We Changed Servers

I have decided it would be best to move the site over to a new server, that way we have more control over the layout, scripts, etc. If you use our real URL which is www.segafanclubblog.com then you should have no problem, if you use www.segfanclubblog.wordpress.com then you should start using the actual one. This blog will still be around, since the URL will never expire, their are a few kinks I am still working out on the new server so be patient.

 

Again the new URL is www.segafanclubblog.com

Great Announcements!

Last week I twittered about great thing’s to come, I think it’s about time to announce some of those things.

1. I got in touch with Uwe Boll’s PR group, we are currently in talks for a interview (this is not the one alluded to before)
2. As of today I am a Contributing Editor to Format War Central!
3. My cousin and I have opened up a movie review blog, it’s currently not much, for those interested check it out, it’s currently just called Movie Critic
4. Check out SFC’s partnership with Vancouver Game Design
5. We now have a new forum!

This is great news for the site, stay tuned for more great news!

New Partnership!

The Sega Fan Club Network is pleased to announce their very first mutual partnership with Vancouver Game Design. The site is maintained by McElroy Flavelle, a assistant Producer at Electronic Art’s Canada and Nick Halme, a inspiring game designer.

This is exciting new’s for both parties’ as it will allow us to increase our user base’s as well as allow us to further increase our role in the gaming community.

E3 List Revealed

Here’s a list of companies’ that will attend E3, courtesy of MCVUK

Game Developer’s/Publishers

• Akella
• Atari
• Bethesda Softworks
• Capcom
• Crave Entertainment
• Codemasters
• D3 Publishers
• Deep Silver
• Disney
• EA
• Eidos
• Fox
• Indie Games
• Jagex
• Konami
• LucasArts (?)
• Majesco
• Microsoft
• Midway
• MTV Games
• Namco Bandai
• Natsume
• Nintendo
• Rebellion
• Sega
• Serious Games
• Sony
• Southpeak Interactive
• Square Enix
• Take Two
• Tecmo
• THQ
• Ubisoft
• Valve
• Warner Brothers

Other

• Novint Technologies
• Nyko
• Toshiba
• 1UP Network

The list is a bit lengthy, I believe some reports had stated that Lucas Art’s was not going to attend E3 this year, it could be a type or maybe it was just a rumour. Fear’s of E3 going away this year should be put to rest, however if E3 wishes’ to continue they MUST open it back up to the public IN SMALLER qualities. That way the public could see the games, the journalist’s could see the game, and everyone could make some money!

And Another One Bite’s The Dust

Word came out yesterday night at Haze wasn’t really running at 720p after all like everyone had expected. The game is actually running natively at 576p, Ubisoft is instead relying on the PS3 to upscale the game to 720p

More information regarding the matter can be found here

We Moved Forums!

I am pleased to announce that we have changed our forum servers! The old one put way to many restrictions on us, we were lucky we were able to change things! This new one is much better, although it too has some restrictions, they can be removed by paying which is a much better alternative. Feel free to join by following the link below:

 

Enter here!

 

Note: If you were a member of the old forum, you will be forced to re register your user name, sorry for the inconvenience.

Rumour: Smith & Tinker to do Web Games?

In September of 2007 Shadowrun developer FASA Studio’s shut down, about 50% of the staff was absorbed into Microsoft Game’s Studios. A few months later a company called Smith & Tinker was founded by the original founder of FASA corporation. Many see Smith & Tinker as the successor to FASA Studios. Around the time of founding, S&T licensed out FASA Studio’s old IP’s, they did not reveal their intentions with them.

Today I decided to pay S&T’s Job site a visit, until recently the page was left completely empty. Today when I checked however I saw they were indeed hiring, but not for game developers, instead all the job listing’s were for web based development.

Sr Software Development Engineer

Web Development Engineer

Sr Software Development Engineer in Test

Software Development Engineer in Test

Contract – Flash Game Developer\

At first I didn’t look much into it, until I noticed all job page’s had the following similar lines in them:

If your fu is strong, we want you to bring your hands-on lead-level developer skills to perform all development related tasks in developing a Web based management platform for an exciting new connected toy and Web gaming experience.

This is going to be filed in the Rumour section’s for now, the page’s also say C++ knowledge is needed, this could also mean “real” game development.

Your thoughts?

Digg This

What’s Next for Microsoft’s Game Division?

When it come’s to the PC, Microsoft can survive on Age of Empires and Flight Simulator, but what about the Xbox 360? Just to give you guys a run down, here’s a list of Microsoft’s upcoming game’s and their release dates courtesy of IGN: (Excluding XBLA)

 

Gears of War 2: November 2008

Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise: September 2008

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts: November 2008

Fable 2: November 2008

Too Human: August 19 2008

Ninja Gaiden 2: June 3rd 2008

Halo Wars:TBA 2008

Alan Wake: TBA 2009

Go! Go! Break Steady: TBA 2008

PC
Alan Wake: TBA 2009

Sensible World of Soccer: TBA 2008

——————————————————————————————————————–

The PC line up is disappointing for 2008 and it really doesn’t seem like they have anything announced for 2009.

