John Cleese is your butler in Fable 3
Mar/100
Peter Molyneux lives a fearful life. Ever since he promised the moon and failed to deliver with the original Fable, he has been relentlessly trailed by PR ninjas. We were expecting a special Fable 3 reveal during GDC, and Molyneux obliged, but not before checking with PR. During the Fable 3 panel at GDC, Molyneux said that people have referred to Fable as a “Monty Python-esque” game, and so Lionhead decided to recruit John Cleese himself to play your butler in Fable 3.
He noted that Lionhead has record a “vast amount of AI dialogue” for Cleese, whose job as the butler is to “big you up, in a slightly sarcastic way.” Unfortunately, Molyneux stated that the rights for Cleese’s voice hadn’t been secured “just yet,” so we didn’t get to see Cleese implemented in the demo. He’s definitely a perfect fit for Fable though, and we can only thankful that he hasn’t run down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.
John Cleese is your butler in Fable 3 originally appeared on Joystiq Xbox on Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Can Zune HD Stay with Windows Phone 7 – TopNews United States
Mar/100
 Sydney Morning Herald |
Can Zune HD Stay with Windows Phone 7
TopNews United States With plenty of interesting feature, Zune HD is known as a well-built music player. But as the release of Windows Phone 7 Series is approaching, … Windows Phone 7 won't kill Zune HD Gadget Doctor: How We'd Fix The Zune HD Next Zune HD may have Windows Phone roots |
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Interview: Microsoft on integrating Xbox Live into Windows Phone 7 Series
Mar/100
Windows Phone 7 isn’t just Microsoft’s attempt to compete against Apple’s iPhone. It’s also the introduction of the first portable Xbox platform. During GDC today, we talked to Xbox Live GM Ron Pessner and XNA Game Studio manager Michael Klucher about how games integrate into the mobile platform and what gamers and developers can expect in the future.
For the purpose of this interview, Pessner and Klucher merged into one entity (they spoke over each other a lot!) to answer our questions:
Microsoft plans to separate games that do and don’t support Xbox Live functionality on Windows Phone. Are there any concerns that this will turn off indie developers?
Pessner and Klucher: The short answer is “no.” The way that we built the Phone and Marketplace experience makes it very easy to search for what you’re looking for. With XNA Game Studio 4.0, you can use the same set of tools to build an Xbox Live game or non-Xbox Live game on the platform. The benefit that developers get for working with Game Studio is everything we just described.
We also are very interested in seeing concept submissions from the indie community, and we’re out talking to a lot of independent developers. Fortunately, we’re working with a lot of these folks in context of the console today, and many of the console titles that have come to us through the Indie Channel or Xbox Live Arcade, we think will also make fantastic mobile titles. So we’re reaching back out to these developers and accepting submissions for ideas as a way to help make those Xbox Live titles. It’s up to the developer in terms of what they want to do on the platform, but we’re really excited with the response we’ve seen so far.
Continue reading Interview: Microsoft on integrating Xbox Live into Windows Phone 7 Series
Interview: Microsoft on integrating Xbox Live into Windows Phone 7 Series originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Runic Games ‘putting serious effort’ into console Torchlight
Mar/100
Speaking to The Rumble Pack, Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer declared that his company is actively pursuing a console port of its PC action RPG, Torchlight. “We’re going to put some serious effort into it — pretty quick — getting Torchlight onto consoles,” said Schaefer. “There’s a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game,” he added, “So, we are definitely going to be going in that direction.” He offered no specifics on the project, saying only that the company is “talking to a million people” and that it’s “something we definitely want to do.
We were quite taken with Torchlight when it released on PC last year — the game landed more than a few of our staff’s best of 2009 lists — so here’s hoping we’ll get some more details soon.
Runic Games ‘putting serious effort’ into console Torchlight originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Restore Your PC from Windows Home Server
Mar/100
If your computer crashes or you get a virus infection that makes it unrecoverable, doing a clean install can be a hassle, let alone getting your data back. If you’re backing up your computers to Windows Home Server, you can completely restore them to the last successful backup.
