e3-2008
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Joystiq E3 hands-on: Dead Space
Survival plus horror. It's a pretty self-explanatory genre, albeit one that frequently produces thematically lopsided games that would rather have you yell "Eww!" than "Aiieee!" Running around with 43 different kinds of machine guns, a rocket launcher and an abundance of ammo is tremendous, limb-splattering fun (see: Resident Evil 4), but it's not scary. When we say Dead Space is scary, don't take it to mean that EA Redwood Shores' ambitious, zero-g frightener shoves a stick in your hand and pushes you out an airlock. On the contrary, you're armed to the teeth and quite capable of defending yourself from everything with teeth thanks to an array of upgradeable weapons, including a shotgun, flamethrower and charge-up-in-the-nick-of-time beam rifle. Shooting isn't the problem -- it's knowing where to shoot. The face is usually a good place to start, though!%Gallery-23118%
E308: Circling in on Pokemon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
I had never played the original Pokémon Ranger, mostly because I'm extremely wary of Pokémon spinoffs. But I read enough to know that, for better or worse, the sequel, Shadows of Almia, is more of the same, with slight tweaks. Before I talk about the game, I'd like to offer my impressions-within-impressions of the title: I'm disappointed that NOA decided to use such a generic fantasy-game subtitle over the jaunty "Batonnage," though I understand the reasoning (the reasoning being what the hell is "batonnage"). It's not as if anyone was ever going to call this anything but Pokémon Ranger 2 anyway. %Gallery-17838%
E308: Updates on PS3's Home
Our sister-sites Joystiq and PS3Fanboy managed to get some new information and pictures for Sony's Home at E3 last week. The biggest piece of news is somewhat disappointing -- public areas in Home are region locked. You can still visit anyone's private area, but outdoor mingling will be restricted.On the bright side, we are treated to a gallery of the "Game Spaces" for two of the PS3's biggest hits, Warhawk and Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. These Game Spaces are decorated with apparel relating to the game's they're based on, and feature interactive elements. Warhawk's room has a sand-table to formulate strategies with friends for an upcoming game. The Uncharted room has a locked door that can be opened after visitors discover a secret code, as well as a platforming mini-game to play.
E308: A closer look at The Agency's factions
Espionage. Spies. High-tech weaponry. All of it sounds great to us, but what's the deal with the two factions in the upcoming Sony Online Entertainment title The Agency? We got a chance to talk to Matt Wilson at E3, who gave us all the news on how the two factions, ParaGON and UNITE are progressing through the alpha. We also asked about how these agencies will shake out in terms of cooperative (and not-so-cooperative) play. So tell us a bit about the two sides for those who are unfamiliar with The Agency. We have ParaGON and UNITE, red and blue -- well, orangish red -- and the idea behind it is kind of uptown versus downtown. It's Jack Daniels versus Grey Goose. It's the coolest gadgets versus duct-tape and bailing wire. It's the attitude you choose as a player when you come into the game. ParaGON is more the mercenary for hire. They will work for anyone who can afford to pay them. UNITE is all about staying within a code of conduct, and working with the global authority. Eventually, they will wind up working together. We're hoping that the cross-faction game will bring in an interesting dynamic into play. We want to create areas where both factions really have to work together to solve problems.%Gallery-12934%
Keighley walks a fine line with Reggie, Dunaway defends herself
Geoff Keighley, you have bigger stones than us. The GameTrailers TV presenter grabbed super-sized Nintendo executive Reggie Fils-Aime immediately after he left stage at Nintendo's infamous E3 2008 keynote, and subsequently gave him a grilling that Paxman would be proud of.While Reggie was mostly gracious about Keighley's constant enquiries into the new Mario and Zelda titles, he did show the odd sign of irritation, at one point protesting, "Geoff, you keep trying to date me, you know. My girlfriend's going to get upset. You keep trying to date me. You can't do that." Protip, Geoff: when the vein starts bulging in the side of Reggie's head, that's the time to stop asking about Mario and Zelda.In a totally different interview, Reggie's conference co-presenter Cammie "Smiler" Dunaway has defended herself from (rather absurd, if you ask us) accusations that she was feigning enthusiasm during Nintendo's keynote. "Tell your blog that I'm really a genuinely smiley, nice person," she instructed Wired's Chris Kohler. "Because people think I'm fake, smiling up there. I'm just not! It's just me! I am who I am."Ah, the hard-hitting drama of the post-E3 analysis![Reggie carefully concealing his annoyance here, via videogaming247][Cammie Dunaway defending her right to smile here]
E308: Massively goes back to WAR
Last week was our chance to check back with the Mythic Entertainment staff, touch base with the makers of Warhammer Online. We managed to walk away with a few new interesting insights into the game, and wanted to make sure you had the chance to check them out below: E308: Warhammer's designers explain the career/city removalCareers lead Adam Gershowitz and Associate Producer Josh Drescher were instrumental in making our Massively goes to WAR series a success. Our lengthy discussion with the two Warhammer Online designers resulted in our in-depth analysis of (at that point) every class slated for the game. Last week at E3 our discussion with the two gentlemen turned to the removal of four of those classes, as well as four of the slated endgame capital cities. E308: 'Open Party' system to encourage grouping in Warhammer OnlineOur epic-level talk with Josh Drescher and Adam Gershowitz delved into a number of interesting topics. Warhammer Online is essentially feature complete, they said, and will offer players a level of UI customization we haven't seen in most previous MMOs. They also, interestingly, are working to take care of the looking for group problem with a new tactic: the Open Party. E308: Exploring an improved Inevitable City in Warhammer OnlineOur discussion of Warhammer Online as seen at last week's E3 event continues, with a look at an improved Inevitable City. During our huge Massively goes to WAR feature spread earlier this year, we had the chance to tour the Chaos home base, and came away impressed.
