e3-2011
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Hands-on with Power A's E3 lineup
In addition to our video rundown of Power A's Batarang controllers, we also managed to snag some hands-on time with the rest of the company's current lineup. The star of the show was definitely the Pro Pack Mini Plus for the Wii, the successor to Power A's previous Pro Pack Mini. The Pro Pack Mini Plus improves over its predecessor with built-in Motion Plus and color changing LEDs. The $40 package, which includes a remote and nunchuck, felt great to hold, with comfortable form factor and rubberized coatings.%Gallery-126287%
The Gunstringer preview: How the west was fun
The phrase "on rails" has something of a negative connotation in the video game industry. It implies that one's game design is lazy, or that it takes freedom away from the player. As developers come to grips with Kinect's controller-free technology, many of its experiences remain on rails, including several of the titles on display at E3. The Gunstringer does not buck that trend; however, while it doesn't offer complete freedom of movement, it still manages to deliver the most precise Kinect controls I've ever experienced. Coupled with trademark Twisted Pixel humor, it makes a great first impression.%Gallery-125562%
Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition preview: Fight in the future
Before I get started detailing what Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition is, I should mention what it isn't: an Xbox Live Arcade exclusive. I was under that impression, and so I was a little surprised to notice that, as I spoke with Capcom's Seth Killian, we were totally playing on a PS3. According to Killian, it's definitely coming to PSN, simultaneous with the XBLA release, and always was. That non-exclusivity is a good thing, because I'd hate for anyone who likes Street Fighter 3 even a little to miss out on all the love poured into this collection. There might be too much love in here.%Gallery-125795%
Video: Joystiq vs. E3 2011
With the Joystiq staff recovering from a week of exhaustive coverage, it's time to say goodbye to E3 2011. The remainder of our coverage will be trickling out over the next couple of days as we crank out a few more previews and, time permitting, sleep. Relive the magic with the video after the break and, if you haven't already, be sure to check out this amazing reader recap video of our E3 meetup too.
Silent Hill: Downpour preview: Shattered Homecoming
Noisy trade show floors are notoriously bad places to preview survival horror games. You can try to preserve crucial atmosphere with headphones, but even then it's hard not to be at least a little distracted. As such, it's hard for me to compare the overall feel of Silent Hill: Downpour to that of its moody brethren, but I can at least offer a technical rundown.%Gallery-126003%
XCOM Preview: Mass affect
2K Marin creative director Jordan Thomas wasted little time in addressing XCOM's year-long absence after E3 2010. "We're here to pull back the curtain on what we've been up to for a year," Jordan told us during a demo last week. "We've kind of been flying under the radar for a long time, and I wanted to start by talking about why that was." The studio was comprised of plenty of talent from Irrational who had worked on BioShock (including Thomas) and then developed BioShock 2 at 2K Marin. In other words, BioShock was their comfort zone, Thomas said. "Our first crack at XCOM kind of had a run-and-gun feel. It was very BioShock. It was contiguous first-person, it had a creepier, splicer-like alien enemy, and so on," Thomas said. Over the last year, they've tried to get away from that, making "several key alterations" to the XCOM reimagining we first saw last year. XCOM was a strategy game, the new XCOM is a first-person shooter, and that incongruity seems to be responsible for much of 2K Marin's second draft. "The main reason for that is that we are strong fans of the original XCOM series," Thomas said. "Basically, XCOM was about being the best of humanity repelling an alien invasion through cleverness and dynamism. Through taking the enemy technology and subverting it, to remove their strategic edge." Lucky for you, the "best of humanity" are on your team.%Gallery-126032%
CCP shares big plans for Dust 514 and EVE Online at E3
The MMO market may be dominated by World of Warcraft, but while other games have come and gone, there's always been one other constant in massively multiplayer games: Icelandic company CCP's EVE Online. Since 2003, CCP has kept EVE's gigantic galactic server Tranquility going, allowing the game's over 350,000 users to fly around, blow up ships, trade and earn ISK, and make this virtual world that has held over 60,000 players together at one time surprisingly real. But that's not enough for CCP. EVE has always been singled out for its precipitous difficulty curve -- because the game faithfully models everything from power management and targeting systems to realtime stocks and industrial economics, it's a tough climb for new players not necessarily interested in the ins and outs of advanced capacitor control schemes. Enter Dust 514, then, a brand new game being developed by CCP that's designed to scoop up all of those players who've been scared away by the learning curve in EVE Online. What's the opposite of a hardcore, complicated, PC MMO? Apparently it's a massively multiplayer first-person shooter, available only on Sony's PlayStation 3. (Extensions of the game are set to be released as well, including one on the new PS Vita.) %Gallery-126232%
Relive the Joystiq E3 2011 meetup through this video
Max Paolucci (thankfully) took some video of the Joystiq E3 meetup, both as evidence it actually happened (that whole week was a blur) and as a kindness to those unable to physically attend. It suffices to say that we love Max dearly.
