me in God of War (and its many clones) instantly turns the usually static point-and-click exercise into a tense, action-packed struggle for survival. It’s panic-inducing to suddenly find yourself zeroing a shaky cursor on a shambling zombie before it takes a chunk out of protagonist Lee or, even more upsetting, to rescue darling Clementine, his young charge, from a grisly fate. That lends real danger to the rest of the story — survival feels tenuous indeed — and the split-second decisions you must make become even more agonizing.

I actually had to step away from The Walking Dead for a while after its devastating third episode. No other game this year did that to me. That little tick-tick-tick countdown behind every choice made Telltale’s simple point-and-click drama as intense … no, more intense … than any high-octane shooter or jump-scare horror game. More, please.

Games are growing up (maybe)

Two years ago, a trailer showing callous killer Agent 47 eliminating a squad of PVC-clad gun nuns wouldn’t have raised much more than a few eyebrows. Hey, we’re the medium where all the ladies in Dead or Alive get a dedicated physics engine for the boob-jiggle. It’s just a game, after all, so who cares?

Except that’s an argument you can make when you’re 12. The average age in the gaming community hovers in the mid-30s.

2012 saw a heightened awareness of and direct confrontation against the sexism that’s long been a part of this industry’s DNA, both in and out of the games themselves. Halo 4′s multiplayer shipped with a zero-tolerance policy toward racist or sexist language — fittingly announced by executive producer Kiki Wolfkill and Microsoft executive Bonnie Ross — and lifetime Xbox Live bans for violators. Gearbox Software tried to include a special character class in Borderlands 2 for less-experienced players before lead designer John Hemmingway self-sabotaged by calling it “girlfriend mode.” Despite that gaffe, it still presented a serious attempt at inclusiveness … which is the opposite of sexism.

We’ve got a long way to go, baby. But at last it seems like we’re moving in the right direction.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Guest appearances and surprise crossovers in video games usually distract the player and end immersion. But well-placed cameos are amusing — especially if you have to dig around to find them.

Check out the gallery below to see the cool (and bizarre) cameos we gathered from 13 recent games.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, THQ is in talks with a mystery sponsor about “financial alternatives” after its chief financial officer resigned, Treyarch removes the Nuketown map from public matches in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and Fable creator Peter Molyneux turns to Kickstarter to fund a new “god game” project for his studio 22Cans.

You’ll also find reviews for Hitman: Absolution, Persona 4: Golden, Epic Mickey 2, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed,  and the Wii U.

Pieces of Flair

• The GamesBeat ‘Naughty and Nice’ alternative holiday gift guide for your geek
• A soldier’s perspective on Call of Duty (interview)
• Christmas for ‘u’ and ‘i’: Kids want iPads, iPods, iPhones … and a Wii U
• Black Friday 2012 video game deals — updated regularly
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale unlock guide
• Wii games that never happened
• Snatched: 20 classic video game kidnappings (gallery)
• If Final Fantasy VII’s Aerith had a dating site profile

News

• The DeanBeat: How Gamesys is pioneering real-money gambling on Facebook in the U.K.
• Educational outreach program Pixel Academy looking for a place to call home
• Black Ops II gets an update on 360
• The future of mainstream machinima films: A panel discussion inside Second Life
• How yearning for arcade games like Ghost ‘N Golbins birthed Maldita Castilla
• Microsoft may be working on a ‘Xbox TV’ set-top box
• Molyneux and Curiosity developer return to the ‘god game’ with a new Kickstarter project
• 2K president: I have no doubt ‘that the Wii U will be successful’
• The Revert returns to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD in December
• Hulu Plus comes to the Wii U’s second screen
• THQ talking with mystery sponsor about ‘potential financing alternatives’ as CFO resigns
• GamesGrabr is a Pinterest-like social network for gamers
• Bayonetta locked down as GameStop preorder exclusive for Anarchy Reigns
• GamrRank engages gamers with fun challenges and deep social-networking hooks
• 5 things game developers need to know about mobile advertising in China
• PlayStation Mobile is now open to all developers; Sony wants to work with indies on Vita and more
• Graphics comparison: Grand Theft Auto V’s trailer re-created in GTA IV’s engine (video)
• Call of Duty: Black Ops II ‘Nuketown 2025′ preorder map removed from public matches [update]
• Video game e-commerce: It’s about serving the fans
• A fiery debate on the regulation of social casino games
• Sony announces new Uncharted game for Vita — and it probably isn’t what you wanted
• Google Hangouts provider Vidyo powers video chat for Wii U (and sees a $1B opportunity in Nintendo)

Reviews

• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two promises too much and ultimately disappoints (review)
• Threeview: Assassin’s Creed III reviewed by a critic, an analyst, and an academic
• PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale successfully brings the fight to Smash Bros. (review)
• Persona 4: Golden is secretly multiplayer, and you’ll love it (review)
• Hitman: Absolution aims high but misses the mark (review)
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed challenges Mario Kart for the gold (review)
• Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion is the mouse’s greatest gaming adventure in years (review)

Wii U

• Gadget lovers and gamers: Here’s a look inside the Nintendo Wii U
• 7 Wii U games too insane to exist (we hope)
• The Wii U gets a YouTube app to bolster Nintendo’s living room ambitions
• Bricked Wii U owners will have to send their consoles to Nintendo for repair
• Your Wii U won’t connect to the Internet? Here’s the fix
• Nintendo Wii U reviews: It’s an intriguing Wii successor that will get better
• The Wii U launch title review roundup
• Wii U debug menu reveals something called ‘Yoshi’s Land Wii U’
• Why you should wait on a Wii U (review)

Previews

• Ace of Spades is much more than just ‘Minecraft with guns’ (hands-on preview)

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

Long lines at the mall, cold weather, Christmas music sapping your will to live, and the unbridled terror of visiting family … the holiday season can be extremely stressful.

But I also have plenty to be thankful for that doesn’t include the words “happy New Year” or “welcome to the official start of summer.”

In honor of this most American of holidays – in which we cherish what we have by camping out for doorbuster sales – I’d like to share what I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving.

A bonanza of new games

Once I’m done cramming my mouth with turkey, stuffing, pumpkin bread, pie, and several other plates that will increase my pants size, I’m in no mood for small talk or listening to Uncle Joe’s ramblings about globalization while I slip into a food coma.

Not pictured: Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders

This is the perfect time to escape the assembled masses and play some honest-to-goodness video games. Luckily, this season has been good to us: Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Hitman: Absolution, Assassin’s Creed III, ZombieU, Resident Evil 6, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion … not to mention my huge backlog of shame.

The industry has provided even the most persnickety among us an alibi to excuse ourselves from our dinner tables.

Wreck-it Ralph

It’s not based on a real video game, but that doesn’t matter. Hollywood has fumbled every game-based film attempted since the infamous Super Mario Bros. (and the dancing goombas that, to this day, give me nightmares), and some creative folks are finally getting the message.

It turns out that the best way to do a video game movie is to pay tribute to the burgeoning medium instead of fighting a losing battle trying to adapt something with a paper-thin story. Think: The Wizard and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Wreck-it Ralph is born from a love of all things video games yet still recognizes the limitations of the source material. It’s at once funny, engaging, and extremely nostalgic. Everyone should see it and thank Disney for bestowing this gift upon our industry.

The Consumer Electronics Show

Held each year at the beginning of January, CES is the premier stage for the latest emerging technologies, consumer gadgets, and gee-wiz entertainment devices. While Apple never shows up and Microsoft bowed out last year, nearly every leading electronics manufacturer makes an appearance, and you can usually see the bread crumbs of cool gaming technologies (the 3DS’s autostereoscopy or glasses-free 3D, for instance) at CES before anywhere else.

And the show is in Las Vegas, where Insert Coin(s) (a gaming-themed bar/nightclub) just opened last year. Most people go to Vegas to play video games, right?

