The Nintendo Switch launch date is about two months away and Nintendo has released many new trailers to get people hyped for the console. The franchise I care most about and will be the launch title is The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. There is a lot of new information to gleam from the trailer so let me dive in:

Voice Acting
The most surprising aspect of the trailer is we hear voices of characters speaking. At 1:17 in the trailer, we hear the first ever spoken voices in a modern Zelda game (CD-i Zelda games are a joke). Finally after years and years of all characters being silent except for grunts, Zelda characters will be voices. We also hear Zelda speaking near the end of the trailer as well as a Goron & the Deku Tree. Finally the King of Hyrule says to save his daughter. If Nintendo is smart, they will keep Link the silent protagonist.

Large Environments
The trailer shows off impressive scale very much like Shadows of the Colossus and Skyrim. Link is climbing the side of a mountain, running through snow and harmonizing with grassy fields. The world layout looks very much like classic Zelda games with similar elements moved around or remixed. I saw a new looking Gerudo Village & Death Mountain

Orchestrated Music?
I'm holding my breath that all the music in the game will finally be orchestrated. Koji Kondo working on Twilight Princess had wished to orchestrate the entire game but instead they went with synthesized music. Skyward Sword still sounded like high quality midi tracks. Can Nintendo finally invest the money to do the soundtrack right after so many other professional orchestras have covered their music.

Ganon is Back & So is Princess Zelda
The calamity Ganon is back. At 2:02 you can see Ganon's purple ghostly form capturing Castle Hyrule. We also see the Deku Tree at 2:12 in front of the Master Sword grove. This is important as there as many Zelda games where they introduce new villains or characters to smoke screen it was really Ganon all along. Thank you old lady in the trailer for not beating us around the bush and hiding the villain behind general darkness in the world. It's Ganon and fans know he must get a taste of the Master Sword.

100 years ago something happened. What happens next for Link? We'll find out March 3rd, 2017 as the Nintendo Switch is released

by BlueZero

E3 just ended and we were there taking in all the new video game sights and sounds. You’ve already heard about the big budget titles that dominated the show floor. One title I wasn’t expecting to see at E3 this year was the new King's Quest game from Sierra/Activision and developed by The Odd Gentlemen.

Hidden in the Microsoft area next to the Halo 5 Warzone line, there were two kiosks for Kings Quest. I was super surprised to see the game and chatted with the staff in Sierra t-shirts.

From what I’ve learned about the game’s story and the trailer, King Graham is telling his grandchildren his story from when he was a young adventurer prior to being a king and a knight in King's Quest I. Here, Graham has heard about Daventry recruiting new knights, and he has traveled there to enlist. Since it’s King Graham retelling his story, there is plenty of humorous dialogue and terrible puns about trees (bored, timber, ect.) There are definitely a lot more liberties taken to have fun with his character, and it works really well.

The gameplay is more modern and streamlined similar to how Telltale Games makes their games like Wolf Among Us. There aren’t any more typing simple sentences like KQ 1-4 or clicking everywhere like KQ 5 – 7. It’s more streamlined like KQVII’s interface. Graham can click on points on interest in the world to interact/talk/pickup like the more recent games. He still has an inventory screen where you can puzzle solve with items.

I had to budget my time because I could have easily spent all day playing the show floor demo. I found an axe (used responsibly of course) and snuck Graham over the outer wall into Daventry to “borrow” a round table to repair a broken merchant’s caravan. We actually see Graham wave his cape over the table and see it disappear into his inventory. In a bakery shop, Graham was able to restrain from buying and eating what I’m sure would be a game-breaking pie like in King's Quest V.

The new episode King's Quest game is coming out in July. I’ll be buying it for the nostalgia mixed with poking fun at the characters. Share your thoughts on the game in the comments and how you feel about the new series.

Photos

by BlueZero

Welcome to the official Day 1 of E3 2014. It’s Christmas Day for video gamers out there. This is the time period where developers unleash the torrent on projects they had to keep secret and tease everyone with tantalizing details. So buckle up and allow me to list my favorite five favorite announcements unveiled at E3 this year.

I am luckily not among all the masses at the Los Angeles Convention Center this year. I get to enjoy the constant flood of video, screenshots and developer interviews from behind a keyboard.

New Zelda Game on WiiU

A new Zelda game has been announced and it’s “open world”. This is all the Nintendo fans need to go into a year-long coma where they curl up with their Link blanket (or body pillow) and suck on their triforce pacifiers.

I’m okay with the graphical style being more similar to Skyward Sword. Unlike Space World 2000 where there was a bait and switch to the cell-shaded Toon Link, I wasn’t expecting the E3 2013 realistic Link to stick around. Nintendo doesn’t like realistic graphics because realism doesn’t match their usual whimsical use of color and music.

LittleBigPlanet3 on PS4

The biggest impact for me is they showed off new characters in the Sackthing universe that have unique traits. Plus the millions of user created levels are available at launch. The trailer makes it appear that LittleBigPlanet 3 has more than 3 planes of movement.
Is this game enough to get me to buy a PS4? Probably not yet.

Halo Collection on Xbox One

Okay so the Halo Collection is a mixed bag because I had a ton of fun playing the earlier games but I really shouldn’t go back and replay them again. The upside is that Halo fans get revived multiplayer for expired Live servers for Halo 1 and 2.

Pacman in Smash Brothers WiiU

Nintendo announced a new character as part of their Smash Brothers WiiU tournament at Nokia Theatre. Like the major video game outlets have stated, adding Pac Man revives the classic nostalgic for fanboys between fans for Sonic, Mario, Mega Man. Pac Man’s moveset is very reminiscent of Game and Watch with his A-Down ghosts appearing similar to the double potholes. Pac Man’s retro item moves appear to be very randomly powerful like G&W’s Judgment move. See Pac Man's reveal trailer below:

The Donuts in Battlefield Hardline

Now for the unexpected surprise. Battlefield Hardline reminds me a little of Pay Day 2 kicked up to the level of Battlefield explosions and action set pieces. While I was slightly interested in the gameplay demo of “cops vs. robbers, ” it was the end of the trailer that made me laugh out loud (6:15).

What’s your favorite reveal or announcement at E3 so far? I want to know what you think since we all have our biased opinions.

by BlueZero

During the first day of E3, I knew I was destined to get my hands on the Playstation 4 for the first time. Looking around the Sony booth, I saw there was a large area dedicated to playing Knack, an exclusive title that was revealed at last year’s E3. I got in the hour long line and here is what I thought of Knack:

The Sony staff member said Knack is classified as a “Character action game” and is a great throwback to old Sony games like Crash Bandicoot. Goblins are attacking the human world and scientists develop Knack to defend the city. I’ve heard the main character Knack described: “Knack is a set of relics imbued with consciousness.”

Gameplay
The Knack demo had four levels with the grand total playtime being about 15 to 20 minutes. The first level is normal sized Knack progressing through a city and defeating enemies. The second level shows off the stealth elements where Knack can shed his body pieces and can walk around as a shorter, transparent being with very low health. The third level showed off ice visuals where a normal sized Knack had ice armor for extra health. The final level allowed you to control a supersized Knack rampaging through the city.

