15 best free PC software apps from Microsoft

1. Microsoft Office Web Apps

This must be one of the company's biggest giveaways; you can now have access to the core features of Office Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote for free through your web browser.

Just log on with your Windows Live ID to create new documents or upload existing ones from your computer to your Windows Live SkyDrive account, then edit them in your browser window. Even if you already own a copy of Microsoft Office, this useful freebie enables you to access your documents from any webconnected computer.

2. Windows Live Mail

It's simply the best free email tool there is – essential for Windows 7 users, and a step up from both Microsoft Outlook Express and Windows Mail, too. Reasons to upgrade? It works brilliantly with multiple email accounts, gives you offline access to web-based providers such as Hotmail and Gmail and organises your mail intelligently into conversations.

It also integrates cleverly with a built-in calendar, enabling you to organise your life, too. Windows 7 and Windows Vista users can also enjoy the new photo email option, which enables you to share dozens of pictures without clogging up other people's inboxes.

3. Microsoft Device Center Beta

Windows 8 is just around the corner, and while its touch interface is being heralded from the rooftops, many of us will have to make do with using the traditional keyboard and mouse to find our way around. If your keyboard or mouse is a Microsoft model, you'll want this free download, which combines the functionality of Intellipoint and Intellimouse into a single app, letting you customise how your mouse and keyboard will behave in Windows 8.

4. Outlook Connector Pack

If you want to get access to Hotmail in Microsoft Outlook 2003 or later,install this add-on, which comes with Windows Live Essentials 2011. Once it's set up, just create a new account in Outlook, choosing the option to manually configure when prompted to access the Microsoft Outlook Hotmail Connector option.

5. Free Microsoft Office Templates

Need some inspiration for, or a helping hand with, your next Office document? Just visit the Templates section of the Office website (see the link above), where you'll find a mind-boggling number of useful options.

They're divided up into dozens of categories, which cover all of the major Office applications, and can be accessed through each of the individual Office programs when you create a new document.

6. Microsoft Producer For PowerPoint

This free-to-use add-on for PowerPoint makes it incredibly simple to create web-based presentations from existing PowerPoint slides. You can also use it in association with other media sources, such as video, audio and images.

You'll need to use the Microsoft Office Animation Runtime plug-in unless you're running Office 2007 – a handy download link is provided on the Microsoft Producer download page.

7. pptPlex

pptPlex enables you to zoom into and out of your PowerPoint slides, as well as jump between non-sequential ones. Once it's installed, launch PowerPoint and view the video tutorial to find out how to use it.

8. Free images and clip-art

Need to jazz up an Office document with some relevant imagery? Thousands upon thousands of free photos, clip art and other illustrations are available at the Office website – download individual pictures through the site or use the Microsoft Clip Organizer tool (part of Office).

9. Noreplyall Outlook Add-in

This tiny extension adds two buttons to the Ribbon in Outlook 2007 and 2010, enabling you to prevent people in the same organisation from forwarding or clicking Reply to all when they get the email you're about to send out.

10. Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack

This tool enables users of Office 2000, XP and 2003 to open, edit and save documents in the new 2007 formats in Word, Excel and PowerPoint.Install the Compatibility Pack and the functionality is immediately available in Office's File Open and Save As dialogue boxes.

11. Ribbon Hero 2

The Ribbon interface was a great step forward for Office 2007 and 2010, but if you want to get the most of it, install Ribbon Hero 2.

It monitors what you do in Office and makes suggestions as to which features you should learn about that could help you do your work more efficiently. It also helps you learn about the Ribbon interface using games and tasks that can be played with your friends and colleagues.

12. Microsoft Office Viewers

Don't have access to a copy of Office on another computer? You can now install special viewers for Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, Visio or PowerPoint documents, enabling you to open, look at and print your work without having to download Office.