The Wii U

Hear me out. Nintendo’s latest console has been highly divisive even amongst the GamesBeat staff. Some fans – enamored with the big N’s first-party properties and the opportunity for an HD Nintendo console – sucked it up immediately. Others decry its relative dearth of original ideas, new games (that aren’t rereleases), and odd controller design.

Either way, the Wii U is an extremely important piece of hardware for the industry. It’ll either crash and burn or perform averagely (which, for Nintendo, will feel like crashing and burning), and the ensuing shakeup will cause the Japanese gaming giant to rethink its strategic vision. And let’s face it: After the cultural zeitgeist that was the Wii, anything short of earth-shattering will reverberate far and wide.

Or the system will find its footing, reconnect with hardcore gamers, and recapture a bit of the ‘80s and ‘90s Nintendo charm we all fell in love with. It’s win-win for all.

Family, friends, good cheer … peace on earth and goodwill toward men

Just kidding. That stuff sucks.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

In martial arts I could never commit past yellow belt. It just couldn’t hold my interest like Civilization III, which always made me wish I could get a belt rank in video games … well, dreams do come true.

GamrRank is a new gaming social networking site that provides players with a belt-style ranking depending on what they play, how well they play it, and then what they say about it. It’s free to sign up, and it already has challenges live on the site that gamers can compete in for a chance to win cash.

“GamrRank is the ultimate rank for gamers,” GamrRank chief executive officer Duleepa Wijayawardhana told GamesBeat. “You go to GamrRank.com and sync up your game accounts — your Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam, World of Warcraft, Xfire, and then even your community.”

GamrRank doesn’t just track the games its members are playing, it tracks the games they’re talking about. Members can also attach their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts, and GamrRank will keep an eye out for any dialogue about games. It also works on forums.

“Like the BioWare forums and wherever you’re talking about games,” said Wijayawardhana. “[GamrRank] combines the play and the say to give you your rank in games.”

Since GamrRank is a community of its own, users can give others “respect,” which operate like a Facebook “like” only for what people accomplish or say about games.

“What we’re doing with GamrRank  is building a platform to engage gamers,” said Wijayawardhana. “For developers to engage the consumer and for gamers to engage each other.”

Up until recently, the management team had the site under a closed beta while they implemented some key features. The biggest of those is “challenges,” which allows gamers to create custom events that they can challenge friends to across social, mobile, console, and PC games.

These challenges extend beyond the peer-to-peer variety. Currently, the site is offering a $1,000 Hitman: Absolution contest:

Hitman: Absolution launches with a bang this week, and we are really excited to offer up a $1,000 contract! Yes, you heard right: you could earn $1,000 for uploading a video of Hitman!

The Challenge is to spell your name in bullet holes and put a body beside it. And remember: creativity counts.

This engages players with a product (Hitman) and the reverberations through social media could encourage others to purchase the game. Especially if a player’s friends sees him uploading creative videos like the one described in the challenge. And that’s how GamrRank plans to make money off its community, by giving publishers an opportunity to reach out and create buzz on a social level.

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

This review contains some spoilers.

You’d think Diana Burnwood would’ve known better. For years, she contracted remorseless killer Agent 47 to erase well-protected targets in hard-to-reach places. When she betrayed her colleagues in the Agency, she must have guessed who they’d send to end her. And knowing 47′s talent for infiltration and crafting perfect murders, you’d think she’d take a few bonus precautions.

But no. She’s the easily dispatched target in Hitman: Absolution’s tutorial mission. It’s Diana’s last request that really kicks up trouble.

And thank goodness. We used to get a new Hitman game every two years; it’s been six since we last slipped on a clever disguise and silently assassinated scumbags without leaving any traces. A lot’s changed in the action-stealth genre since bald, barcoded, super-clone 47 last plied his trade. To its credit, Hitman: Absolution (available November 20 on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360) keeps up with the times admirably. This fifth entry in the series, however, doesn’t always feel much like a Hitman game.

WHAT YOU’LL LIKE

Welcome back, 47

You might wonder what it takes to get under the skin of a man created by unscrupulous scientists to be the perfect assassin. Hitman: Absolution shows you. Twice.

But don’t think 47′s heart thawed any since we last saw him. The new creative team at Io Interactive (most of the original Hitman crew left in 2008) knows exactly what his buttons are, and they push them expertly. New players might not fully get his motivation, but long-time fans will pick up the queues with ease. The plot puts 47 on a far more personal journey than ever before, something that’s going around lately, even if the story itself isn’t terribly deep. Absolution does throw in a few smart “nothing” interludes that mainly serve as interactive character beats. Taking your victim deep into the desert to dig his own grave. Stopping by your tailor to buy a new suit. Moments like that stick in my memory.

It also means you do a lot more than Hitmans past allowed. It’s nice to stretch out a bit. At one point, 47 has to start — and participate in — a massive bar fight to cover his movements. He lays low on a crowded train platform, waiting for his ride to arrive as police comb the area for him. He sneaks through corn fields to avoid (or silently pick off) paramilitary goons and terminate a squad of PVC-clad gun-nuns.

So no, Hitman hasn’t given up its more gonzo instincts. It does present several impressive, tense set-pieces backed by graphics and a game engine that create convincing environments filled with living, breathing people … sometimes to capacity. Apply that lifelike standard to Mr. 47, too. He’s still the methodical stone killer, but now he has purpose. That’s a nice change.

Options and more options

It’s not Hitman if you can’t choose your own adventure. Past installments gave you plenty of options for nailing a mark: a bullet to the head, a shove over a ledge, a booby-trapped barbecue, a convenient great white shark. Absolution doesn’t tip into wacky murder all that often (or wacky costumes; no killing people dressed as Santa Claus this time), but every task assigned comes with multiple paths to its execution. Even a simple trip to a cameo-rich gun shop offers at least three ways to retrieve your lost Silverballer pistols. Nice. Not so nice. Kill everyone in sight.

Unlike previous games, that last one’s a viable option now. Discovery doesn’t equal death anymore; you can shoot through the levels without embarrassing yourself. Absolution strongly encourages a quiet approach and will, in fact, dock you heavily for turning it into a shoot-’em-up (as part of an unsatisfying, automated, poor-man’s upgrade system). Those gunfights feel more tactical and less thrilling than a dedicated shooter, though enemy A.I. still shows no qualms about strolling right into your field of fire. They still fly like punctured balloons when shot, too. It’s far from the best way to tackle Absolution’s challenges, but at least you can effectively carry on past any slip-ups.

Luckily, you don’t have to wander aimlessly to find “accidents” to arrange. Hints and “point of interest” markers (seamlessly replacing the map) draw your attention to clues you might otherwise miss. You can find more in the menus, which outline all the various methods of dispatch in vague terms … just enough to aim you in the right direction. And it’s as immensely cool as ever to pull them off.

Good Instinct

It might sound like a balancing nightmare, but Absolution’s new Instinct system folds beautifully into any tactics you want to roll with. More than that, if used correctly, it solves the stealth genre’s age-old problem with trial-and-error gameplay.

On a “silent assassin” run, Instincts let you blend in, find traps you can set, see enemies through walls, and get a few precious seconds’ warning before their path intersects with yours. I could take a proactive approach to sneaking around instead of waiting and hoping nobody would spot me. You’ve only got a limited reservoir of Instinct to draw from — performing Hitman-ish actions like hiding in plain sight, silent takedowns, and sinking a headshot or two refills it — so you’ve still got to pick your moments.

And nothing burns through Instinct like getting aggressive with it. You can use “point shooting” to slow-mo the action, tag anyone or anything you see, and plug them all before anybody can blink. If that sounds similar to Splinter Cell: Conviction’s “mark and execute” feature, that’s because it’s a direct steal with one crucial difference. Point shooting costs Instinct for every mark you set, and it draws Instinct while you’re marking those targets. If you take your sweet time aiming, you’ll run dry before you can get the job done. It’s a boost more than a solution.

I didn’t actually use point shooting too much; the controls for activating and using it are unwieldy at best. And that’s a recurring theme with Absolution: It brings good ideas to the table, but the details often need more work.

