Newsbriefs: Top Secret Live, Wii VC, OGDC Sutter KeynoteNewsbriefs: Top Secret Live, Wii VC, OGDC Sutter Keynote

Author: by Staff

[UPDATED: 3:45pm PST] Today's regularly updated newsbriefs include new details concerning Acclaim and Dave Perry's player designed MMO, the release of Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire for the Wii's Virtual Console, and a 2007 OGDC keynote address by Microsoft software architect Herb Sutter. - With the launch of the project's official website, new details have emerged from from Acclaim Games and development veteran David Perry (Enter the Matrix) concerning the previously announced player-created massively multiplayer online game project, dubbed simply Top Secret. According to an update from Perry via an forum post on the site, the game will be a racing title, because, according to the developer, “it's a genre I've not tried before, so I won't be all closed minded in reading ideas. On the other hand, I love racing games, and I think the vast majority of people that have signed up have played at least one and have opinions on the subject.” In addition, Perry teases that the game will also somehow integrate music as well, asking the team: “I have a pretty stunning offer from one of the biggest music labels in the world. They are offering a HUGE hit library for this game. So with hit music from every genre, is there any way music could be involved in the gameplay?” To date, says Perry, nearly 24,000 people have registered for the site, making it the "biggest development team in history by miles." - Nintendo has released a single “new” Super Nintendo game for download over the Wii's Virtual Console. Purchasable from the Wii's online Wii Shop Channel, the company has released Koei's 16 bit classic Romance of the Three Kingdoms IV: Wall of Fire, an eight player turn based strategy game that has players take up the role of a ruler seeking to unite China in the era of the three kingdoms of Wei, Wu and Shu. The game is available now for 800 Wii Points ($8). - Evergreen Events, organizers of the 2007 Online Game Development Conference (OGDC), have announced that its inaugural event, to be held from May 10-11, 2007 at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel in downtown Seattle, will feature a keynote address by Microsoft software architect Herb Sutter. Sutter is the lead architect of C++/CLI, chair of the ISO C++ standards committee, and the author of four books and hundreds of technical papers and articles on software development topics, including the widely-referenced article 'The Free Lunch Is Over,' which coined the term "concurrency revolution." "To have Herb Sutter on board as a keynote is incredible, both to me as a programmer and as someone involved in a conference like OGDC," proclaimed Peter Freese, the conference chair for OGDC. "His past experience and forward-thinking vision is just about unmatched in the programming field." - In the latest update from Gamasutra sister website Game Career Guide, Karen Chang, herself involved in Cybercamps, a summer computer camp which includes game curriculum, provides tips to parental guardians looking for game camps for kids. Amongst the advice Chang gives, "While many computer camps may look alike, one of the biggest differences is how the curriculum was developed, especially in the case of game camps. Finding this out may require you to look under the hood a bit, but doing so ensures you won't be buying a lemon. Particularly, check to see if the curriculum and teaching model are based on actual research. Many summer programs simply teach out of a book, or make up their curriculum "on-the-fly". You'll want to look for a program that uses original content, self-paced projects, or a mentored instructional format." - The latest updates on Gamasutra sister alt.gaming weblog GameSetWatch include the beginning of the 2007 Golden Tee World Championship, a look at the packaging construction for the upcoming Halo 3 Legendary Edition, and a forum post about an obscure Japanese PlayStation game called LSD. - Also updated today: the latest Gamasutra job postings, including openings from Blue Omega Entertainment, Bungie Studios, Disney Interactive Studios, Flagship Studios, Kenyon & Kenyon, LucasArts, Midway Games, Nihilistic Software, Pandemic Studios Brisbane, Ping0, Sierra Online, Sony Computer Entertainment America, Sucker Punch Productions, Viewpoint Corporation, and Visual Concepts.