Tag Archives: E3

E3 2011: Sony Press Conference

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The second big E3 press conference was hosted by the PlayStation makers. Again, here’s all the info in easy to digest bullet-point form.

  • President of Sony Computer Entertainment of America Jack Tretton started by addressing the elephant in the room. He apologized to everyone for the recent PlayStation Network outage.
  • Sony announced that the PS3 is the leading Netflix streamer amongst consumers, account for almost 30 percent of Netflix’s streams. Coming this fall to PS3 owners is Best Buy’s CinemaNow video service, providing consumers with access to more than 12,000 TV episodes and movies for rental or purchase.
  • Upcoming PS3 exclusives include: Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (a demo was played and a 3D trailer was shown, due out November 1, 2011); Resistance 3 (Sony will ship a Resistance 3 Sharpshooter bundle dubbed the “Doomsday Edition” and it’ll come with the game, the gun accessory, the PlayStation Eye, and Move controllers, $150, due out September 6); the God of War Origins Collection will bring the PSP games Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta to the PS3 remastered in HD and 3D; the Ico and Shadow of the Colossus collection is also coming to the PS3 with support for 3D gaming.
  • Speaking of 3D gaming, Sony plans to drive adoption for the new in-home format by selling a PlayStation-branded 3DTV. The 24-inch set features a mode where players can view individual, unique, full-screen images of gameplay when playing two-player games; the bundled set of 3D glasses do the trick. Other specs: LCD display, 1080p, 2D/3D support, high contrast (5000:1), wide viewing angle (176 degree) high response time (4ms GTG average), slim design, high quality sound, 2 HDMI ports. For $499.99 you get the 3DTV, Resistance 3, one pair of 3D glasses (PS-branded 3D glasses will sell separately for $69.99), and an HDMI cable. It’s a good idea, but question remains: is the lower barrier of entry low enough to get you to buy into 3D today?
  • Upcoming games to utilize Move include: NBA 2K12 (Kobe Bryant popped by for the demo); Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest (made by the devs who brought us the Move launch title Sports Champions); inFamous 2 (out now); deeper Move functionality is coming to LittleBigPlanet 2 this September; Starhawk; Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time (he’s back in 2012); Dust 514 (this PS3 exclusive releases spring 2012 and will extend to the NGP); BioShock Infinite (Irrational Games’ Ken Levine had to be convinced by Sony to incorporate Move support in this new title; though skeptical at first, Levine has found potential in it…he also announced that a new game set in the BioShock universe will release for the NGP some time in the future…and Infinite will come packed with the original BioShock); and Star Trek (will release next year alongside the J.J. Abrams sequel and will ship with a phaser-like accessory).
  • New games from EA will provide PS3 exclusive content: SSX (Mt. Fuji map), Need for Speed: The Run (exclusive cars), and Battlefield 3 (Battlefield 1943 comes on the disc).
  • Sony honcho Kaz Hirai also addressed the PSN outage and said, “We learned a lot during the recent outage of the PlayStation Network and one of the most important things we learned was the trust and loyalty of our customers.” On that higher note, he talked up the PlayStation Suite and PlayStation-certified Android devices.
  • And then the announcement we’ve all been waiting for…the NGP is officially called PlayStation Vita. Where does the name come from? Sony explains: “Derived from the Latin word “Vita,” which means “Life,” this next generation portable entertainment system enables a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context.” It ships this holiday season and two models will be offered: WiFi only for $249.99 and WiFi+3G for $299.99. Sony has partnered with AT&T for the 3G data (the crowd moaned in laughter when this news was announced). The following games will be coming to PS Vita likely as launch titles: Uncharted: Golden Abyss, LittleBigPlanet, Ruin, Wipeout, and ModNation Racers. Capcom previewed Street Fight X Tekken; the game will feature InFamous‘ Cole MacGrath as a playable character. For a more in-depth look at the PS Vita, click here!
  • Some DJ concluded the event with thumping beats.

Like Microsoft’s presser, I was left somewhat unsatisfied after watching Sony’s outing. They failed to excite me with a new franchise or by reinvigorating an old classic (though the return of Sly looks promising). PS Vita is an odd name for the PSP successor, but that won’t matter in the end if the content developed for it is good. And by the looks of it many developers are jumping on board to produce all kinds of fun, interactive experiences with the handheld’s OLED touch display, tilt functions, camera, and back touch pad. Here’s to hoping that Nintendo brings the goods tomorrow when they announce their new home console and new 3DS titles.

