Skupa, who also worked as design director on United Front’s 2012 action title Sleeping Dogs (opens in new tab), recently spoke at length in an interview with Eurogamer (opens in new tab), discussing the past, present, and future of his already impressive career in games development. 

Most notably, however, Skupa had more to say about the upcoming untitled survival horror game (previously called The Chant) in the works at Brass Token, in which players step in the shoes of a woman facing her own inner turmoil amidst the backdrop of a new age retreat in the middle of nowhere.

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Bully 2 “existed” and “was playable” but it “never got off the ground”, say Rockstar sources (opens in new tab)

Skupa, who describes the game as “other-worldly”, explains that it’s “a story I wanted to tell that draws on a lot of things I’ve seen, or seen around me, and people I’ve met. [….] There are certain elements of my life I’ve brought into it.”

The experience will slowly veer into the realm of cosmic thriller as the main protagonist begins to lose her sense of self and sanity, according to Skupa, and Brass Token’s in-office motion capture suite has allowed the studio to create “a small cast of characters so that we can really focus on you meeting them when things start, and then as everything unravels, you can see them change.”

“We take things like crystals and sage, you can create these items to craft arcane weapons”, continues Skupa, which – incidentally – doesn’t sound too far off from the kind of parody that his former studio Rockstar went for with GTA 5 (opens in new tab)’s Epsilon cult missions. There’s no release attached to Brass Token’s first major project, but the studio is currently looking to bring it to PC and at least one console in the future, so stay tuned for more announcements over the coming months. 

Check out the biggest new games of 2019 (opens in new tab) still on the way, or watch the Release Radar video below for a guide to everything else out this week.

The post The design director of Bully and Sleeping Dogs is working on a new horror game appeared first on Game News.

Games can go through vast transformations between the time they’re conceived and released. Usually, though, the game that arrives on store shelves is more or less the one the developers sought out to make when they first came up with the idea. This Top 7 is not about those games.

Instead, we’re celebrating the titles that had more tumultuous development cycles–the ones that ended up totally different from what they started out as. We’re looking at licensed games that became AAA blockbusters, cancelled sequels that were reworked into original IPs, and cancelled original IPs that were reworked into amazing sequels. Your favorite game might’ve started off as an entirely different project, and it’s time we pull back the curtain on gaming’s forgotten history.

7. ZombiU was first Killer Freaks from Outer Space

Nintendo first unveiled the Wii U at E3 2011, showing the world its entry into the next generation of consoles. Though few titles were actually shown off, one notable exception was Killer Freaks from Outer Space, an Ubisoft-published first-person shooter about an alien invasion of Earth. Made by Ubisoft Montpellier (who originally pitched it as an FPS where players kill Rabbids–presumably because everyone, including the developers, was tired of Rabbids), the game pit human survivors against creepy, green alien monsters. And yet, one year later, Killer Freaks was nowhere to be found at Ubisoft’s booth. So what happened?

ZombiU happened, apparently. After the lukewarm reception at E3 2011, Ubisoft went back to the drawing board. The titular Killer Freaks were removed from the shooter and replaced with zombies, creating a much more serious, survival-based game. And so, the originally Rabbids-starring, then alien-starring Killer Freaks from Outer Space was mutated into one of the better, more ambitious Wii U launch titles.

6. Star Fox Adventures was Fox-less as Dinosaur Planet

From Battletoads to Banjo Kazooie, British developer Rare was responsible for some of the biggest games of the ’90s. Some of its most popular titles, though, were the ones it made with Nintendo characters–Rare was one of the very few western developers that Nintendo allowed access to its coveted roster of icons. Despite this, the GameCube release of Star Fox Adventures was not originally a Star Fox game at all–in fact, it was originally a Nintendo 64 game by the name of Dinosaur Planet that had absolutely nothing to do with Fox McCloud.

Dinosaur Planet starred Sabre, a fox that, while looking a lot like Nintendo’s Fox, was actually meant to be a totally unconnected fox. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto met with Rare and noted the similarities between the two franchises’ characters, and suggested reaching a middle ground. It was decided that the two IPs would be smushed together, creating Star Fox Adventures: Dinosaur Planet, a GameCube game that would ultimately serve as the last one Rare would develop under Nintendo’s wing.

5. Halo was a third-person shooter and an RTS (On Mac)

Halo is to Microsoft as Mario is to Nintendo as Mickey Mouse is to Disney–that’s how it has been since Halo: Combat Evolved released on the original Xbox in 2001. The innovative shooter was immensely popular, and arguably responsible for the success of the Xbox in America, as well as the future success of the first-person shooter genre on consoles. But there was a time, only two years prior to the game’s release, when Halo was a far different game on a totally different system.

Bungie originally hitched its wagon not to Microsoft, but to Apple, and was planning on releasing Halo as a third-person shooter for the Mac. Sounds crazy, doesn’t it? But it’s true–you can even watch Steve Jobs introduce Bungie co-founder Jason Jones at 1999’s Macworld. And before it was a third-person shooter, Halo was even more removed from the game that dazzled Xbox owners; Bungie had originally planned for it to be a real-time strategy title (as seen in this early video).

