Last month, Factor 5 (the studio that gave us Lair for the PS3) announced that they'll be releasing a new title for the Wii. Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht refused to reveal anything more than that, but at DICE 2008 he finally decided to reveal some new information. Like what Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader did for the GameCube, this mystery game will reportedly push the Wii to its limits. Read more in the full article.

Factor 5, after its short stint with Sony on the PlayStation 3, had finally expressed desires to team up once again with Nintendo to release a new game for the Wii. Some sources have said that this game is no other than a new entry in the Kid Icarus series.

If you want to know more about this rumor, as it seems highly possible, you can check out the full article for the complete details by clicking the "read more" link below.

For those of us wondering what's next in store for Factor 5, here's a small update that should get our hopes up after Lair: the company is knee-deep in the creation of a title for the Nintendo Wii - and this comes from none other than Julian Eggebrecht himself. Excited? Then check out the entire scoop in the full article.

Nintendo has taken the next-gen market by storm. Easily one of the fastest selling consoles ever, this product has captured the attention of multitudes of gamers since it first came out.

It has been said that the popularity of the Wii is due to the fact that casual gamers can pick it up and play more easily. With all the changes in the gaming industry, it can be expected that market strategies must adjust to the phenomenon, lest companies get left behind.

The president of Factor 5 (which is developing Lair for the PS3), Julian Eggebrecht, acknowledged this fact and gave his take on the situation:

Let's say the Wii takes over the world. Just naturally, the traditional magazines - if they stick to their current position of slightly dissing it - will simply go out of business.

If on the other hand the market stays as diverse as it is right now, which is actually quite exciting I think, then there just might be room for a more hardcore press which will potentially drift further away from the casual side, and a casual press which appreciates what companies like Nintendo are doing.

What Eggebrecht said is pretty obvious, as companies that won't adopt will undoubtedly go out of business. However, this blogger believes that there will always be room for hardcore and casual gamer magazines, no matter who wins the console war. After all, while there are more casual gamers, hardcore gamers tend to spend more on gaming.

Leipzig's heralded opening keynote has come to a conclusion, and Factor 5 president Julian Eggebrecht had much to say regarding authoritative hindrances to the development of games as an art form. In his delivery, Eggebrecht said that the ratings board of the game industry wasn't taking games seriously, especially in the art form viewpoint.

 

In the past, games have often been crusaded as a new form of art, complete with expression of creative content and the ability to interact with that expression. But more often than not, the game industry is besieged by elements from the outside. And even for a simple, sincere campaign to have one game viewed as an art form, there are plenty of other entities who wouldn't share the same views.

Even references to certain topics, rendered in satires, were restricted to some extent. Factor 5's Lair included hidden content of a real-life coffee maker - obviously in reference to GTA's "Hot Coffee" hidden content - but Factor 5 didn't have the liberty to call the cheat as "Hot Coffee" even if they willed.

"Everyone thought it was hilarious...but we couldn't call the cheat 'Hot Coffee', because that would imply we were mocking the authorities investigating Hot Coffee," Eggebrecht added. Later, he pinpointed how easily a game can be plucked from shelves simply because of an Easter Egg that suggested a sexual act, in contrast to movies. He also said:

I would be happy if in games we could talk about homosexuality, but we're not even at the point where we can admit that humans have heterosexual relationships, and that is a real problem - and it tends to show that games are not being seen, even by our own ratings boards, as an art form.

Though much of his speech would be considered flak against the U.S.' Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB), he did offer some constructive criticism. He suggested that a new ratings scheme be drawn up to differentiate levels between Mature and Teen, where some games could be viewed as both due to differences in viewpoints. But overall, he said it would allow games to be rendered as art forms, and push the envelope a little further. He concluded:

I hope that we actually can prove that this is an art form. Show me something that proves on all levels that games are indeed an art form - push the violence, but also push the sex, and push it in an artistic way where it's not really gratuitous, but where it gets my thinking brain going.

