Onto Unity then. It's great. Everything is almost TOO streamlined and coming from an in-house oriented toolset to this user-friendly, thoroughly thought out set of tools is almost too good to be true. It really is fantastic. I've come across countless little quirks that have literally put a beaming smile on my face. It's all about the detail people! I expect big things from Unity over the coming years. I've only just scratched the surface of it so far, but so far, so impressed.
Myself and a friend, Phil, are now in the early concept stages of a game built using Unity. This time around, everything will be custom made and the hopes are that we will release a browser based game by the end of the year. We have a strong idea, one that I'm not prepared to reveal just yet, but we feel very confident about it. I mentioned before that I did my room up, but since then I've added a second monitor to my setup and a whiteboard, which is now plastered in scripting. As for the second monitor, it makes me wonder how on earth I put up with just one for Craggy Island's development. The difference is incomparable. Watch this space!
Bulletpoint rant a-gogo!
- Dragon Age 2 - Almost too easy to forget the utter rage that was taking place on RPG forums across the interwebs just a few weeks ago. It's all blown over and what are we left with? A 79 Metacritic score (Probably about right..) and a free copy of Mass Effect 2 on the PC, as a gesture (apologetic?) of thanks for hitting the 1 mill sales milestone. Come on Bioware, I enjoyed the game, but you can offer so much more. Step it up for DA3.
- Duke Nukem Foreeeeeever - Old news now, but fecking hell Gearbox. Publicity stunt or final polish? Who knows.. but at least Randy Pitchford made us all smile with this cheeky video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r96OQXknoho I love that guys enthusiasm.
- Nintendo 3DS - Biggest Nintendo console launch ever? I find that hard to believe when there is stock sitting on every retailers shelves. I work in a large retail chain with 180 stores around the country. We sold about 40% of our allocated stock, which was exactly the same as week 1 DSi stock, yet that couldn't be found for love nor money. Personally, I find it a total gimmick, I tried a few games and even though I could see the 3D in full, it failed to demonstrate to me how it was providing an enchanced experience. I'll give it the benefit of the doubt though, launch titles always suck. The stock is gathering dust on my shelves, we've not sold one yet. Poorly targeted? Who am I to know.
- Crysis 2 - Visually stunning, but the singleplayer experience is a bit drab and the multiplayer is just plain broken. Homefront didn't work for almost 2 weeks either. Is this the new direction that publishers are taking? Let the early adopters be the testers? Are budgets being tightened this much to warrant an obvious lack of quality control? Sort it out big fish. Or I'll start buying your product a month later at a discounted price.
- Battlefield 3 - CoD beater? John Riccitiello seems to think so. EA are going to lock horns with Activisions behemoth, as they both release in November. A reported $200 mill marketing budget is being spat around, which could be better spent building 4 triple A games if you ask me, especially considering the games will sell anyway. CoD will pip it again, but this year will see the Battlefield franchise gain some serious ground on the number one contender. Wishful thinking, but I'd like to see them launch the same day. I'm personally rooting for Battlefield. FIGHT!
- Holidays - 2 weeks booked in Corfu with a friend in July. Can't wait!
