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E308: We can model X3F
Towards the end of the Fable 2 / Banjo-Kazooie event during last week's E3 festivities, while we ninja-stalked Lionhead's Peter Molyneux, our own Richard Mitchell decided to pose for Gamerscore Blog's Dirty Diva. And, as you can see, Richard successfully posed an "X", "3" and an "F", though Dustin had to redirect his "3" seeing that Richard's first attempt to model the number was a bit backwards. X3F bloggers: We can spell, we can model and, darnit, we look good doing it too.
E308: Matt Wilson briefs us on the state of The Agency
We had a fantastic chance to talk with Matt Wilson about The Agency during E3. While a great deal of the footage they showed was largely identical to the footage we'd previously seen, many of Matt's insights about the direction they're taking The Agency in were quite illuminating. From PvP to operatives to vehicular combat and the eventual beta, Matt was generous enough with both his time and knowledge, and let us in on lots of great news and background. If you've been hungry for more information on some of the different aspects of this upcoming game, be sure to join us after the break for a great overview on this hot upcoming SOE property.
Witness the on-stage Rock Revolution press conference failure
Embarrassing on-stage moments were at a minimum this E3 -- especially compared to last year's Disney and Activision debacles -- but there was one shining moment of facepalm during the Konami press conference. After rocking out on stage and playing real bass to The Ramones' "Blitzkrieg Bop" with a cover band, Lauren Faccidomo – senior product manager on Konami's Rock Revolution – proceeded to fail out of the very same song in Rock Revolution. It very well may have been one of the worst compare/contrast press conference ideas ever conceived -- not to mention, Rock Revolution looks like it drunkenly stumbled in from 2003. Check out the oopsie after the break.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway
You can't envy companies releasing a first-person shooter these days. We've have a glut of quality in that department recently, with several-months-old FPSs still clogging the top slots of Xbox Live activity. So we were curious to see if Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway could cut through the clutter and prove itself worthy of a spot among the powerhouses. The answer? A resounding "I don't know."%Gallery-23910%
E308: Warhammer's designers explain the career/city removal
Careers 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.The announcement of that content removal has been a sore point for some members of the Warhammer community, but Drescher and Gershowitz were adamant that it was the best decision for the game. We talk in-depth with the two about why the content was removed, how the decision was made, and what the designers are going to do with the time they've freed up for themselves. Oh, and they're firm: EA had nothing to do with it. "EA has supported us this entire time, and it's really not EA pressure that led to this decision. What you've got to realize is that we're making a giant game. It's very expansive and it has a lot of features. We could easily fall into the trap of 'forever making the game'."
E3 'headed for extinction,' says Pachter
Watch out, E3! According to Wedbush Morgan analyst and man Michael Pachter, you could soon be heading the way of the Dodo, the Quagga, and decent Sonic games. In a note to investors titled "Entertainment Software: E3 2008 Review: The Bad, The Great, and the BORING!," the famously quotable analyst concluded that the latest E3 was a crushing disappointment, and described the event as "ill-timed," "boring," and "headed for extinction." Oh, Pachty, you sure know how to make a major industry event down on its luck feel special!The show, which has been criticized by other industry figures of late, isn't beyond saving itself, but Pachter thinks it should be pulled back to no later than early June, and that "the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space."To give this piece of news a Nintendo slant, we'll add that Pachter deemed Nintendo's presentation to be "just right", but did note the grumblings from core gamers that not enough announcements were made for them.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Resistance Retribution
