It had been quiet for more than half a year.
At several key milestones, Gamenova has not Bush new titles.
On the contrary, Activision and Lucas have been generating a constant stream of news.
I thought that the focus of resource allocation would gradually shift to supporting the affiliated studios in the near future.
Unexpected.
Now everything makes sense.
Gamenova's exaggerated personnel deployment during this period.
It has assembled a large development team of over a hundred people.
Everything in this PV has been brought to life.
No amount of gossip can be as convincing as a terrifying propaganda film like this right now.
A true 3D, first-person... uh, action game?
According to Gamenova's official statement, Lin Lixin named it a brand new branch of action games—"parkour" games.
It is said to be derived from the Chinese word "parkour" and the French word "parcours".
It refers to a niche extreme sport where participants traverse obstacles and reach their destination without the aid of tools or external forces.
The system incorporates various subcultures such as Kung-Fu Master culture, street dance culture, and punk culture.
It has a peculiar feeling, like a Hong Kong action movie has been brought into a game.
It builds upon the foundation of Hong Kong-style action games while also incorporating a significant amount of Gamenova's rebellious culture.
The overall positioning is very clear: it is a trendy and popular game made for young people.
Being handsome lasts a lifetime!
For others, the concept of parkour is indeed very new and interesting.
But for Belle...
This is exactly what he does every day!
"Parkour! That's so cool, that's right, it's Parkour!" he exclaimed.
Such a catchy name; if he were asked to come up with it, he would probably give a similar answer.
This is so interesting.
I should have thought of this sooner.
A good name can not only make the whole thing more trendy, but also make it easier to promote.
Thinking of this, Belle quickly went to the telephone, grabbed the receiver, and dialed a number.
Sébastien, have you watched TV?!
"Of course you'd see it; they've advertised it on every single channel."
On the other end of the phone was his childhood friend, his good brother who had grown up playing parkour with him.
Upon seeing this promotional video, Belle believed that the other party must share the same feelings as him.
Do you think the same way I do?
"Of course, 8 Paris Street, I know the owner there." Sebas's voice carried the same excitement.
"So..."
"Those who arrive last get to eat stinky clams!"
Belle slammed his hand on the receiver, grabbed a handful of banknotes and stuffed them into his small handbag, then rushed out of the house.
Their residence was not far from the arcade.
This is a great opportunity for a competition.
"Call--"
Looking at the street in front of him, Belle let out a breath.
"Calm down, act normally. You've run this route countless times, Belle."
As he spoke, he instantly transformed into a nimble runner, leaping over a fence and vaulting onto the roof via a slightly rusty ladder.
As he ran, his mind just wouldn't calm down.
Scenes from the promotional video kept flashing through my mind, especially the particularly trendy " Runners " organization.
This is a special underground organization composed of a group of outstanding runners.
In that near-future utopian world, handwritten letters are delivered using the most primitive method: running.
Honestly, this is so romantic.
This is especially true for Belle, a France who is already deeply immersed in parkour culture.
He had a feeling that this game was made just for him.
"We need to form an organization too."
Belle thought of it.
A group of parkour enthusiasts.
Like other clubs, they regularly search for suitable locations to train parkour and compete against each other.
The journey wasn't too long.
For a skilled runner like him, it was just Kung-Fu Master crossing a few streets. And right around the time Belle arrived, his childhood friend Sébastien also arrived.
You were a step too slow.
"No, no, no, I'm obviously faster."
"You even jumped the gun!"
"Come on, I could hear you secretly packing your things on the other end of the phone..."
As they argued, they simultaneously pushed open the arcade door in perfect unison.
"Boss, do you have a machine for ' Mirror's Edge '?"
Upon hearing this, the store manager, who was installing the circuit board inside the arcade machine according to the French instructions, poked his head out in bewilderment and looked at the two of them.
"Didn't they say... the PV would only be released today?"
Judging by the broadcast schedule in Western Europe, the first PV should have just finished airing a few minutes ago.
Where did these two come from?
"Yes, we watched the promotional video, so we came." Belle excitedly rushed to the frame that was still being installed, looking it over from top to bottom with its paint job.
Just like in the game, it features a completely minimalist design.
Its white and bright red color scheme makes it stand out among the predominantly wood-grain and black machines in the arcade.
"So fast? Oh... you might have to wait a little while, the goods just arrived in Brittany."
Brittany is slang in the Europe gaming community.
