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Konami Ships Off a Bevy of New Games, MGS Collection Included

Shiva Stella — Tue, 18 Mar 2008 15:36:40 -0500

Konami confirmed this morning that the company has shipped three new games nationwide, headlined by Metal Gear Solid: The Essential Collection for the PlayStation 2.

The collection retails for $29.99 and includes the original PlayStation's Metal Gear Solid (as a PS2 disc), MGS2, and MGS3 with package artwork by series artist Yoji Shinkawa. You can view order details here if you're interested.

Following The Essential Collection comes Diary Girl for the Nintendo DS--the game functions as a PDA-lite and "provides girls of all ages the ability to interact with friends through their own customizable avatars, as well as organize a calendar and address book in their own password-protected electronic journal." Sounds spiffy.

And remember, ladies: it's not a game, it's a "lifestyle accessory". I'm going to keep that in mind any time I buy anything. Diary Girl retails for the standard $29.99.

And finally, add Lost in Blue 3 for the Nintendo DS to the list.

In Lost in Blue 3, players guide one of two stranded characters, each with their own personal history, through exotic locales on a mysterious island while surviving the elements to stay alive. Players can work alone or cooperatively with other characters to gather food, explore the island and hunt dangerous wildlife. Completing one character's storyline will unlock the storylines of two additional characters, allowing players to explore the island in different ways, experience new storylines, and uncover different endings.

Lost in Blue 3 also retails for $29.99.

GH Editorial: 24: The Game Dev Diary

Shiva Stella — Thu, 18 Aug 2005 12:38:00 -0500

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor.

Mark Green, communications manager for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's Cambridge Studio, has written up an entertaining developer diary for 24: The Game, based on Fox's hit television series, 24. Green describes what it's like working with hollywood actors to create voiceovers for a game, something the typical actor/actress hasn't had experience with and is absolutely shocked to see the quality that goes into the final product. Enjoy.

Developer Diary
Part 1 of 6
Working with Hollywood Stars

After whittling down 100s of actors to a shortlist of six; after holding auditions whilst patched-in by transatlantic phone call; after having MP3s of their voices sent over to Cambridge; after making our final decisions; after notifying the actors; after arranging the studio in LA; after arranging our own flights and hotels after all of this, we STILL had one actress who was astonished by the whole set-up: Oh my God! Its a GAME! I thought it was the extras for the DVD, she cried on day one. Games clearly still have some way to go before theyre accepted as part and parcel of the process. Either that, or shes not been listening to her agent.

The A list the stars from 24, people like Kiefer Sutherland, Elisha Cuthbert and Carlos Bernard - tend not to have much experience of the interactive market either (and not too surprisingly theyre rarely videogames players), but their talent more than makes up for that. Kiefer in particular, is quite extraordinary. Hes a very intense man, and once he gets into the mode, hes there bang, bang, bang. With most people, we tried to do at least three takes of all their speech, and to do each utterance three different ways. With Kiefer it was almost always right the first time.

Its interesting to see how actors perceive voice-acting for videogames, as theres already a hierarchy within the Hollywood community. For example, on GhostHunter, which starred Joe Morton, who is a big stage and screen actor, we also had Rob Paulsen, who has a vast number of voice-acting roles behind him. On day one, Joe Morton and Rob Paulsen were working together and Rob was noticeably deferential to this guy whod been in theatre most of his working life. Then on day two, Rob was in doing takes with a group of ancillary actors who were all saying Wow! I cant believe you got Rob Paulsen on this! Hes great. Have you heard him in Ninja Turtles/Animaniacs/Pinky and the Brain/etc?

Aside from the stars, you expect voice actors to be able to double up in their roles and take on a number of parts this happens a lot in animated movies as well, not just games. Sometimes getting an actor to play multiple characters can be problematic - you can ask the guys to do several different voices and they obviously have to modify their voice tones to make it notably different for each character. Sometimes however they can exaggerate these differences and start to sound too cartoonish. Sometimes its easier for the actors to differentiate the characters they are tackling by producing very strong accents rather than more subtle variations; whilst you want a range of accents in something like 24, you dont want to go from Surfer Dude, to Texan to Brooklyn all in one scene!

One of the things we were most concerned about was getting the best from the actors, as quickly as possible I mean, theyre rarely cheap! We decided that there were a couple of things that would help. First, we got Paul Gadd a Producer from the TV show to come and act as our Voice Director and secondly we also got in a line bouncer that the actors were used to working with. The idea was that we would make everything seem as close to a normal working day on the show for them as possible even down to hiring the same recording studio that they use for ADR. It worked.