Most of the gameplay was based around Knack doing light platforming, clearing out enemy resistance and then moving on. Around the environments are destructible yellow objects that help Knack regain health and power his super meter.

Controls
The game controls were extremely simple. The main control stick moves, the right stick does a dodge, X jumps, Circle grabs cars, Triangle sheds particles for stealth Knack, Square punches and super moves are two face buttons together. There was no block button and double jumping and dodging seemed to be the only way to keep Knack alive against projectiles.

One of the new PS4 features: When you open up a treasure chest, you get an item and have the ability to “copy” one of your friend’s items and keep it. In the demo, there were a list of fake friends and I selected one of them to enhance my special meter. The “Share” button on the controller did nothing during the E3 demo when I pressed it.

Graphics

The Sony staff member said that Sony Japan Studio’s goal was to reach CGI visuals. The closest video game art style and visuals that currently are close to Knack’s is Rachet and Clank: Tools of Destruction and Sonic Unleashed (day levels). The game is visually stunning with tons of particle effects, a overflowing helping of color and smoothness.

Knack is the best looking launch game I’ve seen for Playstation 4. Image what developers can do as we go even further into the game development lifecycle.

Knack is launching with the Playstation 4 later this year. While I really love the art style, visuals, cinematics and fluidity, the gameplay is a little too simple and the difficulty currently too easy for me on the “Normal” difficulty to see myself playing it seriously. Let us know which launch games you are excited for in the comments.

by BlueZero

During Day 2 of E3, I was able to attend a presentation of Titanfall, the much anticipated FPS coming out this year from the ex Infinity Ward Call of Duty producers. With tons of people lined up to get a look, I’m super lucky to be able to report what I’ve seen and comment on the development progress:

If you know nothing about Titanfall, It is being developed by Respawn Entertainment and will be published by EA. Respawn Entertainment was formed by Ex-Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella. They both created the Call of Duty franchises and left due to a dispute with Activision about their bonuses related to the sales of Call of Duty.

The Titanfall closed door presentation was a ~25 minute multiplayer game. Staff from Respawn Entertainment were playing from the next door room to populate the server with humans amongst the normal AI opposition. The multiplayer mode of Hardpoint had teams competing for control of three capture points A, B and C. The mode is similar to Ground War in Call of Duty.

The game started with the player’s character inside a ship with other soldiers before they did a space jump to a planet surface. You can see the opening portion was identical to the gameplay Respawn Entertainment showed off at the Microsoft press conference below. The character jumps out of the moving craft and then there is a very brief cinematic feeling mission briefing from an AI character piloting a Titan.

I couldn’t tell if there were any infantry classes or not. The main character on screen started with an assault rifle and an RPG he used against the enemy Titans from roofs. During the presentation, an infantry unit was able to cloak themselves and sneak around the battlefield. There was also a pistol looking weapon that fired ricocheting bullets.
With a game called Titanfall, the Titans must be carefully balanced for handling and strength so not to make the infantry useless. There is a nice cat and mouse mechanic between infantry and Titans where infantry units will chip away at the Titan health with rockets and can climb the back of the Titan to attack a critical point. The Titans can easily crush infantry units and decimate them with the rocket launcher. During the presentation, the main player only died from the Titan’s rockets which is saying something considering there was probably E3 health boost/reduced damage in effect.

Infantry units can command the mighty Titan by calling them down like a Supply Drop from Call of Duty. After the two minute countdown, the player can call down the Titan from the airship and it crashes to the ground. I really enjoyed how the Titan’s hand lifts the player into the enclosure and there are a few moments of blackness as the Titan’s HUB boots. The Titans themselves were not as stiff as I expected. They appear to handle with almost the same level of turning quickness as current FPS games to be able to target individual infantry units. As I mentioned, the Titan’s rockets were extremely effective against infantry units as was the electric rail gun when perfectly aimed.

Titan versus Titan gameplay is visceral with bullets whizzing by while pilots dodge sideways. A successful melee attack of a Titan against the enemy Titan has the mechanical claw ripping the player out of the cockpit. On the Titan HUD, there is a damage indicator which is very useful. If a Titan takes too much damage, the player can eject and choose to run away or offensively land on the other Titan as they did in the E3 conference.

As the game timer ticked down to the final minutes, the team received evacuation orders to get to a evac point. Infantry who died during this phase don’t appear to respawn. The drop ship returned during the final 30 seconds for boarding and the main player made it on the ship. Lots of infantry units were left behind. I couldn’t tell if Titan players were concerned about evacuating, I assume they would want to eject out and get the large amount of points.

The gameplay feels like a great mashup of more recent Call of Duty games with the art style similar to Battlefield 2142. Infantry moved a lot quicker and are more mobile than COD thanks to the ability to climb ledges/wall run/jump and use a very slight jet pack boost. On the FPS speed scale, I would place the gameplay speed slower than Unreal Tournament/Quake, faster than the Battlefield series. Infantry movement speed I place just slightly slower than the Modern Warfare 2 “Witch” loadout (Commando, Marathon Pro and Lightweight perks)

Titanfall is slated for release in Spring 2014 on Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. I’d likely be playing it on PC since the game will likely attract the Battlefield 2142 crowd to resurface and I'm sure how likely I'll have an Xbox One.

by BlueZero

The magical week of E3 news has just begun! No matter what you do, there is no preparing for the complete onslaught of video game news competing to make the biggest splash at the show. Here is what I’m expecting the Big Three are going to discuss during their press conferences:

Monday is the press conferences where most of the breaking news will be unleashed. Microsoft, Sony, EA, Ubisoft and more will be laying out their marketing strategies to kick off the pre-convention hype. So expect the usual Halo, Call of Duty, God of War, Gears of War, Battlefield 4, Assassins Creed 4, Rayman Legends as well as unannounced games that probably deserve more attention than these AAA titles. Of course there will be the big console reveals (minus prices) including that both Xbox One and PS4 will be available during the 2013 holiday season.

Then on Tuesday morning, Nintendo give a short (hour?) presentation focusing exclusively on games since they aren’t releasing a new console or handheld this year. Rumors talk about a new Smash Brothers trailer that will be shown at E3. I don’t know if my heart can handle waiting another two years for the new Smash Brothers to come out on both WiiU and 3DS. Since Nintendo loves connecting handhelds to their console, I’ll guess that the two Smash Brothers games will be able to connect for extra unlockables and custom stage transfers.

E3 is always about the games and this year will be no different. Make sure to be on the lookout for our E3 photos in the very near future. We will be taking a ton of photos so please bear with us as we digest the E3 experience after very long days walking around the Los Angeles Convention Center. Let us know in the comments what we should take a picture of at E3, if it’s awesome enough we might make it happen.

by BlueZero

The Xbox One was announced last week and it’s taken me a while to watch most of the conference and write about it. Most news outlets have already covered the reveal and given their opinion. My first reaction to the press conference was that it was underwhelming compared with the emails hyping the reveal. Let's go through some of the new features:

Functionality
The Xbox One seems to be designed for the person who wants to take multitasking to the ultimate level. The conference showed how a person can switch from playing a game, to watching live TV and then deciding to make a Skype call while the video was still playing. I like being able to quickly switch between application; a responsive UI is good for user experience.

