“It’s been a great high for the last couple of weeks,” Daniel Suarez, Activision’s executive producer for “Call of Duty: World At War” told me in an interview last week. Happy is any man whose game has launched so well that it topped — his words — the “bajillion pound gorilla” that is “World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King” in sales in the U.K in its launch week.

Suarez and I talked about a number of things during out interview, some of which I’ve covered here on Multiplayer this week — plans for upcoming DLC for the game and where the game’s surprising Nazi Zombie mode came from.

The first topic of my interview, however, was how the development team at Treyarch dealt with making a game in the shadow of “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.” That was the bajillion-pound gorilla as far as I was concerned.

It’s not every year that a development team puts out a game that so many critics don’t expect to be better than last year’s installment. How do you deal with that pressure?

“If you look at what was done for ‘Call of Duty 3,’ everybody goes, ‘Treyarch’s not very good’…Well they only had a year to do it.”

Suarez said his team was “100% aware” of the main knock on “World At War” going in, the reason some gaming critics were expecting a stinker. The “Call of Duty” franchise had been threatening to veer into “Star Trek” movie or “Splinter Cell” gaming territory, flip-flopping in quality with each installment.

Last year’s “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” as well as “Call of Duty 2” two years before that were seen as good “Call of Duty” games. The one in between, “CoD 3,” was a critical disappointment. The even number ones were made by Infinity Ward. But installment #3 and this new one, “World at War,” were developed by Treyarch. “If you look at what was done for ‘Call of Duty 3,’ everybody goes, ‘Treyarch’s not very good. “Call of Duty 3″ wasn’t as good as the other ones.’” You have to look at the detail of it. Why was “Call of Duty 3″ rated only a mid-80 game? Well they only had a year to do it in a year that they were also doing PS3 for the first time on a launch year and also the Wii on a launch year.” The new game, “World At War,” he said, benefited from a two-year development cycle and an embrace of some new priorities like improving the voice-acting and pushing an M rating.

“Everybody wants to say it’s a competition,” Suarez said when I pressed him about “World At War”’s airplane level, which seemed to me to be an attempt to one-up “Modern Warfare”’s airplane level. I wasn’t buying his explanation that there wasn’t competition. Didn’t these teams have heat? I persisted that there had to be some sort of competitive urge there to prove that “World at War” could top its predecessor. “It’s not like that,” Suarez said. As Suarez tells it, Treyarch started with historical inspiration and then amped up the drama for reasons other than competing with Infinity Ward. “From our perspective it’s never about how we can one-up the previous game. It’s: ‘What do we think is going to make a great game? What do we think is fun? What do we think is going to make people’s jaws drop when they play it?’”

Suarez said there were three levels in Treyarch that is most proud of. Judge Treyarch by them: 1) The flight level Black Cats, for its sheer Michael Bay bombastic spectacle. 2) The street scene in Eviction, a level in Berlin that culminates in a fight in the metro. 3) The Hard Landing level that ends with a massive Pacific island firefight.

At the time of our interview I believed that one of the best measures of “World At War”’s appeal — and one of the best ways to see if Activision had been overzealous in releasing a sequel in the franchise this year — was Xbox Live activity. A year after its release, “Modern Warfare” consistently ranks at or near the top of the chart for most online activity on Microsoft’s console. I suggested to Suarez that some people, maybe many people, just wouldn’t migrate away from the “Modern Warfare” experience they love so much.

“Other iterations to ‘Counter-Strike’ occurred after that first one came out, but a lot of people still liked the core of what [the original] ‘Counter-Strike’ was. I think it’s the same with ‘Call of Duty’ multiplayer.”

“I think there’s going to be a longstanding group of people that play “Modern Warfare.” I think “Modern Warfare,” to me, at least when I play it today, it’s very much how ‘Counter-Strike‘ was. Other iterations to ‘Counter-Strike’ occurred after that first one came out, but a lot of people still liked the core of what [the original] ‘Counter-Strike’ was. I think it’s the same with ‘Call of Duty’ multiplayer. A lot of people come over to play ‘World At War” that kind of like the setting. They like that it’s a little different. It’s got new maps. They like the vehicles and different perks. They may go back. They may come back to “World At War.” From our perspective, all we want to deliver is a great game. It’s not a competition, like ‘Who’s got more volume online today vs. [Modern Warfare]?’”