E3 2011: Microsoft Press Conference

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Today Microsoft kicked off E3 2011 at the Galen Center in Los Angeles. So many game trailers, demos, and Xbox Live and Dashboard updates to talk about. Ready, set, bullet points!

  • The press conference got started with a demo of Infinity Ward’s Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It is described as being “the biggest, most exciting and epic Call of Duty ever.” I can confidently back that statement up. MW3 downloadable content will be available first on Xbox 360. Due out November 8, 2011.
  • Crystal Dynamics showed off the Tomb Raider reboot. Lara Croft is getting down and dirty in this game that shares style and gameplay with Uncharted. The developers explained that the game reveals “how an ambitious 21-year-old Lara Croft becomes a hardened survivor.” Due out Fall 2012.
  • EA Sports president (and former Xbox honcho) Peter Moore announced that four sports games will support Kinect this year and they are Tiger Woods PGA Tour, Madden NFL, FIFA, and Mass Effect 3. ME3 utilizes Kinect with voice control. Kinect’s built-in mic will pick up your commands. RPG decisions and tactical team controls can be carried out by your voice. Due out March 6, 2012.
  • Next up was Ubisoft’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. This title will also feature Kinect support, but this time it’s hand and arm gestures in addition to voice control. You can create various weapons by exploding them into their small parts using Minority Report-style gestures. This demo really wowed the crowed. Voice commands like “optimize for long range” will also piece together a weapon for you. The weapon customization process with Kinect looks very fluid, fast, and super cool. Ubisoft announced that all future titles in the Tom Clancy franchise will support Kinect in some way or other.
  • The Dashboard is getting yet another facelift. Somehow Microsoft has made it cleaner and more streamlined. It was built from the ground up specifically with Kinect voice in mind. For example, saying “Xbox, music” will bring you directly to the Music section. The new UI contains the following sections: Home, Social, Live TV, Video, Games, Music, Apps, and Settings. That’s right–I said live TV. Microsoft is forging new partnerships to bring live television to Xbox LIVE in the US and around the world, adding to their current partnerships with Sky TV in the UK, Canal Plus in France, and FOXTEL in Australia. TV listings and a DVR manager will be accessible from the Dashboard. Also coming to Xbox is YouTube, UFC, and Bing search. UFC president Dana White came out to show off the interactive UFC content. You can call fights and compare results with your friends. “You say it, Xbox finds it” is the new Bing motto when it comes to searching for and discovering content on the console. “Xbox, Bing, X-Men” will prompt the console to bring up all games and videos (including movies and TV shows) related to your query.
  • The following upcoming games are Xbox 360 exclusives: Ice-T joined Epic Games’ Cliff Bleszinski for a demo of Gears of War 3 (due out September 20, 2011); Crytek’s Ryse will take advantage of Kinect as you violently slash your way past enemies in Rome; To celebrate Halo’s 10 year anniversary a remastered version of the original game will release November 15, 2011 and it’s called Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary (co-op over Xbox Live and classic multiplayer maps included); Turn 10 Studio’s Forza Motorsport 4 releases October 11, 2011 with Top Gear content and Kinect support for voice and headtracking; Head of Lionhead Studios Peter Molyneux hopped on stage to reveal the next Fable subtitled The Journey (this game too will come packed with heavy support for Kinect, due out in 2012); Minecraft is coming to support Kinect this winter; other exclusives include Kinect-based kids games Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster, and Kinect Star Wars.
  • Microsoft’s bearded man with designer shades Kudo Tsunoda came out to show off the latest updates of his pet project the Kinect. He announced that Kinect Fun Labs is a permanent addition to the Xbox Live Dashboard and it will serve as a portal for the developer community to share their latest Kinect innovations. Three Labs games were shown off. Kinect Me will capture your face and clothing to create an avatar that looks just like you; in Kinect Sparkler you make poses for the camera, it captures them, and then you can use your fingers to draw sparkling lines of light in the image in three dimensions (you can manipulate the image to make it appear as if it contains two layers); Kinect Googly Eyes allows you to scan real-life tangible objects using Kinect and them manipulate their actions on-screen (at the conference a plush toy was scanned without issue). Kinect Fun Labs is accessible today to all Xbox Live members.
  • More Kinect games coming to Xbox include: Kinect Sports Season 2 (baseball, skiing, golf, darts, tennis, football); Dance Central 2 (which now features a campaign mode, voice controls, and a revamped Break it Down mode, and simultaneous multiplayer dancing…plus all songs from the original an be imported into the sequel).
  • And then came the “dawn of a new trilogy for Xbox 360″…it’s Halo 4! A brief teaser trailer was played. Master Chief returns Holiday 2012.

