Kotaku: rip

Star Wars Galaxies Designer Jeff Freeman Dies

Michael McWhertor — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 18:30:27 MDT

Jeff Freeman, whose work includes stints at Spacetime Studios and Sony Online Entertainment on Star Wars Galaxies as lead gameplay designer, has died at the age of 39, an apparent suicide, reports The Escapist. Freeman was the target of the Star Wars Galaxies community's ire following the launch of the "new game experience" that took players by surprise with its timing and sweeping changes. The Escapist detailed the targeting of the game designer by SWG devotees in this 2007 write up. Freeman left SOE in 2006 to join Spacetime.

Freeman's brother tells the Escapist that "personal issues," not the fury of SWG players were at the root cause of his decision to take his own life.

Jeff Freeman, Former SWG Lead Gameplay Designer, Dies [The Escapist]

Xbox 360 HD DVD Drops To $50

Mark Wilson — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 10:40:56 MST

Now that Microsoft has officially announced the death of their HD DVD add-on for the Xbox 360, the only thing left to do is to sweep the technological corpses out of warehouses. So here's the big deal we warned you about back in January—Microsoft is officially dropping their HD DVD add-on price to $50 starting tomorrow (though many retailers have already jumped the gun). So buy one, keep it sealed and in 100 years, you might have a collector's item (or just a very nice e-paper weight).

Microsoft Drops HD DVD for Xbox 360 [AHN]

Is This Then End For The PS2?

Mark Wilson — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:40:47 MDT

While the Wii, DS, Xbox 360 and even PS3/PSP have been celebrating some level of success, the PS2 saw a 47% drop in software sales this September when compared to September 06. And this drop is following the 33% year to year decline we witnessed the month before. Things aren't looking good for the PS2, and according to Deutsche Bank analyst Jeetil Patel:

While this substantial decline was inevitable, it is currently unclear whether the drop reflects consumer transition to next-gen software or weak spending patterns amongst the low-end consumer...we think that the PS2 may finally be on its way out of the industry for good.

So is this really the end for the PS2?

While the PS2 has most definitely peaked, a holiday price drop could spurn a renewed interest in the already inexpensive console. Plus, the 40GB PS3 will leave a backwards compatibility gap for gamers...and just think about how long the PSOne held on after the PS2 proved to be successful. Oooh! But then again, maybe the lack of PS3 backward-compatibility will hurt the software sales even if the hardware does better. Isn't all this speculation so much fun?

But yes, with the aggressive price cuts of Sony's high end and Microsoft's only current offerings, few kids will be asking for a PS2 this Christmas.

PS2 On its Way Out for Good [gamedaily]

Colin McRae Dies In Helicopter Crash

fdemarco — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 18:00:00 MDT

A bit of sad news today. Colin McRae, the British rally car driver who lent his name to a series of racing games by Codemasters, died yesterday in a helicopter crash near his home in Lanark, Scotland yesterday afternoon. McRae was Britain's first World Rally Champion in 1995 and has been confirmed by his manager to have been piloting the Squirrel helicopter that was carrying him and three other passengers. It is believed that one of the passengers was McRae's five year old son, Johnny who is also feared dead although this has not been confirmed as of yet. The identity of the other passengers is still unknown due to extensive fire damage.

Our hearts go out to Colin's wife, daughter and the rest of his family and friends.

Rally champion Colin McRae dies with son in helicopter crash [Times Online]
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Starsiege: Tribes

Brian Crecente — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:00:41 MDT

Joel is an inconsolable mess right now. He only had the energy to IM me about Sierra's announcement today before curling back up into a fetus position.

Starting August 16, Sierra Entertainment will be pulling the plug on mulitplayer support for 20 of the developer's older games. The list... yes, Starsiege: Tribes is on the list:

3-D Ultra Cool Pool
ARC (Attack Retrieve Capture)
Lords of Magic™
NASCAR® Legends
NASCAR® Racing 2002 Season
NASCAR® Racing 2003 Season
NASCAR® Racing 3
NASCAR® Racing 3 demo
NASCAR® Racing 3 Trucks
NASCAR® Racing 4
Professional Bull Rider 2
PGA Championship Golf 2000™
Starsiege: Tribes
SWAT® 3 demo
Throne of Darkness™
Field & Stream Trophy Bass 4
Field & Stream Trophy Bass 5
Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 4
Field & Stream Trophy Hunting 5
You Don't Know Jack®: 5th Dementia

Notice of Multiplayer Fuctionality Termination for 20 Sierra Entertainment Heritage Titles [Sierra]

Auto Assault Goes Down in a Ball of Fire

Brian Crecente — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 18:00:46 MDT

It's with a heavy heart (I'd bet) that Net Devil today confirmed rumors that NCSoft was pulling the plug on their car-themed massively multiplayer online game. The game's servers will be shut down at midnight on Aug. 31. As of today any players with an active account will not be billed again. I can't say I'm surprised, but I am a little sad.

NOTICE: Today NCsoft is announcing that it will be closing down service for Auto Assault at the end of the summer. The service will close at midnight on August 31, 2007. As of today, any player currently in the service with an active billed account will not be billed again. If players have previously purchased time via multi-month billing or time cards that extends their service past July 31, NCsoft will reconcile these accounts appropriately. There will be more announcements coming soon regarding the shut down of Auto Assault and its impact on current accounts. Please check back at www.autoassault.com for more information.

The thing is while Auto Assault never managed to totally hook me, it did enough things differently that it was worth a gamer's attention. I suspect it was this innovation that probably kept the game from succeeding. Don't get me wrong, it had some significant issues, but the real problem lay, I think, in the fact that it was a bit too different from all of the other mainstream MMOs out there.

I sort of suspected this was coming. When I was at the NetDevil Anniversary in June several of the developers referred to Auto Assault in the past tense, one even said that they never wanted to spend that much of their life working on something only to see it fail. I was sort of shocked at the time to hear a developer talking about their still running game as a failure, but it makes a lot more sense now.

What I hope happens is that other developers, and certainly NetDevil, do a post-postmortem on the game and try to figure out why it failed. I suspect top on the list will be the overly complex crafting system and the high-end PC requirements.
Important Notice [Auto Assault]

Creator of 2D Ocarina of Time Project Dies In Car Crash

fdemarco — Sun, 25 Mar 2007 10:00:00 MDT

Richard (aka Dampe) creator of the long awaited fan-made 2D Ocarina of Time, died Friday in tragic car accident. Tales of the game had been floating around the internet for a long time and many people were looking forward to trying out his handywork. His goal was to create a faithful recreation of Ocarina of Time in an olde school 2D Zelda style. An official website and forums were posted so that Dampe and his fans could discuss the details ongoing project.

Dampe's official site has been taken down at the request of his family, but you can still read the touching memorials left to him from his many fans on the forums.

Rest in peace, Dampe. Your hard work and dedication to the game world will be missed.

Update: I regret to say that I posted the wrong name with this article earlier. Changes have been made to correct the mistake. Thanks.

The Best Okami Tattoo We've Seen

Michael McWhertor — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 05:19:03 MST

Nevermind that it's the only Okami tattoo we've seen...

Reader Eric has taken the celestial needle to his calf, forever marking himself with the wolf god Amaterasu to always remember one of the greatest development studios of all time, the short-lived Clover. R.I.P.

Nice work, Eric, but I'm going to have to stop writing, as the one thing that seems to threaten to fire off my gag reflex is the shaved, black haired male calf, glistening with the shine of Bacitracin. Gack!! There it goes. Michael McWhertor