The Select and Start News Report: 07.22.08
Posted by Vincent Chiucchi on 07.22.2008
E3 came and went and we've heard a lot from the big three, but what about everyone else? Check out the other press conferences that took place from third-party companies EA, Ubisoft, Konami, Activision Blizzard, and loads of videos.
Welcome to the E3 edition of the S&S News Report. This week with the big three covered extensively, this report will be focusing on the third-party companies that also held their conventions. This report is based on watching them from G4's website, so a big thank you to them for posting these conferences online.
THE EA CONFERENCE
With EA being the juggernaut that it is, we've got a variety of games covered here.
SimAnimals - It's basically The Sims but replaced with animals. This one is coming exclusively for the Wii and DS, so it's likely to be catering for the younger audience, especially with the adorableness of the animals and trying to be more simplistic compared to the The Sims or SimCity. The game should be arriving by early 2009.
The Sims 3 - Coming in 2009, he talks about how the characters are going to be more complex and each will have their own unique personality. The major change in this game is that where the last two games focused on your Sims around the house, this one is putting an emphasis on going around the neighborhood and interacting with other people. Looks to be a great follow-up to an already great series.
Dead Space - When I first heard about this being a Sci-Fi/Survival Horror title, I thought "Generic Crap." How exactly is this going to stand out and be different? First of all, there's no HUD, so you have to check everything from the holographic menu that pops up. This all takes place during in-game as opposed to pausing and checking your stuff like in Resident Evil, so I have a feeling this could lead to frantic item changing problems. We get gameplay footage with the guy fighting a tough looking enemy, and he's getting his ass kicked. Everything is dark so it's really hard to see the enemy sometimes. After running away and going up an elevator, he gets grabbed by this tentacle thing, escapes for just a brief second before being grabbed again and dragged to...well, we don't know, because that's where it ends. They look to have the horror part done right, but nothing screams "MUST HAVE!" about it yet.
Mirror's Edge - This game is a first-person action adventure title for the PS3, and I'm so glad there are more colors then brown and grey. Like Dead Space there is no HUD, but since they never brought up an inventory screen of sorts, I have no idea how exactly you keep track of your health. Everything is seen through the first-person perpective, so it might get dizzy at times. Some areas are painted in a certain color to indicate where you can go so you won't get lost so easily, which is good because considering you'll be jumping from building to building a lot, it's nice to know which places won't have you falling to your death. The game also features "reaction time" which slows down time so you can execute harder stunts like jumping off a building and grabbing a helicopter. The only weapon you have is your martial arts skills, so getting guns requires taking out an enemy and taking theirs, but EA says you can complete the game without ever firing a bullet (though that's going to look extremely hard). This looks like a lot of fun, so I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
Spore - It's been a VERY long wait, but Spore's release date of September 7th was confirmed once again and the game looks to be finally complete. Wright talks about how he loves combining science and creativity together, which is where the inspiration for the Spore brand came from. Wright also talks about how the Spore Creature Creator was a top downloaded title and that EA was expecting 100,000 creatures made in a few months and hopefully a million by the end of the year, and instead they reached 1 million in just a week. There are also more unique species in Spore then there is on Earth and cracks a joke about how it took players 18 days to do what God did in 7, hence Spore Fans are 38% God. They then show some creatures they've recieved, some looking like humans, characters like Wall-E and the Companion Cube, and even vehicles, which ironically EA plans to release an expansion of. What more can be said other then this game is going to sell like hotcakes?
NBA Live 09 - Usually I wouldn't give a damn about sports games, but NBA Live 09 is quite different from previous iterations of itself by having a new feature called "Dynamic DNA." What Dynamic DNA does is update the stats and behaviors of the players on a daily basis. The DNA breaks into three main areas: "Player tendencies" (what they'll likely do in a game), "Player DNA" (how well a player scores), and "Team DNA" (how well players get along with other and change their style). They only mention this for NBA Live, but I have a feeling EA is going to try this out for other sports games, so don't be surprised if Madden 2010 gets this feature as well. Personally, I would love to see something like this for a wrestling game.
The All-Play Titles - EA plans to release a slew of sports games meant for everybody on the Wii. Basically, it's a mode that breaks down a sports game to it's very basics, just like the Wii Sports games. Do we really need more casual sports games on the Wii? No wonder hardcore fans feel ignored.