Can Sony Bend do no wrong? Resistance: Retribution was easily the best PSP game I saw in Sony's E3 2008 room, and arguably better than any PS3 game there as well (I didn't play all of them). Retribution is essentially "Syphon Filter PSP, Part 3," and players of that handheld franchise will instantly recognize visual and structural similarities. There are, of course, numerous designs that link this new game to Insomniac's Resistance games, despite the obvious perspective change (Retribution is third-person!). PSP has a difficult time handling the demands of modern action titles. The lack of a second analog nub cripples most games that dare follow the trajectory of similar console-based efforts. Luckily, Bend has had two previous "trials" to get it right, and this time the gang nailed it. While the developer guiding my tour described the demo as a "before pre-alpha" build, I was amazed by the game's playability. At the core of Retribution's gameplay is what Bend's calling the "aim assist box." %Gallery-27792%
E308: A glimpse into The Agency's guilds and classes
In our recent talk with Matt Wilson at E3, we were given a lot of really illuminating information about classes and guilds in the upcoming SOE title, The Agency. It would seem that the Agency crew is doing a very good job of listening to many of the frustrations of MMOG players, while taking the time to study popular games like Team Fortress 2. If you've been wondering about the different classes and abilities, as well as social structure in this upcoming MMOFPS, then you'll be interested to hear what's in the works.Massively: What are the classes or archetypal roles in The Agency?Matt Wilson: Our four primary classes are basically Combat, which is the ability to have weapons and have high defenses. Stealth, which is more of a high-DPS, sniper rifles and other things that you take into battle, [Undercover] Stealth which is very important, which is sneaking around and distractions. And finally, there's the Support classes like your Medics and Field Techs. Field Techs are about defense, turrets, other cool things like that. Medics are more about supporting the team, being able to support med stations while you're out in the field, heals, that kind of thing. Those are the general archetypes. Then we have specialties that fall out of those, allowing players to specialize further in each class.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Tom Clancy's EndWar
"Attack the enemy base!""Yes sir, I'll enter a foot race.""No, launch the missiles!""We'll harvest all nearby thistles.""Attack the enemy units. Please, listen to me.""Downloading latest DLC.""Oh ... just forget it."This doesn't happen in Tom Clancy's EndWar. It may be a sad comment on the history of in-game voice commands, but the best compliment one can give to Ubisoft's robust interface is that it works. There's no need to plead with it in a robotic tone or a slowed pace, and no voice training is required beforehand. Despite slipping in an "uh" here and there while contemplating orders, EndWar understood everything we said. Well, everything aside from the muttered curses prompted by our utter defeat.%Gallery-28196%
E308: Wii Fanboy fights crime in LEGO Batman
When I showed up at the Warner Bros. meeting room to demo LEGO Batman, I was excited, but also kind of reluctant. You see, the formula of these LEGO titles had started to show its age, as reviews of LEGO Indiana Jones weren't the most favorable. I was a tad bit worried that LEGO Batman would not be the game I was hoping it to be. Thankfully, my fears were never justified.%Gallery-13236%
E308: Warhammer Online's customization options explained
One component of Mythic Entertainment's Warhammer Online that we haven't seen a ton of is character customization. We know that the collector's edition will contain 'rare heads', for example, but what of in-game options. That's exactly what the team set out to correct at last week's E3. Mythic's Adam Gershowitz lays it out for us - make sure to read below the cut for some exciting news about guild banners!I noticed earlier there was a demo for what looked like character customization options? Adam Gershowitz: One of the things we've been having a bit of a hard time with, because we show people live demos, is showing the breadth of customization in the game. So we've put together this presentation which shows off what we have. As you're aware, all of our equipment is career-specific. We've taken a page out of the FPS playbook – we want you to be able to identify a character's career from a distance. Expanding on that, we're showing the armor progression from low to high level in the game. We have over 400 armor sets in the game, they're split pretty evenly amongst the 20 careers. What you're seeing here are just three of the careers - the Warrior Priest, the Witch Elf, and the Chosen – going through some of the armor. I don't think it's all of the armor, maybe just half of it.
