Star Citizen: Chris Roberts' Next Frontier

Chris Roberts has done more in his life than most of us can dream of. He created the Wing Commander franchise (including several sequels) but eventually burnt out and sold his company to Microsoft. After that, Roberts went on to produce several Hollywood films; work that he feels helped him learn more about telling better stories.

Years have passed and the technology powering games has grown exponentially, unlocking the potential to create something Roberts has been envisioning for well over a decade. Today Chris Roberts is coming back to games. Today Chris Roberts wants to champion the return of the space combat genre.

Roberts aims to create a whole new world for us called Star Citizen, a space-combat game where you’re not just a ship in a universe, but a person living a second life in a galaxy full of possibilities. How open-ended Roberts will make it remains to be seen, but conceptually Star Citizen sounds like the ideal game for anyone who has ever watched Battlestar Galactica, Firefly or Star Wars and wished they could have a chance to live in those universes.

Single-player games often manage to create worlds that feel believable, but Roberts wants Star Citizen’s world to be huge and populated by players, rather than NPCs. Thus while Star Citizen will feature a single-or-multiplayer campaign mode called Squadron 42 (playable offline if you desire), the bulk of the experience will revolve around player interactions in the universe at large. If you want to be a privateer and prey on the ships of others you can do that. If you want to hunt bounties players place on the heads of said privateers you can do that too. Heck, you can even just run goods, selling them in the safer parts of the universe or risking piracy and other threats by taking them to the outer-reaches, where they’re much more prized.

The level of interactivity and immersion Roberts desires comes at a cost, though, most notably that it requires great PC hardware. Developed in CryEngine 3, Star Citizen is at least two years out from release and is being designed for advanced hardware, the results of which are already stunning; A small, pre-alpha demo showcased ships with hundreds of individual parts, all of which contributed to the physics driving its movement. On top of looking like something out of a current game’s cinematic, each ship has an exceedingly realistic damage model, allowing players to damage each component and have it dynamically affect a ship’s performance.

The gorgeous look of Star Citizen extends far beyond the hull of your ship, too. During the hour long presentation I watched Roberts fly his ship into the hangar of a kilometer long, highly-detailed battleship, only to get out and start running around in it on foot. Each running light, girder and handrail looked incredible, and to get out of it and experience it all firsthand – rather than have it be a facade – left me bewildered. One second you and your friends could be flying a mission alongside this behemoth, the next someone could be in the bridge waving at you as you do a fly by.

For all the beauty Roberts longs to bring to the Star Citizen universe, he also wants it to represent life – which is to say it’ll feature a truly ugly side as well. Travel outside of the heavily governed areas and you’ll find yourself without police protection. Journey out into space in search of treasure or to do a quest and another player might just decide to gang up on you with his friends. When pitched a scenario where me and my friend are piloting a freighter, Roberts said the plan is for it to be entirely possible to have one person flying while the other runs around in the ship to man stations and turrets – like the freaking Millenium Falcon. If things go way south and, say, the attackers want to take your ship, they can board you and it can come down to shooting it out, gun in hand, just like a first-person shooter.

So much of Star Citizen’s design is conceptual at this point, but some things have been figured out...mostly. The plan is to support Star Citizen in a similar fashion to Guild Wars 2. You buy the base game, get the single player Squadron 42 campaign and access to the Star Citizen universe, and then have the option to buy cosmetic and other non-balance-altering items for either real money or the in-game currency you earn. The hope is that an entrepreneur (read: bounty hunter, pirate, smuggler, trader, etc.) will be able to earn their money in a way that’s fun and not at all a grind. If you want to buy Star Citizen, that’ll become an option in the very near future. Roberts isn’t using Kickstarter, but he is going to let interested parties support the game through early purchase packages that include a number of to-be-determined benefits.

Yup, it really does look this good.

As the lights came up after my two-hour demo with Chris Roberts I realized two things: 1) PC games in the next few years are going to look better than we expected and 2) I’m a believer in Star Citizen. Not because I’m already convinced that Roberts and team will be able to pull off the lofty goals they’re setting out with, but because his passion is so infectious, his love for the PC platform so palpable, that I can’t help but fall in love with the ideas powering this game. Two years is a long time, but if Star Citizen matches Roberts' expectations it’ll be more than worth the wait.

