Layoffs Hit Fable Developer

Fable developer Lionhead Studios has been hit by layoffs. Microsoft confirmed the news this morning, providing the following statement to IGN:

“Following the completion of Fable: The Journey the Lionhead studio is in the process of beginning work on its next projects. As is common in the games industry, a reduced headcount is needed as projects kick-off and ramp up as development gets underway. At this time a very small number of positions have been identified as at risk of redundancy and the affected employees were notified today. We are working very closely with those people during this difficult time, to help them explore alternative opportunities within Microsoft including new roles at Microsoft Studios which is actively hiring.”

According to Develop, the layoffs represent less than 10% of Lionhead’s overall headcount and will be completed by the end of 2012. Microsoft also expects to add more than 100 new positions in the UK between now and June 2013.

Lionhead most recently released Fable: The Journey, which hit stores earlier this month. The studio was acquired by Microsoft in 2006 and led by founder Peter Molyneux until his departure earlier this year.

IGN wishes the best of luck to anyone affected by today’s news.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Staff Working on ArmA 3 Arrested For Spying

Update 2: Bohemia has now clarified its previous comments, providing the following statement to IGN:

"Since last Sunday, when two Bohemia Interactive, a.s. employees, were arrested on the Greek island of Lemnos, much speculation about what happened has circulated online. It's been rumoured that they entered restricted military areas or gathered photographic references of military bases in order to improve the visual fidelity of Arma 3, a PC game currently under development by our company. Far in advance of any formal charges - only hours after they were detained by the local police - many media outlets immediately suggested spying and, only one day later, specifically referenced Arma 3.

Having travelled there, and after meeting personally with them both, as well as their lawyer who is fully acquainted with the Greek authority's investigation file in detail, we can assure you that these insinuations are completely false and without substance. These employees - our friends, Ivan Buchta and Martin Pezlar - visited the island as tourists. Their holiday was a product of their interest in the island, triggered by their work on Arma 3 over the past two years of development.

They took photographs and videos in public areas, as countless tourists arriving to enjoy the beauty and hospitality of Greece may well do. These included a short video as they drove through the main road passing around the international airport, where in one short part of the video off in the distance some hangars and other buildings of the complex can be seen. It's very likely that many tourists may have pictures similar to those taken by Ivan and Martin in their own family albums, without being aware that they put themselves or their families at risk.

We sincerely hope that the whole situation is no more than an unfortunate and deep misunderstanding. The in-game Limnos is close to completion, and it's far from an identical replication of the real place. It was heavily modified to fit the game's backstory, a purely fictional 2035 setting. It was rescaled to only 75% of the real island, and it does not attempt to display any real world military installations situated on the island of Lemnos.

To summarize the situation:

• They visited Lemnos on their holiday as tourists.
• They did not enter any military area.
• They did not take any pictures of any military objects to be used in Arma 3.

Martin and Ivan, currently being detained in Mytilene, relayed this message to their friends and family:

"The conditions are tough, but the people we meet treat us fairly and correctly. It is all a completely absurd misunderstanding that will certainly be quickly explained. We mainly think of you, our families; you have to stay calm and not to worry about us. We hope we will meet soon."

We apologize for any possible delay or lack of communication regarding this important matter. At present, all and every possible effort goes towards supporting Ivan and Martin, their families, and to getting the guys safely back home. Any form of support for our imprisoned colleagues and friends will be more than welcome."

Original story follows:

Update: Bohemia has provided IGN with the following statement from CEO Marek Spanel:

"We can confirm that two Bohemia Interactive employees, our colleagues and friends, were arrested during their holiday trip to Lemnos. They visited the island with the sole purpose of experiencing the island's beautiful surroundings.

Since its establishment in 1999, Bohemia Interactive has created games based only upon publicly available information. We always respect the law and we've never instructed anybody to violate the laws of any country. The same is true for Arma 3.

Currently, all our effort goes towards supporting the guys over there, as well as their friends and families affected by this difficult situation. We sincerely hope that this is an unfortunate misunderstanding of their passion as artists and creators of virtual worlds."

Original story follows:

The Greek government has accused two employees of ArmA developer Bohemia Interactive of espionage for taking photographs of a Greek air base during their research for ArmA 3.