13. Docs for Facebook

Docs for Facebook is free web service basically lets you create Word, Excel and PowerPoint presentations from within your web browser, then share those documents with your Facebook contacts. Log in with your Facebook account, create your document using the basic controls provided, and then you can let others view or even edit it, plus post it to your wall. It uses the basic Office Web apps, and allows you to download or upload documents from your hard drive to use too.

14. Microsoft WebMatrix

This developer-friendly tool may have uses for less experienced web coders too, seeing as it's designed to simplify the process of building, testing and deploying websites. WebMatrix integrates server, database and programming frameworks – all Microsoft technologies of course – into a single tool, but goes one step further in making it possible to build sites based on open-source tools like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla! and many more with just a few clicks, making it a great tool for trying these services out without having to sign up for a hosting package first.

15. Microsoft OffVis

This tool allows you to examine legacy Office formats (doc, xls, and ppt) at the binary level. In most cases it's primarily a tool for technical users, but there are some real-life applications that might make it useful for the rest of us too: open the file, select the appropriate parser (Word, Excel or PowerPoint) from the Parser list and choose Parse. OffVis will then alert you if it finds malicious code, and can – with care – even rescue some corrupt files via the Tools > Repair and Defragment menu. Make sure you save a copy of the file though, in case its repairs actually make things worse.

The game will change the definition of “PK” in the future

The game will change the definition of “PK” in the future

With gameplay is extremely meticulous investment, the MMO will definitely not disappoint you with the gorgeous skill effects. 
Blade & Soul
Blade & Soul Referring to, surely not followers of any virtual world in South , China is not known. With great graphics, gameplay promises to be the set of all the products go ahead and reputation of NCSoft, the game has spread to netizens Vietnam since late 2008.

Blade & Soul – MMORPG Korean Blockbusters village.

The sad thing is Blade & Soul is only open closed beta version within only 6 days (from 27/4 last).Accordingly, NCSoft announced that work for this play is really just a small part of the game during its test.In the first closed beta version, they will only open the first 20 level and focus to collect comments on the graphics system as well as individual tasks in the game community. ArcgeAge Crafted based on Cry Engine 2, ArcheAge is one of the most anticipated MMORPG today. Context of game occur in a mythical world of ancient East-West combination. Players will explore a fairly deep plot of 12 elders and their influence in the world ArcheAge. Besides humans, elves and dwarves, the game will have five races with the characteristics for selected players.

With the application of advanced graphics and storylines are carefully polished, ArcheAge quickly became a craze in Korea in 2010. But sadly the current online role-playing game is also only the Korean version.Diablo III Such a Diablo III gamers can utilize up to 8 skills at a time. The question here is to heal the drink will be done like. Maybe players will be forced to “sacrifice” one of the 7 button above to assign to the healing drink.

If the interface issue is the concern of those who desire to complete gameplay of Diablo, the speed after max level will do next is so disturbed by the group of fans passionate about the content of this role-playing game. Recently, the council meeting of shareholders of Activision Blizzard, Blizzard president Mike Morhaime has officially confirmed the manufacturer will be running a beta version of Diablo III.

The market game: Another massive game enter “Ship”

The market game: Another massive game enter “Ship”

Game is pure Vietnamese still a luxury, while the game is “imported” from China appearing on the domestic market still keeps growing. 
languishes waiting game Vietnamese
Vietnamese online game market has entered 7th year, however, sadly to the present time is only of VNG Thuan Thien Kiem online game produced by Vietnam is operating in the country for gamers. The remaining projects is a static, although many claim to have been put forward as Vietnam Post Office has information in previous posts.

Many people ask, is it the publisher used in Vietnam-style “noodles”, only enter the game from overseas and charge release players, the game earned them little margin available ready to close after a few months issuance, without paying attention to game developers in the country. It seems that question is also the answer to the Vietnamese state game production today. Although the authorities, but here is the Administration of Broadcasting and Electronic Information, the MIC fully supportive, encouraging and willing to create favorable conditions for domestic companies to invest in Vietnamese production game.

