Assassin Gamers

Max Payne vs. Mazda and the Sounds of Violence

shadow-runner — Mon, 28 May 2012 09:17:50 GMT

The video game arms race is a visual one. It always has been and it doesn’t appear to be changing. But there’s a lot more to a video game than just how good it looks.

The effect sound has on a video game, and on players themselves, cannot be understated. Play your favourite game with your television muted. It’s empty, isn’t it?

Given how crucial audio is to a truly great game, it’s interesting the bulk of mainstream video game discourse tends to gravitate towards graphics and visuals. Is audio underappreciated?

"I think that the depth of the immersion in a game is what players are looking for,” says Nick Warseck, audio lead at Rockstar New England. "People play games to take a dip in another reality because it's fun to escape for a bit.”

"I think that graphics and visuals are the talked about the most because people are much better attuned to seeing if something in the game world is correct or not than hearing if something sounds off. If you look in a mirror or in a puddle and there's no reflection, it's a lot more jarring than if a sound doesn't have quite the right reverb on it, or a low-res texture versus a highly compressed audio asset. So when you're creating the most immersive experience possible, the most important thing is that it looks as close to reality, or what reality would be if you were in a spaceship, because if it doesn't look right it's not going to suck you in.”

But while a game’s visuals provide you a window into the world, it’s the audio allows you to open it.

"Audio is obviously important to that overall experience, it's pretty apparent if you play a game with no sound how flat it feels,” Warseck continues. "I think audio supplies more of a support role, as it basically gives weight and truth to the art.”

"As each sound is added, even something as simple as hooking up audio for an air conditioner, the world becomes that much more real. That air conditioner serves a purpose in that world. If it's loud and gritty sounding it gives you a feeling of how hard it must be working. It makes it feel hotter outside, and adds the overall feeling of dinginess of a building that hasn't had any maintenance and is old. The audio brings out a lot of the unsaid feel of the world, which increases the immersion.

"So intrinsically the audio is felt more at a subconscious level, it's not something that dazzles you visually like a massive explosion, but reinforces how dangerous the explosion feels. I think it will always be in that unknown space as well, I mean, film sound design still isn't something that's as high profile as the cinematography or music, despite there being a lot of really creative and brilliant things happening that really steer the overall tone of the film.”

Max Payne 3 is an incredible example of audio done right. For such an atmospheric game, packed with ballistic sounds and iconic music cues and steeped in noir tropes like Max’s regular narration, the audio in Max Payne 3 was obviously a hugely important part of the equation.

The team initially spent extensive time playing the original Max Payne, and Max Payne 2, as they wanted to keep the spirit of these games intact while adding a modern layer of quality.

"We wrote notes on the things we felt they did really well, and the things that we felt were iconic sounds that we would like to expand upon and bring over to the new game,” says Steve Donohoe, lead audio designer at Rockstar Toronto. "Those early games were quite groundbreaking in their cinematic approach, had excellent sound design and had a very unique style to them, so we had a really great starting point.”

"We also set the bar really high for ourselves with some of the other ideas we had, listing out a bunch of things we wanted to take to the next level and checking stuff off as the project progressed. There are a lot of details in the ambient audio that are not really obvious unless you are listening closely for them, but we spent a ton of time making sure the world felt alive and responsive to your actions. Dogs bark and babies cry from inside houses when you start shooting, while birds and insects shut up.

"It was not easy by any means but we are really happy with the end result. Getting it to all fit into memory, and convincing the audio programmers to write the many thousands of lines of code, was our biggest challenge, but we feel we succeeded in achieving all the major things we set out to do.”

One of Max Payne 3’s key drawcards is its use of BulletTime. It’s been a part of the very foundations of the series since the beginning, but tackling an audio system that sounds as good in real-time as it does in BulletTime (and one that users can trigger a shift between at any second) is not as straightforward as simply dialling down the pitch speed. The team decided early on in the project that just allowing all the sounds to pitch with the game’s timewarp speed was not going to sound the way they had envisioned. The team created a custom mixer that allowed them to manually craft the sound to suit.

"This gave us the ability to send certain sounds down different ‘paths’ depending upon what game state we are in,” says Donohoe. "Some paths mute sounds in slowmo, others pitch slightly, while others pitch with the game speed or get even lower.”

"We decided some sounds were never going to be as big or cinematic as we wanted them by just slowing them down, so we created unique crossfading sounds that blend in and out between the real-time and bullet-time versions of certain sounds. There were some significant technical issues to overcome... but we eventually found ways to make it work. A ton of credit goes to the programmers for coming up with creative solutions to very complex problems.”

Donohoe tells us part of the challenge of BulletTime was decided what it represented in an audio capacity.