And that was the Microsoft press conference. Though most of the game trailer and demos were stimulating, the overall presentation was lacking in explosive, heart-stopping content. The Dashboard update is nice, the Xbox exclusives are impressive, and the push for Kinect is full speed ahead. It will certainly be interesting to see developers make new and exciting uses of the Kinect peripheral; Microsoft seems to be goading developers into incorporating it into their games somehow. Voice control seems overly gimmicking, but at least new approaches are being made to interactivity. And I gotta say, ending the event with a tease at the birth of a new Halo trilogy was a nice touch.

I attended the press conference this morning, so make sure you check out the pictures I snapped in the gallery below!

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Farewell, E3 2010

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And just like that E3 2010 has come to a close.  Oh, was it a wonderful three days of gaming.  Things kicked off with Microsoft’s bizarre “Project Natal for Xbox 360 Experience” Cirque du Soleil event where we learned Natal’s true name, Kinect.  The Big Three’s press conferences proved to be eventful and packed with awesome new games.  Microsoft showed off exciting trailers and demos for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Metal Gear: Rising, Gears of War 3, Halo: Reach, and Fable III.  Kinect was finally detailed at length, and we got a sneak peek at the Kinect Hub and many of the casual launch titles including Kinect Adventures!, Kinect Sports, Kinect Joy Ride, Kinectimals, Dance Central, and Your Shape: Fitness Evolved.  Sports fanatics were happy to hear news that ESPN content is coming to Xbox Live.  And to conclude the conference Microsoft unvield a refreshed Xbox 360 model that features a sleek, black finish and “whisper quiet” internals.  Nintendo harnessed the power of nostalgia to excite the long-time fanboys (and girls).  Appearences by The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, GoldenEye 007, Kirby’s Epic Yarn Metroid: Other M, and Donkey Kong Country Returns did not dissappoint.  Before Nintendo’s conference could come to a close the Nintendo 3DS was officially unveiled.  3D glasses are not required to experience the 3D effect and Kid Icarus: Uprising is a launch title; I want one.  Sony’s press conference pushed for 3D gaming with an impressive demo of Killzone 3 in 3D (glasses (unfortunately) required).  Sony’s turn at motion-based gaming with PlayStation Move was demoed and titles like Sorcery and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 utilized the new controllers well.  The introduction of PlayStation Plus (Sony’s subscription based online gaming service), a fantastic trailer for Portal 2, and demos of LittleBigPlanet 2 and Twisted Metal rounded out the conference.  All in all, the Big Three were successful in making gamers ’round the world happy with their upcoming offereings.

After the press conferences ended, the show floor exploded open with hundreds of game demos.  Fortunately almost every booth was filled with knowledgable game developers who were kind enough to speak with me about their creations.  Games like The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Donkey Kong Country Returns, SOCOM 4, Fable III, the Kinect games, Super Scribblenauts, Tron: Evolution, and the OnLive service impressed me to no end.  But there’s one game that stands out the most.  My favorite game of E3 2010 is Epic Mickey.  The various types of gameplay, visual style, and controls made for an extremely fun and rewarding experience.  I can’t wait for it to release on the Wii this holiday season.

To sum up E3 2010 in so many words–motion-controlled gaming (w/ Kinect & PS Move), 3D gaming (w/ PS3 & 3DS), and fantastic titles (that are both classic and new).  I had such a great time attending this event for the very first time, and I hope you found my extensive coverage to be interesting, informing, and engaging.  I look forward to attending next year’s show and I already have plans to make my coverage even more exciting and comprehensive!  I’d like to give a huge thank you to Regina Durkan and Talia Chriqui for their help on the show floor and behind the scenes.

If there’s any E3 content you missed or like to read/watch again, take a look at the links below.  Or you can always click the “[experience-it-all] at E3” coverage button that’s located at the top right-hand corner of the home page.