But the situation still nothing changes, still do business spontaneously, even when asked a representative of the Administration of Broadcasting and Electronic Information in the know and support for the project the game plan online game companies in developing countries or not? The representative also said shaking his head just because they can not see comments about this issue, though it is quite beneficial for the company. “Department is ready to consult on legal issues as well as the content elements … to the game development company in the right direction, but what do you see someone asks,” the representative said.Wear Whether the support agencies, but companies do not care, online game developers themselves spontaneously, leading to production games are having some problems with management, even some done can not hit the market. Game Vietnamese still “function hiu” and gamers still waiting for a game each subject to participate in water play. Still game massively imported from China while Vietnam has not been focused game development, a series of online games have made from China is still the release of “imported” to Vietnam. 90% of actual online games of all genres are on the domestic market today have originated from China and it will continue growing.

Many Chinese game project, which from many different sources, (including the claims of domestic distributors and manufacturers in foreign countries) will be available on future market Vietnam as: Sea Spirit, Dungeon Heroes, Red Cliff 2, Long Chi For Christmas, Nine Music Chan Kinh, Swordsman 3 and a series of projects other browser game … This game will make the domestic market have gone up sharply, but warped, creating a growing level between domestic game and the game “imported”. must say this is a sad thing because Vietnam is a growing market full of fertile game with 21 million Internet users and most are very young. In fact, companies in the gaming business is still profit from the exploitation of foreign online games is the main, some companies focus on training human resources and concentrate on producing only game Vietnamese counted on the fingers .

Will ever have the Vietnamese project cult game to compete with others online games, game companies never cease to enrich Vietnamese branch of a foreign game on the domestic market? It is still a big question mark for the online game in Vietnam.

Why Audio Matters In The Last Of Us

Throughout our month of coverage for The Last of Us, the team at Naughty Dog has stressed the importance of subtlety and intensity both in the story and gameplay. Phil Kovats is the man responsible for setting that tone with the audio of the game. As the audio lead for The Last of Us, Phil plans on using audio not only to submerge players in the world but also to have a significant impact on how they engage the enemies of the game. Watch the video below to learn how Phil Kovats' work on everything from God of War 3 to Flow has prepared him to take advantage of the new sound propagation tech to make sure that the audio for The Last of Us leaves a lasting impression.

Mirroring the focused and subtle sound design for the game is the plan for the music. Watch the video below to learn about Naughty Dog's approach to music in The Last of Us, which Oscar-winning composer they have onboard, and to hear some of the music from the game.

To learn more about the Last of Us click on the link to our content hub below.

Nature’s Revenge: The Environments Of The Last Of Us

Nature’s Revenge: The Environments 

Of The Last Of Us

Photo courtesy of Marchand and Meffre
Gaming is no stranger to post-apocalyptic worlds, but Naughty Dog wants to deliver something you’ve never seen before with The Last of Us. The game takes place in a world where a deadly fungal disease and widespread strife has wiped out most of humanity. As the years tick away, nature begins to reclaim the buildings, roads, and other man-made structures our race has erected to keep it at bay. Straying from the dull grays and browns of many games that follow a catastrophic event, Naughty Dog looks to real life ruin photography to capture the haunting beauty of a world reclaimed by the elements.
Naughty Dog has cited numerous pieces of literary and film inspiration for The Last of Us, but the most relevant to shaping the game’s physical world is arguably The World Without Us. Both the non-fiction book and documentary paint a picture of a future world where tree limbs burst through office buildings, vines ensnare the pavement, and huge structures crumble without human maintenance. While the imagery described in The World Without Us may seem fantastical, you don’t have to look further than the American Rust Belt for a glimpse into modern decay.
A style of photography focused on capturing this degradation has cropped up over the last few years. Naughty Dog has studied these impactful images of present day ruins to inspire the world of The Last Of Us. While the developer has not named any specific muse, I’ve found striking parallels between the decayed scenery of The Last of Us and The Ruins of Detroit, by photographers Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre.