Top 5: Nintendo's Biggest "Mehs"
As the fallout of E3 rests upon the public, Nintendo finds themselves pelted by fierce criticism. Forum posts and blog comments have been predicting the assassination of the Wii core gamer. Not surprisingly, the most ominous declarations have been coming from within Nintendo's ranks. A civil war has been declared, and the fanboys are ready to revolt against the casuals. Though this core gamer is not ready to take sides, I will admit that Nintendo's press conference was quite underwhelming. It wasn't a complete and utter failure; the bigwigs at Nintendo made no bones about their intentions. Additionally, one can argue that the financial foundation of the casual gamer endows Nintendo with more capital to support first party efforts. And by having the most successful console, third parties are likely to focus resources on Nintendo's magnificent machine. Certainly, all parties had impressive titles associated with E3, such as Dead Rising, The Conduit, NHL 2K9, Wario Land: Shake It!, Mega Man 9, and plenty to be excited about on the DS. Though Nintendo didn't close with a Jobs-esque "one more thing" slobberknocker, they accomplished what they set out to do. Yet dissatisfaction remains: the definitive description of Nintendo's E3 presence is a resounding meh. Here is a look at some of the most famous "mehs" in Nintendo history. Not utter failures, mind you. Rather, items that were simply met with indifference. 5. The Super Scope - The Nintendo Entertainment System was offered in several different "bundles," with the most successful bundle containing the successful NES Zapper. The light gun was a relatively new concept and simple to use. Plus, my cousin's friend said you can totally shoot the dog if you get to the 50th level in Duck Hunt and enter the Konami code on the second controller. Like many successes of the NES, Nintendo tried to transfer the idea of gun play to the SNES. Thus, the Super Scope was created. While the Zapper was similar in appearance to a revolver, the Super Scope was shaped more like a bazooka. This proved to be uncomfortable and not nearly as cool as the original. Plus, the device relied on infrared instead of light flashes, which was found to be less precise. The nail in the coffin was that the Super Scope went through AA batteries like I go through cheesesteaks: in ridiculous numbers.
Uncharted and Warhawk Home spaces snapshots
Click for high resolution Hype for Home may be pretty dead right now, but there are still a few aspects of the service that intrigue us, like Game Spaces. A couple of these were shown off in trailer form at Sony's E3 Press Conference, but we had a chance to have an in-depth look at the Uncharted and Warhawk spaces with a Sony representative. Most of the presentation was seen through the lens of a camera, so check out the gallery for plenty of snapshots. The Uncharted Game Space takes the form of Sully's bar, complete with "photos" of characters from the game on the walls. The space is made up of several rooms and rull of relics and mounted animal heads. There's a chance that something in there might be indicative of where the series is headed (a diver's helmet? Uncharted 2: Quest for Atlantis confirmed?) The Warhawk space is similar, featuring assets from the game. The best things about these Game Spaces are the interactive elements. Uncharted has a locked door with a keypad input. The number can be found by carefully looking around and this will open another room for you to explore. There's also an Uncharted-inspired platforming mini-game. The Warhawk space has a sandtable for you and your clan to plan out your method for the upcoming match before jumping into a game. Gallery: Home Game Spaces E3 2008
E308: Exploring an improved Inevitable City in Warhammer Online
Our 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. Last week we got the chance to see an updated version of the capital, and learned about what the extra time removing the other capitals has netted the Mythic Entertainment development team. Read on to hear Adam Gershowitz talk about city improvements, the endgame reward cycle, and how the two-cities structure has focused the player experience.Adam Gershowitz: Inevitable City is one of the two capital cities we're going to launch with. It has gotten bigger and better than it was previously. That's part of the reason why we're down to two capital cities - we keep throwing more and more stuff into the existing ones. It got to the point where we were like, "Well crud, just Altdorf and Inevitable City have as much content as we originally planned for all three city pairings. So we kind of wanted to finish the job, to make sure it's really really top-notch so we're focusing down a little bit more. What that does is it actually changes the campaign up a little bit.
