BioWare is making their call for feedback on the Dragon Age franchise a bit of an ongoing event.

Fitting, as there is already quite a bit riding on the back of Dragon Age 3 (or whatever they ultimately call it). For whatever reasons, Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3 angered many players (yes, quite often illogically) in ways that have undoubtedly hurt the studio's reputation.

I think there next game needs to be a comeback of sorts. And they seem to agree.

On the BioWare Blog, they've announced they'll be posting a topic monthly which players can then provide commentary and feedback on via a thread on the BioWare Social Network. These threads will be closed a week from their original posting so the company may look over the provided requests and opinions.

Extra emphasis should be placed on "franchise" as this effort is intended to impact not just the next Dragon Age game, but the brand in general.

BioWare has always stressed the importance of feedback in the development of their games (sequels in particular). That they're putting their money where their mouths are can only be met with respect.

Famitsu has an exclusive reveal of another Capcom game this week and it's actually, legitimately surprising. Who would've thought?

The game is E.X. Troopers. It's a spin-off of Capcom's already established Lost Planet franchise and it's for the PS3 and 3DS. 

There aren't many details, but gameplay seems to be mission based, the art is cel-shaded and anime in sharp contrast to the normal Lost Planet games, and the game is being lead by Monster Hunter creator, Shintaro Kojima.

It's worth noting Capcom has also filed trademarks for the game in both the US and Europe, so this could be an E3 reveal. If not there, definitely somewhere in the future.

via AndriaSang

In rather disappointing news, Respawn Entertainment has just announced that while their employees will be attending E3, the studio itself won't be making showing any projects or make any announcements at the show. 

This news was shared by the studio's Community Manager Abbie Heppe who shared, "Some of us will be present at E3, but we won't be showing anything or doing any press related to the game."

If you've been living under a rock and wondering why this is such a big deal, Respawn Entertainment is headed by Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella. Not only that, but the studio's staff is made up ex-Infinity Ward studio leads, too -- in short, they're the ones responsible for putting Call of Duty and the modern warfare setting smack-dab in the limelight.

All we know about Respawn is that they've partnered up with EA under the publisher's EA Partners label and that they're most likely working on a First-Person Shooter. 

Here's to hoping we don' have to wait till next-gen to see what Respawn has in the pipeline.

Source: Joystiq

Another year, another Call of Duty game. It's what people and the series' fans expect, but detractors are also quick to point the annualization out as one of the key reasons why the franchise hasn't evolved that much graphically. While tweaks and modifications has been made in the game's engine, at the end of the day, it's still the same game engine that was used to power Call of Duty 2 -- and that was way back in 2005!

This critique, hasn't escaped Treyarch's upcoming Black Ops II. In saying this, studio boss Mark Lamia went on Activision's Social Media Manager Dan Amrich's blog to discuss this matter and to explain their reasoning on why the game doesn't need a new game engine.

Lamia likened the comparison to working on an old house that just got remodeled and said, "Just because you’re remodeling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don’t tear out the foundation, or break out some of the framing. You might even go as hardcore as replacing the plumbing, and we will do that sort of thing, as an analogy. It’s a gross simplification.”

He also add that there’s still a lot of “good” left in the foundation that you wouldn’t get rid of, what they do instead is look to advance in areas that support their game design.

The Treyarch chief also thinks that the constant badgering of people for Call of Duty to use a new game engine is born out of people wanting to say that the franchise is trying something new.

“I think the whole thing about a new engine…sometimes that’s a great buzzword. Well, I have a new graphics engine — is that a new engine? Where does it start and stop? Elements of the code, you can trace back for a very very long time…but whole parts of the code are entirely new. Two areas we did focus on for this game were the graphics and the lighting — a pretty significant amount of work is going into that.”

However, that doesn’t mean complaints and the necessity to make a better looking game is falling on deaf ears. Lamia believes that when people are asking for a new game engine, all they’re really asking for is a better-looking game.

“I think what people are asking for is for us to push. They want us to make a better-looking game; they want things. I don’t think those are things people can’t ask for. We asked ourselves that very same question — we wanted to advance the graphics. I think the questions are valid. The answer may not need to be an entirely new engine, but you might need to do an entire overhaul of your entire lighting system. The trick is, we’re not willing to do that if we can’t keep it running at 60 frames per second — but we did that this time. So this is the Black Ops II engine."

Not to add fuel to an already big fire, but didn't all of this start because DICE unveiled the Frosbite 2 game engine for Battlefield 3? If they didn't publicly state that they were using an all-new game engine to power BF3, would people still care?

Whatever the reason or case is, I just hope Treyarch and the other Call of Duty teams at Activision get a new workhorse for the next generation of Call of Duty games...it's about time, no?

Source: One of Swords Blog

The Third Street Saints are already set to continue their hilarious and irreverent gang operations this fall in Enter The Dominatrix, but Volition is of course already hard at work on their next full-blown outing.

