id Software’s Tim Willits spoke candidly about his companies latest project, Rage. During a discussion at Austin’s GDC he stated that the Xbox 360’s limited disc storage is holding the game back.

“The PC is limitless in the amount of data you can put on it…The PS3 has about 25GB. But the Xbox 360 roughly has 6 to 8 GB of data. We’re hoping we can squeeze the game down to two discs for the 360 version.”- Tim Willits (Lead Designer, id Software

According to Mr. Willits, the game had grand things planned for gamers. What were they exactly? Well, hit over to 1UP.com and find out!

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This is a very interesting topic I think everyone should read. It’s how to effectively take a literally 2D design and make it into a 3D character, and the pitfalls some artists fall into. Here’s a portion:

Lee began by discussing the difficulties of translating 2D characters into a 3D space. “You tend to draw these female characters with really long legs,” he said by way of example.

Gee, I tend to focus on other parts of the female anatomy

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Some Q&A to go along with their new look and logo for the website and game respectively:

1. Will we be required to eat/drink in the game? i.e. If I don’t drink in the desert will I die of thirst?

I realize this has been answered previously, but we hadn’t said anything on it for awhile so I wanted folks to know nothing had changed. You do not have to eat, but your Health and Stamina recovery without a food or drink buff is pretty rough.

2. Will I be able to swim on top of the water, and/or dive under the surface of the water? If yes, can I use a weapon while swimming? Melee or Ranged or both?

Click here to find out the answer

Portion of the Austin 360 article:

On Monday, the first day of the Austin Game Developers Conference, I kept wondering, “How many of these people registered before the recent Austin game company layoffs?”

Bad news at NCSoft and Midway Austin notwithstanding, GDC so far feels like a gathering for an industry that’s still expanding despite the current national economic panic. Merrill Lynch sold? Sorry, we’re busy creating a playable demo for our Xbox 360 game.

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Haha, we can’t get enough of our Austin-based Red Fly Studios! They are one of the few devs that keep their blog current (we’re looking at you, Retro). RFS ended in the Guardian, a UK website, as an example of how newer games let players “do-it” themselves. Here’s the portion that talks about Mushroom Men:

Similarly, Wii has the bizarre battle game Mushroom Men, which involves back-garden wars between tiny fungal soldiers. Here, you bodge together your own Heath Robinson-style weapons by scavenging and combining objects from the environment.

Read the entire article here

Red Fly Studios claims it’s one of the best write-ups they have seen so far, so you bet your buck it’s worth checkin’ out! Here’s a portion:

With the Big N now seemingly more focused on personal fitness and minigame collections than anything else, the burden of pleasing the Nunchuk-loving segment of the world’s Wii owners has fallen to the third-parties.  And based on what we saw of Mushroom Men:  The Spore Wars last week, few have risen to the challenge as well as the Austin-based Red Fly Studio has.

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Acclaimed Metroid Prime Developers form New Studio and Sign Exclusive Publishing Deal with Electronic Arts

AUSTIN, Texas, Sep 15, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Three of the principal developers of the critically acclaimed Metroid Prime series have announced the formation of Armature Studio which is now welcoming resumes. The company, located in Austin, Texas, is headed by Mark Pacini, Todd Keller and Jack Mathews, the former Game Director, Art Director and Principal Technology Engineer of the hit Nintendo franchise. The goal of Armature is to create compelling new intellectual properties with a unique development framework that leverages a small core creative team and partners them with strategic external developers. The innovative new model is designed to enhance the creative flexibility of a small independent studio while offering modular scale through external partnerships. The company has signed a long term, exclusive publishing deal with EA.

“We are very excited about trying to rethink how games are developed for this generation of consoles, and our partners at EA have been nothing but supportive in this pursuit,” said Mark Pacini, co-founder of Armature Studio. “What really gets me going is that now, no platform is off limits. That is just something we didn’t have the ability to do before.”

“I can’t begin to describe how thrilled I am to be working with the talented team that created such an amazingly well-crafted series of games,” stated Louis Castle, General Manager at EA and acting Executive Producer of the Armature Studio games.

Additional information about the company as well as new employment opportunities can be found at www.armature.com.

Portion of a Joystiq.com article from Austin GDC 2008:

The first panel we attended at Austin GDC was entitled “The Psychology of the MMO Gamer,” which seemed to hold a mythical amount of promise. Sure enough, once the panel began it was clear that these people had gathered a couple of days before and said, “So hey… what can we talk about?” It was a bit disorganized, but some good stuff came out of it, particularly finding out how a six-year old can grief you with pudding. Read on to find out how you too can learn this devious and delicious skill.

Click here to read more

Okay, I didn’t get to go but I was working on something game-related and important (oddly enough it did not involve playing video games!)

Rest assured I am going to update you with everything I find…RIGHT NOW!

Nintendo will be giving Six Flags Patrons a chance to try out the new Wii game, Wario Land: Shake It!, and two locations are right here in Texas! They are:

* Six Flags Over Texas (Arlington, Texas) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio, Texas) – 10/4-5, 10/11-12

The details after the break!

REDMOND, Wash.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Nintendo and its favorite antagonist, Wario™, have teamed up with Six Flags to take over 10 theme parks throughout the country this September. In celebration of the release of Wario Land™: Shake It!, the new game for the Wii™ console, Nintendo will be giving park guests the opportunity to check out the game and win prizes.

Wario Land: Shake It! plays like a classic side-scroller, but incorporates motion-controlled elements: Players shake the Wii Remote™ controller to help Wario shake down enemies for coins or tilt it to help him decide where to toss them. The game launches exclusively for Wii on Sept. 22

“Wario Land: Shake It! is a game that everyone from veterans to newcomers can enjoy,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Partnering with Six Flags to bring the title to theme parks nationwide is a great opportunity for consumers to experience the game and rediscover the franchise at a place that is designed for fun.”

As part of the theme park takeover, Wario Land: Shake It! game-play interactives will be available at the 10 Six Flags parks’ Wii Experience areas to allow Wario fans and park guests the chance to experience the game first-hand and reconnect with the long-running Wario franchise.<

In addition, on Sept. 27, Nintendo will host a competition at two Six Flags locations: Six Flags Magic Mountain near Los Angeles and Six Flags St. Louis. Running concurrently at both parks, competitors will play through a level in Wario Land: Shake It! as fast as they can, just as Wario must race through various levels in the game. At the end of the competition, the player with the best overall time will be Nintendo’s guest on a holiday trip to New York and a visit to the Nintendo World store. In addition, one person at each park with the best overall time will win a “Bottomless Coin Sack” containing:

* a Wii system and a copy of Wario Land: Shake It!
* a Nintendo DS™ system
* a gift certificate for Six Flags merchandise
* fun premium items

Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.

For more information about Wario Land: Shake It!, visit www.WarioLandShakeIt.com.

Participating Parks and dates include:

* Six Flags Great Adventure (Jackson, N.J.) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Magic Mountain (Valencia, Calif.) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Great America (Gurnee, Ill.) – 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Over Texas (Arlington, Texas) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Over Georgia (Austell, Ga.) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Fiesta Texas (San Antonio, Texas) – 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags New England (Agawam, Mass.) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (Vallejo, Calif.) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags America (Bowie, Md.) – 10/4-5, 10/11-12
* Six Flags St. Louis (Eureka, Mo.) – 9/27-28, 10/4-5, 10/11-12