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Super Joystiq Podcast Special: E3 2013 Day 2
E3 2013 Day 2 is a wrap, so it's time for another Super Joystiq Podcast Special. Ludwig, Jordan, Sinan, and Mike Schramm convene for another games-filled episode, starting with Ludwig's impressions of the forthcoming PS4 exclusive, Killzone: Shadow Fall. Mike hits Plants Vs. Zombies 2: It's About Time, and Ninja Theory's foray into mobile, Fightback, and Sinan talks Mad Max. Jordan puts a capper on this one with a slew of Wii U games including Sonic: Lost World, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, and Pikmin 3. The big show in L.A. isn't over yet, so be sure to check back tomorrow for even more from E3 2013. Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directly Details about each segment are available after the break.
Bayonetta 2: I have no idea what just happened
I didn't understand much of what was happening outside of combat in my Bayonetta 2 demo at E3. If ignorance is bliss, then surfing jets and fighting a demon dragon while scaling a seemingly infinitely tall skyscraper is transcendent. What I do know is that Bayonetta 2 is an exercise in the ridiculous, exchanging rationale for crazy-fast combos and elaborate torture finishers. It's very fitting then that Bayonetta 2 delivered on every expectation for a sequel that felt like such an impossible idea a year ago.%Gallery-191090%
Mad Max gets behind the wheel of Avalanche's open-world wasteland
Considering how many games trace their dystopian wasteland roots to it, it's interesting to see the E3 hands-off demo of the new Mad Max hone in something with plenty of room for exploration: vehicular combat. Just Cause dev Avalanche Studios promises 50 "authentic" Mad Max vehicles for players to enjoy in the third-person open-world game, as well as the ability to customize your own wrecking ball on wheels. After seeing Max traverse the sand dunes, with pleasingly crisp dust clouds sweeping past his big old boots, the demo soon finds the road warrior behind the wheel of a creaking black sedan. Its back roof is ripped off, turning it into a makeshift pick-up truck. Couched in the back is Max's crazy hillbilly companion Chumbucket, who's spouting off nonsense as he clutches onto a harpoon gun, and ducking for cover from the unfriendly armored cars beginning to surround the pair. Max pulls out a one-handed shotgun to take out a nearby driver in slow-mo, before Chumbucket fires his harpoon to rip the tire off the next vehicle, sending it sprawling into another for a satisfying double whammy. Frank Rooke, the game's creative director, says the harpoon gun can be used to pull off tires, armor and even other drivers - yoink! %Gallery-191235%
E3 2013: Hands-on with Zynga's Solstice Arena MOBA
I wasn't sure what to expect from Solstice Arena when I walked into Zynga/A Bit Lucky's meeting room. I'd heard about the whole "speed MOBA" thing, but I love playing as Nasus in League of Legends, so having no mobs was a bit conflicting. The game's also only being released on the iPhone and iPad, and I use an Android smartphone and a tablet running on Windows 8. But I wasn't worried. Fredrick Descamps and Jordan Maynard, co-founders (and former Trion members) of A Bit Lucky , were on hand to share their vision, but truthfully, the hands-on time won me over.
EA: Online Pass staying dead after PS4 reveal, program's expiration not tied to Xbox One
"It's dead, it's dead, it's deep-sixed, it's at the bottom of the Mariana Trench," Electronic Arts' President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau stated plainly yesterday about the company's Online Pass program to Joystiq. Following EA's announcement in late May that it was eliminating the Online Pass program, gamers braced for "the twist." That occurred last week when Microsoft finally announced the digital rights management (DRM) scheme for the Xbox One, which would have made an Online Pass program unnecessary. However, with Sony's announcement the PlayStation 4 will follow the current model of game console DRM and used games, it was a question if Online Pass was back on the table at EA. "We're not crafting a strategy to bring [Online Pass] back, you will not input codes to unlock your game, it's not going to happen," said Gibeau. The executive then moved on to tell us the company's decision to kill Online Pass and Microsoft's Xbox One DRM plans weren't linked at all, therefore PlayStation 4's recent reveal wouldn't have changed their decision on the program anyway. He called the Online Pass program "flat out dumb."
E3 2013: Hands-on with HEX
Before MMOs, I played the Pokemon TCG. I didn't just play it but dominated my local Pokemon league. Had it not been for Asheron's Call, I would have been the first gym leader who wasn't an employee of the local comic and cards shop, but my brother got that honor instead... until he caved in too. Before that, I played Magic: The Gathering and actually would have placed in the top 15 of a new-release tournament if my mother hadn't literally made me go to bed (that's what happens when you're 12 years old and have to get a ride from your mom). So when I was told that I could do a hands on with HEX, I made sure I made time to hit up the demo. For those who are familiar with MMOTCGs, I'm hoping my hands-on will be fitting, but for those who don't know how the stack works or what an untap phase entails, you may want to hit up an earlier hands-on that goes into much more detail on mechanics first.