Note: For this process to work you need to verify the PC you want to restore is connected to your network via Ethernet. If you have it connected wirelessly it won’t work.
Restore a PC from Windows Home Server
On the computer you want to restore, pop in the Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore disc and boot from it. If you don’t have one already made, you can easily make one following these instructions. We have also included the link to the restore disc below.
Boot from the CD then select if your machine has 512MB or RAM or more.
The disc will initialize…
Then choose your language and keyboard settings.
Hopefully if everything goes correctly, your network card will be detected and you can continue. However, if it doesn’t like in our example, click on the Show Details button.
In the Detect Hardware screen click on the Install Drivers button.
Now you will need to have a USB flash drive with the correct drivers on it. It has to be a flash drive or a floppy (if you happen to still have one of those) because you can’t take out the Restore CD.
If you want to make sure you have the correct drivers on the USB flash drive, open the Windows Home Server Console on another computer on your network. In the Computers and Backup section right-click on the computer you want to restore and select View Backups.
Select the backup you want to restore from and click the Open button in the Restore or view Files section.
Now drag the entire contents of the folder named Windows Home Server Drivers for Restore to the USB flash drive.
Back to the machine you’re trying to restore, insert the USB flash drive with the correct drivers and click the Scan button.
Wait a few moments while the drivers are found then click Ok then Continue.
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The Restore Computer Wizard starts up…
Enter in your home server password and click Next.
Select the computer you want to restore. If it isn’t selected by default you can pull it up from the dropdown list under Another Computer. Make certain you’re selecting the correct machine.
Now select the backup you want to restore. In this example we only have one but chances are you’ll have several.
If you have several backups to choose from, you might want to check out the details for them.
Now you can select the disk from backup and and restore it to the destination volume. You might need to initialize a disk, change a drive letter, or other disk management tasks, if so, then click on Run Disk Manger.
For example we want to change the destination drive letter to (C:).
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After you’ve made all the changes to the destination disk you can continue with the restore process.
If everything looks correct, confirm the restore configuration. If you need to make any changes at this point, you can still go back and make them.
Now Windows Home Server will restore your drive. The amount of time it takes will vary depend on the amount of data you have to restore, network connection speed, and hardware.
You are notified when the restore successfully completes. Click Finish and the PC will reboot and be restored and should be working correctly. All the updates, programs, and files will be back that were saved to the last successful backup. Anything you might have installed after that backup will be gone. If you have your computers set to backup every night, then hopefully it won’t be a big issue.
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Conclusion
Backing up the computers on your network to Windows Home Server is a valuable tool in your backup strategy. Sometimes you may only need to restore a couple files and we’ve covered how to restore them from backups on WHS and that works really well. If the unthinkable happens and you need to restore the entire computer, WHS makes that easy too.?
Download Windows Home Server Home Computer Restore CD
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Interview: Mafia II producer Denby Grace
Mar/100
Three delays later, Mafia II looks like it’s finally (finally!) getting ready to launch. It’s been a long journey, and we spoke with 2K senior producer Denby Grace during GDC about the development time and what we can expect from the ambitious crime saga:
We’ve been waiting a very long time for this game haven’t we?
Denby Grace, senior producer: The reason for the delay is polish. You’ll see the game looks great as you play today. It’s just not quite perfect, which is what we at 2K generally strive for. It’s what we want to be known for, the quality of our games. Just having come so long, it would be foolish to release it too early.
Are there any specific reasons for the delay? What needed to be polished?
Technically there are a few things: the framerate isn’t quite on the money yet. It’s just the whole experience. One of the things we’re spending a lot of time doing is focus testing. We’re testing about twenty people a week. And it’s getting that difficulty curve right. We want it to be hard, but we don’t want it to be impossible like Mafia I. I don’t know if you played the first game, but there was one mission when we shipped the game. Literally everyone failed until we released a patch. So we’re really, really conscious about delivering a really balanced, proper difficulty curve. And then it’s just bugs. It’s an open world: ten square miles, fifty vehicles, a hundred environments. There were quite a lot of bugs in it!