Typically a game developer can assume that their online-enabled sequel will eventually have more players competing in it than the previous iteration. See “Halo 3“’s online activity currently surpassing “Halo 2“’s. The prospect of the same thing happening with the “Call of Duty” franchise isn’t guaranteed. I asked Suarez if he thought that online usage of “World at War” would eventually exceed that of “Modern Warfare.” Shouldn’t that just be a matter of time? “We’ll see how the sales go,” he said. “There’s 10 million copies sold of ‘Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare’. The hope is that if we can get close to that number… again it’s not “Do we hope it exceeds the number of users online?’ Look, I’d love to be number one on Xbox Live and hold that crown for a while.”

Well, today Suarez may be an even happier man. The latest popularity ranking for Xbox Live usage shows that last week, “Call of Duty: World At War” was played more online than “Modern Warfare.”

Victory? It’s not a competition.

After weeks of being topped by the likes of Marcus Fenix and Soap MacTavish, Master Chief has finally made his triumphant return to the #1 spot on the Xbox 360 Top Live Titles list. Gamers apparently helped themselves to a generous serving of Halo 3 with their traditional Thanksgiving meals as it was the top played title on Xbox Live for the week of November 24th. Perhaps it will retain the crowning position next week as well with the Legendary Map Pack ‘Holiday Deal Of The Week’ and the chance to earn the highly sought after Recon armor. Hit the jump for all of last week’s top titles (including Arcade games and Xbox Original games) then go play some Halo as you’ve apparently already been doing.

Xbox 360 Top Live Titles
1 Halo 3
2 Gears of War 2
3 CoD: World at War
4 Call of Duty 4
5 GTA IV
6 Fable II
7 Left 4 Dead
8 Madden NFL 09
9 Fallout 3
10 FIFA 09

Top Arcade Titles (Full Versions purchased)
1 Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix
2 A Kingdom for Keflings
3 UNO
4 Castle Crashers
5 Worms
6 Portal: Still Alive
7 Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3
8 Aegis Wing
9 Bomberman Live
10 Assault Heroes

Original Xbox Top Live Titles
1 Halo 2
2 Star Wars: Battlefront 2
3 Fable
4 Counter-Strike
5 Call of Duty 3
6 Battlefield 2: MC
7 Conker: Live Reloaded
8 Street Fighter Anniv.
9 Star Wars: Battlefront
10 Splinter Cell Chaos

Source [Major Nelson]

Last week, while Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving, a series of ten coordinated terrorist attacks hit Mumbai, India. Over 170 people have been confirmed dead thus far, and nearly 300 were injured in the tragic, brutal acts. One of the individuals lucky enough to escape with his life was Canadian actor Michael Rudder. The Montreal native has done voice work for a number of Ubisoft-published videogames, including Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Assassin’s Creed, and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, in which he voiced the Dark Prince.

Rudder was having dinner with friends at the Oberoi Hotel when terrorists opened fire, and as he lay in a hospital bed, he related his harrowing ordeal in an exclusive interview with CBC reporter Terry Milewski. I’ve put some choice quotes after the jump, since it’s a rather chilling account. (Text transcribed from video linked on interview page.)

[Via Kotaku]

Geoff Johns, writer for DC Universe Online, told MTV Multiplayer in a recent interview that the game will not be launching any time soon, and to expect it by Christmas 2009 at the earliest; but 2010 looks more feasible. He also went on to talk about what it is like writing a storyline for the game considering the size of the MMO.

Pulled from the interview:

“Lots of gamers create their own characters. Everyone knows Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, but this game gets you more entrenched in the universe. You meet the Metal Men, or Doom Patrol, and everyone gets a chance to embody something different. I like the idea that your secret identity is really outside the computer. You’re a normal guy, and then when you log on to the game, you become the superhero.

Each player represents a parallel Earth in a way. I like that idea, when you’re entering it for the first time. There are some major storylines that you can play out and live. I’ve written the overall story and the path that gets you into the game and the areas of the universe and how to explore them, but not every line of dialogue. That’s a fulltime job, it’s too frigging big, too intense to write every line of an MMO. I’d probably jump off a building.”

Being that Sony is behind the game, you can expect it to be released for the PS3 as well as the PC when it goes live. Check back with us often for updates.

---
Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Rumor: God of War III Coming in Late 2009?
• Splinter Cell: Conviction Going Back to the Drawing Board -Delayed Until 2010
• 'God of War III' Advertised Via 'Chains of Olympus' Manual
• EVE Online Coming to Steam, Free Trial for All
• Universe at War for PC Delayed

According to 1UP and CBS, the chaos in Mumbai that shocked the world has touched the gaming community as well. Michael Rudder, a Canadian voice actor with credits from Splinter Cell, Assassin’s Creed, or Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, was shot three times while eating dinner in the restaurant of his hotel.