E3 2011: Hands-on impressions of Star Wars: The Old Republic
At this year's E3, four Massively staffers were on site for interviews, demos, and hands-on time with the latest MMOs. You've read about most of what we've seen so far, but now we're ready to tell you about our experiences with what may be the most highly anticipated MMO of the show: Star Wars: The Old Republic. A few of us have played the game before, or multiple times, while this was the first time for others. Our opinions are varied, but you'll notice a fairly obvious theme. Follow along after the jump for more on what we thought of our time with SWTOR at E3 2011.
Ubisoft's Wii U roundtable, now on video
Remember the second developer roundtable that Nintendo held during E3 2011? The one that featured Killer Freaks From Outer Space? First and foremost, it's rude to refer to Nintendo head Satoru Iwata and Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot as killer freaks, not to mention accuse them of being from other outer space. Oh, right, yes, the game. That one. Anyway, the full HD video of that roundtable discussion has been uploaded by Ubisoft, showing the entirety of what we saw, previewed, and broke out in its original presentation. Interested in watching foreign men struggling with the English language in front of dozens of journalists? Or in live gameplay of Ghost Recon Online and Killer Freaks? Here's your chance!
Super Stardust Delta preview: Tilt to live
The first portable variant of Housemarque's stellar twin-stick shooter, Super Stardust, had to make do with a fifty percent reduction in analog control when it arrived on PSP. Super Stardust Delta is much better off on the superior PlayStation Vita hardware, though the authenticity of the game's asteroid slaughter feels a little muddled by excess. Like most launch titles, it's adamant about using every available feature, even if they don't necessarily augment the experience.%Gallery-125162%
Skulls of the Shogun preview: Dem bones
All of us on the site seemed extra busy at E3 this year, our schedules filled with appointments for games both big and small. But each of us tried to grab a little time just wandering the show floor appointment-free, and in the 45 minutes I had to myself, I stumbled across this gem, sitting in the middle of the Indiecade booth area. Skulls of the Shogun is a game created by Jake Kazdal, Ben Vance and Borut Pfeifer, three guys with extensive game development backgrounds who decided to go it independently as Haunted Temple Studios. We saw it in action last October, but I'd never heard of it before, and I was instantly charmed by the premise: a group of cartoon-y skeleton Shogun warriors battle it out in turn-based strategy, with no hexes to be seen.%Gallery-126236%
Molyneux declares Fable: The Journey 'definitely not on rails'
"My name's Peter Molyneux and I made this horrendous mistake." With that emblematic phrase, Lionhead creative director Peter Molyneux kicks off a hilarious public service announcement he created with the help of OXM UK. According to him, the Fable: The Journey demo he showed off at E3 2011 gave the impression that the game is "on rails," an idea he's quick to dispel. Apparently, the team at Lionhead working on the Kinect-based Fable title decided to remove navigation controls from the press demo, the same snippet shown during Microsoft's presser, effectively putting the game on rails and giving everyone the wrong impression. "I will just say on record now that Fable: The Journey is definitely not on rails," he specifies, even going so far as to ask for journalists' signatures before they exit the demo room. If you look really hard, you can spot one of our own among them. It's like Where's Waldo with squiggly pen marks!
Resident Evil Revelations preview: Drained
My first potential action in Resident Evil: Revelations was simple and nostalgic: drain the bath tub? Well it did appear as if something was in the water -- at least that's what the text box before the question had told me. "Eff it!" I thought, caution to the wind. "Let's drain the bastard." And the murky tub full of liquid drained. Lo and behold, I'd found a screwdriver. Just the screwdriver I needed to unscrew a cover, so I could solve a minigame and finally open a door! Is it just me, or does it suddenly feel suspiciously like 1997? My feelings on Resident Evil: Revelations are succinctly summed up in the scenario described above. The Jill Valentine led other 3DS Resident Evil game is a brand new romp through a very old game world: the world of games like Resident Evil 1 and 2. It's a puzzle-riddled, ammo managing, archaic retreat to a land of gameplay mechanics that may be enticing to some old-school RE fans, but sure didn't get my heart pounding.%Gallery-125699%
Nintendo 3DS has resistive touchscreen for backwards compatibility, what's the Wii U's excuse?