Pre- E3

[experience-it-all] @ E3 2010
E3 2010: What to expect
Preview: Project Natal for Xbox 360 Experience

 

Pre- show floor

Day Zero: Project Natal for Xbox 360 Experience
E3 2010: We’ve arrived
Microsoft press conference highlights: Kinect, ESPN, Xbox slim
Nintendo press conference highlights: Nintendo classics make a comeback, plus 3DS handheld
Sony press conference highlights: Move, 3D gaming, PS Plus, Portal 2

 

Hands-on

Hands-on: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Hands-on: Nintendo 3DS
Booth tour: Nintendo (plus hands-on)
Hands-on: Kinectimals
Hands-on: Joy Ride
Hands-on: Kinect Adventures! & Kinect Sports

 

Interview + hands-on

Interview + hands-on: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Interview + hands-on: SOCOM 4 (w/ PlayStation Move)
Interview + hands-on: TV Superstars (w/ PlayStation Move)
Interview + hands-on: The Fight: Lights Out (w/ PlayStation Move)
Interview + hands-on: Fable III
Interview + hands-on: Super Scribblenauts
Interview + hands-on: Epic Mickey
Interview + hands-on: Tron: Evolution
Interview + hands-on: OnLive

 

Booth tours

Booth tours: Capcom & Sony Online Entertainment
Booth tours: 2K, Konami & Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Booth tours: Square Enix, Ubisoft & Disney Interactive Studios
Booth tours: Sega, THQ & EA
Booth tours: Microsoft & Sony
Booth tours: MTV Games/Harmonix
 

Booth tours: Microsoft & Sony

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And that marks the end of the interview + hands-on content.  Now it’s time for the booth tours!  On the last day of E3 2010 I decided to hit record on my camcorder and capture the highlights of almost every booth on the show floor.  I did it so you can get a real sense of how each booth was set up and what it all looked like from the perspective of an attendee.  Sure E3 is all about the games, but game studios put a ton of effort into making extravagant booths to attract those in attendance; the booths (and requisite booth babes) play a big part in making E3, well, what it has come to be.  No, there’s nothing like actually being there and speaking with all the developers and playing all the games.  But the following videos and pictures will bring you pretty darn close to the action.

Here’s how the booth tour posts are set up.  You’ll find an embedded YouTube video at the top; this video will contain 2-3 booth tours.  Below you will see various picture galleries separated by company.  Next to each company’s name I hand-picked the most popular games featured at that booth.  And that’s it, really.  So go ahead and dive into this first one here–it’s Microsoft and Sony, two of the biggest booths on campus.

Microsoft: Kinect games, Fable III, Crackdown 2, Halo: Reach, Gears of War 3

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Sony: PlayStation Move games, SOCOM 4, LittleBigPlanet 2, Twisted Metal, Killzone 3

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Booth tours: Sega, THQ & EA

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Sega: Sonic Colors, Sonic Free Riders, Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode I, Conduit 2, Vanquish

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THQ: The Last Airbender: The Videogame, Homefront, Warhammer 40000: Dark Millennium Online, UFC Undisputed 2010

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EA: EA Sports, Medal of Honor, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit, The Sims 3

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Booth tours: Square Enix, Ubisoft & Disney Interactive Studios

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Square Enix: Final Fantasy XIV Online, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light

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Ubisoft: Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Shawn White Skateboarding, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

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Disney Interactive Studios: Epic Mickey, Tron: Legacy

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Booth tours: 2K, Konami & Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

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2K: Bioshock, Mafia II, Carnival Games

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Konami: Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker, N3 II: Ninety-Nine Nights, Saw II: Flesh & Blood, Def Jam Rapstar

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Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment: LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4, The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest, LOTR: War in the North, Mortal Kombat

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Booth tours: MTV Games/Harmonix

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Somehow the video footage from the MTV Games/Harmonix booth got lost in the archives…but I have pictures to put in its place!

The layout of the MTV Games/Harmonix was pretty straightforward.  The bulk of it was filled with the current Rock Band titles and they include The Beatles: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band, and Rock Band 3; a section of the booth contained Dance Central stations (that’s the Kinect-enabled dance party game).  Speaking of RB 3, the brand spankin’ new keyboard was playable at the booth.  It’s a very solid piece of hardware and a welcome addition to the guitar, drums, and mics.  The new Rock Band Pro guitars, including the Fender Mustang and six-string Fender Squier Stratocaster, were on display.  Man are they beautiful, and they look so real (in fact, the latter one is real)!  But don’t take my word for it; look in the gallery to see for yourself.

