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Games Convention coming to North America
Following up a very successful year in Leipzig, Germany, it looks like those of us in North America can look forward to the Games Convention in the future. CEO Wolfgang Marzin has announced that they're now planning on bringing the show to North America, likely looking to pick up the slack left in the wake of E3 practically going the way of the dodo."The concept is flexible and the network of the global games industry permits us to be active at different locations," said Marzin. "After the Southeast Asian Games Convention, we are now focusing on the North American market." With a record 203,000 attendees this year, it seems like an easy decision to bring the show to one of the largest gaming markets in the world.
Nintendo finally admits E3 was a disappointment
During an interview with VGChartz, Nintendo's resident wrist-hurting, Shaun White-introducing marketing lady, Cammie Dunaway, commented that Nintendo's E3 showing was a bit of a disappointment. You don't say?"I would say the message is we were disappointed with our performance at E3," commented Dunaway. "There were titles like Wario which we think will be really fun titles that we should have show cased." Yes, we'd have to agree. It was certainly the best game we played at the show. But what about this Pikmin 3 business? "We were excited that Mr. Miyamoto made the commitment that Pikmin is coming," she said. "It would have been nice if we could have said that on stage. But, we think it was a good recognition for us that we care for our core fans, and not just the new people who are now discovering Nintendo." E3 2008 was a pretty big deal. We had lots of hands-on impressions, as well as new screens and video to talk about. Check out our live impressions from Nintendo's keynote here, as well as some of the big news right here.
Playboy calls Heavy Rain 'Best of E3'
Did those new screenshots of Heavy Rain impress you? Well, you haven't seen anything yet. Breaking the oath of secrecy journalists took at E3, Playboy proudly proclaims that this it-was-there-but-in-secret game of E3 took top honors, beating out other titles, including R2 and LittleBigPlanet. "I will simply say it's by far the most impressive thing I saw at E3," said Playboy's Scott Alexander. However, he notes that "Sony ninjas will hit me with poison shurikens before I can type the words to describe it," Guess we're not going to get details out of him.While we're certain the public will see more of Heavy Rain in the coming weeks, it appears the game may be very far off into the future -- "This isn't coming for a while yet," Alexander added.[Thanks, Gambit07!]
Five minutes of inFAMOUS
G4 has five minutes of direct-feed footage of the upcoming PS3 exclusive from Sucker Punch, inFAMOUS. Needless to say, it looks pretty exciting even in this early state. All footage was captured during E3 -- undoubtedly, it's shaping up even better now. Visit G4 to see inFAMOUS for a full five minutes in glorious HD.
Fallout 3, Electronic Arts clean up at Game Critics E3 Awards
Fallout 3 from Bethesda Softworks nabbed the coveted Game of the Show award today from Game Critics -- a panel of judges comprised of editors from various online/offline publications (including Joystiq's own Chris Grant). Fallout 3 also took home the award for Best RPG at the show.Electronic Arts brought home 5 awards including Best Action/Adventure game for Dead Space and Best Original Game for Mirror's Edge. The Xbox 360 platform was at the top of the award count with 8 for the console, including a Best Action Game win for Gears of War 2.
The Joystiq E3 2008 Awards
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_Joystiq_E3_2008_Awards'; With E3 over and done, it's time for outlets everywhere to start organizing their Best of E3 awards, and the Joystiq network is no different. Thus, we present to you Joystiq's E3 2008 Awards. Find out what the Most Devestating Megaton was. Discover which company walks away with the Annual Least Like EA Award. Of course, you'll want to find out what Joystiq picked as their game of the show as well.Check out Joystiq's E3 2008 Awards!