Rudder was in India on a spiritual retreat with the Synchroncity Foundation, a mediation group based in Virginia. After being hit, he was immediately taken to the hospital where he underwent surgery. The Synchroncity Foundation’s website reports that after an eight week stay in the hospital, Rudder should fully recover.

In total, six Synchroncity members were hit in the attack. Two were fatally wounded.

On this site, we complain about hardware mishaps, online multiplayer lag, and disappointing gameplay. Stories like this highlight the triviality of our blogging pursuits while pointing out the more fundamental and meaningful aspects of our lives. That is not to say that the gaming industry is not worth writing about, but a tragedy like this reminds us to appreciate the world outside of consoles and PC’s.

Our hopes and prayers go out to Rudder, his family, and anyone else affected by these events.

Posted by rossignol. | 14 comments | Donate or subscribe to RPS | Post tags: alpha protocol, obsidian entertainment, Sega
This article is from Rock, Paper, Shotgun. If you're reading it on any other website, they're stealing it from us without permission.

Remember when Ubisoft was "the Rayman company"? It doesn't seem that like long ago, but now the French publisher is a powerhouse.

Ubisoft has enjoyed extraordinary growth over recent years thanks to successful "hardcore" properties like Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, Far Cry, Splinter Cell and other Tom Clancy games. The company is also increasingly targeting the burgeoning "casual" market and even has its sights on film and television production.

Alain Corre, Ubisoft's executive director for Europe, the Middle East and Asia, was due to visit Australia last month and have a chat to Screen Play. His trip unfortunately had to be cancelled at the last minute because of the global financial crisis, but Alain was kind enough to ring me from Paris for the interview below.

The interview today covers topics like the impact of the financial crisis, Ubisoft's growth, the merger of Activision and Vivendi, holes in Ubisoft's portfolio, the future of the PC, packed Christmas release schedules, the casual market and gender stereotypes.

Part two of the comprehensive interview to be published on Monday explores the current state of the games industry, Ubisoft's support of the Wii console, Wii's MotionPlus accessory, Ubisoft's interest in an Australian development studio, tax breaks and Ubisoft's ambitions in the movie business.

Sorry that you couldn't come and visit us this week.

Yeah, I know. But because of the financial turmoil and all the products we are releasing and all the unknowns about the situation, my boss told me that maybe it would be better to be close by just in case so we can react quickly. I said 'yes, maybe you're right'.

So the crisis is a little unnerving for Ubisoft?

No, not really, but we have never experienced this kind of situation. For the moment our market is reacting well, we haven't seen a decrease in terms of the sales of machines or software in the past few weeks. Even in the UK, which is the number one market here in Europe, sales of the 360 have exploded in the last three weeks following the price decrease. And the sales of Wii and DS are huge, even PS3 is climbing up despite the high price of 399 Euros.

So for the moment the machines are still going on selling very well and we know that when the machines sell, after that follows the software. We don't know to what extent this crisis will impact our industry, but what we think is that interactive entertainment is rather cheap if you compare it with other entertainment. When you buy a game at 50 Euros or 50 dollars, you have 15 or 20 hours of entertainment, which you can enjoy with the family at home, and if you compare with holidays or restaurants or the cinema, it's relatively cheap. For the moment we don't see an effect. But perhaps it will have an effect on the number of games people will buy, maybe they will buy one game less compared to what they would have bought. But we're not sure, for the moment we are confident.

Why do you think Ubisoft has been able to grow so rapidly over the past decade?

We took vitamins. (laughs) I think our vitamins have been a good anticipation on the trends and the next platforms. We decided to invest quite early on the Wii, ahead of everybody, early on the DS, and that helped us to where we are today. Also we are trying to understand and feel the right tendencies of trends coming in the next couple of years with the creations we have. So far we have had a good nose.

Also, the recruitment of talent that we have through the company in the studios and in marketing. On the studio side I think we have been able to grow sizeable studios with a lot of talent, and we have been able to retain experienced talent to make more great games. This pool of talent is now proving we can develop a lot of great games in different genres. So all those things add up to our success today.

Is it your explicit goal to be number one in terms of sales in all markets around the world? Or are you happy if you just make quality games that can entertain?