The Xbox controller looks to improve the horrific D-Pad of the 360 controller. The Xbox One console is a throwback to the original Xbox blocky size. Where is the drink holder from the original? Black is a good color for electronics; it exudes a high-end sleek style. Aesthetically, the console looks to be very large and bulky.

TV
Let me put it plainly, the future of technology is scary because it is enabling people to be even more glued to their Xbox. This will be a huge victory for Microsoft because they have recognized that most people using the Xbox 360 regularly for Netflix, videos and music. The reality now is how I use my smart TV to watch Netflix, stream networked music and videos and watch YouTube.

Adding live TV to this mix will be an incredible value and will be enough for people to buy Xbox Live memberships. When Microsoft controls people’s primary input of entertainment on their TV, they will have a powerful hold on consumption of digital content. The NFL channel and the Fantasy Basketball options for Xbox One are a tactical move that will pay off with the core male crowd.

Xbox Kinect

I really don’t want to be recognized by my console. Call me paranoid because I am paranoid. There is no reason I want the Xbox One to log me in with my face. It’s not too much work to select your name from a menu to login. I don’t need nor want my friends to know I just unlocked an achievement through Facebook or Twitter.

I am very happy with the announcement of the 1080p camera for Kinect. There was no reason the PS3 Eye wasn’t HD in this era. The limb and motion tracking video Microsoft showed was impressive with the degree of body points followed.

Gaming
For all the right reasons, Microsoft held off on focusing on video games since E3 is coming up real soon.

From the on-screen Forza video, the graphics don’t really make me think of a next generation of gaming. There is no large leap like there was from 2D to 3D, the unveiling of Gears of War, Uncharted or similar games.

Being able to record your gaming sessions is a feature that sounds great on paper. Yes, you can choose record your awesome moments or plays. If a person is constantly uploading many videos to their profile, it’s unlikely any of their friends are going to care. It is extremely unlikely a random person online is going to watch your recorded videos. Microsoft is going to have to implement a very robust video system like YouTube to tag video content is there is just going to be a huge buffet of video with no labels.

The biggest red flag of the next generation of gaming is the use of DRM, “always-on” connection and tying a game to a console. If a user installs a game to the harddrive and it is locked the username, then the used game market is kerput. This will not stand for people who trade in their games (I’m not one of them). Plus if new generation games cost $79, expect people to buy very few new games.

Conclusion

Overall the Xbox One announcement was decent. Microsoft dispelled fears of the “always-on” Internet DRM debacle by not talking about it. Kinect has been upgraded, robust multi-tasking has been added for better or worse and games were nowhere to be found. Please, few people are going to buy the console just for Forza.

This Christmas season, are you more likely to get a Xbox One or a Playstation 4? I’m not going to purchase either currently at launch. With E3 in two weeks, what are you most looking forward to?

by BlueZero

Worms! Who doesn't recall the classic game of destruction and mayhem? Rocket Launchers, grenades and more, but watch out for that wind or you may be on the receiving end of your own judicial medicine.

With so many versions of Worms out there, what else can be added? Well, rumor has it that a new Worms game in production will use augmented reality to deliver an enticing experience. Now this isn't like this augmented reality version from year's back which used a 3D space, I'm speaking about the familiar 2D playing field, but using pictures and possibly a live video stream from the host console to generate the level's content.

While the game has yet to be announced, nor platform revealed, I would be surprised if it didn't use the Kinect's ability to grab the environment in 3D, delivering the foreground elements as the actual playing field and the background as well…the background. Watch as your living room is blown up around you. Or play on the side of a dude's body. I can imagine endless creative ideas, and probably a couple of unscrupulous penis levels as well. Even if the game doesn't use the Kinect's 3D capture capabilities, most consoles now or upcoming have camera support so there is plenty of platform potential.

In this day and age network support is a no brainer, so I'm not sure how they'll prevent cheating by modifying the environment on the fly. My guess would be that the foreground will 'lock-in' after generating the playable surface while keeping a continuous video feed of me dancing the Macarena as that background feed. There's no stopping my super sheep!

by Zott820

So Capcom just announced DuckTales Remastered during their panel at PAX East 2013. It's going to be developed by WayForward Technologies, the company that remade Double Dragon NEON last year. You can watch the reveal trailer and sing-a-long with their theme song.

Skip ahead to 48 seconds to skip the quotes from the developers and get straight to the music and gameplay.

The DuckTales game originally was on the NES and I never played it. You are also probably here for the nostalgia for the game but may be like me and be even more nostalgic for the TV show.

"Life is like a hurricane, here in Duckburg…" I watched the DuckTales animated show religiously whenever it was on TV as a child. Disney did an amazing job with these types of show including TaleSpin, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and of course Darkwing Duck.

Anyway, back to the video game. I'm most excited to hear the remake of the Moon level music. Many gamers like myself may know nothing about the actual gameplay but will recognize the Moon level music:

Will I be purchasing the game for $15 when it comes out on consoles? Probably not. My interest lies in seeing how well WayForward Technologies can bring this game to the modern audience. If it's anything like their remake Double Dragon: NEON, they will create a polished and fun game to play, but might not sell well.

Double Dragon style high-fire WayForward Technologies for getting this opportunity. You really know how to do karaoke sing-alongs!

by BlueZero

On February 20, the PlayStation 4 was announced. Rather than change their gaming console moniker, Sony kept their brand name intact, ensuring that this holiday season parents will be wondering exactly which PlayStation their child really wanted for Christmas.

The unveiling, which was more of a confirmation of rumor, was a chest pounding display of developer support for the new system with backers including Quantic Dream, Square Enix, Capcom and more. For those who don't recall my Indigo Prophecy Review , Quantic Dream is very good at making videogame 'movies' for which I'm sure they'll make good use of the PlayStation 4's power. Indeed, most of the displays showedtech demos and hypothetical game cut scenes rather than live-gameplay.

The twinkle in my eye began with the showing of Media Molecule's sculpting simulator. Here I began to see actual potential to the power besides increased graphical fidelity. I wouldn't mind the ability to create a little show from animated figurines, complete with my voice-over. However, I have seen similar displays of potential in the initial Kinect showing, which didn't live up to the hype except for Star Wars dancing and as an indie development tool. While absorbing Media Molecule's display I was increasingly reminded of EyePet (NSFW). Furthermore, I felt that this creation game would cater better to an audience on the Wii-U than PS4, where the control device is included rather than a supplement. I'll be watching anxiously to see if the creative potential will be applied successfully.

Besides packing in a whopping 8GB of shared RAM, the system also unleashes a greater emphasis on sharing and online engagement. For those that wish to know what their friends are doing at every waking moment, UAV online. For the rest, the console's draw will probably be the streaming, which will enable playing a plethora of different games from PS1-PS3 and with hope, a large selection of indie titles. Supporting indie titles will be the prime way for this next generation of consoles to hope to combat the encroaching mobile gaming market.

