David Cage: Emotions are hard to tackle in games

David Cage, the lead designer and director behind Omikron: The Nomad Soul and Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy, to US readers) gave a talk in France recently and outlined what he thinks the biggest barrier is for games in the future; emotion.

Gamasutra were on hand at the Museum of Science and Industry in France to report on Cage's talk about emotions and how these are tackled in games.

"The more subtle, social emotions such as love, empathy, joy, sadness, jealousy, anger, and shame are frequently addressed in literature and cinema, Cage pointed out, but are rarely successfully tackled by games,

EA Sports to bundle peripherals with games

Electronic Arts executive David McCarthy has revealed plans for EA Sports to create specialised peripherals to go along with several new games coming out within the next year.

McCarthy, who revealed the plans in an interview with Gamasutra in Paris, did not reveal plans for any specific games or platforms however, but said that the plans were in place for some future games on the EA Sports label.

He compared the intention of the move was similar to

How To Start Your Own Games Studio, Pt 4

ForewordBy Joe Martin

Here we are again, with the latest installment of our guide on how to start your own games studio, as written by one of the lead designers at the independent developer Introversion - perhaps the last in the long British tradition of bedroom-coders-done-good.

Mark has done a lot to share the knowledge he and the rest of the Introversion team have gathered over the last few years, which can't have been easy since experience is, as has often been said, one of those things you always need until you finally have it.

Star Wars: Clone Wars games detailed (Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels)

To go along with the new animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie coming out this summer, LucasArts has created two new Clone Wars games that have nothing to do with the crappy last-gen Clone Wars games.

Lightsaber Duels for the Wii and Jedi Alliance on the DS promise all kinds of motion control function and Alliance even has drop-in, drop-out co-op. Details are a bit scarce at the moment, but we've got the first two screens below and some info from our buddies at CVG.

Star Wars: Clone Wars games detailed (Star Wars The Clone Wars: Jedi Alliance )

To go along with the new animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars movie coming out this summer, LucasArts has created two new Clone Wars games that have nothing to do with the crappy last-gen Clone Wars games.

Lightsaber Duels for the Wii and Jedi Alliance on the DS promise all kinds of motion control function and Alliance even has drop-in, drop-out co-op. Details are a bit scarce at the moment, but we've got the first two screens below and some info from our buddies at CVG.

This Week in FF Famitsu Scans..

Famitsu scans have surfaced online with some new pics of FFXIII, FFVsXIII, and Dissidia. Forever Fantasy has all the scans for you to look at which I’ll provide links for below

FF13 Scan 1
FF13 Scan 2
FF13 Scan 3

Dissidia Scan 1
Dissidia Scan 2
Dissidia Scan 3

DKΣ3713

Forever Fantasy has even taken the liberty of translating an interview with Nomura concerning Dissidia and gave the following bits of information from it:

Atari founder: Games industry "should be bigger" (Wii)

With games rivalling films in both production costs and profits, and titles like GTA IV smashing entertainment sales records, gaming is booming, but it's not as big as it should be, says Atari founder Nolan Bushnell.

Bushnell points towards gaming's relatively focused demographic and its increased complexity as factors that have stunted the growth of the hobby.

"I think the Wii by Nintendo is getting games that once again are fun for people who don't want to make a career out of figuring out how to run a 47-button controller," he told our friends over at Next-Gen.

Different Games for Different Players

ForewordBy Joe Martin
One of the interesting things about being a journalist in any specialist field is that every now and then you get a chance to speak to someone who is a hero of yours, or someone who helped shape the person you’ve become.

It’s happened to me a few times. I’ve shaken hands with the writers who first got me interested in journalism, had emails and interviews with game designers who helped define my childhood and I’ve almost spilt beer over Mark Rein.

How To Start Your Own Games Studio, Pt 3

ForewordBy Joe Martin
Publishers are one of the most misunderstood and reviled parts of the games industry and there are corners of this planet where even muttering the name of a game publisher will see you being stoned to death with mice trackballs.

Yet, for many developers, publishers are an important side of the industry and are able to bring financial support and considerable resources to a project. With the right backer and marketing campaign behind it a game can go from zero to hero in a very short time indeed.

