• lair

    Lair Wises Up, Gets Analogue Controls

    Poor Lair. Looked gorgeous, but, yeah. You know. Controls. Sucky. Well, the rumour that was so good it turned up twice in February has been confirmed by Sony, with a Lair patch due in Japan on April 17 adding the option of analogue controls for the much-maligned shooter. I know what you're going to say next. "Who gives a rat's arse? It's too late". And sure, on one hand, you may be right. On the other, though...this might bump the game from a C to a B- on your ratings scale. Which would mean picking it up on the cheap (and pretty soon, it's gonna be cheap) wouldn't be the stupidest thing you did this year.
    Analog Controls Coming to Lair [IGN]

    1:30 AM on Fri Apr 11 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    2,849 views, 73 comments

    Latest by Obli: Surely I am not the only one with regenerated interest in this game...? So what if it is 8 more »

  • rumor

    Lair Analog Patch Confirmed?

    Often rumored and much desired, Doug Allen from the IGN Blogs has reportedly gotten his hands on the analog controls for Factor 5's much-maligned PlayStation 3 game Lair, and claims they are the bomb - quite possibly the bomb diggity.

    I played it and Holy shit; Greg needs to give them a new score. It was kind of clear that Factor 5 put in the extra effort a little begrudgingly, but the results were amazing. This might push me over the edge into the "must buy PS3" territory. I also mentioned Greg Miller's name, and the Factor 5 guys burned a hole through my skull with their looks of hatred. I think they'll be alright once the patch is out for a while though.
    Sounds good to me, though since this is just a guy in a blog post we're going to have to chalk this up as a rumor right now. Why no official confirmation yet? With all the new stuff to look at, who is going to drop by the Lair kiosk?

    GDC 2008 Crazy Shit Report #1 [DugBuzz's IGN Blog - Via QJ.net]

    8:40 AM on Fri Feb 22 2008
    By Mike Fahey
    4,971 views, 102 comments

    Latest by pharcotix: will be picking this up for $20-30 with analog controls and rumble. although the lair demo never being released screams more »

  • game music

    Lair Score Wins IFMCA Award

    The International Film Music Critics Association have announced their 2007 award winners, and this year sees the debut of their Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media award, which recognizes the increasing importance of music in gaming and gaming as an entertainment medium. This year's winner is John Debney for the wonderful score to Lair for the PlayStation 3. While I didn't spend much time with the game myself, the music did indeed stand out, to the point where I thought it was a bit wasted on the game. If you'd like to hear this award-winning music without having to shell out $59.99 for a game hardly worth $59.99, then hit up iTunes, where the whole shebang can be yours for $9.99.

    2007 AWARD WINNERS ANNOUNCED BY INTL FILM MUSIC CRITICS ASSOCIATION [Film Music Magazine]

    3:00 PM on Tue Feb 19 2008
    By Mike Fahey
    1,752 views, 63 comments

    Latest by knulpm: @SuperMaxZero: Nobody can eat a salty snack as epicly as Light. more »

  • lair

    Factor 5 To Tweak Lair Controls?

    In between trying to convince IGN that the only people who found Lair's controls to be woeful were "hardcore" gamers, Factor 5 boss Julian Eggebrecht raises the possibility that those same controls might be tweaked in a future update for the title:
    If we find a chance in the future that would bring Lair to the audience which didn't get any access, that would be fantastic. I can't say anything quite yet, but there might be something in the works there. We might have a chance yet to bring those back to the table and hopefully, if that should happen, they would give the game a second chance.
    Now, he might be talking about "doing a Capcom" and bringing it to the Wii, but since their Wii game is all-new, that's doubtful. No, he's probably talking about a patch or the PS3 Greatest Hits/Platinum re-release coming bundled with the option of stick controls. Or both!
    Lair 2.0 on the Way? [IGN]

    8:20 PM on Mon Feb 11 2008
    By Luke Plunkett
    2,429 views, 80 comments

    Latest by Q80: I would give it a second chance, If they fix it:P more »

  • factor 5

    Lair Developer Goes To Wii

    Factor 5's Lair wasn't exactly the most well received of PlayStation 3 games, despite its often-pretty graphics. It was generally blasted for inaccurate SIXAXIS control, unreliable SIXAXIS control and craptastic SIXAXIS control, among a few other things we don't remember. According to a report from IGN, the team has decided to give game development and motion control a go on another platform, bringing an unnamed game to the Wii. F5 boss man Julian Eggebrecht told the outlet that the team is hard at work on something that's not for the Virtual Console and not running on GameCube era Star Wars Rogue Squadron tech, with IGN believing that it's not a waggle-filled PilotWings sequel.

    So what is it, if it's not all that? Could it be that 3D Turrican update Eggebrecht hinted at to Gamasutra last Spring? With all those Turrican ratings popping up on the ESRB lately, we wouldn't be surprised. In fact, delighted might a good word.

