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Games for Windows Live Becomes A Standalone Client
Wed, 03 Dec 2008 16:23:13 EST
Following UI redesign towards more traditional for PC, Games For Windows LIVE now became a standalone client. 1Up.com has a brief overview of the client.
It's hardly anything revolutionary and seems very much like a base waiting to be built upon. There's no friends list access, Achievement browsing, or message center; for all of that, you'll still need to either start up a GFW Live-compatible game, turn on your Xbox 360, or visit Xbox.com. With no ability to communicate with others, the omission of system tray support is forgivable -- there's simply no need to leave it running once you're done downloading. There's no shortage of room for improvement, but it's a step towards offering digital distribution through Games for Windows Live.
No doubts this client will become something more, but what exactly - time will tell. If you're interested, you can grab 30Mb download here.
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Study Finds Close Combat Engages Gamers
Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:24:16 EST
Gamasutra features an interesting article on a study that used brainwaves, heart activity, and blinking to measure the engagement of gamers. Among the examined elements are cutscenes, integrated tutorials, pacing, and close combat, with Gears of War getting good marks on the latter:
For instance, in both Halo 2 and Gears of War, players were rewarded with an instant kill for using the energy sword and chainsaw... In addition, Gears of War players recorded high emotional reward for the spray of enemy blood after they succeeded.
So what caused players to disengage from games? Well, lots of things, but a big one seems to be repetition and assured outcomes. Using Gears again as an example:
In the first 90 minutes of gameplay, players encounter three Seeders, one at a time. Killing them can only be done with the Hammer of Dawn weapon, and taking them down is crucial to restoring radio communications.
The result is that the novelty of the first encounter with this enemy makes the gameplay intensely engaging. However, the second and third encounters with Seeders do not engage players at nearly the same level of intensity. In some sense, emotion data demonstrated that players only went through the motions with the second and third Seeders.
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Gun Enthusiasts Make Very Real Lancer From Gears of War
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 21:02:23 EST
A rather crafty group of guys must really like the Lancer from Gears of War quite a lot, because they've decided to make their own.
A few enterprising gun enthusiasts have gone the extra mile for their bayonets, strapping on 14 inches of chainsaw for proper eviscerating. They call it the "Firearm Mounted Anti Zombie Device" but we know it better as the standard issue Lancer from Epic Games' third-person shooter.
Yes, it works, as proven by the video of the thing in pumpkin-slaying action.
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Majority Shares Of Midway Sold
Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:48:20 EST
According to Reuters, Sumner Redstone has unloaded his 87% shareholdings in Midway for a mere $100,000 (or $0.0012 a share) and a hefty tax write-off. Redstone's National Amusements corporation is facing outstanding debt in the neighborhood of $1.6 billion. Private investor Mark Thomas is now the majority shareholder of the UT3 publisher.
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Hourences' Site Update
Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:31:48 EST
Hourences seems to be a very busy guy and his site updates always reflect that; today's is no exception. First up is a brand new portfolio website, complete with a bunch of screenshots of some of the levels he worked on for the recently released The Chronicles of Spellborn (see a few below) and the upcoming Huxley.
Modcenter is featuring a Q&A with Hourences about his many projects, including The Ball modification for UT3. A few details of plans for the mod's future:
For part three we have planned to introduce at least one enemy, preferably two. There will be more action orientated gameplay with a brand new environment set in two golden cities. We will also have new and original music. I am very excited about the new weapon model and if it all goes right we will have our own menu! We hope to become a fully fledged total conversion for Phase 3.
For Phase 4, we will likely continue to improve these new features, add another new enemy, and have the player arrive at the palace of the King. These things are in development and being discussed but the overall target is to have at least 6 hours of gameplay by the end of the contest.
Last but not least, Hourences has begun giving UnrealEd and level design lectures to game development schools and is in the process of attempting to gather support for persuading the makers of the low cost modeler Silo to support Unreal modding.
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