I’ll never cease to be amazed at the passion displayed by some videogame fans. Recently, we tossed up a few select screenshots of EarthBound creatures created in Spore. They were splendidly done and elicited a smile from more than a few us here. Not to be outdone, our very community member free touch has created his own unique EarthBound creation – in the form of an Xbox 360 faceplate.

As you can see above, it’s a delightful rendition of the main characters and logo of the game. In his C-blog, free touch gives a few details as to what went into his creation, including the usage of custom colors and an obviously steady hand.

It’s a sharp creation, and I’m glad he decided to share it with us. I lack the ability to draw and paint, so I typically end up baking my videogame creations. It definitely lacks the style, but it tastes good in the end. Something tells me that plastic and paint lacks sugar and the ability to digest properly.

When “Age of Conan” came out in May, the hype machine was in full force for the M-rated MMO based on Robert E. Howard’s Conan the Barbarian.

Though the game released to strong retail sales and started with over 400,000 players, several major issues with the game popped up — including system performance, game balance, Player vs. Player, to name a few.

Matters weren’t helped with the unexpected departure of the game’s director, as well as the recent announcement that the company would merge its servers (which we’ve heard isn’t necessarily a good sign).

With all these problems swirling, Funcom product director Jørgen Tharaldsen got in touch with Multiplayer today to defend the game. He was responding to questions I sent last month regarding the state of “Age of Conan,” what the company is doing with the game moving forward and an update on the Xbox 360 version. Here are his responses:

[Image Credit: Espen Sjølingstad Hoen]

MTV Multiplayer: How does Funcom feel about the current state of “Age of Conan”?

Jørgen Tharaldsen, Funcom product director: On some parameters, we are happy about how the game is going. For instance, on how we have been able to greatly evolve “Age of Conan” since launch, turning it more into the unique and visionary MMO we want it to be. But on other parameters, we still have ways to go.

“I think we also rushed the deployment of too many servers too fast.”

I think it’s okay to say that we simply didn’t deliver as good as we should have on all the launch features. That said, I do think we went out the gate with some extremely strong ones too (i.e. combat, graphics, presentation, audio, maturity, story and quests, Tortage etc.), which made us a giga-hit in retail and gave us some great reviews. But on other features we just didn’t polish it well enough, including our items, tradeskills, system performance and PvP.

So this is what we are working on now, merging the various strong and weak points into one cohesive “great” whole, where every addition we make is about getting great quality, across the board.

We did add new servers shortly after launch, but in our eagerness to please I think we also rushed the deployment of too many servers too fast. So what we are looking at now is actually merging servers, since this will make the game better for our players.

MTV Multiplayer: How is the Xbox 360 version of “Age of Conan” coming along?

Tharaldsen: While there is a dedicated specialist team working on the Xbox version, it’s the live PC game we want to speak about and focus most of our resources on right now. We feel confident that there is a time for consoles as well, but right now we put most of our devs on the PC version.

MTV Multiplayer: Is Funcom aware of fans’ disappointment with some of the promised things not appearing in the game? If so, how are you addressing those issues?

Tharaldsen: Oh yeah, very aware, I would say. And we are naturally working hard to ensure that this disappointment gets changed into something positive. Firstly, it’s important to note that these kinds of “things” break down clearly into two very different situations. You have some ideas that were just that: ideas, when we came to actually implement them in the game they simply didn’t work well, or at all.

Sometimes when you take an idea from concept and plans on paper to balance in the game it just doesn’t fit, or causes too many other issues. In those cases, it’s actually better that we cut them; those were informed decisions in the best interests of the overall player experience — formation combat was probably the major thing here. In practice it just didn’t work anywhere near as well as it sounded like it should on paper. We are glad we didn’t try and force something through there for the sake of it!

“As a result the game many played in their heads before launch didn’t necessarily match the game delivered.”

Then of course there are the areas that, at some point during the final stretch, we were caught between a rock (time and resources) and a hard place (our promises), and that the end results did not deliver on all the promises made. Personally, as I see it, I think this let down some people more than what the game actually delivered (because “Conan” is an awesome game in many ways!).

