e3 2010
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Rage leads Game Critics Awards nominees for E3 2010
With E3 2010 over and done with, and a glut of outlet-specific honors dispensed, it's time for the annual Game Critics Awards to reveal its list of nominees. Culled from the selections of "31 leading North American media outlets that cover the videogame industry" (including Joystiq!), the Game Critics Awards represent something of an industry consensus on The Big Show. This year, id Software's upcoming post-apocalyptic-'em-up Rage took home the most nominees, scoring five including Best of Show. Sharing the Best of Show nominee space are Disney's Epic Mickey, Dance Central, and Portal 2, each of which received four nominations across the boards. We've got the entire list after the break, and check out the "Fast Facts" breakdown linked below for some flamewar-worthy stats (Xbox 360 leads the platform nominations with 46 versus PlayStation 3's 39). Notably, Electronic Arts had the most nominees for a publisher for the fourth year in a row, earning 15 nominations ... and that's not including the formerly EA Partners-signed Rage.
Metro 2034 revealed by THQ's Bilson
4A Games' Metro 2033 came out under the radar, but quickly became a sleeper hit with Joystiq staff, what with its heavy atmosphere and mature, bleak tone. So, as you could imagine, the announcement of a sequel in development makes our hearts glow as if they were just hand-cranked by a post-apocalyptic Russian. In discussing the topic of 3D gaming with CVG, THQ's Danny Bilson said, "We're going to be doing a 3D version of that on Metro 2034 - the sequel. And there will be some engineering costs there, but that's in our lowest cost centre in the world." Okay, so maybe we could do with a little more fanfare accompanying our game announcements, but there you have it.
Preview: NBA Jam
I played a quick half of an NBA Jam game at EA's booth between a couple of E3 appointments. In that short session, I had a great time -- but I think my AI partner had a much better time than I did. That's not to say I didn't enjoy myself: in my admittedly brief experience with EA Canada's renewed version of the classic arcade basketball game, I found that pretty much everything about the game is scientifically designed to deliver maximum fun. %Gallery-89317%
Preview: Crave's E3 lineup, featuring Deadliest Catch, Man vs. Wild and Brunswick Pro Bowling
For every Batman: Arkham Asylum or Epic Mickey, there's got to be someone out there bringing shoddy licensed games to the floor of E3. Bless Crave Entertainment then, because the publisher was back at it this year, showing off titles based on Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch and Man vs. Wild TV shows, and a Brunswick-licensed PlayStation Move bowling game. The trio was quite generally terrible -- unpolished, unfinished, pretty blatant attempts to take a familiar name, slap it on some semblance of gameplay and make a few bucks from people buying something for the name on it. So don't read the rest of this post because you're thinking of buying any of these games -- even if you happen to be a Deadliest Catch or Man vs. Wild fan, there are better and more enjoyable ways to spend your time with the properties (like, you know, watching the shows, which are both pretty well done). Instead, read on about the three most awkward moments of my time spent in Crave's E3 booth.
Preview: John Daly's Prostroke Golf
If you read my Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 review, then you know that I'm totally on the bandwagon when it comes to motion-based golfing. Going into my E3 appointment to preview O Games' John Daly's Prostroke Golf, I didn't expect the game's Move functionality to add anything to the experience I couldn't already get with MotionPlus on the Wii. But Prostroke actually impressed me, thanks to some clever design decisions. %Gallery-96345%
Interview: Driver: San Francisco creative director Martin Edmondson
Formed in the mid-1980s, Reflections Interactive has been making games for longer than you might remember. While the studio has franchises like Shadow of the Beast and Destruction Derby under its belt, its longest standing franchise is Driver. This fall the wheelman returns in Driver: San Francisco, and Reflections -- now owned and operated by Ubisoft -- is once again steering the ride. Also returning to the series is Reflections founder Martin Edmondson who, in March 2005, walked away from Reflections Interactive and filed suit against former publishing partner and company owner Atari for "constructive unfair dismissal" before settling in 2006. We spoke with Edmondson regarding Driver's return to the streets and the finer points regarding the upcoming game's "Shift" car jumping system. %Gallery-95490%
Preview: Driver: San Francisco
While a lot of people have share an affinity for the Driver series, most would agree that the franchise has stalled. Although that's a hilarious pun in reference to cars, it's also the best way to say the series has failed to capture the respect it received when the first and the second games (depending on who you ask) were released. After taking a long hiatus to build a new, completely proprietary engine, the franchise has returned in Driver: San Francisco and brings with it a few new ideas. %Gallery-95490%
Interview: Shinji Mikami on Vanquish, evolving game dev locales and ... punching fools
During this year's E3, we had a chance to chat with Shinji Mikami, creative lead on Platinum Games' upcoming boost-em-up Vanquish, about his upcoming game, among other things. For instance, why does the man who created God Hand and Resident Evil believe that so many games are driven by a shooting mechanic? "Purely punching or kicking, for example, that requires a lot more skill and reaction time on the part of the gamer to get the timing right and to sit there and mash the controller forever. And older gamers, adults, don't want to do that. They get tired." As old men ourselves (mid-20s is old, right?), we're not so sure we agree with Mr. Mikami, but that's okay -- this isn't an interview about us, silly! It's about Shinji Mikami. And his new game. Check out the whole interview just below the fold.%Gallery-95221%