Studio head Mark Spanel confirmed the news on the game's official forums, asking users not to discuss the matter for legal reasons and closing the relevant thread.

The first reports came from Greek outlet News237, which stated that the two Czech men had been found with photos and video of military facilities in Lemnos and Agios Efstratios, and were arrested in the act of photographing a base on Lemnos. They could be facing a lengthy prison sentence if charged and found guilty.

Eurogamer has since unearthed that the developer was warned against such actions by one of its Greek fans back at the beginning of August in a forum thread.

"On the island of Limnos is a military air base. It is illegal to take photographs of this base, yet the ArmA development team are creating a 3D model of the base, most likely based on photos which they took illegally (as well as the satellite photos which aren't illegal)," wrote Cyplon.

"Had this been an American base, or any other country with a large population of whom may purchase ARMa 3, it is likely that such an act would not have been performed due to the risk of the country banning the game from being sold there. [...] Of all locations in the World, Limnos - one of the only islands in the Aegean with a military air base, is being replicated, regardless of the tensions between Greece and Turkey which are ongoing (you don't hear it on the news unless you are from Greece or Turkey). Great choice for a first location! This is equivalent to creating an ArmA game replicating the Gaza strip, which would very likely anger Israel..."

We'll have more on this story as it comes in, but don't expect Bohemia Interactive to comment on an ongoing legal matter.

Source : ign[dot]com

THQ Lays Off 20 Marketing, Production Employees

THQ has let go 20 employees from its marketing and production departments. According to a statement provided to IGN by a THQ spokesperson, “THQ confirms a realignment has taken place in the company’s marketing and production groups in Agoura Hills. This change is reflective of the company’s ongoing strategy to create a more focused, agile, and digitally-oriented organization. Less than 3% of the company’s global workforce was impacted, and no development teams or projects were affected by this action.”

The news first surfaced in a leaked email posted on Twitter by 3D Realms founder George Broussard. In the email, THQ president Jason Rubin writes the following:

"All,

Days like today are not easy for any of us. The worst part of restructuring is clearly the restructuring. But this is a necessary part of improving and rebuilding. It is never easy to see friends and colleagues leave the company. Nobody in management, including me, takes these decisions lightly, but we must all continue to remain focused on driving the business forward and look towards our future.

As you know, it is my vision for THQ to enter into new markets though new distribution methodologies, and reaching those consumers in those markets will take a different approach to marketing. It is also vitally important that we improve our production methodologies and oversight so that we are shipping better titles, on budget and on time.

In our quest to make these changes, I have been looking at the Marketing and Production structure at HQ along with the heads of those departments, Rich Williams and Ron Moravek. We have identified changes that need to be made and thus today we reduced the size of these departments by about 20 individuals.

It is worth pointing out that none of the development teams are effected, and we do not anticipate the reduction to have any impact whatsoever on the titles in production or the future scale of our output. It is also quite likely that in the long run the company will hire new individuals with different skill sets in their stead. To put this in perspective, Volition alone anticipates growing by about 20 individuals in the next 12 months. This represents a shift of resources from oversight to production, and from centralization out to the teams. I would also like to note that these two departments were largely unaffected by the January reduction, so it makes some sense that their size and capabilities do not align with the changes made elsewhere.

I am genuinely excited about both the quality of work and the innovation happening at the company right now. When I look forward to the type of games and digital experiences we will deliver over the next few years, I see a new THQ taking a new market position in a very different industry environment.

Let’s all try to keep our eyes focused on that bright future."

This isn’t the first shake-up at THQ in recent months, following the closure of its Arizona quality assurance facility in July. A full timeline of THQ’s 2012 is available here.

THQ released Darksiders II earlier this week, which IGN gave a 7.5. The company also unveiled the roster for WWE 13, which is set to hit stores in October.

IGN wishes the best of luck to anyone affected by today’s news.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Need for Speed: Most Wanted: Vita's Hidden Gem

“This is going to be the best racing game on Vita this year.” It’s a bold statement, but one that Alex Ward, Vice President of Criterion, doesn’t make lightly. He’s talking about the Vita version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, which is being shown for the first time at Gamescom, and it’s no surprise he’s happy about what the development team has achieved with the game.

