Gabe Newell of Valve studios (yeah, that one) recently was in an interview with Edge magazine where he explains the need to create new impact making situations, whereas the old ones are now ineffective.

…part of each project [needs] to respect the fact that simply repeating the past isn’t going to have the same impact now as it did then.

Gabe goes on to say that this means ramping up the spectrum of emotions touched:

I feel like we’ve gotten away from genuinely scaring the player more than I’d like, and it’s something we need to think about, in addition to broadening the emotional palette we can draw on.

When asked what Gabe said would do the trick, this is his response:

The death of their children. The fading of their own abilities.

Which, you know, should be a pretty good start. You may start to wonder, as much as I did, how these two ideas could factor into Half-Life Ep. 3. I mean, what else could this be about? You may have also, just like me, immediately connected the “death of their children” bit to a Heavy Rain type of game, the two thoughts colliding making me slightly wary. I have to say, though, that the end of Half-Life 2 Ep. 2 I shed a tear. That’s right. Suffice to say I trust Valve with their abilities to touch the emotions, or I suppose now, the broad palette.

So what does that mean for the industry as a whole? Well I have some idea…

So in case you missed the last post about all the issues Battlefield Bad Company 2 has been dealing with, check it out here. For this post the Pixel Well team stumbled upon this forum posting to solve some connection issues you may be experiencing. This one in particular deals with being disconnected from games randomly. Follow the step by step guide and you should be good to go. Otherwise if that does not work try heading over to PortForward.com for an in depth guide on how to properly forward the right ports for Battlefield Bad Company 2. You will need to know the model number of the router you use along with MAC address and IP address.

So in the May issue of the Official Xbox Magazine there is a load of information about the new Ghost Recon installment: Future Soldier. Here is the list of inclusions revealed by the magazine:

• The game will feature split-screen cooperative play, but it’s yet to be determined if it will be two or four players.
• Soldiers in Future Soldier benefit from “load-bearing leg braces that enable them to move swiftly” even as they’re covered in a ton of heavy technology.
• Gamers can sprint to cover, slide-tackle enemies, and hurdle low obstacles thanks to their new exoskeleton.
• A first for the series, the soldiers will have close-combat takedowns at their disposal.  The takedowns are based on various forms of martial arts.
• The team is divided into four members, each with a different class.  The classes are: Commando, Engineer, Sniper, and Recon.
• Commando is very similar to a standard soldier, using a rifle with multiple components and shoulder mounted rocket launcher.  Engineer has loadouts including a UAV drone which can be steered by the soldier.  Sniper features the main advantage of identifying targets.  Recon features the optical camo (invisible cloak), and will be what most gamers want to play as.  However, when not cloaked, you’ll be quite distinguishable on the battlefield.
• The game begins with “the Russian president being kidnapped by extremists, and instead of breaking out the popcorn for a cutscene, you’ll be in the shoes of one of his bodyguards.  Regardless of how well you may perform during this sequence, you won’t be successful, and the capture of the Russian leader is the flashpoint that kicks off what becomes a truly international campaign.”
• The game will feature quite a few different settings for the game, being much removed from the bland Mexico settings fans were used to.
• Teammate A.I. has been much improved.  Your A.I. partners will move like they have “ten to twelve years of military training”.  Instead of running in front of you, they’re more prone to follow like squadmates should.
• The partners are said to cover your flank and angles you can’t always get to when you move forward.
• With the tap of a button, you can follow your teammate automatically.  Doing this technique will allow you to focus on enemy fire, and keep an eye on your teammates back as you continue forward.  All four players can actually link up at once as well.
• The link-up feature is available in multiplayer too.  Stand close enough to a cloaked squadmate in multiplayer, and you’ll be cloaked.  Future Soldier is aiming to encourage teamwork over everything else.
• The co-op is four players, and completely drop-in/drop-out co-op for the campaign mode.  Multiplayer is said to be 8vs8, and contains classic modes such as capture-the-flag and domination.
• The Persistent Elite Creation system from Rainbow Six Vegas 2 will make its way into the title.  Meaning, your items in the campaign will be synchronized with those items you use in multiplayer along with your character.

Nothing too earth shattering here. The main issue I find is that the concept of the future has largely been identified as not laser wielding robots. Rather, I think the Ghost Recon series is reflecting the subtle changes our armed services will find over the next 75-100 years: cloaking, exoksekeletons, and whatnot. The problem is that, unless artfully done, this may lead to more run-of-the-mill gameplay.

Also, what is that locking on squad mates thing? Like, enable Universal Studios ride mode? I don’t know about that. It sounds like they’re taking a page from Bad Company 2 otherwise. The real deal has yet to be seen, however…

Today is the day you can get your hands on the all new Red Steel 2. This game is not a sequel but rather a new rendition and different story line. We here at Pixel Well remember the first game, the game that was supposed to flaunt the Wii’s capabilities at capturing the motions of the Wii controller. However, the game that was supposed to impress us did not. This time around Ubisoft seems to have brought the game back to life with some improvements thanks to the Wii MotionPlus.

