<![CDATA[[PlayRatty] tag: city]]> http://www.playratty.com/tag/city Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:37:00 +0000 iRatty Engine http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Turbine Expands Coast to Coast]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/23b867098a976c91059bc04ca08072a0 http://www.playratty.com/article/23b867098a976c91059bc04ca08072a0

Turbine has followed the call to go west and spread its business coast to coast. The new Redwood City, California studio will be headed by new recruits Dave Brevik as Creative Director, Jeff Lind as Engineering Director and Matt McKnight as Studio Director.

The growing developer has several MMOs to its name including Asheron’s Call, Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach and Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. The first LOTRO expansion Mines of Moria is out next month and Turbine expects to have a social gaming network up and running by the end of the year. A new console MMO is also in the works. The west-coast studio is just another step in Turbine’s longterm plans for growth as one of the largest privately-held developers of online games in North America. Look for more new projects with the same attention to detail that has made Turbine a very successful developer of MMOs.

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]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:17:21 +0000 coast business coast turbine west-coast studio west director east coast creative director 4th edition Turbine Expands Coast to Coast <![CDATA[PS3 still has an exclusive with White Knight Chronicles]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/632a83806a9ff9380e7a4b440bd9cbee http://www.playratty.com/article/632a83806a9ff9380e7a4b440bd9cbee

It’s OK Sony fans. Sure the Xbox 360 is getting Tekken 6, and it’s true that they’ll be getting Blu-ray capability soon. There is still hope the PlayStation 3 will recover faster than our economy. They’ve still got great exclusives in the future like LittleBigPlanet and the game staring that seven-meters-tall bad ass pictured above, White Knight Chronicles – “the forthcoming flagship role-playing title for PS3.”

White Knight Chronicles features an epic single-player quest grounded in a huge and lavishly-designed medieval world filled with awe-inspiring mountains, a castle, a cavernous mine and even a giant mobile city built on the back of an enormous creature. The story begins when an evil corporation (they had those in the dark ages?) called “Wizard” attacks during Princess Cisna’s coming-of-age banquet. Our hero Leonard tries to help her escape by hiding out in the castle cellars. There he finds ancient and magical armor that will turn him into the hulking White Knight.

From this point the story takes off on that epic quest, which should take 50 to 60 hours to complete. However, players don’t have to go it alone the whole way. Developer LEVEL 5 has blessed this quest with the ability to band into teams of four via the PlayStation Network. The online-quest mode will not however be integrated into the main story mode. Players can complete online quests alone though. Thankfully everything you get in one mode like money, gear and stats will transfer over into the other mode.

White Knight Chronicles is set to release in Japan on Christmas Day, while the rest of us just have to wait a little longer for our White Knight.

]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 18:50:37 +0000 white knight white knight chronicles mode epic quest quest main story mode epic single-player quest complete online quests complete PS3 still has an exclusive with White Knight Chronicles <![CDATA[Cryptic Recruiting for Champions Online Closed Beta]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/de820dc18c4a3e0490daba083f52175b http://www.playratty.com/article/de820dc18c4a3e0490daba083f52175b

Cryptic has sent out an open invitation for gamers to submit applications for the Champions Online closed beta. The beta test is specifically for the PC at this time, although the MMO has been approved for the Xbox 360. You can get your name into the lottery by registering at the Champions Online site.

I can’t help but be excited to see what Cryptic is ready to put out there since I played it last summer at a press event. The graphics and animations were good and suited the comic book format. This is an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with a game that has promised to reinvent the superhero MMO. Cryptic cut its teeth on City of Heroes and has poured its experience into making Champions Online new game. I believe it’s a winner.

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]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:41:08 +0000 champions online cryptic champions online concept cryptic champions online champions online suits champions online screenshots champions online site cryptic cut beta Cryptic Recruiting for Champions Online Closed Beta <![CDATA[Champions Online beta opportunity available]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/6c704ba6314454c444b7c87f3cb117ec http://www.playratty.com/article/6c704ba6314454c444b7c87f3cb117ec Champions Online beta opportunity available screenshot

Cryptic Studios, the developer responsible for City of Heroes, is taking beta applications for Champions Online. The beta is closed and will begin mid-November. People who want to take advantage of the opportunity can find the application here, but only PC gamers are invited.

We’ve seen Champions Online in a few different contexts. Back in July, our very own Qais Fulton said that Champions was “shaping up to be one fantastic game, not just a good MMO.” I was able to get my grubby hands on it during Gen Con this year, and I was quite impressed. Even though the beta is PC-only, players will find that using an Xbox 360 controller is perfect for the game’s stylish, action-oriented combat.

No word on when Cryptic will quit taking applications, but it might be best to get into the pool early. How many of you are interested in Champions? Does it look like it will have enough flair to keep you hooked?

