Starting in 1996, Alexa Internet has been donating their crawl data to the Internet Archive. Flowing in every day, these data are added to the Wayback Machine after an embargo period.
With all the fuss surrounding Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, we decided to shoot a few questions over to the folks at Capcom Digital. Despite the gorgeous new look, there are a few concerns about the new iteration of the series. Hardcore fans are worried about how new sprites will affect years of heavy practice and study. Will the redesign render you years of hard earned skill moot? What kind of Live support will the game have? What about revisiting other franchises? We got the answers from SSFIITHDR's producer, Rey Jimenez.
In another 4 minute E3 round robin interview (check out our first session with Peter Moore), we got the chance to interview Bungie's Frank O'Connor, better known simply as Frankie to Bungie fans. We made sure to ask him about Halo, of course, but we also asked him about Peter Jackson's project and Bungie's magnum opus, Pimps at Sea.
First of all, when did you actually start Halo 3's production? Was it almost immediately after Halo 2?
Some of it was even before, you know, some of the concepting and design stuff was done before then, but pretty much three years of development.
When you were doing Halo 2, was there a time when you were thinking Halo 1, Halo 2 and that was it, or were you always thinking trilogy?
We were thinking of a trilogy. I can't say that we felt that during Halo 1 but certainly during Halo 2. That became very apparent that there was more story to tell than could fit into a 10 hour, 11 hour game.
The last trilogy you did for Mac was the Marathon games. And Halo 1 you were originally doing for Mac ...
Peter Moore with Rock Band producer, Helen McWilliams
On the second night of E3, we stepped into a large, dimly lit room filled with tables -- 8 tables to be exact. At each table sat important folk from the ranks of Microsoft. Bungie's Frank O'Connor, Peter Molyneux: there's some big names in this room (we'll have more on them soon). Sitting in front of us is Peter Moore, VP of Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division -- i.e. Xbox. On the right hand side of the room is large LED chess clock. We have four minutes. That's it. The clock starts and we ask him the first thing we can think to ask. We've only got four minutes here, so there's no point in being coy about it.
I love Rock Band. I actually, as you may or may not know, I actually went on stage again last night down in west Hollywood, and got up on the stage with the guys and had a good time. Once I can hear the music I can play the game, you know, so I think it's a great game. I love it, I flew to Cambridge, Massachusetts about six months ago, got my first taste of it. Just knew right then we needed to make it part of the briefing, and knew I'm stupid enough to go and put a guitar around my neck and give it a go.
Super Lionhead Studios fansite Loinhead scored an exclusive interview with the creative mastermind behind Fable 2 Peter Molyneux. And in the interview Molyneux talks a little bit about his past failures (Black and White 2), in-game combat, and hints at one of Fable 2's next big announcements ... death. Molyneux doesn't give any specifics to how death will be incorporated into Fable 2, but goes on to say that in other games when you die "you go back in time twenty minutes to do the same thing over again. That's fine if I'm playing a platformer, not so fine if you're doing an RPG game". So, traditional ways of dealing with death will not be good enough for Fable 2. But we've already known that Lionhead doesn't plan on taking the traditional path with the sequel (dog anyone?).
Check out more of Molyneux's candid discussion in Loinhead's complete video interview posted after the break.
IGN is reporting that in an interview with French television network MusiquePlus, Eidos France's own Patrick Melchior spilled the beans on a Deus Ex sequel. He said that a next gen Deus Ex game is in the works and is the top priority at their Eidos Montreal studios. He also went on to say that more information about the game will be released in a few months. But will it be any good? With absolutely no chatter of Deus Ex goodness since Invisible War came out, we wonder if Eidos can revitalize the franchise on the 360 and make a sweet game. So, anyone think Eidos can pull it off or could you care less about Deus Ex?
During the Halo 3 beta preview in New York, the guys over at Joystiq cornered Bungie's very own media man Frankie to discuss everything Halo. And even though he was tight lipped about Halo 3's story and future projects, he did talk about the Halo movie, what Bungie wants from the beta, and what kind of input they'll be taking from fans. Frankie also throws a hard left hook at Nintendo's Miyamoto for his remarks about Halo ... and let's just say we're looking forward to Bungie's new 2D side-scroller. Read the full interview after the jump.
We're a little late on this one, but at least we're honest about the fact and are still reporting on the goods. Over on the official Halo Wars forums Ensemble Studios' own Thunder posted a brief status report on Halo Wars' progress and asked lead designer Graeme Devine a few questions. Although the update and interview don't give us any new media or reveal any big news about Halo Wars, we do learn that Graeme is Irish and likes his Guinness. So, if you're feeling a little adventurous, make the jump for Ensemble Studios' April Halo Wars update.
Recently announcedGuitar Hero III will be sporting something we wish Guitar Hero II would have included ... online multiplayer. In an interview with Red Octane president Kai Huang, Pro-G confirmed that GH III would indeed include an online component. So fanboys, does this mean that a rumored future GH II update to include online multiplayer will never see the light of day? Well, it doesn't sound overly promising seeing that they'll probably use "Super Duper Online Multiplayer" as a new feature and bullet point for their third installment. Oh well, we still love you GH II and will wait to see if you'll grace us with online play later this year.