Demystifying Quantum Break with Remedy's Sam Lake
There are still some unanswered questions about Remedy's Quantum Break, the studio's upcoming Xbox One video game / TV show hybrid. Questions are appropriate though, because we learned from Remedy creative director Sam Lake that Quantum Break is supposed to be a mystery. Specifically, it's a mystery involving the manipulation of time and reality. We used our ability to manipulate our E3 schedule to ask Lake a few questions about Quantum Break, and the resulting interview illuminates at least a few details about the project. Watch the interview to learn how the television show and game are tied together and to hear about Remedy's approach to storytelling in the new generation of games. And, of course, we couldn't resist asking a few questions about Alan Wake. If you'd like to try out time manipulation yourself, you can pause the video at any time. %Gallery-191140%
Taking a test drive with Driveclub
When stepping into Sony's booth at E3, my eyes darted to one empty game kiosk. Sony reps invited me to play a popular racing game that I was certain would take me back to the days where I'd pass hours of time fine-tuning my vehicle to beat my best records by seconds. The game being offered was Gran Turismo 6 for PS3. Within seconds of starting the demo, I attempted to follow a blue line on the road and immediately hit a wall. I never totally gained confidence behind the wheel, and constantly went off-course. Even though I played games such as Test Drive 4 and Gran Turismo for dozens of hours on the PlayStation, my lack of time on the road in recent years left me in the dust. Afterwards, I picked up a DualShock 4 controller and played a brief track in Driveclub. Again, I spun out almost immediately, but quickly picked up the controls and stayed course, finishing the race with a not-so-terrible record. Accessibility was a driving point impressed upon me by Technical Art Director Alex Perkins, and I saw it firsthand. I rarely felt like I was over-steering on tight turns, despite the powerful car I was driving. With simple gas, brake and handbrake controls, the pick-up-and-play nature of Driveclub instilled more confidence in me than Gran Turismo 6 could in its first few moments.
Assassin's Creed 4's Game Lab creates custom multiplayer modes
In the video above Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag multiplayer game director, Damien Kieken, explains the benefits of Game Lab, a new tool allowing you to create and share their own custom multiplayer match types. Over 200 different parameters can be tweaked through Game Lab, allowing you to limit certain abilities and change scoring in your own custom game type.
Sony's Yoshida: We've got Oculus dev kits, 'I love it'
While the PlayStation 4 doesn't yet support the Oculus Rift, Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida is full of love for the VR device. Speaking to Engadget during a roundtable today, Yoshida said, "We've got a couple of the development kits, and I tried it out and I love it." While we've seen plenty of devs showing off their Oculus Rifts, it's interesting to note Yoshida kept the question of future PS4 support open with a "no comment" and, as Engadget notes, a big smile.
Seen@E3: Patrice Desilets returns
This photo, snapped by Engadgeteer Ben Gilbert, shows the badge of one Patrice Desilets. You know, the guy that's reportedly in the middle of a lawsuit with his former employer, who suspended his game after firing him. Luckily, Desilets is keeping himself busy by roaming the halls of the Los Angeles Convention Center while representing his new (fake) company: "MeMyself&I."
E3 2013: Snail Games' Black Gold and Age of Wushu
Snail Games showcased two new MMOs today at E3: Black Gold and Age of Wushu. The two games have more than their parent in common; Black Gold utilizes the Age of Wushu engine. Set in a fantastical steampunk world, Black Gold is a mish-mash of colorful fantasy elements and grunge-ridden steampunk inventions, as we found in our hands-on with the game earlier today. Each faction within Black Gold (fantasy or steam faction) has three races of its own. The steam faction holds humans, dwarves, and vampires (what steampunk MMO would be without vampires?), and on the fantasy side you'll find more humans, a cat-like race, and a shape-shifting barbarian race. It might be a little limited in race selection, but maybe character creation will be just as interesting for the players as it is in Age of Wushu.
Quantum Break may cross paths with Alan Wake
Speaking with Joystiq, Remedy creative director Sam Lake hinted that the studio's Xbox One game Quantum Break may have a connection to Alan Wake. We jokingly asked if Quantum Break was really just a story written by Alan. He said no, but added that Quantum Break deals with many timelines and universes. "The way we approach these things is definitely kind of – they're connected in weird ways. And definitely for Remedy fans, there will be a lot of familiar things from a Remedy game." "We are definitely dealing with the idea of multiple timelines – essentially a multiverse – where many things are possible," he said. Our theory is that Quantum Break's season "cliffhanger" will be Alan waking up in the middle of the night, realizing that the entire game was just a dream. Our full interview with Sam Lake will be up soon.
Assassin's Creed 4 exclusive PlayStation content continues Aveline's story
We cornered (literally) Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag single-player game director Ashraf Ismail and asked him to detail the special Aveline content coming to PS3 and PS4 consoles. Ismail says the bonus PlayStation content will resume Aveline's story at the end of Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation and explains how Animus upgrades make it all possible.