Here's my prediction for the PS4 and 'Durango': Good graphics are nothing to sneeze at, but are reaching dwindling returns. The bigger problem is that the investment in the creation of huge worlds and the content needed to populate them. Games are expensive, and while the PS4 may have the power to support lots of content, I don't reasonably see developers investing more money than they have for the Xbox360/PS3 production. Expect higher resolution textures and models, as they are usually created higher than delivered in the final project anyways, but the scale of the game (playtime, interactivity) to remain about equal. For this reason, I don't see the Wii-U as being very far behind. Developers who are comfortable with the cost of Xbox360 and PS3 game fabrication may eagerly approach that price point on the Wii-U and make some extra money 'backporting' it to the existing PS3/Xbox360 at the same time.

The mobile market is also coming on strong with a gaming device in every pocket. The PS4's sharing of content hopes to once again secure itself as a center of entertainment in the household. The look and feel of the interface will make the biggest difference here. Knowing individuals who's strongest interaction with their PS3 is playing a BluRay movie; it will have to be simple and addicting. Mobile apps get this right, can the PS4?

As a side note, it is interesting all the complaining people were doing about the PS4's container/exterior not being shown. The reason is simple, it doesn't matter. For some it signals that the console doesn't actually exist, and everything is hearsay. But at every one of these showings the content is hearsay. As was seen recently with Aliens: Colonial Marines, a good demo showing means nothing. Until I see the product live, I must take everything observed with a heavy helping of scrutiny. The lack of physical console has just heightened that sense in everybody. When the Durango is finally brought out on the stage and flashes light it up, don't imagine the visuals coming from THAT box.

To summarize, the PS4 looks to be a capable gaming machine. The x86 architecture and lots of RAM will invite those comfortable developing on the PC/Mac to the table. (Vice-Versa, I expect to see PS4 games on the PC with fewer bugs.) The console's sharing capabilities will keep the console interactive, but not guaranteed relevant in the household. The new controller looks comfortable, but not revolutionary. Consequently, combined with development costs, games will probably play equal to how they do now.

by Zott820

With E3 2012 about three days away (you see what I did there), I figured it was time to discuss what could be possibly announced next week during the show. E3 has been sneaking up on me and I haven't had much time to prepare as I would like. I'll break down the chances each of these games will receive some sort of screentime starting with the most obvious.

Halo 4

The Microsoft marketing department is doing a superb job so far of "leaking" screenshots of the new game to build up expectations. The leaked screenshots are only a positive push to rally the Halo fanbase in expectation of the new Halo 4.

With the Halo 4 release date confirmed for November 2012, there is a 100% chance Microsoft is going to show off or heavily tease Halo 4 during next week's press conference. As their flagship product, not presenting the game during their conference would be making a huge mistake. Halo along with the Gears of War franchise and Call of Duty helped Microsoft sell the 360 to millions of homes; without Halo 4, there is no Microsoft Game Studios.

Grand Theft Auto V

Last year in November, Rockstar released their first trailer for the next iteration of Grand Theft Auto. Set again in Vinewood, GTA V looks to be taking GTA San Andreas' world and smashing it into the "immersion" of GTA IV

I'm highly anticipating seeing actual hands-on gameplay during either Microsoft or Sony's press conference. Rockstar could try and get some more controversy by only doing the hands-on demonstration on the Wii U during Nintendo's press conference. Either way, I expect about 2 minutes of gameplay showing off a new game feature. I would like to see cars be able to travel faster than 20 MPH in the next game and bring back planes/helicopters/jetpacks from San Andreas.

Bioshock: Infinite

I'm not expecting much more being announced about Bioshock: Infinite during the big three press releases. 2K Games will have the game setup in a private viewing area where they will probably do another closed-doors 15 minutes presentation of gameplay from a new section with a new plasmid type power.

Based on their marketing strategy for Bioshock 1 and the single-player nature of the game; they won't let any media play the game directly, they will only allow their employees to show off the game. Since Bioshock: Infinite is now planned on being released in February 2013, this signals to me that 2K Games felt there were too many AAA titles being released in November so to wait until after Christmas for further development time.

Next Gen Consoles

Sony just released their PS Vita last year and is not ready to announce a PS4. It's too risky to introduce another new product the following year. Also Sony need the PS3 to be their financial safe net to bring in the dollars while they nurture the PS Vita. Announcing the PS4 effectively will kill future console and game sales for the PS3.

Microsoft could use this E3 to unveil their next console but this would compete against their big Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 announcement.

The only next-gen console we will be seeing is Nintendo talking a lot more about the Wii U. Nintendo should rename the WiiU to something casual gamers will be able to identify when they walk into a Gamestop wanting to buy it. A typical exchange will go something like this for Grandma, grandpa and alpha-mom come November:

Casual: "My child wants the new Wii (thingy)"
Clerk: "Oh, you mean the new Wii-U that Nintendo just launched?"
Casual: "No, I want to buy the new Wii for my family"
Clerk: Uhh… Do you want the one with the remote or the screen controller?
Casual: "I want the new one. My children want to play the new Nintendo"

Clerk: Ok, well we are currently sold out and there is a waitlist. You can put some money down to reserve the console and then pay the full $299.99 when it's available."

Casual: "$300 is too much money and I need a Christmas gift now. I'll just get my children some Wii games. What are most people buying now?"
Clerk: "Mario and Zelda are always popular…"
Casual: "Ooo, there is a new Carnival Games, I'll get that…"

Personal E3 2012 Coverage

Please let us know what games or events you would like covered, recorded, tasted, pried, spied or what have you in the comments or on Twitter. Biased Gamer will be in the thick of E3 at the LA Convention Center and maybe this year we will stop living in the Nintendo booth area.

by BlueZero

So anyway Capcom is still doing what they do best: mooching for money with cheap DLC costumes and should-have-been-in-the-game add-ons. That's not why I am writing this post though. Capcom has managed to finally take Phoenix Wright out of the courtroom and put him onto the street. He is a new character for the much expected Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 After the break, see his unique fighting style in in action:

Now I now some people think this is the fake video, though they are wrong since it captures Mr. Wright perfectly. Look at all his acrobatic skills with the spinning and flipping. Never underestimate the power of the Giant Phoenix Finger. Who can forget back-to-back OBJECTIONs at 1:38 in the video followed by a victory coffee break.

Official Video

Now for you folks who want the real video, here it is in all it's splendor (make sure to toggle that 720p) :

You do realize two defense attorneys are battling each other over a single client. Phoenix Wright really should be doing his Lvl 3 Hyper Combo against She-Hulk instead of Doctor Doom.

Phoenix Wright may be able to almost break the 4th wall like Deadpool though I know She-Hulk is already top-tier and has much more functional stun moves. Just imagine She-Hulk doing her anti-air Hyper combo and whipping Phoenix around in the air. I hope Capcom includes a coffee drinking taunt for Phoenix which also does damage so he can KO She-Hulk with that move.

Phoenix plays a lot differently than other fighters in that he needs to search for three pieces of evidence in order to do his final hyper. He has the option of throwing away "bad" evidence and there are two modes for Phoenix. There is the evidence mode and the courtroom mode, each with their own moves.

