Deep Silver Announces Risen

 

Press Release:

Deep Silver, the video game label of Koch Media, a leading producer and distributor of digital entertainment products, and the Piranha Bytes team announce the name of their joint role-play project: Risen.

With Risen, Piranha Bytes introduces a fresh, new setting. The game’s protagonist is shipwrecked after a storm and finds himself on a mysterious island. An active volcano dominates the scene. Ancient temple ruins have recently risen from the ground, and bizarre creatures infest the island.

″Piranha Bytes have already proven their enormous talent for creating both enthralling and profound role-playing worlds. With Risen, the team presents a new exciting scenario providing a great variety of adventures, which will keep players glued in front of their monitors.″ says Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, Managing Director of Koch Media.

Further information about Risen will be presented at the Games Convention.

The new teaser site provides a close up of the glowing volcano. A newsletter provides readers with the latest news. The website is located at: http:\\risen.deepsilver.com

The working title of Risen has been ″Project RPB″.

Vimeo Bans Game Videos

Vimeo.com, the site that most us go to check out frag videos and/or speedruns, is banning uploads of any and every video game related media.The company officially announced it via a blogpost on July 21st.

The Vimeo staff has decided that we are no longer going to allow gaming videos on Vimeo. Specifically, we are no longer going to allow game walk-throughs, game strategy videos, depictions of player vs player battles, raids, fraps, or any other video gaming videos that simply depict individuals playing a video game. Videos falling into this category will be subject to deletion as of September 1st; new videos of this type will be removed.

Ofcourse, it’s rather irreverent that most people visit the site just to view the game related videos. But it’s okay, shooting yourself in the foot is always a good idea.

If you’re looking for some alternatives, point your browsers to:

WeGame.com
VReel
NoobFlicks

Hybride Technologies Acquired by Ubisoft

Ubisoft, the french games publisher/developer has acquired canadian based visual effects studio; Hybride Technologies. Hybride Technologies’s portfolio includes blockbuster movies like 300, Sin City. Hybride is notable for giving movies almost a video game look by using unique visuals. Ubisoft plans to use Hybride’s technology in their games. Ubisoft did not disclose the amount of the buyout.

Press Release:
Today Ubisoft announced the acquisition of Hybride Technologies, a Montreal-based studio renowned for its expertise in the creation of visual effects for cinema, television and advertising.

Created over 15 years ago, Hybride employs 80 team members. The studio’s many projects include such innovative films as 300, Frank Miller’s Sin City and the Spy Kids series. Read more

Ignition Entertainment Licenses Unreal Engine 3.0

Ignition Entertainment is the latest studio to acquire an Unreal Engine 3.0 license to use in their upcoming multi-platform “groundbreaking” FPS.

Press Release: 

Ignition Entertainment, Ltd. (www.ignitionent.com), a UTV enterprise, today announced that the company entered into an agreement with Epic Games to license Unreal Engine 3 for its upcoming, groundbreaking FPS, currently under development at its Florida studio.

“Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 is an extremely versatile engine,” said Jeremy Stieglitz, Game Director and Lead Designer, Ignition Florida. “So when deciding on technology for Ignition Florida’s first next-generation video game, there was no questioning that Unreal Engine 3 is the way to go.” Read more

Now On Steam - Penny Arcade Adventures

The first chapter of Penny Arcade’s video game is now available on Valve’s Steam service.

Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Episode One is now available via Steam for just $19.99. Episode One has been enhanced with achievements for Steam purchasers. In this RPG-adventure game, players join Gabe and Tycho, the crime-solving team of the Startling Developments Detective Agency, to combat savage enemies and solve mysteries hidden deep in the sinister heart of New Arcadia.

Venetica Announced Plus 4 Screenshots

Deck 13, A German games developer, has announced it’s latest project; Venetica. A Roleplaying game featuring clevage-showing heroine and some random amazing fantasy plot…

Press Release:

Deck 13, one of Germany’s most successful game developers, has teamed up with dtp entertainment to present Venetica, a visually stunning role-play game with a cryptic storyline. Venetica mixes emotions and action in a unique free roaming and living sixteenth century world full of surprise.

In the era of Venetica, Death walks among the living as a flesh & blood being, carrying out the deeds of an ancient council known by a few as Corpus. Each generation of the Corpus is set with the task of selecting the next predecessor of the bringer of death. Unfortunately, the most recent council had unwittingly selected a crafty necromancer who is determined on bringing death and destruction to the world. Read more

BioShocking Hollywood

 

The critically acclaimed first-person-shooter from 2K Games is now coming to the big screen. 2K Games has come to terms with Universal Studios to develop a movie based on the successful video game. BioShock: The movie will be directed by Gore Verbinski - the director behind Pirates of Caribbean trilogy.

2K Games announced today that it has reached an agreement for BioShock®, the universally acclaimed smash-hit video game, to be developed as a feature film by Universal Pictures. 2K Games, whose 2K Boston and 2K Australia studios developed BioShock, is a video game publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

Read more

Rockstar Games VP: “Fuck casual gaming”

New York magazine interviewed Rockstar Games’s VP Dan Houser. Houser doesn’t like casual games, infact, he went as far as to say “Fuck casual gaming”. The interview also focuses on the release of GTA IV and the controversy surrounding it. Interesting interview and definitely worth a read. Here’s a snip:

NY Mag: So the gaming industry has changed a lot since the last GTA …
Houser: Yeah, fuck all this stuff about casual gaming. I think people still want games that are groundbreaking. The Wii is doing something totally different, which is fantastic. We’re hopefully going to prove that there’s also a very big audience for people who want entertainment in another form, who think of games as being a narrative device that can challenge movies. We always said: We’re not going release a large number of games. They’re going to have the production values of movies. They’re gonna be about themes that interest us whatever the medium, instead of the weird, special video game–only themes that too many people make — orcs and elves, or monsters, or space. We felt you could make a good game and have it be about something we could actually relate to. Or aspire to.

New Prince of Persia Title Officially Announced

As reported earlier, new chapter in Prince of Persia series was in the works, now Ubisoft has officially announced it. Although the name was not revealed, next POP game will be coming to PCs, consoles as well as DS. Full press release below:

Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced that a new Prince of Persia is scheduled to release towards the end of 2008 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and PC. This new Prince of Persia marks the debut of the critically acclaimed franchise on next-generation consoles. Developed by Ubisoft’s award-winning Montreal studio and the same all-star team that created the previously acclaimed Prince of Persia® Sands of Time trilogy, Prince of Persia is opening a new chapter in the Prince of Persia universe, featuring a new breed of gameplay. The game is poised to rejuvenate the action-adventure genre in addition to introducing a brand-new illustrative art style.

Ubisoft will also release a Prince of Persia game specifically designed for the Nintendo DS™ system, featuring an entirely new storyline and new characters. More details to be unveiled in the future.

No media or assets are available at this time.

Assassin’s Creed Director’s Cut for PC Now Available

Jade Raymond’s Assassin’s Creed Director’s Cut has been officially released to retail stores. This, after getting leaked to the internet a month before.

Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announced that Assassin’s Creed Director’s Cut for PC is now available at retailers nationwide at the MSRP of $49.99. It is rated “M? for Mature by the ESRB. Read more

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