]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:22:00 +0000 champions online champions beta beta applications cryptic studios applications cryptic opportunity developer responsible Champions Online beta opportunity available <![CDATA[THQ shares bounce up as analyst says buy]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/e08da38cfa30a42bed05f0b2eb01ab0f http://www.playratty.com/article/e08da38cfa30a42bed05f0b2eb01ab0f Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:32:01 +0000 thq shares positive city story stocks valuation percent firms stock attractive cents nasdaq mire THQ shares bounce up as analyst says buy <![CDATA[Ex-Flagship execs recruited for new Turbine studio ]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/b3ab9ff4d52f56485dfee99d76371af9 http://www.playratty.com/article/b3ab9ff4d52f56485dfee99d76371af9 Filed under: ,

While Flagship's maiden voyage may have ended up as splintered wreckage at the bottom of the massively multiplayer ocean, a pair of its former crew have found safe harbor at fellow MMO studio, Turbine. The Lord of the Rings Online developer announced that former Flagship execs Dave Brevik and Jeff Lind have joined the company, and will help spearhead a newly opened studio in Redwood City, CA.


The pair is joined by industry vet and former Sniper Studios president and CEO, Matt McKnight, who will serve as the new studio's Director, while Brevik and Lind will take on roles as creative director and engineering director respectively. We offer congratulations and best of luck to all three gentlemen, though we're particularly interested in seeing what Brevik does with his new position. Creative director marks a change from his previous role as Flagship's chief visionary officer, a wise course correction given that his foresight apparently stopped just short of predicting his former employer's impending doom.

 

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]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:30:00 +0000 creative director marks studio creative director director fellow mmo studio mmo flagship jeff lind chief visionary officer Ex-Flagship execs recruited for new Turbine studio <![CDATA[Tourism & Insect Cruelty: Virtual Forbidden City]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/5345ef31d66b2cd77c4c69d672b7bff4 http://www.playratty.com/article/5345ef31d66b2cd77c4c69d672b7bff4 Izzat Patrick Stewart?

Here’s a wonderful concept. Yeah, the execution’s pretty rock-bottom, but it doesn’t stop it from being a great idea. It’s The Forbidden City in China, presented as a free MMO, of sorts. No grinding the Terracotta army or hiding dragons here though - it’s strictly a tourism/educational toy. An Oriental Second Life with tour guides and no unicorn-humping, in a way.
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]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:55:44 +0000 city executions pretty rock-bottom free insect cruelty rock free mmo virtual mmo tour guides Tourism & Insect Cruelty: Virtual Forbidden City <![CDATA[General: Turbine Opens West Coast Office]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/065467ca95b123ab4171c046e54d6f0c http://www.playratty.com/article/065467ca95b123ab4171c046e54d6f0c Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:21:25 +0000 redwood city turbine studio california General: Turbine Opens West Coast Office <![CDATA[Turbine expands with West Coast office]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/20f6a8d07d5b2ca32e49ef57a4b6f01a http://www.playratty.com/article/20f6a8d07d5b2ca32e49ef57a4b6f01a Filed under: , , , ,

Need more proof that Turbine is becoming a behemoth game studio? They've just announced the opening of their newest West Coast studio in Redwood City, CA. This studio is not a relocation from their Massachusetts office, but an expanded studio to bring new titles to market and expand into other platforms.To head this new studio, Turbine has hired some industry giants, such as Dave Bervik as Creative Director, Jeff Lind as Engineering Director and Matt McKnight as Studio Director. Take a look at the complete press release after the jump to learn more about Turbine's plans with this new studio,...

Continue reading Turbine expands with West Coast office

 

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]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:00:00 +0000 studio director west coast studio creative director turbine turbine expands studio director behemoth game studio west coast office Turbine expands with West Coast office <![CDATA[So Here I Am - New York City!]]> http://www.playratty.com/article/4095d5caafcbed76be25c503f9a16bc0 http://www.playratty.com/article/4095d5caafcbed76be25c503f9a16bc0
After 12 hours (if not more) of travelling i finally made it to New York City (Big Apple) and what a wounderful city it is, every corner you turn you see a building thats been in a film - but im not here for the sights.

Womworld Website Members (A Blog that posts about the latest N-Series phones and news) invited me and Norman from Symbian World to go to New York City to take part in a new N-Gage Campaign, at the moment the details of the campign are still tight - so i'll find out more later today and hopefully be able to post up my experiences later tonight, but so far its been a fun roller-coaster ride.

So in a weeks time i went from a holiday in spain, to a day home, to a 3-day n-gage trip in america. Can life be anymore fun and interesting than this, well ill definately find out later on, either way heres a few dodgey pictures i took on my N81, enjoy!



A Standard Yellow New York City Taxi cab, just like in the movies and TV Programs.












Picture of the two guys i caught a plane with, on the left is Colin (from Womworld) and on the right is Norman (from Symbian World).
]]> Mon, 13 Oct 2008 10:37:00 +0000 york city symbian world womworld womworld website 3-day n-gage trip day home n-gage campaign n-series phones fun roller-coaster So Here I Am - New York City!