While we’re waiting for the release of the D&D 4E core rules this week I thought it’d be a good time to do some general news and updates.

I realize this column had been Wizards of the Coast heavy lately and I apologize for those of you out there reading who like your gaming discussions to be a bit more broad in nature. Before we go far afield though I wanted to highlight an announcement I received from Wizard’s last week regarding some interesting changes coming to the entire Magic the Gathering line.

Beginning with the release of the upcoming “Shards of Alara” expansion set, Wizards is instituting a few changes tot he way cards are bundled, sold and even to the content of the cards themselves. The new set launches on October 3rd, 2008.

One of the more shocking changes, and one I’m not sure I completely buy as sold to us, is that as of that card set the number of cards in a set will be decreasing. While Wizards is claiming this is as a result of feedback from Magic players who claimed “the volume of cards released each year is too high ”, I’m betting its much more likely the cost of printing and lower sell through rates may be mandating this change, though its always easier to wrap a change like that in a “customer request” to make it more palatable. That’s just my suspicion though.
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Good old Phil Harrison would have you believe there’s not much of a market for games that are only for a single player. Alone in the Dark will be the last “huge-budget, single-player” game from Atari, as they move towards Phil’s view of a more and more networked future. The producer of the new Prince of Persia game, Ben Mattes, was asked about Harrison’s comments in an interview with Eurogamer, to which he said, “I read that, and I don’t totally agree.”

“I know where he’s coming from – I certainly see a lot of the industry moving in the direction of more community, more multiplayer, that sort of stuff,” Mattes continued.

“But in my opinion, there are things you can do in a carefully crafted single-player game – experiences you can create, emotions you can elicit and magnitudes of engaging the player – that you’re not going to reproduce in the uncontrolled environment of multiplayer.”

Most of you seem to be on Mattes side of the argument, if the comments on a previous story are any indication. I don’t disagree, but I think more developers are feeling the pressure to include some sort of multiplayer mode. I know quite a few people who pick up a game, see it doesn’t have multiplayer, and completely dismiss it as a “full game.” I then proceed to ask them if they want a multiplayer mode like The Darkness had, and they usually shut up.

Mattes concluded, “For some time yet, there’s going to be a market of people who say, ‘You know what, pander to me. Suck me into your world and just make me believe. I don’t want to be distracted by griefers and high scores, and dealing with the stuff not everybody loves about multiplayer games.’ I do think there is still a significant market there.”

Infogrames president Phil Harrison has been in the news a lot recently, what with him saying that “beautifully crafted single-player” games are no longer wanted in the industry. Whether you agree with him or not, amidst all the hubbub he did drop an interesting bit of information regarding Alone in the Dark.

According to his most recent and infamous interview with Eurogamer, Harrison stated that Xbox 360 users can expect the playable demo of Alone in the Dark to arrive a week before the game’s launch.

We have known for a while that only 360 users would be getting the demo, we just did not know when – therefore, now you can expect it to hit the week of June 13th. The game will be released on the 20th for the PC, PS2 and Wii with the PS3 version coming sometime this Fall.

Thanks: Eurogamer

Alone in the Dark might be an epic single-player action-horror title, but you shouldn’t expect Atari to keep pumping out games of that nature, according to Phil Harrison. He recently talked about how Atari would be moving away from “huge-budget, single-player games in the future.” He clarified that comment on how Alone in the Dark could be the last of its kind from Atari. Speaking with Eurogamer, he explained that it’s reflective of an industry-wide movement towards games that take advantage of community features.

“[The quote] was not uniquely about Atari; it was more about the industry as a whole.,” Harrison said. “Alone in the Dark is a beautifully crafted single-player adventure game. I don’t think the industry is going to make many more of those. I just don’t think consumers want to be playing games that don’t have some kind of network connectivity to them, or some kind of community embedded in them, or some kind of extension available through downloadable content.

“Now, that’s not to criticize Alone in the Dark – it’s just to recognize the industry is changing, and the role we play as creators and publishers has to reflect those changes. I don’t think I’m alone in having those views, either.”

I don’t think there’s much denying that there’s a real movement towards multiplayer-oriented games, and many people expect that when they pay $60 for a game, that there be some sort of multiplayer component. But that doesn’t mean there’s no room left for games like The Witcher, Oblivion or Final Fantasy, although I agree that there is a need to integrate some sort of online connectivity with them — whether that’s a multiplayer mode or something entirely different.

Atari announced today details of the ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition in the run-up to the launch of the action survival game Alone in the Dark. Top prizes include a week-long trip to New York or Paris, Xbox 360 and Wii consoles, and a host of exclusive Alone in the Dark goodies including original soundtrack CDs, t-shirts and Art Books. The ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition is now live on the official website and will run until 31 July 2008.

As the release of Alone in the Dark quickly approaches, anticipation for the game is literally heating up. Entrants to the ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition will need to create the largest group of friends for the chance of winning an inferno of prizes. Since fire will be both your best ally and your worst enemy in Alone in the Dark, knowing how to use it to your advantage is crucial. What better way to survive in the dark than with a constant source of light and a little help from your friends?

