e3-2009
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Interview: EGM Now's Steve Harris
Following the closure of Electronic Gaming Monthly by parent company Ziff Davis Media earlier this year (after nearly 20 years in the game industry), the magazine's original founder Steve Harris repurchased the rights and promised a rebirth for EGM. We ran into Harris at E3 2009 and cajoled him into speaking with us about his purchase. (He was a bit busy with business at E3, as you might imagine, thus we're talking a few months later.) Though we're still a little ways off from the mag's December 1 "return," he gave us a few hints of what to expect, his explanation of how EGM Now will succeed financially where "old EGM" failed, and a few of his favorite games on the current-gen systems. Hit the break for the whole thing.
Square Enix near to announcing another Nier game
It might not be the game we were most excited by at E3 2009, but upcoming action game Nier is apparently already getting the franchise treatment. According to a two-page ad spotted by 1UP in the most recent Famitsu, "Nier Replicant" is set to be detailed in next week's issue of the Japanese magazine. The spread features a scantily clad white-haired lady with a single line of text that reads, "Beyond revenge lies crazed desperation." Given the absolute dearth of information we have on the Nier franchise, we're sorry to say we can offer little more than our furrowed brow to assuage your confusion over Replicant's tagline. We do know that the name could very well change before it's formally announced on Western shores, as Nier was recently announced in the same edition of Famitsu as "Nier Gestalt" -- known as to us as just Nier. It appears as though at least some of our questions will be answered in next week's issue.%Gallery-64593% [Image credit]
DSi firmware v1.4 drops in Japan, Facebook connectivity arrives alongside [update]
It seems that Nintendo DSi owners in Japan have already started digitally receiving their copies of the newest firmware, v1.4. The refresh brings little more than the Facebook photo uploading we heard (very little) about back at E3 2009. How little more, you ask? The Nintendo Japan page also lists "faster image display speed in [the] DSi camera." That's it. Nintendo announced during E3 that the functionality would be hitting American DSis "this fall." We've asked the company for a more firm release date in other territories and will update this post if we hear back. In the meantime, check out a quick walkthrough that our pal Ittousai from Engadget Japan put together for us, just after the break.Update: Nintendo has responded to us by saying "We have not announced a launch date."[Via Engadget Japan]
Miyamoto: Next Legend of Zelda won't be 'radically different'
If you subscribe to Nintendo Power, the latest issue should be arriving at your house very soon -- Aeropause has the scoop on some details on Nintendo's upcoming lineup from the issue. Most important to folks reading this text is likely what Miyamoto had to say regarding the new Legend of Zelda game, announced back at E3: "I don't think it's going to be that radically different." But, what about the theory of the girl being the Master Sword? Surely that is radically different! In typical Nintendo fashion, that's all Miyamoto had to say. He left us hanging to speculate, and we're sure most will be able to turn this appetizer of a quote into a five-course meal. [Via Videogamer]
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: More E3 interviews
The Nintendo Channel receives another helping of E3 interviews this week, highlighting big Wii titles such as Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Rabbids Go Home, and, the feel-good story of the year, Tatsunoko vs Capcom. We're pumped for the we-never-saw-it-coming localization. How about you?%Gallery-32421%
Global Agenda closed beta to begin in July
Hi-Rez Studios just updated their Answer Center with new Global Agenda beta information. The game is expected to move to a Closed Beta phase this July. Global Agenda has been in Alpha testing for a number of months now.It looks like they're sub-phasing their Closed Beta Test as well (e.g., CBT-1, CBT-2, etc.), an approach that seems more common in MMOs these days. Warhammer Online did a series of closed beta phases, and more currently, Aion is doing the same. Each phase focuses on a different area of the MMO that needs testing and each successive phase usually brings more testers to the mix.There are pros and cons when taking this phased approach. On one hand you really get to hammer down on your areas of concern but on the other you're only testing the individual parts and not the whole. Players always seem to play a game differently when unleashed upon the full experience.In the end though, it probably won't matter to all the people who want a taste of what Global Agenda has to offer. Winning E3 Editor's Choice awards like "Best of Show 2009" is definitely building anticipation and raising expectations for this title.