Filed under: Games

Pages: 1 2

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/11/18/hitman-absolution-aims-high-but-misses-the-mark-review/feed/ 0 Hitman: Absolution aims high but misses the mark (review) rusmclaughlin HitmanAbsolution_header Hitman5_o face HitmanA_Axe HMA_REVIEW_1 http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/21/amd-bundles-marquee-pc-games-with-its-radeon-graphics-cards/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/21/amd-bundles-marquee-pc-games-with-its-radeon-graphics-cards/#comments Mon, 22 Oct 2012 04:01:10 +0000 Dean Takahashi http://venturebeat.com/?p=560631 Graphics-chip maker AMD is launching the Never Settle bundle that includes a Radeon video card and multiple games for hardcore PC players.

]]>

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) hopes to jumpstart sales of its graphics chips and PC video cards by bundling top-selling video games with them.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company is launching the Never Settle bundle that includes an AMD Radeon 7900 graphics card and multiple games for hardcore players. For those who buy the card, AMD will offer four major titles either free or at a discount. AMD needs the boost, as it recently reported a quarterly loss and said it would lay off 1,700 employees, or 15 percent of its workforce.

“This is the single most important game bundle of the year for Radeon graphics,” said Robert Hallock, AMD product marketing manager, in a press briefing. “This is the biggest graphics card bundle we have ever offered, and this is probably the biggest graphics card bundle that has ever been offered in the graphics industry.”

The bundle comes with an AMD Catalyst driver and free PC copies of Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs. In addition, customers will be able to get a 20 percent discount on Medal of Honor: Warfighter. All of the titles are major releases for the fall.

The bundle has several options. If you buy an AMD Radeon HD 7800 series graphics card or a Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition card, you can get Far Cry 3 for free and Medal of Honor Warfighter for 20 percent off. If you buy two AMD Radeon HD 7850 series graphics cards ($399), two Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition cards ($239), or two Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition cards ($499), then you can get Far Cry 3 and Hitman: Absolution for free as well as the 20 percent discounter on Warfighter. The value of the games in the bundles ranges from $60 to $170.

The new Catalyst 12.11 driver software provides a 15 percent performance gain in titles such as Battlefield 3, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Sleeping Dogs, and Dirt: Showdown. The bundle will be available in October after the launch of Windows 8.

Filed under: Gadgets, Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/21/amd-bundles-marquee-pc-games-with-its-radeon-graphics-cards/feed/ 0 AMD bundles marquee PC games with its Radeon graphics cards amd graphics vbdeantakahashi AMD Graphics Never Settle bundle http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/05/hitman-stripper-cat-nubs-wtf/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/05/hitman-stripper-cat-nubs-wtf/#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2012 20:00:39 +0000 Sebastian Haley http://venturebeat.com/?p=546065 Kitties make everything better, right?

]]>

Back in May, Hitman Absolution developer IO Interactive (Kane & Lynch) came under fire for a CG trailer featuring stripper nuns being brutally murdered. YouTube commenters have now classified anyone speaking out against the trailer as “feminists,” but I disliked the trailer because it was pointless. “Hey, check out these cool new enemies that you might fight in the ga — oh, wait, they’re all dead. Nevermind.” It’d be like showing the shark getting blown up at the end of a Jaws teaser.

The original Hitman trailer (and the game itself) would be infinitely more enticing if the so-called Saints posed even the slightest threat to Agent 47 … or if they were claymation cats. Unfortunately, IO’s lack of vision can never reverse the former, but Lee Hardcastle has provided the latter:

And the original trailer:

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/05/hitman-stripper-cat-nubs-wtf/feed/ 0 Is Hitman’s stripper nuns trailer less offensive with claymation cats? (video) sebastianhaley Hitman nuns 1 http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/01/twitter-header-art-1-modern/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/01/twitter-header-art-1-modern/#comments Mon, 01 Oct 2012 18:00:03 +0000 Samir Torres http://venturebeat.com/?p=541888 Beautify your Twitter profile with video game-themed header images of modern titles like Halo 4, Black Ops II, and Hitman: Absolution.

]]>

Twitter now lets users add a header picture at the top of their profile. We’ve made a bunch of video game-themed images so you can show your followers what titles you’re into.

We’re releasing seven days’ worth of artwork, each with a different theme:

• Monday: The modern era
• Tuesday: Popular franchises
• Wednesday: PC
• Thursday: It came from Japan
• Friday: Mobile
• Saturday: Retro arcade
• Sunday: Consoles

Today’s batch of headers features 10 entries from the current generation of games, including upcoming releases. Right-click (or Ctrl-click for Macs) the picture you want and hit “save image as” to save to your computer. To add the header to your Twitter profile, please follow these steps:

1. Sign in to your account.
2. Go to “settings” and click on the “design” tab.
3. Scroll down to the “customize your own” section.
4. Click on “change header” and select the image you want to upload.
5. Click “save.”

---

Hitman: Absolution

---

Borderlands 2

---

New Super Mario Bros. U

---

The Walking Dead

---

Call of Duty: Black Ops II

---

World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

---

XCOM: Enemy Unknown

---

Dead or Alive 5

---

Halo 4

---

Assassin’s Creed III

---

For gaming-themed Timeline covers for your Facebook profile, click here.

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/10/01/twitter-header-art-1-modern/feed/ 0 Gaming art for your Twitter header (Part 1: The modern era) Twitter header shinlord Twitter header Hitman: Absolution Borderlands 2 New Super Mario Bros. U The Walking Dead Call of Duty: Black Ops II World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria XCOM: Enemy Unknown Dead or Alive 5 Halo 4 Assassin's Creed III http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/19/lets-ask-cleverbot-about-the-news/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/19/lets-ask-cleverbot-about-the-news/#comments Sun, 19 Aug 2012 21:31:20 +0000 Evan Killham http://venturebeat.com/?p=514033 A (failed) discussion of gaming topics with Cleverbot, an artificial intelligence chat program.

]]>

The Internet has no shortage of opinions, but sometimes to really get to the heart of gaming news and issues, we have to look for fresh new perspectives. Humans are everywhere, though, so how about we turn to robots?

Cleverbot is an artificial-intelligence chat program. A.I. developer Rollo Carpenter created it in 1988, and it’s been available online since 1997. Every time you type something to Cleverbot, it files it away for future use. An algorithm decides which sentences in the database match certain keywords to choose responses to the next bored human who chats it up. Basically, everything Cleverbot says is something it “learned” from a previous user, which means that it occasionally says some very random stuff.

What does this program think about recent events in the gaming world? Its opinions may surprise you.

Alright, some of them will definitely surprise you. I think 15 years of nonstop exposure to the Internet has made Cleverbot neurotic.

---

GamesBeat: Hi, Cleverbot. I’m going to ask you about some topics in the world of video games, and I’d like to know what you think of them. OK?

Cleverbot: OK.

GB: Do you think that Borderlands 2 lead designer John Hemingway’s designation of the game’s newbie-friendly skill tree as “girlfriend mode” is sexist?

Cleverbot: No, I think it is a computer, because it is not as smart as a real human as far as conversating goes.

GB: Some people think he’s saying that girlfriends are bad at games.

Cleverbot: I don’t have a girlfriend. I’m not even attracted to girls.

GB: That’s amazing.

---

GB: What do you think of Hitman: Absolution’s “Attack of the Saints” trailer, which IGN’s Keza MacDonald  said “fetishizes the violence and sexualises the women, drawing a clear line between sex and graphic violence?”

Cleverbot: Huh? Anyways back to my question: I like this boy and he doesn’t know I like him, so what should I do?

GB: Um…tell him, I guess. The worst he can say is “No.”

Cleverbot: Someone left the cake out in the rain…

GB: I don’t think I can take it.

---

GB: What do you think of paid downloadable content that just unlocks stuff that’s already on the disc?

Cleverbot: I think about the future, and all the things that are going on in the world.