"We felt it was not a magic power Max has, but rather an ability to be insanely focused and intense. This helped us decide what we wanted to hear in BulletTime,” he says. "A lot of the sounds we use are actually slowed down breath sounds or pitched, filtered, and compressed heartbeats. We wanted to keep it very organic, but with an abstract quality to it that would keep it from being too ‘in your face’.”

But where does all this sound come from? Is the team out on fire escapes tossing bullet casings through the metal grates and at ranges spraying objects with bullets, or are things kept in a more controlled environment? Or is it a bit of both? Warseck explains.

"Rockstar has a wonderful gun library that was recorded by the San Diego team and John Fasal,” he says. "We also had a lot of material from other projects that were used on Payne.”

Still, the team does as much field recording as possible.

"There are certain sounds that will never work quite right unless you go out and get them yourself,” says Warseck.

"When we do go into the field, I find that Google maps is a great tool for finding recording locations. I've found dumpsters full of old lawnmowers, canoes, and intact windows in abandoned parking lots, highway I-beams and guardrails out in the middle of the woods, and old factories from World War II out in the middle of nowhere that nobody seems to know about that are just brilliant places to record.

"They also don't seem to have a lot of people around that mind if you're running around with a sledgehammer, an axe, and a duffle bag full of unknown objects, which on second thought is a bit of a double-edged sword.”

Forza Motorsport 4 and Max Payne 3 may be a world away from each other in terms of the spaces they each occupy, but incredible sound design is something they both share. Max Payne 3 weaves a symphony of lead but the howling engines of Forza Motorsport 4 assault your ears with just as much force, trading hollow points for Hemis. It’s why opening the taps on a Dodge Dart Super Stock sounds like God gargling a squadron of WWII fighter planes and why giving a Mazda 787b all the beans sounds like Satan blending the remaining two-thirds of the world’s bee population.

"It’s interesting that you mention the engines as, at the underlying sample level, many of the engine sounds in the game were not changed between Forza Motorsport 3 and Forza Motorsport 4,” says Nick Wiswell, audio director at Turn 10. "But the implementation of those samples into the game engine and the additional real-time processing we applied made them sound very different.”

Recording real cars is a hugely important step for getting the sound in a game like Forza 4 right, but it’s not quite as simple as popping a car on a dyno and pointing a handful of microphones at it.

"Once we get those recordings back into the studio, the real fun of processing and modifying those recordings can begin,” says Adam Wilson, vehicle audio lead at Turn 10. "It can take 30 or 40 hours for a single recording to make its way from raw audio to tuned, usable, in-game assets.”

Of course, working with cars with price tags that’d have Scrooge McDuck nervously checking his wallet comes with the odd scare.

"We are pretty cautious these days about the kind of cars we will put under load and we’ve developed a routine that puts as little stress on the car as possible while we gather our source,” says Wilson. "But, as with any process, there are always lessons be learned along the way.”

"The most nerve-racking moment though had to be an almost brand new, but post-break-in mileage, Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 that, at the end of the session, started to spit smoke from the exhaust. A trip to the dealer and it was a death sentence for the motor. In that case however, Lamborghini owned up to a factory fault and bought the car back from the owner and he was more than pleased to be given the chance to upgrade to an LP670-SV. He’s a good friend of the studio now.”

A passion for sound is something Wiswell looks for when hiring, not just creativity and technical skills.

"Making sounds for games is very similar to other forms of media, but in games the implementation of the sounds is sometimes more important than the sound itself,” he says. "In TV and film the content is always the same, so the sound can be designed to fit the picture. In games, a sound can be heard in many different ways, and it has to adapt to changes in distance, perspective and location in a natural way in order for it to sound believable. This is a specific skill for interactive audio and one anyone looking to work in games needs to learn.

"I remember being on a panel a few years ago with a couple of guys who worked on film sounds. They were both very interested in game audio as the movie sound rulebook was already written, and almost everybody in the industry worked in a very similar way. They said that games are exciting as we still haven’t completed the rulebook, and new exciting ways of doing things are constantly being developed. My goal is to keep Turn 10 at the cutting edge of racing game audio development on every game we release.”

So, given how crucial audio is, especially to something like a racing game where the sound of a car is part of its very character, does it bug sound boffins that gamers tend to focus on graphics and visuals?

"Many moons ago when I started in game audio it did,” says Wiswell, "but over time I’ve come to realise that when people don’t mention the sound when talking about a game, it’s usually because you have done a good job and they didn’t find anything wrong.”

"When sound is done well in any form of media it becomes part of the experience, and that is key thing to remember. If the sound does not support the bigger game experience, it doesn’t matter how well it was done, it will always sound out of place.”

