GAME NEWS 03/11/2008: Sony patents new motion-sensing tech

360 FFXIII development hasn't begun

TOKYO--Today at its DK Sigma3173 Event, Square Enix made a series of announcements, including revealing the March release of a Final Fantasy XIII demo. However, those on hand were also impressed by a video shot by series designer Tetsuya Nomura which offered some raw behind-the-scenes insights into the game's development.

The video started off with an inside look at Square Enix's internal studio and its overall development environment. However, the scene quickly switched to a meeting where developers spoke bluntly about Final Fantasy XIII in general--and the Xbox 360 version in particular. The game's announcement was a major surprise at the E3 Media & Business Summit last month, where producer Yoshinori Kitase held a roundtable--but left many questions unanswered.

In the video, director Motomu Toriyama didn't beat around the bush when Nomura asked him questions about the 360 FFXIII. Starting off, he reconfirmed that, "We haven't changed the direction of the development. We're making the PS3 version first, and then porting to the 360 later." That means that since the game will be released simultaneously on both platforms in North America and Europe, the PS3 release will be held back in those territories until the 360 version is complete.

Furthermore, Toriyama also revealed that, as of July 29, his team hasn't yet received the tools needed to begin work on the Xbox 360 version of FFXIII. "I'm telling them to not think about the Xbox 360 right now," he said. "We can think about it after the development kits arrive."

The designer also reassured PS3 owners that the game's quality would not suffer due to the 360 port. "We aren't going to change any specifications [of FFXIII] because of the multi-platform announcement," he declared. "Right now, we're fully concentrating on the PS3 version." ...

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Godfather II roughs up retailers in February

Electronic Arts' latest lets gamers expand their turf beyond the Big Apple to Florida and Cuba. Even before the first Godfather game was released in 2006, Electronic Arts was already talking sequels. In June, EA CEO John Riccitiello confirmed that the Godfather II is indeed on the way, and today the publisher fleshed out a few details on the game, including a release window and platforms.

Set to launch in February on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, The Godfather II is "inspired by the film and Mario Puzo's Corleone family drama." As in the film, the classic mob saga will be set against the backdrops of New York, Florida, and Cuba.

Players will once again roam open-world environments as the newly appointed Don of New York. In keeping with the new position of leadership, players will handle strategic organizational aspects of the mob, like establishing and maintaining criminal endeavors and creating a stable of Made Men.

That doesn't mean players won't get their hands dirty. Electronic Arts is promising "even more visceral hand-to-hand brutality," as well as new combo mechanics and more pressure tactics and executions.

80GB PS3 confirmed for August 28 in Australia

With confirmation coming today that the 80GB PS3 will be landing down under on August 28.

The new PS3 model will retail for the same price as the superseded 40GB model--A$699--and will ship with one DualShock 3 controller. Sony Computer Entertainment Australia head Michael Ephraim, in an interview with GameSpot AU recently, said he expected the new model to sell well down under. “The first half of this year has been a PlayStation 3 half. The gaming category is so big now, and there are so many different experiences you can get out of video gaming, like hardcore gaming, casual gaming, and family gaming," he said.

Hellgate: London closing January 31

The writing has been on the wall for some time, and now it's official: Hellgate: London will be taken offline as of February 1, 2009. As has been the case since Flagship Studios' collapse was revealed this July, Namco Bandai will continue to operate the game free of charge through January 31.

Launched October 31, 2007, Flagship Studios' ill-fated massively multiplayer online game quickly drew withering criticism from its user base due to the prevalence of crippling bugs. The game also suffered from unwieldy expectations, due in large part to the pedigree of its developer. Counted among its founding members were former Blizzard North brass David Brevik, Max and Eric Schaefer, and Tyler Thompson.

Highest-profile of Flagship's founders was former Blizzard North vice president Bill Roper, who oversaw the creation of many of Blizzard Entertainment's most lucrative properties, including Warcraft, Diablo, and Starcraft. In January of this year, saying, "Unfortunately, even the best and biggest MMOs launch with serious issues. Being able to basically sit and iterate on a game for over half a year isn't something you can really sell to a publisher, or fans, to be honest."

Sony patents new motion-sensing tech

At the 2005 Tokyo Game Show, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata debuted the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to much fanfare and intrigue. Not a year later, former Sony execs Ken Kutaragi and Phil Harrison used Sony's E3 2006 stage to reveal the game maker's own motion-sensing controller, later dubbed the Sixaxis. However, rather than the universal interest that greeted its contemporary, Sony's device quickly drew fire as an "us too" peripheral that was as much of a surprise to the development community as it was to gamers.

Although Sony has since distanced itself from the Sixaxis, the motion-sensing tech, along with rumble support, returned with the controller's successor, the Dual Shock 3. Now, it appears as if Sony has further plans to iterate on its visceral input device.

Last week, Sony Computer Entertainment of America's patent application for a new input device emerged in the US Patent and Trademark Office's online database. The application, which was first filed in June, details a new motion-sensing controller whose most distinguishing feature is its ability to break apart and be put back together in a variety of formations. The patent application also details a "hybrid video capture and ultrasonic tracking system" to deal with motion-sensing.

Detailing the need for the sound component of the tracking system, Sony's patent application reads: "Current object tracking suffers in capture accuracy. This problem arises because conventional image analysis can only produce somewhat reliable measurements of the location of the user in two dimensions... Broadly speaking, the present invention fills these needs by providing methods and systems for establishing communication between a computer program in a computing system and a controller to be held by a user in order to determine the three-dimensional location of the controller."

Sony's pending patent then details how its new motion-detection method "captures one-way sound communication" to provide the gaming console with a third dimension to track the location of a player, while a video device such as the PlayStation Eye handles the other two dimensions. The device also accommodates accelerometer support to determine the controller's orientation.

Along with an exceedingly lengthy and esoteric description of how, exactly, the device works its mojo, Sony also submitted a wealth of pictures demonstrating the controller's practical use. In one sketch, a man stands several feet away from a wall-mounted TV equipped with a PS Eye-like device. In his hand is a mock-up of the controller, which has been assembled into a rod formation. On each bulbous end of the rod, sound emitters complement the image captured by the digital camera.

A second image of the device shows a traditional gamepad layout. It also shows how the face buttons can be removed, presumably to allow for the device to be reoriented in a new position. As seen in one other drawing, these button face plates can be secured to the individual pieces of the device.

Yet one more image shows what clearly is the PlayStation 3, which seems to indicate that the new controller will be introduced for use with the resurgent console. However, often patent illustrations are for illustration purposes only, and do not serve as confirmation of use with a particular piece of hardware.