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R.I.P Moebius – Comic Book Artist & Subtle Video Game Influence

James Reith — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 21:00:56 +0000

Comics are a big deal in France, sometime referred to there as ‘the 9th art’, and in French comics Moebius is about as big a deal as you can get. Sadly, Moebius (a.k.a Jean Giraud) passed away this weekend. His position in the history of the graphic novel is pretty much cemented, but Jean Giraud also held sway over the world of computer games…

Directly: He drew the cover art for 1995’s Fade to Black, worked as Character Designer on the adventure game Pilgrim: Faith as a Weapon and, alongside drawing the Japanese cover art for the first Panzer Dragoon, helped forge the visual identity of the entire Panzer Dragoon series.

Indirectly, it should not be underestimated how much of Moebius’ film work subtly permeated the world of computer games: He provided concept designs and story boards for Alien, Tron, The Fifth Element and The Abyss. It should also be noted that Ridley Scott and Hayo Miyazaki have also acknowledged Moebius’ influence – Ridley Scott surrounded himself with Moebius comics during Blade Runner‘s production and Myazaki admitted to directing Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind under the influence of Moebius. Just think of any video games influenced by those films/artists and a little bit of Moebius might well have slipped in there too.

Big thanks to Luke Plunkett’s Kotaku article on Moebius

Cancelled Batman Game ‘Gotham By Gaslight’ Footage

James Reith — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:21:02 +0000

Day 1 Studios, them fellas behind F.E.A.R & Fracture, had been working on a Batman game: Batman By Gaslight, based on the comic of the same name. The game would position the caped crusader in a steampunk vision of the 19th century as tracks down the (near mythical) serial killer Jack the Ripper. The game was designed as pitch by Day 1 for the Xbox 360 and PS3 back in 2009/2010. Sadly the game itself will never see the light of day, but with some animation prototype footage we can now mourn the loss with a bit more visual flair.

Thanks to Siliconera for the info.

COD Black Ops 2 Listing Spotted On Amazon France

James Reith — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:36:32 +0000

…and no one is too surprised. Yes, it seems quite likely that there will be a second Black Ops in the all encompassing Call Of Duty family. A listing appeared briefly on Amazon.fr and, thankfully, a screenshot was bagged by GameBlog.fr before the title disappeared. Unfortunately for GameBlog.fr, Activision have blacklisted the site as they refused to take the post featuring the information down.

Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 & 2 Heading To PSN Europe

James Reith — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:26:13 +0000

In a blogpost today Ghostlight have revealed that they will be publishing the two Digital Devil Saga games from the Megami Tensei metaseries on the European Playstation store. No specific dates were provided, but they will be arriving sometime in the near future.

Mass Effect 3 Weather Balloon Publicity Stunt…

James Reith — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 23:12:05 +0000

You read right ladies and gentlemen: ‘Weather Balloon.’ EA will be sending six copies of Mass Effect 3 up into stratosphere via some weather balloons. Paris, London, Berlin, New York, San Francisco and Las Vegas will all have a promotional copy of the game floating high above them – which will eventually come down. These copies of the game will be fitted with GPS tracking devices which can be monitored from the official Mass Effect website and once they land they’re fair game. Providing they land intact (which would be a minor miracle) then six lucky people would get to play the game early.

Thanks to Joystiq for the info.

Phoenix Wright Movie US Premiere At AM2 Convention This June

James Reith — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 22:44:46 +0000

It’s out in Japan already, there have been talks about about a widespread release, and now Phoenix Wright will be showing in the US! It’s not exactly widespread, but it’s a step in the right direction: The AM2 (Anime, Music & Manga) convention in Anaheim will host two screenings of the film – one for those holding paid passes and another with a preference for, but not exclusively limited to, pass holders. The convention runs from the 15th to the 17th of June.

Watch Mass Effect 3 Demo Playthrough

James Reith — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:37:23 +0000

Can’t wait till you can play it yourself? Really? Well, for the digital voyeur out there, you can new enjoy someone else playing the, soon to be released, Mass Effect 3 demo, courtesy of IGN.

You can read our previews of the demo for the single player and the multiplayer component through the links. Watch our video preview here.

Mass Effect 3 releases on March 6 in US and March 9 in Europe for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Stay tuned for continued coverage.

LA Noire Sequel A Possibility, Say Rockstar

James Reith — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:24:56 +0000

Does the closing of Team Bondi mean the end of LA Noire? ‘Not necessarily,’ say Rockstar (essentially). In a recent Q&A post on the company website, Rockstar responded to Dezpoztomuz eloquently phrased question – “Hey R* is there gonna be something more about L.A. Noire?” – with this: ” Don’t count out the possibility of a new game in the L.A. Noire franchise in the future. We simply have not decided anything. We’re all very pleased with how that game turned out and are considering what the future may hold for L.A. Noire as a series. We don’t always rush to make sequels, but that does not mean we won’t get to them eventually – see Max and Red Dead for evidence of that – we have so many games we want to make and the issue is always one of bandwidth and timing.”

Is this anything concrete? No, but at best the information will create some hope for fans of jazz and snazzy suits everywhere. At worst, it will spawn a dozen speculative articles…

Dead Or Alive 2 Was Released Unfinished Says Tomonobu Itagaki

James Reith — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:22:08 +0000

Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki revealed today, speaking at the annual DICE summit, that Tecmo (now Tecmo Koei) released Dead or Alive 2 in an incomplete state on the PS2 without his knowledge. An updated version, Dead or Alive 2: Hardcore, was released later which was more in keeping the experience Itagaki imagined.

During the development of DOA2 Itagaki was asked by Tecmo’s general manager of sales if he could “borrow a copy of this so [he could] play it a little?” This disc wasn’t intended for a little play, it was intended for the pressing plant – the in development disc became the released game.

Following this Itagaki turned to drinking, adding “I thought I would quit making games.” Eventually Itagaki recovered and released the revamped version of the game.

Thanks to Siliconera for the info.

Double Fine Kickstater Passes $1 Million In 24 Hours

James Reith — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:56:28 +0000

Tim Schafer’s Double Fine has received over $1 Million in funding in just 24 hours. That must be a record! The project was to help fund an adventure title in the vein of those that made Schafer’s name. Heck, with this kind of money they might be able to fund Psychonauts 2 themselves.

Thanks to Joystiq for the info.