The mash-up of games and television shows or movies don’t have the greatest track record. A history of stinkers would be putting it nicely. By completely reinventing the production process of a TV show and video game, teaching each other how it’s done in their world, Trion Worlds and Syfy are attempting an entirely new type of intellectual property with Defiance. A persistent world with a deep character narrative delivered week-to-week.

Nicholas Beliaeff and iTZKooPA took some time out of Gamescom to elaborate on the backstory before getting into the meat and potatoes of the joint venture, synergy. Beliaeff gives an early example of how a player/viewer will have a different take on the franchise than someone that absorbs only one avenue of Defiance.

Hit the jump for the full interview, including a description of one such synergistic plot line, what players will be doing in the game and why PvP is acceptable in the universe. Stay tuned for another video interview focusing on the competitive nature of Defiance. Continue Reading

In a recent discussion with iTZKooPA, Senior PR Manager Chris Cook details the horde of changes that have hit the World of Warplanes community. Stemming from a tremendous amount of beta feedback, WarGaming.net has been hard at work improving the UI, the tech tree system for each nation and various game mechanics.

Revealed at Gamescom is the title’s fourth nation, Japan, adding the most agile, aircraft-based aircraft to the mix of German, USSR and American machinery. Cook expanded upon the just-released details by discussion mechanics players can expect in the near future, including multiple ways to progress your personal hanger.

Hit the jump for the full interview, including gameplay of the new Japanese jet-powered plane in action and air-to-ground love. Continue Reading

On April 12, 2012, Hi-Rez Studios delivered on its promise to rejuvenate the Tribes franchise when it launched the fast-paced, skill-based Tribes: Ascend. Just shy of a month since release, we caught up with Todd  Harris, COO of Hi-Rez Studios, to discuss the launch process, the future of the game and to facilitate a little industry jabbing.

LoreHound: First of all, congratulations on the launch of Tribes: Ascend. Did the team do anything special to celebrate the milestone? Besides praying to the server gods for a smooth launch, that is.

Todd Harris: Team T-shirts, cake and booze!

LH: Overall, the transition from beta to live has seemed relatively smooth. Yet many developers tend to have issues between last-minute patches and server stability. How did Hi-Rez prepare for the changeover?

TH: The long beta was helpful in flushing out most of the major bugs and polishing gameplay before launch.  In terms of servers, the programming team built a great technology platform that allows us to add servers very easily.  So, even with the huge influx of players we’ve generally able to add servers fast enough to keep up.

LH: Fans want to know: What happened to the Lance?

TH: We’ll see.  We’ve been doing updates every 2-3 weeks so we need to save some cool weapon ideas for consideration in future updates.

LH: A large draw to earlier franchise installments was user-created maps. Is there anything in the works on that front?

TH: Nothing in the works right now.  As you know we just rolled out Custom Servers with a bunch of user-managed gameplay settings and admin features.  So we are currently monitoring how players are using Custom Servers and want to make sure they work well for different communities. Continue Reading

Penny Arcade has entered the general pop culture realm of popularity and overall success. The mainstream may not be entirely aware of it yet, but it’s the truth. The formerly small following of video game nerds has exploded to cover all sorts of geeky media, from card to board and casual games. The two-man operation is now one of the most powerful, pervasive and certainly the most accessible in the industry.

It’s become so omnipresent that the comic has spawned its own line of entertainment products, encompassing video games and board games. iTZKooPA got to check out the latest from Cryptozoic, Penny Arcade: The Game – Rumble in R’lyeh. Christina Sims showed off the basic deck-building gameplay, explained what R’lyeh, a stand-alone expansion, adds to the franchise and a few of her personal favorite comic strips that have become cards.

Nipplecrabs. Need we say more?

Hit the jump for the full dose of ridiculousness. Continue Reading