4. Doom was conceived as a licensed Aliens game

Though Wolfenstein 3D was big, it wasn’t until id Software released Doom that the FPS had truly arrived. It was a huge hit, thanks in no small part to its incredible graphics and original, unique setting. Fighting demons on Mars? Who would’ve thought of that? What a weird, weird idea.

But it isn’t nearly as strange when you consider what Doom was before it was Doom. Early in the game’s development, id was in talks with 20th Century Fox to make a shooter based on the team’s favorite sci-fi film: Aliens. Suddenly, the concept of fighting weird creatures on a foreign planet doesn’t seem so strange–in fact, that’s literally the plot of the entire franchise. That deal eventually fell through, so Doom went back to the drawing board… and ended up being pretty much the same game, except, you know, more red.

3. Dead Space was original a System Shock sequel

Far, far away there exists an enigmatic mausoleum filled with monsters, and the only evidence of what happened is in audio logs scattered around the world. This narrative could, realistically, describe three different games: System Shock, BioShock, or Dead Space. While it’s well-established that BioShock was made as a spiritual successor to System Shock, a lesser-known fact is that Dead Space was, at one point, supposed to be an actual sequel to Looking Glass Games’ 1999 sci-fi shooter.

In 2006, EAs Redwood Shores studio was rumored to be working on System Shock 3, but after the publisher found that it couldn’t legally publish the game (they owned the name, not the development rights), the team was forced to make an original IP instead. So they went back to work and made Dead Space, a game that takes place far, far away, in an enigmatic mausoleum filled with monsters. Oh, wait.

2. Devil May Cry started off as Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil was shambling towards stagnation in the late ’90s. Though sales of it were strong, Capcom wanted to create something more original for the fourth installment of the incredibly popular franchise. So director Hideki Kamiya set out to turn RE into a stylish action game, ditching the slow, plodding pace of the previous games in favor of a new, superhuman hero. Eventually, however, it was decided that this simply didn’t fit within the RE universe. Kamiya’s action game was just too cool for Resident Evil.

But know what it was cool enough for? The mother-freaking son of Sparda. Kamiya’s team rewrote the story, taking out all of the Resident Evil ties and refocusing it in a new universe. Here, a white-haired monster killer named Dante slashed apart hordes of demons and occasionally stopped for a slice of pizza. From the ashes of Resident Evil 4, Devil May Cry was born–turns out, people enjoyed the freedom that came from ditching traditional tank controls.

1. Donkey Kong was supposed to be a Popeye game

Master Chief is pretty popular. Kratos? Sure–people love that guy. And even at his worst, Sonic the Hedgehog has legions of fans. But none of these icons have anything on Mario. From his humble beginnings as “Jumpman” in Nintendo’s Donkey Kong, the plumber has billions in game sales under his belt. He’s had his own television show, his own cereal, and even his own Hollywood movie. And guess what? He almost didn’t exist.

If young game designer Shigeru Miyamoto had gotten his way, Donkey Kong would’ve been Bluto, Pauline would’ve been Olive Oyl, and Mario would’ve been Popeye. Yup, Donkey Kong–one of the most important video games ever made–was almost a licensed Popeye game. That deal fell through, and Miyamoto had to create his own characters. In other words, gaming’s greatest mascot is essentially a Popeye stand-in. There’s a happy ending to this story, though, besides the advent of an industry icon: Miyamoto was able to eventually make his Popeye game. Dreams do come true, people. Dreams do come true.

Bonus: Sleeping Dogs was Black Lotus, and then True Crime

According to the developers, Sleeping Dogs didn’t change much over the course of its lengthy development cycle, but the story behind the game is too good to ignore. Soon after developer United Front Games was formed, it began work on a new, original IP. Black Lotus, as it was called, was set in Hong Kong, and starred an undercover female cop (reportedly modeled after Lucy Liu). Activision wasn’t comfortable with spending so much on an original IP starring a woman, though, so it had the developer affix a penis onto the star and position it as True Crime: Hong Kong, a reboot of the True Crime series.

The end? Not by a long shot. Activision cancelled the game in 2011, arguing that “only top-tier games can be competitive in today’s market.” But True Cri–erm, Black Lotus wasn’t dead yet. Square Enix saw potential, and published it a year later as Sleeping Dogs. Weirdest part? United Front Games says little was modified during this flip-flopping development cycle–well, besides the hero getting a sex change, that is.

The games, they are a-changin’

There are many, many other examples of games going through crazy transformations before their launch. It’s Mr. Pants was supposed to be a Donkey Kong game, and there’s even some rumblings that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand wasn’t originally going to star rapper 50 Cent. Crazy, right? And these are just the ones we know of; surely there are plenty of other tales that have yet to reach the light of day. One day, maybe we’ll know the truth.

And if you’re looking for more, check out top 7 cancelled games we wish we could play and the top 7 games we really hope aren’t cancelled.

The post Top 7… Games that were originally totally different games appeared first on Game News.

