“The debut E3 trailer set the graphical bar high for the Ubisoft developers, as far as current gen is concerned they get a pass but the 360 and PS3 ports have come under a lot of criticism.”

The initial sales figures suggest that Ubisoft hopes of a new franchise to add to their development rooster might come to fruition. Over 4 million copies sold in its first week, making the game the best-selling new IP at launch. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot commented last month that they hoped to sell as much as the first Assassin’s Creed title which sold more than 6 million copies. At the current rate of 4 million in a week Watch_Dogs should easily surpass any of Ubisoft’s predictions and with a WiiU release still to come in September. With such impressive sales and generally positive reviews there is no doubt that the Ubisoft heads will be cracking the whip for their Montréal development team to get back to work on a sequel. In fact last year the Head of Sales and Marketing at the company Tony Key made the comment “That’s what all our games are about; we won’t even start if we don’t think we can build a franchise out of it. There’s no more fire and forget – it’s too expensive.” in reference to the then in development Watch_Dogs. A statement that reflects Ubisoft’s current catalogue of games that are mostly made up of sequels or games based on existing properties. Nobody can really blame the publisher from taking a conservative approach when faced with new IP, video game budgets have increased tenfold in the last decade. The likes of GTA V costing Rockstar over $250 million, with the company relying on the games accumulated reputation to shift copies and recoup the costs. Even if Ubisoft have to take a hit financially on the first release with planned sequels the can account for the initial loses in the franchise.

“A small hitch in the games release as arisen over a bug that causes players to get stuck on the games loading screen. Uplay, Ubisoft’s digital distribution service is suspected to be at fault.”

In an interesting move the publisher has also tasked their film division Ubisoft Motion Pictures to start drafting up a film script for Watch_Dogs. It seems a little earlier to planning a movie adaptation for a series that is so new but then again they are already thinking of the long term plan for this would be franchise. Ubisoft have already made plans for all their other major franchises to get the silver screen treatment, the Assassin’s Creed movie gathering steam with a late 2015 release date announced and Michael Fassbender attached as the lead. The video game industry in fact is beginning to mirror their Hollywood counterparts in some respects. At the top end of the industry the big players favour content that will be able to offer them significant return over a long period of time as opposed to a quick flash in the pan. It would be hard to envisage the pitch session for Goat Simulator with the executives at EA or Activision and the publisher drawing out plans for the game as a franchise. Disney planning out a road map for their highly successful Marvel series of films right through to 2021. The big movie producers favour adaptions over original screenplay, the video game industry taking a similar stance.  At the other end of the scale the indie scene has exploded in popularity with new IP finding great success in what can be sometimes a swing and miss sector of the industry. For as many triumphs like Minecraft and DayZ there are there are ten times as many failures among them. The indie movie scene following a similar failure success rate among the films released over the last few years.  However the more important issue surrounding Ubisoft’s movie studio is will we finally see a decent video game adaption in the cinemas, the video game community doesn’t needs another Prince of Persia movie.

“The film is still in early pre-production with no indication of what role Michael Fassbender might be taking on; Altair, Ezio or Connor?”

Taking a look at some of the other major publishers, paints a similar picture with already establish IP getting the go ahead and financial backing. EA like Ubisoft seemed to have taken a gamble with new IP Titanfall, but then again is it much of a gamble when working with Vince Zampella a proven hit driven developer. No doubt EA have plans for Titanfall to be what Call of Duty has become to Activision with Zampella the man behind that particular franchise. The same could be said of Take-Two interactive and their new IP Evolve that is set to release later this year. Not so much a gamble with Turtle Rock at the helm, the same team that was behind the highly successful Left4Dead franchise. These games also seem to be perfectly suited for a host of DLC releases and eventually sequels. It is becoming rarer and rarer that a game will be made with a definitive end point. Modern video games are developed with the sequel in the back of the developers mind or at least at the top end of the industry. When a publisher is given a hit by one of their studios they always want more. The video game fans also playing a part in this, the community endless speculating on sequels and follow ups. With E3 just around the corner the rumour mill is in full effect and rampant speculation abounds.

