e3-2013
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Grand Theft Auto 5 unbuckles E3 screens
Grand Theft Auto 5 is not at E3, but that isn't going to stop this September's guaranteed blockbuster from putting out some screenshots to remind you of its existence during this week. %Gallery-191239%
PlayStation 4 incompatible with PS3 Mad Catz Tournament Edition FightSticks
Mad Catz's extensive line of PlayStation 3 Tournament Edition FightSticks will not function with Sony's new PlayStation 4, Joystiq confirmed today with Mad Catz senior product development manager Richard Neville. "Playstation 4 will require a whole new set of peripherals," Neville said. Currently, Mad Catz has announced that it is launching a new and improved Tournament Edition 2 FightStick for the Xbox One when that console is released sometime this year, but the peripheral manufacturer was unable to comment on the availability of future PlayStation 4 sticks.
E3 2013: DCUO plans to remain completely free on PS4
The PlayStation 4 made headlines at this year's E3 thanks to its console wars one-upmanship as well as its newly announced launch library. But one previously announced had a live demo at the L.A.-based convention extravaganza; DC Universe Online offered players a chance to experience some next-gen superhero shenanigans for themselves, so we totally jumped in on the action! After engrossing ourselves in the world of capes, masks, and super powers, we nabbed Executive Producer Lawrence Liberty to talk with us about DCUO's conversion to the PS4. He shared details about performance, uses for the touchpad on the new controller, a new companion app, and the plan for DCUO to be available at the console's launch. Liberty also noted that the team is working with Sony to keep the game free on the PS4 so players won't have to purchase a PlayStation Plus membership.
IndieCade at E3: 7 Grand Steps
A group of alligators are stalking one area of the PC roundtable at IndieCade's E3 expo. They're tiny and plastic, and they're all over the laptop for 7 Grand Steps: What Ancients Begat, the first chapter in a new series from longtime indie developer Keith Nemitz, known as Mousechief. I stopped by Mousechief's table to talk about 7 Grand Steps, a board-game-inspired tale of ancient family drama and not getting eaten by alligators (you hope). Seven Grand Steps launched on Steam for PC and Mac on June 7, and it's already on track to bring in $100,000. So that's cool. Watch as Nemitz and I discuss the mechanics of a Sopranos story swathed in ancient garb, and the benefits of choosing to be evil. Later today I'll share the last eye-catching game I found at IndieCade's booth, caught on video – just as it captured my heart.
E3 2013: Warhammer 40K Eternal Crusade is all about war
Announced at E3 this year is the long-awaited MMO rendition of the Warhammer 40K IP named Eternal Crusade. There's been an overwhelming desire from the community to see a new Warhammer project come to fruition in the wake of Dark Millennium Online's demotion and ultimate demise; this version of the tabletop-game-turned-MMO is combining the races of Warhammer in an absolute no-holds-barred warfest where the tired-but-true motto is "there is only war." Miguel Caron of Behaviour Interactive sat down with Massively at E3 to discuss his grand plans for the IP and how exactly the title will be an MMORPG.
E3 2013: TERA approaches two million players, welcomes pirates [Updated]
With almost two million active registered players (and counting!) in North America, TERA does not seem to be in danger of fading into the background just yet. En Masse used E3 as a platform to trumpet the title's success following its free-to-play conversion as well as TERA's upcoming summer content. "We're nearing two million people playing the game, which is exciting since we're North America only," an En Masse rep said. This count is certainly higher than the 1.4 million count back in March. The reps said that the game's playerbase is even larger if you factor in the entire world, where TERA has gone free in pretty much every territory it's entered. With the game's first anniversary in the rear-view mirror, En Masse has turned its attention to bringing out a couple of meaty updates the hot summer months. Avast, ye game lubbers, there be pirates ahead!
Runner 2 Vita release window narrowed to 'between mid-July and mid-August'
The PlayStation Vita version of Gaijin Games' Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien will block, spring, slide and/or jump its way onto PlayStation Network sometime between mid-July and mid-August, Gaijin Games designer Danny Johnson told us during this week's E3 in Los Angeles. "At least that's the plan," Johnson said. "The version we have here [at E3] has been in development for a couple weeks – less than a month I think – so it's something that's fairly recent. We don't have the kinks quite worked out yet, but we wanted to show people that it's a thing." We spent time with the demo on-hand, and found that it was identical to the console/PC versions, save for some framerate issues on certain levels. Johnson added that the framerate problem is one of the kinks Gaijin has yet to work out, but that the release build will be on par with the existing versions on terms of performance.