Now, when I use the term “rip off,” don’t mistake it for games that share a genre. If that were the case, every 2D platformer rips off Super Mario Bros (opens in new tab), every other puzzle game is a counterfeit of Tetris (opens in new tab), and any 3D fighting game ripped off Virtua Fighter (opens in new tab) (which, in turn, stole its fighting style from Street Fighter (opens in new tab)). No, what I mean is games that have such clear, specific inspirations that you can be sure it wouldn’t exist in its current form if it didn’t lift gameplay techniques wholesale from the games that pioneered them. And in many cases that’s completely forgivable.

Just look at last week’s release of Sleeping Dogs (opens in new tab), a game that wears its influences on its sleeve. Beyond the sandbox trappings firmly established by Grand Theft Auto III, the hand-to-hand combat is straight from the Batman: Arkham games (opens in new tab) and fans of Wheelman (opens in new tab) will recognize the source of hijacking cars. But listing influences ultimately doesn’t matter, because Sleeping Dogs executes so well on what it rips off, something many of the reviews (opens in new tab), including GamesRadar’s (opens in new tab), agree on.

You need only look back to 2010 for another perfect example of execution outpacing obvious inspirations. When the original Darksiders (opens in new tab) came out, more than a few knocked it for being a Legend of Zelda clone, something I’ll agree with despite loving the game. The dungeon structure was the same, they share sword-based combat, and exploration incorporates tools identical to boomerangs and hookshots. For extra uninspired credit, Darksiders also contains a weapon that shoots orange and blue portals. Seriously (opens in new tab).

Once I got over my reflexively negative reaction to the seeming lack of any originality in Darksiders, I settled into the game and found myself continually impressed by it. The developers had learned well from Zelda. Over and over again Darksiders proved it didn’t merely copy and paste from Link’s adventures, it had studied them closely. Developer Vigil Games skillfully implemented those lessons to give tribute to the games of their youth. And then Vigil went on to iterate further on these inspirations, delivering the even better (and more original) game in Darksiders II (opens in new tab).

The same pride in unoriginality was on display in Shadow Complex (opens in new tab). Developer Chair was open about its inspirations (opens in new tab), copping to lifting design strategies of Super Metroid (opens in new tab). Like Darksiders, you can tell it comes from a place of love and admiration, out to fill a niche Nintendo created and few outside of Castlevania (opens in new tab) had tried to fill. Chair, like Vigil, then took the gameplay and added aesthetics and story content that the originators didn’t approach, making for a game that people accepted with open arms. Shadow Complex continually shows up on best XBLA games (opens in new tab) lists and many are clamoring for a sequel.

There are so many examples of games I hold dear that may not blaze a new trail, but were outstanding all the same. Would Rhythm Thief exist without Professor Layton? Saints Row without GTA? Dante’s Inferno without God of War? League of Legends without Dota? Or Torchlight without Diablo? All of those are worth your time no matter how you feel about what they took from their sources.

The added irony of Kamiya’s statement is that he doesn’t need to look far to see the power of a brilliant rip off. Platinum’s Bayonetta (opens in new tab) is clearly inspired by Devil May Cry, though most would forgive that since many former DMC devs worked on the title. But few could argue that Okami would exist without Zelda’s 3D titles. Just like Darksiders, Okami closely shadowed the Zelda template, but used it tell a story all its own. It’s an unforgettable game thanks to all the ways it learned from and expanded on another franchise’s strengths. Instead of calling out those games as deceptive, gamers lauded Okami as a work of art and Platinum has quickly become one of the most respected companies in its field.

Believe me, artless re-creations and flagrant stealing can, and definitely should, be called out and given the lack of respect they deserve. Look at the negativity that met Limbo of the Lost (opens in new tab), a game that mirrored Oblivion in all the wrong ways. Then there’s Facebook heavyweight Zynga, which has been rightly accused multiple times for blatant theft of titles like Tiny Tower (opens in new tab) and The Sims Social (opens in new tab). However, give a game a chance to prove itself a sham. Just because Battle Royale’s inspiration is clear from the outset doesn’t mean it’s fate has been decided. Gamers should first take a deep breath and remember all the great times they had with “rip offs.” It worked for me.

You know that kid at parties who talks too much? Drink in hand, way too enthusiastic, ponderously well-educated in topics no one in their right mind should know about? Loud? Well, that kid’s occasionally us. GR Editorials is a semi-regular feature where we share our informed insights on the news at hand. Sharp, funny, and finger-on-the-pulse, it’s the information you need to know even when you don’t know you need it.

The post Its ok to be a rip off (as long as youre good at it) appeared first on Game News.

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Early in the game you’ll meet a blonde American tourist named Amanda (voiced by Emma Stone). After a few missions showing her around Hong Kong you’ll be offered a mission called Photographing Amanda. It’s a simple, combat-less mission, requiring you to follow Amanda around taking pictures. Once it’s completed, every health shrine will show up on your map, making it easy to travel around, increasing Wei’s health total.

But if you don’t feel like doing that, and just want to know where they all are, we have that for you, too…

Central

North Point

Aberdeen

Kennedy Town

Looking for more help with Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition? Check out our story missions (opens in new tab), wardrobe (opens in new tab) and jade statue locations (opens in new tab) guides.

The post Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition health shrine locations guide appeared first on Game News.