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Collectors and Ltd Editions break cover

shadow-runner — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:54:25 GMT

City Interactive has today unveiled the contents of its premium versions of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2.
The highly-anticipated sequel – set to be released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 21st 2012 – will be available in two premium flavours, offering players the opportunity to own prestigie editions of the best sniping game to date.

The stunning Collector’s Edition will come in a prestigiously produced folded box, housing an extraordinary arry of contents:

A steelbook copy of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2
A ‘Sniper Tactics and History’ hardback book, developed in collaboration with military experts with combat experience
A lavish artbook with never before published illustrations of environments and characters from the game
An official soundtrack CD
The DSR-1 in-game sniper rifle for multiplayer modes
The Vintorez in-game sniper rifle – AKA the ‘Thread cutter’ – for use in multiplayer modes
Four exclusive multiplayer playable characters (Diaz, Medox, Marinov and Marine Team Leader)

The Limited Edition offers astonishing value for money, housed in beautiful O-card packaging and includes:

The Vintorez in-game sniper rifle – AKA the ‘Thread cutter’ – for use in multiplayer modes
Anderson – game protagonist, ex delta-force sniper wearing an exclusive ghilie suit – as a playable character in multiplater modes.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 takes the bulls-eye precision of its best-selling predecessor to new and exciting heights. Powered by the CryENGINE 3 engine, the missions of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 are graphically stunning and more challenging as you once again step into the ghilliesuit of a special ops sniper to take down the enemy.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 will be shooting onto Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on August 21^st 2012.

DmC Devil May Cry release date announced

shadow-runner — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:52:22 GMT

Capcom today announced the release date for DmC Devil May Cry.

Developed by critically acclaimed Cambridge based developer Ninja Theory in close collaboration with Capcom, DmC Devil May Cry will release for PlayStation3 and Xbox 360 on January 15 2013 in North America and Europe.

In addition, Capcom also confirmed that PC gamers will also be able to experience the title with the news that development of a Windows PC version is well underway with a release scheduled for later in 2013.

DmC Devil May Cry will be fully localised with voice talent in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian and in addition, Polish, Dutch, Russian, and Brazilian Portuguese languages will be supported with localised text.

Ubisoft launches Ghost Recon: Commander

shadow-runner — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:50:40 GMT

Today, Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy’s Ghost ReconCommander, an isometric tactical combat game, is now available to play on Facebook.

Brenda Garno Brathwaite, Loot Drop’s cofounder and lead game designer, has created features that both hard-core and social game players can enjoy. Hard-core gamers will appreciate the beautiful graphics, tactical gameplay and faithful translation of the Ghost Recon franchise to the Facebook platform. Facebook and other casual game players will like the approachable dynamic combat system and the ability to start and stop the game at their convenience without penalty. Ghost Recon Commander also features 10 replayable missions, three difficulty levels and dozens of weapons for players to choose from to help them win their missions. These features help make Ghost Recon Commander fun for all types of gamers.

"We are taking the popular Ghost Recon franchise and bringing it to platforms that allow players of all skill levels to enjoy at their leisure, on the platform of their choosing,” said Chris Early, vice president of digital publishing at Ubisoft. "This is the basis of our companion gaming strategy that Ghost Recon Commander exemplifies so well.”

"As a longtime fan of the Ghost Recon franchise, I wanted to make a game that would appeal to me both as a fan and a gamer,” said Brenda Garno Brathwaite, lead game designer and cofounder of Loot Drop. "Ghost Recon Commander highlights the tactical gameplay that fans of the series will enjoy in a social environment that’s accessible to all types of gamers.”

In Ghost Recon Commander, players will be able to develop their own "Ghost,” an elite Special Forces operator utilizing stealth, firepower and exciting near-future technology to take command of the battlefield against impossible odds.

Other features in Ghost Recon Commander include:

· Gamer-on-the-Go: Players have the ability to pick up where they left off in Ghost Recon Commander; it doesn’t matter if they’ve been away from the game for a day or for an hour, time is not a constraint.
· Customization: Ghosts can be upgraded and customized with state-of-the-art weaponry, armor and near-future gadgets.
· Asynchronous Co-op: Players will be able to have friends join them on missions or offer themselves up as a mercenary for hire.

Ghost Recon Commander can be played as a stand-alone game or played to tie into the overall Ghost Recon universe. Following Ubisoft’s companion gaming strategy, players are encouraged to play the game alongside Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, available on consoles May 25th, and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online, available later this year. By playing Ghost Recon Commander, players will be able to unlock exclusive weapons, weapon skins and bonuses to use while playing Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Ghost Recon Online. Ghost Recon Commander players can also gain benefits, such as exclusive characters, by playing Ghost Recon: Future Soldier.