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Interview + hands-on: OnLive

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OnLive is a gaming on-demand cloud-based service that’s able to stream video game titles from massive servers around the U.S. straight into your home.  Man is that a packed sentence.  Let me break it down for you.  OnLive has three data centers in the country (east coast, central, and west coast) that house large servers; these servers act as hosts to a bunch of video games.  If you sign up for the OnLive service and become a member of the community, the servers will pump video game content from the data center nearest you to your Internet-enabled PC or Mac.  Again, it’s essentially gaming on-demand.  After installing a plugin in your browser, you can launch OnLive and gain access to a growing library of video game titles.  It’s that simple, really.

The OnLive interface is neat.  There’s a game marketplace that allows you to choose from a wide selection of games.  With a single click you can play a game; or you can find out more about the game before you dive in by watching game previews & trailers.  You can even watch other OnLive members play the selected game in real time.  The interface drags you into the action of other players, and this is a great way to get a glimpse of a game’s visuals and game style.  Besides strictly being there for on-demand gaming, the service hopes to form a community of gamers with features like profiles, friends lists, and brag clips (you can record gameplay and share these moments with other OnLive members).

What’s most exciting about the OnLive service is that it does away with the need for over-the-top and expensive hardware requirements for games.  Crysis, a game that is known to be hardware intensive, will play smoothly and look great playing off an old Macbook or PC laptop.  The secret formula is OnLive’s proprietary video compression chips that pump out the games from the servers over the Internet and to your computer.  As long as you have a 4-5 Mbps Internet connection you will have no problem playing what used to be hardware intensive games in HD (a 1.5 Mbps connection is recommended for SD quality).  I really want to hit this point home as well: Since this is gaming on-demand, the service brings together games from all major game consoles (Xbox, PlayStation, PC) and enables you to play them right on your PC or Mac.  No need for proprietary hardware and cables.  All you need is an Internet connection, a computer, and a keyboard and/or Xbox-type USB controller.

There’s gotta be some lag, you’re thinking to yourself.  I was skeptical at first, too.  But I gotta say, after playing Just Cause 2 off an old Macbook over the OnLive service, I did not notice the slightest bit of latency between my controller button-mashing and the on-screen action.  It truly felt as if I was playing the game locally off a computer or video games console.  And what’s fascinating is that Just Cause 2 was running off a server more than 500 miles away in Santa Clara!  Though there likely is some latency if you want to get all technical, I honestly did not pick up on it during my brief session of gameplay.  I was told that as long as you are within a 1000 mile radius of an OnLive data center you should not experience noticeable latency.

Now let’s talk pricing and availability.  OnLive is available to use today (in fact it was turned on a day after my interview took place).  You sign up for the service at their website.  The “OnLive Founding Members Program” is backed by AT&T and it offers the first year of use for free (!), followed by a $4.95/month fee for the second year.  There’s no contract requirement which means if there’s a month you don’t feel like using the service just don’t for it that month.  Right now it looks like the company is slowly opening the gates to the OnLive community; if you want to sign up to play you have to sit on a waiting list.  Bummer, I know, but the service is still in its infancy and I’m sure the company does not want to overload its servers this early in the game.

And what about software partners?  You will not be disappointed on this front.  Just announced was partnerships with Sega, Capcom, Konami, and Square Enix.  Popular publishers like EA, Ubisoft, THQ, Warner Bros. Interactive, and Disney Interactive are also bringing their titles to the service as well.  I’m told new publishers are jumping on the OnLive bandwagon all the time, and this is great news for gamers.

Beside the addition of developer support, OnLive will be adding their MicroConsole to the mix later this year.  Basically it’s a small (and I’m told inexpensive) piece of hardware that will allow members to play the streaming games on their HDTVs.  It will support up to four wireless controllers, multiple Bluetooth headsets, and it packs two USB ports for wired controllers and keyboards.

Is OnLive the future of gaming?  Though it’s too early to tell, you can definitely see the potential it brings to the table.  With OnLive there’s no need for high-end graphics cards and to run to a store to purchase a game disc.  No longer do you have to worry about upgrading hardware to play the latest and greatest games.  If you’ve got the proper Internet connection and live within range of a data center, you are golden.  I’ve experience it with my own two eyes and thumbs–the latency was non-existent on the show floor.  Though my skepticism has been lowered down a notch, I’m still going to wait for a final verdict after I give the service a try on my own computer at home.  Even if OnLive doesn’t catch on and become widely popular, replace game consoles and eliminate the graphics cards arms race, you can bet everyone from industry leaders to gamers will turn to this service as an example of how the next phase of video game distribution was imagined and first put into place.