Preview: Halo: Reach (Firefight)
I'm one of those rare gamers who prefer shooting computer controlled bad guys instead of good old-fashioned human beings. Competition doesn't bother me as much as the jerks on the other side; the whiny pre-teens, racists and cheaters. Forget about deathmatch. I'd rather cozy up on the couch and enjoy single-player. Halo 3: ODST changed that, thanks to Firefight mode. Bungie took my love for slaughtering AI bad guys and fused it with team-based play, where up to four players work co-operatively to outlast progressively difficult waves of Covenant. It was essentially the best of both virtual worlds, where I satisfied my desire to murder bots while cracking jokes with friends. That's why Halo: Reach is high on my radar. Firefight returns, but with a slew of new options that make it even more rewarding, starting with online matchmaking. Now you can play this mode 24/7 with anyone in the world. Yes, that means I could randomly wind up with three jerks, but at least one thing remains constant, and that's the Covenant. Even if my team goes rogue, I can still set off and murder aliens. %Gallery-96257%
Preview: The Agency's Player vs Player mode
For me, the selling point of MMOs is the huge, open world; a world full of other actual human beings who I can interact with and who can interact with me (almost like real life!). So when I snuck in some time with The Agency at Sony Online Entertainment's E3 booth this year, it was hard for me to shake the feeling that I was playing an Unreal Tournament-style, Ijji.com shooter (one powered by a modified Unreal Engine 3, no less) rather than an MMO. Sure, the Deathmatch trappings of my demo didn't help, but neither did lead designer Rory McGuire's explanation of how the game's Player vs Player works. Essentially, interactions with other players are instanced into online multiplayer matches (30 players max), as seen here. The results of these battles are said to be reflected in the game's hub world -- locations can be taken by "U.N.I.T.E." or "Paragon" in multiplayer and those locations will show up as belonging to one of the game's two factions. From what I played, however, I'm not confident that what I've come to expect from an MMO -- the feeling of being in one huge world with other human beings -- is present in The Agency.%Gallery-3830%
EEDAR releases preliminary E3 interest stats
Electronic Entertainment Design and Research (EEDAR) has released a report listing various attention metrics from gamers from two sites, GameTrailers and IGN.com, regarding the most "popular" titles from E3. We put "popular" in quotes there because these stats are for things like trailer streaming and page views rather than a scientific survey -- this is a general feel of the zeitgeist on these two specific sites rather than a comprehensive view of what gamers thought of E3. But there are interesting things to note even in this limited set of stats, especially when you compare it to our own anecdotal show floor and "chatter" data from you commenters. We heard from quite a few of you during the show that Nintendo's press conference was the most popular event, and this list agrees. Likewise, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was one of the most popular titles on the show floor, and there's no shortage of Link representation here. Kirby's Epic Yarn is probably the biggest unannounced-before E3 title on the lists, and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 captured a lot of attention -- not much was revealed at the show itself, but it was placed front and center on the floor of the West Hall. At the same time, there are some weird conclusions here. World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, an expansion which didn't even make an appearance at E3, registered in the top 20 in the GameTrailers stats and Red Dead Redemption, a game that's already out, picked up spot No. 8 on IGN's Page Views list of big E3 titles. EEDAR also notes that the Nintendo 3DS didn't rank on any of these lists, but given the lines at the Nintendo booth to see it, the new handheld garnered plenty of attention. So you can't really bank on these titles yet. But if you're interested, you can check out EEDAR's top 10 in each category after the break.
Preview: NBA 2K11
There's a lot riding on NBA 2K11. Not only did 2K Games secure Michael Jordan -- a huge get -- but with EA looking to revitalize its basketball game with NBA Elite 11, there's more pressure on the NBA2K franchise than ever before. Being the top-selling basketball game across all platforms last year doesn't mean that NBA 2K11 can secure Jordan and then "rest on its laurels and call it a day," a 2K rep told me. %Gallery-96342%
Preview: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Ghost Trick begins where most games come to an abrupt end -- with your death. It's of the intriguing, unexplained and very undignified variety, and leaves your spirit separated from your sharply dressed body. As Sissel, a sarcastic smooth talker who's cool enough to wear sunglasses even after death, you interact with the living world as a ghostly apparition in the hopes of preventing others from sharing your fate. Coming from Phoenix Wright designer Shu Takumi, Ghost Trick is almost as fun to describe as it is to play. Youthful and witty dialogue is the obvious commonality between Takumi's new adventure and the Ace Attorney series, but there's a more subtle connection too: both are traditional adventure games that reconsider the role of inventory objects. In the case of Ghost Trick, the inventory becomes the entire stage.