The less game-experienced actors tended to be quite surprised when they saw the sheer size and quality of the script, and then more than surprised, in fact, Id go so far as to say shocked, when we showed them the game, especially how good the cut-scenes are. The game graphics themselves are excellent, of course, but because we can play with the camera more, the cut-scenes are we hope virtually indistinguishable from watching the show.

In some ways directing the 24 actors has been easier than with a game thats an original property, in that they already know their characters, they know how they behave; they know how the show turns out. Having 24s scriptwriter Duppy Demetrius as our story coordinator and writer has ensured absolute continuity from a character development point of view.

Given that we had one of the shows scriptwriters on board to write the cutscene script its probably not surprising that the actors were very happy with it and recorded it pretty much word for word. Unfortunately we cant say the same for the in-game action dialogue (consisting of isolated utterances) which had to go through several revisions before it was good enough. It really is very tricky to write believable, easy to deliver lines that are solely designed to provide quick snippets of information to the player! In fact we did have one instance when Kiefer looked at an in-game line, then looked at us and said Theres no way those words are coming out of my mouth! needless to say we soon rewrote that particular line.

We have some dedicated motion capture days set aside but Im not sure if well use them, as the character animation is progressing very well at present. We do have motion capture actors that were very happy with so weve not yet used specific actors like Kiefer or Elisha Cuthbert. Perhaps having the shows actors motion capture their own moves will be the next big thing, but the skills required are subtly different from the acting theyre used to, and so time consuming, that perhaps this will remain a separate issue for some while yet.

-Mark Green

GH Editorial: Conflict: Global Terror Dev Diary

Shiva Stella — Fri, 05 Aug 2005 15:08:00 -0500

This article was originally published on Gaming Horizon, GameBump's predecessor.

Jim Bambra, Managing Director of developing house Pivotal Games, has written the first developer diary for Conflict: Global Terror. The article includes a run-down on the storyline, brief character biographies, and how the team decided to personify their characters further. You can expect Global Terror to release this fall for the PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 2.

Conflict: Global Terror Developer Diary 1
By Jim Bambra, Managing Director Pivotal Games

When we started to design Conflict: Global Terror we decided that it would be great to use the same Special Forces team as had been featured in Conflict: Desert Storm I & II. After doing two games with these guys we knew them very well and were keen to develop them further. Many Conflict players were also great fans of the characters and were demanding their return.

This time we wanted to do something a bit different. While everyone knew that Bradley was the leader, Connors was the heavy weapons expert, Jones took care of demolitions, and Foley was the sniper, little was known of their personalities. While everyone at Pivotal plays Conflict games slightly differently, many people thought of the characters in similar ways. Bradley emerged as the mission must come first leader; Connors as the brash and aggressive action hero; Jones as the worrier; and Foley as patient and cautious, as befits his role.

Having sketched out the characters, we then explored how they would work in a team dynamic. We wanted to show the characters discussing what was going on, offering their opinions on events, and generally having a good-natured go at each other. Then to spice things up, we got rid of Foley part way through the game and introduced a new female sniper. Now the team had to deal with the loss of a longstanding member, but also integrate a new member at a time when it becomes apparent that someone was setting them up. All this has enabled us to grow the characters and show them as real people.

The Story

Conflict: Global Terror is set in the fall of 2006. Its near-future storyline is based on real events as well as recognized terrorist threats. Early on, the decision was made to focus on terrorist groups other than al-Qaeda. A look at known terrorist groups showed them spread across the world; each interested in their own goals, but also loosely linked to one another. At the same time we spoke to our expert consultants who confirmed that terrorist groups often traded weapons and drugs with each other, and were even known to carry out terrorist attacks for one another.

After two games set in the deserts of the Gulf and one in the jungles of Vietnam, wed pretty much had enough of those environments. It was time to do something more varied and on a global scale. Rather than go for a loosely linked series of defeating terrorists wherever they appeared, we needed to link them together in an overall story arc which would end in a major world-shaking event. To do this we needed a back story that would link the terrorist groups together but also personally involve the team. From this the characters of a double-agent, and terrorist organizer Karl Mandel, were born.

In the early phases of the game, Mandel appears as a target to be captured. He is to be brought in for interrogation. As the game starts, hes known to be in Colombia dealing with a narco-terrorist group. A high-profile member of the team's organization is on Mandels payroll and tips him off about the team. The team is captured by the narco-terrorists, but manages to escape and finally capture Mandel. Unfortunately, this isnt achieved without a price to pay. Foley goes M.I.A. and is left behind by the team. At this stage the team is unaware who betrayed them, but they link Foleys disappearance directly to the traitor.