From a gameplay standpoint, Phoenix appears to be too difficult to use when compared with Nemesis who just does tons of damage to people with simple combos. Phoenix Wright's best move I can see is the Objection Finger, though he can only use it when he has three pieces of evidence and it has a countdown timer. Otherwise, I would be spamming "I will submit the evidence" as much as I could as well as whatever his blue projectile is supposed to be.

It's obvious I'll be playing Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 just for these new characters. It's still a huge travesty Capcom has the guile (heh) to still charge for Jill and Shuma-Gorath as DLC characters when there is no reason to not include them with this really unnecessary expansion game. Next I'll be expecting to see Super Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 next February since the original game came out then.

*Images from the Ultimate Marvel Vs. Capcom site.

by BlueZero

Without a doubt, there are so many games coming out at the end of this year. Here is my list of all the games I want to play this holiday, but won't have the time due to being busy. What games are you guys most excited about this year?

They are in order of release:

Gears of War 3: September 20th

Yes I want to play the new Gears of War game since I have played the previous two and they were enjoyable. I haven't been keeping up-to-date on the latest news; the last thing I remember hearing is there are now female Gears.

If I had to improve on the expected gameplay, there needs to be special moves added for Hoard mode. Who doesn't want to see character specific moves like Coletrain spiking a grenade into an enemy, passing an enemies head to another player or jumping aboard his train ala Egoraptor's Gears of Awesome. I want the game to realize it can't take its self and plot serious when Marcus and Co. can just brush off bullet holes with a revive.

Resident Evil 4 HD: September 20
Yes, as one of the biggest RE4 fanboys, this is one of those games which I have to mention, even though I most likely won't play it. I've played it enough, the HD doesn't look "HD" to me and going back and playing it after Resident Evil 5 makes me miss the "Straight" action command. Priced at I believe $10 on both XBLA and PSN, this is a good value for the 4 people who haven't played the game.

Batman: Arkham City: October 18
I really enjoyed Arkham Asylum and from my E3 behind closed doors demo, I will be playing this game. Since I have some notes written down from E3, I should save them for an actual dedicated post. Fun fact: Did you know Nolan North is voicing the Penguin? It's like for once he is actually a voice actor instead of Nathan Drake.

Battlefield 3: October 25
The big kahuna returns. The Battlefield series has always done FPS multiplayer better than Call of Duty. I'm hoping the game will be more balanced and require more skill than the classic grenade spamming. I have big questions requiring big answers. Are jets returning? Will the Medic class still be godly? Is there still a Commander, team punishing and the ability to drop jeeps?

A quick synopsis of Battlefield 2 for people who didn't play: Battlefield 2 has/had overpowered jets which could literally do everything in the game because the people driving the jets were incredible. Want to take down another jet? Nah, I want to snipe infantry on the ground with the miniguns. Could you provide cover while I capture the point? Nope, I've got it covered while I hover in my jet and capture the point for my team. Enemy tank? Of course not, you just dropped your payload two seconds ago and have already boosted back to base to refill ammo and now are spawn camping the enemy base.

Console versions? Never going to sacrifice 32v32 battles, graphics and large multiplayer maps.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception November 1
This is another game where I intentionally avoid most trailers and plot points so the game will be fresh. The plot can be so out there I won't mind. Here's my very believable plot from the first two games as well as a possible forth game detailing the early years of Nathan Drake as a circus performer:

I trust Naughty Dog so much I would buy Uncharted 4: Clown Circus Adventure without hesitation or Drake's fear of clowns. Perhaps in my game the truth that Nathan Drake is a robot/cyborg will be revealed; Drake 1.0 was created and raised for the circus trapeze act and general acrobatics. After one close call involving the circus clown's juggling interfering with his trapeze work, Drake fell 5 stories and managed to hang on to the edge of the circus tent support. Thus Drake realized his acrobatic feats were beyond human and he left the circus to test the limits of his mortality. But not before fighting multiple clown bosses and becoming Donut Drake, the worlds fattest acrobat.

Now you understand how Drake is able to jump upward more than his own height while hanging on to a ledge the width of a piano key. My story also explains the glaring flaw of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves of how Drake was able to do so much climbing on frozen ice surfaces. He was wearing no gloves and his hands should have been extremely number and useless. At least in Tibet, Drake met Tenzin, another cyborg like him.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3: November 8
I got to play it since it's Modern Warfare 3. I have low expectations for the single player game. I assume more nukes are going to go off and all the characters you play as will die at some point in the game. I'm still disappointed all the cool people left Infinity Ward and created Respawn Entertainment.

The multiplayer is the reason why people will play the game more than 6 hours. I'm pessimistic because in every Infinity Ward Call of Duty game there are unbalanced aspects. Call of Duty 2: Bolt-action guns, Gewehr 43 and laggy smoke. Call of Duty 4: MP5, P90, M16, M4, RPD, grenade launcher, half-second scope sniper technique gun, martyrdom. There are so many in Modern Warfare 2: All explosives (mm grenade launcher), RDP (again), Dual 1887 shotguns (pre-patch), Commando, Commando, Commando, ONE MAN ARMY! Also the Domination mode turned into "Get the Nuke first"

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim November 11
Not much to say here except it's Elder Scrolls, the game with infinite replay and mod-ability (on PC). This is a must buy for the choir songtrack and the ability to take on dragons. I want to same story and enviroment quality of Morrowind, the better combat of Oblivion without its stupid enemy auto leveling system. I have no hesitation of dropping my $60 for the PC version even though PC games should be $50.

Assassin's Creed: Revelations: November 15
So many questions I need answered. Why did so-and-so die, is there alien magic at work and will Desmond ever climb the future New York buildings and jump into a small haystack? Maybe the Templars learned to always put traps in hay piles or they just made all hay instinct with science.

So Enzio is going to be doing his own animus thing to explore Altair's past. Gentlemen, we have entered an Inception type moment where Desmond exploring Ezio's history of Ezio exploring Altair's history. My body is ready.

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary: November 15
I demand to know how the developers are going to handle the health system. Are they going to stay accurate to healthpacks or are they going to pretend Halo 2's shields were always there? I know some of my friends are going to get it so I look forward to reliving the fun of the first Halo with a lot of multiplayer tinkering.

Saints Row: The Third: November 15
My most wanted game of this year, possibly even more than Skyrim and Battlefield 3. The pre-order trailer with Professor Genki was the icing on the cake (even though the pre-order stuff should be in the game originally…)

We now return to "Battling Seizure Robots"

The gameplay of Saints Row 2 was soooo much fun and I loved the humor which was a throwback to Rockstar's GTA humorous undertones. Saints Row 2 was the game GTA 4 should have been. Extreme customization, better combat, better driving, helicopters, silly minigames, gang recruiting and an overpowered pimp cane shotgun. Plus they had Michael Dorn, the voice of Worf from Star Trek, play the leader of the Brotherhood.