Dragon Age: Origins - Greg Zeschuck of BioWare says that this game is going to be the spiritual successor to Balder's Gate. All we get is a cinema trailer, so not much to say about this game.
Left 4 Dead - A 4-player co-op game, it's basically like being in a zombie movie where you have to fight for survival and help your friends survive, or let them die if you (or your partners) just happen to be a dick. The game features a "Director AI", where the game changes every time you play it, and bases it mostly on how well you and your team is doing. The gameplay can get harder, the lighting and music can change, etc. We see two groups with this in action. The first group basically suck at the game, so the "director" makes the game relatively easy for them. They only kill a few zombies at a gas station and it looks LAME. The second group plays well together, so they get an even harder fight. They fight dozens of zombies at the same gas station, blood splurts out everywhere, the station explodes, and it looks COOL. So basically, the game is a reflection of how well you get good at it.
Rage - This game is part of the EA Parners program with id Software. We'll get a lot of details about the game at QuakeCon, and a trailer plays, but for some reason G4 decides to show the freaking AUDIENCE! Jeez, it was bad enough I couldn't see Final Fantasy XIII up close, but now this? Luckily GameTrailers has the trailer for us you can check out below.
THE UBISOFT CONFERENCE
Nearly all of the games at this conference were basically continuations of their existing franchises.
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party - It's a party game spin-off featuring the Rabbids from Rayman. We get a demo of the snowboarding game for the Wii, which is about going down a hill and performing tricks when going up a ramp. The game will also make use of the balance board. Coming out November for the Wii and DS.
Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway - It's an FPS war game. All we get is a trailer, it's coming in September, and we move on.
Tom Clancy's Endwar - Remember the game Lifeline for the PS2 where all the commands were done by speaking to the character, but it sucked because she never did what you were telling her to do? Ubisoft will attempt to be doing similar to that with their latest Tom Clancy game. You'll be giving voice commands to your units on what to do, such as moving tanks, bringing in troops, or opening fire on your opponents. A game with voice commands are usually hit or miss, so we'll have to wait and see if it all actually works.
Far Cry 2 - The sequel takes place in Africa (ZOMG RACISM!!11!). We get a trailer of the game which pretty much looks like your standard Far Cry game. The developers say they're going to use this game to reinvent the FPS. Gamers will be able to play the game the way they want as they wonder around 50 sq. km of Africa. When you save the game you set your alarm clock to whatever hour and the game skips to that time. During the gameplay demo the character takes out a map and compass to navigate his way through, and players will be able to add to the map based on what they find such as hidden snipers. He tries to take out the snipers but he's been busted, so he runs away, plants the dynamite, and gets out of there as he completes the objective.
Ubipetz and Imagine - These are meant for tween girls. So unless you're a tween girl or know any tween girls with a DS, you won't care about these games.
Ener-G - Turns out girls are really into sports, so these are the sports game for them. The Ener-G brand will be on the DS, featuring Adventure Riders (horse riding), Dance Squad and Gym Rockets.
Shaun White Snowboarding - It's like the Wii game Nintendo showed minus using the balance board. People on XBL can join your mountain, and you can throw snowballs at each other. You can also set up special challenges for you and your friends to compete in. Unless you're really into snowboarding or love the SSX games, you won't care much for this one.
Prince of Persia - The popular series is making it's debut on the next generation of consoles. After we get a trailer, we then get a demo where you'll still be playing as the Prince and newcomer Elika will be right behind you, thankfully not getting in the way and actually helping you make sure you get where you need to go. The game also ditches the linear gameplay and the story and game changes depending on how you play. The Prince and Elika fight a Hunter, and taking a lot of damage the Hunter runs away, so now the Prince and Elika must catch up to it. The Prince is about to be killed by a creature but Elika saves him and he starts to a previous point, so you don't have to worry about dieing and having to start all over again. They reach the Hunter again and this time defeat it. Game looks awesome and will likely not disappoint.
I Am Alive - A completely new title from Assassin's Creed creator Jade Raymond, the conference ends with this game where a city is in ruins and apparently water is now an extremely valuable source as a few guys are fighting the main character over it. All this happens just six days after something attacked the city. Those are the only details so far about this game.
THE KONAMI CONFERENCE
They're already having a great year with Metal Gear Solid 4, but what else do they have in store?