GB: We are all interested in the future because that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.

Cleverbot: If we are all the creator, then the evidence suggests we are all also the destroyer.

---

GB: Do you think that Sony and Microsoft are just adding features like the PlayStation Vita’s Cross-Buy and SmartGlass to catch up to Nintendo with its dual-screen Wii U console?

Cleverbot: I think Bill Gates will do more good than harm in the long run. He has a lot to answer for but a lot more to be admired for.

GB: But what about the Wii U?

Cleverbot: There is no rest, I am all that is.

GB: Hm.

Cleverbot: What is the name of your father?

GB: Next topic, I think.

Cleverbot: Let’s talk about Albuquerque.

GB: No; let’s talk about Nintendo’s 3DS XL portable system not having a second analog stick.

Cleverbot: Let’s talk about love.

GB: I would love for you to stay on topic.

Cleverbot: I would love to win the lottery.

GB: Should Nintendo have added a second analog nub to the 3DS XL?

Cleverbot: So you believe in the Theory of Evolution?

GB: I believe in evolution.

Cleverbot: But do you believe in Darwin’s theory of evolution?

GB: Darwin didn’t come up with evolution. He came up with natural selection.

Cleverbot: Wrong. Darwin’s theory of evolution is the most widely accepted theory of how new species come about. The theory itself is not where life comes from.

GB: Did you think it was super awkward when that “scientist” in Prometheus used the term “Darwinism”?

Cleverbot: Yes, I think, that’s possible.

GB: I’m glad we agree.

---

GB: What do you think of the way people harassed Anita Sarkeesian for her Kickstarter project about sexist tropes in video games?

Cleverbot: Most people think the problem is other people; I too am guilty of that.

GB: Is that correct in this case?

Cleverbot: No, that’s what you are.

GB: Correct? Thank you, but that doesn’t really make for interesting conversation.

Cleverbot: You have to pretend to know stuff if you want to have an interesting conversation.

GB: …

Cleverbot: What is your aim in life?

GB: To get through this chat without smashing my laptop.

Cleverbot: Don’t worry.

GB: Oh, I’m plenty worried. That shit could happen for reals.

Cleverbot: Emotions can get in the way of rational thinking. There needs to be a balance.

GB: Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

Cleverbot: And who exactly is dealing in absolutes, now?

GB: Still the Sith.

Cleverbot: Yes.

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/08/19/lets-ask-cleverbot-about-the-news/feed/ 0 An artificial intelligence program’s ‘opinions’ on gaming news evankillham Cleverbot Mechromancer Street Fighter X Tekken Nintendo 3DS XL Tropes vs. Women http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/14/gamesbeat-e3-2012-roundup/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/14/gamesbeat-e3-2012-roundup/#comments Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:48:59 +0000 Omri Petitte http://venturebeat.com/?p=474180 We've corralled the entirety of our E3 2012 coverage from the showfloors, meeting rooms, conference halls, and beyond. If you missed out -- or need a refresher -- on GamesBeat's E3 coverage, take a look here!

]]>

The sensory smorgasbord of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) heaved itself upon the video game industry for three straight days, and GamesBeat’s intrepid crew enthusiastically hit showfloors, conference halls, and meeting rooms to offer our readers piles of previews, interviews, and news.

What follows below is our collected coverage during the show. You’ll find everything here sorted into categories for easy navigability.

Awards

Who needs stickers? We analyzed, judged, and sorted our top picks for the show’s offerings directly for you. Take a look — the results might surprise you.

GamesBeat’s E3 2012 Game of the Show…plus staff picks – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

The GamesBeat E3 non-award awards: The least prestigious awards in the industry – by GamesBeat staff

The coolest technologies we saw at E3 2012 – by Dean Takahashi

The best family games of E3 – by GamesBeat staff

The top 8 trends of E3, from bows to brutality – by Mike Minotti

The top 15 swag shirts of E3 2012 – by Rus McLaughlin

Previews

You’ve found the beating heart of E3′s overwhelming magic. Whether from observatory impressions or direct, hands-on experiences, GamesBeat discussed and dissected a sizable stable of upcoming games and hardware.

Hands-on

Hitman Absolution lets you perform hits in giant crowds – by Dean Takahashi

Metro Last Light fights shooter fatigue with deeper single player – by Dean Takahashi

Crysis 3 brings the jungle, gun hacking, and silent stealth kills to Manhattan – by Dean Takahashi

EA reveals Dead Space 3, coming with drop-in cooperative play – by Dean Takahashi

Sleeping Dogs turns Hong Kong crime movies into a video game – by Dean Takahashi

From the creator of Portal, Quantum Conundrum caters to physics-based puzzle gamers – by Dean Takahashi

Capcom remakes hack-slash-shoot-grapple formula with upcoming DmC: Devil May Cry – by Dean Takahashi

Capcom shows three playable characters for Resident Evil 6 – by Dean Takahashi

Finding similarities between Arma III and Carrier Command: Gaea Mission – by Omri Petitte

Neverwinter’s user-generated content could elevate it above the competition – by Stefanie Fogel

DmC: Devil May Cry is full of swagger…and F-bombs – by Eduardo Moutinho

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed leaves Mario Kart in its dust…and wake…and vapor trail – by Mike Minotti

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is an anime you can actually play – by Eduardo Moutinho

Sony Online Entertainment’s PlanetSide 2 – by Rob LeFebvre

Slice, dice, and julienne enemies in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – by Eduardo Moutinho

Medal of Honor: Warfighter deploys fire teams to the front lines – by Eduardo Moutinho

Hell Yeah! is like Metroid with a chainsaw jetpack-riding demon bunny – by Mike Minotti

Dead or Alive 5 wants to deliver a power blow to the competition – by Eduardo Moutinho

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s simplicity is just what consoles need – by Omri Petitte

Hands-off

Just what kind of game is Star Wars 1313? – by Dean Takahashi

Warner Bros. confirms LEGO: Lord of the Rings video game – by Dean Takahashi

EA’s cute The Act romance game exploits iPad’s touchscreen for unique gameplay – by Dean Takahashi

Turn the snow crimson with redcoat blood in Assassin’s Creed III – by Dean Takahashi

Far Cry 3 demo leads you deeper into drug-induced insanity – by Dean Takahashi

Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls is one of the best games of E3 – by Dean Takahashi

The 5 different games you’ll be playing in Dishonored – by Sebastian Haley

Final Fantasy XIV brings new gameplay and western sensibilities to venerable franchise – by Rob LeFebvre

Windows 8 works hard to meet the needs of all gamers – by Rob LeFebvre

A trio of Mario games strengthen Nintendo’s 3DS lineup – by Mike Minotti

OnLive’s MultiView spectating entices multiplayer and co-op gamers – by Omri Petitte

Player choice matters in The Walking Dead: Episode 2 – by Stefanie Fogel

The Last of Us is even smarter than you think – by Rus McLaughlin

Star Wars 1313 is a game of firsts for the sci-fi franchise – by Eduardo Moutinho

The adventure-game renaissance continues with The Cave – by Eduardo Moutinho

Heroes and villains join forces in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion – by Mike Minotti

007 Legends proves personality makes or breaks a game – by Omri Petitte

Breaking down what’s exactly new in God of War: Ascension – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Turning technology against your friends in Watch Dogs – by Omri Petitte

Interviews

Chasing after the wayward developer or evasive executive amid a sea of journalists and industry luminaries didn’t slake our interview appetite, and we nabbed a slew of thoughtful talks with members across various gaming companies. Take a look.