I think that if we go on creating quality games, games that are innovative, and if we please the end user, then we will have great success. If we can please more and more consumers then naturally we will get amongst the top publishers but it's really based on what products we can produce. When you have a AAA or mega-hit, then you quickly produce millions of extra players and that brings you good revenue and profit and helps you to climb into the top publishers. But it comes down to the games first and how we can execute well.

Does Activision Blizzard represent a bigger threat to Ubisoft than they did as separate entities? Is there any value in Ubisoft looking for a similar merger, such as Take 2 now that EA seems to have given up?

Activision Blizzard existed before as individual companies so they were competitors to us. Whether they are combined or not for us, it is much the same. Activision is still the one competitor that is in all the fields we are in. Now they have added Blizzard, who is dedicated to WoW and also some other PC products. So really, we haven't seen any change. As a combined company they have bigger revenues so if we compare they are stronger than they used to be compared to us in terms of globalised revenue, but in terms of competition it is the same as it used to be.

For us we have never had the spirit to acquire big companies. We have always preferred organic growth rather than the addition of another big company, which has its drawbacks. To mix two cultures, to merge dedicated services from two companies together takes management time and can modify the culture and the focus. What we know is our business is moving so fast that you really need to have focus on what you need to do and your products and so on. We really need the energy of our top managers around the world to focus on what they need to do.

Do you think there are any holes in your portfolio at present that you need to address?

Oh yes, there are always holes fortunately, which means there is potential for growth. We are not touching the MMO (massively multiplayer online games) for the moment because it is a place where you have really big guys and it requires a lot of investment and risk. So for now we have not touched that field, although we are bring online games, web-based games soon on the market. We have Heroes of Might and Magic coming and we will try to grab some consumers in that field. We were also not in the strategy genre, but now we are with Tom Clancy's EndWar. It's the first action strategy game we're bringing to console, so we are trying to crack this genre. We are now in racing because we have acquired Driver, and the team behind it. We are working on a great driving game that will be out in the coming months. It's a genre which is important, this category represents quite a solid percentage of the worldwide business and we want to be a part of it. We are also launching an extreme sports game with Shaun White. We are not at all in the sports segment, we have always said that it was impossible for us to crack into this segment. Shaun White and the approach we have taken with snowboarding is unique and we hope that if this one works we will develop more sports games.

We are (also) trying to capitalise on what we know how to do. FPS (first-person shooters) - Far Cry 2 has done extremely well in Australia, so thank you to your country and to your consumers who chose to play Far Cry 2. We also have the Clancy games, Rainbow Six Vegas, Ghost Recon, and we will have new iterations in years to come. So we are strong on FPS and want to continue being strong there. We are good also in action adventure, Prince of Persia is coming in a month and we want also to go on bringing something new to this genre. We are good also in platform games or family games, we have another Rayman coming and we have new Rabbids games. These three genres or segments that we have built our company on we are going to continue to try to continue to bring better quality products on those platforms. And as you say, we are trying to take risks on some new genres to fill the holes we have.

Does Ubisoft still believe in the future of the PC as a gaming platform?

Yes, PCs are in every home. We think that the PC with the technology will always please a large number of gamers. You can upgrade your PC every six months and for us as a developer we can create products based on these new technologies or video cards or new possibilities that the technology is offering, we can bring something additional, something new that is not possible on the console side because the consoles are to a certain extent 'frozen' when they are out. So we still believe the PC has a role to play.

We consider the PC has a role to play if we can change the business model into a service market. As you know, consumers today are copying a lot, and that's a drawback when you publish a PC game. If we can service these customers with extra content or help via an online account that they would have when they buy a game then they would find that it is better to buy a game with all the service behind it instead of taking a game off the internet. I think the future of PC goes to more personalisation for our relationship between us as creators and the consumers. If we can do that and bring them something additional that they like, if we can give them more fun in the gameplay by extra services, then we are going to transform the PC business into something more positive for the future.

We're coming up to Christmas, your most important sales period. But if I take you back to Christmas five years ago, Ubisoft had some great games such as Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, XIII and Beyond Good and Evil which all didn't enjoy the sales they deserved. What did you learn from that experience?

Actually, we learned something, that the consumers are the ones who decide. You can have a great idea or a great product, but if it's not what the consumers like then you have worked just for the glory. So what we have done post this period, which has been a bit traumatic, but positive if you consider the growth of the company, is that we are now including a lot of consumer testing at every level of our development process. We are checking in advance of what kind of feel the consumers would like and gameplay-wise we are analysing everything, checking if what we are doing is too complicated, too hard for the public, if it is innovative enough, and so on. That's something that we have learned.