Packard Motors Plant

Fort Shelby Hotel

Fisher Body 21 Plant

Ballroom, American Hotel

Donovan Building

Classroom, St Margaret Mary School
Naughty Dog isn’t content with simply popping main characters Joel and Ellie and some bad guys into these interesting environments. The developer is paying careful attention to the composition of every location to elicit different emotions from the player. For example, the lush greenery and open air of an overgrown highway may evoke a sense of calm. Conversely, the underpass of the same road may have support beams crossing at rigid angles and prominently feature the color red to instill fear and claustrophobia.
During The Last of Us demo we saw when visiting Naughty Dog, we were shown an attack made on Joel and Ellie by a band of desperate hunters. The color script below distills the locations featured in this assault down to their basic colors and geometry.

Color script from The Last of Us
Now that you’ve seen how much careful planning Naughty Dog is putting into the locations in The Last of Us, it’s your turn. Try applying what you learned from the concept art to the photos of real life ruins. Would the mellow colors and rectangular shapes of Fort Shelby Hotel make a player feel comfortable or tense? Is there an opportunity for an ambush among the green trees and open road in Packard Motors Plant? Take a moment to apply the lens of Naughty Dog’s game design to these photographs and perhaps you’ll notice something different. It only takes a little bit of imagination to see just how much potential Naughty Dog has to deliver an end of days world unseen in games

Science Says Video Games Are Good For Your Eyes

Science Says Video Games Are Good 

For Your Eyes

Researchers recently reported findings that playing first-person shooters can help your eyesight.
Scientists took six subjects with cataract disorders and asked them to play Medal of Honor for 40 hours over the course of a month. The subjects played the game for two hours a day, five days a week, for a month. Daphne Maurer of McMaster University in Canada who led the study said that playtime was limited becasue she didn't want to the patients to become addicted to the game. That's also probably the reason they chose Medal of Honor instead of Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty, I assume.
Five of the six participants showed improvement after the month was up. "They were able to recognize faces more easily, as well as make out small print and judge the direction of moving dots." This is good news for EA. They can now put a bullet on the back Medal of Honor boxes that reads, "improves eyesight!"
Maurer said, “the visual nervous system is still plastic enough to either form or reveal connections in adulthood….and we suspect that might be true for any kind of visual defect.”
The next step for Maurer and her team is to create, "the perfect vision-improving non-violent video game." Someone should show them Portal and Portal 2.
Thanks to Andrew for the news tip!

Find Out About The Story Of Kid Icarus: Uprising

Kid Icarus: Uprising

Find Out About The Story Of Kid Icarus: Uprising

In the latest trailer for Kid Icarus: Uprising, we get to hear some English dialogue, and get some details about the plot of the game.
The trailer also neatly ties the new Kid Icarus game to the original Nintendo title.
Kid Icarus: Uprising is releasing for the 3DS on March 23.

Thanks to Apricot for the news tip!

Replay: 50 Cent: Bulletproof

Sometimes on Replay we reminisce about old games that we love, and other times we function as therapy. On this week's episode, Tim Turi, Kyle Hilliard, and I are joined by special guest Haydn Dalton, the lead designer of Darksiders II. Haydn was also involved in developing a notoriously flawed but distressingly successful game called 50 Cent: Bulletproof.
We sit Haydn down for his first serious time with Bulletproof since he shipped the game. In addition to some goofing around, Haydn gives us some great insight into how troubled development can drag down talented game makers and some of the problems this specific project faced. After that, Haydn sticks around to show us another slightly less terrible project that he has his fingerprints on.
Special thanks go out to Haydn for being such a good sport in taking a look at what was surely a difficult project for him and putting up with our dumb jokes. Show him some love by checking out the first Darksiders if you haven't yet. It's awesome! You can check out more of Haydn's commentary and Darksiders in the developer commentary video that we recorded last summer.


