Good at Parkour? Get a job in Video Games!...?

So Ubisoft hired a new CPO, which apparently stands for 'Chief Parkour Officer.' Sound silly? Well considering their top game has a heavy emphasis on parkour this sort of makes sense, even if the position's title sounds silly. You have to wonder what his office will look like.

Hard at work. 

Article Source: Develop

Funnys: Fruit Ninja.... THE SEQUEL

From http://www.cad-comic.com/

Pressure From Developers For Early Access Options

Early Access Games have become a staple in the ever growing Steam marketplace, and they have provided much needed player-based funding unfinished Indie titles. So far Early Access Games have not been able to break into console markets due to a reluctance from Sony and Microsoft. Most of those concerns fall on the not uncommon problem of consumers paying for sub-par games that sometimes never see the light of day due to development problems.

We still at some point ensure that we're being mindful of the consumer. We don't want somebody to stumble across that title and expect a full product, and have a negative experience. - Adam Boyes, SCEA VP

Although the risks are there both companies are still open to the idea, and developers will not likely relent their pressure until they achieve their goal.

Opinion:

Personally I'm not a fan of early access. As someone who's played MMORPGs for some times now I'm more used to companies exchanging early access to a game for bug testing and feedback (a Beta). The idea of paying extra money to get into what is essentially a beta test just doesn't sit well with me, especially if I have a bad experience afterwards.

Yet the beauty of it is that I can choose to not go with early access and wait just like I used to for a proper release so I suppose this change wouldn't really affect me. What do you think of this potential change? Would you welcome Early Access games on your console, or would you rather not have them clutter up the marketplace?

Source: IGN

Assassin's Creed: Unity Gameplay Trailer

Although it appears to hold more of the same in a different setting, most fans probably don't mind sticking to the tried and true game-play with a new story to play through. The trailer did include some impressive lighting effects. No sign of the co-op mode in the trailer, but here's hoping to see a preview of that soon.

Source: JoyStiq

Comic of the Week: WhatsYourTag

WhatsYourTagblog.com

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Director moves onto a new project.

Josef Faras, director of critically acclaimed Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons has moved onto a new project, though he is not exactly willing to discuss details. He would only say, "If I tell you the idea now, you'd say, 'I haven't played something like this before.'I can't tell you more. But definitely something that hasn't been done before. " These may sound like bold words often heard from many idealist developers, but Josef Faras' credentials certainly add to his credibility.


Brothers was itself a very unique, deep and rich experience. Yet, it was all compacted into a few hours of game-play. Not to mention it's unique controls that allowed you to use two characters in a cooperative manner to overcome obstacles. It will be interesting to see what crazy control scheme he comes up with this time, and what story he'll decide to tell. 

Full Article from JoyStiq

The Witcher 3 Delayed

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt  has been delayed from it's end of the year release to February 2015. While some may bemoan the delay it's actually nice to see a developer take their sweet time perfecting a game before rushing out the door. So many times now a game must come with patches, hotfixes, and DLC to feel complete or be rid of countless bugs and glitches. Hopefully a successful launch of this title will encourage other developers to follow suit and avoid launch-day nightmares.


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