THQ: 'Girls have better things to do than play games' (Wii)

James Scalpello, wireless director of THQ, has claimed that girls don't play as many videogames as guys because they have different lifestyle requirements.

"When girls play console games, they have to have gone through a whole other list of things they could have done before sitting down with them," he told CasualGaming.biz.

"Guys get home, have dinner, and play a computer game. It's much higher up the list of priorities. To put it bluntly, girls have got better things to do."

THQ: "Girls don't have time for games"

THQ Wireless Director James Scalpello is a man who thinks he understands women, apparently. In a recent interview with CasualGaming.biz, the THQ executive outlined exactly why it is that he thinks girls aren't as big on gaming as boys.

"When girls play console games, they have to have gone through a whole other list of things they could have done before sitting down with them..." said James.

"Guys get home, have dinner, and play a computer game. It's much higher up the list of priorities. To put it bluntly, girls have got better things to do.

THQ: 'Girls have better things to do than play games' (Xbox 360)

James Scalpello, wireless director of THQ, has claimed that girls don't play as many videogames as guys because they have different lifestyle requirements.

"When girls play console games, they have to have gone through a whole other list of things they could have done before sitting down with them," he told CasualGaming.biz.

"Guys get home, have dinner, and play a computer game. It's much higher up the list of priorities. To put it bluntly, girls have got better things to do."

THQ: 'Girls have better things to do than play games' (Nintendo DS)

James Scalpello, wireless director of THQ, has claimed that girls don't play as many videogames as guys because they have different lifestyle requirements.

"When girls play console games, they have to have gone through a whole other list of things they could have done before sitting down with them," he told CasualGaming.biz.

"Guys get home, have dinner, and play a computer game. It's much higher up the list of priorities. To put it bluntly, girls have got better things to do."

New Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion

A new Neverwinter Nights 2 expansion is in development, titled “Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir”. Matthew Rorie, the Marketing and PR producer of Obsidian released a bit about the new expansion pack. Hit the jump to read all about the new expansion.

Neverwinter Nights 2: Storm of Zehir hearkens back to the days of the Baldur’s Gate and Icewind Dale franchises by including full party customization, dungeon crawling, and free exploration of a non-linear game world via an Overland Map. The gripping storyline foreshadows the events that will take place in the Forgotten Realms with the coming of release this June of the Fourth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons® Roleplaying Game.

1st Call of Duty 5 details released

The first details about Call of Duty 5 (or Call of Duty: World at War) are released. These details range from awesome, to a let down. Let’s go with the good news first though. Call of Duty 5 will host a number of new features. One of these new features is the ability to play through the campaign with co-op. Music to my ears! Multiplayer matches will also now have Vehicles. I’m not quite sure how I feel about that. COD has always been known for its quick and fast squad based action. I hope they’re not trying to turn this into battlefield 1942. Also, it is said that this game will be much gritter than any previous COD game, and any game on the market.

100 WiiWare games in development (Wii)

Nintendo has revealed that there are currently about 100 WiiWare titles in various stages of development.

NOA's senior director of project development, Tom Prata, told IGN that the company plans to release new WiiWare titles each Monday and that it hasn't set a limit on the number of games that will launch on any given week.

"Rather, we are working with developers and their production schedules to bring the products to consumers in a timely manner," he said, noting that, "currently, there are about 100 games in development for WiiWare at various stages of completion."

Itagaki leaves Tecmo

Tomonobu Itagaki, who best known for his creation of the Dead or Alive series (and his sunglasses), has officially resigned from Tecmo. Itagaki is suing the company for unpaid bonuses (from his completion of DOA4) and emotional damages. In his statement he explains his reasons for leaving, and apologies to his fans. This crept up on us all rather quickly, as Ninja Gaiden II is scheduled for release in just a few short hours. To view his full statement, hit the link below.

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia trailer

Gametrailers has put up the debut trailer of the latest Castlevania game, titled Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. After viewing it, I’m lefting asking this: “Konami, when will you do something new with Castlevania?” Ever since Sympthony of the Night, which is among my favorite games of all time, they’ve just been reusing that same formula with little to no tweaking. It feels like they’re just milking these games for all their worth before they’re forced to do something actually creative. I’m glad they’ve gotten rid of the generic anime art style and finally went back to their more realistic gothic style though. Check out the trailer below.