E308: Wii Fanboy leads the band in Major Minor's Majestic March
Click for larger image Ever since it's been rumored, the whole team has been patiently awaiting PaRappa creator Masaya Matsuura's next project. Once it was revealed, I found myself puzzled as to what to expect. Would it be as good as PaRappa? Has Matsuura lost it? Well, that confusion is gone now that I've had time to play the game at E3. Is it good? Well, read on and find out!%Gallery-15020%
E308: Massively's chat with DCUO's Jim Lee
Reading back through a list of comic book artist Jim Lee's work is like a "best of" list from DC comics history. Arguably best known for his art in the series Batman: Hush, Lee's credits include the X-Men, Punisher, Superman, and several titles from the comic label Wildstorm. The Authority, the cult classic dark superhero series, bore his penmanship in several places. He was at E3 last week with the folks from Sony Online Entertainment, because Jim is also the executive creative director on the DC Universe Online project.We had the chance to sit down with Mr. Lee for a short interview, to get a feel for what his role on the project is. We chat with him about his work on the project, find out about his love for talking apes, and delve into his past as an MMO gamer. It's great to hear such a noted artist talking about his love for the massive genre - read on to find out about Mr. Lee's past as a guild officer in the world of Norrath and much, much more.
E308: DS Fanboy rocks out to Rock Revolution DS
Oh, poor Konami. You're a little too late to your own party. Actually, more like way too late. With the company finally trying to grab a slice of the delicious music game pie, they're not only pushing Rock Revolution on home consoles, but also on the DS. After having some play time with the title at E3, I feel safe in saying that the handheld game is pretty much going to be the best of the bunch.
E308: DS Fanboy summons Gods in Age of Mythologies
I was always a big fan of the first Age of Empires game on the DS (remember when we did these?). When a sequel was revealed, I nearly wet myself with excitement (luckily, nobody can confirm or deny the wetting). Then, E3 hit and my cohort in crime, JC, informed me the game was available for play at THQ's booth.I immediately called "dibs."
"Holiday" edition of AoC box in the works; 360 version on track for late 2009
In another of Funcom's E3 interviews (this time with MMORPG.com) Erling Ellingsen and Senior Marketing Manager Rick Reynolds discussed a new edition of Age of Conan which they hope to release in time for the holidays. For now they could not say what else this version might entail besides a fancy box (Keaira with a big candy cane?), but it may be something along the lines of a unique piece of gear -- undoubtedly it won't have any must-have function after the Totem of Origins debacle.A lot of the rest of the interview runs similar to what we've seen already, but there is a brief mention of the Kingship system. We don't really find out anything that wasn't mentioned in the newsletter which announced the system back in June, although Ellingsen and Reynolds commented that graphics engine improvements currently being made should allow "hundreds" more players to participate in massive PvP without issues.The last section of the interview covers the Xbox 360 version of AoC, which is slated for a release at the end of 2009. These uber-latecomers will be able to choose between mixed platform servers, or a console-only affair.