“E3 could have seen the big revel of the next Assassin’s Creed game if it wasn’t for those pesky internet sleuths leaking the news early. No doubt they will still have a few tricks up their sleeves for the event”

Watch_Dogs wowed fans at E3 2012 and the anticipation for the game only intensified over the following two years. The game has amassed encouraging sales in its first week of release and is surely on its way to recouping the development costs. Ubisoft might have been criticized for making such bold claims about the games future over a year prior to its launch. Most developers and publisher have future vision for their new IP but to come out and state those claims so boldly is not so common. If the games follow up can build upon the original and maintain the fans attention than their maybe hope for the future of the franchise. If not certain Ubisoft executives might have to back track on their previous statements.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Watch Dogs Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

The post Top 5: Open World Games appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

“Asteroids popularized vector graphics in the late 70’s, however Elite looked to further revolutionize the technology”

The game was designed by two Cambridge University students David Braben and Ian Bell. Both of them started development of the game as a hobby, as an aside from their college work. The BBC Micro was the chosen platform for development as it boasted 18k of memory, a lot more than its equivalent counterparts. The pair also decided to programme the game in the Assembly language, it used far less memory that allowed for more advanced graphics and gameplay. The most unique graphical aspect of their game was that it was one of the first to use 3D wire-frames for the various assets in the game. Elite was not the first 3D video game, however it was the first 3D game to allow the player freely move within 3D space. Previous attempts at 3D games had always limited the player in their movements and the perspective of their view.

“Elite easily became the most popular game available on the BBC Micro, still celebrated as a landmark title for video games of the 1980’s”

The game took two years to develop with the launch eventually coming on the 20^th September of 1984. Acornsoft who were the games publishers invested a lot of money in order to get the game to market and make sure it sold well. Including renting out a theme park for a day all in an effort to promote the game, something that was unheard off at the time for a video game release. The game was also sold with an accompany novella called The Dark Wheel, which helped flesh the universe in which the player inhabits. It was a risky business strategy that paid off as the game was an instant success garnering praise from gamers and critic alike. The game was subsequently ported to many other home computer platforms, follow ups and remakes added to the franchise over the following decades. An estimated 600,000 copies of the game are said to have being sold when counting in figures from all ported platforms.

“The novel that was packaged with every copy of Elite that was sold, again demonstrated the innovate ways in which Acornsoft looked to market the game”

One of the big selling points of the game was its open world gameplay and loses narrative. The ‘do what you want’ attitude crossed over into the games trading mechanics. The game allowed the player to trade some goods that to some would be deemed unethical with slaves and narcotics listed for trade. The game left the moral decisions up to the player with no negative repercussions for trading illegal goods. A mechanics that permeates many current open world and RPG games, where the player is often posed with moral dilemmas which they can solve in different ways. Mass Effect and Fallout both implement a system of morals that allow the player to be good or evil. The game continues to be an influence on many developers in the industry and recent plans have been made to develop a new title in the series called Elite: Dangerous, with funding coming from Kickstarter. A game that has remained in gamers conscience for nearly thirty years, demonstrates the innovation and genius that was used in its creation.

The post Compendium: Elite appeared first on Game Design Ireland.

Saints Row IV is a perfect demonstration of why many serious media critics can’t hold video games up to the same standards as they do with other mediums. The latest game in the GTA series looks to take a very wry look at modern day California, played out by three characters from different walks of life. Whereas Saints Row IV in some ways has no meaning or purpose, with the story of a guy from the streets who works his way through the hierarchy of the gang culture of the first game long abandoned. A thin narrative of an alien invasion enslaving the city of Steelport with the Presidential Saints the only ones who can save the day, is laid over what is essentially repurposed missions pulled from the atypical game design bin. Go pick up one thing, bring it to some place and repeat. There is no compelling reason for the player to have any vested interest in what is going on around them. Superpowers and Dub-step guns are not a substitute for game design, Volition have looked to take the easy route. However if they wish to shake of the shackles of Rockstar then they need to try a little harder to upset the applecart.

 “It’s off to the White House for the Saints crew, how a gang member with a prison record is elected to office beats me but when has Violation ever worried about the finer details”