Interview + hands-on: Tron: Evolution

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Game: Tron: Evolution

Developer: Propaganda Games

Release date: Holiday 2010

Tron is back, people.  Coming soon to a theatre and video game console near you are all new experiences from the famed Tron universe.  Tron: Evolution bridges the gap between the original Tron movie (1982) and the upcoming Tron: Legacy flick set to hit theatres later this year on December 17.  In the game you play as a system monitor who investigates “mysterious goings-on” that’s happening in the digital Tron universe.  The controls are best described by comparing them to Mirror’s Edge gameplay.  You are a parkour champion and you move through the levels by completing wall jumps, among other high-flying, fast and fluid techniques.  These are known as “mobility moves”.  In combination with “combat moves” you will successfully defeat incoming enemies and move on through the game.  Combat moves include typical melee fight style with punching and kicking, but you can also climb a wall and pounce your enemies from above.  You wield a disc that can be thrown at top speeds towards enemies to knock them out.  And if you have a few seconds to spare you can charge up your attacks and this results in a more powerful and effective combat move.  In the demo above you can see all the different types of combo moves you can perform (there’s disc-disc-melee, jump-jump-disc, disc-jump-melee, and so on).  Another neat gameplay features involves how you pick up health.  Through the various environments there are glowing white lines that run along the walls.  You can jump and vault along these lines to increase your health and energy meters.  This encourages you to use mobility moves and always be aware of your surroundings.

And this wouldn’t be a Tron game without the use of Light Cycles.  In the demo I hopped onto a Light Cycle and was being hunted down by enemies on their respective Cycles.  These Cycles beat out the ones played in the original Tron arcade game; thanks to a full physics model the vehicles don’t just turn at 90 degree angles.  Controls to accelerate and brake are simple.  You can also throw your discs to hit enemies off their rides as you speed past them.  This part of them demo was quite fun.  As you’re trying to escape from your enemies the world is falling apart and collapsing around you.  It’s you vs. the enemies vs. the environment.  The only fault I have with the Cycles is that they’re not fast enough.  If the devs bump up the speed this part of the game will be a whole lot more exhilarating.

A couple other odds and ends: Whatever you earn in the game can be used when you switch over to multiplayer, and vise-versa.  When I asked about PlayStation Move support I was told “there’s still some issues to be resolved in that department.”  We all know the movie will release in 3D, but what about that game?  The dev I spoke to said “it would be fantastic if we could get the game in 3D” and he seemed a whole more positive about 3D support than Move capability.  So we shall wait and see…

Overall Tron: Evolution is panning out to be one of the better game to movie to game adaptations I’ve seen in some time.  The visuals are slick, the gameplay is fluid, and story should excite Tron fans to no end.  Look for its release to coincide with the movie later this year.

Interview + hands-on: Epic Mickey

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Game: Epic Mickey

Developer: Junction Point Studios

Release date: Holiday 2010

A while back I reported on a new Wii title called Epic Mickey.  After playing the expansive demo at E3 I am so happy to report back that Epic Mickey is everything I hoped it would be.  In fact, it was my favorite game of the show!  The visuals, the controls, the characters, and the environments all blend together to make an exciting Disney experience with our good pal Mickey Mouse at the helm.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what type of game Epic Mickey really is.  It takes cues from platformers, role-playing games, and third-person shooters, even.  It meshes 2D and 3D gaming to produce stunning color and black/white visuals that stem from classic Disney history.  The first part of the demo took us to Wasteland, a place where old, washed up, and forgotten Disney characters hang out.  Characters like the pirates Smee from Peter Pan and Scurvy Pat are there to give you tasks to perform.  In a beautiful cut scene that features 2D paper animation, Smee is crying because all of the pirates are being turned into robot monsters.  It is up to Mickey to save the pirates from their demise.  At the Wasteland I was instructed by Tiki Sam (he looks sort of like Goofy) to find three masks that are hidden throughout the area.  There is a lot of trading and bartering that goes on between all these different characters; one decision leads to another and this all eventually lands Mickey in the appropriate situation to help stop the machine from destroying the pirates.  Your decisions to either help or ignore the characters around you will affect the outcome of the game.

