Last summer, 24 year old James visitted The Creative Assembly’s studio has a part of a charity visit organised by Willow; a charity set up to give terminally ill a lasting experience that can help lift their spirits in difficult times.
James was digitally inserted into Total War: Rome II as a Roman soldier and he was allowed to interview key members of The Creative Assembly, play a pre-alpha build of the game and even put forward his own suggestions.
Sadly, James lost his battle with liver cancer shortly after his visit to The Creative Assembly but Total War community manager Craig Laycock was so humbled by the experience that he has said a few words on James’ behalf:
“What really struck me was how my colleagues reacted to James coming in. I was inundated with emails offering help with James’ day. The tour organised itself, as the guys around me scrambled to show James what’s going into making Rome 2.
James was remarkable on the day. His enthusiasm knew no bounds. He asked passionate questions and offered clear and concise suggestions on features for the game.
When I recently learned that James had died, it was devastating. Even though I had only spent a few hours in his company, it was absolutely devastating, because he was able to show us all here in the studio how passionate he was for our games.
And although he won’t get the chance to see Rome 2 released, he will live on in some small way in our game – and every time I see him I’ll be reminded of what a great guy he was.
In many ways, James represented what’s best about working in video games: crafting games that people enjoy and that stay with them. It’s why we all do what we do, and why we’re so passionate about it. He really brought that home to us.”
Ron Gilbert, the man behind The Secret of Monkey Island and most recently The Cave, has left Double Fine to pursue his career in video games elsewhere.
Gilbert has said; “I want to thank all the amazing people at Double Fine for all their hard work on The Cave. It was a true pleasure to work with every one of them over the past two years. So much fun. I will miss them all. And of course to Tim for creating the opportunity to come there and make The Cave.”
After SEGA’s acquisition of Relic Entertainment, it appears they’ve taken their in-development project Company of Heroes 2. SEGA will now release the game in North America and Europe on June 25th for PC. Full press release below:
“We are proud to announce that Company of Heroes 2, the eagerly anticipated strategy game from newly acquired Relic Entertainment, is scheduled for release on June 25th, 2013 in North America and Europe!
Originally slated for release in early 2013, Relic is using the additional time to help Company of Heroes 2 meet the high standard set by its predecessor, the highest rated strategy game of all time. Underpinned by the cutting-edge Essence 3.0 Engine, Company of Heroes 2 brings tactical strategy to life like never before, thanks to the realistic ColdTech weather system, the revolutionary dynamic line of sight system, TrueSight and realistic destructibility.
Jonathan Dowdeswell, Executive Producer of Company of Heroes 2, had this to say in regards to the new ship date. “Our acquisition by SEGA has given us the chance to work with a new partner that has a great track record of working with long standing PC franchises. It gives us great confidence to know that we have a well aligned team working to bring the best experience we can to gamers around the world.”
“We hate to disappoint our fans with a later than expected date as we know they are eager to play but we feel that the additional time will help the team deliver the high quality sequel they deserve,” said Greg Wilson, Producer of Company of Heroes 2. “However, the wait won’t be long as players will soon be able to help us test and balance multiplayer in the upcoming Closed Beta. Details will follow shortly.”
Eurogamer have unveiled a feature that sources various anonymous TimeGate Studios employees who reveal the troubled development of Aliens: Colonial Marines.
Key points include:
– “when TimeGate began to work on Colonial Marines – then codenamed Pecan – as it became apparent that Gearbox had ignored the game for years. According to three staffers, Gearbox had focused the vast majority of its efforts on Duke Nukem Forever, Borderlands, and Borderlands 2.”
– “It’s unclear exactly how much of Gearbox’s work TimeGate was able to salvage with one source claiming that the studio decided to start fresh”
– “TimeGate was the only developer actively working on Colonial Marines starting at the end of 2010.”
– “Both Gearbox and TimeGate also operated very differently. “You could not pick two companies whose general workflow is more diametrically opposed,” said one source”
– “The game feels like it was made in nine months,” said a source who worked on the project. “That’s because it was.”
Arkedo Studio, the team responsible for Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit have sadly shut their doors.
Bizarrely, the studio didn’t go bankrupt or into administration. Arkedo weren’t able to secure a project after finishing Hell Yeah! and decided to disband while they had money and were able to get “good conditions” for all their staff elsewhere.
Arkedo have also announced that they have 2 other unannounced games which are complete. These games will be the last from the studio and should be released “soon”.
SEGA’s PC/PSN/XBLA title Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Dead Rabbit is getting a spin-off title called Hell Yeah! Pocket Inferno. The game is an iOS running game like Canabalt and features a total of 50 stages. The game launches sometime tonight.
Despite negative critical reception, the public have chosen Aliens: Colonial Marines as the number one best selling UK game last week. It’s also the year’s biggest selling number one game so far.
Other SEGA games in the All Format Top 40 are Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed at number 9, Football Manager 2013 at number 18 and Mario & Sonic: London 2012 Olympic Games at number 31.
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