Elveon mastermind Slavo Hazucha spills all on the action-RPG for Xbox 360 and PC.
Elveon tells the story of the ascendance of Elvish culture. What can you tell us about the storyline behind the game? Have you been influenced by mythology or Tolkien or is it an original take on creating an Elvish backstory?
Hazucha: "To tell you the whole story would be too long for this interview and perhaps also for one game. We took the challenge and developed an entirely new Elvish universe. The world and story development took us four years. So there really is a massive background behind Elveon. Our game and our fantasy universe depict an ancient era where the Elves still are a cunning and dynamic race on their rise to power, with great deeds not the fairy-like fading culture that is known from most other fantasy stories.
So this is the story in three sentences... The gods have left the world of Naon in a rush, it is the place they had wanted to transform into their paradise. The Neamas, the Elves of the ancient times and fellows of the gods have remained there all alone. A smouldering conflict is gaining more and more importance and a new era starts which is marked by envy, malevolence and relentless wars that prevent the gods' descendants from entering upon their inheritance. You are the hero of this epic and your mission is to achieve your objective, the fulfilment of the prophecy - namely the liberation of the city of Nimathar - as the mightiest warrior of Naon because this task is normally made for a god.
We see Tolkien and his world as a great inspiration and a reference that cannot be entirely neglected, but we try to do our own thing. In our world and story we focus on something every genre-fan has heard of but had no opportunity to see or play it - the magnificent history of a fantasy world in the age when the Gods and the Elves were the only ruling powers. This is what we want to depict with Elveon. If I should put it into Tolkien language, our story is definitely Silmarilion and not LoTR. But in making the world and story, we were strongly inspired by ancient mythologies, particularly in the Greek heroic epics..."
This holiday season will be a fight for motion controllers as PlayStation launches PS Move and Microsoft launches Kinect. Both devices will have you throwing yourself around and burning calories in the process. But what if instead of focusing on movement, we simply had to focus our mind on what to do in game?
Jedi Mind - (Yes, Real company name) has been developing thought controlled technologies that allow users to interact with their PC’s and other devices through the power of
This has been around for ages... and as of yet is still lacking much practical use.
When it comes to games at least anyway the time it takes to input a simple action like moving a bolder can be done 10x quicker on a keyboard/mouse or controller.
Motion sensors are massively ahead when it comes to practical game use and immersion.
The only real area I can see it being any use for the next 20 years at least is in the disability area where motion sensing becomes completely useless.
^^^ That's the answer to everyone saying 'porn would pop up every 30 seconds'. You'd calibrate your headset until it only responded to surface thoughts; the ones powerful enough to signify a conscious intent.
The subsurface thoughts would go unread, probably because the signal would be too weak. That's my theory, anyway.
They can probably tweak it a bit to respond to motor neurons, so you can gesture to help focus your thought patterns, but ultimately, I don't see this as much use until we develop neuro-haptic feedback technology to operate in tandem with thought control.
Mastermind Press Release went live today -
god man so many people who don't know what they are talking about
Paradise is a point-and-click adventure game for serious fans of the genre. Though the game features a delightfully mysterious story and a very atmospheric presentation, the difficulty of the puzzles could make it a little too frustrating for most. But for those who can get past Paradise's faults, there is a lot to like about this adventure.
Paradise tells the tale of Ann Smith: an unfortunate lady who, after being injured in a helicopter crash, is now suffering from amnesia. She awakens in a magnificent palace somewhere in Africa, and immediately sets about finding her way home. Her journey is quite large in scope, and sees Ann travelling through dusty cities, treetop villages, barren mines, and more. As the story progresses, Ann learns more and more about who she actually is, which eventually culminates in a very satisfying ending.
Gamezebo writes:
"Lush environments – frothing waterfalls, sunny tidal pools, glistening shorelines whose waves undulate in the breeze – serve as the backdrop for each challenge. Per usual, self-contained stages take the form of a grid of squares inhabited by icons representing various objects, i.e. golden turtles, autumn leaves, ripe avocados, etc.
Swapping two items at a time, you'll need to create lines of three or more similar objects to make them disappear from the board, with higher-situated tiles falling down to close the gaps, and, possibly, sparking off huge combos in the process. Your main goal: Break enough stone tiles by making matches atop them to free a set number of special habitant fragments, remotely located throughout every level."
...has been on my "must have" list since I saw the first trailer from E3 2005. I was shocked when I heard they cancelled the PS3 version; since then, Sony has lost numerous other games and/or exclusives though. This game will be a nice change of pace from the shooters, rpg's and beat-em-ups. I can't wait.
GOW, Fable 2, Halo 3, Bioshock, Alan Wake, Splinter Cell 5...and now Elveon. the list of 360 exclusives is definately an impressive one. set in a fantasy universe, and more akin to Silmarilion than LotR? you can definately count me in.
Yep!.
Had the chance to play a tech demo at this years Games Convention in Leipzig ( and watch some people dressed as elves with paper swords ).
The Demo started with you beeing the king of the elves who gets a tutorial in combat. Its more of a refreshing course for the king but a real tutorial for you. After practicing some moves with your mentor you will start the real game. In a cutscene you find your old mentor dead on the grounds and then you start fighting your way through this short but difficult level.
Right at the beginning you are attacked by two enemies and thats the point where i saw many people die around me. The controlls were difficult to get into but once you did it was a very rewarding playing experience. Combat felt fluid and dramatic and each mistake you make is punished by the enemy. Trying combo after combo after combo and you will exhaust yourself which makes you vulnerable to a counterattack. Normally you can only do like 5 hits until you need to backtrack a little to get energy back. This really made combats really tactical.
looking forward to this game
Nice to hear cool Sh8t.