As a result the game many played in their heads before launch didn’t necessarily match the game delivered. It’s easy to be wise in hindsight, but now that we are past the launch crunch we have time and resources to focus more on the quality of each deliverable, as well as time to put focus on what is important to the players, right here and now. And this is the way forward: more real results, and then results which lead to fun and meaningful experiences inside the game.

MTV Multiplayer: What is Funcom specifically doing to fix the balance issues in the game? The PvP system and siege systems?

Tharaldsen: First of all, for the non-siege PvP we are now adding many of the features we envisioned during pre-launch development, like PvP levels, PvP items and a PvP consequence system, and all of that is happening this autumn. I know that this makes the PvP experience much more fun, and as a part of this balance comes into play, of course. At the same time we have gone through every single class, and the first stage has been about weeding out issues the players reported (and we saw).

The second stage we are now entering will be about rebalancing and adding more content as needed for the various classes. This will take time, and honestly, this work will never end. It will go on ceaselessly, “for all eternity” (read: as long as the game is in live operations so most likely many, many years). Like for any MMO, some classes have bigger issues than others, and we are hence doing them in a prioritized order.

When it comes to the sieging, what we first prioritized was ensuring that the experience was fun and smooth for the players, and this meant fixing the performance issues, and improving the framerate so it could handle the larger battles across more machine set-ups.

Then it was a matter of solving issues related to the system itself. This has been more or less completed now, and the players are able to siege other guilds’ battle-keeps and compete for the territories without technical issues getting in the way. The players seem to be feeling — and they let us know — that it’s a lot of fun to play now, and I feel certain it will be even more fun going into the future.

We have then been carefully working on the balance at the same time and will continue to do that so the experience gets better. There will always be ongoing things to adjust for massive systems like this, but the team is on top of it and making corrections as we move forward.

MTV Multiplayer: Was the female character animation fix completed? [This question referred to the female characters' attack speeds being slower than male characters due to an animation issue.]

Tharaldsen: This one was actually fixed well over a month ago. It was identified relatively quickly and was caused by an inconsistency in the back-end of our animation system, so it took a little while to actually do the work to go through all those animations and correct the errors. Those fixes those were released as soon as it was completed several updates back.

“The memory and word of mouth of what we once were compared to what we have done to the game since launch, and where we are going, doesn’t necessarily match up.”

I also think the question is symptomatic of some of the word of mouth issues we have. There is no denying that we launched “Age of Conan” with initial issues, but the memory and word of mouth of what we once were compared to what we have done to the game since launch, and where we are going, doesn’t necessarily match up. As work continues on making Conan better and better, I do however think that this will change!

MTV Multiplayer: On a Blizzard financial call, it was said that 40% of “WoW” subscribers who left for “Age of Conan” have since returned. What is Funcom’s response to this?

Tharaldsen: That people migrate between games comes as no surprise, and, out of those, most naturally leave shortly after the start of the live cycle (like we are in now). I both hope and think that many will come back to try “Conan” again when they hear from friends how greatly it evolves, and that players who have never tried it will pop by as well.

“For us, the primary way forward is not by trying to take ‘WoW’ players back.”

Still, for us, the primary way forward is not by trying to take “WoW” players back, but delivering great content to our many existing players. This will be, and is, our core priority, and then eventually, when the time is right, we will naturally invite those who left us for a new swing, for free, and I guess that the “proof will be in the pudding” when that time comes. That second return is about trust and adding enough new content, and this is naturally one of our key challenges going into 2009.

MTV Multiplayer: What do you say to critics who think the game could’ve benefited from a few extra months of production?

Tharaldsen: I should naturally stick to our guns and say, “It came as planned,” which it did. But I think hardcore MMO gamers have heard and perhaps seen that “Conan” could have been a better game with some extra production time. On the flipside of this, I know we aren’t the first, or the last, when it comes to such a conclusion on a MMO game, but that is no excuse. We should have had more polish on some of our features straight out the gate.

MTV Multiplayer: Do you think it will be difficult to gain or maintain subscribers with “Warhammer Online” out now and “Wrath of the Lich King” coming out soon?