Ghost Recon Commander is available to play for free worldwide on Facebook at: apps.facebook.com/GhostReconCommander/

Tom and Jerry

Manish — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:49:41 GMT

Tom and Jerry is a series of theatrical animated cartoon films created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, centering on a never-ending rivalry between a cat (Tom) and a mouse (Jerry) whose chases and battles often involved comic violence (despite sometimes they become allies to defeat a 'greater enemy' such as Spike the dog). Hanna and Barbera ultimately wrote and directed one hundred and fourteen Tom and Jerry shorts at the MGM cartoon studio in Hollywood between 1940 and 1957, when the animation unit was closed. The original series is notable for having won the Academy Award for Animated Short Film seven times, tying it with Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies as the theatrical animated series with the most Oscars. A longtime television staple, Tom and Jerry has a worldwide audience that consists of children, teenagers and adults, and has also been recognized as one of the most famous and longest-lived rivalries in American cinema. In 2000, TIME named the series one of the greatest television shows of all time.

Beginning in 1960, in addition to the original 114 H-B cartoons, MGM had new shorts produced by Rembrandt Films, led by Gene Deitch in Eastern Europe. Production of Tom and Jerry shorts returned to Hollywood under Chuck Jones's Sib-Tower 12 Productions in 1963; this series lasted until 1967, making it a total of 161 shorts. The cat and mouse stars later resurfaced in television cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and Filmation Studios during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; a feature film, Tom and Jerry: The Movie, in 1992 (released domestically in 1993); and in 2001, their first made-for TV short, Tom and Jerry: The Mansion Cat for Boomerang. The most recent Tom and Jerry theatrical short. The Original version of the Tom and Jerry theme song was written by the Uncle Dave Macon AKA the Dixie Dewdrop southern banjo player and songwriter The Karate Guard (2005), was written and co-directed by Barbera.

Today, Time Warner (via its Turner Entertainment division) owns the rights to Tom and Jerry (with Warner Bros. handling distribution). Since the merger, Turner has produced the series Tom and Jerry Tales for The CW's Saturday morning "The CW4Kids" lineup, and a string of Tom and Jerry direct-to-video films — all in collaboration with Warner Bros. Animation.

Darksiders II – preview and chat with Jay Fitzloff

shadow-runner — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:49:15 GMT

We knock on Death’s door in the Darksiders II demo at a THQ presentation and have a casual chat with Vigil Games Associate Producer, Jay Fitzloff, about balancing action with story, supernatural ‘humanity’, and the tricky parts in making sequels.

A game where you play as the Grim Reaper…

You would think that this had been done somewhere before Darksiders II, and it probably has, but having a full-on apocalyptic scenario in a mainstream title release (that has a decent script and everything) reduces the number of comparable games quite considerably.

It’s a story about the four Horsemen, those being War, Death, Fury, and Strife, whose appointed tasks are to act as guardians for balance between our world and the Kingdoms of Heaven and Hell. The Apocalypse got started earlier than planned in the first game and War, our playable hero, was blamed for it, which inevitably led to a quest for vengeance and clearing of names.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Tp2rbYSfz9o#t=0s[/video]

These are all themes that have cropped up in other titles over the years, but none more so than the Legacy of Kain series, which also put great emphasis on having a talented collection of voices breathing life into characters beyond the scope of human existence. Darksiders II looks set to carry on this tradition of balancing a heavy narrative with action – lots of action, with bloody tissue and other organic juices set to free flow – and enemies both ostensibly grotesque and beatific.

"Well, you want both gameplay and story,” Associate Producer for Darksiders II Jay Fitzloff later tells me as he enjoys a cool beverage, "If the gameplay is broken the game is no fun, and if you have a game that’s just raw gameplay without a story in this day and age it’s an arcade game. I think that nowadays when you say ‘action-adventure’ it’s kind of turned into an action game when you find a new weapon every so often.

"We want that feeling of being in a supernatural world; you’re dealing with stuff that’s not human, anything could happen because you’re dealing with forces beyond humanity, and we want that feeling of intense exploration, where an epic moment could be around the next corner, so you continue on. Your mind’s being blown all the time, so you’re thinking, ‘What’s next?’ That’s the kind of game we’re trying to create.”

The demo for Darksiders II opens against a sharp wintry landscape where Death rides to find a being who may, or may not, know how to find evidence to clear War’s name as the guilty party in triggering the apocalypse, and Fitzloff’s words ring true when you’re just looking around at everything.

When what a human mind can imagine is the limit in terms of design, gamers find themselves transported to some memorable arenas carved out of impossibility, and if games have taught creative minds anything it’s that the physically impossible can be absolutely beautiful. It can be ugly, too, but the world in Darksiders II looks to have found a happy medium between darkness and light. There’s evidence of comic book and graphic novel influences in the art style, not out of key with the work done by Frank Miller.