Want more Replay (with less 50 Cent)? Check out the full collection on our Replay hub.

Game Informer Show 100: Twisted Metal, Vita Review Bonanza

Well, we made it all the way to 100 episodes of the Game Informer Podcast. Thanks so much to all our listeners and those that have sent comments, emails, and tweets our way. In this episode, we start off with Dan Ryckert and Andy Reiner talking about Twisted Metal, the reboot of Sony's long-running car combat series. In the freewheeling second segment, Kyle Hilliard, Joe Juba, Jeff Cork, Matt Kato, Tim Turi, and Jeff Marchiafava (that's more editors than we have microphones!) stop by to break down all the Vita games we've reviewed so far, and give listeners updated impressions on the hardware itself.
It's been a fun 100 episodes, thanks again and here's hoping for 100 more.

Naming The Next Dark Souls

A Dark Souls sequel hasn't been officially announced yet, but that doesn't stop us from speculating what it could be called.
Last November, publisher Namco Bandai announced Dark Souls shipped 1.5 million copies globally. Those impressive sales numbers combined with a nearly 90 Metacritic average means we'll likely see a sequel sooner rather than later. The thing is, it might not even be called Dark Souls II.
Developer From Software created both Demon's Souls and Dark Souls. Sony owns the Demon's Souls franchise, so when From Software wanted to go multiplatform with a sequel, they had to start over with a new universe in Dark Souls. However, Dark Souls' story doesn't exactly end with room for a direct sequel.
The team has a number of options to go with their third game in the Souls series. Do they go with Dark Souls II or a completely new game again? Our fantastic design team here at Game Informer put together some options using Dark Souls art that you can see below.
Also, in the gallery afterwards, we left readers some of our covers without titles. Think you have a better name? Create your own cover and add it in the comments. We'll take the best fan-made covers and add them to our story on a second page.

Assassin's Creed III Coming In October

Ubisoft today confirmed when it will release Assassin's Creed III this fall.
The game will arrive on October 30, 2012, the publisher said. No other details were announced.
"We will push the title a lot because it's a fantastic product that the team has been working for three years," said CEO Yves Guillemot. "What we have seen is just fabulous."
Ubisoft also said it shipped 7 million copies of Assassin's Creed Revelations so far through December 2011.
Note: The screenshot above is not from Assassin's Creed III

Email the author Jim Reilly, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus

When Tecmo released Ninja Gaiden in 2004, you would think Team Ninja would have needed a break from ninjas after the notoriously long development process. Instead, the team continued to update and re-release the game in the form of Hurricane Packs, Ninja Gaiden Black, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. Just in case we haven’t played the game enough times, it’s back once again in portable form. Whether this latest iteration of Ryu’s 3D debut is worth playing again depends on how much you already enjoy the series.
Gamers who only played the original release will welcome the tweaked camera and bonus Rachel stages, but even the adjusted camera from Black can be problematic. It’s not the only feature clearly showing its age. Platforming is wildly inaccurate; I missed jumps just as often as I made them. Enemies respawn as you double back on rooms, which isn’t a problem with lower-level enemies but can be frustrating as you progress further in the game.
Like the rest of the launch titles, Tecmo made a few new alterations to take advantage of the Vita’s unique hardware. Players can tap the screen to go into first-person mode and then move the handheld around to survey the environment. It’s a nice feature, but I found myself accidentally tapping the edge of the screen as I used the analog sticks, unintentionally sending me into first-person mode in the middle of swordfights. One added feature, the ability to complete tiny minigames with the rear touchpad to enhance your Ninpo attacks, feels forced.
Gamers who had a hard time with the original game’s difficulty should find the new Hero mode more to their liking, as it enables auto guard and evasion assist once your health is low. In addition, it grants the player infinite Ninpo attacks, which should be enough to clear almost any area of enemies.
Other than a couple Vita-specific features, an easier difficulty level, and a collection of trial missions, Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus doesn’t offer anything new. If you loved the original game enough to play through its numerous updates, then you may enjoy taking this new version on the go. However, action fans accustomed to the polished games of this generation may become frustrated with the eight year-old mechanics.

