Author: Mike Gutierrez

Team Bondi’s horror story in making L.A. Noire

L.A. Noire turned out to be a pretty great game. But in the seven years it took to bring it to market, not all of the team members had such a great time working on it. In addition to a website detailing the real credits of L.A. Noire, a feature has popped up from IGN revealing some of the horror stories many former developers shared about working on the project.

The piece is a strong indictment of Studio Founder, Writer, and Director Brendan McNamara, as sources claimed working 100+ hour work weeks with “the angriest person” they’ve ever met. IGN also gave McNamara a good amount of space to respond, with him explaining, “you’re competing against the best people in the world at what they do, and you just have to be prepared to do what you have to do to compete against those people.”

While you can’t argue with the results of McNamara’s style, one would certainly hope these harsh revelations would cease before the game industry becomes a less attractive job market.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Duke Nukem Forever coming to Mac in August

Despite the general disappointment from bourgeois game journalists, Duke Nukem Forever‘s strong sales have pushed for the game to be coming to Mac. Aspyr Media is handling the port, which will be available on Steam in August, supporting Steamworks features such as Steam Play.

“We are thrilled to play a part in bringing this gaming experience to the Mac,” said Michael Rogers, President of Aspyr Media. “Duke Nukem Forever represents many of the best aspects of gaming: shooting aliens, saving ladies in distress, and great tag-lines. We think Mac gamers will love taking a bite of Duke’s special pain cake.”

For more information on the project, visit the official site of the Mac release.

Posted in News, PC | Tagged

Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta details revealed, available 6/28 2PM Pacific

We’ve been dying to get more information on the upcoming multiplayer beta for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and now they’re in. Taking up about 1.7 GB of hard drive space, the beta will last about three weeks, with stereoscopic 3D support and splitscreen co-op. PlayStation Plus subscribers and InFamous 2 owners will be able to download it tomorrow at around 2 PM Pacific time (5 o’clock for us east coasters) with more details on when others may be able to download it incoming.

Head over to Naughty Dog’s site for more details.

Posted in News, PS3 | Tagged

Call of Duty: Black Ops Zombies go “In the Jungle” in Annihilation DLC

“Call of the Dead” from the Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation DLC was a hard act to follow for Treyarch. Instead of trying to up the star-studded cast of its previous effort, they decided to just bring you more interesting Zombies settings with new gameplay mechanics. Ride on a rail or down an aqueduct while you cut down the endless horde of the undead with all new weapons. Annihilation will cost you $15 and arrives on Xbox Live tomorrow with a future date for PC and PS3.

Posted in News, PC, PS3, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Sony launches $15 Dual Packs for PSP this week

With the PlayStation Vita just on the horizon, Sony is still giving you reasons to stock up on PSP titles. Starting this week at retail and on the PlayStation Store, you’ll be able to grab a new line of “Dual Packs,” $15 packages containing two PSP favorites. In addition to Syphon Filter: Logan’s Shadow and Killzone: Liberation pictured left, you’ll be able to grab another pack containing Secret Agent Clank and Daxter, as well as one including Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs: Fireteam Bravo.

I’ve been meaning to stock up my PSP ever since the PSN came back up and it would look like now is as good a time to do it. No word on other upcoming Dual Packs, but let’s keep our fingers crossed for the rest of the SOCOM games to pop up.

Posted in News, PSP |

Forza 4 Limited Collector’s Edition announced

Forza Motorsport 4 is coming October 11, and Microsoft has announced the Limited Collector’s Edition for the most diehard fans of the franchise.

In addition to the “Ship Bonus” car pack exclusively for pre-orders, a “VIP Car Pack” will net you another five additional cars. You’ll also get ten unannounced American classic muscle cars, as well as a custom designed BMW from the “Forza Motorsport 4 BMW Design Challenge.” The 2012 BMW M5 will also be available in the bundle, with a downloadable theme featuring the car and special recognition in lobbies and leaderboards. As far as tangible goods, you’ll get a host of stickers and a 96 page art book, “Cars of Motorsport 4 Presented by Top Gear.”

Head over to the official page for full details.

Posted in News, Xbox 360 | Tagged

Supreme Court strikes down California’s violent video game law

The case has been keeping many gamers and activists awake at night, but despite fears that video games would not be granted First Amendment protection as a legitimate medium, seven out of nine Supreme Court Justices agree: California’s violent video game law is unconstitutional.

Brown v. EMA started a widespread panic in the gaming community when it was appealed up to the Supreme Court, a case challenging a law that would restrict retailers from selling the vaguely termed “violent video games” to underage minors. In theory, if a government body was allowed to regulate video games, it would mean that the medium does not qualify for First Amendment protection. Consumer protection group quickly began pointing out that the sky was falling, that game developers would begin limiting their own creativity. As it turns out, Supreme Court Justices have just as much common sense as the rest of us. Especially when you read the opening lines of the full opinion:

Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And “the basic principles of freedom of speech… do not vary” with a new and different communication medium.

The Entertainment Consumers Association is proclaiming that the war is not over, but for now, I think we should all kick back with a favorite game and stop giving money to “activist groups.”

Posted in Etcetera, News |

Xbox COO doesn’t like the chances of PS Vita, 3DS

The PlayStation Vita has garnered a lot of enthusiasm from gamers with its promising software lineup, as has the 3DS with its innovative visuals and recently released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3DS. But where many gamers see hope, Microsoft corporate executives see doom.

Xbox COO Dennis Durkin told Industry Gamers that while he respects Nintendo and Sony, he wouldn’t want to trade places with them, especially in the handheld space. “I’m not sure I would want to be launching a dedicated portable device right now into that market,” said Durkin. “If you look at the 3DS, certainly versus people’s expectation’s, it’s not been as successful as people would have thought. So that’s a very crowded market and a very, very red ocean right now with a lot of change happening. So I’m not sure it’s [a good idea].”

While I’m sure that mentality is what makes him very good at what he does, it makes me glad Microsoft isn’t involved in the dedicated gaming handheld space, given their attitude. When it comes to handheld gaming, I usually like to order a healthy heaping of gameplay with a side of innovation… hold the corporate bullsh*t.

Posted in 3DS, News, Vita, Xbox 360 |