Incredibly, the Vita version of Need for Speed: Most Wanted is essentially the same as the PS3 and Xbox 360 games. “Everything from what we the ‘TV game’ is here on the small screen,” he announces. And when he says everything, he means it – every highway, back street, bridge and tunnel. All of the cars, the meet-ups, the challenges and the drive-through garages – they’re all in the game, and importantly they haven’t been cut down or changed to fit the Vita.

“This is pretty much the PS3 version of the game shoehorned onto Vita very tightly,” he continues. “This is a very technically ambitious thing to do - there aren’t any open-world games on Vita so far. To keep the world the same, to not make any compromises – that’s what we’ve done.”

So when you get behind the wheel of a BMW M5 in Need for Speed Vita it’ll feel exactly the same as it does on PS3. The handling is just as sharp and responsive, the drifting as perfectly pitched, which is impressive considering the differences between two machines. “On handheld the physics are very hard to get right because you’re very limited on memory but the handling is pretty much the same,” explains Ward. “We can do the same demo on Vita that we can on PS3.”

Better still, all of the detail from the home console game is carried over too, so as a race progresses your car gets scuffed and scraped, and damaged with every knock it takes. There will be races at different times of the day too, and while Criterion is still hard at work populating the city and implementing many of the features, we did see the switch from daytime to dusk, with your car’s headlights flickering into action to illuminate the tarmac ahead.

Impressively, Ward promises that all of the cars will feature in the game, and they look fantastic on Vita’s small but punchy screen. “These cars are the best cars ever to appear in a Need for Speed game,” he enthuses, “and they’re the same here as they are on PS3 and 360. To get them onto Vita like this is ******* insane.” And like its bigger brother, Vita’s recreation of the city of Fairhaven will be littered with supercars waiting to be found. Stumbled upon a Porsche 911 Carrera 4S? Simply jack it and it’s yours to keep.

Multiplayer will be fully supported, with all of the modes and challenges making the jump onto Sony’s handheld. Unfortunately cross-play isn’t going to feature – the idea of PS3 and Vita owners going head-to-head was a little too ambitious – but it will fully support Autolog. So when you race on the Vita version – or indeed any version of the game, including iPad – you’re constantly earning Speed Points that accumulate on your Autolog profile, all of which help bump you up the Most Wanted leaderboards.

Need for Speed will make use of Vita’s unique functionality too, and the touchscreen can be used to quickly access HUD information in the middle of a race. But Ward was quick to iterate that it won’t impact how the game plays, and that thankfully “you won’t be driving using the touchscreen.” Or the gyro, we hope.

Most Wanted on Vita is an ambitious project, then, but one whose ambition is more than matched by the talent of the developer behind the game. Criterion’s racing pedigree is unquestionable, and with Hot Pursuit and now Most Wanted it’s brought the Need for Speed name back to the top of its game. While some developers outsource handheld versions of big franchises to enable them to focus on the home console versions, it’s a testament to Criterion’s commitment that it kept the project to itself. “It would’ve been really easy to do Vita out of house,” says Ward. “We did that on some of our previous games. But when I saw the specs for the Vita, I knew we had to do it.”

I’m thankful they chose to do it, too.

Source : ign[dot]com

Microsoft References ‘New Xbox’ for First Time

Update: Microsoft has responded to Hall's comments, providing IGN with the following statement:

“The comments to The Verge were not understood in their intended context. When Brian mentioned a ‘new wave of products,’ he was referring to the full lineup of products coming later this year from Microsoft, including Windows 8, Office, Windows Phone and of course our fall Xbox update which will bring a host of new consumer experiences like Xbox Music, Videos, Games on Windows 8 and Xbox SmartGlass.”

Original story follows:

A Microsoft employee has referenced “the new Xbox” for the first time. In an interview regarding the new Outlook.com, Microsoft’s Brian Hall (general manager of Windows Live) referred to “the new Xbox” as one of many projects that could be integrated with Windows 8.

“We’ve had Hotmail and operated Hotmail for about 16 years. We obviously have Exchange, and Outlook, that people use at work,” Hall told The Verge. “We just decided it was time to do something new and bring the best from each of those and put them together and release it right in time for the new wave of products that we could have coming out with Windows 8, with the new version of Office, with the new Windows Phone and the new Xbox.”