Joystiq E3 eyes-on: inFamous
An explosion obliterates a six-block area of your city, killing everyone but you in the blast. During the following weeks and months, society breaks down. People take to the streets, comitting crimes and cultural suicide. The city is quarantined and abandoned. You wake up from a coma, the sole survivor of the original blast, with the power to control electricity at your finger tips. In the power vacuum of the city, you are able to make a difference, but will you be a benevolent savior or a malevolent power titan? This is the question you're asked when you load up inFamous. Sucker Punch delivered a behind closed doors gamplay demonstration of the game this year at E3, demonstrating the direction they're going in with the title. Gameplay during the presentation consisted of exploring a small part of the city, which felt very similar to Assassin's Creed. Cole is an urban explorer, a hobby he had since before the blast, so he has ability to climb around the city at ease. How convenient. Cole's more supernatural abilities are all related to electricity. Those demonstrated consisted of a thunderbolt zapping power and telekenesis (manipulation of electro-magnetic fields, apparently -- that's electricity related, right?) In order to remain powered up, you must continue to syphon energy from the city, drawing it out from electricity pylons and other sources. Sometimes the city will suffer from a blackout, leaving you without any way to refuel should you come across any particularly brutal enemies.
E3 2008 news roundup
Since we landed in Los Angeles for last week's E3, we've posted hundreds of articles. Knowing that there's a (very) small percentage of Joystiq readers who don't visit our site every 5 minutes, we've decided to collate all of last week's biggest news items to make sure you didn't miss the most important parts. (For breaking news from each of the big three press conferences, check out our highlights posts for each).Microsoft Highlights from Microsoft's E3 press conference Install your Xbox 360 games to the hard drive, access XBLM on the web Details on the New Xbox Experience: search, hard drive play, alerts, themes, pics Castle Crashers, Galaga Legions, more on XBLA in 4-6 weeks Details on Lips: microphone, your songs, its songs Bungie: E3 game announcement pulled by publisher Square to squeeze FFXIII onto 360 with little compromise Portal: Still Alive additional levels based off Portal: The Flash Version, won't include GlaDOS Covenant playable in Halo Wars Too Human demo now available
Major Nelson continues to clear up New Xbox Experience
Considering how much time we spend looking at Xbox Live waiting for someone, anyone to accept our Cloning Clyde game invite, it's understandable that we'd be pretty trepidatious about some of the planned big changes coming to the service. Thankfully, Xbox's Major Nelson is there to hold our heads to his audio bosom, stroke our hair and promise us that everything's going to be OK.His new podcast features all kinds of reassurances, chief among them: We won't have to create an avatar and transferring Xbox 360 games to the hard drive will never be required, something we were paranoid about. What other comforts will you discover inside? Only after a click here will you know for sure.%Gallery-27601%
Joystiq E3 hands-on: Flock
In a nutshell, Flock is an evolved form of Lemmings: Using your ship and it's various beams, you guide sheep, chicken, cows and pigs past obstacles and into the Mother Flocker (be careful about slurring that name). The game will also feature co-op and a map editor. Although we weren't able to see either feature in action, Capcom's Kraig Kujawa told us their goal is to implement cross-console map sharing. %Gallery-28184%
Joystiq interview: Bethesda's Todd Howard on Fallout 3
Hopefully we're not in danger of providing Fallout 3 overload, and if you haven't gotten the idea yet, we're really looking forward to this game. It's literally a cool science fiction series skin slapped on top of Oblivion, but we're not complaining about that. Blowing away mutants in the wasteland? Yes, please. Here's the meat and bones from our time with Bethesda's Todd Howard, and you can listen to the full audio interview below. After the break, find out some tidbits like the size of the world, how many radio stations are in the game, and why you won't be dual-wielding or buying horse armor. Oh, and be sure to pay attention to the exploding pants achievement.
Joystiq E3 hands-on: flower (PSN)
Before E3, the last time we heard anything about flOw dev Thatgamecompany's newest project was November 2007. Cut to last week, when TGC Creative Director and co-founder Jenova Chen guided us through an early build of their upcoming PSN title flower (note the 'o' is now lowercase). Like flOw, it's really hard for us to confidently form an opinion on the abstract idea (check out PS3 Fanboy for their praises). We hope Sony decides to release a demo with this game. Videos and previews will not do flower justice; it's a game worth trying for yourself. %Gallery-27943%