Anthony Gallegos is an Editor on IGN's PC team. He enjoys scaring the crap out of himself with horror games and then releasing some steam in shooters like Blacklight and Tribes. You can follow him on @Chufmoney on Twitter and on at Ant-IGN on IGN.

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Ben Affleck Turned Down Daredevil Reboot

Ben Affleck has revealed that he turned down the chance to reprise his role as blind superhero Daredevil in a franchise reboot.

Speaking to MTV, Affleck admitted that he had been approached to star in a new version of the much-maligned 2003 film, but couldn't see how it would make sense.

"They're rebooting it," he explained. "I got contacted about it, and I was like, 'That wouldn't be a reboot [if I was involved],' but I really hope they do a good job, because that's a great property and deserves something really, really good."

He didn't rule out donning spandex again in the future though, admitting, "I would love to do [a comic book movie] if it was the right one, if I thought I could do it well. I think you have to, with any movie, have an idea for it that's original and unique and committed to it, and that's a hard thing to find."

The current status of the Daredevil reboot is pretty murky. While Joe Carnahan was originally down to direct the project for Fox, there's a major hurdle to overcome in the shape of the film's rights returning to Marvel as of October 10. Whether the company will decide to pursue its own reboot once the property returns to its stables remains to be seen.

Affleck also revealed that he definitely won't be directing the forthcoming Justice League of America movie, saying of his wrongly rumoured involvement "I guess I should be flattered, and I'm sure it will be cool. I've seen some of the stuff from the new Superman movie, and that stuff is awesome."

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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Football Manager 2013 Release Date Announced

SEGA has revealed the latest instalment in the Football Manager franchise will release on November 2 worldwide.

If you can't wait until then though, the company is offering keen players who pre-order the chance to get into the game earlier.

Anyone who pre-orders a physical or digital copy of the game will receive a code that will grant access to a single-player beta version of the game about two weeks before the full game becomes available. This beta will remain playable until November 5, and all saved games and progress made during the pre-release period will be fully compatible with the final release.

Speaking about the decision to offer earlier access, Sports Interactive’s studio director Miles Jacobson said, "Our fans are very good at letting us know what they want and the one thing that’s consistently at the top of their wish list is an earlier release date. While we can’t, strictly speaking, offer them exactly what they want, this Beta version is the next best thing… a fully playable Football Manager they can get their hands on around two weeks before the finished game hits the streets."

Football Manager 2013 will be available on PC and Mac from November 2, and includes new features such as a Classic mode and short-term challenges.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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Underworld Director Reboots The Mummy

Len Wiseman, he of Total Recall reboot and Underworld franchise fame, is in talks to direct Universal's reboot of The Mummy. Or re-reboot, one might say.

We learned last April that Jon Spaihts -- who also handled the first draft of Prometheus -- was scripting the film. Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (Star Trek, Transformers) are producing with Sean Daniels and Jim Jacks, the producers of Universal's Mummy series with Brendan Fraser that began in 1999.

Not much is known about Spaihts' script, though it is said to be set in the modern era. "I think the sensibility and the cutting edge of Underworld is a fantastic meld for what we want to do going forward with The Mummy,” Daniels told Heat Vision. “We are going to push the edge of scary entertainment.”

Boris Karloff, of course, starred in the original The Mummy in 1932. That film spawned a successful franchise in and of itself, which eventually culminated in a run-in with Abbott and Costello. Watch:

Talk to Movies Editor Scott Collura on Twitter at @ScottIGN, on IGN and on Facebook.

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Paul W.S. Anderson Mulls Monster Hunter Movie

Resident Evil film series helmer Paul W.S. Anderson is reportedly hoping to turn another Capcom video game franchise, Monster Hunter, into a movie.

Punch Drunk Critics got the lowdown by translating a Japanese interview Anderson did while promoting his latest video game movie, Resident Evil: Retribution 3D. Capcom has trust in Anderson at this point given the commercial success of the Resident Evil movies, the most successful video game franchise yet.

Anderson he's actively planning the film adaptation now. While there are no details on his take for bringing the fantasy-action-horror game to cinematic life, it's probably a safe bet that his wife and Resident Evil leading lady Milla Jovovich will likely be involved with it.

Thanks to Dread Central for the heads-up!

