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E3 - Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway Looks Great

Product Specifications:
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Gearbox Software (PC, Xbox 360, and PS3)
Ship Date: TBD
Category: First-Person Shooter
Rating: RP (M anticipated)

Product Description
Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway brings the critically acclaimed squad-based WWII shooter into the next generation of gaming with amazing graphics and sound, new cutting-edge gameplay features, and a totally redesigned online component.
Delivering on the franchise’s compelling story, unrivaled authenticity and intense squad-based action, Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway drops you into Operation Market Garden, the largest paratrooper operation in World War II. Lead Matt Baker, Joe Hartsock and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division as they fight to open “Hell’s Highway” in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.

Key Features:

• Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway - next generation: The classic authentic, squad-based combat series explodes on next-generation hardware, offering unprecedented graphics and features.
• New Story, New Setting. Follow Matt Baker, Joe Hartsock and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division in “Operation Market-Garden” as they fight to open famous “Hell’s Highway” in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.
• Live the life of an enlisted man: Get orders from HQ, go on patrol, spot the enemy and set up a devastating ambush. For the first time, finding the enemy before they find you is part of the challenge.
• Unprecedented character design: Lifelike characters look, talk, move and think with incredible realism. Game characters interact with the player and each other like true brothers in arms, trading ammunition, helping wounded allies and civilians, working together to man team-operated weapons, and more.
• Rich cinematic experience: As the squad leader, you interact with and get to know your brothers. Each character has his own personality, unique story and background, and grows through the game.
• Powerful new units under your command: Players can use or command combined arms teams – machine gun crews create intense fire, bazooka crews destroy buildings and tanks, and mortar crews pound the enemy from a distance.
• Step into the boots of a soldier: Hit the dirt and get prone, rip grenades from your chest and hurl them at your enemies. See and feel the blast of nearby explosions.
• Completely new multiplayer experience: Fight major multiplayer battles with dozens of players on each side; all the intensity and accessibility of Deathmatch meshed with the squad-based gameplay that helped make Brothers In Arms® famous.
• Destroyable cover: Keep your men moving and choose your cover wisely – simulated with real physics, weapons will damage, dent, scorch and destroy the world around you.

E3 - KillZone 2 Q&A With Guerrilla Games Media

Q: How big is the team currently at Guerrilla?
A: 135 people

Q: Please describe the work atmosphere at Guerrilla.
A: It’s a very creative environment, with a great international workforce. We have over 20 different nationalities inside the studio.

Q: What is the premise of Killzoneâ„¢ 2?
A: It’s 2 years later and the ISA are invading the Helghast home planet of Helghan. The goal is to capture the Helghast leader and bring the war machine to a halt.

Q: What inspired the team to come up with the Killzone world?
A: We have a great number of team members who love First Person Shooters and we wanted to have elements of the great conflicts of the 20th century depicted in the Killzone franchise.

Q: What does the PS3 allow you to do with development of Killzone 2 that you have not been able to do before?
A: For us, we need a great deal of processing power. The PS3 really allows us to build Killzone 2 on a grand scale with a level of detail that is truly eye-catching. To give you an example, our character models on screen use the same amount of polygons as an entire level of Killzone on PS2.

Q: How is the Killzone franchise different from other first-person shooters and what makes it unique?
A: What has always made Killzone unique is it’s about a realistic influence with a twist. We take inspiration from conflicts of the 20th century, but we don’t set the game on Earth or use historical reference for location or setting.

Q: What are some of the key impressions you want to make with gamers after seeing Killzone 2?
A: We want people who see the game to say “Wow! What a rush!” We hope that they see the level of detail, intensity, and chaos we have put into building the game and are really excited to see and hear their reactions.

Q: Did any military personnel or other professional advisors help with the design of Killzone 2?
A: Not military, but we did work with Hollywood special effects people and weapon experts from a variety of fields. We’ve captured things like muzzle flashes, reloads, and how a weapon feels and reacts in your hand. We want it to be as realistic as possible.

Q: What can players expect to see in terms of new environments and will they be interactive?
A: Killzone 2 is a hostile theater of war, with a gritty look to the environments that players will find are highly dynamic and destructible. We’re introducing a completely new planet so there are numerous environments that will be unique in the game.

Q: In terms of A.I., what changes/improvements are you seeing and what do you hope to accomplish by the time the game ships?
A: We are bringing very dynamic environments and the AI must deal with the nuances in each by intelligently navigating and fighting through the world. Enemies will also be able to see at night with their goggles so we wanted to make their actions accurate even in darkness.

Red Vs. Blue is at the Shows End!

Wired.com discusses the last episode of the Red vs. Blue web series, which ends tonight 06/27/07 with its 100th episode. The long-running show has been one of the best and a ground breaker in the world of machinima. If you enjoyed RvB, their current project is set in the Shadowrun FPS entitled 1-800-MAGIC. Its will be a sad day when RvB ends for me. I have watched every episode at lest 5 times and loved it just as much the first day as the last.

Red vs. Blue, the cult hit, web-video series created from in-game Halo footage, concludes its genre-defining run as it airs its 100th and final episode Wednesday evening.

The comedy series, featuring two squads of hapless Halo heroes locked in an endless civil war prolonged mostly by their own ineptitude, took the emerging machinima medium — movies made with real-time video-game footage — mainstream.