Feb 23, 2012

Blizzard working on a free-to-play title - report

Eurogamer

World of Warcraft developer Blizzard is working on a free-to-play title, according to a Develop report.

The site's anonymous source added that the studio is looking to expand business opportunities and develop both subscription and freemium titles, but didn't offer any further detail.

Blizzard declined to comment on the story.

If true, this wouldn't be the first time that Blizzard has dipped its toes into free-to-play - you can currently play World of Warcraft until your character reaches level 20 without opening your wallet.

However, at Blizzcon last year CEO Mike Morhaime spoke up for its tried and tested subscription model.

"For us, and even for EA with the Star Wars game, I think that the value that you get for the $15 a month is just unmatched. I don't think you can get that amount of entertainment value anywhere. I'd put the $15 up against anything," he told Eurogamer.

Aside from Diablo 3, new WOW expansion Mists of Pandaria and the next two chapters in the StarCraft 2 trilogy, Blizzard has confirmed work is underway on a brand new MMO codenamed Titan.

Feb 21, 2012

Company of Heroes: Campaign Edition announced for Mac

Company of Heroes - Legacy Edition

Company of Heroes: Campaign Edition, a single player-only version of THQ's popular PC WWII RTS, arrives on Mac from 1st March, publisher Aspyr Media has announced.

It will include the single player campaign from the original Company of Heroes as well as the additional solo missions from the Opposing Fronts and Tales of Valor expansions.

The set will set you back your local equivalent of $49.99, though it's currently discounted to $44.99 on Aspyr's site.

Your system requirements are as follows:

Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: 10.6.8 (Snow Leopard), 10.7.2 (Lion)
CPU Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo (Dual-Core)
CPU Speed: 2.4 GHz
Memory: 2 GB RAM
Hard Disk Space: 13 GB
Video Card (ATI): Radeon HD 2600
Video Card (NVidia): Geforce 8600
Video Memory (VRam): 256MB
Peripherals: Macintosh mouse and keyboard

The Relic-developed strategy title originally launched on PC back in 2006 to universal acclaim - see Eurogamer's 10/10 Company of Heroes review for more details.

This isn't the first time Aspyr has taken it upon itself to launch multiplayer-free Mac SKUs of other publisher's titles. It recently released a Campaign Edition of id Software's shooter Rage.

Jan 25, 2012

THQ recommits to core games amid long-term health fears

Company of Heroes - Legacy Edition

Undermined publisher THQ has publicly recommitted to developing a host of core games - some of them years away.

The note has no doubt been issued in response to scrutiny of THQ's long-term health.

Five internal THQ studios are making games "aligned" to several of the publisher's key brands, the company revealed. They are UFC Undisputed, Darksiders, Company of Heroes, InSane, Saints Row, Warhammer 40,000 and the new game by Patrice Desilets.

Those internal studios are presumably Yuke's, Vigil, Relic, Volition and THQ Montreal.

UFC Undisputed and Darksiders boxes are ticked by upcoming games UFC Undisputed 3 and Darksiders 2.

But Company of Heroes Online was cancelled last year, which means the above Company of Heroes project may be Company of Heroes 2. A sequel has been rumoured but never confirmed.

The Saints Row reference is presumably a fourth, unannounced game in the series. And why not? Saints Row: The Third has now shipped 3.8 million copies, THQ revealed. Lifetime shipped estimates are between five and six million.

The Warhammer 40,000 project could be multiple games: MMO Dark Millennium Online, Space Marine 2 or Dawn of War 3. Of the three, Dawn of War 3 carries the most weight. THQ has talked relatively openly about the project before, whereas talk of Space Marine 2 has been more wishy washy.

Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online may have been properly announced, but an ominous cloud looms over its future - THQ was rumoured to be selling it off. That we've seen little of the game since it was announced in 2007 strengthens these claims. MMOs are also notoriously long and arduous undertakings. If THQ was to be struggling, shedding an MMO burden would certainly lighten the load.

THQ's note went on to announce the company's withdrawal from the kids' licensed game market.

The note also mentioned that THQ would try to establish "new franchises on the next generation of game devices". Clarification of that statement will be given during and investor call next week.

Jan 23, 2012

Blizzard investigating product placement in next MMO

Eurogamer

A job posting for the role of franchise development producer on Blizzard's next MMO indicates that the developer is considering product placement and possibly in-game advertising for the game, codenamed Titan.

As well as various branding and merchandising responsibilities, the producer is to "work with major consumer brands to facilitate product placement and licensing within the world of Blizzard Entertainment's next-gen MMO that enhances the gameplay experience."

This is the first indication, and a strong one, that Titan is not a fantasy game, but is set in the present day or the future - potentially a near future.

Blizzard is notoriously protective of the integrity of its fictions and would be unlikely to consider the move if it wasn't harmonious with the game's setting - as suggested by the requirement that the licensing "enhances the gameplay experience".

Back in 2005, a Blizzard April Fool satirised the deal between Sony Online Entertainment and Pizza Hut that allowed players to order pizza from within EverQuest 2.

Blizzard has previously stated that Titan is a brand new franchise with new art, design and lore, and not related to its fantastical StarCraft, Warcraft or Diablo universes; president Mike Morhaime called it "something that's completely new and fresh". No other indication of the game's genre, platforms, gameplay or release date has been given.

