Posted 11/20/09 at 10:00:00 PM by Norman Chan

Set 30 years after Star Trek: Nemesis (the last film before the J.J. Abrams reboot), Star Trek Online puts you in the shoes of a captain in a newly sparked war between the goody-two-shoes Federation and savage Klingon empire. The promise of exploring the final frontier, massive space battles, and obscure Star Trek references fills us with geeky glee. We went down to Cryptic Studios’ offices to play the game and quiz Executive Producer Craig Zinkievich to ensure that fans of Star Trek and MMOs are getting the best of both worlds.

Craig had some interesting things to say about making a game for Star Trek fans and competing with World of Warcraft. Plus, we're giving away some invites to Star Trek Online's closed-beta!

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Posted 10/11/09 at 11:43:29 AM by Justin Kerr

Intel’s latest ad campaign wants you to believe USB co-creator Ajay Bhatt is a “rock star”, but if that’s true, why would they hire an actor to play his part in the commercial?

Well I have no idea, but that’s the question late night TV show host Conan O’Brien set out to answer, and the resulting interview touched on everything from technology, to gold plated shoes.

You might want to check this one out for yourselves but be warned.The commercial features almost as much lens flare as Star Trek.

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Posted 10/07/09 at 12:30:00 PM by Will Smith

From the first time we saw Borderlands, we were intrigued. By mixing a fast-paced first-person shooter with the procedurally generated weapon system of a loot-hoarding RPG like Diablo, and letting you play the game cooperatively with three of your pals, the kids at Gearbox have made a game we simply can’t wait to play. We went down to Plano, Texas to play the first three hours of the game and to chat with Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford about what the future holds for PC gaming, why Steam is not an ideal method of distribution, and why Randy loves Wal-Mart.

Read our interview with Randy after the jump!

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Posted 07/16/09 at 06:15:00 PM by Nathan Grayson

Dungeons & Dragons Online, like the lion’s share of MMOs out there, has undergone countless changes since it launched, but never something this huge. Previously a subscription-based game, DDO is just about to engage the landing gear on its brand new free-to-play option, which brings with it new features of all shapes and sizes. We spoke with senior producer Kate Paiz about DDO’s latest makeover, chatting about topics including the DDO Store’s effects on game balance, the when’s and why’s of DDO’s new free-to-play model, the recent sale of id Software, and much, much more.

Seriously, grab a sandwich or something. This one’s a doozy.  
 
What prompted the decision to go free-to-play? Why move away from a subscription focus?

Ever since we’ve launched, we’ve gotten feedback from players that we’re just a different kind of MMO; we don’t have the same kind of basic gameplay mechanics as a lot of other, more traditional MMOs do. We have a lot of private, party-based instances. We give XP based on the completion of an adventure, of conquering a goal. So you saved the girl, right? You know, destroyed the weapon – completed something that was a little more epic than just killing monsters. It’s a bigger task. And because we’re based so faithfully on the [D&D] 3.5 rule set, there are also just some basic mechanics that differed [from other MMOs].

So one of the things that we hear all the time is that because we’re not that traditional MMO, and because research has shown that one of the barriers to joining an MMO is the subscription price, we felt like it made more sense to pull from D&D’s roots and go back to sort of a more module-based purchasing option, where players get a certain amount of content, like the players’ handbook, right up front, and then they can use that as much as they want and then purchase additional content when they want, the way they want – rather than being locked into a subscription fee.

Continue spelunking this verbal dungeon after the break.

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Posted 02/26/09 at 05:18:56 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Nokia has quietly been observing the influx of tech bellwethers into the cellphone market. Now, the world’s largest handset manufacturer is the one contemplating an invasion. Nokia’s CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo told a Finnish news channel that the cellphone maker is giving serious thought to entering the laptop market.

"We don't have to look even for five years from now to see that what we know as a mobile phone and what we know as a PC are in many ways converging," Kallasvuo said. Nokia is widely expected to enter the netbook segment, if it does actually foray into the PC market.

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Posted 02/23/09 at 06:55:16 PM by Pulkit Chandna

Will Windows 7 bring glad tidings for gamers? Chris Lewis, VP of Interactive Entertainment Business for Microsoft EMEA, certainly believes the new OS will keep gamers happy.

"It's all good news - it's even more robust, it's quicker relatively, and the early testing cycles are proving very promising overall,” an excited Lewis told Gameindustry.biz in an interview. He said the company will divulge more details later this year.

Lewis didn’t forget to reassure gamers that Microsoft remains committed to PC gaming. “Ultimately we're a Windows and PC company at heart,” Lewis accentuated Microsoft’s commitment to its roots.

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Posted 12/18/08 at 06:37:50 PM by Nathan Grayson

F.E.A.R. was, without a doubt, one of 2005's best first-person shooters -- deftly mixing balls-to-the-wall, head-exploding action with pee-your-pants level horror. Even better, its sequel, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, is poised to top its award-winning older brother in every conceivable way. We were lucky enough to engage in a quick email exchange with Craig Hubbard, F.E.A.R. 2's Principal Game Designer, and we're posting it here for you today. 

MPC: Is this the end of the F.E.A.R. story? Are we going for a trilogy?

Craig Hubbard, Principal Game Designer: As you’d probably expect, our immediate focus is getting the game done. Beyond that, who can say?

MPC: Was the story arc planned from the beginning, or has it evolved as it’s moved along?

CH: It evolved quite a bit, but that’s normal. What works on paper doesn’t always pan out when you implement it, so you have to make adjustments and do what’s right for the game. We also decided to take out the subplot about the unicorn who lost its horn. It was very emotionally resonant, but didn’t really fit the tone.

MPC: What’s the biggest problem you had with the original F.E.A.R.? How do you aim to correct it in the sequel?

CH: The biggest complaint people had with F.E.A.R. was that the environments were repetitive and bland. The sequel has much more varied and interesting settings.

MPC: Are you developing the game simultaneously for consoles and PC? What’s the game’s lead platform?

CH: The team knew how to make PC games but hadn’t done a console title before, so it was easier to ensure that decisions made for the consoles would work on the PC rather than the other way around. When the project started, we didn’t have our tech up and running on PS3 yet, so Xbox 360 ended up being the lead platform by default but we are still developing for all three platforms at the same time.

Continue reading for Hubbard's opinions on DRM, game engines, AI, and the British Empire. 

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Posted 09/12/08 at 01:32:00 PM by Norman Chan

The ubiquitous Zip file compression format has been a staple of PC users since it first made its debut as PKZIP in the early 90s. Back then, the size limitations of floppy disk media and the painfully low-bandwidth dial-up connections made file compression a complete necessity. The Zip format today, while still popular, has largely been eclipsed by RAR compression, which has offered slightly better compression at the cost of archiving speed. That’s why we were so surprised to hear that WinZip 12, which launched yesterday, boasted an unbelievable 25% compression ratio for JPEG images – without sacrificing image quality. Ever the skeptics, we put the new software to the test, and grilled WinZip’s VP of Development about how this new algorithm works.

Any bets as to whether WinZip's claims are justified?

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