Beyond Good and Evil is still considered as one of the more original products released in the past few years and it also brought us a relationship with Peter Jackson for King Kong. For Peter Jackson it was his most favourite game and when we were pitching the King Kong license he said he wanted to work with the people who created this product. So that was a benefit. And when you consider the Prince of Persia franchise, the quality of that product and the graphics impressed a lot of the community and the media, and we managed to create a franchise even though the sales were not at the level we were expecting. What we said also was that yes, yes, we would listen to consumers, but also quality always pays off. It is our motto, we have to do great quality, always better quality, this is the way we will be able to seduce more people and create more brands.

Did you also learn anything about the timing of your releases? I remember thinking at the time that those titles struggled because there was so much competition that Christmas. Is Ubisoft and the rest of the industry still too fixated on releasing titles at Christmas, often to their detriment given the amount of competition on the market? New titles particularly seem to struggle to find their feet at Christmas.

Christmas is a particularly buoyant market. Sixty per cent of the business for the year is done between October and January.

Is that simply self-fulfilling though? It's currently when most of the big titles of the year are released...

It's true, you're right. We're trying to have releases in every quarter during the year, not only at Christmas. You're right, it is very crowded so the competition between the products is harsh. We released Vegas 2 back in March, we released Brothers in Arms in September, we're trying to bring some AAAs at different periods. But when you have a blockbuster then you want to capture the consumer frenzy. If you can anticipate what people want and be in the Top 10 at Christmas then you sell much more than if you release your product at a different period. But you have to be in the Top 10, that's really the challenge.

On the other side, we have a different market, the casual market, and this market is consuming at different periods. Of course, kids and girls, women, who are buying DS games shop at Christmas, but they are also shopping throughout the year. In Europe now at the mid-term holiday they are buying a lot of DS and Wii games. Just before summer in June kids are also buying a lot of DS and Wii games, also at Easter. So we are releasing Imagine titles and pet games every month, not just at Christmas.

Speaking of your casual titles, Ubisoft seems to have a very deliberate policy of making separate games for the "casual" and "hardcore" audiences. Should the focus instead just be on making fun and accessible games that appeal to everyone?

Absolutely. Fun is the number one target. I've been speaking about quality, but if you don't bring fun to the consumer then the game developer has failed. What we are trying to do is adapt to our consumers who are all different and who all have different tastes. You can't have the same way of developing a game for someone who is eight years old, an eight-year-old girl, as 20-year-old men. You have to have different gameplay tactics and ambition when you are doing a hardcore game or a game for eight-year-olds on DS. But ultimately, fun remains at the centre of it.

We need to bring people fun moments, something positive, whether on the DS for eight-year-olds or for hardcore gamers. We are trying to anticipate and adapt to the tastes, and again there is a lot of testing with consumers ahead of and during the process of development. We have to produce fun for consumers if we want our market to go on growing and to go on seducing more and more people. It's really what is at the centre of Ubisoft and our market.

Some of my readers have been critical of the Imagine series - that they seem to overly rely on sexist stereotypes, with the girls range covering topics like fashion, cooking and caring for babies and pets, while the boys range has typically masculine tasks. Do you think the criticism is fair?

Well, actually we are trying to adapt to the tastes of consumers and they are all different. We are making a lot of studies on what they like, what they want to play, what topics they would want to see in a game. All these topics are brought up before we start to create a game. We are not that different from, for example, feminine magazines, who look at similar topics.

What we are trying to bring the girls is fun and entertainment, and we have noticed that the girls were liking decorating their room or their home, so we are making a game called Imagine Decorating with which they would be able to reshuffle the rooms, the home, and have fun with that. That is based on the studies we have done with eight to 10-year-old girls. We have tried to capture the essence of what they wanted and transfer that into a fun game that they can share with their friends. I think the tastes are different and you have to adapt to the tastes of that person.

How difficult is it to make games that girls are interested in that don't rely on overly "pink" stereotypes?

We have a vast array of games for girls. From decoration, to babysitting, to gymnastics and horseriding. There are a vast array, which represents different types of girls, We're trying to adapt to the tastes of different girls. There is a vast array of topics we're trying to cover, some are working better than others. Last year we did extremely well with Imagine Babysitting, also with Imagine Fashion Designer, and this year we have another one called Imagine Teacher and it seems that the girls are loving it. We also have My Secret Diary where the girls can write in a secret book and hide what they write, or share just a bit with their friends on wi-fi.

