Get this, a company has gained the rights to release a large number of "Quest" collections. I think I may just get ALL of them, for one single reason. They are actually fixing all the bugs and are making them all fully compatible with Windows XP.
Basically, it seems to be King's Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest, and Quest for Glory collections.
Since those various games, in various ways, seem to comprise a large number of the reasons I hold onto my old Windows 98SE OS, this is pretty nice.
Also, I highly suggest anyone who missed out on KQ6 pick up the KQ collection. That game is simply awesome.
Edit: I misread. Quest for Glory is not announced as a collection. Leisure Suit Larry is. That's annoying. With all ABF has said about it, I was really looking forward to a collection of those games.
Sony Forced To Pull PS2 Off The Market?
Immersion wins Dual Shock patent case.
by James Cranston
March 15, 2006 - The Latest reports indicate that Sony has lost a patent case against Immersion technologies, for it's dual shock Playstation 2 controller. Below is the article from Bit-Tech:
Immersion last year sued Sony for infringing on its patents. Immersion claims that it owns the technology that powers the rumble in Sony's Dual Shock controllers. It also sued Microsoft for its rumble features in the Xbox, but the boys from Redmond settled out of court.
Sony fought on, and lost a case last year. However, it's been allowed to continue selling the PS2 pending appeal. If the latest reports are verified, it's lost that appeal today.
This means that Sony not only has to pony up and awful lot of cash to Immersion Technologies, but it has to stop infringing on the patent - that means stop selling kit which includes Dual Shock technology, and that means pulling the PS2 off the shelf.
Commentators are wondering if this case is the reason for the PS3 controller redesign that we've seen - it's possible the horrendous boomerang monstrosity doesn't infringe on patents.
Interestingly, Immersion is owned in part by Nintendo. The next-generation battle just took another twist...
If these reports are true, then pulling the PS2 off the market is a huge blow against Sony. With PS2 currently being Sony's strongseller in the home console markets, the company with lose a HUGE proportion of its profits, as well as having to pay a large sum to Immersion. Also there had been rumours of Sony developing a Revmote style controller for use with outcoming PS2 titles. I guess losing the patent won't stop Sony from retailing the device (if it existed), but if the PS2 is already off the market...
To finish up, the long awaited fanboy boasting, seeing as Immersion is partly owned by Nintendo... NINTENDOWNED!
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Funny.
This probably means that the PS2 will be repackaged with that boomerang thing which will also be the PS3 controller which is based off a third party PS1 controller. Sony is the only company I know of that can turn the word innovate in to a four-letter explanative. Way to work the patent office, Ken. I hope all the zeros in the check equal your litteral penis length.
Quote:News is sort of thin now...but lo and behold, I can present to you a beautiful bulletpoint list of current PS3 info from the Japanese conference.
Worldwide Launch - November 11.
Six million units produced in 2006 alone, a move to stem shortages.
The price will not be less than 50,000 yen ($420 US)
Full backwards compatibility, hi-res and texture filtering for all titles, akin to what the Xbox 360 does.
60GB HDD standard, loaded with Linux.
Every PS3 game will be on a Blu Ray Disc, in an attempt to prevent piracy.
The online service will be working off of GameSpy technology.
More as it comes, and a much better formatted article in the morning.
Quote:14-Mar-06 12:28 ET In Play Sony to delay the release of its PlayStation 3 next-generation video gameconsole - DJ (SNE) 47.48 +0.71: Dow Jones reporting that Sony Computer Entertainment will delay the release of its PlayStation 3 next-generation video game console until early November because the copy protection technology for the Blu-ray Disc has not been finalized, The Nihon Keizai Shimbun reported in its Wednesday morning edition.
Wow, if Nintendo goes on sale this summer/early fall like I expect they will then Sony's PS3 has the Revolution and 360 to deal with the holiday season. Can't count out the DS or PSP as it seems handhelds are growing in popularity.
Nintendo will have their innovative new games and a relatively low price point, Microsoft will have the start of their second generation games and a healthy lineup of titles to choose from, and possibly a price drop.
Now, I know that I've asked this before, but golly, I'm going to ask it again.
I want to get a screen shot from an ancient Sierra side-scroller as my background for windows. How do I go about doing this; what button do I push, and where will it go to so that I can find it? Please be specific.
Update Regarding Sadness, NIBRIS Publisher
by Shawn White (03/07/06)
Following its recent announcement of Sadness (working title), NIBRIS Project Mananger Piotr Orlowski responded directly to a number of Revolution Report's inquiries, provided new information concerning the studio's titles, publisher and more.
Regarding Raid over the River, Orlowski mentioned NIBRIS will release the first demo of the game (DS version) at the end of April into the beginning of May. That noted, we reported back in December that NIBRIS had signed a publishing deal for Raid over the River. However, Orlowski clarified the matter today:
Concerning the distributor – the company which was to be our publisher has financial problems and even cancelled its own projects. Therefore currently we do not have any but we are having promising talks with three companies. Of course if there will be any other company interested we will also negotiate – we are really counting on getting a good publisher who will appreciate our ideas and capabilities.
