Dave Tach | The Verge

‘The Lord of the Rings Online’ trailer explores the sounds of Rohan

2012-10-09T17:30:26-04:00

the lord of the rings online

In a new trailer for the upcoming Riders of Rohan expansion for The Lord of the Rings Online, the game’s composer, conductor, and several musicians explain the music set to score the realm’s grasslands.

In the trailer, Chance Thomas, the game’s composer, says that he spent “about five years” reading through author J.R.R. Tolkien’s literature, extracting musical references and incorporating those into his score. The trailer also includes interviews with the conductor, sound mixer, and the orchestral musicians who play Thomas’ composition.

The Riders of Rohan expansion is due on October 15th. You can hear a sample of the sounds of Rohan below.

Microsoft brings ‘Contre Jour’ iOS game to the web and Windows 8

2012-10-09T09:01:33-04:00

Contre Jour

About four months ago, the Internet Explorer team at Microsoft approached Maksym Hyrniv about porting his multitouch-heavy iOS game Contre Jour to the web. He refused. Contre Jour arrived at the iOS App Store in November 2011 with the fanfare it had generated at E3 2011. In December, Apple awarded the game its App of the Year for iPad. Blending the visual stylings of Limbo with gameplay reminiscent of Cut the Rope and World of Goo, much of which leverages multitouch interaction — an experience that a web browser can’t offer.

A multitouch showcase

Microsoft wanted to use Hyrniv’s game to showcase the power and potential of its upcoming Internet Explorer 10 web browser in Windows 8. Hyrniv’s Mokus is a one-man development studio based in the Ukraine. His focus is on quality, and he didn’t see the ability to bring the quality or gameplay of his native app onto the web. But Microsoft was persistent. The company offered to work with Mokus to build one level as a proof of concept showing that Contre Jour could look, feel, and play just as it does on iOS when ported to Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10.

Their persistence paid off.

Polygon recently spoke with Ryan Gavin, general manager of Internet Explorer at Microsoft. With Mokus’ help, Microsoft assembled a group of developers to port the game. After a rapid development effort, Microsoft and Mokus are bringing multitouch and Contre Jour to the web today at contrejour.ie.

It’s part of Microsoft’s initiative to bring features like multitouch, hallmarks of native apps, to the web with Internet Explorer 10. The company sees an opportunity with advancing web technologies like HML5 to blur the line between native and web apps, and Contre Jour is their attempt to prove that gaming experiences can be just as rich on the web as they can be on a phone or tablet.

Gavin tells the story of this evolution in waves. The first began on websites where developers focused their attention. When devices like the iPhone and iPad became enormously popular, developers’ temptation was to convert their websites into apps. That’s the second wave, which he calls the “app first experience.”

“Games, in particular, fell into this,” he said. “Content and news aggregators like Pulse fell into this where it was really just an app. It didn’t really have a site counterpart. Now what you’re really seeing his this third wave with browsers like IE 10 you’re seeing this push from app to the sites.” Internet Explorer 10’s job is to prove that it’s not an either/or proposition. It’s not either an app or a website. It’s can be both with relatively little effort.

“HTML5 ninjas.”

Microsoft assembled a team of three small groups to port Contre Jour and its native Objective-C code to a browser-based experience using HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and the Windows 8 framework. It began with Mokus, the game’s developer. Microsoft brought in a team at Clarity Consulting, which he describes as “HTML5 ninjas” who’ve partnered with Microsoft on projects like these for much of the development work. And there’s the Internet Explorer team within Microsoft that coordinated and helped define what they felt touch on the web could be.

“It’s proof of where the web can go.”

The groups worked together to create something new with Contre Jour, and they’re sharing that code for others to gain from what Microsoft learned. The fruits of their efforts will be released on GitHub today. It’s code and a starter framework that Microsoft hopes will attract developers to the platform. For developers, there’s a behind the scenes section of the demo that chronicles its creation. For consumers, the experience is paramount. That’s the inspiration behind the effort. “It’s proof of where the web can go,” he says.