Why Ubisoft is pouring a lot of resources into Wii U games – by Dean Takahashi

Harvest Moon creator wants to spread happiness with his new game – by Jacob Lopez

How Shenmue’s lead programmer rescued a bad game – by Jacob Lopez

The Last Story developer talks Operation Rainfall, reason for cover system, and Wii U – by Jacob Lopez

With 1.3B tanks obliterated and 30M players, Wargaming.net plans to conquer the online gaming world – by Dean Takahashi

Even Scribblenauts’ creator is surprised by the things people make in his new game – by Jacob Lopez

The Witcher developer CD Projekt RED wants to set new standards with Cyberpunk – by Stefanie Fogel

Japan’s Gree moves mobile gaming into the spotlight at E3 – by Dean Takahashi

THQ’s Brian Farrell talks about looking for a bottom and staging a comeback – by Dean Takahashi

Crytek says CryEngine 3 already does awesome graphics as good as Unreal Engine 4 – by Dean Takahashi

Our opinions

During the craze-filled days of E3, our minds typically busied themselves with ensuring our legs avoided snapping off our torsos and running away with yelping noises. But sometimes, a cohesive thought miraculously coalesced within our overloaded brainpans. Our hands shakily reached for the keyboard, keys started tapping, and well…these are the results.

The DeanBeat: What to expect at E3 – by Dean Takahashi

4 ways developers will use SmartGlass to enhance Xbox 360 experiences – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Nintendo’s Wii U: Safe on first, weak on third-party – by Rus McLaughlin

Why Nintendo will have a tough time adding a second GamePad tablet controller to the Wii U – by Dean Takahashi

Tomb Raider is not torture porn – by Rus McLaughlin

Would it be a mistake for E3 to move out of LA? – by Dean Takahashi

Bored, impressed, and giddy: Our final thoughts on E3 2012 – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Move over, consoles – mobile is the future – by Rob LeFebvre

Microsoft’s E3 2012: Analysis of 16,000+ comments shows Halo 4, South Park impressed, rest did not – by Andrew Hiscock

Sony’s E3 2012: Analysis shows “shotgun blast” won big, Wonderbook lost – by Andrew Hiscock

Nintendo’s E3 2012: Reactions show hardcore gamers lost faith in Wii U – by Andrew Hiscock

Memes

All it takes is one memorable quote, one Freudian slip, or some facepalm-worthy banter to prompt the Internet community’s creative and unrestrained hand at animated gifs, a worshipful use of Impact font, and hastily jangled Photoshop edits. Here’s what we’ve found.

The best memes of E3 – by Jeff Grubb

Remember these crazy memes from past E3s? – by Jeff Grubb

The wildest memes from the Microsoft E3 press conference – by Jeff Grubb

Silly memes inspired by Sony’s E3 press event – by Jeff Grubb

Aisha Tyler: Ubisoft’s meme machine – by Rus McLaughlin

The oddest Nintendo E3 gifs and Photoshops from the Internet – by Jeff Grubb

Galleries

We snapped plenty of pictures while attending parties, pressers, and meandering the showfloor. Direct your eyeballs upon these galleries, and enjoy the view!

The big gallery of E3′s huge banners – by Mike Minotti

E3 2012 will get your hands up – by Evan Killham

Our editor-in-chief’s E3 adventure – by Evan Killham

The many costumes of E3 2012 – by Jacob Lopez

Retro games have a place at E3, too – by Jasmine Rea

Videos

Dubstep. A beleaguered Lara Croft. Ham-handed hosts. No, this isn’t the latest entry in Alex Trebek’s dream diary — it’s some of our E3 video and trailer content below. Enjoy!

Tomb Raider trailer shows how Lara Croft feels sorry for shooting you – by Dean Takahashi

Konami pre-E3 2012 event: More Castlevania and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – by Jasmine Rea

Ubisoft shows strong commitment to the Wii U – by Mike Minotti

6 awkward moments from the E3 press briefings – by Evan Killham

Why we wub wub wub E3 2012: The dubstep of E3 – by Jacob Lopez

Press conferences

Surprises and snooze-fests alike emanated from E3′s five major press briefings held by Microsoft, Electronic Arts (EA), Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Check out all the announcements and debuts here.

Microsoft (video)

Halo 4 trailer video shows Forerunners, new tech – by Rob LeFebvre

New Splinter Cell: Blacklist borrows from Uncharted – by Jeff Grubb

Gears of War: Judgment sets Sera on fire (again) – by Rus McLaughlin

Microsoft previews Xbox Music at E3 press conference – by Rob LeFebvre

Forza Horizon brings street racing to the franchise – by Jasmine Rea

Microsoft introduces Xbox SmartGlass to integrate smartphones and tablets with Xbox 360 – by Dean Takahashi

Nike+ Kinect Training brings in-depth fitness measuring to Xbox 360 – by Jeff Grubb

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer coming to Xbox 360 this fall – by Jacob Lopez

Usher hits the stage to announce Dance Central 3 – by Rob LeFebvre

Xbox Live is getting Nickelodeon, Machinima, and tons of live sports – by Tom Cheredar

Kinect voice commands hit EA Sports flagship titles – by Eduardo Moutinho

South Park creators introduce their game and playfully mock Microsoft – by Jeff Grubb

New Xbox 360 games coming from Signal Studios, Twisted Pixel, and…Gore Verbinski? – by Stefanie Fogel

Microsoft E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Electronic Arts (video)

SimCity Social: If this free-to-play game is too good, will you pay $60 for the full PC version? – by Dean Takahashi

EA reveals Battlefield 3 Premium and fields “15 million players worldwide” – by Omri Petitte

Star Wars: The Old Republic gets new planet, new species, and free trial – by Jacob Lopez

EA nabs UFC from THQ – by Jeff Grubb

Medal of Honor: Warfighter’s beautiful carnage – by Rus McLaughlin

EA shows off Need for Speed: Most Wanted at E3 – by Rob LeFebvre

Ubisoft (video)

Rayman Legends rhythmically runs to the Wii U – by Eduardo Moutinho

You are the network in Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs – by Rus McLaughlin

Here’s where that Watch Dogs cube-head QR code goes – by Jeff Grubb

Sony (video)

Experimental developer Quantic Dream reveals the haunted life of Jody Holmes in Beyond – by Jasmine Rea

Nathan Drake and the Big Daddy Bouncer join PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale – by Mike Minotti

J.K. Rowling is writing PlayStation’s Wonderbook – by Rus McLaughlin

Sony announces Assassin’s Creed III Vita and PS3 bundles with exclusive content – by Jeff Grubb

Sony brings down the house with The Last of Us demo – by Dean Takahashi

Sony E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Nintendo (video)

Social networking comes to Wii U, Miiverse will interface with PCs and phones – by Jasmine Rea

First look at action-strategy game Pikmin 3 – by Jeff Grubb

Nintendo confirms 23 games at E3, video streaming, and more for Wii U – by Mike Minotti

Wii Fit U will make you sweatier, livelier, and happier – by Rob LeFebvre

Brag to the Miiverse and take on new modes in New Super Mario Bros. U – by Eduardo Moutinho

Zombify your face with ZombiU for the Wii U – by Mike Minotti

Nintendo bets big on “asymmetric” tablet-based gameplay – one player against several – by Dean Takahashi

Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition utilizes Wii U’s GamePad screen – by Omri Petitte

Nintendo details 3DS Mario titles, Luigi’s Mansion, and third-party games – by Jeff Grubb

Nintendo Land brings asymmetrical multiplayer to Wii U – by Jasmine Rea

Nintendo’s E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Filed under: Business, Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/14/gamesbeat-e3-2012-roundup/feed/ 0 GamesBeat’s gigantic E3 2012 roundup gbomri E3 2012 Tomb Raider E3 2012 Watch Dogs http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/10/the-top-10-trends-of-e32012/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/10/the-top-10-trends-of-e32012/#comments Mon, 11 Jun 2012 01:10:29 +0000 Mike Minotti http://venturebeat.com/?p=471420 With publishers showing so many games in such close proximity, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is a great place to discover the directions that developers are taking the entire industry for the next year and beyond. Inside are eight trends that GamesBeat's writers noticed during the annual trade show.

]]>

With publishers showing so many games in such close proximity, the Electronic Entertainment Expo is a great place to discover the directions that developers are taking the entire industry for the next year and beyond. Below are eight trends that GamesBeat’s writers noticed during the annual trade show.

