4Gamer has a preview in Japanese of Hellgate: London for all you Japanese readers out there. The preview mentions that they have progressed quite a bit in the game's development since E3 and that work on the 5 Acts in Hellgate: London are well underway and that the storyline is completely done. [Read More]

Check out our “pilot” episode of the PCG Video Podcast, available for download at the link below. It’s a video-format show featuring the hosts (that’s us) of your friendly neighborhood PCG audio podcast. (Who can keep up with all these new podcast formats? Answer: Us, baby!)

First in the docket: Bill Roper of Flagship Studios, who joins us to give us the latest on Hellgate: London. Plus: the PCG crew reviews the Doom movie (right outside the multiplex where we saw it, no less.) Let us know what you think…we’re always up for suggestions! [Read More]

Ranged combat and melee combat will be balanced in a manner similar to conventional fantasy RPGs. Melee characters will be subject to more damage, and thus will have both natural toughness and resiliance and equipment that enhances that characteristic. Ranged players will emphasize movement, speed and accuracy. Balancing these two mechanics is a process that goes on throughout develpment. Because there are so many ways of dealing both melee and ranged damage, there are not set equations or theroies that cover everything. A lot of it is trial and error. We play our game constantly, and make adjustments on the fly, and will for the duration of development and beyond. [Read More]

Developer Flagship Studios has a lot of veteran talent working on this title, many of which actually came from Blizzard and the Diablo team so it probably comes as no surprise that they're creating another highly randomized bit of play. That one "simple" idea is really what had players coming back for years and years. Maps are different each time they're played and more importantly, items that drop are completely random in nature. That treasure hunter type of gameplay is back in full force in Hellgate, reaching all new heights. Somewhere around 100 basic weapon types along with a large amount of armor types make item collecting and weapon modding weapons a huge part of the experience. While many of the weapons and armor look like typical items you might find nowadays because of their gun-like appearance, they all come with different basic stats. So the fire blaster you found might be better than one that your friend found. Adding in mods (which are also randomly dropped with various stats) to your weapons only increases the value of treasure hunting. [Read More]

Despite the fact that you'll be playing from a first-person perspective a lot of the time (particularly when you're wielding firearms), the game rarely calls for your aiming to be especially precise. Rather, most of the firearms' output will be area-of-effect style; simply point your gun in the general direction of a group of enemies -- groups that tend to be large, from what we've seen -- and fire away. Chances are, you'll damage anything you can see. If you've played the Diablo games, then you'll likely be familiar with the dynamic. [Read More]

We recently had a chance to check in with publisher Namco and developer Flagship Studios for an updated look at Hellgate: London. The hybrid role-playing game will, as you may recall, take place in a near-future version of the city of London just after it has been overrun by demonic hordes. You'll play through the game from either a third-person perspective or a first-person perspective (the former is more appropriate when using melee weapons, the latter is more appropriate when using ranged weapons), and you'll learn a huge number of different skills, while acquiring a great many different weapons that can be customized with demonic artifacts, futuristic technology, or even holy relics, such as a fragment of the True Cross, or the finger bone of a long-dead saint.[Read More]

"We're currently working closely with the Vista group on how it can make our game more compelling…, but since so much is still under wraps, I can’t go into great detail..." [Read More]

"Yeah, you know, whatever works for people. I don't really know how I get my ideas; they just come to mind sometimes. And I oftentimes keep a notebook of a whole bunch of different game ideas that I have, and I'm thinking about game ideas often. I'll write notes on ideas that I have and keep documentation on complete game designs, and ways to twist it around and stuff.

But I'm very, very much a fan of taking one thing and twisting it and giving it a new perspective, and that was definitely something we wanted to do with Diablo: take this standard RPG formula and insert action into it and make it this exhilarating experience. And then, as well, open it up on the Internet. Those two things were big changes. And that's one of the things we want to do with Hellgate; it's the same kind of thing. You know, at first it was that I love shooters. And yet the thing that I don't like about them is I feel like they lack this depth that I would really have been yearning for.