A series of events unfold that takes the team to South Korea, the Ukraine, Chechnya, North Africa, the Philippines, and finally to the mountains of Kashmir. Along the way the team gets to fight terrorists in the streets of Seoul, at a chemical plant, in a nuclear reactor at the time of meltdown, a jungle base, and at a Korean village and bunker complex. As they do so they discover more about Mandel and find out who has betrayed them. The organization that Mandel and the traitor work for also becomes apparent, and their plans for global destabilization are revealed. The story builds towards its climax with Mandel inciting a major war. At the end its a race against time to stop Mandel and avert a major terrorist threat.

The back story was designed to fulfill many different but related goals. It had to present an exciting and plausible series of events involving terrorist activities as diverse as holding hostages and planting dirty bombs. It also had to depict terrorism on a global scale, and build towards a dramatic conclusion. And it also had to provide a narrative that would involve the team personally and give them reasons to be out risking their lives. It had to provide stunning game environments and greatly varied mission objectives. Most importantly, it had to be fun!

Character Biographies

Sergeant John Bradley
Role: Team Leader, Rifleman
Height: 60
Build: Muscular, Slim
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 39
DOB: May 15, 1967
POB: Chicago, Illinois

Military Record
101st Airborne Division
U.S. Army Rangers
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta Force
CODEX Red Team

Profile
Natural leader and all-round action hero, Bradley is one of the most respected Special Forces operatives in current active service. Implicitly familiar with any form of assault rifle or pistol, Bradleys cool composure under fire inspires confidence in all who serve with him.

Preferred weapons
M4A1 assault rifle with M203 grenade launcher attachment
Mk23 silenced pistol
Claymore mines

Corporal David Jones
Role: Demolitions
Height: 511
Build: Muscular, Slim
Ethnicity: African American
Age: 35
DOB: March 2, 1970
POB: Detroit, Michigan

Military Record
U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division
U.S. Army Rangers
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta Force
CODEX Red Team

Profile
Ignoring his parents advice to not play with fireworks, Jones has grown up to become the Special Forces explosives expert. A demolition genius be it destroying fuel and ammo dumps or clearing barriers Jones also doubles as a dependable SMG MC1shotgun-toting combat operative.

Preferred weapons
MP5SD silenced machine gun
Striker automatic shotgun
C4 charges

Corporal Mick Connors
Role: Support Gunner, Anti Tank Specialist
Height: 62
Build: Heavy, Muscular
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 35
DOB: January 28, 1971
POB: Hells Kitchen, New York City

Military Record
U.S. Army 1st Infantry Division
U.S. Army Special Forces Command (Green Berets)
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta Force
CODEX Red Team

Profile
Connors is a one-man army and heavy weapons fetishist. His superior build allows him to carry the largest arsenal and hes happiest when laying down cover fire for the rest of the squad. Predictably, Connors is also the man best equipped to dispose of tanks or to take over gun turret duties.

Preferred weapons
M60E3 light machine gun
0.50 cal Desert Eagle pistol
LAW 66 anti-tank rocket

Corporal Paul Foley
Role: Sniper
Height: 59
Build: Athletic, Slim
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 36
DOB: April 18, 1970
POB: Jacksonville, Alabama

Military Record
U.S. Army 3rd Infantry Division
U.S. Army Rangers
1st Special Forces Operational Detachment - Delta Force
CODEX Red Team

Profile
A sharp shooting sniper extraordinaire, Foley still holds the record for the longest distance single-shot kill having taken down an enemy positioned nearly two miles away. Exceptionally cool and calm under pressure, you can rely on Foley to cover your back.

Preferred weapons
WA2000 sniper rifle
Beretta 93R pistol

Corporal Carrie Sherman

Role: Sniper
Height: 58
Build: Athletic, Slim
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Age: 27
DOB: June 8, 1979
POB: Seattle, Washington

Police/Military Record
Seattle SWAT
CODEX Red Team

Profile
One of the first women to be assigned to an active Special Forces unit, newcomer Sherman is an accomplished counter-terrorist sniper instructor with considerable field experience. Her excellent tactical knowledge and rock-steady aim make her the perfect addition to the team.

Preferred weapons
DSR-1 sniper rifle
MAC10 silenced sub machine gun