Put these pieces together. Realtime Worlds made Crackdown. Realtime Worlds are now at work on an MMO called APB, which is not entirely dissimilar to Grand Theft Auto. Realtime Worlds were founded by David Jones, who created Lemmings. Oh, and Grand Theft Auto. Last month, Realtime Worlds bought back the rights to APB from Korean company Webzen, who were originally scheduled to publish the game. Why the buyback? Eurogamer are reporting that, according to "a credible industry source", it was so they could turn around and sell the game to Rockstar, who could then rebadge it as a GTA MMO. Realtime are keeping quiet on the rumours, saying only that they bought back the rights to their game to "give themselves some options".

Realtime downplays GTA Online talk [Eurogamer]

Make a Game For Less than $50 Million? Whatever!

Crackdown wasn't that long ago and our development budget was something like USD 50 million, and even that to me now, I don't know if I could do anything for much less than that.

Free Running Through Popular Culture

In an article over at Gamasutra, Andy Robertson takes a look at the use of popular culture in video games, specifically Parkour (or Free Running). He takes an in-depth look at some of the games that have used Parkour, namely Crackdown and Assassin's Creed, and discusses what they did really well, and what leaves much to be desired for free-running fans.

The biggest difference between the two games is that Assassin's Creed allows the users to do just about anything, moving up and over the whole sandbox environment using Parkour-style moves, but doesn't reward players for the fluidity and beauty that authentic Parkour demands. On the other side, Crackdown has specific Xbox Achievements that encourage players to be more fluid and artistic with their movements, but permits fewer grab points and forces the player into a more linear, less free and experimental path. What Robertson doesn't refer to is the upcoming game Mirror's Edge, based solely around the art of Parkour. If these two elements are married in Mirror's Edge, it could be a big Free Running hit. Then again, if it's only those elements, I can't imagine long-term play possibilities for the game.

Game Culture Vultures: Parkour

Dave Jones of Realtime Worlds wowed GDC audiences this week with his presentation "My First MMO", debuting the successor to the award winning Crackdown known as APB. APB, Jones explained, is a massively multiplayer online game without the grind, one that draws inspiration from Counter-Strike more than it does from Ultima Online, EverQuest or World of Warcraft. Why Counter-Strike? "There's no persistence, no progression, no customization, its just damn fun," Jones said.

APB does have persistence and progression, if done a bit non-traditionally. But customization is one feature that APB has in spades.

China Launching 'Operation For Tomorrow' Crackdown

What would modern China be without campaigns? This one's lacking in a snappy name and related propaganda, but the government is gearing up to go after those hotbeds of moral decay, crime, and WoW: internet cafes. Introducing "Operation for Tomorrow," targeting unlicensed websites, internet cafes, and porn.

Internet cafes have been repeatedly targeted for breeding juvenile crime and promoting truancy, despite widely ignored rules barring anyone under 18 from admission. Located in towns and small cities throughout China, internet cafes mainly offer online games that are popular among young people. Authorities have blamed the cafes for Internet addiction and for encouraging juvenile crime as a way to earn money to play online games.

First the problem was that kids were so busy playing WoW and other MMORPGs that they didn't have time for anything else; now the problem is that WoW's keeping them too busy ... with crime? Does this mean we'll see a related drop off in suspect addiction 'treatment' methods?

China Targets Internet in Crime Sweep [AP]

Chinese Government Cracking Down on Online Gaming

GDC executive director Jamil Moledina's updated his Director's Cut blog with a bit more news about the upcoming Game Developers Conference, cluing us into to the fact that Dave Jones, of Lemmings, GTA and Crackdown fame, will be spilling some beans about his latest project: An MMO.

Moledina says that all he can tell us is that the audience for Jones' session, "My First MMO", will be in for a real treat. He does go on to say that there is some details out there, some of which can be discovered by reading between the lines of the session description:

As designers look to make the leap from a finely crafted single player experience to a persistent living breathing world with hopefully millions of connected players what would you do to herald your entry into this space? With a rich heritage of creative IP from DMA Design/Realtime Worlds, Dave Jones walks and talks us for the first time through something a little different from the fantasy based RPG's. From the DNA of games like LEMMINGS, GTA & CRACKDOWN you should expect some thinking outside of the box.

I would assume that this will be about APB, the open-world criminals versus cops game that sounds an awful lot like a Crackdown MMO.

Moledina also points out that famed MMO designer Raph Koster will be doing a postmorten of his Metaplace gameplatform community... thingie in his presentation "Metaplace Postmorten: Reinventing MMOs.

Director's Cut: The Biggest Unanswered Question Is . . . [Director's Cut]

Will they sell a lot of software? Certainly. Will it sell hardware? I think it's an open question... I think that the Halo 3 consumer already has the hardware, because they're playing BioShock and Crackdown and a variety of games that are, in the end, quite similar: first-person shooter experience, multiplayer capable online. Tell me what's new?

Real Time Worlds Says "No" To Crackdown Sequel

Crackdown Nabs 7 Euro Award Noms

Xbox Live Banhammer Whacking Modders

Halo 3 Crackdown Beta Is Go

Crackdown Update Coming To Fix Halo 3 Beta Problems

Halo 3 Crackdown Beta Delay

Clip: That New Crackdown DLC In Action

New Crackdown DLC "Soon"

Halo 3 Multiplayer Beta Dated