When asked how familiar NIBRIS was with Nintendo consoles, Orlowski responded, "The team of NIBRIS consists of 14 people but we are still recruiting new ones to complete the team. Most of them are people experienced in making PC games. However, thanks to the co-operation with another Polish developer, there are also people very familiar with Dual Screen and GameCube architecture."
"Unfortunately, we do not have the development kit of Revolution yet, but it is going to change soon," he said. "We have many ideas which can only be realized by Revolution."
Concerning the studio's newly announced title Sadness (working title), Orlowski firmly stated that the "project is confidential."
All I can say now is that it is going to be a gothic horror which will scare not with the amount of blood but sheer atmosphere. Imagine a game in which you do not use guns or knives but you will have to protect yourself with the objects you find exploring the ground – a stone, a stick, etc. Some examples of using the controller – you swing a torch with it to scare the rats off, you slit the throat (controller as a piece of glass or a knife); if you want to climb the wall you will have to hook a rope over the piece of a wall sticking out (controller serving as a lasso). And this is only the beginning. The game will be for single player and single player only. For an adult player with strong nerves. Let me mention that the scenario will have associations with narcolepsy, nyctophobia and paranoid schizophrenia.
As a final word, Orlowski noted, "We do not make games for money but for sheer pleasure. We create games which we would like to play but they are missing on the market. Our games are only for Nintendo – only DS and Revolution are the consoles which can realize our visions."
"We agree with Nintendo – that the market needs new ideas, not just larger amount of polygons. Of course it doesn’t mean that we will no pay attention to the graphics – definitely not! However we want the games to provide entertainment in the first place," he said. "Our aim is to make the player feel emotions and feelings We desire real smile, sadness, fear and tears. We believe we are able to achieve this."
from revolution report.com
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Holy shit kids, could it be possible that the Revcon is making developers think of more realistic situations to use the realistic controller set-up? It makes sense, the controller just inherently lends itself to drama. Yunno in RE4 when the Los Churros El Diablo del la Peniso was killed in the lake, and it caught your foot as it dragged you down with an old fashioned rope-trap? Imagine having to litteraly cut the rope, not smack the A button and watch the cut scene. By actually having to cut the rope you present all kinds of dangers, you could end up cutting yourself (decreasing health), you might end up spending all your time cutting the wrong parts of the rope when it's really only one or three loops that are holding everything together... talk about panic.
The revcon is deeper than i imagined; it's making developers in to better story tellers. The way this guy talks about the torch being used to scare off rats immeadiately puts me in the coridoors
of like-Aliens in pitch black as I use the torch to barely illuminate the surrounding structures. The kind of atmosphere that makes you want to turn the lights on and wake up your dog for protection just in case. Playing Silent Hill is one thing, but when the player is asked to litteraly stab or slash at the enemy's throat is going to offer an entirely different emotional spin on killing zombies and monsters. In SH the one thing that always disapointed me was the use of guns, it's fine in RE (RE is more of a 'video game') but SH needs tactile, palpable fear, I like the approach of a 'gun-less' horror game scenario. Imagine having two revcons, with one hand you try to hold the zombies head back to keep it from biting you while you stabd it with the other hand, trying to break in to its neck and sever its connection to the skull. Then when the crack is heard, the zombie goes limp in your hands and its eyes gaze in to yours like a toy, you let it go and it drops to your feet... your hands soaked in blood, you search its body for anything usefull. You find a wallet and, in real time using the revcon, go through it and find that behind a picture of his wife and kids is a security card used for accessing the next area.
The right wing extremists are gonna have a field day with this one. :D
plus, this game sounds awesome, and the developer is taking every step to make sure they get noticed so it sounds pretty big. take in to account all the ass-kissing they gave Nintendo and we may have a second party title on our hands.
Mario and Zelda creator among the developers to be honoured in France's Order of Arts and Letters
If we ran the country we would've dubbed Shigeru Miyamoto 'Sir Shigs' a long time ago, but thankfully it seems that the French are finally catching up to our way of thinking, and the Mario creator is to be honoured at France's Order of Arts and Letters.
French site Gamekult reports that three developers will be named as knights at the ceremony, which takes place on April 13. French culture minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres will bestow the award upon Frederick Raynal (Alone in the Dark, Fade to Black), Michel Ancel (King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, Beyond Good & Evil) and Nintendo demi-god Shigeru Miyamoto (Mario, Zelda).
Apparently recipients of the title are required to have "significantly contributed to the enrichment of the French cultural inheritance." Consequently, Mr. Miyamoto joins such greats as James Joyce and Bruce Willis, who have both previously received the French honour.
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