E3 2013: DayZ shows off its standalone gameplay
Do you like zombies? Wait, that's a silly question, don't answer that. They're horrible undead abominations, of course you don't like them. But do you like shooting them? If so, you'll be happy to see the brand-new footage of DayZ's standalone client just past the break, because this is a game all about shooting zombies. Also stabbing zombies, incinerating zombies, and generally making the world safe for everyone who wants to have a zombie-free living space. The video stretches for about 12 minutes, covering everything from inventory management to shooting zombies to combing houses for supplies. No word on whether or not the standalone game will include mechanics for fighting against a growing sense of survivalist paranoia or waiting things out at the Winchester, but you can still see what it's like to get your zombie-killing hat on.
Twitch SDK could allow games to be streamed from any platform
Though one of Microsoft's biggest announcements to grow Xbox Live's social community was an exclusive partnership with video game broadcaster Twitch, the service could potentially be found on any platform, Twitch VP of Marketing Matthew DiPietro told Joystiq. "The strategy for Twitch is twofold right now: we want to make it as easy as possible to broadcast games and we want to make it easy as possible to view games," DiPietro said. On a hardware level, Twitch will be baked into the Xbox One operating system, allowing players to stream any titles they choose with the option to include audio and video overlays from their Kinect sensor. On a software level, the company is actively pursuing developers to add the Twitch streaming functionality within the game. DiPietro says, despite an exclusive agreement in place with Microsoft for Xbox One integration, there is nothing in its current agreement that precludes games containing the Twitch SDK to broadcast from any platform, including the PlayStation 4. Franchises that have (or will have) Twitch functionality include Activision's Call of Duty and Sega's Company of Heroes. PlayStation 4 also includes the ability for users to stream their gameplay sessions to the web, though the company has partnered with uStream to make that feature possible.
Banked Microsoft Points will convert to local currency at 'equal or greater' value
The Xbox ecosystem's conversion to local currency will be "equal or greater" than the existing Microsoft Point value currently banked on accounts. "When the transition takes place, the balance of Microsoft Points in an account will be retired and the customer will be given an amount in local currency that is equal or greater in Marketplace value," a Microsoft spokesperson informed Joystiq. "That value will be stored in your account and can be used similar to Microsoft Points to make purchases in the Xbox Live Marketplace." What that means in North America is that it will be 80 points (or less) to the dollar when the point exchange occurs. There is currently no official date for the conversion. [Thanks, Martin]
E3 2013: The secrets of TUG's universe
Over a heaping smorgasboard of food yesterday, I was given a healthy dose of the logical functions of the universe. The universe of TUG, that is, and the professor of the hour was Peter Salinas, Nerd Kingdom founder and expert in just about everything science. At this year's E3, Massively got to test a functional tech demo that showed some progress over earlier video capture and artwork, and Salinas told me about TUG's mechanics and how the systems of the game work together to create a unique experience. "A lot of the tacky-looking games on the internet are impressive by design, but they just don't have a lot of visuals to support what that design is," he explained cryptically. "Every once in a while, a game comes out and its systems are amazing, so a publisher will snatch it up, put [those systems] into a game, and then realize they don't want to use it. [So the developer] gets shelved. That's why we want to stay independent." The indie market proves innovation is still in demand, and the design of TUG is a lot more complex when one starts to peel back the layers like an onion (but not an ogre).
Free-to-play RPG Destiny of Spirits hits Vita this year
SCE Japan Studio and Lumines developer Q Entertainment are teaming up to deliver the free-to-play RPG Destiny of Spirits to PS Vita owners later this year. In Destiny of Spirits, players command an army of upgradable creatures in a series of turn-based battles. Spirit types are assigned elemental strengths and weaknesses, and players must build their teams strategically in order to penetrate enemy defenses. It's all a bit Pokemon-ish, in other words, though gameplay seems to focus exclusively on combat. Destiny of Spirits also lets players trade spirits with friends, and daily "blessings" can boost the power of certain unit types in battle. Destiny of Spirits will hit the PlayStation Network in 2013. %Gallery-191362%
Boyes on PS4 Used Games video: 'We're having fun'
Arguably the defining point of Sony's E3 conference was the PS4 'Used Games Instructional' video, in which Sony Worldwide Studios President Shuhei Yoshida simply handed a PS4 game to SCEA VP of Publisher and Developer Relations Adam Boyes. It was an unexpected jab at the Xbox One policy, and a funny one at that. Is this a new, aggressive Sony we're seeing at E3? "That was Shu and I messing around," a grinning Boyes told us during a roundtable session today as he waxed lyrical about his appreciation for Yoshida and his enjoyment of Sony's E3 conference. "We go back and forth and we say how are we going to challenge ourselves," Boyes continued, "How are we going to really try to inspire each other to push both first-party, which he runs, and then third-party on our side. "We're having fun. I guess that's like, coming out there, being able to talk about all the partnerships we've established over the last year. We just love it. Having that 60s television Batman skin up on screen, knowing that working with Warner Bros that's the one we got because we knew - I'm just a nerd for that stuff. We just love it so much. And the 'cheese wheels' comment with the Elder Scrolls stuff..." "We're just trying to have fun, that's the thing," Boyes added. "And we're all gamers, and the people that we work with are gamers, and they care, and it comes through. And it's just genuine." At the time of writing, the video's up to nearly 9 million views on YouTube.