While this is the first time a Microsoft employee has openly acknowledged the new console, it’s not exactly a secret considering that we’ve already seen the system’s development kit. We know the console is codenamed Durango (or, more casually, Xbox 720) and we’ve seen several Microsoft studios reference a next-gen console in job listings, including 343 Industries and Rare.

Microsoft still hasn’t officially announced the console, but we’re certainly getting closer, as developers tell us the next generation of consoles will begin in 2013. Until that happens, read about the few details we know so far in IGN’s analysis of a recent Microsoft patent filing.

We’ve reached out to Microsoft about Hall’s comment and will update this story with any information we receive.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Final Fantasy III Launching on Ouya

Square Enix has announced it will release Final Fantasy III as a launch title for the Ouyaconsole in March 2013.

In a statement translated by Square Portal, the company promised that they will also be providing more content in the future.

Final Fantasy III originally released on the NES back in 1990 and became the first Final Fantasy title to sell over a million copies, but has since had a 2006 remake for the DS. It seems this is the version Ouya owners will be getting as this was ported for Android devices last month, which is the operating system that the upcoming console will use.

We recently reported how Ouya signed a deal with cloud gaming service OnLive, meaning hundreds of games from over 80 publishers will be available when the console is eventually released next March.

Ouya's Kickstarter campaign hasn't ended yet either; with 8 days still to go, the project has currently amassed $5.8 million, completely shattering its original $950,000 target.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com

The Silent Hill: Revelation 3D Trailer

Not only do we have the new trailer for Silent Hill: Revelation 3D for you today, we also have an exclusive statement from the film's director, Michael J. Bassett, on why gamers will especially like the sequel.

“Fans of the Silent Hill franchise won’t be disappointed with Silent Hill: Revelation 3D - especially the gamers,” said Bassett. “When writing the script for the film, I wanted viewers to feel like they were truly immersed in the video game. 3D helps achieve this, but I also think fans will appreciate the way the movie challenges them, each scene progresses like a level in the game, heightening fear and suspense.”

Silent Hill: Revelation 3D opens October 26.

Source : ign[dot]com

AMC Cancels The Killing

AMC has decided to cancel The Killing after two seasons. Here is their official statement:

"After much deliberation, we’ve come to the difficult decision not to renew The Killing for a third season. AMC is incredibly proud of the show and is fortunate to have worked with such a talented team on this project, from showrunner Veena Sud and our terrific partners at Fox Television Studios to the talented, dedicated crew and exceptional cast."

Enos and Kinnaman read the original pilot where they were both super-cool skateboarding squirrels with sunglasses.

Ah, but the plot thickens!  Will this actually spell the end of Detectives Linden (Mireille Enos) and Holder (Joel Kinnaman)? Soon after AMC's statement was released, Variety tweeted the following words from FOX Television Studios: "We will proceed to try to find another home for the show."

Source : ign[dot]com

Silent Hill: Downpour Developer in Trouble

Silent Hill: Downpour developer Vatra Games is reportedly in danger of being closed. According to a statement from Kuju Entertainment, the developer that owns Vatra, the management team has “been conducting a strategic review of all aspects of the business” and the activities of Vatra “are currently under review.”

The statement notes that “no decisions have yet been made,” and employees from Vatra have yet to comment. Vatra is based in the Czech Republic, and fellow Czech developer David Semik (from 2K Czech) said simply “Vatra Games RIP” on Twitter.

Silent Hill: Downpour was announced with Vatra as developer back in 2008. The game was originally planned for fall 2011 but delayed until 2012, a decision that caused the game’s director to depart. Downpour was ultimately released in March, when it garnered mixed reviews from critics.

In addition to Downpour, Vatra is said to have agreed to do an additional game in collaboration with Konami, though no formal announcement has been made. We’ve reached out to Konami about the status of that project, and we’ll update this story with any concrete news about the status of Vatra.

Source: GI.biz

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

Source : ign[dot]com

Nolan's Statement on The Dark Knight Rises Theater Shooting

The Dark Knight Rises director Christopher Nolan has issued the following statement on the theater massacre in Aurora, Colorado earlier today:

"Speaking on behalf of the cast and crew of The Dark Knight Rises, I would like to express our profound sorrow at the senseless tragedy that has befallen the entire Aurora community.

I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime.

The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me.

Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families."

Source : ign[dot]com