GDC 08: Highlights
By Amanda Kondolojy
Tech Tidbits:
Square Enix's New Engine
Although Square Enix casually mentioned the "White Engine" as being in development for Final Fantasy XIII as well as other Square titles, we can finally put an official title to their new engine: Crystal Tools. This engine will be primarily used for games on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and the PC. But don't rule the Wii out yet, because Square Enix's Taku Murata has said there may be uses for the Wii, although he was quick to state that "It's not 100% yet." Still this is great news for fans of Square-Enix and is certainly a very important announcement.
PlayStation's Free PhyreEngine
The folks at Sony have released a brand new graphics engine to help developers craft only the best looking games using a more familiar PC interface. And the best part? It's free! PhyreEngine has already been used for games like flOw, GripShift, and Dirt, and runs easily on both Open GL and Direct 3D. Hopefully this announcement will encourage smaller developers to create more games for the PlayStation 3 platform.
Emotiv's Epoc Neuroheadset revealed!
Although it seems a little creepy, this year's GDC featured the first game controller that can read our mind! The Emotiv Epoc Neuroheadset is a spider-looking headset that attaches to several places on your scalp and reads your brainwaves. Then, once you perform a few test actions, you will be able to carry out certain functions on-screen, just by thinking about them. Although the public demo at GDC only featured a box that you could get rid of or manipulate, the folks at Emotiv seem pretty confident that the mind reading headset will be the future of gaming.
New Release Dates Announced at GDC 08:
- WiiWare: May 12, 2008
- WiiFit: May 19, 2008
- Civilization: Revolution: June 3, 2008
- Ninja Gaiden II: June 3, 2008
- Gears of War 2: November 2008
- WiiWare: May 12, 2008
Hot Games of GDC 2008:
- Aliens: Colonial Marines
- Bionic Commando
- Civilization Revolution
- Fable 2
- Far Cry 2
- Fez
- Gears of War 2
- Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures
- LostWinds
- Mario Kart Wii
- Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword
- Ninja Gaiden II
- Portal 2
- Secret Agent Clank
- Street Fighter IV
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- WiiFit
- Aliens: Colonial Marines
All this and much more went down at this year's GDC. Hungry for more? Check out our in-depth coverage of GDC including individual press reports from the major developers and publishers, and upcoming coverage of newly-announced titles, and hands-on previews of some of the games featured at this years GDC 08! Keep checking for more!
By
Amanda Kondolojy
CCC
Freelance Writer
The Daily Poll