We've already seen various example of successful shooters that integrated RPG elements into the gameplay such as BioShock (PS3, Xbox 360, PC). Cliff Bleszinski thinks this isn't just a passing thing. He believes that RPGs are the future of first-person shooters.

Midway Games has been on a bit of a slowdown as of late with lukewarm reception on some of its releases, controversial resignations, and so-so financial results. The company seems to have felt the need for a change in leadership, prompting old CEO David Zucker to resign and for Interim CEO and President Matthew Booty to take over. Details on the move are available in the full article after the jump.

After assigning top-level executives to different assignments, Chicago-based publisher Midway has confirmed what it calls "routine" layoffs in its Austin outpost. Are the two moves tied to each other, or is this part of the company's normal procedures? See details in the full article and decide for yourself.

It's official: Blacksite: Area 51 (Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, PC) creative director Harvey Smith, one of the developers behind Deus Ex, and parent company Midway Austin have parted ways after Smith's "public resignation". This ends the partnership that the two began in 2004 after Smith bolted his old team by dishing out strong words in a recent interview.

Midway Studios Austin's latest game for the first person shooter genre, Blacksite: Area 51 (PC, Xbox 360, PS3), may have had much promise, but it failed to meet expectations of players and reviewers alike. Game designer Harvey Smith, known for his work on the memorable Deus Ex, looked back on the critical errors made while developing BlackSite.

Details and more at the full article.

Midway executives have revealed during the company's Q2 earnings call that the upcoming next gen shooter BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) has been moved to a November 5 North American release date. European gamers will be able to get the game earlier on October 26.

BlackSite: Area 51 has previously been given a Summer 2007 release date. Various retail outlets have also pegged the game's release date for September 3 and 14 for the U.S. and Europe, respectively. This announcement places Stranglehold (PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) as Midway's only Q3 release for next gen video game consoles.

A demo for the game has been confirmed by the executives, however. This reaffirms producer Harvey Smith's statements that a BlackSite: Area 51 demo will be released in the next few months. The demo will reportedly showcase a more cinematic story scene.

In an interview earlier this year, Harvey Smith of Midway Games had a thing or two to say about their upcoming BlackSite: Area 51 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC). To develop more on what he touch on before, he's back in another interview, this time with FiringSquad. One of the intriguing aspects of the game is its unique Morale system, which he previously explained as a system which affects how your team acts around you.

More on this, Smith elaborate just how exactly this Morale system plays out:

The game should react dynamically to three different scenarios. First, if the player runs into a combat situation, doesn't really fire his weapons much, doesn't issue squad commands, and just plays ineffectually, the squad starts to freak. They go through various stages of low morale. First they complain, then they start using more conservative tactics, taking cover more often, blind-firing from behind cover, and finally just going into a purely defensive stance... Scenario two revolves around the average player, not incredibly effective, but moderately skilled. Morale fluctuates a bit and the squad helps some. The third scenario involves the skilled player, making headshots, giving commands, focusing the squad's fire on one target, and working to avoid any squad mates going down. In this (high morale) state, the squad gets much more aggressive; team members run out into the firefight and melee, they inflict more damage, etc.

Ooh, that's a bit of a mouthful, however, at least, explained that way, it's actually making us reel in anticipation for the game's release (hopefully sometime this summer). Here's when we can finally distinguish the men from the bio-genetically engineered mice. It's part good leadership, part control, and part aggressiveness. Peter F. Drucker, step out of the way, please. Now for some reason, I'm reminded of Overlord... Either that or Kane & Lynch.

Click the Read link below for the full interview.

A legend known for his single most addicting puzzle game Tetris, Alexey Pajitnov demonstrates how the most simple of solutions can be the most attractive of all. It's no wonder he'll be receiving the First Penguin Award at the 2007 GDCA.

Pitting him up against game designers Harvey Smith (Midway Games) and David Jaffe (God of War, Twisted Metal), the contest was called "The Game Design Challenge: The Needle and Thread Interface."

In honor of the innovative control interfaces for games today, the contest armed contestants with a needle, some thread and a piece of fabric to be used as the input device. All three designers were to conjure up a hypothetical game, which should use all three instruments as an way of input for the game.

Pajitnov's design, called Stitch & Cross, was a basic sewing racing game where two players have at each other in an effort to reach the one side of a common playing field. One player stitches horizontally, while the other stitches vertically. A player could thwart the other's efforts by crossing the opponent's stitch with his own.

Smith involved a much more elaborated version for a control interface, dividing the fabric into different patches of cloth which would represent a certain task of control. When the player poked the any patch, the corresponding command would be called - like a joystick with needles for fingers. His game concept was called The Tailor's Daughter, an action adventure game with an actual story.

Jaffe devised a game that would allow the player to manipulate the fabric into paper airplanes, which can be flown to see which travels faster or further. In the end, Pajitnov was able to steal the win from reigning champion Smith, after the audience supported him with cheers right from the beginning of his participation. The friendly contest was hosted by GameLab's Eric Zimmerman, who said:

There’s nothing stopping us from conceiving of games and from having exercises like the game design challenge. There’s nothing to stop you from making a game inspired by what you’ve seen today ... it’s up to us at the Game Developers Conference to make games better.

Harvey Smith is the man hired by Midway Games to work on BlackSite: Area 51 (PC, PS3, Xbox 360), and he had some things to say about the gameplay and the story behind the gameplay. This article will look at his interview and focus on two things:

1. Smith cares about politics, and his take on US and world politics is included in this game.
2. The politics don't ruin the game because the politics are not the game. If you don't care about politics, that's fine - it's an FPS sequel to Area 51 and you can enjoy it as an edge-of-your-seats adventure. (And it has original gameplay elements like a morale system.)
   

The bad guys in fiction match the real fears of the audience and creators of that work of fiction. This is true whether the creators did it on purpose or not, because the audience will watch the movie or play the game and interpret it according to the things they are currently experiencing.

It's interesting how different generations view the world differently - and how these views make it into their art and fiction. During the Cold War, some people said the Empire in the early "Star Wars" movies symbolized the Soviet Union. After the Cold War, some people said the Empire is a democratic Republic that allows itself to be ruled by a military-oriented executive branch of government.

"Often people go after basic primal things, like the enemy is the other, the unknowable," Harvey Smith said in an interview with MTV News. But for Smith, this frightening "unknowable" is US politics, so the game echoes Smith's fears:

• The game starts out in Iraq in a search for WMDs (weapons of mass destruction).
• The enemy is bad and evil and is obviously the enemy. Just look at the screenshots. But the enemy was created "with some sort of American backing."
• Most of the game takes place in the USA. The bad guys are the Reborn. They are recruited from among the millions of poor Americans. They wear the American flag on their uniforms.
• Smith has a point: these are issues that TV shows (adventure shows, science fiction, and prime-time drama) tackle on a daily basis. Why shouldn't video games be part of the discussion?

The politics don't (and shouldn't) get in the way of the game. That's good. A non-serious video game is for entertainment (like the prime-time TV shows and the big movies that tackle real-world issues). "The Day After Tomorrow" tackled environmental issues, and although the political posturing was heavy in some parts of that movie, it was still a blockbuster movie that anybody could enjoy. "The Abyss" condemned US Cold War military paranoia, but it was really just a movie about aliens.

A good video game usually has a good story (and good gameplay, too). Sometimes - and often - that story has strong political, historical, or sociological themes. Many games tackle the issue power: the innocents who are harmed (and the millions who are killed) by governments, businesses, militaries, or by government-business-military alliances - and how the world is saved despite it all.

BlackSite: Area 51 from Midway Games should be out summer of 2007.