Oct 12, 2011

Relic post-mortems Space Marine

Company of Heroes - Legacy Edition

To developer Relic, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine represented a good first attempt at third-person action on console.

Eurogamer's Space Marine review awarded 6/10.

"Was it our best work?" mulled producer Andy Lang when quizzed by Eurogamer. "It was our best console work."

"I'm pretty humble; I don't look at [criticism] and get all upset. I thought most of the reviews were fairly on the mark with what they had to say; the character design does get a bit repetitive and certain parts of it, just how the game plays - we didn't have time to really polish that stuff to where we wanted to get to. There wasn't anything that was oh-my-god shocking in the game.

"We're not super surprised by [the scores]," he added. "Of course we'd always like to have higher scores, but with our feature-set and coming out late in the console cycle - it's really hard to have that feature-rich game. We did our best to deliver that blockbuster experience. And the scores landed where they landed."

Andy Land revealed how Relic - renowned for PC RTS games - would persistently ask itself, "Are we crazy trying to bring this game to consoles this late in the cycle?" What's so special about this late in the cycle? "Because it's so competitive," said Lang, implying other high-profile games on second, third iterations.

"It was a new experience for many of us on the team," he recalled, "but we did bring in a lot of new talent that have worked on these games before to flesh it out. And Relic's pedigree of pushing for quality that we've done in RTS titles - we really tried to bring that level of polish to a third-person game.

"With regards to the strategy genre, we're on our fifth, sixth iterations; with this genre we're just starting out."

Andy Lang, producer, Space Marine

"With regards to the strategy genre, we're on our fifth, sixth iterations; with this genre we're just starting out."

Lang thinks it would have been "really cool" to have co-op at Space Marine launch, a month ago. That feature will soon be added via the Exterminatus DLC, due 25th October.

"If I look at when I play a Space Marine," he added, "I look at adding more puzzles, more variety to the gameplay experience, so the player has to think a little harder when they're entering an encounter when they're entering a space.

"Challenge the player a little more," he said. "Just more refinement - more polish in that area is something that I would really have loved to gotten in."

Space Marine entered the UK all-formats chart in second place, and now lingers in 11th. US sales for Space Marine are expected on Thursday.

"We had realistic goals for the title, of course, being the first title in a franchise," the Relic/THQ PR interjected, refusing sales numbers, explaining that they were still being processed.

Direct enquiries about a sequel were denied. But referrals to Space Marine as (above) "the first title in a franchise" and (above even further) "with this genre we're just starting out", were two examples (of a few) hints at the future.

In July, Relic said discussions about Space Marine 2 were "literally, just starting". Marketing manager James McDermott teased "some of the more popular fiction within the 40K universe" as a likely source base. Space Hulk? Horus Heresy?

Andy Lang told us that Relic, as a whole, housed around 170 staff across three teams. All enquiries about projects other than Space Marine 1 were blocked, but to assume a Company of Heroes 2/Dawn of War 3/Space Marine 2 split doesn't require too great a leap of faith.

Dawn of War 3 hasn't been formerly announced but clearly is happening. Company of Heroes 2 is also heavily rumoured to be in development.

Either one of those games, or both, were expected to be announced at Gamescom. THQ had promised a "big" announcement at the German games show but it didn't happen; THQ was barely present at all.

THQ has never revealed why. Perhaps it was because, days before, THQ announced 200 lay-offs.

The Relic/THQ PR, however, told Eurogamer it was because some projects weren't ready to show yet.

"That one was just a case of sometimes with development cycles what you think you'll have ready to show isn't, and plans change, so we just changed our plans on that one and we look forward to making announcements in the future," he said.

"But at this moment in time there's no time-frame we can put on it."

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Jun 22, 2011

Blizzard talks Titan development

Eurogamer

In an interview with Eurogamer World of Warcraft lead systems designer Greg Street discussed the development process behind Blizzard's next-gen MMO, codenamed Project Titan.

"We've had some key members go over to that team to work," he explained.

"When we interview new people, there's a chance they'll come under our team, and there's a chance they'll go onto that team. We meet with those guys quite regularly to say, 'Hey, here's an opportunity to do something different. Do we want to do it differently to how WOW did it, or are we happy with the way it worked out?'"

"We get to bounce ideas off each other that way," he added.

Asked if the WOW team was ever tempted to bring a Titan feature forward for an upcoming WOW expansion, Street highlighted one such recent occasion.

"The other day a designer was apologising, saying, 'Are you going to be mad if we steal that idea?'"

"Game designers steal ideas all the time. We build on what other games do. It's hard to look at many features in WOW and say, 'Blizzard were so brilliant for coming up with that in a vacuum.' We're building on what great game designers have done since they started making games."

Eurogamer attempted to nonchalantly ask just what that stolen Titan feature might be, but Blizzard sadly declined to comment further.

Little is known about Project Titan.

But we know it is already playable. "We're very confident in that product. It's an awesome one. We're playing it already," Blizzard COO Paul Sams said in March.

"It is a total ball to play. We think that the reach of that product is greater than anything that we've done before. We're very excited about that. I believe that it's the type of game that will have a very long life, much like World of Warcraft has."

Sams added: "The thing that we hope will happen is that it will not stop World of Warcraft but we believe will eclipse it."

Titan carries a rumoured release date of late 2013, according to a leaked internal slate.

Video: