E3 2008 – KillZone 2, is it Delivering?

The drama behind this game won’t stop.  Actually its nothing like the drama behind the fanboy reaction to Final Fantasy going to XBOX 360.  In particular, we’re referring to that dreaded trailer from way back when, that set a standard so high for Guerrilla.  I wonder how they felt about that after making it? Echoed thoughts of “can we do this” is all I can imagine them thinking.

At the end of the day, this game, like Halo, is just another FPS that is trying to stand above a pile of other FPSs.  Those of us who got to see it live feel like the game is looking almost as good as the promised bench mark trailer from 2006.  What I find funny about the hype behind KillZone, is that people are solely basing its success on its visual appeal.  Guerrilla has yet to provide any development diaries, or detailed information, about the gameplay elements for KILLZONE 2.  Still, all the destructible environments (you’ve seen it before, maybe since BLACK), giant machine guns, crazed enemy AI, and other bells and whistles, are always fun to look at.

E3 2008 – Far Cry 2

Check out the Far Cry 2 trailer for PC/360/PS3. The ultimate sand box game can’t be out sooner. Don’t forget that the developers decided not to release a demo for this game (perahps something will hit the internet for the PC).  Boo! I love this little presentation for the game though, is that Djimon Hounsou I hear giving a synopsis?

It’s 50¢ mutha F@#$*^

Here we have the the sequel to 50 Cent: Bulletproof. In this new game, the second player’s character can be at least one of two other members of the G-Unit Clan: Tony Yayo, Lloyd Banks or their DJ, DJ Whoo Kid.

Each character specializes in different combat techniques and skills. It’s still unknown if the former G-Unit rapper, Young Buck or any other G-Unit Records members for that mater, will be featured. The game will include vehicle missions such as a driver-and-turret-gunner for the Humvee road chase and a helicopter-borne shootout. In addition, the game will have more exclusive music than the first and 50 Cent will make an exclusive track for the game.

E3 2008 – Singularity

Games like these tend to get over looked during E3. I didnt’ even know there was a new Kirby game out until recently but that’s okay.  With the fray of the ignored is a yet another first person shooter; Sorry, I can’t make it any more exciting than that. I can almost hear you go, “not another FPS”. Anyways, Singularity falls into the vein of time control. 

Coming along for the development ride is Raven Software, the guys that worked on Soldier of Fortune.  Ever since TimeShift, I’ve been concerned about the application of time control, and time travel within First Person Shooters. It would seem that your character is either too weak, too powerful, or has no power at all.  What’s worse are the weak stories that accompany some games that approach this idea.  Don’t get me wrong, TimeSplitters, in all its simplicity did a great job, and so did Orcania of Time.  We’ll give it a chance though, hoping that it delivers.

E3 2008 – Street Fighter IV … Parry?

Perhaps not the parry proper, but a descent evolution of it. We all wondered what those tech moves where when we first got a glimpse of it back way back when the first trailer for this game aired.

It’s actually interesting to see how this will play out in battles. Unlike before, when you parried a moved, you were stuck in your characters animation stance for half a second or two. Now, in SFIV, this is a lot of time, you can capitalize on that loss time. Here in this new trailer you see that your character takes the damage, and moves on to deliver his/her blow tot he opposing character.

This is nothing new if you’ve been following fighting games for a while, but the above video shows how the idea for the new system (Revenge) should workout during battles.

E3 2008 Day 2 – Sony Perspective

About 8 Minutes. That’s not how long it takes to get to the center of a tootsie roll pop, but how long it took Jeff T. to get to the good stuff at Sony’s Conference today at E3.  After a quick history on PS1, PS2, and the PS3 life story, the talk on “genre defining kick ass games” begun.  Cheesy, yes, true, perhaps.

J.T pointed out that this year is the Software Year for PS3, and that the game system has over 75 titles, exclusive to the PS3.  Can you name them all?  Most likely, if you’re not absorbed in the system as myself you probably couldn’t, and personally neither can I.  Everyone has a specific, or unique list that’s on their radar, and not everything can expose themselves to genre defining, art, or casual games and actually like it. It’s a fact, not of all you like Flow.

But I’m sure you know about Resistance 2.  Visually the the game didn’t look like what I expected (on my computer screen) but then again that 300 ft beast in the Conference show made the Bru-mac that I fought on Gears of War look like a chimp.  But everyone seemed more interested in seeing more about LittleBigPlanet.  So, Sony decided to incorporate the game into its Sony E3 2008 Power Point Presentation.  This shows how creative you can get with LBP later this year.

Sony still plans on supporting the PS2 with games all out through this year and beyond it would seem.  Another surprise was the continuation of the Ratchet and Clank Future saga.  If you’re a fan of Tools of Destruction, this new story will continue right after Clank’s disappearance in the first game. The sub title is a little questionable though. I mean, Quest for Booty, c’mon guys!

PSN is perhaps where Sony is seriously shining and really striving for that Quality over Quality definition of their network (that’s intentional).  JT pointed out that they “are not striving to have the most games on” PSN but instead provide content that drives innovation for more innovative content.  A thing that they need to do even more.  Yet, with titles like LBP, Pixel Junk Eden, Flower, Fat Princess, R&C, Siren Blood Curse, and a few exclusives don’ always appeal to the masses.  Sometimes gamers will stay in a rut for the same ol’ same ol’ for years, and then all of a sudden will just drop a genre all together. Whichever came first though, consumer request and motivation, or Sonys desire to stand out, the driving factor for PSN is begining to show.

What about that Home Quota JT? We all know how slow Sony is on delivering a promise … on time.  Not much was shown and once again I was a little disappointed about that.  It was interesting to see that you could theme your pad on Home based on certain key titles.

Eric D from PlayStation.Blog pointed out during his live demo the new Video feature section due for PSN soon.  At Video PSN, you’ll be able to browse its content partners page to download movies in SD/HD which can either be bought or rented (perhaps an option available for those with limited space on there HD.  Movies can be watched after they begin downloading, a feature already available for trailers on the PSN site.  That’s cool, so it implies that they embracing the idea of download content.  Perhaps I should warn my friend who works at Hollywood video, that she should get a better job sooner.

I’m sure there will be a time when this feature will be so popular with consoles, and other IPs, but not everyone has access to that stuff.  My main concern is that the bandwidth connection in the US blows compared to certain countries in Europe and the far east.  Most consumers/gamers will not be able to enjoy this luxury for a while.

There are several new special packs coming out for PSP, most notably the Silver PSP with Ratchet and Clank, one UMD Movie and more.  In addition, a portable version of Resistance was also announced.  Okay, that one came out of no where but it actually looked descent.  One difference though is that the camera sits over your shoulder as opposed to over the hand.  Yet, all the sequels you want, like LocoRoco 2, PataPon 2, Force Unleashed (which looked amazing), Buzz, and others were shown.

Hey, you remember Jim Lee? Yea, the guy who did XMEN way back in the early ninties, and later moved to DC to work on Batman and Superman.  A strong resume.  Turns out that he’s the exec’ on DC Universe.  This game, moved via SOE, will give you the chance to create your own characters within the world of DC to do things like plotting to take out The Batman.

Everyone wanted to see Kratos but as you can probably guess, there was no in game footage for that title.  The teaser trailer was enough to whet anyone’s appetite but more would have been nice. InFamous also showed up, and more details on the game, and its story was also revealed.  From what was seen, the game looks to have more compelling story, and potential from developer SuckerPunch.

Another new IP form Zipper is a game called MAG.  Okay, remember people making a big deal about Resistance 2’s online mode supporting 60 players.  Man, that’s a lot … okay, how about 256.  Nuff said. Back on the PlayStation.Blog, more updates ensued. I downloaded that expansion pack for Super Stardust HD, and it looks like Rock Band got blown out the frame with new tracks.  Not that I care about the game/genre, but ou can check out the list here.

E3 2008 – The Conduit video walk through….

Fresh off of E3 comes new gameplay video of The Conduit. After seeing this footage, I’d like to know why Nintendo chose not to show this during their E3 stage press conference. Either way, this game is looking pretty damn good and proof that the little white console that could, can indeed spit out some pretty visuals that dosen’t involve cartoons and bright colors. Take a look at what High Voltage studios hopes will be the difinitivie fps experience on the Wii. I know I can’t wait to experience it as it looks like a cool throwback to the Rare gem, Perfect Dark!

E3 2008 – New Dead Space Trailer

Ahh Isaac, why would you go to a space station haunted with mirror images of the people you once called friend, family, and Loved Ones? Check out this amazing new trailer because lord knows we are in desperate need of a descent Space Horror Opera.

E3 2008 Day 1 – Sony Perspective

Well, today was interesting.  The Press Conference for Microsoft was great but I felt a little sour after hearing about Final Fantasy XIII.  It was a small WTF moment but I clearly envisioned in my mind, Sony fanboys getting hit hard with a holy steak in the heart.  So yes,  it turns out that Final Fantasy XIII will not be exclusive to the PS3 anymore …. sort of? See the end of the trailer below for more on that.

Speculations abound but for obvious reasons, as pointed out by Square Enix, is the install base the 360 has in the West.  The news of this exclusive loss left a little pang in our hearts and their are a few gamers out there who bought the system for one said game.  First off, if you have been playing games since the early 1980’s, and I’m guessing that might be you, you wouldn’t buy a system for one game right …. right?  So, if you don’t own a 360 in The Land of the Rising Sun, you’re SOL as we love to say here in the wild wild west.  In the meantime check out the new Final Fantasy trailer.

You can tell that SquareEnix has not lost their touch for CG.  Surprisingly the in-game graphics are starting look like the CG (slowly).  No new elements on the combat system were revealed but nothing else has almost the same as the first trailer.  All looks aside, what does this mean for the size for the of the game if its coming out on more than one platform, particularly the 360?  Think about it, the last massive RPG to hit the 360 had several DVDs, can you imagine a 40+ hour game on the system?  Well perhaps you won’t have to worry about installing your game on the 360, but then there’s load times, cut scenes, and other stuff.  Whatever SquareEnix has planned, I’m actually very curious to see how they will pull this off, and whether or not they will try to differentiate the two releases greatly.

Meanwhile, back at PlayStationBlog, Sony announces an interesting line up for this week on PSN, dubbing it the PLAYSTATION Store E3 Release Plan. I oh so want that Super Stardust HD Team Mode Add-On pack (finally!!!).  And for one reason only, my first platinum trophy.

There are also massive plans for Warhawk, and they go way beyond the Trophy Add-ons.  Apparently you’ll get a new mode to kick your friends butt all over again.  As if I needed a reason to re-purchase this game.  *Sigh* Why did I sell my copy?  Oh, that’s right, I paid for MGS4 with it.  I think it was worth it but I’m plagued by the fact that I’ll miss out on this update. Too bad, the down-loadable version is no longer available.

Speaking about availability, Resident Evil will have online co-op play.  That’s sweet.  The catch: it was pushed back a few months … (a fews months into 2009 to implement the feature).  One can only wonder what kind of an impact that new feature would have on gameplay for RE?  We always prided ourselves on the one player action adventure play through, so why would Capcom break the cycle?

But if breaking tradition is the nouveau of gaming, Mirrors Edge peeked over the counters of the journal world to let us know that it breathes a very different type of gaming air. We need more games like this!  I say, like this, because you see familiar elements of gaming in Mirrors Edge but the developers are pushing your interactive choices with the NPCs.  Let’s just hope it doesn’t get boring.  I hate to sound negative, but I have a lot of high hopes for this game, so I’ll probably give it a hard time until its in my hands. Wow yourself with the all in game graphics trailer below. Red is my favorite color to ^_^.

Clearly today was a Microsoft day but my brethren should have tons to say about that.  Tomorrow is Sony’s press conference, so lets see how they handle Microsoft’s one, two, jab, uppercut combo from todays event.  It’s getting interesting.

E3 2008 Day 0 – Pre-Perspective on Sony

+Deliver the Goods+

It’s felt everywhere; Sony may steal this years E3.  For a change, that’s a good thing and perhaps that looming 3 Billion dollar debt tag thats hurting their accounting department is a motivating factor.  Sony needs to do any and everything they could to increase appeal for the 2 year old system (come this November 2008).

Keep this in mind, “Nintendo is the current leader in the Gaming Industry”. You can bite your fanboy nails all you want, it’s not just a verbal fact, it’s written on their yearly Income Statement. So what can Sony do?  It’s not just about bringing out the big guns anymore, they need to go beyond consumer expectations and continue working with 1st, 2nd and 3rd party developers and producers.

Sony has shown us that they can take user beatings over the head, respond, and then update the system to meet requests.  Even if it takes them a year for certain things.  Hey, but what about In-Movie-XMB access?

While there are a lot titles on the show floor itself, its rumored that several titles won’t be seen at the show.  Come July 15th, at 11:30 AM, the Sony Press Conference should bring the mother load; at least that’s what a lot of us are hoping.  A recent article spotted over at Hollywood Reporter (Technology Page) points out some interesting comments by David Cole, president of the DFC Intelligence at Sony.

Cole added he doesn’t expect anything as this year’s E3 to dramatically change the competitive landscape between the Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 or the current leader, the Nintendo Wii, adding, “Clearly Nintendo’s momentum doesn’t appear to be slowing.” …

“Each platform has a different user base and will be appropriate for different games so for the publishers, it’s not really about deciding which console is winning, but which one is going to best for my game,” Cole said.

If that’s the case, then what’s in your pockets Cole?  Gamers tend to choose systems based on exclusives and we all know where that’s going with Sony (south).  A typically example is the recent loss of titles like Devil May Cry.  Obviously, Sony proved that they can hang on to those precious ones, like MGS, Final Fantasy, and a few others (God of War).  As the cost of games rise, 3rd party exclusives will become a thing of the past. Gamers tend to forget that games are starting to rival the budgets of Hollywood films.  It’s amazing when you think about it like that, considering how games were back in the 80’s.  Who would have thought it would have gone this far?

Still gamers are excited about the system, with titles like LittleBigPlanet, Cross Edge, MotorStorm 2, WipeoutHD, White Knight Chronicles, God of War, Socom, Final Fantasy, Resistance 2, InFamous, KillZone 2, and others on the horizon.

For those crazy Final Fantasy fans like myself out there, Dengeki PlayStation recently spoke with Tetsuya Nomura who mentioned that something outside of FF XIII, but possible related to FF VII will be announced.

The sure fire hit for a tease like that would be the long awaited remake of FF VII of course. Nomura-san was the character designer for that heralded release on the series.  Currently they are stretched thin, resource wise, as development for FF XIII, and FF XIII Versus, are covered by all staff within FF groups at Square Enix.  If we only could ask them how they plan to accomplish that?

You’re best bet might be to meet up with some of the PlayStation.Blog employees this July 2008 if you wanted to ask them more about it.  Perhaps they could divulge further into FF for you.  The get together is open to the public at King Taco on Pico on July 15th @ 7:30 PM in California. You can find out more at PlayStation.Blog if you live in the area.

+Trophy Wars+

You know, we joked about the Trophies for PS3 for a while now, but it’s already turned into a mad craze.  I guess PS owners now understand what the big deal about achievements were.  Oh, I know, that’s a feature that motivates you to do more with your games (if you have the time).  But this only works if you don’t horde games in my opinion (buy more than you can play).  Still, everyones been whoring over the Super Star Dust HD update.  Personally, I’m only missing two trophies on that one so I’m guilty as charged.

The next set of games to take advantage of the system include Burnout Paradise and Warhawk.  The update for Burnout will hit sometime after the Cagney update.  If you want to learn more about the update on that game (which has received considerable attention since its’ release), check out Criterions’ page here.  The Cagney update is staggering.

Still, in retrospective, it will be too late for a lot of titles to get support for the feature.  Developers like Infinity Ward (COD4), and Konami (MGS4) all pointed out that the add-on came too late but are definitely including it in future titles.

The Cagney update, free, is a perfect example of what third party developers could do for a series if they put there minds to it.  If you’re lucky enough to own a PS3, you’ll get 1080i support with Cagney.  Trophies are expected sometime after the Cagney update, but before the Davis update.  The Davis update will bring the new Dust System which you can check out here on YouTube.

+Spoil the Party+

The split controller is a joke, but rumor has it that the 360 may also get a wand like controller as well.  The one benefit I see for something like that is Sony and Microsoft will begin to perch away at Nintendos’ niche market. I heard that WipeoutHD will allow you to control your ships via the motion controller but imagine how silly that would be in a split controller set up?  I’m sure there are tons of positive applications to the rumored controllers, but in my eyes I don’t see the point.

Regardless of any gamers opinion though, if released, developers will get the chance to put once exclusive WII titles, across multiple consoles.   So you may be able to “shake, rattle and roll fists, or damage your HD TVs soon.