E3 2013: Infinite Crisis super-punches MOBA flaws
Are you Marvel or DC? Turbine's hoping that you are partial to the latter, especially considering that the studio wants to rope you in with its DC superhero-themed game, Infinite Crisis. Over a hearty lunch of Kryptonite stew and Flash fries at E3, Massively's Jasmine Hruschak spoke with Creative Director Cardell Kerr, Director of Digital Communications Adam Mersky, and Executive Producer Jeffrey Steefel about the title's development and the IP's fit as a MOBA. Infinite Crisis draws upon DC's entire multiverse for its inspiration. For non-comic book geeks, the multiverse consists of several often-interacting universes that feature different versions of the same places, superheroes, and events. Ergo, the Batman you know from our world also might have a steampunk alter-ego in the multiverse, or the virtuous Green Lantern of earth might have a post-apocalyptic counterpart as the Atomic Green Lantern. Infinite Crisis takes these heroes from all over the multiverse and tosses them together to see what happens. Hint: It ain't puppy dogs and sunshine parades.
Thievery at E3: Vlambeer developer's backpack full of games stolen
Wednesday night, a black Samsonite backpack filled with an Asus laptop, two iPads, two Vitas, a Kindle, a bunch of European-US outlet converters, and "enough power cables to power E3," disappeared from an E3 party. The bag and everything inside of it belong to Vlambeer co-founder Rami Ismail. Ismail was at the Sony mixer at the Figueroa hotel last night, and he left his bag near a table for a few minutes. When he turned to reclaim it, it was gone. Today, Ismail filed a police report, but so far no one has produced any information about the thief. "It's pretty much my entire company in that backpack," Ismail said. Vlambeer is responsible for Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box and the coming multiplatform game, Luftrausers. Authorities said E3 and its surrounding events provide a hotbed for burglaries, so keep a close eye on your bags. And if you spy anyone playing Luftrausers on a Vita that isn't attached to a Sony booth, hit up Ismail's Twitter.
Project Spark is an evolution of Kodu's programming language
Microsoft Studios manager Michael Saxs Persson tells Joystiq that Project Spark is a natural evolution of the programming language found in Kodu Game Lab, the game building software released on Xbox 360 and PC in 2009. "The project architect from Kodu is working on the language for this game," Persson added. Persson says that Project Spark isn't the same in terms of the game designing elements, but the language used to aid players program how objects in Spark is the natural progression of the same features found in Kodu. Programming in Spark takes the "If This, Then That" approach, telling objects when and how to react to different situations. In a demo presentation behind closed doors, Persson showcased how layered those decisions could be. Spark has a host of other features, including a decision tree-type system that allows creators to answer a handful of questions to build quests and missions. Once their "story" has been developed, it can be shared to other players who can play through the created experience or edit it for their own tales. Spark also allows players to create a variety of different kinds of games, much in the same way that players could use the tools available in LittleBigPlanet 2 to develop shooters. Examples shown were a Pilotwings-style game created by the developers, as well as a working synthesizer with on/off switches, programmed background beats and a record and playback option. Though not shown, one gametype that sounded especially devious was a "Bad Advice Blackjack" game, where a Goblin would troll the player during card games, offering bad advice and telling them how bad they were. Project Spark is a launch window game for the Xbox One. A beta is planned for later this year on Windows 8.
E3 2013: Dragon's Prophet impressions from open beta to now
I don't have any strong love of dragons. I don't really hate them, usually, aside from the fact that I've killed far too many to get excited about it, but I've never looked at one and thought, "I wanna collect that like I would a Pokemon!" However, I like Dragon's Prophet. I was actually playing the open beta and got to level 18 on my Oracle until vacation plans and E3 took over my play time, which is fine, since apparently from what the SOE floor representatives tell me, I'm ahead of the curve. Many industry folks were sitting down and trying the game out for the first time at the convention. Now, to be honest, I didn't unlock all the dragons slots or the stable slots. I haven't done a ton of crafting, and I haven't done a ton research on the dragons and of raising them. The game's pushed out content before localization was done, and the game still has a few bugs. I know it's "open beta," but for a free-to-play game that isn't wiping the servers, it might as well be release. To be blunt, I really shouldn't like this game. It's done a lot wrong, but for some reason, when I pass the booth, I want to sit down and log onto my own account to play my character.
Activision bullish about Skylanders in face of Disney Infinity
Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, says the company isn't changing its sales projections on the Skylanders franchise, or this fall's Skylanders: Swap Force, in the face of Disney Infinity. "We're still bullish on our projections. We feel like it was only a matter of time, given the scale of the success of Skylanders, that other competitors entered the genre. That's to be expected," said Hirshberg. "I get this question a lot on Call of Duty. We have tough competition every year. We have tough competition in every category we play in, it's a part of the business. We try not to focus on it. We try to focus on making the best games we can and exceeding the expectations of our fans and bottling magic." Skylanders has surpassed $1 billion in lifetime sales since launching in 2011. Disney Infinity will launch this August.
Two new Double Fine projects being funded by Indie Fund
Indie Fund is funding two original projects with Double Fine. The news was announced during the Horizon conference by Indie Fund's Kellee Santiago and Double Fine producer Greg Rice. Santiago didn't offer any additional details, saying only that there would be more revealed in "the coming months." Double Fine is currently very busy, working on two Kickstarted games – Broken Age and Massive Chalice – the music game DropChord and now two more games with Indie Fund.