Use Edward Carnby’s fire to light your torch and pass on the flame to up to ten of your friends. The pressure is on to keep the torch alight as your friends only have 24 hours to pass the flame to ten friends of their own, and so on. To increase your chances of winning, a number code will be hidden somewhere on CentralDark.com each week which will allow you to invite two extra friends to your group. A little investigative work pays off as the largest group of friends with a lit torch will be able to retrace Edward Carnby’s steps in Central Park with a week-long trip to New York.

The competition is easy to enter: simply visit the homepage and click the ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition icon. Full details of the competition prizes are as follows:

• Winning group : 2 trips to New York or Paris and 3 Xbox 360 consoles in a draw between group members
• 2nd largest group : 1 trip to New York or Paris, 1 Xbox 360 console and 1 Wii console in a draw between group members
• 3rd largest group: 1 trip to New York or Paris and 1 Wii console in a draw between group members
• 4th to 10th largest groups: 40 original Alone in the Dark soundtrack CDs, 30 Alone in the Dark Art Books and 20 Alone in the Dark T-shirts in a draw between the groups’ members
• Creators of 40 largest groups will also receive an Alone in the Dark T-shirt

The ‘Keep the Fire Burning’ competition will also be available on Facebook in early June 2008 for even more chances of winning Alone in the Dark goodies.

Via: Press Release

Phil Harrison, the new President of Infogrames, has announced that Atari will be moving away from publishing single-player, narrative driven games. He revealed this at the press junket for Eden Studios’ upcoming Alone in the Dark.

“Swan song” is probably not the right word, but I think Atari is part of an industry in some transition from pure packaged media to an online business model and social communication and community model. If we are part of that transition, perhaps we are going to take a slightly aggressive, leading-edge role in that transition.
I don’t see that we’re going to be making huge-budget, single-player games in the future. Now, that doesn’t mean that we won’t have ambition to do really incredible games that have high quality, high execution, and high innovation, but they won’t be one-player, narrative-driven, start-middle-end games.

I find this both disappointing and short sighted. As much as I enjoy MMOs and multi-player games, I feel there is still a viable market for single-player games out there. I suppose this means that CD Projekt will have to find another publisher for any sequels to The Witcher.

via Gamasutra

The gag order surrounding the showing of Alone in the Dark in San Francisco on Monday has been lifted (embargo is what it is actually called) and we have ten new videos for you to peruse through. One of which is a video interview with Phil Harrison and while it is a little over seven minutes long, it is worth it.

Monday’s event was hosted by Harrison who had this to say about Alone in the Dark developers:

“Technically and creatively they’re hitting a lot of high points. They’re putting the game into a very contemporary setting, but delivering that fantasy horror in a really effective way, and I think as you saw in the presentation, there are a few moments that are absolute classic videogame moments. Being blown out of the side of a building and seeing the expanse of Central Park laid out in front of you, or driving the 59th Street level when the whole world is collapsing around you: it’s a real outstanding videogame moment.”

Thanks Phil, now I am even more antsy for it to hit shelves on June 20th. Now I just have to decide if I am going to get it for the PC, PS2,Wii, Xbox 360 or wait until the Fall when it comes out for the PS3. Looks like the PC or Xbox 360 might be the way to go.

You can view the other nine videos after the jump which include a demo of the DVD menu where you can rewind and fast forward your way through the story, some really cool gameplay, and a montage. Read the full article

Atari has unveiled a new trailer for their upcoming Alone in the Dark game. This new video reveals that Edward Carnby isn’t the only human being that will show up in the game and that there’s actually some big supernatural conspiracy going on (duh). It also kind of hints at why Edward looks so young when –following the series’ timeline of events — he should be in his 80’s by the present day. The gameplay still looks downright awesome though, especially when something is lit on fire.

As Jonathan reported yesterday, no new Xbox Live Arcade games were released today, thanks to Grand Theft Auto IV’s release yesterday. The day after Halo 3 was released we also saw an XBLA release of Jack Squat, so today’s lack of any releases doesn’t come as much of a surprise. After a rocky start to the whole Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday campaign, we’ve had just four weeks (not including today) since August that didn’t bring any new games – and that was due to new games becoming Arcade Hits, Undertow being temporarily released for free, or Halo 3’s release. So I won’t go too hard on Microsoft.

What you can find new on the Xbox Live Marketplace today is a totally free Dr. Pepper theme! Please, hold your applause, because there’s more. A bunch of Turok themes have also been released (although they’ll run you the ridiculous standard price of 150 Microsoft Points each), a free F-16C -PJ Emblem- download for Ace Combat 6 owners, an Alone in the Dark trailer, and some sort of Raving Rabbids invasion of Chessmaster Live that will run you 150 points. I have no idea what it’s all about, but I’m jealous that Chessmaster gets it and not Spyglass Board Games.

You may now resume your regularly scheduled GTA session.

GoNintendo has revealed a list on upcoming Nintendo games for 2008. Some of these have already been released, but if you look past those you will see many a title that has not. Granted, the majority of them have vague release dates and are for Europe, but at least you get an idea of what to expectThe good news though is that WiiWare and Super Smash Bros. Brawl have been dated for Europe. WiiWare – May 20th and SSBB June 27th.

You can get the full list of Nintendo titles headed our way (and ones that are already available) after the jump.

Thanks: Videogaming247

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