Gearbox Still Exploring Licensed Games

(Heat, 1995)
The developer behind Borderlands and Brothers in Arms hasn't always been working on original properties. The studio, which formed in 1999, began working on Half Life expansions and other license titles like James Bond and Tony Hawk.
Gearbox Software got their big break in 2003 when they were asked to port the mega-popular shooter Halo: Combat Evolved to PC and are now known for being one of the most creative independent game developers in the world.
We sat down with studio president Randy Pitchford at DICE in Las Vegas last week to get his thoughts on Duke Nukem Forever's aftermath, licensed properties, and if there's room for comedy in games.
Game Informer: How big is Gearbox Software right now and how many projects are you working on?
Randy Pitchford: We are about 200 people internally and in addition, at any given moment, there are between 100 and 200 other people outside of our studio that help us out, such as independent contractors and partner studios. We’re in development on a number of projects; I think there are some that have been announced. Obviously Aliens: Colonial Marines and Borderlands 2 are the most imminent projects that everyone knows about. We’ve got other things going on for the future.
How do you structure your teams working on so many projects?
We tend to have a very community-oriented studio. We don’t really have project teams. We have these leadership clusters that tend to care for a project, especially through [certain] stages of development. Sometimes we have a leadership cluster that will be with something from beginning to end.
It’s kind of like constantly rebuilding a jigsaw puzzle with pieces that are the same piece and sometimes pieces that are also reforming. We push attention around [to] where the value is.
Gearbox has a history of licensed games the past.
We did a James Bond game with EA. That was the only game we’ve ever done that was a movie property that launched day and date with the movie. It wasn’t the game based on a movie; it was an original story. It was interesting to have that experience. It taught us what it was like to work with Hollywood. It wasn’t the first time we worked with someone else’s property, we worked on the Half Life stuff and Tony Hawk, for example
When I think of Gearbox Software now, I think of great, original designs and concepts, but as a licensed game, Aliens: Colonial Marines sort of sticks out of your current portfolio. What’s the future for Gearbox and licensed games once Aliens ships?
As a creative interest, we are gamers and game makers who love to play a lot of different types of games, so we will endeavor to make a lot of different types of games. Sometimes there’s awesome stuff in the world that other people have created that inspired us.
With Aliens, it’s a no-brainer. Part of the fascination with Halo is because it’s basically derivative of the Colonial Marines stylings. You can feel [director] James Cameron’s’ influences all over Halo. The sergeant in Halo is Apone. I’ve been stealing from Aliens forever; I’m not ashamed to say it.
What you’ll find is in the future is that Gearbox will create new things. When we do [that] it’s usually because there’s something that we might identify as a worthy bet that’s not covered anywhere else.  That’s where we’ll create new things. At the same time, there’s a lot of awesome stuff in the world that other people created. We will always keep that thread alive.
When we finished the first Brothers in Arms game, we made a list of these awesome properties that we’d love to get involved in, and Aliens was at the top of that list and somehow we managed to get involved.
What were some of the other names on that list for licenses that you wanted to work on?
I did a deal with New Regency and [director] Michael Mann for Heat. I think there needs to be a good heist game. I don’t think there really is one. There have been people that have made some attempts. Most heist stories in passive entertainment, like television and film, are usually about the elaborate plan and, if it goes well, there’s actually the absence of conflict. Heat had hockey masks and AK 47s, and that was a reasonable strategy, in that one case, to go at it face first.
Eventually other things started to cover it. Kane and Lynch tried some things. What I thought was great was basically the Heat mission in Grand Theft Auto IV. We had some other priorities at the time and I wasn’t able to do anything with Heat.
We also looked at Sin City, a couple other Frank Miller things, and Blade Runner.
What’s the status on the Heat game license? Does anyone own it now?
We did a deal so we had a license to create a video game based on Heat. I haven’t looked at that license in years. I’m sure there was a term on it. It’s probably expired. It was never a project, but there was intent. If the deal would have gotten done three months earlier than it had, that’s where our attention would have gone. I eventually told the New Regency we missed the window after the deal got done.
I think it would be cool to play an awesome heist game. That property lends credibility to it. It’s a nice word; you can picture it on the box. Because of what that movie represented, it tells you this approach to a heist game isn’t going to be “passively work out the secret plan,” this is going to be an in-your-face action game, which is the way we wanted to approach it.
I also like how the movie Heat looked at it from both the point of view of the sociopathic killer and the law enforcement. It’s fun to use the safe medium of a video game to explore dark side kind of things. I’m always a good guy, too. I always pick the hero and go down the light path. I think that property would have allowed us to naturally make a game where it’s expected you’re playing in parallel the hero and villain sides of that conflict.