For Saints Row: The Third, I was sold in a matter of about 10 seconds when Volition showed off their first gameplay demo and the character stylishly just beat up a random pedestrian.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword: November 20
It's Zelda and it explains what happens before Ocarina of Time. Nintendo totally explains the wings on the logo and other things. My guess is Ganon is able to crash the sky realm into the place we now know as Hyrule. Err, it's a console Zelda, I'll play it eventually. I'll probably wait a long time before I play it since it's surprisingly low on my list of games to play and it is also coming out too close to Thanksgiving where I will already have so many other AAA games to play.

After such a large wall of text, I am interested to know which games you are looking forward to this year and early 2012. Let me know in the comments.

by BlueZero

It was about time I finally posted some of our uploaded E3 footage. After successfully predicting the existence of the sequel to Luigi’s Mansion some two years ago, it felt downright eerie to play it on 3DS at the Nintendo Booth. Luigi likes to take his time as evidenced by the long development time and by the very liberal no time-limit demo from E3. Sit back and watch as we play more than 15 minutes of Luigi’s Mansion 2:

The Sound:
The first thing you will notice from our video is there is no game sound due to one of us listening to it through headphones. Instead you get to hear the booth sounds which include trailers, ambient music and easily recognizable jingles. I can tell you Luigi is just as vocal as ever as his voice wavers as he enters locked key doors. A only downside from the sequel is I couldn’t find a button to yell phrases such as “Mario!” I guess this is because Mario is no longer missing and Luigi is just going into mansions for fun.

The Story:
I’m not sure what the story is for the second game. Based off our recorded introduction with Professor Egadd, he is studying ghosts. Perhaps the kooky professor has conscripted Luigi to capture the boss ghosts because they could have special properties. For this level, Luigi must capture the Librarian ghost who some has compared to Roger from American Dad.

Gameplay:

When I was playing the game, I didn’t focus on collecting money/gold since I knew it wouldn’t matter in the demo. I was more interested in using the suck/blow dynamic on different objects. Most objects did not seem to respond to being blown with air from the vacuum. Luigi can also tilt his vacuum up and down to target out of reach money.

Graphics:
Luigi’s Mansion 2 has some wonderful lighting effects. From the flash of lightning to the flashlight appearing to shine in your face when Luigi looks towards the screen, sheer outstanding visuals. The game slightly suffers from a framerate which I would estimate to be around 25 FPS due to some minor jerkiness in Luigi’s animation. Considering the visuals Nintendo is pushing on the 3DS, it’s a minor gripe. The 3D effect when we later played with the 3D slider set to max was very effective in creating depth and immersion.

Considering I spent about 30 minutes filming and playing Luigi’s Mansion 2, Luigi got the love he so desperately needs to be a hero. We explored the “Secret Pocket”, stole people’s money and flashed a lot of ghosts. It’s a wonder we were actually playing a Nintendo game with that description. This was my second favorite 3DS game behind Super Mario 3DS for being able to replicate a similar console experience on handhelds.

by BlueZero

Nintendo is going to be officially announcing the development of Super Smash Brothers 3DS, the next entry in the Super Smash Brothers series for the Nintendo 3DS portable system at E3. HAL Laboratory is currently in the pre-production phase and is discussing key features and additions. Planed hardware features wanted to be implemented include:

• Local and WiFi Battling
• Friend Messaging
• StreetPass and SpotPass Connectivity
• Augmented Reality

Masahiro Sakurai is not the Director for the 3DS version since his company Sora Ltd. is focused on completing Kid Icarus: Uprising for launch later this year. Mr. Sakurai had also promised to not direct another Smash Brothers due to the grueling development schedule and destructive lifestyle. Masahiro Sakurai will indirectly involved as a creative consultant for HAL Laboratory.

The Nintendo 3DS system is seen as an excellent opportunity to evolve the Super Smash Brothers series. An idea currently being tested is using augmented reality so any real world surface can be used as a fighting stage. By having the 3DS stationary or contained in a cradle, characters can fight on tables, shelves and other similar flat surfaces. By adding books and other items to the surface before the match, augmented reality can create platforms and obstacles to change up the battlefield.

For the character roster, there are current talks with third party companies like SEGA and Konami to include more guest characters in Super Smash Brothers 3DS. Based on fan feedback and continuing negotiation with the publishers, Nintendo will most likely announce Tails (Sonic the Hedgehog series) and Raiden (Metal Gear Solid series) as playable characters. First party characters currently being discussed include:

• Little Mac
• Balloon Fighter
• Samurai Goroh
• Skull Kid
• Tingle

Nintendo recognizes fans have spent tons of time customizing their Miis and want them to join the battle. A new feature is the ability to import your Miis into the character roster to fight alongside Nintendo greats like Mario and Kirby. The Miis will have a default moveset with some possible customization to allow any Mii to be compatible. Nintendo has already implemented Miis in a similar fashion with Mario Kart Wii with tremendous success. I can already see it now with a Michael Jackson Mii teaming up with Wario for the ultimate unsightly Ness domination.

Let’s hope Super Smash Brothers 3DS doesn’t take more than three years of development like Super Smash Brothers Brawl. If Nintendo puts Tingle in the game as a playable character, I’m not going to be happy if they don’t include Issac from Golden Sun. My body is ready for the 3D, I just need more games like this to make me buy a 3DS.

by BlueZero

Today was my first time ever seeing and holding the Nintendo 3DS in person. Every other media outlet got to rave about the 3DS during the last E3 so this time I am at the same level as the common gamer without industry hookups. I finally got to see whether the 3D graphics without glasses were possible and the obvious answer is now "YES". I decided to focus more on the hardware over previewing PilotWings Resort since the 3DS is new and PilotWings Resort feels like a polished N64 expansion flying through Wii Sports Resort. Here are my initial impressions of Nintendo's newest portable in almost 7 years which I am sure will sell out when it launches in America March 27th:

Next Gen Graphics? This is always one of the most important categories when a new portable or console launches. This is usually the wow-factor to draw people in. The 3DS definitely has the ability to render some nice looking 3D visuals, when my head was in the right spot in the middle of the screen. The only game I could test out was PilotWings Resort and the visual theme is basically an upgraded Wii Sports Resort and Wii Play look. Landscape textures were good for not trying to be photo-realistic. The buildings and other geometry in the game looked good but nothing dropped my jaw since that's not the goal of PilotWings. The framerate was also consistent (30 FPS+). Unfortunately with only PilotWings Resort, I can't really get a good sense of the graphical capabilities. I'll assume since Hideo Kojima is making a new or ported Metal Gear Solid game and Resident Evil Mercenaries looks great, the graphics are enough to wow a new generation of portable users.

3D Graphics: As I moved the slider up to the more intense three dimension, the objects and landscape at the way back of the screen stretched further "back". I could detect an extremely brief pause or restarting of the onboard video rendering device as I switched from the minimum 3D to the off position. This statement means the game did not stutter or briefly pause, only the display for the tiniest fraction of a second did a refresh. The 3D experience was very powerful and I agree with Nintendo when it's one of those things you have to see for yourself to believe. For people wanting to experience the 3DS graphics, Nintendo is shipping out demo kiosks to chain stores. Most retailers will probably have them setup within the next week, with some Best Buys already having them operational.