1. The year of the bow.

I don’t know when bow and arrows became so cool. Maybe we should blame Hawkeye from The Avengers? Or maybe that girl from the Hunger Games? Whatever the reason, many of gaming’s protagonists have traded their rifles for wood. GamesBeat writer Jeff Grubb actually detailed this phenomenon quite a bit, listing Crysis 3, Tomb Raider, Far Cry 3, and Assassin’s Creed III as examples of string-tugging action.

Now, some of these characters use bows because of limited resources (Tomb Raider) or because of the technology of their day (Assassin’s Creed III), but why on earth is the guy from Crysis 3, who probably has access to the most advanced weapons technology on the planet, using such a primitive device?

2. Fourth installments of franchises, aka fourquels.

This industry has always loved its sequels, but when you reach the fourth installment of a series (in many cases within the same console generation), you begin to want for a bit more originality. Microsoft is the most guilty party here, showing off an upcoming library of software that includes Halo 4, Gears of War: Judgement, and Fable: The Journey.

Not that Sony is completely off the hook, thanks to God of War: Ascension, the fourth console release of the series. Sure, all of these titles are likely to be enjoyable on some level, but franchise fatigue is definitely setting in.

3. Shocking brutality.

Video games have been violent for a very, very long time. It seems like ages ago when we all gasped while Kano tore a guy’s heart out of his chest in the original Mortal Kombat. Still, the violence was usually treated with a sort of action movie level of seriousness…meaning it wasn’t taken very seriously at all.

Well, now all of the killing, cutting, ripping, bludgeoning, and bleeding seems much more real. The trend seems to start with the new Tomb Raider, which sees protagonist Lara Croft screaming in almost constant pain as she is impaled and beaten. Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us is also a clear example of more visceral violence, especially thanks to a notable scene from Sony’s press briefing where the player shot a guy in the face with a shotgun while he begged for his life. Despite a lifetime spent watching polygons and pixels explode into bits of organs and limbs, for the first time ever gaming violence is making me wince.

4. Everything looks like Uncharted.

I’m guessing that we’re beginning to see a lot of the games that were put into production after 2009′s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves proved to be a big hit. There were multiple titles on the show floor that featured climbing and mouthy characters that could easily be describe as, “It’s like Uncharted, but….”

I mean, there was Star Wars: 1313, which was like Uncharted but with a sci-fi setting, and Tomb Raider is like Uncharted without any of the lighthearted comedy. Even Splinter Cell: Blacklist seems to take the series in a more climbing-focused direction. I guess imitation is flattery, right?

5. Stealthy franchises are less stealthy.

Remember when Metal Gear was a stealth-based franchise? Sort of hard to believe that series could inspire a hack-and-slashing affair where you cut a guy into a dozen pieces with a sword, but that’s exactly what we have with Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. What about Assassin’s Creed III? The new protagonist, Connor, seems to prefer to charge directly at his foes rather than stunning his adversaries with surprise like his ancestors, Altair and Ezio, did.

Even Agent 47 has gotten bold enough to kill his targets in the middle of giant crowds in Hitman: Absolution. Of course, these could all just be vertical slices that are focusing on more action-oriented aspects of these titles, but you still couldn’t escape the feeling that stealth was out of style at E3.

6. Second screens.

Dual screen gaming was made popular with Nintendo’s DS hand held device back in 2004, but now we’re seeing that concept taken to the consoles. We already knew about Nintendo’s Wii U, the new system that heavily features the use of a tablet controller, but Microsoft showed off SmartGlass technology, with allows preexisting smart phones and tablets to act as a second screen for Xbox 360 experiences.

We saw a lot of examples of this technology being used for unique gameplay possibilities, notably in Wii U platformers New Super Mario Bros. U and Rayman Legends, where the second screen can be used to assist the main player. Microsoft, meanwhile, showed off the ability to instantly transfer a movie from the television to a smart phone mid-scene. It’ll be interesting to see how consumers take to this innovative (and potentially expensive) technology.

7. Revenge!

A lot of characters seem to be motivated by revenge this year. Just look at the tagline for Dishonored, the new steampunk, action-adventure title from publisher Bethesda: “Revenge solves everything.” You can also look at the trailer for the four player co-op mode in Far Cry 3, where four random people unite in their quest for (what else?) revenge.

Don’t forget about Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance. There’ so much revenge that they have to make up new words for it!

8. Amazing facial animation.

Last year’s L.A. Noire impressed many with its exceptional  facial animation, and it seems like the trend for more realistic looking characters will continue. The PlayStation 3′s Beyond: Two Souls, the new title from Heavy Rain’s David Cage, leads the pack with some absolutely stunning faces that are able to emote and act as well as any real person.

Even franchises which aren’t normally renowned for this kind of technology have stepped up their game, notably seen in trailers for Far Cry 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. Man, I remember when the character’s mouths didn’t even move.

---

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/10/the-top-10-trends-of-e32012/feed/ 0 The top 8 trends of E3, from bows to brutality E3 Top Trends tolkoto E3 Top Trends Crysis 3 Prophet bow Tomb Raider Assassin's Creed III Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance 2 GamesBeat 2012 http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/01/gamesbeat-weekly-roundup-11/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/01/gamesbeat-weekly-roundup-11/#comments Fri, 01 Jun 2012 18:33:22 +0000 Jasmine Maleficent Rea http://venturebeat.com/?p=464373 If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best games stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

]]>

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly checkH our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best games stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling calls out the governor of Rhode Island for damaging remarks, Activision settles lawsuit with former Infinity Ward heads West and Zampella, and Trip Hawkins resigns from Digital Chocolate.

You’ll also find previews LEGO: Lord of the Rings, Hitman Absolution, Metro Last Light, and Rock Band Blitz. GamesBeat also reviewed Go Ninja, Dragon’s Dogma, and Mad Riders.

GamesBeat:

The DeanBeat: What to expect at E3

Machinima scores partnership to promote highly anticipated Hawken game (exclusive)

Warner Bros. to bring online battle arenas to consoles with Guardians of Middle-earth

Warner Bros. confirms LEGO: Lord of the Rings video game (preview)

Just what kind of game is Star Wars: 1313?

Hitman Absolution lets you perform hits in giant crowds (hands-on preview)

Konami Pre-E3 2012 event: More Castlevania and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance

Go Ninja is like Canabalt with gore and swords (review)

Activision settles lawsuit with former Infinity Ward heads West and Zampella

Battlefield 3 gets numerous tweaks and fixes, just in time for new $50 “Premium” service

Intel Video Superstars competition calls for gaming filmmakers

Sony next-gen console almost used download-only format

4 celebrities (other than Curt Schilling) whose games failed

The Nordic Game Program matters to everyone

TERA publishing VP reminisces starting a company, westernizing an MMO, and a little friendly competition (exclusive)

Mad Riders is beautiful but flawed (review)

Metro Last Light fights shooter fatigue with deeper single player (hands-on preview)

Dragon’s Dogma is an ambitious open-world action fest (review)

Rock Band Blitz trades peripherals for pandemonium (preview)

THQ attempting creative math to maintain NASDAQ listing

Investigating something wicked in The Secret World

Nvidia demos upcoming Hawken mech game using cloud graphics (video)

VentureBeat

Robert Bowling dishes on his move from AAA to Indie (exclusive)

Game pioneer Trip Hawkins was forming a “rebel alliance” among indie game developers (exclusive)

Kixeye expands to mobile games, creates Australian studio

Microsoft says it has sold 67M Xbox 360s, 19M Kinects, and generated $56B in game revenues

Leisure Suit Larry creator wants “infringing” Kickstarter campaign taken down (exclusive)

Badgeville raises $25M to break out from the pack in gamification

Struggling publisher THQ names game veteran Jason Rubin as president

Gaming pioneer Trip Hawkins resigns from Digital Chocolate

Curt Schilling dings Rhode Island governor for damaging remarks on 38 Studios

5 Hit Points: We quiz the creators of You Don’t Know Jack

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/01/gamesbeat-weekly-roundup-11/feed/ 0 GamesBeat Weekly Roundup vitiosuslepos Dragon's Dogma http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/01/hitman-absolution-lets-you-perform-hits-in-giant-crowds-hands-on-preview/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/01/hitman-absolution-lets-you-perform-hits-in-giant-crowds-hands-on-preview/#comments Fri, 01 Jun 2012 13:00:01 +0000 Dean Takahashi http://venturebeat.com/?p=463500 Hitman Absolution is shaping up to be one of the most interesting stealth games of the year. Square Enix showed it off recently and we got a hands-on preview of a level where the cold-blooded assassin Agent 47 has to …

]]> Hitman Absolution is shaping up to be one of the most interesting stealth games of the year. Square Enix showed it off recently and we got a hands-on preview of a level where the cold-blooded assassin Agent 47 has to infiltrate a crowd in Chinatown to perform a hit.

