There are a few things you’ll want to check out on Brink — particularly if you’re in Europe.
There’s a five-page cover story on Brink in the August issue of PlayStation Official Magazine -UK — which hit newsstands this week. The issue has new art, screenshots, information, and the cool cover shown above.
While you’re at the newsstand, be on the lookout for two-page previews in OXM UK and PC Zone. Elsewhere, OXM Italy awarded Brink “Most Surprising Game at E3.”
Speaking of E3 awards, Strategy Informer named Brink Best First Person Shooter in their Best of E3 2009 feature. Meanwhile, PSM3 included the game in their Games of Show list at #2. And in the most recent PSM magazine, they named it Best New Game at E3.
As more news on Brink surfaces, we’ll keep you posted.
Welcome back to another web update…shall we get started?
At The Escapist, we’ve got two things for you to check out. First, Emil shared a cool gaming anecdote with the site for a series called First-Person Gaming. To find out who pwn’d him in Call of Duty 4, click here. Also on the site, part-time mycologist Zach Miller has a column this week titled, “The Shrooms of Oblivion.” Here, he discusses the realism of Oblivion and how real-world plants (err mushrooms) add to the player immersion. Here’s a snippet of the column, where he talked with one of our artists, Noah Berry:
Noah Berry, an artist at Bethesda, said that using real-world plants was entirely in keeping with the Elder Scrolls series. “Personally, I’ve always found that some of the most vivid and absorbing fantasy worlds – in fiction, film or in games – have familiar elements operating as touchstones for the participant. Even if they only register on a subconscious level, the more realistic trappings can provide contextual grounding for the player.”
We’ll move along (since I hate mushrooms) to Bitmob, who have 21 Random Questions with Todd Howard. Learn about Todd’s favorite book and 20 other random things.
In other news, gaming site Pwn or Die has a feature on 11 of the Worst Virtual Jobs in Video Games. Check it out to see what Fallout 3 job was included (as well as two careers from Fallout 2).
We hope you all had a great weekend. Here’s a catch up on some of the new coverage out for Brink.
We begin with Team Xbox, who announced their Best of E3 2009 Awards — naming Brink the Most Innovative title at the show. Below is a snippet from the feature:
“The innovation that really hit us where we live was the mission design of Brink, the shooter from Splash Damage that ever so subtly is blurring the lines between multiplayer and single player gameplay.”
Below are some more accolades the game received following E3…
Shooter of the Show (Runner Up), Multiplatform Game of Show (Runner Up), Best New IP (Runner Up) and Best Multiplayer Game (Runner Up) — GameSpy
There’s a few developer interviews from the show worth checking too. Inc Gamers has a new video interview with Richard Ham and Ed Stern — watch it here. Seems like Richard was pretty busy with interviews — you can hear more from him at Joystiq, Machinima (via YouTube), and Blast Magazine.
In preview coverage, Xbox 360 Achievements has their E3 preview up. Here’s an excerpt:
“However, with the beautiful world you’re thrown into, who’d want to drive when you can walk everywhere and soak in the almost cel-shaded scenery – it’s a truly great art style. Everything visually about the game screams class; from the sparse virtual texturing, the detailed characters with high polygon count, to the large and vivid environments. Simply put, BRINK is a bloody beautiful sight to feast your eyes upon.”
In early May, we reported that the first round of voting had commenced for the Golden Joystick Awards 2009. Recently the voting narrowed down to a shorter list, with Fallout 3 still in the running in five categories:
PC Game of the Year
PlayStation Game of the Year
Soundtrack of the Year
Xbox Game of the Year
The Ultimate Game of the Year
Additionally, Bethesda is up for Publisher of the Year. To vote for this year’s Golden Joysticks, head here.
Behind closed doors at our E3 booth, Splash Damage’s Paul Wedgwood demoed the recently announced Brink. There’s been plenty of coverage on the game — here’s the rundown…
We begin at GameStooge, where after seeing the demonstration, it was declared their Best Game of Show. Here’s an excerpt from their preview:
“Finally, the look of the game is amazing, even in its pre-alpha state, using a proprietary engine Splash Damage dubbed “Virtual Texturing”. The Xbox 360 version featured detailed character models that looked like something Pixar or Dreamworks would release these days; CGI modelling with detailed features such as wrinkles and hairs, but stylistic and smooth.”
If you’d like to learn more about the game straight from the developers, Senior Game Designer Ed “BongoBoy” Stern has interviews up at both Gaming Nexus and the HipHopGamerShow.
