Austin, Texas, is home to one more game studio this week, as three of the biggest names from Metroid Prime developer Retro Studios have announced the opening of their studio, Armature.

Mark Pacini, Todd Keller and Jack Mathews, respectively the former Game Director, Art Director and Principal Technology Engineer of the Metroid Prime series, had left Retro Studios in April. Today the team also announced an exclusive publishing deal with Electronic Arts--but the deal is a bit unconventional.

Speaking to Kotaku, Pacini revealed that Armature will join EA's Blueprint Division. Rather than make ordinary studio games, Armature will spend its time ... Read more

Shacknews has learned that several key employees from Metroid Prime series developer Retro Studios are no longer with the company.

Design director Mark Pacini, art director Todd Keller, and principal technology engineer Jack Mathews were escorted off the premises last Friday. The simultaneous departure of senior staff members is generally indicative of an intention to branch off and form a new development studio.

Contrary to other rumors, Shacknews has also learned that Retro Studios is not in danger of closing.

Founded in 1998 and purchased by Nintendo in 2001, Retro was responsible for the Metroid Prime trilogy, which concluded with the company's first Wii title last August. The studio's current project is unknown, though it has stated its intent to move away from the Metroid franchise.

First Nintendo denied it, and now Retro Studios game director Mark Pacini has put one more nail in the coffin.

A long-rumored 2D Metroid handheld project, Metroid Dread was given new hope after a scanning report found in Retro's recent Metroid Prime 3--"Experiment status report update. Metroid project 'Dread' is nearing the final stages of completion."--was taken as a hint of the game's development by hopeful fans.

Not so, says Pacini.

"It's not what you think it means... it was something that was overlooked and wasn't in any way indicating anything about the handheld game," he said to MTV. "We know no information about the handheld games."

So what was the phrase doing there in the first place? Is it all... Read more

This week, Chris Remo, Steve Gibson, and Nick Breckon discuss Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, BioShock, and more. Plus, Carlos Bergfeld stops in to deliver his impressions of Far Cry 2, Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, and Kane and Lynch from the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle.

In other topics, we've got discussion of the odd Joust movie announcement, Manhunt 2's re-rating and upcoming release, the world of downloadable and retail games, major publishers such as EA and Ubisoft publishing very demanding PC games, and the winners of our BioShock contest. Join us!

Play or download the episode now, browse the podcast through iTunes, RSS, or Digg, or check out the full breakdown. ... Read more

Wii owners, your hardcore, breathtaking adventure is here. Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is an epic experience, a fitting end to a respected trilogy, and one of the finest uses of the Wii hardware to date. Read my full review.

Of course, we already know Retro can create gorgeous worlds, and here Corruption does not disappoint. After the visually conventional space station, Samus travels to the first of several new intergalactic locales. From there, the sense of wonder and discovery never lets up.

It is a magnificent return to form for the series; Retro's art team reinforces the assertion that it is among the best in the industry. Every location simply oozes atmosphere and personality--and, despite what the game's trailers might lead you to believe, the environment and atmospere are rightly the most present characters here.

Nintendo has released two more trailers for Retro Studios' Metroid Prime 3: Corruption by way of the game's Wii preview channel. Like the first two updates, today's consists of a narrative trailer paired with a gameplay video. Below, check out a video about the ability-boosting Phazon Enhancement Device, and continue on to the full article to see gameplay of Samus entering her Phazon-powered Hyper Mode.

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... Read more

For this week's ShackCast, we're trying out a new format. A rotating cast of Shacknews editors--myself along with Steve Gibson, Chris Faylor, Nick Breckon, and Maarten Goldstein--discusses this week's news and impressions in a series of segments. Tell us what you think!

We've got hands-on time with the recently announced PSP Slim, its exclusive Star Wars Battlefront game, and Tony Hawk's Proving Ground on consoles. There's also discussion of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and its new marketing campaign, a trio of My Chemical Romance tracks being made available for Guitar Hero II on Xbox 360, Pirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeball, and an unorthodox EverQuest II marriage.

Play or download the episode now, browse the podcast through iTunes, RSS, or Digg, or check out the full breakdown. ... Read more

New at Eurogamer today is this Metroid Prime 3: Corruption preview. The article offers hands-on impressions.

As indicated by the pulsing blue light surrounding the Wii console's disc drive, another system update was released tonight.

According to a bulletin sent out to Wii users via the systems, the relatively minor update fixes a freezing issue with the Internet Channel, which occurred when resetting the system while browsing, as well as smooths out some connection problems associated with the console's optional ethernet adapter.

Just before the system was sent out, two new Metroid Prime 3 videos were released to the Metroid Prime 3 preview channel. They showcase Samus' spider ball ability and a galaxy-wide network of Aurora supercomputers--which bear a striking resemblance to antagonist Mother Brain. The videos can also be found on FileShack. The spider ball video can be seen below, and the Aurora video is viewable in the full story.

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... Read more

During a Nintendo meeting at E3 this week, I was able to get hands-on impressions of Retro Studios' impressive upcoming Wii action/adventure sequel Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The good news: it is slick as all hell. The bad news: it's not out until August. Read all about it..