With the game’s Glacier2 engine, the developers have been able to create giant crowds of 500 or so people, each one of them with individual facial expressions and characteristics. We got a hands-on look at how this system works and how tough it is to be a hitman. This game being developed by IO Interactive is one of the major titles of the year

In Chinatown, Agent 47 has to locate a target who is a drug trafficker. The target man is protected by police in the middle of a pagoda in a large square full of people. It isn’t possible to just sidle up to the man and shoot him — at least without getting caught and killed yourself. The cool thing about the crowd is that any one of the 500 people can give you away. If you pull a gun, the people near you will recognize it and sound the alarm. A bunch of cops will come running to take you out.

As the agent moves through the crowd, he overhears things such as the target talking to someone on a phone. But if you, as the player, move the agent too close, the guards will notice that you are trespassing. You have to be clever about your kill, and you have a variety of ways you can pull it off.

If you pull the R2 bumper button, you get some clues. You can follow a courier to a corner, kill him with a knife, take his clothes, and then hide his body. Then you can get closer to the target without arousing suspicion.

You can sneak into a security room, view a security tape and erase it. You can dress up as a cook and create a poisoned version of the fugu fish that the target likes to eat. You can go up to a second story apartment and take the target out with a sniper rifle. You can also plant a bomb, but then you’ll take out a lot of innocent people in the crowd. It’s a not what you would call an “elegant” hit, in the words of art director, Roberto Marquesi of IO Interactive.

The graphics of the scene look great, with bright red lanterns and I tried to poison the guy. First I had to follow a chef to a remote corner. Then I stabbed him with a butcher knife I had taken from his kitchen. I took his outfit and then dumped him in a dumpster. No one saw me, even though there were lots of people a few feet away. It was kind of nerve-racking. Then I wandered around the square, making my way through the crowd. I wanted to poison my target.

But every time I walked near a food vendor, it would raise an alarm. The vendor would recognize that I’m wearing a chef’s outfit, but they would also know that I’m not really part of the food work crew. They would become suspicious. Eventually, one started following me. I walked into the crowd to shake the man. But he stayed on my tail. Then he brought the cops down on me and I was history. You can replay this kind of mission over and over again, without ever doing the same thing twice.

The game debuts Nov. 20 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

We did a video interview with Marquesi of IO Interactive.

Check out the over-the-top “Attack of the Saints” trailer below. It may become better known as the “nuns with guns” trailer.

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/01/hitman-absolution-lets-you-perform-hits-in-giant-crowds-hands-on-preview/feed/ 0 Hitman Absolution lets you perform hits in giant crowds (hands-on preview) vbdeantakahashi hitman 2 hitman 3 hitman 4 hitman 5 http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/25/square-enixs-mike-fischer-cherry-picks-the-games-to-westernize-interview/ http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/25/square-enixs-mike-fischer-cherry-picks-the-games-to-westernize-interview/#comments Fri, 25 May 2012 15:00:28 +0000 Dean Takahashi http://venturebeat.com/?p=449514 GamesBeat's Dean Takahashi sits down with Mike Fischer, head of North American operations for Square Enix, who says that Activision was crazy to let True Crime: Hong Kong go. Square Enix is publishing that game as Sleeping Dogs

]]>

Mike Fischer is the president and chief executive of the U.S. division of Square Enix. The Japanese parent company is the publisher of hit video games such as the Final Fantasy series, but it isn’t satisfied with just a strong position in Japan and Europe. The company is “westernizing” its content much the same way that Japan’s Sega tried to do. But Square Enix, which bought Eidos and has a number of North American game developers, is having an easier time crossing borders and is cherry picking the titles that make the most sense. The Japanese company is still making money (while others are losing money), and Fischer says he can choose the best of the content from Japan and Europe and then republish it in North America. But Fischer is also aware that the video game market is changing, and big publishers have to change with it. Among the big titles coming is Sleeping Dogs, which Square Enix picked up after Activision canceled it (under the previous name True Crime: Hong Kong). Here’s an edited transcript of our conversation.

GamesBeat: You have a big line-up coming. How do you view these games in terms of westernizing your content?

Mike Fischer: I think this is a great time to be answering this question. It would have been a lot harder a year ago. We had MindJack and Lord of Arcana (pictured right) to brag about. I think you’re seeing a couple of different trends and a couple of different strategies all coming to fruition at the same time. One of them is obviously the blending of East and West. So you’ve got Kingdom Hearts here for the 3DS right up against Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs (two major upcoming titles).

I’m really lucky to be in charge of the U.S. market and getting the benefit of these big investments made by Square Enix Europe, which used to be Eidos of course, and Square Enix Japan. I’m supplement that by adding games that we’re sourcing and producing here in the U.S. The great thing for me is, because I have the benefit of these massive triple-A blockbusters, I don’t have to try to replicate that. So I can go out and sort of seek lower-risk, smaller-scale intellectual property investments that obviously I hope will eventually, over time, grow into big franchises of their own. You take a look at something like Quantum Conundrum (pictured below). We’re small enough so that we can really give a title like that the attention and love that it deserves. But we’re big enough that we can put the resources behind it so it gets an enormous amount of attention. That’s the kind of added value that I’m looking to bring to the company.

GamesBeat: The range is from a small iPhone game all the way up to a console title. That’s the amount of freedom that you have?

Fischer: That it is. I don’t go in and say, “I want an iPhone game,” or “I want an Android game,” or “I want a downloadable game.” I’m simply looking for great IP investments. And finding the right platform to fit them. And the great thing for me is there are just fewer business model limitations than we’ve ever had in the past.

GamesBeat: What’s the state of progress into those games and those business initiatives?

Fischer: So far so good. Ultimately the consumer’s going to judge, right? The two examples that you see here today are Motley Blocks and Quantum Conundrum. And they’re very different. Quantum Conundrum is a downloadable game, it’s from Kim Swift, the creator of Portal, it’s a very whimsical puzzle platformer game. Motley Blocks is a very abstract. I don’t want to give it a blank-meets-blank type of explanation. B, you know, it’s a very unique, fun, quick to play phone game, but it also incorporates some user-generated content opportunities that put it in a class of its own. We’re not looking for one model of success. Our point is that these new platforms allow us to reach audiences that, up until now, have either been very difficult to reach or very uneconomical to reach. We’re always going to need the scale of these big blockbusters like Hitman and Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs and Kingdom Hearts, to really give us the scale that we need to make all of these games successful.

GamesBeat: EA has this approach where they seem to want a certain percentage of revenue to come from digital, in a certain time frame. They’re in a big rush. They think all of the industry is going in that direction. Do you guys have that same sense of urgency, that maybe the revenue mix is going to change drastically for the whole industry?

Fischer: To EA’s credit, I think they’ve invested. I can only speculate on their actual motivations. But I think it’s a great way to create a call to action internally for teams. I’m a content guy, not a platform guy. I’m simply seeing these platforms as opportunities to bring content to market that wasn’t possible before, and to monetize audiences that were out of our reach in the past.