Interview: Silent Hill: Shattered Memories producer Tomm Hulett
When it was first revealed, we gave Silent Hill: Shattered Memories a bit of a cold shoulder. Gone was the established story that had first introduced us to the world's creepiest town, reinterpreted with altered characters and a new otherworld that ditched darkness and rust in favor of jutting glaciers and vaguely menacing snowflakes. Thankfully, our experience with the game at E3 revived our expectations, even if it was at the expense of whole memories.We later had the opportunity to speak to producer Tomm Hulett, who elaborated on why we should call Shattered Memories a re-imagining -- and not a remake:You're making Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and you're tying it to the first game. Harry Mason is back, but you're calling it a re-imagining, you're not saying "remake." Is that a bad word?Right, that's a curse word. [laughs] By re-imagining, like you said, we've got the premise of the first game: you're Harry Mason, you're looking for your daughter Cheryl. Beyond that we've changed and updated it, so it's an entirely new experience. If you've played the PlayStation game to death, you still have no idea what to expect for Shattered Memories. We did that because, on the Wii, maybe there's a lot of people who haven't played any Silent Hill games, so it wasn't really fair to say, "Here's the sequel to Homecoming, enjoy yourself." But then, returning fans, they've played the first game, they've played Origins, they've seen the movie, and they've played Silent Hill 3 and it all kind of revolves around the events of the first game. So they wouldn't really want to play a remake and so, by re-imagining it, there's new content -- if you've never played it before, of course, it's new to you -- but then, there's also this extra layer of new content if you're returning, because you get to experience all these things that are different from what you're expecting. And that really fits the theme of Silent Hill, which is this place where your reality is subjective and you don't know what to expect. We've built that into the game if you're a returning fan.
Pachter: Last.fm, Twitter the most important features of E3
What was the biggest news of E3? Was it the PlayStation Motion Controller? Project Natal? The triumphant return of Samus? According to Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, it was none of the above. As part of the Gamasutra Analyze This feature, Pacther stated that he believes the biggest announcement was actually Microsoft's injection of Last.fm, Facebook and Twitter into the Xbox 360 dashboard.Pachter states that Microsoft's announcement was "far and away the most important one of the show," and one that the media failed to latch onto. Pachter says that Microsoft's ultimate goal is to solidify the Xbox 360 as "a functioning computer that happens to be located in the living room and is connected to the television." The Facebook, Last.fm and Twitter applications open the Xbox to the internet -- if only in a limited way -- moving it one step closer to the mythical, do-everything set-top-box we've been hearing about since the days of WebTV.The analyst makes this point in reference to Apple, which hasn't managed (successfully) to do the same thing with AppleTV. Granted, that doesn't make much difference to gamers, but from a pure business perspective, we can see Pachter's point.
Uncharted 2 crowned Best of E3 in Game Critics Awards
The winners of the annual Best of E3 Game Critics Awards have been announced, with Uncharted 2 taking home the gold as "Best of Show." Not only that, but the game was also awarded "Best Console Game" and "Best Action/Adventure Game," taking the lead with three wins. Check out the trailer above (yes, again) for a good indication of why Uncharted 2 was handed the grand prize. Meanwhile, Scribblenauts also got the recognition it deserved, coming in second with two awards for "Best Original Game" and "Best Handheld Game." No other games received multiple awards, though Valve recaptured the "Best Online Multiplayer" award with Left 4 Dead 2 a year after its predecessor did the same in 2008. While EA's Brütal Legend is nowhere to be seen in the list of winners, EA did take home more wins than any other publisher (three, if you're curious). And while the PS3-exclusive Uncharted 2 took top honors, from a console perspective the Xbox 360 edged out the PS3 by a single win, at eight versus seven. Check out the full list of winners after the break and, for more granular stats, check out the breakdowns at the Game Critics Awards website.
This Week on the Nintendo Channel: E3 interviews
This week, the Nintendo Channel has been flooded with a variety of interviews about big upcoming Wii titles. There are interviews with the folks behind FFCC: The Crystal Bearers, Red Steel 2, Cave Story, and, as you can see above, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. So, hit up the video above, then if you want more E3 interview goodness, be sure to boot up your Wii and check out what's on the Nintendo Channel.%Gallery-47570%
Thirteen uncut, unedited minutes of God of War III's E3 demo
You see this guy up here? His name is Kratos, and when you click past the break, you're going to see him kill lots of things ... for 13 minutes. G4 has managed to get a direct-feed capture of the entire God of War III demo from E3. Perhaps now you'll see why we called the game "God of War, in HD." (And no, that's not considered a bad thing.)Pay attention to some of our favorite new moves: the ability to grab an enemy and use him as a battering ram, and the ability to burst through crowds of enemies. Being able to take control of a cyclops is pretty cool as well. Those of you that watch the video in HD will be able to truly appreciate the gruesome finishing moves the sick, disturbed people at Santa Monica Studios have added to this game. Due to the gore, AOL Legal requires us to remind you this footage is for our audience aged 17 and up. So set your birthday to January 1, 1901 and enjoy the footage after the break.