Tharaldsen: I don’t think anything is easy in the world of MMO’s, and fighting to get new subscribers is a constant challenge. Now it’s “WAR” and “Lich King” — going forward there will be many others. This challenge never ends, and only be delivering a different and better game experience will we be able to compete among the world’s top MMO companies.

I think we can also see, pretty clearly, the competitive landscape for fantasy MMO’s well into 2011 or so. For the fantasy genre there are some five plus western majors which are live (”WoW,” “WAR,” “Lord of the Rings Online,” “Guild Wars,” “Conan” and “EverQuest,” with dark horses here and there), and only a few major ones (that I know of) which are coming up in the next couple of years. That means we have a solid chance of remaining a key contender in the fantasy space for many years to come, with strengths the others won’t match.

We won’t ever be #1 like “WoW,” but we will for sure fight for the space below them. This we know, and this is what we are working towards when adding more content; how to avoid the clone wars, go our own way, and make “Conan” into a progressively better game all the time.

***

“Age of Conan” players, are you satisfied with what Funcom is doing to improve the game?

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A Horse Covered in Ping Pong Balls — The ‘Age of Conan’ Mo-Cap Shoot
All of MTV Multiplayer’s “Age of Conan” News

Some new images of Gamecock/Spark Unlimited's Legendary have been thrown our way and once again, they show the game's diverse team of creatures ranging from werewolves to griffins to tentacle monsters that look like extras from a hentai flick.

The achievements for Legendary, which are listed after the jump, are mostly your standard "beat this level, kill that thing"-type challenges, but I have to give credit for the unique titles these achievements sport (heh, "Barf Piñata").

Look out for Legendary on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on October 21. Seriously guys, could you have picked a more busy time for your game to launch?

Japanese publisher/developer Level 5 made headlines lately when they announced a slew of new games at their 10th anniversary conference. Ninokuni, an RPG to be developed alongside acclaimed animation house Studio Ghibli, has especially been turning heads. The October 10th issue of the Weekly Famitsu showcased an interview with the president of Level 5, Akihiro Hino. Famitsu’s editor-in-chief, Katsuaki Kato, chats with Hino about the history of Level 5 in this, the first part of the interview. Stay tuned for more details about Ninokuni in parts two and three.

Weekly Famitsu Editor-in-chief Katsuaki Kato: First of all, congratulations on Level 5’s 10th anniversary. It’s already been 10 years, huh?

Level 5 President Akihiro Hino: Thank you. Yes, it went by in a flash. It feels just like yesterday that we were establishing this company.

Kato: Your first game was Dark Cloud, right? We all took notice when your first game was a unique RPG that really pushed the PS2, but before we knew it, you had made Dragon Quest VIII, and then became a publisher and made the Professor Layton series into a big hit. You guys are really becoming a juggernaut. As president, were you thinking of becoming a publisher from the start?

Hino: No, we had absolutely no aspirations to become a publisher. At the time, we thought it was unnecessary. Rather, we thought it was most important to make games that we were satisied with. We just thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to make good games, and to be able to put food on the table?”

Kato: I see. So you want the name ‘Level 5′ to denote good games?

Hino: That’s right. Like I said, at the beginning, we just wanted to make good, satisfying games. But in order for those projects to be accepted and loved by many people, of course, we have to sell a lot of copies, so we need to get results in that financial sense.

While we were working on DQVIII, we could sense the greatness of the series, and we started to change our thinking towards succeeding as a publisher. Our drive to surprise people also became a lot stronger. We want to do something different every time we make a game, and we want to make products that surpirse and interest gamers and non-gamers alike.

Kato: I can certainly buy that, because all of your recent announcements have been completely surpirsing (laughs). This being your 10th anniversary, this conference is unprecedentedly large. We’re really looking forward to the surprising new games you’ve announced here. The first is Ninokuni. It’s one of your “10th Anniversary Commemoration” games, right?

Hino: That’s correct. Ninokuni is one of the three games we’ve dubbed in our “10th Anniversary Commemoration” line of products. All of them are planned for 2009 releases, but it looks like Ninokuni will hit first.