The plane, jetpack and hang glider all appeared to have foreground substance with the jetpack looking the best in 3D. It felt like the flames were coming out of the screen at me. The metal curve of the jetpack had very convincing shaders making the thruster portion look circular. With the 3D slider turned off, both effects were lost and the visual impact of the jetpack was much less. With no 3D on, the jetpack looked flat and boring.

My favorite part about the 3D experience was as I was navigating the world, I tried my best to crash into everything I saw. There is important 3D feedback where as I dodged the side of a cliff, I could see the cliff "move" away as it would realistically in my peripheral vision almost.

I decided to test out what each eye could see by using the photograph reticule while flying straight. The left eye does seem the reticule shifted to the left while the right sees the reticule shifted slightly to the right. That's the beauty of stereoscopic 3D. For those prescription glasses users out there, I had no issue seeing the 3D while wearing my glasses. I also saw the same level of 3D visuals when I took my glasses off since I am only slightly near sighted.

The only downside of the 3D is your eyes may get "tired" or "annoyed" by looking at the simulated 3D for a while. I chalk it up to being more of the visual system freaking out since stereoscopic 3D technology is being used too fool an already stereoscopic visual system. I ended up playing around with all settings of the 3D slider and I would probably stay with 75% 3D effect. As mentioned by other previews, the user has to be in the sweet spot for the 3D to appear correctly. I moved my eyes to the sides of the screen and the visual effect was lost. Perhaps if I wasn't leaving the sweet spot so much, I could play games for hours with the full 3D effect.

PilotWings Resort Preview: A brief summary is to take PilotWings 64, add Miis and add more levels of difficulty.

I was only playing the Bronze level challenges so I wasn't able to see if the epic cannon and jump boot minigames had returned. There were multiple save slots ( about 5 or 6) which is an improvement over the 3 slot staple of current portable games. The title screen had the same intro music as the N64 PilotWings slightly changed yet still alluring.

Compared to that N64 version, the vehicle speed in PilotWings Resort feels slower even though at some points I was going 50 MPH on a hang glider for instance. The game is still very point driven and you can get bonus points for picking up the floating directional pellets on your way to the next target. Instead of having to restart the mission when crashing, the game will eject your Mii from the plane and reset you back in the air. A sad downgrade is the plane's cannon no longer fires rockets, it fires spaceship pew-pew sounding blue projectiles. Photo mode is still in the game where you can take up to 6 pictures per the mission and I guess save them, hopefully to an SD or internal storage.

At a retail price of $40, I personally would pass until it went down to about $30 or so since this isn't a AAA game in my book. Don't get me wrong because I love PilotWings 64 and this game is actually a really robust game for being a launch title. Just, I would prefer to buy Kid Icarus, Paper Mario or even Zelda. Ah Nintendo, you are really going to have to justify the $40 especially with the recent attack of full fledged mobile and touch gaming at sub $10 prices. Iwata, you better respect those "garage indie" developers; they are going to be a big part of your software developers when Miyamoto is no longer producing games.

Buy or Not?: I'm going to WAIT for now. The 3DS at $250 is not an instant buy for me. At launch the release games are uninteresting and I'm not prepared to spend $250 for the 3DS, $40 dollars for Ocarina of Time and tax just for that one game. The 3D graphics come really close to justifying the high price yet I can't shake the feeling 75% of the time people will have the slider set to 2D where the graphics so far can't touch the PSP. Also at $250, it's more expensive than the Wii and is almost approaching the next generation console price of $300. If the money is burning a hole in your pocket, you can't go wrong with this year's future software lineup.

* Images from Nintendo's PilotWings Resort Website

by BlueZero

With massive earthquakes in New Zealand and the very recent powerful 9.0 earthquake in Sendai Japan, it's very possible the world may end in 2011. I downloaded the MotorStorm: Apocalypse demo from the European PSN store to see how difficult racing during a major disaster would be. With the game being delayed, it seems everywhere except the US for obvious reasons, I figured I would see if it is worth buying when it releases April 12 2011 (if it is not delayed here). So without further adieu, let's bring down the city:

Background: I've played the original MotorStorm during the early days of the PS3's launch. The graphics, physics and intensity had instantly sold me and the races were brutally challenging online and off. The rubber band AI was beyond cheap and I still have a personal vendetta with the AI programmer making every vehicle on the track out to get me. With the sequel MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, I played the demo and was severely underwhelmed by the lack of new features aside from the obligatory split screen racing. So I completely passed on buying and playing the game because water and lava are only so-so as hooks.

Gameplay: I played through the MotorStorm Apocalypse demo level three times as the supercar and twice as the superbike. The game fundamentals are very similar to Pacific Rift with the boost being able to overheat faster when hit with fire and cool faster when driving through water. There are new buttons to ram attack left and right which work slightly differently depending if you are in a car or a motorbike. Ramming other cars to their death shows a popup ala Burnout which I liked but the effort to attack other cars isn't worth the boost required to do the attacks.

The supercar is supposed to be a counter to the overpowered rallycars/offroad vehicles. The supercar performance was great and it could take a beating. It felt generic to any racing game and I would say handled a lot better than a MotorStorm 1 rallycar since the supercar had better traction. I am really disappointed the crashes have less pieces flying off the vehicles compared to Motorstorm 1 and new game penalizes you for watching the crashes by not respawning the vehicle further ahead on the track based on time in the deathcam. Not much else to say about the supercar except I enjoy overboosting through the finish line to get 1st repeatedly.

There is supposed to be more danger with the superbike to balance its extra speed and mobility. The strangest touches against a wall can send it flying in random directions while some slow scraps result in instant death. I also had fun ram attacking an enemy supercar and slightly moving it to the left. Yeah, I doubt a 300 pound vehicle can grind a 1 ton vehicle off its path. I crashed so many times with the bike because I enjoy seeing the exaggerated Havok ragdoll physics. Even better was when other cars crashed into my shirtless man driver who almost continued the race in the back of a trunk.

A touted feature of this game is the ability for the environment to dynamically change based on the continued aftershocks and destruction around the city. In the second lap there were scripted moments where certain buildings and walls would be destroyed to open a new path. This felt very similar to how Split Second worked if any of you played that game. After playing the same level multiple times, it doesn't seem like the environment changed at all even though there is supposed to be permanence of destruction. I'll assume this will be possible in the single player races as you re-race the same courses.

It's also very unbelievable a MotorStorm race would take place in a city where fuel and resources are surely scarce. It's also unlikely there would be aftershocks/extra city damage for the days of the race. The environment also had a Burnout Paradise feel where it was difficult to believe people lived in this city.

Technical Mastery and Graphics: The loading in this game is much better only taking about 30 seconds compared with the eons of the original. I hope this is true for the retail game when it may or may not be installed to the PS3 harddrive. The framerate was very smooth and never dipped below my estimate of 30. The slowmo scripted environment destructions looked seamless unless you were doing random things like me and turning the camera sideways while driving. The rock avalanche spawned out of nowhere yet while speeding along looked natural.

