EA Shot Down Ultima Online Pitch 3 Times
Electronic Arts needed a whole lot of convincing before Ultima creator Richard "Lord British" Garriott was given the green light to make Ultima Online.
On the latest episode of our interview show IGN Unfiltered, Garriott shared the story behind the creation of Ultima Online. He and his team wanted to make a multiplayer Ultima game—which they referred to internally as "Multima"—for quite some time, but waited until the market was ready for such a product.
When the internet started to take off, Garriott and Starr Long decided now was the time to finally pitch their "Multima" idea to EA. As part of the publisher's proposal process, Garriott said the project's lifetime sales estimate needed to justify the costs required to make the game, "but the way to determine that is with comparables," of which there were none at the time. The closest comparison they could find had 15,000 sales. So, taking into consideration the appeal of the Ultima brand, they doubled that to 30 thousand, which still wasn't nearly enough to green light the project.
Guardians 2’s Ayesha Explained
Who’s Her? No, no, who is she? Right the first time actually, because Her happens to be her name! She has so many -- Her, Ayesha, Kismet, J’Ridia Starduster, Paragon, and of course, She Who Must Be Obeyed -- but whatever moniker she goes by, she’s the golden-skinned being that once planned a wedding with Adam Warlock. And now actress Elizabeth Debicki is playing Ayesha in the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2!
Of course, some details will be massaged for the Marvel Cinematic Universe version (that sounded dirty) of the character, so we’re here to catch you up on Her and her story as it happened in the original comics. First, we go back to that fateful year 1977, when another sci-fi epic was wowing audiences in theaters…
Xbox One Adding Built-In Tournaments Feature Soon
Microsoft continues to modify the Xbox One experience, this time adding Arena, custom gamerpics and more.
Over on Xbox Wire, Microsoft announced that tournaments will roll out to Xbox Insiders this month. Unveiled at E3 2016, Arena will let Xbox One players participate in competitions through the Xbox One dash, with ESL already creating an event for World of Tanks.
Microsoft showcases the new Arena feature on Xbox One. (Courtesy of Xbox Wire)
IGN UK Deals Competition: Win a Nintendo Switch Console
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IGN have teamed up with ShopTo.net to offer readers a chance to win a Nintendo Switch Console (Grey)! This competition will run until Tuesday 28th March 2017 at 1PM. See Terms and Conditions here.
7 Things to Know about Andromeda If You’re a Mass Effect Newbie
If you’ve never played a Mass Effect game before, don't worry about it. You don’t need to know a shepherd from a Shepard or have an in-depth knowledge of the original trilogy to dive into Andromeda.
The choices made at the end of Mass Effect 3 have no bearing whatsoever on this new narrative. That’s because Andromeda's characters departed the Milky Way in 2185 (the same year that marked the start of Mass Effect 2) meaning it’s entirely possible that the entire fleet has zero knowledge of what happened to the original protagonist, Commander Shepard, or the fate of their home.
Hence Andromeda is essentially a soft reboot, taking place 636 years after the events of the original in a totally different galaxy: Andromeda, rather than the Milky Way.
Shallows Director Rumored to Helm Suicide Squad 2
A new rumour suggests that Jaume Collet-Serra is in the mix to helm Suicide Squad 2 if first pick director Mel Gibson passes.
The rumour comes from Entertainment Journalist Jeff Sneider during a recent appearance on Meet the Movie Press (via BatmanNews). "The name that I have heard, who could be in the mix, is Jaume Collet-Serra", said Sneider, who went on to explain that Collet-Serra is a home grown director for Warner Bros., having cut his teeth on Warner horrors House of Wax and Orphan (his most recent film was The Shallows, the Blake-Lively starring shark movie). "He delivers hit on a mid sized budget, he can make a lot out of a little," said Sneider.
Australian Senator Attacks Censorship, Classification Board
Australian Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm has criticised the Government and the Australian Classification Board in a speech delivered to the Senate yesterday.
The Senate crossbencher highlighted the recent case of Outlast II, which was refused classification late last week due to a rape sequence during one of the game’s cut-scenes.
“This video game takes place in a fantasy world involving all kinds of creatures both human and non-human,” said Leyonhjelm. “The mere suggestion of an out-of-screen encounter between a creature and a human character was enough to get it banned altogether by the Australian Classification Board.”
Why Bernie Wrightson Was a Comic Book Legend
The comic book industry suffered a huge blow this past weekend with the tragic passing of Bernie Wrightson. Easily one of the most talented artists ever to work in the medium, Wrightson left behind a very impressive body of work spanning many decades.
Sadly, because Wrightson wasn't as active in recent years, not all comic readers may be aware of his talent and influence. To honor the late, legendary artist, we've put together a brief retrospective of his work, from Swamp Thing to Frankenstein to Batman.
Wrightson passed away this past weekend after a long battle with brain cancer. He'll be sorely missed, but we're grateful he left behind such a wide and impressive body of work.
Cross-Platform Play Is Way Harder Than You Might Think
I'll never forget when I was a bright-eyed young gamer and home consoles were starting to boast online play. I loved the idea of sitting at home on the couch and playing with my friends a few suburbs over.
I’d always been a PC gamer, but this new wave of consoles intrigued me enough to buy one. Of course, I had to decide if I wanted a PS2 or an Xbox. The deciding factor came down to what my friends had, and what games we could play together. The going was tough, and it was a pretty harrowing choice, but I ended up with a PlayStation 2, and that decision cemented my loyalty to Sony to this day.
For generations now, gamers have been defining themselves by console choice; the PlayStation and Xbox camps gnashing their teeth while PC gamers sit back and watch with an air of superiority. And that’s without mentioning the Nintendo fans - jumping up and down with renewed vigour because the Switch might let them compete in the third party scene again… We’ll see.
Nathan Drake Won’t Appear in Uncharted DLC ‘At All’
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy will put the spotlight on two previous supporting characters in the Uncharted universe, but don't expect its central protagonist to appear in the upcoming standalone expansion.
Following up about previous statements regarding Nathan Drake's involvement in The Lost Legacy, Game Director Kurt Margenau confirmed to the PlayStation Blog that the star of the Uncharted series won't appear in the standalone DLC "at all."
"We’re not going to touch on Nathan Drake in this, at all," Margenau said.
Margenau followed up statements from writer Josh Scherr, who said the team "entertained a few possible ideas around including Nate as a secondary character ... but everything we did felt superfluous because we tied it all up with Uncharted 4."