Two days at E3 with a Vicon Revue life-blogging camera (video)
Each year the video gaming Mecca that is the Electronics Entertainment Expo seems to get a little more... stale. I've been attending since 1997, back when PC games dominated the show floor, scantily-clad mascots were everywhere, and press releases were handed out in three-ring binders. Despite the increasing sameness of it all it's still a huge privilege to go, an invitation I receive every summer and wish I could share with all my gamer friends -- which is, at this point, just about all of them. This year, thanks to Vicon, who kindly let me borrow one of its wearable Revue cameras, I can finally take you all along for the ride. %Gallery-96315%
Preview: NHL 2K11
2K Sports made the decision last year to place all of its hockey eggs in one basket: the Wii. 2K will only put out NHL 2K11 on Wii, in the hopes of re-evaluating its franchise before deciding whether or not to bring it back to other consoles. The first thing we were shown at E3 were the motion-based controls, which provide 1:1 movement through MotionPlus. This will give players real-time deking, puck juggling and even the ability to break sticks this time around. While I was unable to get my hands on it to check the feel, everything looked copacetic as the 2K rep demoed the game. I didn't notice any inconsistencies or problems with the control scheme as he played. %Gallery-96330%
The Road to Mordor: Old school hobbits
(Screenshot courtesy of Lord of the Rhymes) Over the past couple weeks Lord of the Rings Online players' eyes have turned to the future, and this column with it. After all, with the beta for LotRO F2P edition in full swing and the recent news from E3 about this fall's offerings, it's kind of hard not to be focused on what's ahead. However, I was tickled by a LotRO forum thread this week that looked back, not forward. It's one of those nostalgia threads that tend to pop up in a forum of any game more than a few years old, a place for veterans to reminisce about the olden days (whether good or bad). It's also an excellent chance for newbies to learn a bit more about the history of the game -- and perhaps thank their lucky stars they didn't have to walk uphill through three-foot snow with a Balrog on their tail just to log in to the servers every day. The thread certainly makes for good readin', but I wanted to comment on a few specific examples of how the game's changed, and how it was back when we were in school. Old school, that is. Hit the jump, and we'll travel to the past in our hobbit tub time machine!
This week on The MMO Report
This week's MMO Report takes us back to last week's E3 at the Los Angeles convention center, and the show is so packed with content that Casey Schreiner and crew couldn't manage to fit it all into one episode. As a result, you can check out part one this week and wait with baited breath for part two next Thursday. Speaking of content, Schreiner kicks things off by interviewing Nexon's Eun-Seok Lee and Min Kim about the forthcoming action title Vindictus. Lee talks about the game's non-traditional approach to classes as well as the free-to-play business model. "That's all we do, that's all we know how to do, we kind of invented free to play back in 2000," he says. Chris Sherland, executive producer on LEGO Universe, is also interviewed on the show, and discusses the creativity inherent in the upcoming title. "We've taken the build metaphor across a number of different levels. If anybody's played the [LEGO] Batman games or the Star Wars games, it's very familiar [to] that early build experience where you're creating something in the world that's pre-determined, but you get that feedback that you've built something. We've that taken that to another level," Sherland says. Finally, Star Wars The Old Republic writer Daniel Erickson discusses BioWare's decision to avoid demos and simply put the game in the hands of convention-goers, as well as specifics on the game's classes. He also touches on the much-discussed "Hope" trailer, which Casey accurately describes as "better than all three prequels combined." Check out all the MMO Report E3 action at G4TV or after the jump.
Time Crisis: Razing Storm trailer shoots up your browser
During Sony's E3 keynote, a new Time Crisis game was revealed in Time Crisis: Razing Storm. As you can see in the trailer past the break, Razing Storm features a lot of the same stuff you've come to expect from the franchise: you shoot dudes and you shoot furniture. Frankly, we think there are better ways to evict tenants and remodel homes, but maybe that's just us. The game's first trailer also takes time to highlight its PlayStation Move support, eight player online functionality and two included extras: Time Crisis 4 and Deadstorm Pirates. Shoot your way past the break and check it all out!
Chillingo shows off its current crop at E3 2010
I met up with Chillingo at last week's E3 event here in Los Angeles, and got to see a few of their upcoming titles in action. Here's a few games they were showing off, and some early impressions of each. Zombie Escape This was probably my favorite game of the show -- it's a line-drawing game where you're tasked with drawing routes for survivors of a zombie apocalypse to rescue choppers. As they appear on sides of the touchscreen, it's your job to draw a path through the walking undead, and as the 28 days in the game go by, the difficulty ramps up with more undead and more survivors. Additionally, there are powerups and other items to collect, which give the game some tower defense-style elements, enabling you to defeat the undead from offscreen. But sending your survivors to get the powerups means they'll have to take separate routes and risk more danger. Zombie Escape was about three weeks out from release when I saw it last week, so it should be on the App Store by the end of this month. It's definitely worth a look, especially if you're a fan of the line-drawing genre.
More people visited E3 from PlayStation Home than real life
Though there are few things we love more than our annual excursion to E3, there are some inherent downsides to the trip which we could do without. Namely, the ever-present threat of apocalyptic earthquakes. Next year, we might just follow the example of the quarter of a million people who PlayStation Blog claims stopped by Sony's virtual booth in PlayStation Home. Sure, our coverage might be a little one-sided given the absence of every other company, but seriously, guys, earthquakes are terrifying.
