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Coming this Fall to a PC near you is Akella’s newest RPG/strategy title Disciples III: Renaissance. This is the third installment in the popular Disciples series and builds on the successes of the first two games by introducing a host of new features as well as the same style of gameplay that made the previous titles popular. This will be the first time in the series that the gloomy world of Disciples will be rendered in full 3D by using the Virtual Dream engine which will in turn allow players to experience this realm as it should be.

As a Lord of one of the fantastical races of Nevendaar, players must fight to restore their deity’s rule over the world by choosing one of three playable races: the Empire, the Elven Alliance and the notorious Legion of the Damned - each with its own unique units and city design. Advances have also been made in the gameplay which will allow increased fluidity in multiplayer games and less downtime when playing alone, while a new upgrade system allows the player to assign attributes to their leaders. The RPG inventory system in Disciples III has been tweaked and now includes player stats and abilities along with visual representation of character’s equipped armor, weapons and artifacts.

Recently, we were given the opportunity to ask Marina Vashurina from .dat, the developers behind Disciples III, to tell our readers a bit more about the third installment in this popular RPG franchise, and explain to us what makes Disciples III different from the other RPGs that seem to have oversaturatting the market lately.

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Sometimes it seems like we live in a world that expects video games to be nothing but toys that cater exclusively to children and avoid controversy at all costs. In times like these, it’s actually a little refreshing to have a game like The Club coming out soon. In this game, the focus is less on story and more on killing tons of enemies as quickly and stylishly as possible. By now, most of us have played the demo for the game, but we’ll still have to wait until next week to see the full product. To get some more insight on what went into creating The Club, we decided to go to Bizarre Creations’ Community and Web Lead, Ben Ward, for some insider info. Full interview after the break. Read the full article

These days, great music and video games seem to go hand in hand. There are of course the more obvious examples like the soundtracks for the Guitar Hero games and Rock Band, but in recent years it seems many sports titles have provided an opportunity for lesser-known bands to gain a fresh audience. One such band is Jupiter One.

If you’ve played an EA sports title in the past few months, odds are you’ve heard at least one of their songs. Named after a supposedly ill-fated spaceship from the Lost in Space TV show, this New York-based band has made a name for themselves with their energetic indie style. Their tracks appeared in a hat trick of popular games in the past few months, including Madden 08, FIFA 08, and NHL 08. Now that Burnout Paradise will also be including one of their songs, we thought we’d ask them a few questions about what it’s like to have their music served up with video games. Read the full article

If you’re a gamer and you’ve ever been left alone with a TV set at some point in the past few years, odds are you’ve seen G4TV’s X-Play. The show, known for on-target game reviews and hilarious comedy sketches featuring hosts Adam Sessler and Morgan Webb, has been around long enough to change their format, title, and even network before. And now, the series’ producers are ramping up for another big change to make the program into a half-hour of solid, current gaming news starting January 14th. I spoke with executive producer for X-Play, Wade Beckett, today over the phone about what sort of changes you can expect to see and generally why this may soon be the best source for witty and informative gaming news on your TV. Full transcript of our conversation after the break.

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We all know Team Awesome, or at the very least, of their work. And if you don’t, shame on you. Team Awesome is the group behind the excellent Contra and Punch-Out!! trailers which you’ve undoubtedly seen around the ‘net. I recently had a chance to speak with Team Awesome about everything from what inspired them to Big League Chew.

Seriously.

First off, there’s a question on the mind of every Team Awesome fan out there: How many years of grueling acting school did the entirety of Team Awesome attend before becoming so awesome?

We’d like to take the time to thank our teachers, Uta Hagen, Stella Adler and Constantin Stanislavski…ok, so those aren’t our teachers, but they’re the most famous ones we know. All of us have done some acting in the past, but Natasha is the only bona fide actor. Oddly enough, she gets the least amount of screen time. That’s just how we roll.

Schooling was an important aspect for the videos, however. Steve (The Vaj) studied music composition and sound technology, and Andy and Nathan went to school to study filmmaking.

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We’ve all been watching as Clive Barker’s Jericho hit stores recently (It’s on Gametap as well). After all, there’s never anything wrong with a quality, horror-based shooter, especially one that bears the legendary name of Clive Barker. But what makes a horror story great? It’s the monsters, of course!

Now, courtesy of the folks over at Codemasters, we’re going to bring you some exclusive artwork showing off the monsters you’ll encounter in Jericho. Not only that, but we’ve included a short Q&A session with Lead Designer Joe Falke. Find out what it’s like working with the visions of Clive Barker firsthand.

