Infinity Ward has opened a studio in Austin, Texas.
31.10.2023 - 20:11 / pcgamer.com / New
'83 was announced in 2019 as a persistent FPS for up to 80 players set in an alt-history world where the Cold War turned hot. Development was being handled by Antimatter Games, the team behind the excellent Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, but work was put on hold in May 2022 so the team could focus on its IGI Origins reboot, and then it all ran aground a year later when parent company Enad Global 7 elected to close the studio. The fates of '83 and IGI Origins were unclear in the wake of the studio shutdown, but it sure didn't look good for either of them.
Now, though, it seems that at least one of them is back from the presumed-dead. A studio called Blue Dot Games announced on Discord earlier this week that it's looking for playtesters for a pre-alpha build of '83 as it prepares to move forward with development.
Blue Dot Games was founded earlier this year by Tony Gillham, who also founded Antimatter Games in 2013. He left the studio at the end of 2014, ahead of the release of Rising Storm 2: Vietnam, but told me in a chat that he's kept up with the company's activities since then.
«When I heard that Antimatter Games was due to be shuttered, I started reaching out to former colleagues and others within AMG about the possibility of doing a deal with their owners Enad Global 7,» he told me. «It was one of their staff, Chris Rickard (now my co-director) who mentioned the possibility of doing a deal with their owners Enad Global 7.»
At this point, Blue Dot has a letter of intent to acquire the rights to make the game, and is now finalizing the terms of that deal, which grants the studio access to «a significant amount of assets» and the use of everything that was previously developed for the game. Blue Dot is also bringing on more developers to work on the project: It already has «senior people in all the key areas, code, level design, art, [and] animations,» and is also «pretty far along in negotiations with several of the key senior people involved in '83.»
«Obviously the terrible string of layoffs this year have led to us being spoiled for choice in terms of recruitment but there is a strong feeling that we need a good representation of OG 83'ers throughout the company ,» Gillham said.
While '83 is kicking again, it'll be a long while yet before any kind of public release happens. Blue Dot is recruiting people to test older version of the game and «refine the gameplay to a point where it is clear to publishers that we have 'found the fun.'»
«This will take a little while, as the game development had essentially stalled for more than a year,» Gillham said. «We believe we have found the sweet spot between twitch, 360 no-scope shooters and tac bro, milsim, large map titles. We offer intense, realistic tactical
Infinity Ward has opened a studio in Austin, Texas.
There’s a correct method to jamming two corncob holders into a teenager’s ears for maximum terror. Eli Roth has known the way since he was a kid in Massachusetts, shooting horror movies in his backyard and coming up with kills that would eventually find their way into his new slasher, Thanksgiving, 40 years later. The gag is simple: Start with the corn picks tucked in the screen victim’s ear, yank them out at full-speed, and make sure the actor is screaming at the beginning and surprised at the end. When it’s all played in reverse, the practical effect looks absolutely gruesome — or, for a horror movie, perfect.
Monarch: Legacy of Monstersis one of the year’s best surprises.
Phantom Liberty cemented Cyberpunk 2077's multi-year comeback, and CD Projekt Red quest director Paweł Sasko says the expansion's story benefited considerably from player feedback on the base RPG.
When Clockwork Revolution appeared at this year's Xbox Games Showcase, fans were surprised to see actual pre-Alpha gameplay from inXile's next game. As reported prior to the announcement, it's a steampunk roleplaying game led by the makers of Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura and powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 5. Unlike Arcanum, which was played from an isometric point of view, the upcoming project is a strictly first-person game.
As DC's Titans: Beast World draws closer, the publisher has teased their plans for what will follow it - and it sounds like an unholy trinity of villains will be causing chaos for Batman and Superman.
Fortnite OG is changing every week and the loot pool changes with it. Week 2 is based on a new season bringing back Rift Encounters and all sorts of other madness. The most interesting changes keeping players on their toes are to weapons and vehicles.
Next week marks the third year since PS5 launched and we wanted to take this opportunity to thank the more than 40 million players who’ve joined our global PS5 community. In these first three years, PlayStation Studios and third-party developers have introduced more than 2,500 PS5 games for players to enjoy, including fan-favorite titles in recent months like Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Baldur’s Gate 3, and Final Fantasy XVI.
One of Apple’s key selling points of the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are the devices’ ability to play some pretty modern and demanding games. One of which is the recent Resident Evil 4 remake, and it’s launching on compatible iOS devices soon.
Genshin ImpactVersion 4.2 is on the horizon, and with a new Version comes drip marketing for new characters. This time, we’re getting more details on Navia and the introduction of a brand-new character named Chevreuse!
is a huge improvement over its predecessors in many ways, with a larger map, faster traversal, a game-changing fast-travel system, and the ability to swap between both Peter Parker and Miles Morales' Spider-Men. However, for those who played the previous titles in Insomniac Games' acclaimed superhero series, it can feel like the newest entry has taken a step back in one specific area: the game's gadgets.
If you've played the game, you know the one.