Welcome to Through the Looking Glass
Originally created to follow Looking Glass Studios and their games, these days we are many things to different people. Whether you wish to discuss the games themselves and fan content, enjoy games inspired by the legacy of the game studio or just enjoy chatting about games or life in general - Welcome!Latest News
LOS ANGELES – Jan. 27, 2006 – Vivendi Universal Games is pleased to announce that SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, the expansion pack to SWAT 4 -- one of the highest-rated PC shooters of 2005 -- has gone gold and will ship to retail outlets in North America on February 28.
SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate, developed by Irrational Games, gives SWAT 4 fans more of the single- and multi-player action that made the original game so popular, and continues to challenge PC gamers to bring order to chaos in a variety of missions types. New features in the expansion pack include:
- Seven new missions playable in single and multiplayer mode
- A new story element that ties missions together
- New objective types
- 10 player co-op mode
- New weapons such as the Colt Accurized Rifle and Cobra Stun Gun.
- New multiplayer mode, “Smash and Grab”
- Voice over IP in-game chat
- New equipment, including night vision goggles, ammo pouches and more
- Built in support for Stats and Ladders
SWAT 4: The Stetchkov Syndicate will be ship for personal computer on February 28 for an estimated retail price of $19.99 and an ESRB rating of “M” for Mature.
I, for one, can't wait!
Hot on the heels of the acquisition their acquisition by Take-Two, Irrational Games' General Manager, Ken Levine chats to Gamespot about the Take-Two deal, BioShock and the future.
What is a new item without a snippet?You can read the rest of the interview by following the link at the top of this new item, but as you're all the way down here you might as well follow the one down here.GS: How will the deal affect Irrational's operations? Will there be any layoffs?
KL: Quite the opposite. Since the acquisition, the team size on BioShock has nearly doubled.
GS: What about Irrational management--will it remain in place?
KL: I hope so, as I'm fond of money and health care. The truth is, the kind of layoffs you're talking about happen when large companies acquire other large companies and they get rid of duplicate marketing, accounting, and other functions. At a small developer, they're hiring the development talent.
GS: Will the Irrational brand remain intact or will it be renamed? Will future games carry the Irrational brand?
KL: I think the brand was one of the things they were interested in. Somebody said it recently: Irrational's games never suck. I like that for a brand identity.
New York, NY – January 9, 2006 – Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO) today announced the acquisition of Irrational Games, the award-winning development studio behind such titles as System Shock 2 and Freedom Force. Irrational Games joins the team of development studios under Take-Two's 2K Games publishing label.
2K Games has multiple titles in development at Irrational's North American and Australian studios. The first title to be published under the 2K Games label will be BioShock, a role-playing shooter for next-generation console systems and PC. Already anticipated by the gaming press as one of the most innovative next-generation titles, BioShock is planned for release in early 2007.
"We saw a rare opportunity with Irrational Games, a development studio that has consistently produced creative and original games," said Christoph Hartmann, Managing Director at 2K Games. Susan Lewis, VP of Business Development at 2K Games, added, "2K Games will provide additional resources and support to the Irrational team so they may continue to deliver cutting-edge games."
"We are excited to be aligned with a publishing label like 2K Games that shares similar development goals and vision," said Ken Levine, co-founder and President of Irrational Games. "Fans will be blown away when they see the next-generation titles we are working on."
Along with this confirmation that Irrational has been acquired by Take-Two, it also shows BioShock as having an early 2007 release. Yay!
At the moment, the team behind Dark Messiah is Arx core team, along with Purah, Mike Ryan, and the SS2 Rebirth guy (Blutch), with Randy Smith consulting and Kemal (did audio on Thief/SS2/Arx, now at Floodgate) doing audio work. You could join them. :)
UBISOFT ANNOUNCES DARK MESSIAH™ OF MIGHT & MAGIC®New Might & Magic® game to be powered by Source™ Engine from Valve
SAN FRANCISCO – AUGUST 4, 2005 – Today Ubisoft, one of the world’s largest video game publishers, announces the development of Dark Messiah™ of Might & Magic®, a new first-person action game for the PC, powered by an enhanced version of the Source™ Engine, the award-winning game technology Valve created to power Half-Life®2.