This time around your fighting in a East-meets-West first person shooter/slasher. Ubisoft dropped their attempt at stunning realistic graphics and went for a more cartoonish look, placing you in an environment that resembles feudal Japan and the Old West. Apparently you’ll be fighting cowboy style ninjas complete with southern drawls. Sounds like a Wii-shaking great time to me! Once you obtain your katana, you only know certain moves and have to train and earn the advanced techniques. Along with your sword training you can use the money you earn to purchase better weapons and armor. All of which are hidden in crates and barrels and various other objects, from which you spend a great deal of time breaking open with your katana. Their is a single story driving the game forward however, you can participate in other small missions to earn more money. All in all the game looks like it has made some drastic improvements from the first game. I only hope turning around with pointer isn’t going to be retarded like the last game was. Such a pain when playing multiplayer.

Perhaps you’re a little like I am when you look at the Star Wars universe and its incarnations: kind of like watching your favorite plant wither while you do everything you normally have to love it.

I mean, the Clone Wars tv show was only cool because sometimes they had lightsabers that sometimes were used like you always want, and also sometimes some characters died. But as a whole there has been a lot of bad output from the Star Wars behemoth. We’ll see another “cartooned” version of Star Wars coming in the Old Republic MMO set to grab your wallet and shake it around like a chew toy.

What happened to games like Jedi Outcast?

Anyway, enter the Star Wars cantina game. I guess its something like a business management sim with Star Wars characters. Here’s the App store blurb:

Your task is to see that the right beverage finds its way to the right customer. And don’t keep them waiting, some of the customers are real troublemakers! Working towards your daily quota, accuracy and speed are essential. As a reward for a job well done, outfit your cantina with decorations and attractions to appeal to even the most difficult customers.

Ok, so from the sound of things, we won’t see any Jedi snipping off the limbs of boisterous cantina slime. Why are Star Wars games being dumbed down? Whats funny is I could totally get into this if it was rated teen and had realistic graphics and good dialogue/characters. I guess the content could reflect a high maturity while the graphics are cartooned, but really, whens the last time that happened?

We’ve said it before here at Pixel Well and we’ll say it again: give us a realistic, motion controlled Jedi duel game were you can shave off limbs and we would never stop playing it.

The Star Wars Cantina game is being developed by THQ and hasn’t had a release date set.

More images inside.

Hey guys, check out the latest of a string of Red Dead Redemption videos showcasing the unscrupulous nature of the cast.

Of course, the game will be host to a number of your crazy and unsavory characters. I personally can’t wait to see how this game turns out, though I’m slightly disappointed that it will only be released for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. Check out the video inside.

Today the actor who portrayed the infamous villian in the Half-Life 2 saga, Robert Culp, has passed away. He was 79.

Not only was Robert Culp the face and voice of one of the most insidious intermediaries to “our benefactors”, he was also part of a great show, I-Spy, in which he starred alongside Bill Cosby.

I’m most interested to hear how Valve is going to approach this sad event; I feel as though the actors had a very deep connection to the work at Valve. I’m sure there will be nothing short of tremendous praise. Though I only knew him through his work on the Half-Life 2 saga, I was significantly impacted by the gravity of his work therein. I hope his wife, five children, and grandchildren are doing well.

That’s right. You read correctly. BioWare’s Star Wars The Old Republic will be the most expensive game ever created by EA. EA’s chief banker Eric Brown says that the new game is the “largest ever development project, period, in the history of the company.” While Blizzard’s World of Warcraft takes in roughly $100 million a month from subscribers, EA is hoping to gain similar results with the release of SWTOR. In a press conference held in New York, Brown also said a normal game costs EA approximately $30 million to make, however “any MMO costs significantly more than that.” With any MMO their will be more costs for server maintenance and expansion packs. Currently EA is gearing for a Spring 2011 release date for SWTOR.

With costs in mind, a recent interview with producer Jake Neri says there is no telling how large the world of SWTOR will be. “I guess it really depends. We would love to imagine this game lasting for years and years and years, so I don’t know how big it could get. I know that at launch we plan on providing a substantial amount of content; stories, planets, adventures, zones, zones that are ripe for conflict and others that are safer for low level players.” He concludes that this is part due to the amount of lore and mythology within Star Wars. EA is expecting over 2 million subscriptions once the game is officially launched. This news comes from analyst, Arvind Bhatia, who says the game will need over one million subscriptions to break even. The subscription methods to be used by BioWare and EA will more than likely be the typical monthly payment however, BioWare boss Ray Muzyka, has hinted at some possible “twists” in pricing. Whatever that means, I hope they make SWTOR affordable for every Star Wars geek out there, including me. The only thing that bothers me about this game so far is EA. I hope to God that they won’t be hosting all of the servers, given their track record with Bad Company 2 and other games. Well here’s hoping for the best.