Internet Explorer 10 will launch alongside Windows 8 on October 26th. Microsoft tells us that a Windows 7 version of Internet Explorer 10 is planned, but that the company hasn’t announced release dates yet. After Windows 8 launches, Mokus will release a full version of Contre Jour through the Windows App Store. When Windows 8 tablets follow, Contre Jour will be compatible. There’s also a Windows Phone version available for existing devices. We played Contre Jour in Safari and Chrome on a Macbook Air, and it looked and felt just like its iOS precursor. You can check out the web-based version of Contre Jour at contrejour.ie.

Tom Warren contributed to this article

GameMaker: Studio brings free cross-platform development to Windows 8, Windows Phone 8

2012-09-20T13:30:12-04:00

gamemaker

GameMaker: Studio, the free cross-platform development software from YoYo Games, will be compatibale with Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8, the company announced today.

YoYo Games’ GameMaker suite of programs allows developers to write code in the software and export it for publication on multiple platforms, including iOS, OS X, Android, Facebook, HTML5, and Microsoft PCs.

“The beauty with GameMaker: Studio is that it’s extremely easy for developers who have already or are currently developing with our environment to have Windows Style UI games ready for publishing on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 in a short amount of time,” said Sandy Duncan, YoYo Games’ CEO.

GameMaker: Studio, which YoYo Games says is used in over 5,000 schools and universities to teach coding, is available for a free download on the YoYo Games website.

Nintendo TVii announced for Wii U

2012-09-13T10:27:40-04:00

nintendo tvii

Nintendo TVii, a service for the Wii U that incorporates “a personalized programming guide” to watch live TV and streaming video on the upcoming console, was announced today at the Wii U Press event.

Nintendo TVii is designed to bring together “what you watch and how you watch.” Nintendo’s Zach Fountain said there are three parts to Nintendo TVii: finding things to watch, using the GamePad as a master remote control, and engaging with friends.

Nintendo TVii incorporates several video applications on the Wii U, including Hulu Plus, Netflix, Amazon video, and TiVo into a single hub, using the GamePad as a remote. It features an onscreen remote reminiscent of Apple’s scroll wheel on the iPod Classic.

Bringing together what you watch and how you watch

The service offers the ability to create multiple profiles. Users can explore TV channels and their favorite programming, which is directly tied to each profile, and share their recommendations with their friends.

Nintendo TVii also includes Twitter, Facebook, IMDb, and Wikipedia integration, and can leverage the information from there to make recommendations.

During the demonstration, Nintendo touted functionality built around sports, showing the service’s ability to simultaneously watch a live game while browsing for statistics and searching for instant replays.

Nintendo partnered with i.TV, a company that “designs and builds second screen and social TV experiences” for Nintendo TVii.

The service will roll out in the United States and Canada on the Wii U’s November 18th launch date, and the company is exploring bringing the service “other parts of the Americas.” It will be included with all Wii U consoles with no additional cost and no monthly fees.

You can check out a trailer for the service below, and keep up with the rest of our Wii U coverage here.

Zynga chief creative officer Verdu departs to start new company

2012-08-28T18:58:56-04:00

zynga

Mike Verdu, Zynga’s chief creative offiicer, is departing the casual game developer to start a new mobile gaming company, according to All Things D.

A veteran of Electronic Arts, Verdu joined Zynga in 2009 where he oversaw several Zynga studios and the direction for the social gaming giant’s core properties. In a statement, Verdu characterized his departure as a way to return “to my roots and start a new company.” He expects Zynga to invest in his new venture, which will focus on developing mobile games.

“I personally don’t want to add to the noise level,” he told All Things D. “I think this will be a good thing for me and for Zynga … I’m concerned about how this might be viewed with what else is going on, but it’s not a function of anything else going on at the company.”

Verdu’s departure caps a rocky few months for Zynga. After posting a second quarter loss in July, Zynga’s sock fell 35 percent in after-hours trading. Later that month, Zynga executives became the target of an insider trading lawsuit that alleged they’d sold shares of sock while it remained valuable, an offer that was not extended to other employees.

Earlier this month, Zynga’s chief operating officer and fellow EA alumnus John Schappert resigned. Just days before, EA filed litigation accusing Zynga of poaching their talent and copying their games.