It takes lots of work to design a personality, especially a personality with as much history as Castlevania’s Dracula. Actor Robert Carlyle helped put his stamp at the iconic villain, or even altered his design for Konami’s Lords of Shadow series.

During a sit interview with actor Robert Carlyle and producer Dave Cox, both spoke of the evolution of the design of Dracula during the series.

“i did not get to work out any character designs or art for the sport before the performance,” said Carlyle, “i feel that Dave and the team brought me on board to essentially give something of myself to the project instead of just, ‘okay, say the lines this form, and check out to get them within 2.4 seconds.’ It was never like that. It was quite an organic process. They were really open to interpretation, and that they gave me various leeway to offer this performance loads of gravitas and emotional weight that we thought it needed.”

Left, Robert Carlyle, A.K.A. Dracula, middle, Ben Reeves, and right, Dave Cox, Lords of Shadow 2 producer.

“The nature actually changed much once Robert was on board,” said Cox. “There’s actually somewhat of Robert within the character. Once we originally designed Gabriel, he was way more of a large muscly, Conan-type character. When Robert came on board we realized that we wanted to make him a section more of an everyman and a more realistic character. Once Robert did his performance then we began to tweak him much more. In point of fact, we’re still tweaking the nature usually each day to take a look at and get him to slot the performance that Robert has done.”

“But as you’ll find, physically we glance almost a similar.” added Carlyle.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 comes out this winter, try out our recent preview of the sport here.

Earlier this month, we reported that Activision Blizzard parent Vivendi was set to make a move that might pay down its debt from the decision of Duty publisher’s coffers. The action would help pay down a small portion of significant debt.

As we mentioned in May, Activision has typically used a risk-averse investment profile. The publisher has largely stayed faraway from mobile, choosing instead to back a smaller collection of properties with growth potential.

This generation saw the upward thrust of Call of Duty because the biggest franchise in gaming, and the past three years had been enormous for the more youthful market (and their parents) with Toys for Bob’s Skylanders series. Licensed titles, including Transformers: War for Cybertron and Deadpool, fit the profile by using high fan interest.

Because of the more cautious approach, Activision has fared better within the recent industry disruption than many others, including its biggest rival, Electronic Arts. Activision most recently reported over $4 billion in cash, but a few of this is held outside the rustic. Were it to come contained in the Usa, the funds will be subject to taxes.

Activision doesn’t have the funds locally that Vivendi’s special dividend will require (approximately $3 billion, $2 billion of which might visit the parent firm). This may require new debt, a situation that Activision CEO Bobby Kotick have been working to circumvent. 

The Wall Street Journal report also mentions that Kotick was looking to use his company’s cash to purchase Vivendi out, though this have been disputed by other sources mentioned within the piece. 

We’ve reached out to Activision for comment.

[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Our Take
This probably goes without saying, however the situation isn’t good for Activision. A dividend would drain the corporate of a major amount of stockpiled cash meant to weather a tough 2013 fiscal year. 

Console transition years are hard, or even with Call of Duty: Ghosts coming, cross-generational development means added expenditure (even though solely developing for next-generation isn’t anticipated to extend costs).

If anyone can get over a sudden cash drain like this, it’s Bobby Kotick. He’s proven that during tough times, it’s possible to function a business without shedding a major variety of employees.

I expect that because of this we do not have a scheduled date for Activision’s second quarter earnings call. These presentations provide forward-looking guidance for investors. If Vivendi makes its move, it’d likely necessitate a drastic shift in planning and execution moving ahead.

In June, Saints Row IV was denied classification in Australia, even under that country’s new R18+ rating. The reasoning became clear shortly after, and Deep Silver and Volition vowed to wash the offending parts from the title with a view to release in that market.

Today, the Australian Classification Board has announced that it’ll be reviewing the revised application on July 29. Pictures from PAX Australia, which was held this past weekend, indicate that the title to be released in that country is different than what we’ll be seeing here inside the U.s.a..

[Source: Australian Classification Board via Joystiq]

Our Take
Saints Row has always been excessive , but it’s began to dial up the insanity because the last installment. The weapon that caused the Australian group to refuse classification have been interpreted widely, with some taking offense to the implication of sexual assault. Whether this was toned down for North America is unknown, because the weapon in question hasn’t been depicted in promotional materials.

At San Diego Comic-Con’s Saints Row panel, Volition developers revealed more about what players can expect from the series’ fourth installment.  As well as Troy Baker having one-man conversation between “Booker DeWitt” and the Saints boss, there has been some additional news for what’s coming down the road.

Readers might recall that on April Fools Day 2012, THQ revealed DLC for Saints Row: The Third titled Enter the Dominatrix. Within the leadership transition that occurred later that year, the add-on was placed on the shelf to be included as a part of Saints Row IV.

Volition head Steve Jaros revealed that the Enter the Dominatrix content is safe and could be offered to players approximately 45 days after the title’s August 20 launch. Due to the bumpy road the content has had, this will offer some clever in-game “behind the curtain” commentary concerning the long road to release. Obviously, more DLC is planned, but we’ll should sit tight to determine what this is.

Our Take
This news is a piece surprising, as I’d assumed that Enter the Dominatrix served because the basis for Saints Row IV’s alien invasion. Volition was well into development at the DLC, which means expenditures to get it ready for release (both time and money) need to be lower.

At San Diego Comic-Con, Microsoft’s Ken Lobb revealed that the console will provide a collection of tools for capturing and editing video. The most important to creating it easier for gamers to capture exciting moments is continuous buffering within the background.

Rather than require players to press “record” beforehand, the Xbox One will store the last five minutes of play. That way, if something unexpected happens, players can immediately have access to it as opposed to lamenting a missed opportunity.

In our coverage of the panel, we detailed how this may work with an example from Killer Instinct’s showing at EVO last week. Reports also indicate that the PlayStation 4 will buffer video within the same way, though the small print haven’t been fully disclosed yet.

We’ve reached out to Sony for clarification. Update: Sony has confirmed to CVG that the PlayStation 4 will record quarter-hour of video within the background, on a rolling basis.

[Source: Gamespot, CVG]

Our Take
This is how you can offer video capture to players, and will significantly minimize the variety of missed opportunities for sharing cool moments and tips. So one can do this now, Saints Row: The Third offered this selection on PC. The single caveat is that resulting from licensing, the soundtrack is unavailable when recording is on. It is going to be interesting to determine how publishers and platform holders navigate that.