The save feature is something we simply expect from videogames today. Saving has become so ingrained into the medium that practically all games now do it for you automatically. But when console gaming was still in its earlier stages, complicated passwords were much more common, probably due to the expense of manufacturing cartridges that used a battery to maintain your save files.

The problem with passwords, apart from the irritation of having to enter them in using a controller, is that they were one more thing you had to keep track of. Some of us kept notebooks with all of our passwords in them. More often than not, you'd just jot one down on a spare piece of paper. And when you lost the paper (or, God forbid, a notebook), you would start the game over from the beginning again.

Many of the hundred or so cartridges in my NES library use passwords to continue progress, but Rad Gravity is unique among them. Wrapped around the back of the cart are two strips of masking tape with a password to the final level of the game written on them in magic marker. It took me the better part of a summer to earn the code and I wasn't about to lose all of that hard work. It's been there for fifteen years and I have yet to finish that final level.

Of course, I was barely a teenager at that time. I've played a lot of really challenging games since. Maybe now I can complete it and close another chapter of my gaming history.

Here’s the latest Fallout 3 coverage from around the internet.

Since our last update, Gus Mastrapa of Crispy Gamer has completed his hands-on preview trilogy. Click here for the cliffhanger, and here for his celebration with the Ewoks.  

Also coming out of Pete’s trip out to San Fran — there’s a new preview from GamesRadar, as well as a new interview at GameRevolution. Here’s a snippet from the latter:

GameRevolution: Can you talk a little about the work and prep that went into rendering believable post-apocalyptic environs based in and near Washington, D.C?

Pete Hines: A lot of research went into figuring out what buildings in DC would have existed in the Fallout universe, since that world splits off from the world we know after WWII. So you’ll see landmarks you may recognize, and a number of things you won’t because they’re unique to the Fallout world. Our artists spent a lot of time figuring out how to incorporate the design influences of that period with the buildings they created so that it feels both familiar and slightly “off” at the same time. 

To read the rest of Pete’s interview at GameRevolution, head here.

Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, a new role-playing for the Nintendo DS, is the best Sonic the Hedgehoggame in years.

Consider that both a compliment and an insult: Sonic Chronicles , developed by BioWare, is a success for Sega mascot's only because it's unlike any previous game featuring the character.

By focusing purely on what it does best, BioWare has created a whimsical, accessible, handheld role-playing adventure that almost totally eschews the detritus that has come to define Sonicin recent years.

Unfortunately, even Sonic Chronicles' most enjoyable RPG elements can't completely mask the negative aftertaste of the hedgehog's expanded, hyper-anthropomorphized universe.

If you're a gamer, the name BioWare probably conjures up memories of exquisitely deep role-playing experiences filled with characters who almost never fall into an easily defined "good" or "evil" role.

BioWare is almost defined by the shades of gray in its storytelling, so how could the developer possibly tell a story set in a colorful, cutesy-poo, saccharine-sweet world where the good guys have sparkling white teeth and well-coiffed hair?

Surprisingly well, actually.

Over the last few years, Sega has done its best to ruin Sonic's good name. From turning him into a werewolf to eschewing the single most crucial facet of Sonic's personality -- his speed -- in favor of gimmicky "attitude," times have been bleak for The Blue Blur.

Key to the success of what BioWare has done here is a metaphorical pruning of the Sonic the Hedgehogseries' extraneous "limbs." Not being both blind and deaf, BioWare seemingly realized that Sega's recent work on the 'hog had been detrimental to the character, and so created a role-playing title that feels like it's based on the 16-bit Sonictitles (or, at least, the 2-D, handheld Sonic Rushseries).

Sadly, BioWare can't quite capture the jubilliant freedom of spring across the landscape at the speed of sound. Instead, most of the game is spent methodically meandering around Sonic's home world.

This leads to the game's first major flaw: its control mechanisms.

Remember when the Nintendo DS was first released and developers felt the need to shoehorn stylus use into every game they made? BioWare seemingly thought that sort of slavish devotion to the stylus was a great idea.

In Sonic Chronicles, you tap the screen to run to a point, tap context-sensitive icons to jump up ledges or run through a 360 degree loop, and tap icons on the map to destroy obstacles. The system is far from difficult, but it's so mind-numbingly brain dead that you have to wonder if BioWare wasn't aiming this game directly at the preschool crowd.