Before the NYC Guitar Hero II event with Gene Simmons got into full swing, Joystiq got the chance to sit down with Larry Hryb (AKA Major Nelson) and talk about all things Xbox. Speaking about the highly pricedGuitar Hero IIdownloadable songs, Major Nelson states that it's not analogous to iTunes. In other words, the interactivity, the licensing, and the testing all go into creating a price for the new tracks. Furthermore, since the tracks are on a new platform, all the contracts have to be renegotiated. Of course, Red Octane wants to make some money as well. When asked about the bundling issue -- i.e. "I have to buy two crappy songs to get the one I like" -- Major Nelson says that bundling was probably done to bring the cost down. By working on three songs at once, rather than individual songs, Red Octane could conceivably cut down on development costs, thus reducing the price to consumers. In other words, individual songs would likely be even more expensive.
Major Nelson also discusses the upcoming Halo 3 beta, the competition from Sony, the Spring Update, and the Wii. Hit the "read" link for the full interview.
With the new Halo 2 maps coming out on April 17th, Frankie thought it'd be a great idea to talk to developer Certain Affinity about the two new maps. And for those who don't know, Certain Affinity was semi-contracted out to create the two new Halo 2 maps, "Tombstone" and "Desolation". In Frankie's interview they discuss the creative process and the challenges the team faced in creating new multiplayer maps that were based on Halo originals. It's a great read to really get into the heads of Certain Affinity and to see what kind of thought process goes into the development of new content. And did we mention there are new screen grabs and concept art of the multiplayer maps? Heck, that's reason enough to make the jump ... so start jumping!
In an interview with Gamepro, Bungie's Frankie answers questions about Halo 3's weapons and a few multiplayer inquiries. Among the nuggets of information squeezed from Frankie's lips are that the Needler has been overhauled (again), the Spiker is the Brute version of the SMG, and that the various types of grenades add another layer of strategy to the whole ball of wax. Equally interesting is that Frankie pretty much confirms Halo 3 will be using Halo 2's party based matchmaking (as if we doubted that) and when questioned about online co-op Frankie answered, "What is a co-op? We'll do our best to make the online experience a blast". Haha, funny Frankie. You know we want our online co-op and we want it now, or just when Halo 3 is released. That'll do. Read the full interview after the jump.
One thing we know for sure is that Halo 3 will be coming out this year, it will be huge, and it'll be put under one giant microscope. So, how does the Bungie team deal with all the internal pressures, development process, and stay on track? In a Next Generation interview, Bungie's own Frankie says that compared to Halo 2 the whole project is" well managed, it's well scheduled, and it's a pretty happy environment". Frankie also talks about what the main focus is right now and how they are polishing, refining, and adding layers and layers of goods onto Halo 3's framework. He also mentions that they do indeed have a hard date when they have to push the Halo 3 beta out the door (which is soon), but doesn't know when it'll make it into the public's hands other than a rough "this Spring". Halo 3 downloadable content talk and insightful interview banter can be read after the jump.
We hinted at having a special guest on this upcoming Xbox 360 Fancast, and as it turns out, it will be Larry Hryb a.k.a. Major Nelson. We're thrilled at the chance to have him on our show, especially considering some of the current events this week. So, since we're going to be there, he's going to be there, and you're going to be listening, we figured you should be involved. So, do you have any questions for the Xbox Live Director of Programming? Obviously, inquiries about upcoming demos or patches may be a little tedious, so we're looking for unique and/or well thought out questions. You can either leave them in a comment, or shoot us an email at fancast [at] xbox360fanboy [dot] com.
In an Eurogamer interview with Crackdown's producer Phil Wilson, we get a smidgen more information about Crackdown's upcoming downloadable content. Mr. Wilson (we just had to) openly answers fan's questions with brute honesty, even going as far as to say that the studio came to terms with the Halo 3 beta inclusion by looking at it as a "marketing stunt". But the cream filled center of this interview is the promise of a boss reset option in the next update. So, no more creating new gamertags or other lame workarounds, a reset is on its way. Wilson also touches on the addition of a new co-op game mode, the possibility of four player co-op, and flying high ... all possible in future updates. Make the jump for the full interview, that is, if you've collected enough agility orbs agent (we just had to).
If you're like us, you can never get too much Gears of War coverage or too many Cliffy B interviews. The other day Gearheads of War founder Tyler Bleszinski interviewed his brother Cliff after their recent Friday Night FragFest. Tyler asks some of the typical questions about the Gears universe and the game's success, but gets other information from Cliffy we haven't heard before. Cliffy discusses the cliche sci-fi storyline, delves into what his favorite maps and weapons are (Fuel Depot and the torque bow), but still refuses to confirm a sequel or a time frame for when new content will be released. He's kind of like a clam that just won't open even though we know he's holding a pretty pearl inside. Just crack already! Overall, it's a darn good interview with dashes of brotherly love sprinkled throughout ... check it out.