Saints Row IV has had a bit of a turbulent birth which might explain some of its shortcomings. It was original planned as a DLC expansion to the previous game in the series with the interesting title of Saints Row the Third: Enter the Dominatrix. It was set to be a standalone expansion similar to Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon. In June of 2012 it was then announced that the DLC would become the basis for the fourth game in the series. Then in January of the next year Volition’s publisher THQ filed for bankruptcy and sold off most of its major assets Saints Row included. Koch Media who own publisher Deep Silver bought the rights to the franchise and this week sees the game finally getting its release. It is clear that this game is borrowing heavily from its predecessor with a very slightly re-textured Steelport and an identical game engine that reuses many of the same mechanics of the last game. It’s not surprising with only a two year delta in the development between the third and fourth game, is the Saints Row game to become an annual series like so many other franchises. Where there is little in the way of innovation but instead the budget is spent on marketing the game as something new that isn’t, I’m talking about you Call of Duty. Why is the industry in such a hurry to produce content, maybe some developers should take a page out of Valve’s book. In that you take an extortionate amount of time that has gamers tearing their hair out with anticipation and then blowing those raised expectations out of the water when the game is finally released, saying all that will they please get a move on Half Life 3 unless there trying to beat Duke Nukem Forever record. Violation can’t be fully blamed in this matter it is the gamers themselves that create this demand, they need to practise a bit more patience and allow video game developers to take the time to craft a more fleshed out and graphical impressive game. It is also partly due to the pressures put on by the publishers who want to feed the insatiable appetites of impatience gamers, all in the pursuit of vast sums of money. Whereas companies like Rockstar and Valve self-publish most of their games and have a long standing presence in the industry that allows them to set their own deadlines and release dates, others like Violation have to answer to their publishers demands.

“It’s back to the streets of LA for the next instalment of GTA, Rockstar could do with branching out to some other regions of the country”

The main issue with a game like Saints Row IV is that although they offer the player an amazing array of character customization options, there is no emotional connection with the main character. To use another game that Saints Row IV parodies, Mass Effect too offers the player a chance to customize their character and even choose which gender to play as. The difference between the two is that through an engaging narrative storyline the player is able to connect with the mass of polygons on screen and have real moral decision posed to them, with the player having to genuinely weigh up the choices before commenting to an action. Those choices coming back to either help or hinder the player later in the game. In Saints Row IV the player becomes a god like superhero with a vastly overpowered skill set that separates the character from the rest of humanity that populate the game. Both Infamous and Prototype are games that put the player in control of a super powered human, however both offer consequences and a narrative interest when using their abilities. Saints Row as ever just throws out the “It’s just a game” line that seems to absolve them of having to make any effort in the narrative and storytelling department. Endless culture references written in as bad puns and cheesy one-liners are a substitute for the writers having to actual construct any meaningful dialogue. Anyone who has played a Rockstar game knows well that the writers like to make a joke or two and aren’t opposed to the odd culture reference, however they don’t let that affect the overall narrative. Lazlow one of the writers for the GTA series weaves his very apt satirical views on modern culture into the world without impacting on the main characters story or dialogue.

“It seems poor timing on the part of Deep Silver to launch their newly acquired franchise a month before GTA V, have they not heard of Rockstar before”

The sexual content of Saints Row IV is also an issue that was a talking point prior to the games release. It was the ACB Australia’s ratings board that deemed the game unrateable for the sexual content within. In particular it was the games anal-probe weapon that caused the Aussies the get all hot and bothered. The game was eventually given a M15+ rating with some of the sexual and drug related content edited from the game. The Australians ratings board can often be quite harsh when it comes to judging the explicit content of video games, Undead Labs know that with their game State of Decay being given the same treatment. However in this case I have to agree with them, they stated that the sexual content in the game including the explicit weapon set was not justified within the context of the game. It is the cardinal rule for game developers who wish to delve into the murky waters of explicit content, it must be justified within the context of the narrative. The much acclaimed LA Noire produced by Bondi Games and published by Rockstar featured racially offensive dialogue but is justified as it imitates the time in which the game is set. It is possible for games to feature explicit adult content, it just has to have a reason for being there and not just for the sake of it as it seems to be with Saints Row IV. I would genuinely like to know what in what context does an anal-probe with an animated tongue that propels unsuspecting victims across the map, have in Saints Row IV or any game for that matter.

Ultimately it seems like Saints Row has removed its unwanted tag of just being a GTA clone but not because it offered players a more carefully crafted gaming experience, with an impressive amount of narrative and gameplay innovation. Just as Uncharted unseated Tomb Raider as the King of the Relic Hunters. No Saints Row decided to go off the deep end and spend its time coming up with more and more ludicrous weapons and abilities that relegated any engaging gameplay to the side-lines. They have become a parody onto themselves. Rockstar will have no worries about Saints Row IV affecting the sales and player numbers of their latest GTA release. I would doubt any serious open world fanatic will still be playing Saints Row IV when GTA V hits the marketplace. The students still have a lot to learn from the masters who have dominated the open world genre for the last 15 years.

By Colm O’Sullivan

The post Saints Row IV Review appeared first on Game Design Ireland.