LittleBigPlanet takes multiple Best of E3 awards
Looks like we're not the only ones that thought LittleBigPlanet was the best PS3 exclusive at E3 this year. In fact, many other outlets are proclaiming it the Game of the Show. 1UP declared Media Molecule's upcoming platformer "Game of the Show," while Resistance 2 earned "Best Shooter" and inFAMOUS earned "best trailer." "Best New Game"? MAG.G4 gave its award for Best PS3 Game to inFAMOUS ... while it gave away top accolades to LittleBigPlanet as the best game of E3. However, Gametrailers chose to disagree with the rest of the bunch though, calling Resident Evil 5 their Best of E3.If it wasn't apparant already, these repeated nods from critics should make one thing very clear: LBP is awesome -- we can't wait for all of you to get your hands on it too![Via Joystiq, Image source]
E308: Walking through The Agency's trailer
While at E3 2008, we had a great deal of time to talk to Matt Wilson, Executive Director of Development for SOE Seattle, the studio in charge of making the new MMOFPS title, The Agency. While we were sadly unable to procure the video they were showing at E3, we did manage to get oodles of pictures to help illustrate just what we were seeing. Join us now as we take you through Matt WIlson's walkthrough on this great upcoming title!Matt Wilson: Back in the old days (which was like three years ago) we thought "hey, let's make an MMO that breaks the mold of MMOs." We had worked back in Microsoft on Asheron's Call and a variety of other games that were more geared towards the fantasy MMO space. So, we really wanted to break away from that. Our goal at the very beginning was also to attack the console as a primary platform. However, to really crack the console open, you have to design for the console. You can't just take a PC MMO and cram it onto the console. Thus, we came up with an idea called The Agency. The whole inspiration for The Agency came from the spy and espionage genre. In all the places I've been, even internationally, everybody knows who James Bond is. It has that kind of broad appeal. It's easy for me to say "hey, what's your favorite Bond moment"; "what's a great villain that you can remember"; or "who was a femme fatale you liked?" All manner of things will come from off the top of your head when I ask those questions. So we figured if we put those elements in the game, players would be able to recognize the world right off the bat.
E308: Monster Lab blinded me with science
Backbone Entertainment's Monster Lab, published by Eidos, seems better every time I see it. I don't think that this is a function of improvements being made to the game so much as it is a matter of me understanding it a little better and getting more into the gameplay. I hope this game doesn't end up as overlooked as I think it will!My demo at E3 took me through most of the steps to monster-fighting success: creating parts, building a creature, and fighting. Parts for the monster are made in minigames, and come in three categories of mad science: mechanical, alchemical, and biological. Mechanical parts range from gear-covered steampunk-looking stuff to futuristic robot parts; biological parts are your basic gross monster stuff, and alchemical parts are magic-themed. %Gallery-15038%
E308: Wii Fanboy tends farm in Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility is a big game. The first thing that I noticed was just how large the game world is. You aren't restricted to just one farm, instead able to spread many a seed across many a land. Aside from that, the game very much feels like all of the other Harvest Moon titles, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on whether you're a fan of the series or not. %Gallery-3745%
E308: DS Fanboy raises its spirits with Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness
To be honest, the last time I played a Harvest Moon game, it was on the GameCube. We're talking years ago, folks. But, like riding a bike, Harvest Moon is an experience that doesn't change much over time. Fans like it that way, I imagine. And, just as I expected, Island of Happiness featured a lot of the same things previous titles in the franchise offered. %Gallery-15230%
PS Fanboy presents: the Best of E3 2008
Yes, it's finally over. Sony dominated yet another E3 by focusing on a number of high-quality games coming out on PS3 and PSP this holiday season. Join us as we take a look at the best of E3 -- we hope you'll agree. Start here. Biggest Surprise Best Non-Playable Game Best Multiplatform Game Best PSP Game Best PSN Game Best PS3 Exclusive
Reggie: Wii storage is a 'mainstream' problem
Reggie recently sat down for a little chat with Stephen Totilo from MTV Multiplayer to discuss what's on everyone's mind. No, not the company's showing at E3, but rather the storage issues of the console.He said that "from an Americas-centric perspective," the Wii's storage limitations are becoming a "mainstream" problem. Again, he reiterates that the company is working on a solution, but isn't ready to reveal any specifics yet. Seriously, Nintendo, how long are you going to wait? Each week, more Virtual Console and WiiWare content releases and gamers can't download because they have no space![Thanks, il_duce620!]
