All Features

Fable (Fable)

Aug 26, 2004

It feels as if we've been waiting a long time for Fable. First announced three years ago at Microsoft's X01 press shindig (where it was called Project Ego), Lionhead's Peter Molyneux promptly declared it to be "the greatest RPG ever". While Molyneux today admits that "really, we just had a few concept sketches and a very basic demo of a hero standing there... I'm just an idiot, I just can't help blurting out games", recent indications are that the game will indeed be one of the finest ...

Fable 2 - interview (Fable 2)

May 13, 2008

We recently travelled down to Lionhead's Guildford HQ to see how the epic sequel to Fable is shaping up. You can check out our impressions here, and read on to see what an enthusiastic-as-ever Peter Molyneux had to say...

The scale of Fable 2's world is huge compared to the first game. We're sick of mentioning it, but the first thing that came to mind was the jump to GTA IV's Liberty City...

Molyneux: The first thing we did ...

Next-Gen's 30 most anticipated games of E3 (Fallout 3)

Jul 7, 2008

In choosing games for this list, we kept an eye on games most likely to succeed at the market. We also tried to keep in mind potential critical reception based on developer track record, previous franchise performance, and how the titles have been presented in the media thus far. Naturally we also picked the titles we are most excited to play at the show, but in short, these are the games to keep an eye on, because these are the games that ...

Before the fall (Fallout 3)

Mar 28, 2007

The good people over at sister mag PC Zone recently spoke with developer Pete Hines from Bethesda about Fallout 3 and the mixed emotions surrounding the title. Heres what he had to say. “Weve said this before and well say this again: not everybody is going to agree with the game were making: its a solid-gold lock,” exclaims a tired and emotional Pete Hines when we ask him about the forthcoming Fallout 3. Hes just spent a long day plugging the hugely anticipated Oblivion expansion ...

Far Cry - hands-on (Far Cry)

Jan 22, 2004

Far Cry has been talked about with great enthusiasm from the moment Crytek's first-person shooter was revealed. We were treated to five single-player levels of the latest code and the quality of the game before us never fell below impressive. Just this once, believe the hype...You play Jack Carver, a boat-for-hire mariner, and his latest fare has gone the way of the pear. Cocksure reporter Valerie crossed his palms with a ludicrous amount of silver to buy a ride to a paradise island. However, ...

Far Cry 2: Exclusive dev team interview (Far Cry 2)

May 28, 2008

Far Cry 2 dazzled eyes and blew minds when it was unveiled at the Leipzig Games Convention last year, and its blend of open world gameplay, stunning visuals and exciting new environmental mechanics have made it one to watch intently ever since. Read on, as we interview Producer Louis-Pierre Pharand, Tech Director Dominic Guay and Creative Director Clint Hocking about why Africa is going to be the place to be later this year. ...

It came from Africa (Far Cry 2)

Nov 20, 2007

Nov 20, 2007 In March 1898, two maneless Tsavo man-eating lions preyed on workers during the construction of the Ugandan railway. The pair, part of a testosterone-charged sub-species of lion local to the area, killed an estimated 135 people - their efforts later immortalized in the Val Kilmer film The Ghost and the Darkness. In late July of this year five men from Ubisoft Montreal were spending a night under canvas in the same area. “We couldnt see anything - we just heard an elephant ...

Far Cry 2 - interview (Far Cry 2)

Aug 21, 2007

Three years. It's been three whole years since a the little known German developer called Crytek amazed the PC first-person shooter world with its debut game Far Cry. It came out of nowhere, and proceeded to blow everyone away. But despite its critical and commercial success, the game's publisher Ubisoft then decided to focus its efforts on console development where the franchise was concerned, and it was only last month that it finally announced the long-awaited return of Far Cry to the ...

Sideways is sexy (The Fast and the Furious)

Sep 1, 2006

Admit it: you have no idea how to drift race. You may have unlocked every car in every Gran Turismo or Need for Speed game ever, but that's not drifting. You're aware that it's a hip, hot new way to race, and you've seen the incredibly tricked-out "whips" that these maniacs drive - maybe you even know that drifting originated in Japan, and that it involves power-sliding the hell out of everything and looking as good as you humanly can as you do it. But you don't really know how to drift ...

Battle plan (Field Commander)

May 5, 2006

The PSP's cache of games is steadily growing, but there are still very few exclusives for the handheld that are truly worth the time. Strategy and tactical nuts should be quite excited to know, however, that Field Commander is shaping up to be one of the hottest multiplayer games on the system. We recently caught up with Bill Coyle, lead designer of the grid-based, military game for more info. How early on did you know that multiplayer was going to be a huge feature in Field Commander? The ...

FIFA 08 Wii developer blog (FIFA 08)

Oct 4, 2007

Oct 4, 2007 Brad Porteous, FIFA 08 (Wii) Lead Producer/Designer Welcome to the official FIFA Soccer 08 Wii blog! Its been an exciting year, and designing FIFA 08 for the Nintendo Wii has been a lot of fun. We have really gone out of our way to add a lot of features specifically just for the Wii, and give Wii gamers a customized game experience. In this weeks blog, Ill be focusing on the controls. Weve worked hard at creating a fun control scheme that will appeal to both the hardcore gamers ...