Metal Gear Online - A new expansion pack called the "Gene Expansion" has recently been released and is available for $15.88. This one features three new maps, two new characters (Meryl and Johnny), a new game mode called "Survival" and a new reward system. They also a World Tournament being held at the Tokyo Game Show and registration will take place at the San Diego Comic Con.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia - The latest in the 2D DS series. We get a gameplay trailer and it pretty much looks like the last two games. The game will come Fall 2008 and if you're a fan of the series, I doubt you'll be disappointed.
Castlevania: Judgment - This one comes exclusively to the Wii as a fighting...er, "3D Action Versus" game. We get a gameplay trailer featuring Simon, Dracula, Alucard, and Maria. The game really does look like a 3D action game because you move around freely and the camera changes angles rather then keeping everything in a 2D position. The characters show off their trademark attacks, including some over-the-top super moves. The story is that the Castlevania timeline, spanning over 1000 years, is getting destroyed by someone, so various Castlevania characters from all across the timeline are being brought together. The artwork is being done by Takeshi Obata (he did the really awesome Death Note manga). Only the four characters mentioned have been confirmed so far. We see the gameplay ourselves and get an explanation of the controls. The nunchuk is used for all the movements and the remote is for attacking. Shaking does basic attacks like using the whip, and this is actually why it's a 3D Act-Vs., because Igarashi didn't want people having to use the whip for nearly an hour straight. B button is for stronger attacks, and the A button uses the sub weapons like crosses and holy water. Holding the A button activates an item crush move. When your special guage is full, you can press the down button on the remote to unleash your super special. The environment has items you can throw and NPC's to help you out. Game looks really interesting, but I'm still skeptical about it. This one comes out Fall 2008.
Silent Hill Homecoming - The story here is a man named Alex looking for some kid named Josh, and Josh just happens to be in Silent Hill (or at least a place like SH). So guess who has to go there and survive his worst nightmares in order to get his son? After the trailer we get a look at the 5th mission of the game. Differences for this from the previous game include a free-range camera, using the havok physics, and a quick inventory system. There's also a first-person look when you're picking up items, and an in-game transition from normal world to the hell world. Alex comes across the mayor and starts talking to him, where now you can make dialouge choices and the characters are still moving (basically it's something like Mass Effect). After their conversation, the room starts changing and out comes the big nasty boss. The boss can be defeated in multiple ways. We don't see the boss completely defeated, so we'll have to get the game ourselves to find out what happens.
Rock Revolution - Konami's answer to Rock Band (and if that doesn't work, Konami is also suing Harmonix). To show a demo of the game we have The Sheenas, an all-female tribute band of The Ramones. First they play the song Blitzkrieg Bop with real instruments and then two people play the song in the game with a guitar and drums. They actually FAIL at playing the song in Rock Revolution. Considering this is where the Konami conference ends, that's just embarassing. I really have no interest in Rock Revolution now based on this. I think she was using the GH3 wireless controller, which I don't like because the buttons don't work sometimes.
THE NOT-REALLY-AT-E3 ACTIVISION BLIZZARD CONFERENCE
Despite leaving the ESA and not participating at E3, Activision Blizzard still held a conference close by. What does the newly formed company have to show this year?
Singularity - An FPS game where controlling time is the key. We get a trailer for the game which barely shows anything and that's it.
Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion - This one will feature 24 heroes and villains, and the characters can fuse their powers together. Again, just a trailer with barely anything shown.
X-Men Origins: Wolverine - This one is based on the Wolverine movie coming out soon. We only get a brief mention of this game instead of a trailer, so I have a feeling this is just license shlock.
Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen - Another brief mention. Can you say license shlock?
Call of Duty: World at War - We're going back to World War II, only this time it takes place in the Pacific. We get a trailer with the usual "I've seen many horrors" crap along iwth people dying left and right. 24's Kiefer Sutherland will be voice acting a major character. We now get a look at the 2-player co-op session of the Pacific campaign from two different consoles, with firefights breaking out in several different locations. Looks like a typical FPS game to me. If you don't know what to expect from a Call of Duty game by now, you probably don't care in the first place.
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows - We get a trailer with New York City in ruins because of the alien symbiote surrounding the entire place. In order to save the city, Spider-Man will either have to team up with other heroes or even his arch-enemies. We get gameplay footage of Spider-Man running up a building taking out the alien symbiotate along the way. He can change into his black suit and use different powers. After another speech we get footage of Spider-Man fighting The Vulture. A majority of this fight takes place in mid-air. At one point Hob Goblins(?) show up to help Vulture. The fight ends with something that looks like a cutscene rather then gameplay. Interesting take on the series, but it can still wind up being license shlock.