Evolution Studios has greatly fixed their prior issues with anti aliasing. All edges looked crisp on my screen at 720p. Evolution also fixed the HDR from being in your face to being more subtle. The game itself also feels like the vehicles are moving faster compared to the crawl of the previous games. Also surprising was the people attacking the vehicles from the side of the track looked impressive for a racing game. Overall the visuals and game engine have been much improved and done their job.

Sound: The best sound is when you don't notice it at all. I did notice the supercar engines sound beefy, which is a great thing. Their RPM always feels like it is going higher even at max speed. Vehicle crash sounds are "meh" because the crunching metal doesn't make sense when the vehicle chassis is no longer taking major damage. Also the supercar crashes all sounded the same which really started to annoy me once I figured this out. The background music was exactly that, it set the mood without taking your attention out of the game.

In conclusion, destruction is always a good thing in video games. I'm not exactly sold on the game because I want to see the level of destructibility the game offers before I jump in. I doubt MotorStorm Apocalypse is going to sell well in Japan due to the tragic nature of the earthquake damage and its not Initial D or an RPG. Evolution Studios has definitely stepped up their game development prowess, hopefully gamers have stepped up their game too.

*Images from the Sony European and US Blog

by BlueZero

The gameplay demo starts stating this is actual footage from pre-alpha software. The background story states it is 2014 and the Coalition forces have teamed up with US Marines to provide stability on the Iraq and Iran border. Clearly the graphics are amazing as your character steps out of the APC. We get chatter from Marine Sergeant Henry "Black" Blackburn of the First Division ,and later get briefed by a field general near a map table.

The developers are clearly trying to compete with the Call of Duty franchise by making the single player game feel epic yet scripted. Notice the earthquake shaking inside the building which reminds me of Crysis' tremors. In this video, the HUD constantly tells you to "Follow" your squad leader to the next objective. Of course this is needed to trigger scripted events like doors being opened or the guy being sniped near the end of the trailer. The trailer briefly shows a quicktime event at about 1:50 where the player has to push "S" multiple times to drag the person to safety.

The gunplay feels directly lifted from prior FPS games with the player aiming down the ironsight while sneaking back into cover during his reload. Enemies of course never really do any damage to the main character since during these types of videos, game developers put the AI accuracy to something like 20% or make the player invincible. I had to chuckle to myself when a soldier yells "RPG" and the player takes cover next to a vehicle which gets hit by the RPG. If I tried to do this in the single player campaign, I doubt any of my squadmates could "revive" my incinerated chunks.

Well it's obvious I will be getting this game for PC when it comes out. I especially want to see Karkand, Wake Island and Gulf of Omar in their new destructible debut. If people are getting this Battlefield 3 for consoles, don't expect to get these beautiful graphics. No doubt DICE was running this gameplay on the highest level PC available. With the same 64 player multiplayer, servers and creative mods, the PC version will always be the definite version for fans who have been playing the series since Battlefield 1942.

by BlueZero

I'm going to keep my preview of Dragon Age 2 on PC short and sweet, just like the demo. I'm mostly just going to write my initial impressions of the game from a PC standpoint without comparing the game with its console brothers. Let me just throw out the truth that Dragon Age 2 is a different beast than Dragon Age 1. It makes many of the same radical changes Mass Effect 1 made in its sequel. Here's what I experienced:

Next the player is back in the earlier dwarf/woman conversation with the women disbelieving two people were so powerful. I really liked this part since in the olden days; storytellers always exaggerated heroes' strength and ability for the sake of a more exciting story. The dwarf relents he may be telling it wrong and begins again:

Part 2 of the Demo: For some reason at this point you get to customize your character's facial features, which are disabled in the demo. I went with the defaults since it wouldn't matter. Also interesting was the inventory system was also locked which made me collecting loot frivolous.

Anyway, my mage character is shown fleeing with her family away from a city overrun with baddies (which I must mention look like altered forms of Scorpion from Mortal Kombat without the signature yellow clothing). The dialogue wheel from Mass Effect has been implemented and there appears to be at least three different types of responses which change a character's like/dislike meter as the game progresses. My mage lays down the law by saying we need to move to avoid being killed. No matter the choice, the party must engage hostiles. The family has another female mage and a male warrior as well as a mother who stays out of combat.

Overall Impressions: I'm still not impressed with Dragon Age 2 even after they changed the game from a RPG to a direct combat system. I have problems remembering to right click enemies for basic attacks while needing to left click an enemy for special attacks. Why can't there be an option so all attacking is done by the same button? The demo didn't provide me with enough backstory so I really couldn't feel an emotional connection except for the Dragon Witch and Isabela who were both awesome. I'll say I enjoyed the demo but Dragon Age 2 played similarly to what I assume Dungeon Siege 3 will play. I will save my money and will guarantee I will be playing Mass Effect 3 instead when it comes out later this year around October/November/December.

by BlueZero

Controls: The controls are almost exactly the same as the original. There is the improved looking melee attack on R1 and the brutal looking stomp attack on R2. If aiming using L1, then R1 fires the gun, R2 is the alternate fire, triangle is the stasis ability and circle is the object telekinesis. L2 by itself is the run button and select once again brings up the menus which still appear in game real-time. For me, it took a minute to remember to use all the controls and they still work well.
I left the darkness settings at the default and the game appeared darker than I remember but it’s probably because I changed the settings in the past. The graphics were on par with the previous game yet the game style is more gruesome. The death scenes were visceral and when I lost to the mini boss in the demo (because I was using the slow reloading line-gun weapon), Issac lost his hand, his head and his torso. EA has done a great job making the player know Issac by having him appear with his helmet off when upgrading his suit and most enemies will take off his helmet so the player can feel moved at a human dying instead of a emotionless robotic suit.

New Features: A new feature was the ability to hack a console by slowly rotating the control stick to find the right point in a circle. Keeping the selector on the red part makes the time run faster. You have to select blue area which appears in a random area of the circle and press X. The first time I actually died when time ran out and it was unexpected. Perhaps if my health wasn’t critical, Issac could have taken the console overload. After selecting the blue areas 3 times, it rebooted the zero-gravity console.

The second new feature is the ability to navigate zero gravity in select areas without being forced to jet towards surfaces like the original. The demo has Issac press L3 to float slowly around the room and head vertically through a small seal lock and slow down a cooling fan. The zero-g navigation works well but there wasn’t any zero-g combat in the demo. I should have tried out the melee and kick buttons while floating to see if that is an option.

Enemies: The enemies were about the same as the first game. I don’t remember if the puker necromorph was in the original game but I liked its ability to attack from a projectile range. I was surprised when it launched its head at me and exploded on impact (don’t worry, the necromorph gained another head somehow). There were some small child looking enemies but their tenacity was diminished by using the stasis power. There is still the baby style kick but it looks like Issac’s football kick skills have weakened from his hallucinations.

I’ll probably wait to play the game on PC since I recently saw the first game running and it is much crisper than the PS3’s graphics. For people with only a PS3, this is still a solid demo and ran really well on the system. Discover Issac Clarke’s story when Dead Space 2 comes out really soon.

by BlueZero