Death handles like a cross between ridiculously overpowered creations like Alex Mercer and fine tools of precision like Ezio Auditore; a reliable character body that feels just a touch more sprightly than War did in Darksiders. Being the iconic character that he is already, you wonder if some gamers will just be sat there star struck at the fact that they’re controlling Death.

Death represents darkness, a character who can bend and break the rules, walk in the underworld and interact with pure life force energy…Why not pick another Horseman who’s maybe a bit out of left field?

Fitzloff explains, "With Darksiders we had to leave a lot of features on the table. So a lot of these features in Darksiders II are stuff we wanted but just had to cut. We sat down and we wanted to make the fully-realised single player game that was kind of our vision, and we thought, ‘Let’s do that. Who should star in that?’

"Ask anybody to name the four horsemen and Death is the one they start with nine times out of ten; the most feared and the most well-known. So Death becomes the obvious choice. Then you go to the next stage and ask, "What happens in this?” And that’s when we came up with the idea for a parallel storyline where War is doing his thing, fighting Heaven and Hell, while Death is working behind the scenes and bending the rules, dealing with all these shady characters.”

Looking at that first demo level in Darksiders II one could form the impression of playing a less-than-subtle infiltration character. Death climbs up a gigantic tower clogged with ice and snow, haunted by skeletal warriors both great and small, and uses a pair of scythes to trim down enemies like a gardener who’s had far too much coffee to drink that morning. Not exactly the ‘classic’ look for the Grim Reaper.

I ask Fitzloff how the Darksiders II team came to terms with designing or redesigning a series of characters that – from the Horsemen to the denizens of Heaven and Hell – already have iconic visual status. How do you make characters that aren’t human engage with a human audience?

"Of course when you ask people, ‘What does Death look like?’ they think of the skeletal form with the scythe and cloak, and you still have something of that classic Death in the game through ‘Reaper Form’. But the reality is that if you’re playing that character you’re not going to relate to a skeleton as well as you are with someone who’s human-like, which is why at his core we designed Death to be a human-like character. That was purposeful; you want someone that everyone can relate to, even though they are immortal and outside the boundaries of normal human beings, at least they have a base in something we can understand.”

It’s clear, even through that initial period of gameplay during the demo, that the Death in Darksiders II isn’t a brainless hulk of grey flesh with a hockey mask.

Voiced by Michael Wincott, a man whose vocal talents are usually pushed into villainous roles (including the Prophet of Truth in Halo 2 and numerous film appearances as middle-weight baddies), Death evokes power whilst retaining conscience. His awareness of personal limitations is juxtaposed to War’s determination to fight against the odds, and that makes the character interesting from the moment he – presumably – opens his mouth.

Now that we’ve got Death as a playable character in the Darksiders universe, is there a danger that in terms of future narrative his journey could overshadow the journeys of the other Horsemen? How does a developing team keep surpassing something that’s as powerful as these cool, high-end supernatural characters? How do they move between the pressure to outdo themselves for any sequels they make and keeping the games as close to what the core fan base fell in love with?

Jay Fitzloff blinks a couple of times before answering, "You’ve just basically touched on the thrill and the intimidation of creating a sequel! Obviously if you have a second or third game you know the previous game was well-received and successful, and you now have a fan base. That’s very gratifying; you’ve worked very hard, and that’s exactly what you want. And now you have to sit down and think about how to design a sequel for fans who want to see the next game, you have to make the game both better and usually bigger or in a grander scale…So, how do we do it? That’s a good question!

"Basically we all have a sit down like we did when we started on Darksiders II, and we all think it’ll be great – we’ve got a blank slate, this will be awesome. Then it scares the hell out of us, because we have a blank slate and we have to figure out how we do this. And I’m sure that’s exactly what we’ll do with Darksiders III.

"But that’s what drives creation,” he shrugs, "You want that drive to make something better and bigger…And I know we can do it, it’s just a matter of how we do it. And creative endeavour, especially any creative endeavour that meets success – I don’t care if it’s a movie or a book, poem, sketch, it’s just like, ‘That’s my best piece. Now I have to do better than that.’ So, we’ll see!”

Angry Birds

Manish — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:46:52 GMT

Angry Birds is a strategy puzzle video game developed by Finish computer game developer Rovio Mobile. Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds, the game was first released for Apple ios iOS in December 2009. Since that time, over 12 million copies of the game have been purchased from Apple's App Store, which has prompted the company to design versions for other touchscreen-based
Smartphone, such as those using the Android operating system, among others. The game is also available on Hp Auto Cataloug

In the game, players use a slingshot to launch birds at pigs stationed on or within various structures, with the intent of destroying all the pigs on the playing field. As players advance through the game, new birds appear, some with special abilities that can be activated by the player. Rovio Mobile has supported Angry Birds with numerous free updates that add additional game content, and the company has also released stand-alone holiday and promotional versions of the game.