A resume, uncovered by Superannuation, lists Saint's Row 4 as being in development for the PS3, 360, and PC.

This isn't too surprising as THQ's Danny Bilson has previously suggested the title was being fast-tracked for release (I imagine Volition is on a two-year turnaround), but recent comments from them suggest this is how they want to enter the next generation of consoles.

I'm not sure whether THQ would have the capacity for it, but it wouldn't surprise me if they attempt to ship the game for current and next generation consoles. I'm hoping for a loud nonsensical trailer to be shown next month at E3.

via CVG

It seems various developer resumes online have noted work on Battlefield: Bad Company 3 and the the oft-rumored, Mirror's Edge 2, GamerZines has discovered.

I really wouldn't get too excited though, honestly.

Micheal Joseph C. mentions work on Bad Company 2 alongside Dead Space 2 and Devil May Cry 5 (which we can assume is the Ninja Theory franchise reboot currently in development). While BC3 is probably a given in that EA wants Battlefield to a be an annual franchise as rival Call of Duty is, I'm not convinced by the timeframe of devolpment alone. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if he worked on Bad Company 2 and that was a typo.

A software engineer formerly employed by EA says he worked on Mirror's Edge 2 from July to August of 2009, but that seems irrelevant as EA has said on more than one occasion the game is on indefinite hold, at this point.

Halo 4 developer 343 Industries has showcased new gameplay footage for the shooter.

The footage was unearthed within an interview with franchise development director Frank O'Connor. It's played in the same map within the Conan O'Brien show. In the video, meanwhile, fans get a glimpse of what to expect from campaign component of Halo 4. While we've already seen the story mode in action via screenshots and the first-ever footage of the game back in March, this gives a further insight of Master Chief's forthcoming adventure.

Halo 4 sparks a new trilogy for publisher Microsoft, which will presumably extend into the next-generation of consoles. It's the first time one of the IP's main installment is being developed without series creator Bungie at the helm.

Fans of the BBC series Doctor Who will be elated to know that the game based off of the series now has a release date. Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock is an action/platformer/puzzle type game where you get to control the Doctor and River Song in your quest to stop the Eternity Clock.

G4TV reports that the official twitter feed for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock has announced that the game will be launching May 23 which is about a week from now. XBOX 360, Wii, and PC Whovians will be disappointed though, the game is only set for a PSN release. Speaking of the PSN, Vita Whovians (if there are any) will be able to enjoy the game on their PS Vita June 13, 2012.

This is all the more reason for me to get a PS3. UGH. I do wish that the graphics were like Skyrim or Final Fantasy XIII-2. Oh well, what can you do? Maybe the BBC will one day make a Doctor Who game with graphics that are up to date with the current generation at that point in time.

The PlayStation 4's existence has been outed, subsequently confirming the unannounced console is currently in development.

Frederick Umminger’s LinkedIn profile (via Superannuation) states he worked on "Maintained voice chat library for PlayStation 4″ since June 2010 to the present day. He's been working as a software engineering manager at Sony Computer Entertainment America.

The revelation may be surprising to many due to Sony's strong stance of supporting the PlayStation 3 within its projected 10 year life cycle. Next year, that life cycle would see the console becoming seven years old.

Sony has also gone on the record by stating, as was the case with Microsoft regarding the Xbox 360 successor, that a follow up to the PlayStation 3 won't be revealed at this year's E3. That said, there's been an increased amount of speculation pertaining to the PS4 since 2011. Countless sources have tipped the platform and the Xbox 720 to launch by the end of 2013.

Naughty Dog has explained why Ellie, one of the lead characters of The Last of Us, has had her uncanny similarities to Ellen Page altered.

The developer recently revealed the first trailer for the PlayStation 3 exclusive since its VGA debut last year, which saw Ellie being noticeably changed. The decision to modify her design was due to implementing a more similar look to Ashley Johnson, the voice actor of Ellie and mo-cap artist. Creative director Neil Druckmann told IGN:

After delving further into the game's narrative over the past few months, we decided to modify Ellie's model to better reflect Ashley's personality, and also resemble a slightly younger teen more fitting to the story. We're happy with the final result shown in the cinematic we have released today, and hope the fans like her too.

The Last of Us is expected to release during the closing stages of 2012 or early 2013.

It was reported recently that a Blockbuster in the U.S. had leaked Wii-U titles to the interwebz, well now Amazon is following suit with something more concrete. The Wii-U itself is shown on Amazon without a price, release date, or even an ESRB rating apparently which comes as no surprise. However, Wii-U titles under the guise of Nintendo Wii titles have popped up on Amazon. The titles are as follows according to Daily Games Sales:

• Tekken
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge
• Dirt

There are other titles that Daily Games Sales claim to be on Amazon but after some investigation I did not find these titles.