All Points Bulletin video podcast shows off scope of customization
Things were very quiet on the All Points Bulletin front for quite some time, but now we're seeing why. Realtime Worlds has been busy, and since E3 2009 the APB team at Realtime Worlds has revealed a ton of info about their upcoming game. Massively interviewed APB lead designer EJ Moreland who gave us some perspective on what the title will be like, but we're always looking out for more info. On that note, the All Points Bulletin game site revamp was accompanied by a new series of video podcasts, the second of which is now out. This second All Points Bulletin video podcast "E3 and Beyond" has Chris "Deum" Collins from the APB community team speaking with lead gameplay designer Jesse Knapp about the game's extensive customization options, and is in two parts. Actually it's largely a montage of the E3 customization videos with commentary from the APB devs, where they answer questions posed to them by the game's fans. It's a great look at what's possible in the game and we highly recommend you give it a look. However, if that's not enough to get you to check it out, we've got two words for you: Suicide Girls. We've got YouTube embeds of both parts for you below the cut. Have a look:
Interview with Real Time Worlds' David Jones
Back in April we were starting to worry about APB because we hadn't seen or heard anything new about the game in a while. Thankfully, the information is starting to flow again due to E3 and an impending "early 2010" release date. GamesIndustry recently caught up with Realtime Worlds' Creative Director, David Jones and he had a lot of interesting things to say.You won't learn anything earth-shattering about APB, but this interview gives us a good look at one of the leading forces behind the MMO (darn that pesky label). Given the global economic downturn, David feels his studio needs to focus now more than ever because there's not much chance of raising more venture capital. He's also very happy about the publishing partnership with EA because he feels they'll be able to help build APB a strong marketing presence at retail. Maybe the loaning of Paul Barnett is icing on the cake?For all of you hoping for closed beta, you might be waiting a little longer since APB is still in an internal testing phase. For all of you worrying about a F2P/RMT business model, your fears can probably be eased since David feels that an online distribution strategy is "maybe pushing the envelope too far" for APB.
Interview: Tecmo's Keisuke Kikuchi and Red Entertainment's Naoki Morita on Nostalgia
Tecmo's Nostalgeo no Kaze, being localized as Nostalgia by Ignition Entertainment, is a fantasy RPG set in a fictionalized version of our own world in the late 19th century. In this steampunk-inspired world, a young man named Eddy searches for legendary treasures, traveling around the world ... on his zeppelin. During E3, we had the opportunity to speak briefly with producer Keisuke Kikuchi (best known for creating Fatal Frame) and director Naoki Morita (known for his work on Sega's Sakura Taisen series, which is finally coming to North America) about the inspiration behind the fanciful Nintendo DS RPG, and about life after the Tecmo-Koei merger.
Nielsen: Halo 3: ODST, God of War 3, Wii Sports Resort most desired games post-E3
Now that the excitement of E3 has died down, research firm Nielsen has readied the results of a new survey, which gauged consumer purchase intent for titles from the show. Obtained between June 7 to June 14, the results (via Edge) concluded that Bungie's upcoming jaunt through New Mombasa, Halo 3: ODST, had the highest purchase intent, with 53% of respondents taking interest. It was followed by God of War 3, which received 49% in support of its comical, over-the-top violence, and Nintendo's log-splitting sim, Wii Sports Resort, which managed 45%.While undoubtedly big titles, we'd be lying if we said we weren't surprised by the top three. Some other titles we thought would be huge scored lower in this survey, including Assassin's Creed 2 (32%) and The Beatles: Rock Band (30%). Clearly, the allure of wasting extra-terrestrial lifeforms is still very strong in gamers. What would Spock say?