007: Quantum of Solace - We start with a movie trailer. Literally, it's for the movie rather then the game. The movie comes out November 7th. After the trailer we get a speech about the franchise and the relationship with Activision. The game will be built on the Call of Duty 4 engine. The game's story is based on both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. The game shown in a third-person perspective with Bond moving steathly, then switches to a first-person view once he takes out a guard. He throws an enemy off a balconey. Bond then walks across the side of the building, then opens fire on another enemy. The noise attracts other guards and now he's in an intense fight where he eventually gets killed. They cut to another part of the game where Bond apparently has to chase someone through the sewers while the place is collapsing. After all that we get another trailer, this time showing the game with the movie.
Wolfenstein - Oh those wacky Nazis are at it again, this time trying to open up another dimension called The Shroud, and BJ is back to stop them. All the major details will be coming at QuakeCon in a couple weeks, so here we get a short trailer and that's it.
Guitar Hero: World Tour - Neversoft's Brian Bright comes out to talk about stuff we pretty knew already. The Metallica album download will be for all three consoles and he says instruments that you have for the Xbox 360 will work for Guitar Hero. I think this only applies for Guitar Hero instruments though since he wasn't being very specific [Turns out Rock Band instruments will work for Guitar Hero]. He talks about how the guitar and drum controllers work, then he we get an audio demonstration of the drums hooked up to a real drum set. Out comes Travis Barker from Blink-182 to talk about the drums. After prasing the drums so much he now get a look of the recording studio where you can make songs in the game. You can use all kinds of different guitars and use "machines" that represnt other instruments like the keyboard. After you record your stuff, you go to GH Mix to refine everything. Once your song is complete you can use the GH Tunes service to share your songs with other people and have it get rated. Aside from returning characters you can make your own plus make your own guitar. Haley Williams, lead singer of Paramour, talks about the game for a bit and finally, we get an actual gameplay demonstration from The Neversoft Band with Van Halen's Hot For Teacher. The game looks a lot like Rock Band. These guys are DEFINITELY better then the people who performed at Konami's conference, and they're playing this on Expert. This game doesn't look all that bad, and now the conference is over.
Other E3 News
SQUARE-ENIX ON FINAL FANTASY XIII [credit: Destructoid, 1UP]
The one game pretty much everyone is talking about is the next iteration of Final Fantasy, which turns out will no longer be exclusive for the PS3. With so many questions just waiting to be asked about this, Square-Enix held a Q&A meeting focused around it.
Why Xbox 360? - Simply put, because the Xbox 360 is popular in the West.
Will it fit on a DVD/Number of discs - No clear cut answers about either.
Other Final Fantasies coming to X360 - No idea, as they've got their hands full as it is.
Game not coming to Japan - For some reason, Japan is not going to get this game on the Xbox 360. Seems Square-Enix recently decided to bring FF13 to Xbox 360 and have just started developing for the 360, so the PS3 version will be finished first and then it will be ported to the 360. An Xbox 360 release for Japan has not been completely ruled out though. Both versions are likely to be released simultaneously in other countries.
Exclusive content for Xbox 360 version - Not happening. Both games will be exactly the same.
Motion controls - None for either game.
Tools used for the game - They'll be using the Crystal Tools engine, which is also being used for FF13 Versus and their upcoming MMORPG. Last Remnant will use the Unreal Engine 3.
The game coming out for PC and Wii - Considering Crystal Tools uses the PC and can scale games down for the Wii, will FF13 appear on those platforms? They say it's not decided for now. I say it's DEFINITELY not happening.
On their website Bungie was counting down to a big announcement involving Halo they would have at E3, but the countdown was cut short when said announcement was suddenly cancelled by Microsoft. What happened? Bungie didn't give any exact reasons and speculation is going around that Microsoft didn't want Bungie's announcement to overshadow other games like Gears of War 2 or the Final Fantasy XIII reveal. It turns out that Microsoft's press conference was originally planned for two and a half hours(!) and it had to be cut to under one and a half, so Xbox senior VP Don Mattrick decided to leave out the Halo game.
