Welcome to the Black List, our regular Friday afternoon retrospective on the week that was.

On Monday, contrary to legal advice, we posted our latest podcast.

On Tuesday, we were gobsmacked by the latest trailer for Final Fantasy XIII.

On Wednesday we reported that indie puzzle favourite Storm was to be given a spit and polish ahead of its publication by Zoo Games.

On Thursday we took a look at the bombastic new trailer for Modern Warfare 2.

On Friday we reported that Ubisoft had acquired Nadeo, the studio behind racing phenomenon TrackMania.

Thanks for reading.

Erin Marcon

Editor

Recent editions of The Black List

11.09.09 l 18.09.09 I 25.09.09 l 02.10.09

"There must be more to life than this..."

French publishing giant Ubisoft has announced the purchase of independent Parisian developer Nadeo. Ubisoft  CEO Yves Guillemot cited Nadeo’s expertise in managing multiplayer systems and user generated content as key reasons for the acquisition. A third reason was left unsaid, namely Ubisoft’s ongoing inability to produce a blockbuster racing game.

Nadaeo, as it happens, are the experts in this field. The largely unheralded, and PC exclusive, TrackMania franchise has grown into a rampaging phenomenon, boasting some 700,000 racers per month. Player generated content is a key aspect of the TrackMania experience with highly customised avatars, vehicles and tracks being produced and traded within the game’s fervent online community.

This isn’t Ubisoft’s first attempt to buy its way onto the starting grid. In July 2006, it purchased the rights to the popular Driver franchise from Atari. The following year it ported the most recent console iteration of the series, Parallel Lines, to the PC and Wii, without great success. It followed up with Driver 76, a poorly received sequel for the PSP. Budget racers Import Tuner Challenge and Street Riders also failed to capture the public’s imagination.

Will the acquisition of Nadeo spell the end of Ubisoft’s racing drought? One thing we can assume is that more TrackMania is one the way, with Guillemot stating his intention to bring the series to a broader audience. Perhaps we’ll be playing TrackMania on our consoles by this time next year.

Activision and Infinity Ward have released a new promotional clip for Modern Warfare 2. Dubbed ‘Infamy’, the trailer presents Washington D.C. in the immediate aftermath of a large scale attack. The White House, Washington Monument and Supreme Court are depicted in flames as scattered American forces attempt to regroup. A voice in the trailer, perhaps that of the game’s antagonist, implies that the attack represents a violent protest against American militarism abroad.

The title of the clip is likely an allusion to Franklin D. Roosevelt’s response to the bombing of Pearl Harbour. Roosevelt famously declared that the date of the attack would ‘live in infamy’ as he sold the case for war to the American people.

If the various trailers for Modern Warfare 2 have been any guide, it is shaping to be a more bombastic release than Call of Duty 4, its canonical precursor in the series. Mountain climbing, scuba-diving and snow-mobile chases lend an air of Hollywood excess to what has hitherto been, in relative terms, a more realistic action experience. With the action arriving on American soil, it looks like the series is headed for Red Dawn territory. Let’s hope that in their eagerness to top themselves, Infinity Ward haven’t lost sight of what made the first Modern Warfare so compelling.

Modern Warfare 2 is due for release on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in November 2009.

"No Larry, we're not stopping at Red Rooster, so stop asking."

“I told you the rent was low for a reason. I hope you’re satisfied.”

Zoo Games has announced that it will fund the further development and formal release of Terrence Lee’s Storm. The final game will be based on an existing PC prototype of the physics-based puzzler. The prototype, assembled by Lee in only two weeks, was awarded second prize in 2BeeGames’ inaugural Indie Games Competition. As the owner of 2BeeGames, Zoo was well placed to identify the creative and commercial potential of Lee’s project.

The object of Storm is to guide a handful of spheres from one point to another while avoiding the numerous pitfalls in between. You’ll be employing elemental powers such as wind, rain and lightning to ensure your precious orbs remain on the straight and narrow. The final version of the game will be longer, according to Lee, who has also vowed to deliver a new interface, enhanced visuals, additional powers and a level editor.

Lee indicated in an extensive interview with Joystiq, that Storm would be released on the Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare and PlayStation Network. An iPhone version is also in the works. The developer is particularly keen to experiment with the motion sensing capabilities inherent in all of the target platforms. Will Storm be among the first downloadable titles to offer Natal compatibility? It certainly look that way.

Look for it in 2010.