 

Just another couple of updates for the day, in case you're keeping an eye out for the upcoming Games Convention Developer's Conference (GCDC) 2007 at Leipzig. The organizers have just sent out a press wire to say that they've now released the schedule for this year's event. In line with this quick update, the following speakers have also been confirmed to be present:

• Julian Eggebrecht (USA)
• Peter Molyneux (UK)
• Michael Lewis, Cryptic Studios (USA)
• Chris Mottes, Deadline Games (Denmark)
• Jeff Hickman, EA Mythic (USA)
• Jeffrey Steefel, Turbine, Inc. (USA)
• Don Daglow, Stormfront Studios (USA)
• Patric Palm, Hansoft (Sweden)
  

As Sean Kauppinen, GCDC advisory board member, and vice president of Kohnke Communications, said regarding the speakers expected to make an appearance.

We had a tremendous number of potential speakers this year and the task of deciding which topics and speakers to choose has been an intense process because there is so much going on in the industry right now. The board feels that we have put forth a top-notch program and we look forward to the reaction of the conference attendees.

This year's GCDC will take place at Leipziger Messe (Germany), from August 20-22. The full event schedules should be available over at the official GCDC site, accessible via the read link provided for below.

 

Julian Eggebrecht, Factor 5 president and lead director, has been announced as the opening keynote speaker for the GC Developers Conference (GCDC) 2007 in Leipzig (also known as the Leipzig Games Convention). Details of his speech have yet to be revealed, but we can expect it to be interesting at the very least. Factor 5 is currently working on the PS3-exclusive game Lair.

Peter Molyneux, Lionhead Studios' president, will also be giving a keynote focusing on the company's classic games. The GCDC 2007 will be held from August 20 to 22 in Leipzig, Germany. Other GCDC 2007 international speakers will include:

• Jason Manley (Massive Black)
• Christopher Schmitz, (10Tacle Studios)
• Jennifer MacLean (Comcast Interactive Media)
• Dr. Michael Wimmer (The University of Vienna)
• Alexander Fernández (Streamline Studios)
• Cindy Armstrong (Webzen)
• Amir Taaki (Crystalspace)
• Jeff Strain (ArenaNet)
• Vlad Ihora (Telia Sonora)
• Barbara Lippe (Avaloop IT Solutions)
• Pamela Kato (The GamerX)
• Uwe Nikl (Level 3)
• Matt Firor (Ultra Mega Games)
• Konstantin Ewald (Osborne Clarke)

The year's coming to a close, and as all three consoles are now in the market, we're going to be hearing more from Factor 5's Julian Eggebrecht.

Gamasutra's just had an interview with the dude, and aside from  making inquiries into Julian's next-year aspirations, they've also posed another question many a dev has probably heard: What's his take on the three consoles?

Julian started out by talking about the PS3 - the console on which his Lair title was banking on. Julian was quick to point out how much he liked the PS3's Blu-Ray and the video quality it was churning out for his Plasma TV. As for his thoughts on the PS3's online pack:

I was very skeptical about that and how Sony would pull it off, and it's pretty damn close to Live, and actually some of the usability I prefer to Live, quite frankly. So I think that all went extremely well, and the potential is just huge.

He went on to mention that at this point, the PS3's biggest flaw was its shortage of good games on launch day - we're sure you guys felt the same way, even if we've got Resistance to tide things over... Next, he commented on the Xbox 360, which started with his impressions on its current best-selling title:

For Xbox 360, I have to say Gears of War is massively impressive. Really really cool game, kudos to Cliffy. It just keeps going – it's a little awkward that the 1080p is kind of ratcheted in there, so I'm not too excited about that, it seems kind of tacked on so I don't know how much potential is out there, but the 360 is a solid system by now.

And for the last console he's seen, the Wii was a loved product, though he admitted to loving it for different reasons. If the PS3 was loved for the hardcore gaming it offered, the Wii was there for the casual gaming it was churning out. Julian mentions Wii Sports as one of his current faves, and adds that the Wii would have been a good "secondary" console to guys already carrying a PS3 or Xbox 360.

That aside, Julian did foresee the problem third-party developer might have with the Wii. Having a very specialized set of controls, the Wii might make for long-term complications for developers. And as for his tie-up to the topic:

But I think nobody should be without the Wii. And quite frankly if you want to be really secure in the future, and if you're a real techno geek, I think the PS3 has a lot more to offer than the Xbox 360 at the end of the day. But when the PS3 comes to games, right now, it's a little bit weak.

The rest of interview will be covering details on Factor 5's projects for Sony's EDI program. Read up on the link for the full details.