On the surface, it refers to the Brittany region of France, but in the gaming industry, it usually refers to Ubisoft, the European office of Gamenova.
Its headquarters and many of its warehouses are located in Morbihan, Brittany.
"Can this game have multiplayer mode?"
Sebas also came up to the front and looked at the standard two-player arcade machine in front of him.
This is made up of two arcade machines.
However, there should be some kind of communication cable connecting them.
This is a common design in arcade games, supporting multiplayer battles. Compared to the more cost-effective simultaneous multiplayer used in fighting games, this approach offers better compatibility.
"Uh... yes, a race, you can compete to see who runs faster, and theoretically there will be another one... aha, here it is."
As the store manager spoke, he finally found the telephone line interface on the frame by following the instructions.
Install the network equipment as instructed.
Unlike most other parts of Europe.
France, with Ubisoft involved, has seen a much smoother progress in internet-related infrastructure development.
Especially in Europe, where PCs are more prevalent than consoles.
In this region, apart from the inability to implement high-standard modern networks like ADSL, the prevalence of low-speed internet is no less than that in the United States.
Considering the difference in area, the coverage rate is likely to be much higher.
"We will have a global real-time leaderboard, where you can compete against players from all over the world."
The store manager said that everything that needed to be connected had finally been connected.
After making some simple adjustments to the coin acceptor and setting the price to 5 coins per transaction, I locked the maintenance board and powered it on.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief when the same white logo with red lettering as in the PV lit up on the screen.
"Perfect! Congratulations on becoming one of the lucky players to be among the first to receive a trial opportunity."
"All good, all good. Hurry up and give us some game currency, boss."
One on the left, one on the right, the two inserted game coins and started the game.
Given that it's an arcade game, Gamenova is very restrained in its narrative.
If we really want to tell a story, we can wait until 3D technology is truly mature and then include it in a sequel with a true open-world setting.
As for now, Lin Lixin still wants to spend money wisely.
All that matters is making the visual experience and image quality of the parkour game top-notch.
[Financial District 1:58pm]
At the start of the game, the protagonist is standing on the very edge of the rooftop from the beginning of the PV. Only at this moment does Belle truly believe in the magic of Gamenova.
damn it!
[The following are all in-game screenshots]
This is no joke.
The cutscenes can be in-game footage, and the actual gameplay footage can also be in-game footage.
" The Mirror's Edge " is clearly the latter.
Belle shifted his viewpoint, trying to familiarize himself with the controls.
The frame rate is frighteningly good.
Even though he didn't understand these specialized terms, he could still clearly feel its fluency, even with his layman's intuition.
This is not how a 3D game should behave.
The fact that 3D games have stunning graphics but suffer from poor smoothness is now almost a consensus in the industry.
Unless you're a true millionaire who can experience the full-fledged NovaRadeon at its native full frame rate, most people usually play versions with reduced graphics and frame rates. But this game is different.
Perhaps because it's an arcade machine, Gamenova probably prepared a lot of powerful equipment for it.
After a brief moment of surprise, Belle immediately noticed something else unusual.
This game has no UI/UX interface.
Generally speaking, a game often uses a UI to convey information to players.
For example, displaying a health bar or an Backpack bar on the screen.
But this game has nothing.
Apart from the almost imperceptible small dot in the center of the screen and the semi-transparent countdown at the bottom, there are no other UI elements.
There are no attribute descriptions, no map, and no extra elements.
Just like the city, or rather, the design style of this game.
Minimalism.
While simplifying things, they still piled on as much material as possible, creating a truly luxurious experience. "Don't just stand there."
Belle's thoughts were interrupted by his brother beside him.
Sebas had already run several meters away and was climbing up the concrete wall outside the elevator shaft.
This part of the scene is shown in the PV.
Once you climb up, there will be a rope that allows you to slide directly to the other side.
"You beat me to the punch this time."
Belle retorted and glanced around again.
He had a very strange feeling.
This world is clearly very open and spacious.
The area was surrounded by densely packed houses and buildings.
He could go anywhere in the world, but he had a feeling.
The rope ahead is the right path.
Even without those conspicuous bright red signs, he could sense that the direction was the right one.
It was almost like an intuition.
His extensive experience in urban parkour told him that he couldn't get past this distance; the height difference was too great to climb easily.
If you're looking for the fastest shortcut, look no further than these bright red pipes and boards.
The open space, free from any invisible walls, prevents people from getting lost.
They always know exactly where to run.