Kotaku: Euphoria

These Are Some Of The Guys Who Made Red Dead Look So Good

Luke Plunkett — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 02:30:00 EST

Half the visual appeal of Red Dead Redemption is in the landscapes. Those were done by Rockstar. But the other half is John Marston's swagger, or the way a bandit gets caught in his horse's stirrups. More »

Backbreaker 2's Vengeance Is A Dish Served Hot

Owen Good — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:20:00 EST

Backbreaker's addictive Tackle Alley minigame put you on the field as a ballcarrier juking and spinning his way through 100-yard touchdown runs. Backbreaker 2: Vengeance puts you in the game on defense, blasting those showboats out of the water. More »

Backbreaker Review: The Challenger Crashes

Owen Good — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:20:00 EDT

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Twenty-five years ago saw the last game of the USFL - a league given no shot against the NFL's monopoly, but beloved to this day for the rebellious challenge it posed. Today, similarly pitted against the Madden monolith, comes Backbreaker. More »

Oxford U. to Profit from GTA IV

ogood — Sun, 04 May 2008 13:00:00 EDT

Some portion of the £200M that Grand Theft Auto IV is projected to earn will find its way into the treasury of the U.K.'s world-renowned Oxford University. That's because the game's Euphoria engine was developed by two Oxford students using research at Oxford's zoology department. More »

Backbreaker Is Looking As Painful As Ever (In A Good Way)

Mark Wilson — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:30:00 EDT

While I'm not the biggest sports fan, I'm always on the lookout for a new football game that will pull me back into the genre that I once enjoyed. Natural Motion (the company behind the lauded Euphoria engine from GTA IV and The Force Unleashed) is getting a lot of press for its dynamic, body-crashing AI in its upcoming football game, Backbreaker. And while all that looks fantastic in this new clip, I hope that the Flash compression hasn't ruined the beauty of the gigantic, hyperreal stadium in the background. God bless bloom lighting. More »

Talking Up GTAIV's Drunkening Technology

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 21:20:00 EST

We're all big fans of NaturalMotion's Euphoria animation system. Replacing canned animation with real-time model "simulation" is a huge step for games, both in terms of graphics but even more importantly in terms of gameplay, since with Euphoria no two attacks or moves will ever end the same way. The tech will feature in stuff like SW Force: Unleashed, Indiana Jones and Backbreaker, but we'll get our first real good look at it when GTAIV hits in April. And nowhere will it be better displayed than when star Niko...gets his drink on and has to stumble his way home, drunk off his tits.

There is a drinking mini-game in very detailed form where you can get drunk and he can actually then stumble around and you have to get home. But all of that is fully simulated. So, it is not based on animation any more. It is actually all synthesized on the CPU. Which means that it has a completely different outcome every time you play.

Realism schmlerism. Real-life drinking always has the same outcome. Least for me it does. Tears, hangover, fry-up breakfast. Wash, rinse, repeat. Simulate that, NaturalMotion. More »

New Indy Trailer Full of Gently Waving, Seagoing Invertebrates

egauger — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 23:20:05 EDT

New Indy 2007 footage from LucasArts, in a faux German WW2 propaganda-flavored shell that calls to mind the flippant and endearing flavor of the old adventure games. If they can preserve that feeling while imbuing it with fistfights and car chases, I'm going to be extremely pleased. Computer and Video games, where I got this clip, says: More »

Endorphin the Precursor to Euphoria

egauger — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 22:20:00 EDT

If you read my last update you'll know that things are a little unstable at the office today, so I did my best to check and see if we'd already posted this (sorta old) little movie demonstrating the post-ragdoll physics being used in the new Indiana Jones game. And I don't think we have. Be sure to write outraged e-mails to the tips address if I'm wrong, 'kay? More »

LucasArts Promises Euphoria

kotaku.com — Thu, 27 Apr 2006 18:40:00 EDT

Speaking of dumb names for things, we received a press release announcing that the upcoming Indiana Jones game for the Xbox 360 will include technology called euphoria, a "behavioral-simulation engine" from NaturalMotion Ltd. More »