TSAtv Newsdesk #2: PixelJunk On Vita, PvZ2 Delayed, and Naughty Dog In Trouble

Episode two of Newsdesk – the weekly video roundups of gaming news from the people behind TheSixthAxis.com – is here! This week, we’ve got news on two new indie Vita games, rumours of a Google games console, a couple of mobile announcements, and a potential ‘premium’ PS4 bundle. As ever, we hope you enjoy the show, and feel free to leave us feedback here in the comments, over on Twitter or Facebook.

Don’t forget – we’re still celebrating the launch of Newsdesk with a big competition, and you can win codes for a host of great PSN and PC games! Just subscribe to our YouTube channel, then leave a comment underneath the episode video on YouTube itself. As always, the TSA terms and conditions apply.

12 Comments

  1. Top stuff.
    Shame about PoP being a mobile game. Don’t understand why it, as well as Deus Ex and Colin McRae, got a fancy reveal for a simple mobile game.

  2. awesome newsdesk!
    this series is good! giving me info about games/releases/rumors that i normally wouldn’t know about/look up! =D

  3. I don’t understand the reasoning behind asking seth rogan to write the uncharted script. Surely a fan could do a better job by being passionate n true to the characters of the series.

    • Yep I agree, Seth rogen is more of not a serious guy. I know uncharted has moments of comedy but its a serious game. Also Seth films don’t do well with reviewers. His new film anyone

    • writing a movie is completely different then just writing a story. There are things in story writing that just don’t film well. When you write a movie you need to be constantly focused on things like camera position- (you need to know what angles are possible to shoot while you film), you need to write actions that are physically possible to duplicate with SFX, or more importantly financially possible. Plus its not just “being true” to the characters, theres alot more to it. You have to write background action, establishing shots, as well as other additions. Which is why its incredibly rare to find a book adaptation movie where the book author actually writes the screen play, and why ND wants to out source the job. ND has given us some very good video game stories that rival a movie in plot, but not in presentation. Sure the presentation is great for a video game, but isn’t anywhere close to what Pixar does.
      Seth Rogen fits. He’s a gamer, has written multiple action-comedies, including several critically acclaimed movies. He’s recognisable, affordable and lets not forget affordability because you can’t get James Cameron to write it as it would cost $300 million and take 5 years to film. Plus all of Seth Rogens writing work earns. Don’t mistake his acting flops for poor writing. Superbad and The Pineapple Express together cost about 45 million to make and earned over 250 million world wide. Even The Green Hornet doubled its investment- In Hollywood if you can write a movie that only cost 17 million to make and earns 170 million world wide, plus another 135 million on DVD sales (Superbad) youre going to get asked to write some more movies

      • Just a quick note – you don’t put a lot of that stuff you mention in a script a) because it allows the studio more freedom if they option your script and b) because you’ll end up with a very pissed off director if everything’s basically been decided for him. Screenwriting is very much about avoiding stuff like camera movement or shot choices (with those often being the first scripts discarded by a reader as amateurish), as your job is specifically to focus on the narrative, with the technical stuff being the realm of others :)

      • You are confusing a script with a screen play. Scripts, as you mentioned need to be short, including only dialog, minor direction, and if necessary establishing, e.g. when its important to know that the scene takes place in winter. The main reason scripts get passed on is because people dont want to read a 1,000 page script, just because a script appears amateur-ish doesn’t mean anything, most scripts appear amateur-ish because most scripts are written by amateurs. It doesn’t matter if its amateur-ish because all scripts get re-written, usually several times, usually by a screenwriter.
        Heres the thing, after a script has been approved and the movie gets green-light the very next step is to hire a professional screenwriter, note- professional: although a degree isn’t always required, experience is. Screen plays are never written by amateurs because they’re way too important. A screenwriter incorporates the script into the screen play, as well as establishing, revealing, scene breaks, and camera angles- if youre going to have a conversation while climbing a cliff you need a wide shot of a cliff before you zoom in for the dialog, otherwise the audience won’t know Drakes on a cliff. If you know youre going to film in IMAX 70mm you should write your actions scenes with cross cuts (like The Dark Knight) so its easier to film because 70mm film is heavy and you need to reload film every 7-10 minutes. Doing so creates natural breaks that help editing and trust me directors will love you for it because its alot easier on the crew. Or if youre writing a movie with a buget of 35 million, youre going to want to stay away from anything that will require CGI or understand that you need to focus the action/character development in a single area like an abandon factory instead of traveling around, or just the places in the world where it’s illegal to film. Theres no point in having a scene in The Vatican, White House, or the Queens bedroom if its not 100% essential to the story. Screenwriters dont single handedly control the direction, but neither does the director for that matter. If you paired up a successful screenwriter with a new director, the director would be required to follow the screen play exactly. Its incredibly common for new directors to get fired for being too ignorant or unmanageable because screen plays are the blueprints of the film. They should be as complete with direction as needed to convey the scene. That’s why most screenwriters are also story boarders and include story boards in the screen play. Story boards are what a finished scene should resemble. If screen plays are not detailed enough serious delays can be the result which cost millions, so studios want detailed screen plays. A good director can handle an inferior screen play, but many of movies were scrapped because a solid screen play couldn’t be produced even though there was a good script and talented director. A screenwriter needs/should understand what is and isn’t possible, how to film and produce, its why alot of good screenwriters don’t stay screenwriters, but move on to directing and production- just like Rogen.

  4. Another good update. Thanks.

  5. the new POP’s gonna be a mobile title?

    a game series that really needs tight controls, on a touchscreen device?
    yeah, that’ll work. o_O

  6. Lovely Newsdesk, chaps. Shame about Prince of Persia going mobile. Didn’t realise that had been confirmed. Bugger. :-(

  7. That’s odd, i’m subscribed but i can’t see this weeks Newsdesk episode, last week’s episode is there but this weeks isn’t showing up for me in the PS3 youtube app, even when i searched for it.

  8. Why is this episode not listed on the youtube channel of TSA? This way it could be easily found and seen on the PS3.

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