I could sort of understand what Microsoft did. Would showing it really change anybody's opinion about it? Those that are into Halo will already like it and those not into Halo probably would have their mind changed. People are complaining that they should've cut the casual stuff like Lips or You're In The Movies. Face it; Casual gamers are worth oodles of money, and thus they get paid attention to. It isn't like Microsoft tried to completely ignore the hardcore gamer that Nintendo was claimed to have done.
VIDEOS GALORE!
Rage, the trailer G4 didn't want you to see:
Street Fighter IV: Super move montage
Tomb Raider: Underworld
Madworld, DeathWatch Trailer:
Sonic Unleashed:
Rock Band 2:
UFC 2009, Rampage Jackson vs. Forrest Griffin:
Borderlands:
And now the usual...
Gaming Calendar
July 22nd:
-Final Fantasy IV DS
-Izuna 2: The Unemployed Ninja Returns (DS)
July 29th - Soul Calibur IV (PS3, X360)
July 2008 - Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People (WII, PC)
August 1st - EA Land (PC, formerly The Sims Online) will close down
August 6th - Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 (XBLA)
August 25th - Mario Super Sluggers (Wii)
August 26th - Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice (PS3)
August 2008 - Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)
Summer 2008 - Air Traffic Chaos (DS)
September 2nd - Infinite Undiscovery (Xbox 360)
September 5th - FaceBreaker (X360, PS3)
September 7th - Spore (PC)
September 16th - Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen (DS)
September 22nd - Sim City Creator (Wii, DS)
September 23rd:
-Disgaea DS
-Rhapsody: A Musical Adventure (DS)
September 29th:
-Kirby Super Star Ultra (DS)
-Wario Land: Shake It! (Wii)
September 2008:
-TNA iMPACT (Multi)
-Rock Band 2 (Xbox 360)
October 3-5 - E for All 2008 to be held
October 9-13 - The Tokyo Game Show 2008 to be held
October 21st - Dead Space (X360)
October 2008:
-LittleBigPlanet (PS3)
-Bioshock ported to the PS3
-Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 (Xbox 360, PC)
-Fable II (X360)
November 4th - Left 4 Dead (PC, X360)
November 7th - Gears of War 2 (X360)
Fall 2008:
-Resistance: Fall of Man 2 (PS3)
-MySims Kingdom (DS, Wii)
March 13th 2009 - Resident Evil 5 (X360)
Oh what the...
Check out the cover of Nintendo Power about the latest Sonic game:
So first Sonic turns into a wolf and now this? Next thing you know Sonic's going to wear green and rescue Princess Amy from the evil Dr.Eggondorf.
Mega Man Marathon for charity
This came from an e-mail by Chuck Guarino:
Hello,
My name is Chuck Guarino. I am 19 years old, and live in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. This past Valentines Day my 3 year old cousin, Joshua, was diagnosed with Leukemia,, and due to this it is my intention to help other children affected with Juvenile Cancer by raising money for them. So, in honour of my cousin; my brother, my friends and myself, are organizing a marathon of megaman, where it is our intention to play 48 straight hours of these game, whilst pledging money to go towards to the Children's Cancer Foundation( http://www.childrenscancerfoundation.org/ ). I will be broadcasting the event on http://www.ustream.tv/ , and my homepage www.megamarathonman.com. My event will be talking place on August 29, 2008 at 3:00 Pm Central until August 31, 2008. So what I am asking is if you could say something about to help promote my event or if you can help sponsor my event anything would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You
So spread the word and donate.
I'm leaving...
For two weeks. My summer vacation is coming upon me, and that means I won't have much access to the internet, therefore I can't really do any news reports. I wonder if I can get someone to cover for me...
Mirror's Edge - This game is a first-person action adventure title for the PS3, and I'm so glad there are more colors then brown and grey. Like Dead Space there is no HUD, but since they never brought up an inventory screen of sorts, I have no idea how exactly you keep track of your health. Everything is seen through the first-person perpective, so it might get dizzy at times. Some areas are painted in a certain color to indicate where you can go so you won't get lost so easily, which is good because considering you'll be jumping from building to building a lot, it's nice to know which places won't have you falling to your death. The game also features "reaction time" which slows down time so you can execute harder stunts like jumping off a building and grabbing a helicopter. The only weapon you have is your martial arts skills, so getting guns requires taking out an enemy and taking theirs, but EA says you can complete the game without ever firing a bullet (though that's going to look extremely hard). This looks like a lot of fun, so I'll be keeping an eye on this one.