You can find more images, and the complete interview after the break.

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Generally speaking, you could say that in the US, the adventure genre is pretty lifeless. Good games in the genre are few and far between, and more and more developers are focusing on RPGs, FPSs, and other genres. On the other hand, Europe is home to many solid adventure games, where series like Runaway thrive.

It’s refreshing to see that, for a change, a developer is making an effort to revive the adventure market in the US. Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle for the Nintendo DS is an attempt to do just that – with an established following in Europe, I was interested in seeing what this PC game could do to reinvigorate adventure games.

Speaking with Cédric Lagarrigue, CEO of Focus Home Interactive – publisher of the game – I learned that Europe went through a similar phase of a dead adventure genre, why the DS was the chosen platform for the game, and discover that a Wii version of the game is in development.

Read the interview after the break.

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A Stroke of Fate is the upcoming adventure game from Akella, where you’ll play a spy infiltrating Hitler’s regime near the end of World War II. The game will have you joining the Gestapo and working on a plot to assassinate Hitler himself. Personally, I’ve been interested in this title since I learned about its intriguing and somewhat controversial setup. Luckily, I got a chance recently to ask some questions of Boris Chuprin, the project leader of the SPLine development studio, about what gamers can expect to explore in the game and how the team has kept everything historically accurate. From the sound of it, they’ve put a lot of effort into making this one deep and compelling game.

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Prototype, the upcoming game from Radical Entertainment introduces a new world and a new hero in the form of Alex Mercer, an amnesiac man looking to uncover the secrets of his forgotten past. Radical, creators of last year’s Scarface:The World is Yours and the excellent non-movie tie in Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction are bringing this new world rife with conspiracy and a gritty real world feel to life.

Recently Gaming Today had an opportunity to question lead designer Eric Holmes about the world setting of his new game. Eric talks about the game’s protagonist, the story and just what makes Prototype different from every other superhuman sandbox game on the market today.

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For those of you who are unfamiliar with Albatross18, it is an MMO/casual golf simulation game that is free to play, although certain items can only be purchased with actual money. However, all characters are free, and an effort has been made to minimize the differences between monetary users and ‘free’ users. The game awards players with Pang Points, a currency that can be used to upgrade your character and your items which in turn will give you the upper hand as you play the game and its many number of courses.

I was lucky enough to have a chat with Jack Liu recently, who is the Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer from OGPlanet and I asked him a few questions regarding his latest endeavor Albatross 18 Season 3 Revolution. Readers will remember Jack from the previous interview we had with him back in August regarding Rumble Fighter.

Check out the interview after the break!

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Back in June, we reported on A Vampyre Story, which is Bill Tiller’s upcoming point-and-click adventure game. The game is currently being developed by Bill’s newly founded company, Autumn Moon Entertainment and is going to have the same style and humor from old-school LucasArts titles such as Monkey Island and Full Throttle.

Upon hearing about this game, I jumped at the chance to conduct an interview with Bill to learn more about A Vampyre Story, the inspiration that went behind creating this game, and to get his thoughts on the current lack of adventure games.

GT: First off, thank you for taking the time to do this interview. For those readers who may not know who Bill Tiller is and why we should be throwing fresh roses down at your feet anywhere you go, please introduce yourself.

Bill Tiller: Hi, all. I’m Bill Tiller and I am the founder of Autumn Moon Entertainment and I worked 9 years at LucasArts on a bunch of games as a background artist and art director, and occasionally doing some game design. The big games were The Dig, Rebel Assault, Curse of Monkey Island, and Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine. I also did a short stint at Arena Net as art director on Guild Wars, and was one of the two art directors on EA’s The Two Towers. I grew up near Chicago, and then Orange County, and I attend the California Institute of the Arts where I graduated from the famous Character Animation program. Same place Tim Burton, Brad Bird and John Lasseter went to school.

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We had the chance here at Gaming Today to talk with Laura MacDonald, one of the developers at Momentum, concerning their latest game Culpa Innata. We’re definitely fans of the title here and I find Culpa Innata to be one of the more interesting titles I have had the opportunity to check out in some time. If you are looking for a non-linear game, look into it! For those of you who have not checked out Culpa Innata, we have several articles recently published about the title that you should check out:Gaming Today Preview: Culpa InnataCulpa Innata - New Trailer from Strategy FirstThe interview follows the break.
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2K Boston’s BioShock has been receiving critical acclaim ever since it’s release almost a month ago. The terms “Game of the Year” and “Masterpiece” are being thrown around more than a Frisbee during a dog show’s “Best Tricks” competition. Although it’s true the storyline and the enemy AI engross the player to believe they really are in an underwater utopia that’s been torn to shreds, gamers need to realize that the soundtrack has also been fueling the flames of insanity that’s prevalent in the city of Rapture.