Angry Birds has been praised for its successful combination of addictive gameplay, comical style, and low price. Its popularity led to versions of Angry Birds being created for personal computers and gaming consoles, a market for merchandise featuring its characters and even long-term plans for a feature film or television series. With a combined 1 billion downloads across all platforms and including both regular and special editions, the game has been called "one of the most mainstream games out right now","one of the great runaway hits of 2010", and "the largest mobile app success the world has seen so far".

Max Payne 3

Manish — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:43:54 GMT

Max Payne 3 is a video game published by Rockstar Games. It is the third title in the Max Payne franchise and was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in May 2012, with a Microsoft Windows version to follow with a worldwide release June 1st, 2012. Development is led by Rockstar Vancouver in collaboration with the New England, London and Toronto studios.^[5]^[6] This is the first game in the series that was not developed by Finnish game developer Remedy Entertainment and not written by series creator Sam Lake.^[7] The lead writer of Max Payne 3 was Dan Houser, who was also the writer of Red Dead Redemption and most games in the Grand Theft Auto series.^[8]

Gameplay

Max Payne 3 is a third-person shooter in which the player assumes the role of its titular character, Max Payne. Max Payne 3 features the over-the-shoulder zoom aiming and cover mechanics. However, these just serve as garnish to the game's classic run-and-gun shooting.^[9] Max Payne 3 also marks the return of bullet-time in action sequences, for which the franchise is notable. In bullet-time it is possible to see every bullet make a hole in your foes.^[10] There is a "Last Man Standing" mechanic, which gives Max a reprieve from death for a small period if he has one painkiller on him. If the player is able to kill the enemy that delivered the wounding shot with bullets he'll recover enough energy to soldier on.^[9]

Max Payne 3 retains the shoot-dodge mechanic from the previous games. Max is also able to stay grounded after a dive, which enables him to shoot 360 degrees around. Rockstar has blended physics and animation, so that when Max dives around, he does so appropriately according to his surroundings. Through advanced use of the Euphoria dynamic animation engine, shooting and killing enemies in Max Payne 3 will look noticeably more realistic than in any preceding Rockstar games as well.^[10]

New to the series are cinematic action movements, interactive cut-scenes which transition seamlessly into continuing gameplay. Moreover there are no loading screens across gameplay and cutscenes.^[11]

Multiplayer

The game's online multiplayer features maps and modes that dynamically change within a match, as well as reward, ranking and clan systems.^[12]

Max Payne 3 will let players form private crews with friends, or join public crews. Players can be a member of up to five at the same time, and completing tasks as a crew will gain XP points for the player. Among the crew features promised are persistent Feuds, that see the player scrapping with opposing gangs who've killed someone on the team. Social Club integration connect play across multiple titles, starting with Max Payne 3 and Grand Theft Auto V. By playing both games multiplayer "crews" that the player set up in one will be carried over to the other.^[13]

Synopsis

Setting

According to Rockstar's Sam Houser, it was their intention on starting a new chapter of Max Payne's life with the game. "This is Max as we've never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever." Since the last game, the press release states Max has left New York City behind and has "drifted from bad to worse." The press release then goes on to say Max has been double-crossed in this new city and he is searching for the truth and a way out.^[14] The game is set in São Paulo, Brazil, where Payne is working in the private security sector for a wealthy local family, set eight years after the events of the second game.^[15]^[16] Max Payne now works in executive protection for the wealthy Rodrigo Branco in the hopes of escaping the memories of his troubled past. When a street gang kidnaps Rodrigo's wife, Max is pulled into a conspiracy of shadowy, warring factions threading every aspect of São Paulo society in a deadly web that threatens to engulf everyone and everything around him.

Plot

Years after killing Vladimir Lem, Max Payne has retired from his job in the NYPD, moved to Hoboken, New Jersey and has developed an addiction to alcohol and painkillers. Max gets into a confrontation at a bar with Anthony DeMarco Jr., the son of a local mob boss, and Max's former police academy acquaintance Raul Passos interjects, hoping to recruit Max for a private security job in South America. Max initially resists, but after he kills Anthony Jr. in a bar fight, he agrees to accompany Passos to Brazil.

Max and Passos work for the wealthy Branco family in São Paulo, made up of three brothers: the businessman Rodrigo, the politician Victor, and the partying Marcelo. During a party held in Rodrigo's penthouse, Rodrigo and his wife Fabiana are kidnapped by a street gang called the Comando Sombra, but Max saves them. Fabiana, her sister (and Passos' lover) Giovanna, and Marcelo are later again targeted at a nightclub by the same gang, who successfully kidnap Fabiana. Max and Passos bring ransom money to the gang at a soccer stadium, but the deal is ambushed by an outlaw right-wing paramilitary group known as Crachá Preto, who steal the money. Max and Passos decide to raid a Comando Sombra base to save Fabiana, but the gang escapes with her.