Honestly, by forbidding the use of the DS' much more intuitive directional pad, BioWare ensured that the vast majority of players will be annoyed by the game within the first 10 minutes of play.

This heavy reliance on the stylus does add a novel twist to combat, though. In Chronicles,each of your party members uses a standard attack complimented by a handful of "spells." These character-specific attacks take advantage of the character's themes: For instance, Sonic uses his speed to attack foes, Tails uses technology to heal and harm robots, and so on.

Instead of the typical "select a spell, watch the animation, see your foes die" routine of most RPGs, Chroniclesadds an interactive twist. Each spell has a certain pattern of taps and swipes you must complete with the stylus during casting for it to work. Certain spells require a perfect re-enactment of the spell's moves, while others -- generally attack spells -- are difficult to outright fail, although mimicking these forgiving spells perfectly will do much more damage.

This new system is complex to be sure, especially since each spell has unique stylus maneuvers. But it also adds a novel sort of interaction to what is usually a very passive gameplay mechanic.

What role-playing game would be complete without obnoxiously long side quests that have no crucial bearing on the main story line? Chroniclesattempts to court your need for adorable, collectible critters by including a miniature Chao Garden in the game.

As you play through the story line, you'll find eggs that can be hatched into supercute ragamuffins dubbed "Chaos." Aside from filling the scenic Chao Garden found in your Options menu with a legion of cuteness, the Chaos also double as a kind of magical armor. By bonding a Chao to a character, it affects your stats in a number of ways; once you start finding rare Chaos, you'll realize that these lil' guys are the best items in the game.

Overall, Sonic Chroniclesis an above-average game with the potential to be truly fantastic, possibly even good enough to make Sonic's legions of fans forget about the last decade of disappointing games.

If you've ever been a fan of Sonic or have grown tired of Final Fantasy-style role-playing titles on your handheld, Sonic Chronicles' $35 price tag is well worth it. If enough gamers buy it, perhaps BioWare will put together a sequel that amends its quirky annoyances.

Images courtesy Sega

WIREDInventive spell system, great graphics, surprisingly intriguing story line

TIREDForced stylus usage, still needs more speed

$35, Sega

Rating:

Read Game|Life's game ratings guide.

See Also:

• Review: Warhammer OnlineLives Up to the Hype
• SonicCreator Teases Game for Penguins
• Opinion: Sonic the HedgehogMust Die
• Sega Brings Sword-Wielding Sonic to Wii
• Review: Witcher Enhanced EditionTells Beautiful Story

Nintendo has confirmed that software specifically created for the DSi will be region-locked, with European, North American and Japanese software only working on consoles designed for their specific regions. …

The company added: “Also because we are including parental control functionality for Nintendo DSi and each region has its unique age limit made by different independent bodies.” …

This only applies to software that is compatible exclusively with the DSi - existing DS software remains region-free. Internet browsing and photo sharing also works globally.

However, it should be noted that the region lock only applies to the downloadable software and apps that they will be releasing. We should still be able to play all cartridge based software. Also, does the DSi really need to have parental controls? Even with Grand Theft Auto - China Town Wars is it really necessary to lock out what games our youths can play on the hand held?

[GameIndustry - DSi Region Lock]

Eidos announced today that a Tomb Raider: Underworld demo will be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace some time this month. In addition, two downloadable chapters containing up to six hours of new gameplay have been announced, both exclusive to Xbox 360.

The first new chapter, titled Beneath the Ashes, will be available for download on Marketplace this Christmas while the second, titled Lara’s Shadow, will be available in early 2009. Beneath the Ashes is set after the Underworld story has finished and features new environments, unlockable secrets and an expanded range of enemies. Lara’s Shadow will introduce players to a new kind of playable character that is said to create a unique Tomb Raider experience.

No pricing has yet been announced for the chapters and its is unknown whether the demo will be available on the PlayStation 3. Expect more on this soon. Tomb Raider: Underworld is set to ship on November 18 in North America (November 21 in Europe) on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, PlayStation 2, Nintendo DS, and PC.