What did you learn about Duke Nukem Forever now that the game has been out for a while? You were excited about the game at PAX. Then the game came out with really low scores. But overall it seemed to have sold very well.
I don’t think I would have changed anything. I’m still so proud that we were able to make sure the game exists.  I’m always a “the glass is half full” kind of guy. At the same time, I knew what the game was. This was a legacy project that had been in development for over 15 years and had all that baggage.
With all the games we’ve ever made, we get both fan mail and hate mail. And somehow, Duke Nukem Forever had the most positive love-to-hate ratio of mail that we’ve ever gotten.
What it’s telling me is our industry is maturing and evolving and that game criticism is becoming a lot like film criticism where we’re holding this entertainment up as an art form.  When you look at a title like Duke Nukem Forever, it’s not created to be art – it’s created to be raw, silly entertainment.
When the game came out, on the Hollywood side, the biggest box office success was The Hangover 2. The movie got a 32 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie is hilarious. One of the things I think it was criticized for was that it imitated the formula of the original movie, but that’s what I wanted from it.
So you think there is room for that style of humor in video games?
I think Duke Nukem Forever is evidence that there is. There’s a spectrum with art. On one end of that [spectrum] is expression and on the other end is commercialism. If you get to the most extreme side of expressionist art, the audience does not matter at all. It only exists because the creator needs to get it out. Sometimes art on the most extreme side of expressionism finds no audience at all.
When you go to the full commercial side, it only exists as just pure entertainment. It’s designed for the consumption of it. For example, the best-selling book isn’t always the most profound book; it’s something like Chicken Soup for The Soul. Film is the same way.
So what I’m learning is that video games are starting to move in that direction – the critical reaction to them and that balance between expressionism and commercialism.
Double Fine started a Kickstarter project to fund a new game. I think this is a landmark event in gaming that we’ll look back in 10 years and say this was something special. Do you see a future for this type of funding?
What will be fun is the type of game that comes from that effort. I love Tim Schafer’s stuff. The idea of him and his team doing an old-school adventure game is exciting. If it took crowd source funding in order to make that happen, then so be it. The crowd is probably in a better position to take that risk than a publisher.
If there’s a model where the crowd-sourced investors actually get a return on that investment, that changes everything.
If you could snap your fingers and change one thing about game development, what would you like to change?
It’s always a challenge, but that’s what's so stimulating about this experience. We’re always a medium struggling with technological limitations and ambitions. Simultaneously we are an entertainment medium, which is all about heart and subjectivity. When you put these things together, there’s just an endless string of challenges.
Sometimes the job is very white collar and we get to feel inventive and academic, and sometime it is very blue collar. If I could get rid of anything I'd get rid of the blue collar part.