Continue reading Interview: Mafia II producer Denby Grace
Interview: Mafia II producer Denby Grace originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Hands-on: Mafia II
Mar/100
In all seriousness, protagonist (I guess he’s that, right?) Vito Scaletta had just woken up after a pretty wild night (judging by the various undergarments strewn around his bachelor pad) when my demo kicked off, so I of course jogged around turning on faucets and flicking light switches before actually doing what the game was instructing me to do: Get dressed. Leaving Vito’s apartment, I stepped out into a world as pitch-perfect in its depiction of the 1950s — the cars, the clothing, the architecture, the music — as I can imagine. So what if the car that I hopped into and the place I was driving around — Empire City — never existed in any real era?
I spent the first few minutes of the demo causing all sorts of mayhem. Heck, the very first thing I did was get into a fender bender (putting it mildly) from which I fled, only to learn that the punishment for a hit-and-run in the ’50s was, evidently, only a few dollar fine. But my trouble with the fuzz didn’t end there.
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Hands-on: Mafia II originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Former Baltimore mayor’s telltale Xbox 360 now on eBay
Mar/100
Here’s a bit of backstory for those of you who don’t follow the hot Baltimore news scoops: Sheila Dixon, once mayor of Baltimore, became the former mayor Baltimore after being indicted for embezzlement earlier this year. One of the main pieces of evidence in her trial was an Xbox 360 prosecutors claimed she purchased with gift cards given to her by local developers, which were supposed to be given to various charities.
The telltale 360 recently appeared in an eBay listing, attracting a number of prospective buyers hoping to get their hands on the game console/slice of Baltimore history. If you’re interested in owning a device which is capable of single-handedly ending someone’s mayoral career, the auction is still running. Its price is significantly higher than a standard console, but you’ve got to pay a premium for all that history.
[Via Baltimore Sun]
Former Baltimore mayor’s telltale Xbox 360 now on eBay originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Impressions: True Crime
Mar/100
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After a five-year hiatus, free-roaming felony franchise True Crime is set to return (sans subtitle) in Fall 2010. United Front, which is also working on the upcoming ModNation Racers and houses veterans from games such as Bully, Prototype and Scarface, is developing the new entry for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Lead producer Jeff O’Connell describes it as a “more serious” reboot — and a story that’s more closely modeled after cop films. “It’s an opportunity to be an innately good guy,” he said of the undercover, under-pressure role you’ll assume. “That’s good drama.”
Inspired by films like “The Departed” (see: “Infernal Affairs”), True Crime follows undercover lawman Wei Shen as he infiltrates the triad, slow-mo kicks enemies in the chin, and completes objectives across the game’s new city playground. “Is it an accurate representation of Hong Kong?” O’Connell asked. “It’s not.” Despite referencing over 27,000 photographs, the city has been “tuned for gameplay,” eschewing a realistic, street-for-street recreation in favor of a more cinematic and moody Hong Kong.
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Impressions: True Crime originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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GDC hands-on: Deadliest Warrior (XBLA)
Mar/100
Okay, honesty time. Most of the preparation for my GDC appointment to check out Pipework Foundation’s TV-to-game adaptation Deadliest Warrior was spent thinking up jokes about the game’s cast of anachronistic characters. “So, what are we looking at,” I would snidely remark, “Templars? Cavemen? Wizards? Robots? Robot Cavemen? Grizzly bears?” To which Pipework would politely laugh, as I would insist, “No, seriously. What’s the grizzly bear situation?”
I was prepared to be underwhelmed by the game, so I’d attempt to cajole an entire preview out of this line of questioning. Fortunately, this precaution wasn’t necessary, as Deadliest Warrior looks to be a surprisingly competent, enjoyable fighting game, and a welcome addition to the Xbox Live Arcade lineup. Here’s the takeaway: Think Bushido Blade; but instead of being stuck with controlling boring ol’ samurai, there are ninjas, Spartans, Apache, knights and four other yet-to-be-announced warriors (Including, hopefully, wizards).
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