Gamer Frolic

As another year ends and a new one rises to take its place, the masses become a twitter with possibilities of the future. It has been a wild ride in 2012, but now 2013 paves the way for even bigger and better things. For me, the best news to get is always from the source, so I do my best to keep an ear open (kind of impossible not to) for the latest and  greatest news that some people may not have heard about.

I start this year with Gamer Frolic with my Developer Round Up, where I skulk the dark portions of the interwebs in hopes of finding some juicy information. Below I have a few tidbits of information that just may make you squee in delight at what the new year has to offer us so far.

Naughty Dog

One of the premier giants in gaming for Sony consoles, Naughty Dog has always been a sort of innovator, what with Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Uncharted, and the late and great Last of Us. Last of Us, the survivalist game that it is, seems to be surviving on no new updates or news at all. When scouring the web, Twitter feeds of developers, and so forth, I found no shred of information regarding their next big title.

Can I say “Bad Idea” any faster? Probably, as two likely causes are leading to this result. 1. ND is away right now, developing everything they can into Last of Us or another hidden project. 2. They just have nothing new to unveil just yet. I am hoping it is the former, but if it is the latter, I feel a sense of dread but will hold my head high until later this year.

Insomniac Games

Those who know the name, Naughty Dog, most commonly know Insomniac Games as well. From Spyro the dragon, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance, the developers have blazed a similar path as ND by handing us hit after hit for years on end. While doing my digging, I found something interesting.

Do you guys remember a little game called Fuse that was teased back in September 2012?

Well as of right now, Fuse seems to be the pet project and has been recently shown in an undisclosed convention hall. The game looked amazing, cinematically, when first announced, the premise is basic (so far), and the weapon abilities sound devastating  Which you know Insomniac, they love their weapons, just see Ratchet and Clank if you don’t believe me.

Not only that, BUT Senior Writer TJ Fixman tweeted Jan 1st, the screenshot below:

I know the image is low quality, but it does show awesome things are in the works.

Now I don’t know if these announcements are for Insomniac or his own Comic Book line, but chances are pretty fair that it is Insomniac related. So hold out for a little while longer, maybe IG will grace us with even more information soon.

Valve Studios

Valve has a very big history of giving us hope then making us wait forever on end till we can see said hope at the end of the tunnel. With Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Counter Strike, and Team Fortress 2, Valve can seem to get away with as the entries they have given us in their many series have been fantastic time consumers.

Now Valve’s Gabe Newell has finally given us a new item to salivate, and hopefully not be stuck in wait over. This announcement: Valve is entering the console race with their very own at home console, The SteamBox. Code named “Bigfoot”, The SteamBox is an open ended envisioned console, giving us access to Steam downloads, a new look at a not so overused controller, and the interchangeability of a PC but able to be streamed and swapped onto your TV.

The idea is you can have up to 8 instances of people using the SteamBox at a time with no lag issues. You are also greeted with the now standard in consoles, web browser and Netflix combo, allowing you all the comfort of your life, within one tiny box. The design aspect sounds generic, as anything that is shaped like a box has been since the Nintendo, but the possibilities of this machine are being bet on as limitless. Newell has high hopes for this new entry into the fray of console big hitters, mentioning screen to screen media transfer, multiple lines of play at once, the Steam Arsenal and even allowing you to install Windows on it, in addition to the Linux already presented.

Newell as hinted at a possible Mobile front for phones and tablets. Internal name “Little Foot”

This is so far this biggest news of the year, and the year isn’t even a month old yet!

Microsoft Studios

Now being a party with some of the bigger designers, like Bungie and 343, MS has a long history of announcing big news to people. While this isn’t a game, per say, this is some pretty interesting news.

While it reports on mostly Microsoft and Xbox news, this time MS gave us an update on Crystal Dynamics upcoming hit, Tomb Raider.  MS has let it be publicly known that:

Crystal Dynamics unvealed a limted edition Xbox 360 controller for Tomb Raider. According to a quote from Microsoft Studios the controller design “features a two-layer color finish with laser etching to create a realistic and tactile worn appearance inspired by Lara’s iconic climbing axe and the tourniquets that result from the adventure in her intense origin story, as told in this latest title.” The controller also sports a customizable d-pad and has wireless range of up to 30 feet.

Those who purchase the controller also receive a online token which will give Xbox 360 owners access to an exclusive character known as “Scavenger Archer”.

Here is a picture of the mighty amazing controller here:

The controller will set you back the standard price of $59.99.

Bungie

While Bungie set up a new theater room in the style of a space craft deck back in December, they recently launched their new website into beta mode, with little to no new updates. The site does offer new ways to log in, the Windows Live ID (Gamer tag) of old is still usable  but they also offer  Facebook, Google, and even PSN log ins. Does this mean that the next Bungie title may extend as far as the PS3? We can certainly hope so.

In the end the site looks decent for the beta build, so we have some interesting stuff to look forward to. The site even has the companies personal motto. I always liked Bungie’s Moto

Non facete nobis calcitrare vestrum perinæum

Meaning Don’t Make  Us Kick Your Ass in Latin.

Bethesda:

Now the Elder Scrolls and Fallout kings normally hand us some pretty amazing games, but one of my all time favorite titles had to have been Fallout 3. I outplayed that game so many times, it was ridiculous how much I knew about the game world. The terrain, the enemies, even the quirky DJ’s trying to keep people from going insane while wandering through the wastelands.

My favorite DJ, you ask?

Why 3 Dog of course! He always had that amazing voice and catchy lines that just made me laugh. Erik Dellums has been in a few other games of Bethesda fame, Skyrim for instance, but nowhere near iconic as his work as 3 Dog. So when he teased us not to long ago that he was in studio reprising his role as 3 Dog himself, I couldn’t help but get overly giddy about it. This tease hands us the possibility of Fallout 4 being in development. I don’t know about any of you, but to me this news has gotten me pumped for this upcoming year.

Well that is it for today’s installment of Developer Round Up! Keep an eye out for me here more often and you can go check out my other site www.respwnpoint.com where I will post regular updates as well.

I look forward to getting to know you all and share the wealth of Developer information with you all.