Ex Team Bondi Staff Member Reveals Frosty Relationship With Rockstar

L.A. Noire may have been released to rave reviews and great sales, but it may be the end of developer Team Bondi's relationship with Rockstar Games. Following allegations of bad working conditions by ex-members of Team Bondi, another ex-staffer has come forth with a rather bleak look at the studio's future with the L.A. Noire publisher.

The ex-staffer told GamesIndustry: "It’s pretty well reported now that the working conditions were bad. What hasn’t been discussed yet (from what I’ve seen) is the relationship between Team Bondi and Rockstar. I’ve heard a lot about Rockstar’s disdain for Team Bondi, and it has been made quite clear that they will not publish Team Bondi’s next game.

"Team Bondi are trying to find another publisher for their next title, but the relationship with Rockstar has been badly damaged – Brendan treats L.A. Noire like a success due to his vision but I think Rockstar are the ones who saved the project. They continued to sink money into LA Noire, and their marketing was fantastic. Without their continued support, Team Bondi would have gone under several years ago."

The ex-staffer also pointed out a few inconsistencies with what founder Brendan McNamara has said in an IGN interview with what was actually happening at the studio

Konami Confident Of PES 2012 Success

Will PES 2012 beat FIFA 12 this year? No, Probably not. With Fifa 11 shipping more than 820,000 in week one sales, To think that PES will out sell the giant this year is naive to say the least. Although are we looking at it all wrong? I mean do Konami want all of that fanbase? or just the hardcore. Well John Murphy UK PES Team Leader tells CVG what he thinks about this whole FIFA Vs PES debate and what chances PES has this year of attracting fans back to the former kings of virtual football.

Jon Murphy telling CVG: 

"I really do believe that the offering we've got this year will pull some fans back from the competition. Perhaps we'll see another year when people buy both games, but after six months, we want to make sure they trade-in only one of them - and it's not ours.

"[FIFA] has the atmosphere, the crowds and certain licences we don't - and everybody knows they've got better commentary than us. I can't see that changing. And some of the stuff they're doing with the collisions looks great, depending how it works as you actually play.

"But if you want pure gameplay, I think we'll smash them this year. We've got so many things going for us, but just the lightness of touch and the way the players move independently is fantastic. You notice it instantly."

Murphy added: "We don't want everyone, it's not about that - we want the front runners, the opinion formers, the players who tell their friends 'you've got to check out PES this year'. We want to bring them back, and I think we can."

Be Back Shortly

Due to unexpected circumstances, The Blog has been put on hold but shall resume shortly.

60000 Lines of Dialogue For The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Just when I thought I couldn't get any more excited for this game, Eurogamer give us this little bit of information about Bethesda's new open world fantasy adventure.

"A few new tidbits of information on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim have sneaked out of Bethesda HQ, including news that the game contains 60,000 lines of voiced dialogue.

According to PC Gamer, the long-awaited RPG sequel will feature unlimited dragons that can attack at random as you explore the game world.

Wounded dragons will apparently be unable to fly, offering an opportunity to engage them on the ground, potentially giving you the upper hand.

Slaying dragons earns you special abilities called dragon shouts. A few examples offered include power-ups that give you fire breath, a lightning strike, the ability to slow down time or a speed boost.

The game's guard system is reportedly getting an overhaul. In contrast to previous games in the series, if you commit a crime in one region guards in a neighbouring area won't automatically be aware of it and collar you on sight.

Bethesda has also confirmed that horses will feature in the game, with improved handling promised over Oblivion. You'll also be able to hop in a carriage for speedy travel between regions or automatically skip to places you've already discovered.

Oblivion's Dark Brotherhood assassin's guild return, along with a thieves guild, a fighter's guild and a mage's guild.

Finally, Bethesda has promised a much larger voice cast has been signed up to deliver that whopping script than worked on Oblivion."

Thank god Mass Effect 3 was pushed back until 2012! Lord knows what would of happened if they were released around the same time.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is released on November 11, 2011

Daily Gaming News 02/06/2011 Pt 1

Playstation Store

The playstation store is back...... but only in the US. Sony announced today that the Playstation Store is indeed alive again. According to Sony, there is a huge lineup of new downloadable games, demos, add-on content, themes, avatars and videos. Additionally, Playstation Plus has been updated with new full game trials, free games and DLC, free avatars and even more discounts. The rest of the world it seems will have to be patient and wait while Sony still figure this mess out. Although it seems the "Welcome Back" package which includes 2 free games is not yet available to the public. One things for sure, With the Playstation now fully operational in the US, Asia must be pissed that there service isn't even back online.

Infamous 2 Demo

Now with the PS Store back online (Kinda... See first story) Sony seem to burst out the gate with a PS3 Exclusive. The highly anticipated Infamous 2 is now free to download and play. It will be interesting to see how this game will be perceived after the first entry in the series got such mixed reviews from fans and critics alike. The only thing that is not in doubt is that Infamous 2 looks to have improved on just about everything from its predecessor. Lets just hope Cole cares more about saving (or destroying the world) in this game than trying to get his end away.

Deus Ex Human Revolution E3 Trailer

E3 Trailer already? Fans of the first Deus Ex, Its time to get excited. Fans of the second Deus Ex game.. I'm joking, No one liked Invisible War.

Leave comment and share.

Daily Gaming News 01/06/2011

With news scattered all around the web about various types of gaming news, Its hard to keep track of all of it. Therefore, My handy little Daily Gaming News Blog shall keep all you gamers happy keeping up to date on the most important, shocking and weirdest news that the gaming world has to offer. Here we go...

Call Of Duty Elite

Call Of Duty Subscription!! We all knew this day was gonna come sooner or later. Call Of Duty have announced there venture into a subscription based service for the franchise which will give gamers the choice of giving Activision extra cash. The service will offer Stat Tracking, Access to DLC (Presumably early?) and thats just about it so far.. Activision haven't released much more information about the service. But you can be sure that with the millions and millions of Call Of Duty fanboys sitting at home behind there mics, cursing and swearing while there mums can't hear them, That this service will have plenty of people queueing up for an extra piece of COD pie.

Playstation Vita

This is the brand new name for the recently announced Playstation NGP (Next Generation Portable) It seems that the NGP wasn't sexy enough for Sony along with the rumoured PSP2. The Playstation Vita or PS Vita looks to be the lite, flowery choice which tickled the cold nipples of Sonys breasts. It will take time whether fans will take to the new name of the NGP but it can only be said that if Nintendo can get away with the "Wii" Then Sony can get away with calling it pretty much anything.

As it is late, This will be a short blog but stay tuned for plenty Daily Gaming News and lots of E3 2011 updates, Big week ahead!

Leave a comment and discuss.