Gaming Today had the opportunity to conduct an interview with the man behind the soundtrack, Garry Schyman. In the interview, you’ll learn Garry’s influences on creating the soundtrack, his thoughts on the media’s take on “The Little Sister”, and future projects (BioShock 2 maybe?)

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Violence in gaming has become a really hot topic of debate over the last 5 years or so. The irony is that violence has been in games all the way back to the days of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D - perhaps even earlier (depending on your point of view). So why all the big hooplah these days concerning violence in video games? I’d like to think it’s because of the severe left turn games have taken, essentially hopping on to that freeway known as mainstream culture. Video games are no longer a niche genre delegated to the cartel of geeks and/or teenage boys. Games are now a social venue for all demographics, and as we have seen lately, an even more viable one at that.

Running With Scissors are certainly no stranger to irony. Since the release of Postal in 1997, RwS have been the whipping boy of the general gaming media, perhaps much undeservedly. In 2003, RwS released the sequel to Postal, Postal 2, which seem to best its predecessor more in controversy than the expected gameplay. Largely panned by the critics as being too violent and indulgent, RwS ended up on the defensive of its misunderstood title. It was no secret (to those who actually played it) that Postal 2’s gameplay allowed the player to choose a path of non-violence, one that ultimately allowed the player to finish the game in such manner. Choices be damned, this fact did not stop the “bull-ys“ from seeing red, so to speak. The temptation to focus on the “controversial issues” surrounding Postal 2 proved too much for most critics. It would seem Postal 2 that of victim of circumstance.

Since then, things seemed to have calmed down for the Arizona based company. RwS have been quietly developing a sequel to Postal 2 for some time now. Teaming up with the Russian publisher/developer Akella, Postal III is slated for a 2008 release on PC, Mac, and Xbox 360. Using the currently popular Valve Source engine, Postal III intends to bring the same sandbox gameplay found in Postal 2, with little to no compromise. And from little we’ve seen of the game so far, it looks like RwS are not holding back on any of its well established Postal themes.

Gaming Today found opportunity to submit a handful of questions to Running With Scissors’ CEO, Vince Desi. The questions cover topics such as the Postal movie, Uwe Boll, Postal III’s gameplay, the beaten to death topics of controversy, and of course our beloved Jack Thompson himself. So without further ado:

**WARNING**
The interview that follows contains some adult content.

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Recently, FileFront got a chance to ask some questions to the development team behind Scorpion, and Andrew Beletsky of B-Cool Interactive was nice enough to answer them. Check out how development is going in this exciting first-person shooter, and a bit about the roots of inspiration as well.

GT: First off, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your role in the production of Scorpion?

AB: Hey! Sure thing. My name is Andrew Beletsky, and I’m working as game-designer and PR manager in B-Cool Interactive. I’ve started my career on news TV, later worked with several CIS game developing and publishing companies as game designer, producer and PR. Not so long ago I joined Scorpion team. Currently I’m working on hero’s abilities and psychic powers of his main enemies, ‘Hounds’.

GT: What sort of influences would you say went into the development of the game?

AB: The idea of the project and the basis of the game world were designed by our project-leader, Eugene Duranin. Hard to list everything that has influenced both concept and the development of Scorpion, but sure can name thing or two - great games like F.E.A.R, The Chronicles of Riddick and Deus Ex, some books and movies (more on them later).

We are constantly reviewing various related media to further improve our feeling of the world the game takes place, Scorpion’s characters and the game in general. And I’m trying to spare a minute now and then to write a piece of fiction set in the game world too (some recent updates on Scorpion’s homepage are based on it, and we’ll post more; check http://www.scorpionthegame.com/blog for details).