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West is Best for Call of Juarez: Gunslinger

The transition of the Call of Juarez franchise from the traditional Wild West setting of Bound in Blood to the modern day mean streets of The Cartel was not particularly well received; neither by fans nor by critics. Akin to the notion of displacing motley pirates from a sun-kissed Caribbean to downtown Catford or moving Mario from the Mushroom Kingdom to suburban Massachusetts, it was a poorly considered and ill-fated change of setting that robbed the game of its unique Olde Western flavour and was further compounded by some lacklustre execution - not to mention the moral ickiness of trivialising the Mexican drug wars.

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We returned to the Wild West for a number of reasons.

Happily, developer Techland has since decided that Call of Juarez is best serviced by being set in its spiritual home, the (very) Wild West, and so its upcoming download title Call of Juarez: Gunslinger will return to its roots.

“We returned to the Wild West for a number of reasons, but basically because of what we’ve heard from fans and the fact that we’re ready to believe that this is where the series belongs,” explains international brand manager, Blazej Krakowiak. “Ever since releasing Bound in Blood we’ve had a number of ideas that we wanted to use for a Western game and this is our chance to do so with a new format and new character.”

Techland is resting the series’ traditional bloodline by having the McCall’s cool their spurs for Gunslinger and is instead taking the opportunity to introduce a new protagonist. This worldly-wise and experienced bounty hunter of “late years” has seen, drunk and fought a great deal of what the Wild West has to offer; he’s also as gritty and abrasive as Midwestern sandstorm. These endearing character traits are evidenced in his regaling of a ragtag bunch of saloon locals, where he tells tales of his adventures from days gone by, which form the basis of each level’s gameplay.

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We’re really making a lot of effort to make sure that it responds well to how the player behaves or how it reacts to the player dying or doing particular actions.

Each level is based on the bounty hunter’s dealings with infamous characters of questionable moral fibre, such as Billy the Kid, Butch Cassidy and Pat Garrett and a key plot device sees the gruff protagonist narrate throughout the levels. Writing ranges from suitably hard-bitten: “Kid had a big chip on his shoulder and a hair trigger temper; that made him dangerous as hell”, to bawdy and ham-fisted: “The right position is very important; personally I prefer to be on top.” The narration of the first level of the game looks very much to set the tone and establish the roles and personalities of the support characters gathered round to hear the stories: the shrewd old timer, nice-but-dim young-un’ and brazen saloon mistress, all of whom add to the narrative along the way. Krakowiak says that the narration is still being refined but that it will come to form a natural part of the storytelling.

“We’re really making a lot of effort to make sure that it responds well to how the player behaves or how it reacts to the player dying or doing particular actions,” reassures Krakowiak. “It won’t be an AI that will comment on everything that you do, but we’re playing with the formula a little bit and always thinking about how to make it more enjoyable and less intrusive.”

Concerns about heavy-handed exposition aside, the action looks fast paced and offers the opportunity for competitive play thanks to a prominent high-score focus. Points are awarded for all manner of takedowns depending on the number of unsavoury characters you can off in quick succession and how and where you land your shots. There are also points for hitting targets on the move, landing headshots in slow-motion Concentration mode and, of course, for sharp shootin’ from sunrise to sundown (level start to level end, to you and me).

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We’re playing with the formula a little bit and always thinking about how to make it more enjoyable and less intrusive.

Helping you become the baddest, meanest gun in the west and achieve those enviable high scores is a character progression system that allows you to spend experience on new skills. These include dual-wielding, rifle speciality and Concentration mode upgrades, which Techland hopes will encourage you to replay levels with different abilities to try to best both your own high scores and those of friends. With the game coming early 2013, Krakowiak isn’t yet talking about multiplayer but given the focus on high scores, some form of head-to-head competitive score attack mode can be considered likely, at the very least.

The Wild West tropes are all here: desert, ghost town, tumbleweed and bent sheriffs as Call of Juarez: Gunslinger looks to embrace its uncompromising Wild West roots. The game launches next year as a download-only title for PS3, 360 and PC so get ready to hunker down with some hard liquor, a colourful cast and a spittoon or two as Techland attempts to spin a yarn of how high scores are best settled against the backdrop of an arcade-stylised Wild West.

Stace Harman is a freelance contributor to IGN and is convinced that zombies will one day inherit the Earth. You can follow him on Twitter.

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