Developed by Arkane Studios, the team behind the critically acclaimed Arx Fatalis game, Dark Messiah of Might & Magic puts players in a first-person perspective, allowing them to immerse themselves in the legendary Might and Magic universe as never before. It is also the world’s first fantasy action game to feature a complete first-person combat system. It takes full advantage of the Source™ Engine’s exceptional technological enhancements in areas such as character animation, advanced AI, real-world physics and shader-based rendering.
Ubisoft acquired the Might and Magic brand in 2003, and Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is the second title Ubisoft will be launching as it restores this famed franchise to glory. Dark Messiah of Might & Magic is scheduled for a summer 2006 release and will be shown for the first time at the Games Convention in Germany on August 17, 2005.
Be sure to take a look!
I've just received an email from Chris Kline, the Lead Programmer for Irrational Games over in Boston. They have programming internships on offer for Bioshock! If you're interested - read on!
Irrational Games, creators of critically acclaimed games such as System Shock 2, Freedom Force, Tribes:Vengeance, and SWAT 4, is currently seeking programming interns for their upcoming title "Bioshock".
Interns will be responsible for supporting the programming team on a wide variety of development tasks. These tasks might include any of the following:
- Bugfixing
- Game system feature implementation
- AI support
- User interface implementation
- Tools development for Design, Art, and Quality Assurance
- Visual effects development (implementation of HLSL shaders, particle systems, frame buffer effects, etc.)
- Core game engine functionality
- Did I mention bugfixing?
Candidates should exhibit the following:
- A love of games:
Creative passion is important in all aspects of game development. We need interns who love computer games, play them regularly, and can talk about them intelligently. - Willingness to undertake any task required:
This is a perfect opportunity for an ambitious and skilled programmer to gain experience in the game development process, but interns will not be able to pick and choose their own tasks. We're looking for someone who is eager and excited to undertake any task necessary to bring the game to fruition. - Service-oriented personality: Code is not an end in itself! Game development is a team effort, and the programming team works in support of the design and art teams. Candidates should think of the other teams and their fellow programmers as clients, and strive to achieve the needs of the team.
- Excellent communication skills: Good communication is vital to building great games. Interns will need to be able to work effectively with other team members to gather requirements, write planning and technical documents, and respond to feedback in a prompt and professional manner.
- Technical chops: Our interns will need a strong and demonstrable understanding of C++ and software engineering principles, and the ability to come up to speed rapidly on a massive codebase.
- Directable creativity:
The intern should be comfortable taking direction from a staff engineer, but able to work creatively and independently. We'll throw you off the dock; you should be able to swim.
Desired related skills include:
- Experience in the games industry
- Experience in computer animation
- Experience in reactive artificial intelligence
- A strong foundation in the principles of 3D computer graphics; experience with DirectX 9 and HLSL
- Experience working with the Unreal Engine is a strong plus.
Positions will be unpaid -- in return for your efforts we will provide you with a T pass, experience working at one of the most respected companies in the industry, and your name in the credits of any titles you work on. If this sounds like something you are interested in, please email a resume, cover letter, references, and sample code with a description of its context and purpose to the address below.
The position will be Quincy, MA (just outside of Boston, accessible via the subway).
Christopher Kline
Lead Programmer
Irrational Games, LLC (Boston)
ckline@irrationalstudios.com
If you're not up for an internship, you could always apply for the job of Rendering/Engine Programmer for an undisclosed title!
I'll tell you what T2x is, for starters: It's fun. More than that, it's the kind of fun I had playing Thief: The Dark Project...
(Read the full review, including new screenshots, here...)
"Finally, this day has finally arrived!"Congrats to the whole team, this looks fantastic!The first words that are spoken by Zaya couldn't be more appropriate for our last as we move from development to release. After five years of solid work and hard effort, five years of amazing support from the community, we hope you'll enjoy stepping into Zaya's shoes and living her tale of survival and revenge in the corrupt shadows of the City.
The list of mirrors will expand, but for now, T2X is hosted courtesy of FilePlanet, weighing in at 655.8 megabytes. Download it here!
The entire team would like to thank the community for the support you've given that has allowed us to release one of the largest fan-made expansions any game has ever seen. It was thanks to you guys that we kept going. I'd like to thank the team for the awesome amount of work they put in, I know they'll be taking a well deserved rest after this.
Please visit the T2X forums at TTLG to discuss!