E308: DS Fanboy explores the lands of Rune Factory 2
When hitting up Natsume's meeting room at E3, I kept catching myself wishing I wasn't alone. In fact, I wished that one specific person was with me, because all of these games that the company had on display were based on franchises I, frankly, didn't have the most experience with. That's not to say I went in biased, just that I prefer to be as well-informed as possible going in.Imagine my surprise when I played Rune Factory 2 and it was like Harvest Moon had a baby with Secret of Mana.%Gallery-25983%
E308: Wii Fanboy takes a hammer to Our House
Majesco had a solid line-up of games at E3. Cooking Mama: World Kitchen looks promising and, until I got my hands on it, Major Minor's Majestic March also looked very good. Suffice it to say I was kind of shocked at just how lackluster Our House is, considering it was next to these games at Majesco's booth.Our House is going to need a lot of renovations before it's ready for a final inspection.
Wii Fanboy Weekly: July 10 - July 23
Did you miss us last week? Well, we were just so darn busy with that E3 thing, we couldn't scrounge up enough time to do a recap post for you all. So, we've got a lot to catch you up on. First, check out our two giveaways. You like free games, right? Then, be sure to check out all of the highlights from E3, including all of our hands-on impressions. You can find them on our E3 2008 page right here.As for the highlights, we're going with original content to catch you up from the week you missed.Features Born for Wii: Four Sword AdventuresWe retool it for Wii It's-a Mario World: Mario is Missing (from E3)Our weekly look at Nintendo's plumber covers the show Revolutionary: More MotionMike Sylvester tackles the topic in his latest tech savvy column Born for Wii: PikminGot Pikmin on the brain? So do we! Top 5: Things we won't see at E3Still a good read! VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 7/14/08We check out that week's Virtual Console releases VC Monday Madness video wrap-up 7/21/08We check out that week's Virtual Console releases Brawl Stage of the Week: It's a carNo, seriously, it is! Virtually Overlooked: Aerobiz SupersonicWe tell you why it should be on the Virtual Console Virtually Overlooked: Mega Man and BassWe tell you why it should be on the Virtual Console Top 5: Nintendo's biggest 'mehs'We run them down
The games that weren't there: Missing from E3
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gaming_news/The_games_that_weren_t_there_Missing_from_E3_2'; E3 seems to be outdoing itself every year, but not in a good way. The annual event seems to be getting more and more ... boring. Aside from the obvious downsizing, part of the reason for the lack of excitement is the lack of exciting games. While there were some great games in attendance this year, there were also just as many interesting titles that were missing. What titles are those exactly? Joystiq talks about those games here, check it out.
E308: The other musical pantomime game
Wii Music was the big news at E3 in terms of Wii games about pretending you were playing a fake instrument (in contrast to games like Guitar Hero, in which you actually play a fake instrument). But it wasn't the only game in town: Disney's Ultimate Band also features the Wiimote and Nunchuk subbing in for guitar, bass, and drums. Except, instead of MIDI versions of your public domain favorites, Ultimate Band has you playing along to abhorrent covers of recent pop/rock hits. Also, unlike Wii Music's freeform nature, Ultimate Band is a game with, like, goals and points and stuff.%Gallery-28417%
E308: DS Fanboy plays God with Populous DS
It's been a very long time since I played Populous. In fact, the only version I ever got to play was the SNES port (the game first released on the PC, Atari ST-1 and Amiga) back in the day. But, I did play that port quite a bit in my youth, so seeing the game hit the DS is very exciting to me. Populous DS very much feels like the game of old, but in truth is nothing like the SNES title in both presentation and gameplay.%Gallery-11987%
The Agency interview with SOE's Matt Wilson
Our friends over at Massively got a chance to talk to SOE's Director of Development, Matt Wilson, about the latest developments concerning The Agency. Wilson reveals the following: They are currently in "full alpha" and the plan is for a beta in the fall. They are also working towards a demo. They haven't decided between a subscription based financial model or a microtransaction one. However, Wilson noted that the PS3 is a console, and "console players don't generally do subscriptions." The penalty for death will be "as lightweight as possible to begin with" since the player will die "frequently." Penalty will mostly be in the form of lost gameplay time, but Wilson cites an example of after dying ten times, you'll need to get fixed up at a field office, presumably losing extra time. World events are planned, and SOE is hoping for content that "is easily playable for everyone" and accessible to players who do not invest as much time into the game. Vehicle combat will take place. No other specific details are given. With SOE coming out with two MMOs in the near future, do you think the PS3 will dominate as a console for that genre? Read the entire interview over at Massively.
