The Crossing crosses to 360

By Robert Purchese Published 19 February, 2007

Dark Messiah dev on console.

Arkane Studios, the brain-box behind Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, has revealed its next project will appear on Xbox 360 as well as PC.

A job advert on the developer's website revealed that The Crossing, an urban FPS set in a Parisian ghetto, will be ported onto the white and green box.

"If you want to work on 'The Crossing', our remarkably innovative 'crossplayer' FPS for PC and Xbox360, and you think you can make a difference, you could have a place at Arkane," it read.

"As an Xbox 360 programmer in Arkane Studios, you will handle porting, maintaining, and optimizing the codebase for the Xbox 360 version of the game, developed on the Valve's Source Engine."

The Crossing's "crossplayer" element is what Arkane hopes will make the game stand out. For the developer, traditional AI is predictable and boring, whilst multiplayer games lack consequence and meaning. This it hopes will be overcome by merging the two game modes, allowing real people to play against the heroes of the game - the "Elites" - as they advance through the story.

If you're picked to play on the NPC side, which would previously be controlled by AI, you'll take the role of many different characters, each time respawning after death into a new pair of shoes.

Play as one of the two "Elites" and you'll receive more muscle and power, but you'll have an up-hill struggle against real-life opponents.

The story is said to be close to the film "The Others", where a ghost-world and parallel human land begin to collide and effect each others planes of existence.

There is no publisher confirmed for the game, with both Microsoft and Ubisoft (publishers of Dark Messiah) remaining tight-lipped on the project.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (15) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Dizzy #1 5 years ago

    Interesting....

  • Blerk #2 5 years ago

    Or not.

  • Dizzy #3 5 years ago

    Well it certainly is a new interesting twist on AI. Easy for a lot of you guys to declare this "NOT interesting"... I guess that is a good way to support companies that try something new.

    Will it be good? Dunno.... they will have to make sure that the human "AI" cannot dead-lock the game ;) Humans are such *ss-AIs most of the time ;)

    I have been a fan of this idea because it also promotes the "just-20-minutes-of-fun" gameplay type. I wouldn't mind coming home and blowing off some steam by jumping in the skin of a Covenant in a Halo 2 "single player" game and shooting/dying/rezzing a bit, log off and enjoy the rest of the evening. No big commitments, no hours of story gameplay (I *can* do that when I feel like it).
    Edited by 3 at 19/02/07 @ 11:23

  • Blerk #4 5 years ago

    You might be right, but I do find it a little difficult to get excited about advancements in AI when they're tacked on to yet another urban FPS.

  • Dizzy #5 5 years ago

    >when they're tacked on to yet another urban FPS.

    Yeah ok... agree ;)

  • mazzl #6 5 years ago

    xbox 360 does need even more shooters....
    but still it is a good idea, i think it will work.
    this will also add replay value to a game.

  • insincere_dave #7 5 years ago

    Xbox Live already provides the means to play against hyper-intelligent opposition!!!!

  • KingOfTheC #8 5 years ago

    "Xbox Live already provides the means to play against hyper-intelligent opposition!!!! "

    BRILLIANT

  • sport #9 5 years ago

    maybe I'm completely out of touch, but I don't get it - how does this "crossplayer" thingie work?

  • Milbe #10 5 years ago

    sport, it is easier to understand, if you read the article...

  • rhinoxious #11 5 years ago

    Not a bad idea, as long as playing the bad guys is interesting enough to get people involved.

    Though even if you had one or two respawning players amongst a hoard of 20 or 30 bad guys in a level, you'd still need to approach every baddy with a new respect as you wouldn't know if they were about to do something completely unexpected.

    Sounds a bit creepy, not knowing who's human and who's AI. Very deus ex machina/ghost in shell/blade runner etc etc

  • Zane #12 5 years ago

    -yawn- another FPS. I'll keep playing Gears and wait for the big Half-life 2 pack and Halo 3

    Not that the game will suck or anything, just I own too many shooters as it is :s
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/07 @ 15:51

  • urban #13 5 years ago

    crossplayer is

    AI will be running along laaadeeedaaa bang bang towards you, then matrix style, anybody playing multiplayer can take control of that AI and fight against you, so you'd be powering through a level thinking..this is soooo easy then WAALLOOPPP in comes a good player.

    also you will encounter deathmatch areas where there will be several multiplayer people battling it out and you'll have to join them to get through, or they could all gang up against you.

    atleast thats what i've heard.
    Edited by 1 at 19/02/07 @ 19:26

  • Your_Dumb_Child #14 5 years ago

    Whoopie fuckin Do, the 360 gets another FPS. Snores. zzzzzz zzzzzzzz

  • ArcMonkey #15 5 years ago

    Yea, cos the ones it already has would keep us happy for years...prrrrrrrrr