    Official: Factor 5 Back on Wii [IGN]

    2:40 PM on Mon Jan 14 2008
    By Michael McWhertor
    4,351 views, 134 comments

    Latest by russtophiles: I heard in Rogue Squadron 4 the entire game is a 20 hour Hoth battle and you use the remote more »

  • wgoty

    AP's Worst Games of 2007

    The Associated Press just published their worst of 2007 list for video games. The straight forward list includes Manhunt 2, Deal or No Deal and Lair along with some biting explanation:

    1. "Manhunt 2": Rockstar Games' strategy — offend the watchdogs, reap the publicity, then sell a substandard product — reached its nadir with this ugly, unplayable mess. It begins with a lunatic flinging human waste at you; after about an hour, you'll want to fling "Manhunt 2."

    4. "Lair": Sony lavished a lot of attention on this PlayStation 3 title, and it sure looks great. And who wouldn't want to fly a dragon? But with awkward, imprecise controls and lackluster, repetitive missions, "Lair" crashed and burned.

    More interesting is their list of best sellers that still managed to annoy the big A. P. Among the list? The common-sense flouting, consumer-hurting feud between Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers and the games Halo 3, Assassin's Creed, Blue Dragon, Heavenly Sword and don't forget the unavailability of the Wii.

    Week in Video-Game News [AP]

    7:00 PM on Wed Dec 26 2007
    By Brian Crecente
    8,185 views, 88 comments

  • clips

    Julian Eggebrecht Defends Lair. Again.

    Factor 5 honcho Julian Eggebrecht must be exhausted from constantly "defending" his company's poorly received PLAYSTATION 3 title Lair and its hit-or-miss SIXAXIS controls. G4 caught up with the Dragon's Lair fanboy at Tokyo Game Show to get one more justification out of Mr. Eggebrecht whose game has been retitled Rise From Lair in Japan. I respect what Factor 5 was trying to do, but trying to target gamers who aren't hardcore with a PS3 game? Simply puzzling.

    4:40 PM on Wed Oct 10 2007
    By Michael McWhertor
    2,571 views, 52 comments

    Latest by L_K_M: @Shiryu: I'm with you. Turrican FTW :-) As for the game itself, I'd love to get it, but I'm not going more »

  • music

    Lair Soundtrack on iTunes (...thanks?)

    Fans of Lair will be happy to know that the official soundtrack is available on iTunes for download. And while we understand that Lair isn't necessarily GOTY, the music has received a nomination from BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) for Best Original Score. To find the album, just search iTunes for "John Debney Lair."

    Hopefully more publishers will see the low cost and potentially huge benefit in offering their soundtracks on iTunes. Because while Kotaku can't speak for you, we'd love to hear the surprisingly haunting melodies of Pony Friends with the click of a button.

    LAIR Score Now On iTunes!     [via gamelife]

    10:40 AM on Wed Oct 3 2007
    By Mark Wilson
    1,738 views, 23 comments

    Latest by johnhummel: What I find more interesting isn't that Sony is offering it for sale. Sony is offering it for sale on iTunes. This more »

  • eurgh worthy

    Lair Dev Dogs WarHawk Motion Controls

    If you were to engage in a round of word association with Julian Eggebrecht of Factor 5 and you were to mention, say, Warhawk's in-flight SIXAXIS motion controls, he might respond with "Eurgh!" Actually, that's exactly what he did when speaking to Games Radar recently, telling the pub that he sees motion control as a "complimentary, additional new step in terms of controls and where it fits you should use it and where it doesn't fit, don't force it."

    Wait. What? Seriously. What?

    Mr Lair says: "Warhawk's controls are... eurgh!" [Games Radar]

    6:00 AM on Wed Sep 19 2007
    By Michael McWhertor
    3,251 views, 57 comments

    Latest by Gigith: I own a Wii, and so far I'd rather use a normal controller to play most of the games, I more »

  • smack talk

    Eggebrecht: Wii Games Should Look Better

    Factor Five's Julian Eggebrecht may have taken some knocks on the chin for Lair's gameplay, but not many were complaining about the unquestionably stellar graphics of the title. And that's pretty much enough for me to name him an unquestionable authority on every platform's individual graphical nuances (and anything else necessary for this article to be extremely important). Right now, Eggebrecht's questioning an industry that's all but given up on the Wii ever making pretty games:
    If you connect you can get a lot of shader effects which would've been on the 360 or the PS3...it's got so much more power compared to the GameCube. If even with the extremely similar shader hardware, the system clockrate is so much higher, you can do so much more advanced things.
    So why does he think games aren't looking better? More »

    12:20 PM on Tue Sep 11 2007
    By Mark Wilson
    15,508 views, 95 comments

    Latest by questworld: GameCube 1.5? More like PS2 developer 0.6 more »