All Articles: GameCube

StarCraft: Ghost officially still in development at Blizzard

Posted on April 8, 2013 by John Scalzo

starcraftghost-logo

The boys at Blizzard are nothing if not optimistic. Seven years after active development for StarCraft: Ghost ended (and almost a full year after last discussing the game’s status), Blizzard’s Matthew Burger confirmed that it has still never been officially canceled during an interview with a Official PlayStation Magazine UK editor at this year’s PAX East show:

OPM: Is StarCraft: Ghost still an active project for Blizzard?

Burger: It’s on hold. It has never been cancelled.

OPM: So it might still get released?

Burger: Maybe.

If you recall, StarCraft: Ghost was a stealth action game in development at Nihilistic Software (and later, Swingin’ Ape Studios) for the PS2, GameCube, and Xbox. After four years of starts and stops, the game was put on “indefinite hold” in 2006. Presumably, if StarCraft: Ghost were released in the future, it would make the leap to the PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii U. But since this would require Blizzard to, more or less, rebuild the game from the ground up, I’d say there’s not much difference between “on hold” and “canceled.”

But as OPM UK’s David Meikleham says, if Gearbox can release Duke Nukem Forever, no game can ever truly be considered dead.

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Blizzard wants to remind us that StarCraft: Ghost is “on hold,” not “cancelled”

Posted on June 18, 2012 by John Scalzo

As Blizzard continues to toil away on an “unannounced” console version of Diablo III, it’s important to remember that the RPG isn’t the company’s first foray into console development.

Way back in 2002, Blizzard announced StarCraft: Ghost for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. Ghost would have eschewed the birds-eye view of StarCraft for a more personal view of the battle as a psychic warrior named Nova. However, players would never get the chance to play this stealth action title as Blizzard put it on “indefinite hold” in 2006. In the years since, the company has always been quick to point out that the game hasn’t been cancelled.

Fast forward to today, and a Kotaku interview with StarCraft II Lead Designer Dustin Browder. When asked about Ghost, Browder confirmed that no one at Blizzard is talking about it, but he assures us that could change in the future:

“There are no plan. I’m not saying we won’t ever, but I’ll tell you what I do know: There are no meetings going on. There is no team. No one talks about doing it.

It doesn’t mean that in two years from now, we won’t have those meetings, the team won’t be formed, but there is literally nothing happening around that game right now that would indicate that there’s any likelihood that it will happen.”

So there you have it, StarCraft: Ghost is still comatose, but not dead. Thanks for the update, Blizzard!

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See how many systems Nintendo has sold since they started selling systems

Posted on April 27, 2012 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has been in the video game business for a long time. Longer than Sony, Microsoft, Sega, Activision, Electronic Arts… nearly everybody actually. So it stands to reason that the company has sold a lot of systems and a lot of software. How much? Well, I’m glad you asked.

During their most recent quarterly financial briefing, Nintendo revealed lifetime-to-date sales figures for all of their consoles and handhelds. Some of the numbers may surprise you:

Hardware Sold

  • DS: 151.52 million units
  • Game Boy/Game Boy Color: 118.69 million units
  • Wii: 95.85 million units
  • Game Boy Advance: 81.51 million units
  • NES: 61.91 million units
  • Super NES: 49.1 million units
  • Nintendo 64: 32.93 million units
  • GameCube: 21.74 million units
  • 3DS: 17.13 million units

All Software Sold
(Includes Nintendo-Published and Third-Party Titles)

  • DS: 900.31 million units
  • Wii: 818.46 million units
  • Game Boy/Game Boy Color: 501.11 million units
  • NES: 500.01 million units
  • Super NES: 379.06 million units
  • Game Boy Advance: 377.52 million units
  • Nintendo 64: 224.97 million units
  • GameCube: 208.57 million units
  • 3DS: 45.42 million units

All sales data is based on worldwide totals and is accurate as of March 31, 2012. Italics indicates currently available system.

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Zelda Producer: Gameplay comes first, where a game fits in timeline is a coincidence

Posted on January 6, 2012 by John Scalzo

You didn’t think the arguments over the Legend of Zelda’s official timeline were over did you?

After revealing the official timeline to the English-speaking world, GlitterBerri has continued to translate Hyrule Historia on a page-by-page basis. Through her (and her team’s) work, she has discovered that the official timeline is not quite the pre-planned story bible that some fans hoped it would be.

Instead, on page 238, series producer Eiji Aonuma falls back on the traditional Nintendo party line. He confirms that the gameplay hook of a Zelda game is created first and where it fits within the timeline is actually just a coincidence:

Chapter 2, “The Full History of Hyrule,” arranges the series in chronological order so it’s easier to understand, but from the very beginning, Zelda games have been developed with the top priority of focusing on the game mechanics rather than the story. For example, in Ocarina of Time, the first installment of the series I was involved in, the main theme was how to create a game with pleasant controls in a 3D world. Or in the DS game, Phantom Hourglass, the focus was having comfortable stylus controls. Finally, in the most recent game, Skyward Sword, we focused on an easy way to swing the sword using the Wii motion plus.

Thinking of that way of developing the games, it may be correct to say that the story is an appendix to that. I even think that setting Skyward Sword as the “first story,” was merely a coincidence.

So the bottom line is that “The Official Zelda Timeline” is nothing more than an after-the-fact creation used to make Hyrule Historia more enticing to fans. And that’s fine. The timeline as stated still fits together rather elegantly.

But I have to admit, knowing that there was never a plan does put a bit of a damper on the timeline. Especially since Skyward Sword had been billed as the “first story” in the Zelda series since it was announced.

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Official Zelda timeline is officially official

Posted on December 23, 2011 by John Scalzo

Behold, the official timeline of the Legend of Zelda franchise in all its translated glory (click to enlarge)!

With Hyrule Historia now available in Japan, Zelda translator extraordinaire GlitterBerri has unveiled a more complete English language version of the timelime, confirming the three-way split in the timestream. GlitterBerri also said that longtime Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma is listed as the Supervising Editor of Hyrule Historia, so that’s as close to an official stamp of approval as you can get.

Nintendo obviously isn’t going to stop making new games in the Legend of Zelda franchise anytime soon (in fact, a new Zelda game is in development for the 3DS as we speak), so it’ll be interesting to see where future titles fit into the timeline.

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Official Zelda timeline released by Nintendo

Posted on December 21, 2011 by John Scalzo

Nintendo has gone all out for The Legend of Zelda’s 25th anniversary. In addition to the concert tour and multiple new game releases, the company has released a commemorative art book in Japan titled Hyrule Historia. Apparently, it also contains an official Zelda timeline sanctioned by Nintendo!

According to a fan translation at Kotaku, the timeline is actually comprised of three parallel universes, all of which are created due to Link’s actions during and after The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Are you ready to think fourth dimensionally?

If Link fails in his quest to defeat Ganon, the events of A Link to the Past come to pass. However, if Link wins the day, the timeline splits in two distinct ways. The Wind Waker branches off from the future timeline where Ganon ruled for seven years while Majora’s Mask follows on from OoT’s ending of Link back in his boyhood village.

So, when its all mapped out, the official timeline looks like this… (more…)

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