Fez 2 announced [update: Disasterpeace involved]
In a surprise announcement at the end of the Horizon conference, it was revealed that Fez 2 is in development at Polytron. The brief trailer revealed little else, though the soundtrack sounded very similar to the work that composer Disasterpeace did for the original Fez. Update: The video's description confirms Disasterpeace's involvement.
E3 2013: Webzen teases Mu Chronicle R and other titles
At this year's E3, Webzen was hyped to chat about its lineup of games, though it was close-lipped on many of the details. C9 players who remember the extreme dungeon exclusive Massively had a few weeks back are about to get a little more good news in the form of a spoiler: Sorry, but you don't get to actually kill the new boss, just reseal him. Then on June 27th, Webzen plans to announce details on a new adaption of Mu Online currently codenamed MU Chronicle R. Unlike the current Mu, the new game will focus on leveling up and PvP. To promote future bloodshed, Webzen will be holding global tournaments with cash prizes after the game is released. The update will happen across the globe, and in order to prepare for this, Webzen plans to recruit game masters from each region and reward the top GM with prizes. In addition, once the URL has been released, people who "like" the game's pre-launch Facebook page will be entered into raffles that award prizes like an Alienware gaming laptop, Wcoins/gPotato currency, and... apparently some sort of mystery prize. Really, that's all we can say about this till the 27th! The team also teased work on Archlord 2, MU 2, and a mobile Mu game (not a port but a brand-new game. We don't know whether it's related to Chronicle R). Finally, Webzen's MMOFPS Arctic Combat will be seeing another patch hopefully in July.
Breezing through Flower on PlayStation Vita
Having indirectly announced the PlayStation Vita version of thatgamecompany's Flower, the Indiecade booth at this year's E3 went on to hosting a playable version of the game. Flower on the smaller PlayStation suffers no loss in its vibrancy or serenity (provided you have some headphones handy), and it offers a new control scheme suited to the platform's touch screen.
E3 2013: Dragon's Prophet's PvP, raids, and housing
Los Angeles is certainly swarming with a variety of citizenry this week, from zombies to superheroes to martial artists. Even dragons have been spotted! Yes, Dragon's Prophet landed in in the City of Angels for E3 2013, and Massively's Jasmine Hruschak captured Senior Producer Todd Carson to learn more about the the dragon-centric title from Runewaker. (Don't worry folks, we practice catch and release here at Massively.) In open beta for less than a month, Dragon's Prophet still has many systems and areas to roll out during testing, and Carson expounded on some of those. He introduced the new zone of Wintertide as well as offered details about raiding. And we certainly couldn't let him go without more information about the frontier system, which encompasses both housing and PvP.
New Xbox 360 torn down, shows we're all the same on the inside
A teardown of the new Xbox 360 announced at Microsoft's E3 press conference by iFixit showed some surprising non-changes to the redesigned system. Namely, the console still uses the storage, cooling fan and processing power from the current version of the system first announced in June 2010. Among the changes made to the system (referred to as the Xbox 360 E), iFixit noticed that Microsoft updated the RF module and that "the absence of the power button backlight found in the Xbox 360 S is easily noticed." The redesigned console is available now for the same price as the existing models. We got a good look at the system ourselves at E3, albeit from the outside.
E3 2013: WildStar press briefing and Q&A with Jeremy Gaffney
When I was told I'd get to attend a media briefing with Jeremy Gaffney, I ran to my closet and busted out my old "STFU University" shirt! Good old South Tenkarrdum Foundry University! For those who don't know (or have forgotten), Gaffney was a founder of Turbine and worked on both Asheron's Call and Asheron's Call 2, my first two MMOs. Oh, and there's that WildStar game he was talking about. That sounds pretty cool too. Sadly, about a week before E3, I was told that Carbine wouldn't be making any big announcement at the con. This would be a catch-up conference, and from what I saw, it was mainly aimed at Korean gamers who might not already be familar in the game. I love E3 because of its international setting, and truthfully, even from "old" news you can usually find some new information if you're careful... or a selfish reporter can snag the question-asking mic two times in one briefing. Don't worry; the second time was in a big batch of "raise your hand if you have a question" end-of-the-Q&A type deals. I'm not that selfish.
IndieCade at E3: Dominique Pamplemousse in 'It's All Over Once The Fat Lady Sings!'
IndieCade took over a corner of the E3 show floor this year, complete with giant orange inflatable chairs and almost 40 games on various platforms. Out of all this beautiful madness, I spotted three games that went above and beyond the standard indie call – they were weird, they were different, and they were awesome. First up is Dominique Pamplemousse in "It's All Over Once The Fat Lady Sings!", a musical point-and-click investigation game from Deirdra Kiai, who is the sole developer, voice actor, singer and composer. If that sounds like a lot of work, it's because it is – but Kiai pulls it off seamlessly. Dominique Pamplemousse is available now for PC, Mac and iPad for $5, and there's a free demo on Kiai's site. It's a quirky romp through a musical, claymation landscape, and it's tons of fun. I feature two more games at IndieCade's E3 exhibit, both with videos coming up later today.
