It's time for another Beyond Co-Op, the weekly column that looks at what's going on in the gaming industry regarding games that are perhaps just a little bit co-op challenged. It's okay, we love them just the same. As we all know, this week was a big week, what with E3 and all. There are doubtless many other stories that are equally important from this week, but these were a few that caught my eye.
- Quantic Dream Announces Beyond: Two Souls
- The Humble Indie Bundle 5 Adds Three More Bonus Games
- 38 Studios Declares Bankrupcy
Quantic Dream Announces Beyond: Two Souls
The developer behind 2010's critically acclaimed game, Heavy Rain, announced their next title this week at E3. Entitled Beyond: Two Souls, the game will also be an extremely serious game driven by narrative for the Playstation 3. Beyond will feature two characters, human Jodie (played by Ellen Page of Juno and Inception fame) and otherwordly spirit Aiden. Players will alternate between playing as either Jodie or Aiden throughout the course of the game. The story will follow the characters across a span of fifteen years and ultimately explore themes such as what lies beyond the other side of death. It looks extremely promising.
Source: Kotaku
The Humble Indie Bundle 5 Adds Three More Bonus Games
The latest Humble Indie Bundle (the fifth one to date) already boasted a great line-up. Consisting of LIMBO, Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP, Amnesia: Dark Descent, Psychonauts, and Bastion (as a bonus if purchasers paid at least the average price of the bundle), one was already hard-pressed to pass it up. Just the other day, however, three more bonus games were added to the Bundle: Super Meat Boy, Braid, and Lone Survivor. Gamers who have already purchased the bundle will automatically get access to these games. For new purchasers, these will count as bonus games where, like Bastion, you'll have to pay at least the average price to unlock them. At the time of writing this, that average price was just a bit over $8. Eight top of the line indie titles for as low as eight bucks and some change? That's an absolute steal. Though do remember that paying more will likely encourage more awesome indie bundles such as this one.
Source: Humblebundle.com
38 Studios Declares Bankruptcy
It's been a rough couple of months for Kurt Schilling and his game studio 38 Studios. Though Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning enjoyed some decent reviews and sales, the sad fact is that that missing loan payments and losing investors leads to a studio being shut down. But the hits just keep on coming. 38 Studios just declared bankruptcy and is now under investigation by the FBI, the Rhode Island Police Department, and the U.S. Attorney's Office. The small spot of sunlight in the matter is that many of the employees at Big Huge Games (the studio responsible for Amalur) have been picked up by Epic Games, Zynga East, Zenimax Online, and other southeastern studios.
Source: Joystiq and the Providence Journal