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Me, I’m not much into MMOs. But I have been saying for awhile that Tabula Rasa looks like it could be the one to break me into the genre. After sitting down with April Burba, the community manager for the game, for a few minutes at PAX last week, I’m even more convinced that this game will change the traditional formula for MMOs. I also got a chance to get some hand-on time with the game, which only confirmed this even more. The game plays like a fusion of so many genres in one that calling it an MMORPG only covers part of the gameplay. You can read the full interview after the break. Read the full article

TellTale Games showed up at PAX this year with a new demo and some info regarding the next season of their popular Sam and Max adventure series. I got a chance to talk with Emily Morganti, the Marketing and Public Relations at TellTale, about what’s new with Sam and Max: Season Two. First she showed me a demo for Season Two, which included some familiar faces (Bosco, Sybil, Abe Lincoln’s head) as well as some new ones, like Stinky, the eccentric waitress in the new diner area (shown above). She also showed me a couple of new gameplay features, like Sam’s ability to run now, and the inclusion of some new mini-games; one of which involves a Punch Out-style boxing match between a rat and a creepy robot doll. All this was dripping with the trademark Sam and Max humor and had some genuine laugh-out-loud moments. After that, we sat down to discuss lessons learned from Season One and what fans can expect to see in Season Two. Full interview after the jump and be sure to check out some new screens that Chris wrote about. Read the full article

At this year’s PAX, one of the games that seemed to constantly have a long line of anxious gamers waiting to play it was the upcoming PS3-exclusive, Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune. Luckily, while I was there, I got a chance to talk with Sam Thompson, one of the producers for the game. He discussed how the highly-advanced animation system in Uncharted differs from most video games, and how the complex story will unfold throughout the game. You can check out my impression of the demo they had on display here (to summarize: it’s really really good), and read the full interview below. Read the full article

Hard to be a God is a new RPG from Akella (Tales of Pirates) slated for release sometime in December, and recently we here at Gaming Today were given the opportunity to speak with Hard to be a God lead designer Stephan Vakhtin. This interesting RPG is not going to be your average hack and slash or dungeon crawler, but something more in the realm of science fiction at its most intriguing.

GT: Please introduce yourself to our readers and tell them a little bit about Hard to be a God.

Stephan Vakhtin: Hello! My name is Stephan Vakhtin, and I am the leading designer of project Hard to be a God. Well, Hard to be a God is both a hack’n’slash and role-playing game. The events in the game take place in a universe depicted in the novel of the same name, written by the Strugatsky brothers. But the storyline of the game doesn’t repeat what’s happening in the book, but rather continues it. The action in the game takes place about two years later after the events described in the novel. Hard to be a God is a third-person-view game featuring dynamic combat, many weapons and fighting techniques and also a well thought-out and diverse role-playing system. Also, special attention has been paid to in-game dialogs and the storyline.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP

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In case you haven’t heard of Rumble Fighter, it’s the free to play action game focused on fighting from OGPlanet. Recently, Gaming Today was lucky enough to sit down with Jack Liu, the Cofounder and Chief Creative Officer at OGPlanet, to ask him a few questions regarding this fun martial arts inspired game with its patented “Exocore” system.

GT: Please introduce yourself and tell our readers a little about Rumble Fighter.

Jack Liu: Hello Gaming Today, I’m Jack Liu – Co-founder and Chief Creative Officer at OGPlanet. Since OGPlanet is a video game company, being the chief creative dude pretty much means I get to dabble in everything the company does - from game localization and production, to overseeing our community department and marketing strategy. But ultimately, my job is simply to make sure all of our players have as much fun as possible when they launch one of our titles. This makes me really excited to introduce our newest online game – Rumble Fighter. On the surface, Rumble Fighter is a melee style fighting game, featuring up to 8-player battle modes where players can either gang up in teams, or duke it out on their own in true last-man-standing fashion. But what really sets this title apart from any other online fighting game is in the customization options players have when building their fighters. Not only can you alter your appearance (facial features, costumes, accessories, etc.), but Rumble Fighter features a “Sacred Scroll” system that allows players to choose from a wide variety of actual fighting methods, each with their own distinct style and special combo moves. Like ninjas? Then go with Ninjitsu. Dig Bruce? Then go with Jeetkundo. From Taekwondo to Kungfu, classic Boxing to Jujitsu, Rumble Fighter gives players the freedom to create their version of the ultimate fighter. The entire game is free to play but features upgradeable items that can either be bought with in-game points (known as Carats), or with OGPlanet’s universal cyber-cash (Astros). Players can upgrade their fighters purely through the use of Carats by simply collecting them as they play, but may choose to spend some real money for premium items that are not available for Carats. The beauty of this system is that it allows players to decide how much they want to spend, if anything at all, within Rumble Fighter.

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