Vietnamese Shooter Coming Stateside

Emobi Games has announced 7554, a new shooter that will be among the first games produced in Vietnam to arrive in North America.
The unusual name for the new game comes from an important date in Vietnamese history. The 7th of May (5th month) in 1954 was the date the French army surrendered to the Vietnam People's Army, ending the first Indochinese War.
In the game, players take on the role of a soldier in the Vietnam People's Army. Years later, America would fight against that same army in the Vietnam War.
“There has never been a video game of this size and scope from Vietnam and that fact alone gives us a lot of national pride," says Emobi Games director Tuan Huy in a press release. "It is our privilege and our challenge to create a first person shooter that gamers will enjoy playing. And though 7554 is based on historical events, it is not an attempt to recreate the past, but rather it is a vehicle meant for entertainment.”
7554 will utilize Nvidia's PhysX engine and Havok's Vision Engine 8. The game is nearing release on PC in Vietnam on December 16, with a release in North America planned for February of next year.
7554 brings up a number of interesting ideas for American gamers to consider. It's rare that we get to play a game told from the cultural perspective of a different world military; modem shooters predominantly depict a Western view of the action. 7554 represents a step past that, as an opportunity to play a shooter from the perspective of an army that would later be an enemy of the United States.
Would you be interested in playing a shooter produced in Vietnam?

Saint's Row's Gangstas In Space Has A Release Date

We've known that Gangstas In Space would coming some time in the Winter to Saint's Row: The Third, but now we know the exact date.
THQ  and Volition announced a season pass for Saint's Row: The Third shortly after the game released that revealed details about all the planned DLC, but it didn't have exact dates. We've already received Genki Bowl VII, and Gangstas in Space will be releasing next week on February 21. It's free if you purchased the season pass in advance, and $6.99 otherwise.
The last planned DLC will be The Trouble With Clones, and it will be releasing sometime in the Spring.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier

New Developer Diary Covers Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's Animation

Along with a handful of screens, Ubisoft has released a new video that shows off Ghost Recon: Future Soldier's many animations.
The main character alone has over 2,500 animations, and all the motion capture was performed by former Navy Seals operatives, so it should look pretty realistic.
Check out the developer diary below, and look out for Future Soldier on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on May 22. A PC version has been announced, but will arrive after the console versions.

Email the author Kyle Hilliard, or follow on Twitter, Google+, Facebook, and Game Informer.

Filed under: ghost recon: future soldier, xbox 360, preview, action, ubisoft, ghost recon, animation, screens

games mentioned in this article

• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier PC
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Xbox 360
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier PlayStation 3
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Xbox 360

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Reiner And Phil Play Twisted Metal

Reiner is a big fan of car combat games in general and Twisted Metal in particular, but he's largely avoided the pre-release buzz for David Jaffe's latest. In this video, both of us experience the new game for the first time.

We spend just under a half hour blowing up cars, getting introduced to psychotic characters, and desperately trying to figure out how to go in reverse. Watch it below and then check out more Reiner and Phil videos on our hub page.

New Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition Trailer Does Little To Clarify

We're still a little confused by this crossover, but Pokemon have always been an adaptive species, able to exist in many genres and now eras, apparently.
Originally announced in December, Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition looks like it's going to be a turn-based strategy game that will release on the original DS. No word on a stateside release, but we like Pokemon nearly as much as Japan does, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it over here at some point.

Mass Effect 3 Kinect Commands Cheat Sheet

You won’t be able to actually play Mass Effect 3 for a few weeks still, but you can start warming up your vocal cords now.
EA recently released this cheat sheet of all the commands you’ll be able to issue to your team members using Microsoft’s Kinect. We’re still a little disappointed that you can’t order your teammates to kill each other, but that’s not going to stop us from continually trying.

Get Your Hands On EA’s SSX With Early Demo

Get Your Hands On EA’s SSX With

Early Demo

Start shredding down the world’s mountain with the demo for EA’s new SSX early next week.
During the latest episode of the SSX Ubercast, creative director Todd Batty revealed that the SSX demo would be available for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 21 in North America, and the 22 for everyone else. The demo will feature Zoe as a playable character, two tutorials, two events and a skydiving sequence. We’re ready to dive in.