E3 is coming up so you may wonder, what can Microsoft announce for either PC or Xbox 360? Here’s a list of their franchise’s that could see a possible future.

Kung Fu Chaos

Perfect Dark

Kameo

Brute Force

Mech Warrior

Mech Assault

Microsoft Simulator series

Shadowrun (Was leant to Smith and Tinker)

Tao Feng

Age of Empires

Age of Mythology

Forza Motorsport

Project Gotham Racing

 

On the PC side of things, I believe Microsoft may be planning a “2.0″ release of GFW/GFWL, several hints have been passed in the past few month’s regarding a GUI, similar to the Xbox 360 blades for the PC. Along with this update to their PC brand, they will probably announce a revival of some of their PC titles, along with some new IP’s. I believe this new release may have some anti piracy related features to encourage PC development again. But that is just me speculating so don’t take any of it to heart.

You might hate GFW, but you should be glad Microsoft is actually doing something to bring developers and gamers alike back to the PC. Sure their is Steam, but Steam work’s much differently, it’s just a distribution center with DRM. Steam doesn’t have a set layout that developers can use to create games, it’s practically just a store with a huge collection of endless stock.

The Xbox side really confounds me, I don’t know what to make of it. Microsoft needs to get a strong line up going in 2009 if they hope to take on Sony. I hope Brute Force 2 will be announced for 2009, Microsoft really has not tactical shooter under their belt, and they need to fill the gap Halo has made.

E3 is week’s away at this point, it will be interesting to see if Microsoft announce’s sequel’s to the tile’s they have in their hats.

What are your thoughts/speculations?

Digg This

Leaked Spring Update Rumour?

I know I am a bit late to the party, but better late then never eh? This is the list of what is supposedly going to be in the Spring update. Some of these seem very plausible, however other’s do not.

Your thoughts?

Xbox LIVE
1. Option to delay sign-in to Xbox LIVE upon booting console (to allow user to set Online Status).
2. Option to promote Child Account from Family Settings.
3. Disallow Child Accounts (over 18) to override Family Settings by launching Privacy Settings through a title.
4. Option in Family Settings for Child Accounts to enable child-oriented/non-mature advertisements.
5. Introduce a group chat (4) for Private Chat and conferences through Video Chat.
6. Support to indicate media being watched to gamercard status (video content from Marketplace only).
7. Extend height for Bio field in Personal Profile, easier navigation through text.
8. More fields present in Personal Profile – recent achievements, interests, games, movies, links, custom section.
9. Compact Personal Profile for new fields (navigating to field will open it up).
10. Mandatory option to delete duplicate titles from gamercard (excludes Games for Windows – LIVE). User disconnected from Xbox LIVE when booting any title until action complete.
11. Option to remove payment information from gamertag.
12. New payment methods for international users.
13. Download History on Account Management better organized – games, genre, type, download date, miscellaneous.
14. Long descriptions of items on Marketplace can be scrolled using right stick.
15. Better organization of free content on Marketplace.
16. Option to ‘ping’ when testing connection.
17. Allow re-connection to Xbox LIVE if Ethernet cable is re-inserted whilst powered on.
18. New strip colors available to developers, staff gamercards.
19. New corner icon available to ambassadors.
20. Re-introduce Messages button for Inside Xbox updates only.
21. Option to store up to 10 messages permanently on server (excludes invites, status messages).
22. Increase character limit for text messages between friends only.
23. Option to disable invites from non-friends or all players.
24. Option to disable invites from titles not on gamercard (excludes demos).
25. Option to have smaller items moved up in Active Downloads.
26. Automatically re-connect to Xbox LIVE if disconnected unexpectedly (set intervals).
27. Option to download gamer picture (if available) from a gamercard being viewed.
28. Display random tips to replace static text on Xbox LIVE and Games blades.
29. New button on Marketplace for optional dashboard features – uses Storage Device memory.
30. Option to donate Microsoft Points to anybody with a Windows Live ID.
31. Option to purchase Membership for charities (includes benefits).
32. Integrate file-sharing for selected titles on Xbox LIVE and Games for Windows – LIVE.
33. Disable notifications to friends of user repeatedly signing into service (set period).
34. Option to see ’snippet’ of text message in notification.
35. Windows Live Mail integration – includes support for Xbox LIVE Vision.
36. Web feeds integration – text, images, audio. Includes support for specific item codes on Marketplace.
37. Option to display gamer picture or standard picture as display picture in Windows Live Messenger.
38. Support for headset, Xbox LIVE Vision in Windows Live Messenger.
39. Support for limited ‘winks’ that display on dashboard interface. Option to disable ‘winks’ and ‘nudges’ added.
40. Notifications separate from Windows Live Messenger to Xbox 360 notifications.
41. Disable multiple languages from being used in any Xbox LIVE editable fields.