Gorgeous touches abound on both small and large scales. Skyboxes are beautiful eruptions of unearthly color, serving as an excellent backdrop for sequences such as grappling beam rollercoaster rides. Character models are clearly using more polygons and higher-resolution textures, leading to a cleaner look overall. When using the slightly darker scan visor, Samus' face becomes lightly visible in reflection, highlighting the inherent solitude so crucial to the affecting atmosphere of Metroid games.

... Read more

Bad news regarding highly anticipated Wii titles is hovering above Tuesday like a dark Lakitu.

In a somewhat unsurprising, but still discouraging announcement, Retro Studios CEO Michael Kelbaugh tells GamePro that his studio's upcoming title Metroid Prime 3: Corruption will not feature online multiplayer.

"It's something we talked about early on, but we only have so many resources. We opted to devote those resources to making a better single-player experience," he said.

There is no word on any offline multiplayer mode, although Nintendo's website lists the title as supporting only one player. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption is now due to ship on August 27, a week later than originally ... Read more

With Retro Studios' anticipated Wii shooter Metroid Prime 3 originally slated for an August 20 launch, Nintendo today moved the release of the game to August 27. The news was included at the end of an announcement detailing the October 1 launch date for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (NDS).

Perhaps to atone for the minor delay, Nintendo also released a slew of screenshots and character art for the game.

Well, because our beloved Jack worked so hard on Metroid Prime, here's a glowing hands-on preview of the game as it is just about to hit the shelves. Everyone congratulate Jack on shipping a game, and hope that he didnt have a hand in mangling a Nintendo gaming legacy!

On the technical side of things, too, there is a lot to fall in love with. Metroid Prime's engine is perhaps the most stunning I've seen on GameCube. Like the gameplay design, the foundation that supports it is very, very polished. Load times are nearly non-existent as you travel from world to world. It's just like the previous Metroids. Loading is hidden behind the opening of doors and traveling down elevators (a short process). Furthermore, the art direction is stunning, jaw-dropping, fantastic, extravagant, lavish, and every other positive adjective you can think of. The worlds look organic with totally unique architecture that will absolutely blow your mind. It's a completely believable sci-fi environment, and the art direction plays a huge part in that.

Jack's claims to have worked on the game, so humor the guy just like you humor my godawful headlines.

Congrats to Jack, our in-house Metroid Prime whore. Check out this trailer that just came out. For butchering a sidescroller in to a 3D FPS game, it looks pretty good!

Though Cube.IGN gave us a scan of two screenshots from Nintendo Power back in December, three non-scanned shots of the upcoming Metroid Prime have now surfaced at Computer and Video Games. There's one third person and two first person shots. Update: ok so those shots are actually from this Nintendo page where they have a bunch more shots.

Some more details on Metroid Prime (Say hi Jack!) have surfaced in the recent issue of Nintendo Power. Along with a couple of shots that are scanned in the ball mode is revealed which is in 3rd person mode. Some other shots came out earlier.

The screenshot appears to be real-time showing off absolutely stunning visuals featuring reflection maps, moody lighting, and nice particle effects. It's set on what appears to be the interior of a ship

For those of you living in a cave with your wife who hasnt heard of LOTR, Metroid is being developed here in Austin by Retro Studios and is going to be a FPS game. Quite the departure from the sidescroller roots of all the previous Metroid titles.

Cube.IGN has posted three in-game screenshots from Metroid Prime, the GameCube FPS in development at Retro Studios. The shots aren't direct-feed, but they do offer the first glimpse at gameplay, with two of the shots showing the first-person view, and one from a third person perspective. One thing of note is that the "helmet" effects that were mentioned last week don't seem to be featured here. Here they are: [shot 1] [shot 2] [shot 3].

An update on the status of Metroid Prime, Retro Studios' upcoming Gamecube FPS is up at IGN Cube this evening. The update features two new concept art pieces, but the fun part is in the text, where it describes how Metroid Prime is utilizing its first person perspective, and talks briefly about its impressive engine. Here's an excerpt:

Metroid Prime's first-person camera will appear as though gamers are looking out of Samus' helmet from the inside. To that end, all of the relevant power, ammo and item information, including necessary gauges and dials, will appear on the glass shield-visor of the helmet as if it was an LCD, or graphical user interface. Furthermore, the visor will reflect the conditions of the surrounding environments so if Samus looks up into a light, it will reflect off the glass of her helmet or if a room is damp, the moisture will drip down the shield and affect her view. Gamers will even be able to catch rare glimpses of the heroine's face as it is occasionally reflected onto the inside of the visor. One source described the unique view simply as "total immersion."

Woah.. looks like the new FPS Metroid game from Nintendo is the last game standing over at Retro Studios. Raven Blade, the 3D RPG that was being worked on has been canned entirely according to IGN. 26 employees lost their jobs after a joint decision was made by Nintendo and Retro to dissolve the project. A few "key members" from Raven Blade were sent over to work on Metroid Prime.

The termination of the project means that Retro Studios is now only working on one game -- Metroid. Asked why Raven Blade was killed, Nintendo commented: "It was a business decision and clearly based on the need to focus on Metroid and ensure it's a great game, and also on the resources that would have been needed to finish Raven Blade."

Our buddies Jack and Zoid are fine.

I wanted to post these for a while now and finally got a hold of them now that the E3 rush is slowing down. Screenshots of the Nintendo GameCube FPS Metroid game. Check these out straight from Nintendo and Jack approved:

[more screenshots]