FIFA 08 360/PS3 developer blog #5 (FIFA 08)

Oct 2, 2007

Oct 2, 2007 Joe Booth, FIFA 08 (PS3, Xbox 360) Lead Producer Creating and maintaining our FIFA 08 database is an enormous undertaking that requires coordinating researchers all over the world and organizing their information. This year FIFA 08 will has 30 leagues, more than 570 teams and more than 15,000 players – this represents more leagues, teams and players than all other EA SPORTS games combined. In addition, a lot of player transfers happen during the first transfer window. This ...

FIFA 08 PS3 and Xbox 360 developer blog #04 (FIFA 08)

Sep 24, 2007

Sep 24, 2007 Joe Booth, FIFA 08 (PS3, Xbox 360) Lead Producer The evolution of our new Be A Pro feature comes from two things. First, we felt that the experience of playing FIFA 08 – both the view point and playing as the whole team – hasnt really changed since we went to 3D. At the same time there is this desire from our gamers to go to an 11 vs 11 online experience. These two things inspired us to begin experimenting with a new way to play FIFA 08. In FIFA 08 on PS3 and Xbox 360 ...

FIFA 08 PS2 developer blog #4 (FIFA 08)

Sep 20, 2007

Sept 20, 2007 Paul Hossack, FIFA 08 (PS2) CG Line Producer Hi, guys. Im looking forward to the imminent launch of FIFA 08, and wanted to tell you more about our new game mode this year “Be A Pro: Co-op Season”, how it came about, and some tips for playing it. What is Co-op Season? Be A Pro: Co-op Season is a new way of playing FIFA 08 – as one footballer. Instead of controlling all 11 players on your club, you play through a whole season with your friends where each of you ...

FIFA 08 PS2 developer blog #03 (FIFA 08)

Sep 12, 2007

Sept 12 2007 Marcel Kuhn, FIFA 08 (PS2), Producer First of all, I want to thank all of you for taking the time to read my last blog (Gameplay – Control and Freedom), and even more for posting responses. For today, lets have a look at Custom Formations and Club Specific Formations, which are both new features in FIFA 08. We wanted to implement team personality in FIFA 08, so we added Club Specific Formations. What this means is that our database team and their editors researched the ...

FIFA 08 PS3 and Xbox 360 developer blog #03 (FIFA 08)

Sep 3, 2007

September 3, 2007 Joe Booth, FIFA 08 (PS3, Xbox 360), Lead Producer Today I have asked gameplay designer and software engineer, Gary Paterson, to speak in the diary. When hes not following Aberdeen, celebrating Scotlands World Cup Win (the homeless World Cup that is), finding the latest Leeds United negative story to rub in my face, or reliving every detail of Scotlands one win over England, Gary is busy tweaking the shooting and the details of our game engine. Seriously, Gary is going to give ...

FIFA 08 PS3 and Xbox 360 developer blog #02 (FIFA 08)

Aug 22, 2007

Aug 22, 2007 Joe Booth, FIFA 08 (PS3, Xbox 360), Lead Producer Unlike Leeds United, in FIFA Soccer 08 you will actually be able to pull off skill moves on the pitch :) [Ed's note: Don't worry, Leeds fans, he's already declared his own love of Leeds ] We listened to everyone on the forums and we made it a priority this year. Our vision this year is to deliver a really next-gen experience and its only through our new animation engine that we are able to blend from one move to the other to ...

FIFA 08 PS2 developer blog #02 (FIFA 08)

Aug 17, 2007

17 Aug, 2007 Jochen Siess, FIFA 08 (PS2), Online Producer Hi there! My name is Jochen and I am the Front End and Online producer for FIFA 08 on PS2. I was born and raised in Germany, and Ive been a football fan all of my life. I love going to the stadium and seeing live football together with my friends. World Cup 2006 in my home country was definitely my personal highlight so far. Being together with friends and fans from all over the world watching great performances on the pitch was ...

FIFA 08 PS3 and Xbox 360 developer blog #01 (FIFA 08)

Aug 16, 2007

Aug 15, 2007 Joe Booth, FIFA 08 (PS3, Xbox 360), Lead Producer Welcome to the official FIFA Soccer 08 on PS3 and Xbox 360 blog. As a Leeds United fan its been a tough year and I have been through some real lows while supporting my club. Luckily, the FIFA development team has been through an amazing year. So many of us on the team moved from all over the world to Vancouver, Canada where we make the game. We challenged ourselves to re-invent what a great football game experience can be with the ...

FIFA 08 PS2 developer blog #01 (FIFA 08)

Aug 16, 2007

Aug 15, 2007 Marcel Kuhn, FIFA 08 (PS2), Producer Ill start off by introducing myself. My name is Marcel. I was born in Austria, and raised in Germany, and for as long as I can remember I have been a football fan and a FIFA fanatic. It all started in my parents apartment, where my Dad called me a lunatic for shouting and swearing at my PSOne while I was playing FIFA. It continued all the way through university, where studying lost out to all-night long FIFA tournaments. It was a dream come ...