So a lot of times when I'm making a game, I'm making it for myself because that's what I want to play. So adding this level of complexity where there's stats and you grow your character and there's tons of different guns and things like that, it was like, "Oh, we can make it random levels." And you know, it's like all this stuff that really hasn't been done in a first-person shooter, we're going to take a first-person shooter and make an RPG out of it, whereas we're also going to take the RPG and immerse it in this first-person shooter view. So it's like this hybrid: action and depth all at the same time, which is, again, we don't really like to go for the fits-into-a-nice-little-box-of-what-kind-of-game-it-is. We like to take the best elements from everything and combine them into something we think is fun." [Read More]

Character development will be based on classic RPG precepts, meaning as you gain more experience in the world, you gain more skills or spells, as well as increasing your basic physical and mental statistics. Each class will have their own set of abilities, either mundane or magical in nature, and players will be able to choose a skill path to take their character down. We are looking at ways to introduce some new dynamic elements into the skill/spell system that should make even the most experienced role-player sit up and take notice. [Read More]

While there have been first person RPGs, there has never been anything quite like Hellgate: London. We are creating an action oriented, fully randomized, dynamically generated RPG with a massive co-operative online component that combines the community and economy elements of an MMORPG with an individualized gaming experience. Imagine the massive diversity of items from Diablo II mixed with the persistent economy and vibrant community of an MMORPG played from the immersive perspective of Half Life 2. Players can play the game as a stand-alone RPG or join forces with players from around the world through a dedicated online gaming destination. [Read More]

Like the Diablo games, Hellgate is built on randomization. The game creates random, unique levels every time you play, so no two players will ever experience the exact same game. Additionally, Hellgate randomizes much more, such as the loot that demons drop when they die, the generation of rare items, and more. Bill Roper, the CEO of... [Read More]

We're looking forward to that, because while Flagship's design pedigree and the near-future, demon-plagued London setting give us tremendous hope, we have some serious questions about this game: If it's not an action-oriented RPG (e.g., the weird modifiable guns in the game are generally "sticky," homing in on a target), then why mandate a locked-in FPS-style viewpoint?... [Read More]

We had a chance to sit down with Flagship Studios' Bill Roper for an in-depth look at Hellgate: London, a new 3D hack-and-slash game that will pose the question: what if the city of London, England, were to be invaded by demons in the not-too-distant future? As Roper explained, this unusual idea came from a number of different sources, such as... [Read More]

London Bridge is falling down, and it's not alone. The Thames River is a strip of mud choked with debris, Parliament is a wreck, and Big Ben looms alone over a shattered city. Fires burn perpetually amongst the rubble and the sky above is a pale green soup. The Hellgate has opened, and only a handful of humans survive in the demon-infested aftermath.[Read More]

"For centuries the veil between the demonic and earthly realms has grown weaker and weaker as man has lost his belief in the supernatural and embraced the ways of science" whispers Bill Roper, CEO of Flagship Studios and the man behind such diamond franchises as Warcraft... [Read More]

Are you an addict?

Take a couple of minutes and ask yourself this question. Hold nothing back, pull no punches, take no prisoners. Are You An Addict?

Aren't you a little chilly? Oh wait, you're undead.
I wouldn't mind getting impaled on a good looking sword like this one.

If you are not sure about... [Read More]

Namco today announced Hellgate: London, the first original PC title from premier developer Flagship Studios. Hellgate: London is a role-playing game set in the immersive first-person perspective. With a completely randomized world that offers a unique experience every time you play, Hellgate: London introduces a demon-ridden... [Read More]

Mixing RPG and FPS elements, Namco and Flagship Studios' upcoming Hellgate: London looks like an innovative PC title. The game is set after a demonic invasion and casts players as a soldier fighting through the desolate, deserted streets of London. While the game emphasizes visceral action, you'll also be able to upgrade your character's attributes and weapons with... [Read More]

When looking at the title, it's fairly obvious where this first-person RPG (and not a FPS, like is commonly believed) is situated. Hellgate: London starts out in a not so distant future, where demons are roaming freely in the English capital. As was to be expected, it's your task to "wipe them out, all of them". Ok, enough of these stupid Darth Vader jokes,... [Read More]