Elsewhere, there’s plenty of new preview coverage from our theater presentations. At 1uP, Eric Neigher wrote:
“Brink looks like the next logical evolution of Splash Damage’s Quake Wars, with a bit of Mirror’s Edge thrown in. While the version we saw was pre-alpha, if the final version stays the course with its aesthetic and gameplay elements, Brink looks to be an innovative and exciting addition to the multiplayer combat-game genre.”
Additional previews links are listed after the break.
Happy Monday everyone! Here’s the latest web coverage for you to check out.
Fallout 3 is nominated in three categories (Game of the Year, Favorite Weapon, and Favorite Environment) in the Guy’s Choice Awards at Spike. Head to Gametrailers to vote.
New reviews for Broken Steel have popped up online. Here’s a snippet from Gaming Age’s review:
“All in all, Broken Steel winds up being a great diversion and a good excuse to re-visit the Capitol Wastelands. Between the continuation of the storyline, the tougher enemies, and the great amount of action given, it’s well worth the $10 to take a ride with the Brotherhood of Steel one more time.”
Here’s a few interesting links from around the web.
Voting for the Golden Joystick Awards 2009 has begun. Fallout 3 is nominated in five categories: Ultimate Game of the Year, PC Game of the Year, PlayStation Game of the Year, Xbox Game of the Year, and Soundtrack of the Year. Additionally, Bethesda is nominated for Publisher of the Year, and Rogue Warrior is nominated in the The One to Watch category.
Speaking of Rogue Warrior, Inc Gamers has a video interview with Senior Producer Sean Griffiths. Elsewhere, Ron Burke at Gaming Trend has new previews up for both Rogue Warrior and WET.
At SPOnG, there’s a new interview with Pete. Here’s an excerpt of Pete discussing Fallout 3′s new level cap — hitting tomorrow with Broken Steel:
SPOnG: Will there be enough quest experience to be had in Broken Steel for players to level up to 30 without having to grind on pre-DLC quests/enemies?
Pete Hines: No, probably not, and that wasn’t the intention. The intention was to remove the level cap so that if you have Broken Steel, regardless of whether you want to play that quest or not, or you want to start a new game from scratch, you can continue playing beyond level 20. Again, fans wanted to be able to take their characters to higher levels, so we included it. But it is not specific to the length of Broken Steel, at all. It is a very long climb to get from 20 to 30 and you’ll need to do a LOT to get there.
Finally, Pittsburgh City Paper talked about The Pitt with Emil. Read it here.
Here’s the latest news from around the web. Up first, X-Play revealed new gameplay footage of WET on their show last night. Head here to watch the gameplay, and see Adam Sessler’s interview with Creative Director Patrick Fortier.
Moving along, winners of the 2008 ELAN Awards were announced this week and Fallout 3 came away a winner in two videogame categories — Best Console Game and Best Art Direction. To see a full list of winners, head here.
Broken Steel is in still in the news. This week, Game Revolution’s Nick Tan has a new preview for the upcoming DLC. Here’s a snippet:
“Before asking Alan Nanes (lead designer for Broken Steel) and Pete Hines (VP of Public Relations & Marketing) about how much experience is needed to reach the (perhaps) final level, I thought I would be clever by calculating it beforehand. Following the formula of needing 150 more experience to reach each subsequent level, you will need 66,700 experience to reach level 30 which is about 125% more experience than that needed at level 20 (29,450).”
The weekend is almost here, but here’s some news and more from around the web.
DarkOne, the site administrator for TES Nexus and Fallout 3 Nexus, let me know about Nexus’ Millionth Member Modding Competition. The contest is in honor of, you guessed, the combined communities soon having their one millionth member, and to celebrate the occasion (congrats!), they’re having a modding competition. Head here for details, rules, and more.
“One of the first things I noticed about Broken Steel is the fact that it will feature a bunch of new enemies, provided your character is above level 18. The Feral Ghoul Reavers are similar to their creepy cousins, but they pack quite a bit more punch, tossing grenades with reckless abandon, safe in the knowledge that they’re covered with heavy body armor. Speaking of armor, the new Enclave Hellfire Troopers that you’ll encounter in the military base are wearing some stylish new gear, as well as sporting a badass new weapon that we’ll talk about later. Finally there are the new Supermutant Overlords, which I unfortunately didn’t get to see. I only pray they’re tougher than the Supermutant Behemoths that I was taking out with ease by the end of the main game. Those guys were wusses.”
That’s the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences on the Independent Film Channel. If you’d like to watch the awards (where Fallout 3 won Role-Playing Game of the Year and Outstanding Achievement in Story – Original), tune into IFC tonight at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