As Max and Passos discuss the situation with Rodrigo, Victor and Armando Becker, the head of a special police unit Unidade de Forças Especiais (UFE), Crachá Preto raid the Branco offices. An unknown assassin breaks into Rodrigo's secured office and assassinates him. A bomb explodes in the building, but Max escapes, learning that Fabiana is in the São Paulo favela and that Max was the true target of the raid.

Blaming himself for everything that happened to the Brancos, Max chooses to abstain from alcohol and shave his head to disguise himself for another rescue attempt of Fabiana. Local detective Wilson Da Silva informs him that Crachá Preto had nefarious links with Rodrigo, whom he hired them to clear out villages on a piece of land he wished to turn into a retail development. Da Silva explains he thinks the UFE and Victor are all connected to Max's predicament.

Max finds Fabiana with Marcelo and Giovanna, who were also kidnapped when trying to pay the ransom for Fabiana themselves. Comando Sombra's leader Serrano executes Fabiana and escapes with Giovanna and Marcelo. As Max gives chase, the UFE raid the favela; he witnesses the Crachá Preto and the UFE exchanging money for those who were arrested in the raids for an unknown reason. Max finds Marcelo and Giovanna in the hands of the Crachá Preto's second-in-command Milo Rego. Marcelo is burned to death in a gang-like ritual manner so the UFE can have an excuse to raid. Max kills Milo and saves Giovanna. Passos later arrives to pick them up by helicopter, but flees with Giovanna and leaves Max behind, who is saved by Da Silva.

A flashback shows Max and Passos in the Panama Canal protecting Marcelo at a yacht party that is raided by guerrilla pirates. Max finds them trying to gain access to a hidden stash within the boat. Max is unsure what the contents were, but it is clear that it is no longer there; Max later found Marcelo and Passos trying to drive away with the unknown cargo. It hits Max that he was recruited by Passos to be the "fall guy" for whatever illicit activity the Brancos were involved in.

Da Silva informs Max about a rundown hotel where the Crachá Preto and the Commando Sombra are seen entering, yet very few leave. Max discovers it is the base for a black market organ smuggling ring and corrupt UFE officers were being paid to transport arrested individuals for organ harvesting. Max finds Serrano as one of the victims and spares him for retribution against the latter's tormenters. Max sets explosives to destroy the entire complex, and Passos manages to kill the Crachá Preto leader Álvaro Neves before he shoots Max. Max discovers Passos was unaware of the plan to set up Max. He forgives Passos, who leaves Brazil with a pregnant Giovanna, asking Max to get over his past and move on.

Da Silva concludes that Becker and Victor are behind everything and asks Max to handle it, as there is too much corruption for Da Silva to stop them legally. Max battles his way through the UFE building, discovering that Becker's UFE unit are the perpetrators for Rodrigo's assassination. Victor explains to Max that he wanted more money from his brother for his political campaign: he told the Crachá Preto to ambush the money exchange at the stadium, which went toward funding the organ harvesting ring, the profits of which helped fund his campaign.

Victor and Becker escape to the airport with Max in pursuit. After an intense shootout, Max arrives at the hangar where Becker and Victor are preparing to board a jet. Becker tries to use a grenade launcher to kill Max, but ends up burned severely with his left arm severed when Max shoots at one of the fired grenades. Eventually, the player can choose to kill him or let him die from his wounds. Max then grabs the grenade launcher and, with Da Silva's help, uses it to disable Victor's plane. Da Silva persuades Max to spare Victor so he can live in shame. Victor taunts Max, claming that he can beat the charges and walk. Max responds by breaking his leg. A week later, Max watches the news on a beach in Bahia. It reports that the UFE have been disbanded indefinitely due to their ties to the organ harvesting ring, while Victor is found hanged in his cell. The last shot of the game is Max walking along the beach, enjoying his vacation and ready to move on with his life.

Characters

Rockstar initially claimed that series staple James McCaffrey would not return to the role of Max Payne, instead opting for an older actor.^[17] However, in Edge it was confirmed that McCaffrey will not only return to voice Max, but will also return in a full acting role through motion capture.^[6]

Development

The game was originally scheduled for release in late 2009.^[14] However, it was pushed back to 2010 alongside several other Take-Two Interactive franchises in order to "benefit from having more development time." In June 2010, the game was again pushed back to 2011.^[19] On December 21, it was not present on the 2011-2012 calendar year, and was pushed back again.^[15]^[20] The game was still in development and not canceled or indefinitely halted when Rockstar released two new screenshots for the game.^[21] On September 8, 2011 Rockstar announced a March 2012 release date for the game, with a debut trailer released on September 14.^[22]^[23]^[24] In January 2012, Take-Two delayed the game by two months from its original March release date to May 2012. The publisher said the decision's been made to "ensure that Max Payne 3 delivers the highest quality."