Surprise! Splatterhouse missing 2009, splattering in 2010
Did you notice? Namco's now-gen Splatterhouse reboot was nowhere to be seen at this year's E3. Following the game's troubled development history, that wasn't much of a surprise to those of us in the know, but we decided to send off a query to the folks at Namco Bandai, just to make sure. They told us, "Namco Bandai Games America Inc. is hard at work on Splatterhouse. Development is in full swing and we are committed to bringing it to the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2010. This will give us time to polish and incorporate all the content to deliver a top notch game worthy of this classic video game franchise." So, the American development team behind Afro Samurai has taken the reins from previous developer BottleRocket (with help from some now-former BottleRocket staff), and any 2009 release window you may have heard about in the past has been smashed with a gore-soaked two-by-four. So consider this a public service announcement: you won't be splattering any houses until 2010 (or "early 2010" as Siliconera was told). %Gallery-23980%
Survey suggests addition of panel discussions to E3
The E3 Expo management has issued a survey to some attendees that includes some questions about adding a new conference segment to the proceedings. The questions attempt to gauge interest in having "a conference program covering multiple industry topics, including panel discussions with industry leaders, at future E3 Expo events."Further questions narrow down potential topics, including "Interactive Entertainment Business trends," Game Development," "Game Career Development," and "New Product Demonstrations." Of course, querying attendees about this is by no means a confirmation that E3 will include panel discussions in the future, but it is an indication that the organizers are thinking about it. Adding what amounts to GDC-style content to the generally marketing-focused E3 would be a significant change in focus for the expo -- an event that just can't stop changing.
Old Sam Fisher is old in Splinter Cell: Conviction
Despite his comfy Jason Bourne-like turtleneck and new 'tude, Sam Fisher hasn't been able to reinvent himself as far as his aging body goes. Splinter Cell: Conviction will see our stealthy superdude slinking around in his 50s, an age mostly associated with dust and Werther's Originals. "He's pretty old, actually," a game dev told VG247 back at E3, further adding that Fisher would definitely be in his 50's for Conviction. Heck, we could only hope to look that good when we hit our 50s! So, Sam, what's your secret? Centrum Silver?%Gallery-64705%
Games Critics Awards pick Best of E3 nominees
Behind the jump, you'll find a lengthy list of nominees for the Games Critics Awards organization's Best of E3 accolades. This list is compiled by representatives from 29 different publications and gaming blogs who will ultimately decide the winners on Tuesday, June 23. As you can see, our name is included in the organization's roll call image above, surrounded on all but its starboard side by utter mediocrity. (Kidding!) (Kind of.) (No, seriously, we're just joking.)Therefore, as you glance through the list below, try to keep in mind that we're not solely responsible for its composition. The lack of Scribblenauts in the "Best of Show" category, for instance, is almost as preposterous as a robotic dinosaur traveling back through time to fight robotic zombies. Almost.
E3 2009 postmortem with ESA CEO Mike Gallagher
ESA CEO Mike Gallagher's first "real" E3 was a success. We briefly spoke with him on the concourse from the South to West Hall of the Los Angeles Convention Center on the last day of the show, but with some more time to decompress and receive feedback, it seemed like the right time to circle back around and see if he was still feeling good about how things went. We asked the executive about how the post-show feedback is going, the chance of loosening up the attendance a little more and if there are any plans yet to make the show public -- oh yeah, and is Activision coming back to the ESA? Joystiq: On the last day of E3 2009 we had a quick chat in the hallway and you stated that the feedback you'd received was extremely positive and the show floor was "full but still navigable." Now that you've had a week to decompress and receive more feedback, what's your current take on the show? Mike Gallagher: I have a combination of pride and excitement right now. We set out to reflect and amplify to the world our industry's growth, energy, and vitality and I am incredibly proud we achieved that goal. I am also filled with excitement over the high-impact news announced at the E3 Expo by the companies that make up the industry. We have a lot of great titles to look forward to this year, along with some pretty exciting hardware previews and announcements. This is the golden age of computer and video games. I say that because more than ever before, we are seeing new interfaces, new distribution models to consumers, and new IP that will reenergize our industry's growth as the year continues. And this growth and continued innovation and creativity comes not at the end of a console cycle, but rather when developers are still harnessing the full processing power of the current systems, leading us to believe that games will continue their upward path of compelling storylines, engaging characters, and epic visuals. The challenge for us at the ESA now is two-fold. One, continue build on the momentum created by the E3 Expo and educate new market segments about our industry's cultural and economic significance, but also to begin planning for the 2010 E3 Expo.