The game is split into three different areas: quests, transitions, and actions.  Wasteland is a quest area; it’s a place where interact with other characters to complete certain tasks.  Transition areas take place in-between quest and action areas and they usually contain special items and collectibles that will help Mickey elsewhere in the game.  The transition area I jumped into was a movie reel and it transported me to a 2.5D sidescroller based on Mickey’s first appearance in 1928’s Steamboat Willy black-and-white cartoon.  There are about 40 of these sidescrolling adventures in the game; they are all based on classic Disney cartoons.  Playing through Steamboat Willy was a ton of fun.  I am really looking forward to discovering all the other transition areas in the game.  There’s nothing like classic Disney lore.

At the end of the Steamboat Willy level I jumped into another movie reel that brought me to a new area in the game called Skull Island.  This is an action area where Mickey will run into enemies to defeat and conquer and it’s the place where I’ll find a way to stop the machine from turning the pirates into robots.  My first mission is to find three anchors to save Smee’s ship from sinking into the ocean.  There’s no better time to talk about controls then right now.  In the game Mickey wields a magic paintbrush.  Paint is used to create objects in the environment.  If you stumble upon an area and you’re stuck, more than likely a spray of paint will reveal a bridge that connects the gap to crossover.  Paint thinner is used to destroy objects around you.  It can also be a helpful tool to find hidden objects that reside inside rocks or trees.  Throughout the game there are clues guised under dark silhouette shapes; if you keep your eyes open for these subtle hints you can use your brush to uncover what’s there.  When it comes to enemy interaction you have one of two options.  You can use paint thinner to erase them or paint to strategically turn them into friendlies who will fight for you.  Mickey can also collect objects called “sketches”.  In the demo I picked up a TV sketch; at one point during the Skull Island sequence the TV sketch was used to distract an enemy.  Mickey literally places a TV in front of an enemy and while he was distracted by a scene from the original Steamboat Willy cartoon I picked up a missing anchor piece.  Humorous, fun, and effective.

At its core, Epic Mickey is a true-to-form roleplaying game where your decisions will effect the way other in-game characters perceive you.  If you use paint thinner to erase elements from the environment around you more than you use paint to create, characters will take notice.  In this case, they will be less friendly and willing to help you solve missions.  In fact, a little green sprite named Terp follows you around and lets you know what type of “play style” you’re currently engaged in (too much thinner or paint or a mix of both).  And since your decisions alter the game, you can literally play through it numerous way and every time will play out differently.  With intuitive controls, an engaging story with fun and challenging missions, and spectacular visuals, expect Epic Mickey to take over your living room when it release this holiday season exclusivel for Wii.  The game truly is a sight to behold.  And and if you’re a fan of Walt Disney creations you will certainly not be disappointed.

Interview + hands-on: Super Scribblenauts

[experience-it-all], Technology, Video, , , , , , , , , ,

Game: Super Scribblenauts

Developer: 5th Cell

Release date: October 2010

The concept of the original Scribblenauts that debuted at E3 2009 really blew my mind.  It was a game that allowed you to type whatever you wanted and poof! the object would appear on-screen ready to be interacted with.  Due to a number of control issues the game did not successfully execute where it should have.  Super Scribblenauts leaps ahead of its predecessor with improved controls, adjectives support, and better levels.  The most exciting controls update allows you to manipulate Maxwell’s position (including walking and jumping) on-screen with the D-pad and action buttons; you are no longer forced to use the stylus and touchscreen to make him move.  The addition of adjectives greatly increases the number of objects that can be spawned into the world.  In the first game you could easily produce a “pogo stick”.  In the sequel you now spawn an “angry armed metal pogo stick.”  (That’s right–you can assign more than one adjective to an object.)  As you can see in the demo above, the angry pogo stick will annoy and bump into you.  By adding a “protective metal box” to the environment, it will protect you from the pogo stick.  So in other words, objects can enhanced with artificial intelligence by adding an adjective before its name.  With the addition of thousands of adjectives, the game now supports over a whopping trillion different objects you can spawn.  The only restrictions you have in spawning an object are inappropriate words and the 100 character limit.

With over 120 new puzzle-oriented levels to play through, tighter controls, and the ability to make all kinds of objects with adjectives, Super Scribblenauts will likely fulfill that promise of bringing unique gameplay on a portable platform when it releases later this fall for Nintendo DS.