In case it somehow snuck in under your radar, E3 just happened. The LA-based gaming extravaganza is where Nintendo introduced its next generation of home console, the Wii U, also served as the location where our buddies from Joystiq caught up with Hideki Konno, the company's 3DS hardware chief. When queried as to why the 3DS uses the same, nowadays archaic, resistive touch technology as in the original DS, Mr. Konno answered candidly that "it's all about the backwards compatibility. We have to play DS games on this and we want to make sure they work." Not an unreasonable assertion by any means, however those same Joystiq sleuths also determined pretty conclusively that the Wii U's bodacious 6.2-inch controller also uses a resistive touchscreen -- could the primeval tech be getting recycled again for similar reasons? Nintendo's made no announcements about game compatibility on the Wii U beyond confirming that it'll play all Wii titles, but this at least it gives us some extra food for rumination (and speculation) while we wait for the new console's 2012 release.
Bodycount preview: The journey
I'm going to take the mic here for a moment, readers, and tell you something personally: It has been fascinating to watch the development of Codemasters' FPS Bodycount. I originally posted the game's unofficial announcement early last year, saw a preview and talked to creator Stuart Black at last year's E3, saw the game in action after Black left the project and, finally, got to see and play it last week at this year's E3 conference. Long story short, I've basically had a front row seat on the development of this one, and it's been very interesting to watch it develop over the past 16 months. Black's original vision was not much more than just a demo level, a slick future shooter with a snappy female voice feeding orders in your ear. And from preview to preview, that vision has been prodded and poked by other developers, growing up into the game Bodycount has become. Unfortunately, much of what appealed in the initial vision has gotten a little muddied along the way. Some elements of that early demo are still in there (and there's a whole lot more besides), but Bodycount's gone from a lot of unique potential to a much more mundane reality. %Gallery-126207%
Kinect Sports: Season 2 preview: Swing and a pass
Microsoft announced the inevitable sequel to Kinect Sports during its press event at E3 this year. Kinect Sports: Season 2 features a slate of new sports, including tennis, darts, skiing and, American football and golf. I was able to try out the latter two games. One of the two didn't seem to have much substance, and the other one was golf. %Gallery-126229%
Dragon's Dogma preview: A song of 'ice and fire'
Capcom's Dragon's Dogma shares some top-level similarities with Monster Hunter -- like the part about how the whole game is hunting monsters, for example -- but Capcom feels like it's approaching this one from a more Western perspective. It's a bit more grimdark, a little more realistic, with no poogies around or adorable cat-guys to help you out. "Our goal was to make it a very Western fantasy lore-based game," director Hideaki Itsuno told me during an interview. "Most of the creatures you see in the game come from Western fantasy lore." This includes not just the boss-type monsters, but, for example, the hordes of goblins attacking you in-between.%Gallery-125793%
EVE Evolved: Predictions for DUST 514
When CCP first announced development on its upcoming free-to-play PlayStation 3 MMOFPS DUST 514, speculation ran wild as we thought of exactly how the game could be integrated with EVE Online. The plan to link the two games through EVE's sovereignty system seemed almost too ambitious, but the gaming world waited for more information with a quiet optimism. Most of us cautiously imagined the most basic of interactions between the two games, almost afraid to get our hopes up or express optimism for the project; after all, this is something that has never been done before. I think most EVE players imagined a vague web-based communication between EVE pilots and DUST mercenaries and little or no control over the outcome of a fight. We justly worried that our system sovereignty would be decided by the outcome of random matchmaking-style FPS battles or that DUST would only affect worthless planet-based industrial networks. At this year's E3, even our most optimistic expectations were completely blown away. DUST will be fully integrated into the EVE servers, with DUST players able to join EVE corporations and EVE players able to supply ground troops with equipment. We'll deliver decisive air strikes in realtime from ships in orbit, and DUST players will even be able to fire back. In this week's EVE Evolved, I re-examine the link between EVE Online and DUST 514 in light of the new information from E3 to make some predictions about what the battle for a planet might be like.
Yep, there's a Mario Party 9
You saw the logo unceremoniously flashed on the screen at Nintendo's E3 presentation; now see the trailer and screens. The Miis have cleaned up after their tame soiree, handing the keys to the venue back to Mario and pals, who are throwing Mario Party 9 on the Wii. We were going to joke about Mario being a serial partier, but we realized that just twelve get-togethers (counting the GBA, DS, and e-Reader outings) since 1998 is actually not that much social interaction.%Gallery-125892%