The debut trailer was released on September 14, 2011. Responding to criticism regarding the decision to abandon the film noir theme of the previous games in the series, the writer for the series, Sam Lake, responded by commenting that the game would "maintain its dark and gritty origins" and that fans of the series would be "in for a surpriseRemedy boss Oskari Hakkinen praised Rockstar's take on the series, and said Max Payne 3 looks "brilliant".

Rockstar conducted research to ensure that the vibe, culture, police, weapons and every element of São Paulo, Brazil is as authentic as possible. The research team visited São Paulo several times and went to lengths researching the local gangs, police and special forces, including each group's choice of equipment and firearms.

In a November 2011 interview, Dan Houser of Rockstar Games said that despite what the general public might think, Rockstar likes to "spend a bit of time" at the end of projects before deciding what to do next. "Basically we have been meaning to start [Max Payne 3] for a while, but we have limited bandwidth and limited studios, and more games to make than we've started. So suddenly it was a good slot," Houser said, explaining why it took eight years to follow up Max Payne 2. "Also, contrary to a lot of people, we like to take a little bit of time at the end of a game before starting a sequel, so we can wait for the excitement or disappointment and everything else of the experience to shake down and really see what we should do in the next game."

In March 2012, it was confirmed that the PC version of the game will feature DirectX 11 and stereoscopic 3D rendering.^[31] The PC version of Max Payne 3 is shipped on four DVDs and the Xbox 360 version on two discs due to the disc size limit; however, the PS3 version ships on one Blu-ray Disc.

Diablo IIIDiablo III is a dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment, the third installment in the Diablo

Manish — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:37:40 GMT

Diablo III picks up the story twenty years after the events of Diablo II. Mephisto, Diablo, and Baal have been defeated, but the Worldstone, which once shielded the inhabitants of the world of Sanctuary from the forces of both Heaven and Hell, has been destroyed, and evil once again stirs in Tristram. Playing as a hero from one of five distinct character classes, players will acquire powerful items, spells, and abilities as they explore new and familiar areas of Sanctuary and battle hordes of demons to safeguard the world from the horrors that have arisen.

The Collector's Edition includes the Art of Diablo III artbook, the game's soundtrack, a behind the scenes DVD and Blu-Ray two disc set, a Diablo Skull and 4GF USB Touchstone, exclusive in-game content including Diablo III aesthetic artifacts, a World of Warcraft pet Fetish Shaman, and Starcraft II Battle.net portraits.

Diablo III is a dark fantasy/horror-themed action role-playing game by Blizzard Entertainment, the third installment in the Diablo franchise. The game, which features elements of the hack and slash and dungeon crawl genres, was released in North America, Latin America and Europe on May 15, 2012, and is scheduled to be released in Russia on June 7, 2012. Before its release, the game broke several presale records and became the most pre-ordered PC game of all time on Amazon.com. Post release it set the new all-time record for fastest-selling PC game by selling over 3.5 million copies in the first 24 hours of its release.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2)

Manish — Sun, 27 May 2012 14:31:15 GMT

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2)

Part of the Group for Specialized Tactics, a Special Mission Unit under the direct command of the Joint Special Operations Command, the elite of the modern US Special Forces is better known by their battlefield legend. They are the untraceable soldiers called the Ghosts. Only the best of the best, soldiers with a unique mix of skills on and off the battlefield, ever get to wear the coveted Ghost insignia. In the near future, four of these elite soldiers serve as the tip of the spear in a hidden war raging across the globe. But even as Ghost Lead, Pepper, 30K, and Kozak accomplish their objectives, they discover the threat they face is greater than they ever imagined -- one that could alter the international balance of power forever.

Providing yet another new direction in the Ghost Recon series of military games, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier promises to go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience. The game features cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes.

The Signature Edition of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier includes a host of in-game items, including the Moscow Suburb Co-op Multiplayer Map, two In-Game Weapons, the Bonus Head Customization Mode, and a Limited Edition Penny Arcade Weapon Skin featuring Twisp and Catsby.

is the sequel to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter. It expands on the game play of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and is the fourth installment in the popular Ghost Recon tactical shooter video game series, published by Ubisoft.

The game takes place in 2013 (although the back of the game's cover says 2014.^[4]), immediately after the events of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter (GRAW), just south of the United States border, and deals with the conflict between a Mexican rebel group, Mexican loyalists, and the U.S. Army for a time span of 72 hours. A wide array of location types are included, featuring mountains, small towns, urban environments, and a large hydro-electric dam just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.