Joystiq E3 Q&A: Spore detailed
During our time at E3 last week, we were able to spend about an hour with a very patient Maxis Producer Thomas Vu, who guided us through a near-final build of Spore (the whole thing) and answered a barrage of questions. Here's what we gleaned from our play session, broken down into each phase: Part 1: Cell / Tribe Phase (after the break) Part 2: Civilization / Space Phase Part 3: General Information %Gallery-27987%
Joystiq E3 sticks-on: Ion premium drum set
click to embiggen Last week, a handful of Joystiq crew got to make fools of themselves on the mini-stage before Harmonix's Rock Band Bash featuring The Who. Set up for us on stage was the new Ion premium drum set for RB2. Over the span of the night, we drummed through a handful of songs to get a feel for the set.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Mega Man 9
Short version: Mega Man 9 is, well, Mega Man. That's the whole point, isn't it?Not quite as short and possibly more elaborate than the game deserves version:%Gallery-28279%
The unbearable smallness of E3 2008, in pictures
After last year's detour to Santa Monica, E3 returned this year to its traditional home at the L.A. Convention Center. But the more things stay the same, the more they change, as they say (if they're a bit confused). Despite the return to the old location, much of this year's E3 had an empty, ghost town feeling when compared to E3s past. The general lack of participating developers and publishers, combined with the strict, invite-only attendee list combined to make a show that seemed incredibly small in the incredibly large convention center. To see just how small, check out our "E3, then and now" gallery, which compare scenes from previous E3s to similar scenes from this year's show.%Gallery-28248%
Joystiq E3 eyes-on: Monster Lab
Monster Lab for the Wii is one of those games that is clearly designed for a kid, but could grab hold of many adults. The head of development studio Backbone Entertainment walked us through the RPG with turn-based combat and told us the title is designed for 10- 15-year-olds, but if he'd known in advance the response from the press during E3, the company would have upped its demographic target.As it stands now, Monster Lab, which will be out this Halloween, has the player taking control of a monster that they'll upgrade over the course of the game. Various items will be collected in battles and can be fused together to form new parts for the monster back at the lab. There are mechanical, biological and chemical parts; each type being more or less susceptible to the others (mechanical > biological > chemical >mechanical). Also, the quality of new parts added to the monster will be determined through several minigames.%Gallery-28241%
Joystiq E3 hands-on: What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver
We aren't ashamed to say that one of the only things that even remotely caught our eye in Atari's booth was What's Cooking? With Jamie Oliver for the DS. The gameplay takes The Naked Chef's recipes and places the player in a more realistic Cooking Mama simulation. Actually, it's everything we ever wanted from Cooking Mama: Going through the process of making recipes on the DS and then actually making the same items in real life. Yes, the recipes in the game translate to the real world.Atari was completely unprepared for our interest in the game, as we couldn't get specific details on how many recipes are in the title, but we were told that there were over 100. Furthermore, the way Atari presented the game was as if someone had never played Cooking Mama before, which was obviously the case with some worthless Nintendo of Europe execs we scared off, who were too busy appearing posh and asking inane questions. Once they were gone, we got some time to actually test out the game and some of its features.%Gallery-28217%
Joystiq E3 eyes-on: Stormrise
Real Time Strategies have never been a good fit for consoles, thanks to their over-reliance on a mouse and keyboard. The Creative Assembly are hoping to change that with Stormrise by creating a fully intuitive, pad-based control system. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to try the controls out for ourselves, but from what we saw it has some potential. Selecting units is as simple as flicking the right analogue stick. Holding it in any direction will bring up a radar screen, showing your troops throughout the level relative to your currently selected unit. Rotating the right stick will let you highlight your units and, letting go of the stick, select them. Quickly "whipping" the right stick in any given direction will select the nearest unit in that direction, allowing you to switch between units swiftly. Once selected, the game's viewpoint switches to above and behind the unit, allowing you to see what they see. They can then be moved to any visible ground using a 3D cursor. This seemed to work well, but there are also other methods of controlling units that seemed to work even better, depending on your play style.
E308: DS Fanboy invites Princess Debut to the ball
I don't have to tell you just how odd Princess Debut is. For one, it's not the sort of title one usually associates with Natsume. Second, it's developed by Cave, who are usually behind hardcore shooters, and not titles like this. So, as odd as this all sounds, I was dying to get my hands on it when I hit up Natsume's booth at E3 just to see what this game is all about.%Gallery-27282%
E308: Wii Fanboy flips burgers in Cooking Mama: World Kitchen
Click to embiggen I should preface this by saying I'm not a huge Cooking Mama fan. Sure, she's great and all, but preparing fake food often held a spot in my heart next to making real food. I'm just no good at either activity. But, that isn't to say that Cooking Mama: World Kitchen isn't better by leaps and bounds than its predecessor. %Gallery-28210%