Games
1. Option to delete titles from gamercard with 0 gamerscore and 0 achievements (excludes some titles that will be re-added to launch another title).
2. Organize My Games at the Games Library section better (includes disc-based titles) – sort by genre, platform (Games for Windows – LIVE), percentage completion.
3. Support to display friends leaderboards for disc-based titles.
4. Show dates of an achievement unlocked when comparing.
5. Preload Games Library upon dashboard bootup for faster access.
6. Game updates now shown as items in Memory, increased amount of updates on Storage Device.
7. Option to delete game updates, removed ‘cheat code’ as no longer needed.
8. Support for more titles to display banner when accessing guide in-game.
9. Option to re-introduce awarded gamer pictures from titles that do not have their own re-introduce feature (requires saved game).
10. Disable gamer pictures from being awarded from trials.
11. Support for titles to store installation data on Storage Device for faster loading.
12. Synchronization to achievements offline/online that were deleted and then re-added from developers.

Media
1. Option to hold LT and RT for rewinding/fast-forwarding video content.
2. Option to delete individual music tracks from storage device.
3. Option to rip music CD at different quality.
4. Copy non-protected files (pictures, music, videos) from USB storage devices, CDs and computers to proprietary storage devices.
5. Support for menu, top-menu features on video content downloaded from Marketplace.
6. Section added for audio delivered through feeds (podcasts). Option to stream, download to Storage Device.
7. Support added for video titles/description to gamercard status.

Dashboard/Miscellaneous
1. Option to navigate quickly out of several menus back to respective blade home (applies to Games, Media, System).
2. New blade trim styles added.
3. Introduce expanded Inside Xbox as a portal to news, weather, entertainment, help and community features.
4. New sounds for various functions (notifications, blades, navigation).
5. Calibration options for display/sound.
6. Calibration options for motion sensor devices.
7. New effects for Xbox LIVE Vision and dashboard background.
8. Disable changing of Theme when on Memory to prevent ‘hanging’.
9. Preload recent, limited items upon dashboard bootup on Memory.
10. Faster loading of Themes section on guide.
11. Option to see what items will not work offline due to DRM license changing from Memory.
12. Option to automatically associate new DRM to items downloaded for free.
13. Indicate ‘charging’ status on guide when Play & Charge kit is connected.
14. Option to change text colors on guide to better contrast some backgrounds.
16. Language improvements.
18. Word censor updated for fields.
19. Privacy Settings/Family Settings updated for new features.
20. Voice, picture messages can be read at Xbox.com (Gold accounts).

Itagaki: No More Ninja Gaiden, This Was My Swan Song

I hope he is kidding like people usally do about this stuff, since Ninja Gaiden is one my favourite franchise’s.

In an interview with Kotaku earlier today Team Ninja’s Tomonobu Itagaki said that he doesn’t plan on making any more Ninja Gaiden games for any platforms following the release of Ninja Gaiden II for the Xbox 360.

“Personally I think we were able to create the definitive 3D game in this series so I’m not planing on making any other games in the series,” Itagaki said through a translator. “So I hope fans treat this as a swan song for the franchise.

“I think we were able to achieve everything we wanted with this game so anything else would be extraneous.”

When asked if he plans on making a “swan song” Ninja Gaiden title for the PlayStation 3, Itagaki replied ” that would be ridiculous.”

Instead, the creator of the beloved franchise said he wants to make something that is “totally new, completely unrelated to anything I’ve done before. Not any part of any existing franchises.”

Itagaki said what he’d like to do is work on another action title or perhaps a war themed game, perhaps something set in the Pacific Theater during World War II.

“I think the Pacific theater of World War II is a interesting topic,” he said. “I think it would be cool to work with an American developer and do a game based on the Pacific Theater.”

“I think it would be cool to do something like what Clint Eastwood is doing for that time period,” he added, referencing Flags Of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima which shows both sides of the war.

When asked how long he had been thinking about doing such a title, Itagaki said it was something he came up with during our short interview.

“That’s what it’s like to create something; you start from nothing and you have to clear your mind and come up with new ideas,” he said. “I’m interested in that period of time, for my generation, that was an event that influenced us more than anything else. I think that would be an interesting topic to explore.”

If it turned out that a Japanese developed game about World War II was “too politically charged,” Itagaki said he might want to explore the same issues in a game set in space.

Your thoughts?

 

Source

Sorry, I usally write the articles myself, but I’m feeling to tired to do that right now, today was a big day for gaming, mainly Xbox 360 gaming.