We're trying to understand what they do, what they think, what they want, and we are listening to the girls and asking them what they think. I've got two at home, I ask them what they think and if they say 'Dad, this game is just awful, I don't want to play that!' I say, 'Thank you very much.' You know kids, they are very straight and very honest. If they like it, they say 'great', if they don't, you also know where you stand.

Also in here - Mirror's Edge and the Team Ninja folks interviewed, Stardock's Brad Wardell on his new (pictured) title, GCG.com goodness, Xbox Live Community Games exposed, and quite a few other things too.

Hello moto:

Gamasutra Features

The Philosophy of Faith: A Mirror's Edge Interview
"Gamasutra sits down with EA DICE producer Nick Channon to discuss the design philosophy behind innovative first-person action title Mirror's Edge, from concepting to game mechanics."

The Mushroom Growth Plan: Inside Nintendo's Numbers
"Detailed new Nintendo-published graphs contrast the growth of the Wii/DS with Sony and Microsoft's consoles -- here's our comprehensive analysis of the global game market."

The Megatrends of Game Design, Part 2
"Veteran designer Pascal Luban (Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory) continues his Gamasutra series on the "megatrends" of the gaming industry, looking at accessibility and games as a teaching tool."

Sponsored Feature: Xbox Live Community Games
"In this sponsored feature, part of Gamasutra's XNA microsite, Microsoft's Hawkins presents a comprehensive overview of Xbox Live Community Games, which uses XNA Creators Club and a peer-reviewed submission process to allow indies to put their games onto Xbox 360, starting on November 19th."

Thinking With Portals: Creating Valve's New IP
"As Valve releases an update of Portal for XBLA, Gamasutra presents an article written by the game's creators, discussing the genesis of the 'Game Of The Year'-winning cerebral action-puzzler."

Team Ninja: Ready For More
"In one of its first post-Itagaki interviews, the Ninja Gaiden and Dead Or Alive team explain what's next, also analyzing the Xbox 360's international appeal and disappointing Ninja Gaiden DS sales."

Gamasutra/Other Originals

Stardock CEO Wardell On Skipping The Holiday Rush
"With such a crush of titles all slated for the holiday season, waiting for Q1 is unusual -- but that's exactly when Galactic Civilizations/Sins Of A Solar Empire publisher Stardock is planning to release a game for the next 5 years. Following the recent announcement of Elemental: War of Magic, Gamasutra speaks with CEO Brad Wardell about the company's unique strategy."

In Depth: Media Molecule On LBP's Genesis And Future
"LittleBigPlanet originated on a cocktail napkin? Media Molecule's Alex Evans was at GameCity to discuss the game's genesis, the team's 2D versus 3D battles, and how the title's future will require redefining the word "sequel", if user-generated content is to become a required feature for games."

Educational Feature: Student Postmortem of Smashout
"When five students at Full Sail teamed up to make their final game project, they intentionally chose to keep the game small and focused, and Gamasutra sister website GameCareerGuide.com has published a postmortem of that title, Smashout, discussing the ups and downs of the pinball-ish Breakout title."

Games For Learning: Perlin, Salen On The Future Of Educational Games
"In key lectures at the Future Play game conference in Toronto, Ken Perlin and Katie Salen discussed smart new ways that games can be used for education - specifically the Microsoft-funded Games For Learning Initiative and the Institute of Play's 'Quest to Learn' school course, and Gamasutra was on hand for the details."

Interview: Stardock's Wardell On Elemental: War of Magic
"Developer and publisher Stardock Entertainment (Galactic Civilizations II, Sins of a Solar Empire) has announced its next game, the Master of Magic-inspired fantasy strategy game Elemental: War of Magic. CEO Brad Wardell tells Gamasutra about the game's influences, plans, and tech."

GCG Readers Design New Lemmings, Tackle Xbox 360 Achievements
"In response to its weekly design challenge, GameCareerGuide.com has recognized the three best solutions to a recent test of imagination: design a new lemming role for the classic puzzle series Lemmings. The site has also posted a new challenge to think of a new Xbox 360 Achievement for an existing game."

Gallery: Raving Rabbids TV Party

Raving Rabbids: Figurine Party originally appeared on Nintendo Wii Fanboy on Wed, 05 Nov 2008 19:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Ads by Google

London, UK – November 5th, 2008 – Today Ubisoft announced the rabbids invasion of retail stores, with the release of four exclusive toys created and designed by UbiArt.

Rayman Raving Rabbids™ TV Party will be available on November 14th, exclusively for the Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ system.

GamesPress