Okay, so you've got your agenda finalized. What's the next thing to do? Why, it's to announce the All-Star Speakers, of course.

Evergreen Events, the organizer of the 2008 ION Game Conference, has done precisely that. It's mentioned four important names to take note of. Find out who these four people are after the jump.

HAZE may be about the most elite Mantel troopers enhanced by the effects of Nectar, but it isn't about going "all gung-ho," blasting everything that moves and isn't clad in a Mantel combat suit. Thinking shooters and feelings aside, much of the design of HAZE (coming out first for the PlayStation 3, then for the Xbox 360 and PC) is based loosely on just you.

 

Unlike much of the American shooters, where the it's all about the hero in you, your gun and the nameless baddies you steamroll through, HAZE doesn't revolve around that. In fact, it doesn't even revolve around the conflict or the war; instead, it revolves around the soldier fighting someone else's war.

"It's not John Wayne. And a lot of videogames are John Wayne," Free Radical's David Doak explained in a recently published interview with EuroGamer. But he did admit that most gamers will be buying the game to experience another typical shooter, so HAZE will incorporate mechanics for gamers to jump in shooting from the start right to the end.

But then that would only remain skin-deep for HAZE. In fact, Free Radical wants to slowly convince the player that it provides a lot more than just mindless shooting. "We have to somehow change your opinion about that as you go through, and make you uncomfortable about it, make you pleased about it, make you upset or whatever," said Doak.

Click on Full Article for more of Doak's views of what they're doing with HAZE.

We don't know if you remember, but there's this video game called City of Metronome. It was presented by developer Tarsier Studios back in E3 2005, and was the bastion of graphics and originality at the time. Since then, unfortunately, literally nothing was heard about this game. Until now.

According to Tarsier Studios' Bjorn Sunesson, City of Metronome is not going to be the same exact title as the one revealed more than two years ago. He explained that the original title, where Metronome City is completely controlled by a single bureaucratic entity known as the Corporation, looked quite risky in the eyes of a publisher.

Anyway, the Corporation also owns all the lands, the entire infrastructure, and all the industries of the city. The game then puts players in the role of a young train conductor, where you have to search for proof around the city in order to discover the Corporation's secret agenda. As players, you will use sound to fight enemies, solve problems, and confuse citizens.

The premise sounds promising and intriguing, but that is all in the past now as Sunesson mentioned that they put Metronome on the back burner about a year ago, meaning it's in re-design stage. He elaborated,

So what we are doing now is basically building the needed track record, combined with re-designing gameplay to a state where it is still innovative and awesome, but not so unusual that publishers marketing people gets all confused and scared.

During the time the game was presented, Tarsier Studios was being considered as a new comer to the video game industry. When asked as to how the new game will look like and release details, Sunesson said,

It's hard to say, especially considering there is not one single "The City of Metronome"-game anymore, but actually a couple of very different concepts all taking place within the city. Add to this platform considerations, new versions of distribution and what have you, it could be anywhere from Christmas 07 to Summer 2011.

Tarsier Studios is currently working on another title called The Desert Diner.

Thank you to Justin for the heads up!