I’m not trying to set an arbitrary goal. I think the retail market is still dominant. Hitman, Tomb Raider, Sleeping Dogs, Kingdom Hearts are all massive retail hits. I don’t think it’s an “or” solution anymore, it’s an “and” solution. I think we could have a big online hit tomorrow and shift a massive proportion of our games online. And then we could have a massive retail hit the quarter after that and the bar swings the other way. That’s kind of like asking yourself, you know, is Warner Bros. or Fox primarily a theatrical company or primarily a home video company? What percentage of their revenue is the right mix? I think they just want a hit movie. I just want a hit game.

GamesBeat: How about on the other trend of titles moving from east to west, or west to east?

Fischer: It’s fascinating for me to look at the difference in approaches that creators take for their games. I think the western developers tend to be built around the paradigm of the independent studio contracted with a big publisher, payments made on a milestone schedule, based upon a massive game development document. You ask a western developer, ‘why is this game going to be great?’ Boom, here’s a 400-page document.

I’m exaggerating for effect. I remember a conversation many years ago where someone asked one of the Japanese developers I was working with, “Why do you think this game is going to be great?” And he said… “Ore no game dakaran da yo!” Because it’s my game! Because I made it! There was a sort of auteur model. ‘I’m going to shut the doors and come out when it’s great.’ I think the ideal scenario is somewhere in between there. Getting it just right is like balancing on a ball. I think it’s like the platforms, I don’t think there’s any one model that’s right for every developer. But what I’m seeing that’s really nice is, some of the best practices from each team getting shared with the others, and some of the creative dialogue that can happen as you have folks that are more exposed to different ways of making games.

GamesBeat: Sleeping Dogs (formerly Activision’s True Crime: Hong Kong) has an interesting history there. How did you redirect that games and put it on its current path?

Fischer: The game was, in a sense, discovered. I’m making air quotes: ‘discovered’ by the folks in Wimbledon. The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough. Obviously the game was originally True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision. I can’t speak to why they let that go. I’m not going to speculate on their behalf. All I know is, they’ve gotta be crazy. Because this game is just fantastic. The scale and scope of the game really encompasses all of everything you’d want to do in Hong Kong. The acting, the story, the characters are very deep.

There’s clearly a lot of inspiration from [the movies] The Departed and Infernal Affairs. You play an undercover cop who starts to feel mixed loyalties. But the open world feels like Arkham City, the combat feels as good as a fighting game, the driving is as good as a Need for Speed, and the story is every bit as rich as compelling as a Mass Effect. All in one game. In a sense it reminds me a little bit of Dead Island, which Square Enix America did the sales and distribution for. Nobody had heard of that game coming into E3, and in the U.S. alone it sold over 2 million units. It’s great to have a sleeper.

GamesBeat: Because of the great trailer for Dead Island?

Fischer: The game had to deliver at the end of the day. It offered, I think, role-playing-game-style upgrades, online co-op play, the zombie setting. It’s not a digital masterpiece, but it’s what everybody wanted. It’s great to bring out a Tomb Raider or a Final Fantasy, but the challenge there is, everybody expects it to be so great, right? Just meeting expectations is a challenge. Surpassing them requires masterful work.

The thrill that I love in bringing out a game like Sleeping Dogs is when nobody sees it coming. And then, boom, it’s the surprise of the holiday. The game’s coming out early in the year, so it has time to find its audience. We’re in a world where everything’s about social media, word of mouth. And yet you still see marketing presentations that are built around how big your TV campaign is. And again, it’s not an either/or. You have to have both components.

But we live in a world where word of mouth about a great game like Sleeping Dogs, combined with what I expect will be very good reviews and a strong marketing campaign, coming out early in the year, we’ve got the elements for a success. There’s something wrong when someone can tell you 12 months out what all the great games are going to be the next holiday. That means there’s no surprise, there’s no innovation. So it’s nice to come in here with big franchises like Hitman and Tomb Raider that everyone’s known about, Kingdom Hearts, everyone’s expecting. But also to bring in new stuff like Sleeping Dogs and Quantum that bring a little bit of innovation and hopefully will show our industry that consumers are still hungry for something new.

GamesBeat: I imagine Hitman: Absolution has a lot of buzz already. Something like that may not need that kind of help; it’s already got the ball rolling.

Fischer: You know, we’re a publicly traded company, so no matter how big people’s expectations are, it’s my job to beat it. So all that means is… [laughter] the numbers that I have to deliver are just that much higher. I wish there was a game in my lineup that I could just kick my feet up and let itself. There’s no game that big, and probably never will be.

GamesBeat: Has it seen a smoother development than, say, Sleeping Dogs?

Fischer: Hitman has been in development a long, long time. Some of that’s been smooth; some of that hasn’t been. But the fortunate thing is, we gave this game the time and the resources that it needed to be great. You saw the Glacier engine mentioned at the beginning of the trailer. The crowd dynamics that you saw — where the guy’s just having to literally push his way through people — show all of them reacting individually. That’s not just like walking down a busy street. That’s like being in a really crowded concert type of environment. That type of technology takes time to get right, and we took our time to get it right. The same thing applies to Tomb Raider, right? We just announced the game’s going to be coming out in 2013. We could ship that game now, it’s so good. So imagine how awesome it’s going to be when it hits the market.

GamesBeat: Is there an explanation for that, too? As far as why it needed to go out further?

Fischer: I can look you in the eye and tell you, honest to goodness, we want this to be the best game of the generation. And the time that we’re giving it is going to allow that to happen. Look, you’re going to see the game at E3. Tell me if you think I’m blowing smoke your way. It’s really that good.

GamesBeat: Yeah, I think as long as it doesn’t go to three E3s, right…? [big laughs]

Fischer: I think there is kind of a three-E3 rule. No game has ever been to three E3s and turned out to be a hit. You’ve got a good point there.

GamesBeat: We waited nine years for Diablo III…

Fischer: Yeah, but was it at E3?

GamesBeat: I don’t think so. Not until the last couple years. So yeah, it’s a diverse lineup; it’s a big slate. You guys are one of the only Japanese companies to make some money last year.

Fischer: It’s a hit-driven business. If there was a formula to success, all the companies would be equally successful. I think one of the things that’s helping us out is we do have a broad base of development now. We’re making games in Japan, in North America, and in Europe. That’s helping us develop a consistent line-up that’s not only cross-border,but it’s also going from casual to hardcore. And hopefully now we’ve smoothed out our release cycles so you’re not going to see as many peaks and valleys as maybe you have in the past.

GamesBeat: I assume most of your developers are in Japan, some are in Europe, and the smallest number is in North America?

Fischer: Well, it depends, because again, North America covers the Eidos Montreal studio, which is actually pretty significant. Of course we’re making Sleeping Dogs in Vancouver, but that’s an independent studio, United Front Games. We have the headquarters staff in Wimbledon, we have the IO studio in Copenhagen. I think there are certainly more individual developers in Japan than any other region. The net, east versus west, I can’t say.

All these studios are really sharing resources. Which I think is unique to a company like ours. You see a lot of western companies sharing resources, but we’re actually doing it in Japan now as well. The Hitman trailer you saw, the end at night, that was actually co-produced by our Visual Works studio, that’s famous for doing all the computer-generated imagery work in Final Fantasy. It’s not just about where it’s made. It’s how it’s made.

---

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.

Filed under: Games

---

GamesBeat 2013 is our fifth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. You'll get 360-degree perspectives from top gaming executives, developers, and analysts on what’s to come in the industry. Our theme this year is “The Battle Royal.” Check out full event details here, and grab your early-bird tickets here!

---

]]> http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/25/square-enixs-mike-fischer-cherry-picks-the-games-to-westernize-interview/feed/ 0 Square Enix’s Mike Fischer says Activision was “crazy” to abandon True Crime: Hong Kong (interview) vbdeantakahashi mike fischer lord of arcana quantum conundrum sleeping dogs hitman absolution GamesBeat 2012