e3 2012
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Theatrhythm franchise could cross Square Enix properties
There's a reason Theatrhythm received top billing in Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy, as the game could expand into a series beyond the Final Fantasy franchise. Ichiro Hazama, producer at Square Enix's 1st Production Department, told us the publisher has plenty of intellectual properties where the formula could be applied."Our company has so many other IPs that create great music, so if you ask if I want to do it? I want to do it, but nothing is determined yet," said Hazama. "In my mind, it was my intention that if it expands to other franchises that would be great. That's why this title carries Theatrhythm first and Final Fantasy comes next."Hmm, that opens up the series to possibilities like Theatrhythm: Kingdom Hearts... or Theatrhythm: Hitman.%Gallery-157377%
E3 2012: Talking with Nick Konkle about The Elder Scrolls Online's design
Our fellow feathered friends at Joystiq visited the Elder Scrolls Online booth at this week's E3 and caught up with Lead Gameplay Designer Nick Konkle about the game's look and feel. Konkle made the point that each of the Elder Scrolls game had its own aesthetic, and TESO will carry on in this tradition: "Every province has its own look, but we aim for the realistic -- for the cool." Konkle dives into what will make TESO its own unique creature. One of the mechanics he explained was the game's hotbar. The first two buttons are dedicated to whatever weapon you're wielding, the next three are chosen abilities from your class, and the last button is an ultimate skill derived from your class. "In addition to those six things, everyone has these skills that are always available: sprinting, ducking, and blocking," he said. What is ZeniMax doing to ease those familiar with the lore but not MMOs into the game? "From the very beginning, we didn't set out to make a really big, standard MMO," Konkle said. "Nor did we set out to make a Skyrim clone and just put it online. We set out to make a great game. So we don't just have the standard MMO controls, abilities, and rotations like you're used to." You can watch the 11-minute interview after the jump for more information on TESO's combat and social systems.
Razer rolls out Taipan ambidextrous gaming mouse, we go hands-on
It's not the mouse we expected to see here at E3, given what slid through Uncle Sam's FCC fingers a few weeks ago, but Razer has unveiled its new Taipan gaming mouse here at E3 2012. Apparently, Razer has learned to love lefties from the jump with its most recent rodent, as the Taipan is an ambidextrous unit suitable for any gamer. The outside of the Taipan is swathed in tactually-pleasing matte black plastic, with a glowing Razer logo in the palm rest and a clickable scroll wheel ringed in similar neon green lighting. It's got nine programmable buttons in all: right and left click, the clickwheel, plus two buttons just south of the scroller and two more embedded in each of the Taipan's flanks.%Gallery-157358% In addition to its ergonomic design, it's got one 8200 dpi sensor under the hood to precisely track two-dimensional movements, plus a second optical sensor for z-axis tracking -- so it knows when you've lifted the mouse off your desk and keeps your cursor right where you left it. Furthering this focus on ultra precise mousing, the Taipan is a 32-bit peripheral and has a 1,000Hz polling rate, which means your cursor moves exactly when you want it to. Naturally, it uses Razer's Synapse 2.0 technology, so after initial set-up the Taipan brings your settings to any new PC as soon as you plug it in. It goes on sale next month for $79.99, and if you're lookin to learn more in the meantime, check out the PR after the break.%Gallery-157361%
Sony's Rohde explains The Last Guardian's E3 absence: 'It just wasn't appropriate for us to give an update'
Sony's E3 2012 press conference was full of surprises. For one, Quantic Dream's new game was unveiled – Beyond – Two Souls. Just like that!More surprising, however, was a game that didn't make an appearance: The Last Guardian. Since being teased in a January 2008 Sony Japan job listing with a single image, the Team Ico-developed game has only been shown by Sony a handful of times. Moreover, the only news we've heard recently on the long in-development project has been worrisome – the game's creative lead, Fumito Ueda, ended his employment at Sony and began working on the game as a contractor. And then in February, Sony revealed that the company's Santa Monica studio was assisting in the development process.SCEA senior VP of product development and worldwide studios, Scott Rohde, assured me in an interview this week that the game's absence from Sony's presser isn't something gamers should be concerned with. "It just wasn't appropriate for us to give an update. That's just how it worked out," Rohde said. Rather than seeing it as a potential sign that the four-plus year project is stagnating, Rohde said that it's absence was a question of time limitations during the press conference and Sony's approach to internal development. "Almost more than any game that Worldwide Studios develops, it's all about the emotion and the experience that's crafted in what that team can deliver. And there's a vision that must be upheld. And until it can be upheld, it's not gonna ship," he said.
Vita PSOne Classics to be rolled out gradually
PSOne Classics will soon be compatible with PlayStation Vita, finally. However, the launch won't just be flipping a switch on all the PSOne Classics available on PSP and PS3. Instead, Vita PSOne Classics will be rolled out gradually starting this summer, Sony informed Joystiq today.If you've previously bought any newly Vita-compatible PSOne Classic, you'll be able to download it for free on Vita. The exact launch lineup wasn't announced, but expect it to include the games shown at Sony's press conference: Wild Arms, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy 7, Twisted Metal 2, Arc the Lad, Cool Boarders 2, and Jet Moto.
Aliens: Colonial Marines E3 screens are mostly all right ... mostly
The images we've received for Aliens: Colonial Marines at E3 2012 are rather unimpressive. Not a whole lot going on. To make up for it, we've included old galleries you may have missed from the recent past after the break.%Gallery-157354%
Unfurling Elder Scrolls Online with lead gameplay designer Nick Konkle
After witnessing an E3 demonstration of The Elder Scrolls Online (more on that soon!), we took a moment to chat with its lead gameplay designer, Nick Konkle, about the visual design, combat, social features and cooperative reward system. Also, about how a warrior can turn a mage's flame vortex into a shower of fireballs.
Experience the Wii U in our Nintendo booth video tour
I stormed Nintendo's E3 booth yesterday to try some real Wii U games. Because simply seeing screens is no longer enough -- you have to see screens and the controller, with its screens -- I brought a camera crew with me.Join us for gameplay snippets of Nintendo Land's "Takamaru's Ninja Castle" and "Animal Crossing: Sweet Day" minigames, Ubisoft's survival-oriented ZombiU, and ... Just Dance 4, in which I am the victim of the "Puppet Master." This is pretty embarrassing.
E3 2012: Fragging undead on your phone with Parallel Zombies
The hardest thing about E3 is finding a place to sit. Well, that and making yourself heard above the din of squeeing fanboys, clicking cameras, and bass lines that would wake the dead. Per Blue CEO Justin Beck and I eventually found a couple of seats, but we didn't quite find the quiet, so we spent the better part of a half hour talking very loudly about the company's new Parallel Zombies mobile title. If Per Blue and the Parallel prefix sound familiar, it's because Parallel Kingdom has been out for the better part of three years now. But what's this I hear about zombies, you say?
E3 2012: Gamigo shows off Grimlands and Otherlands
Yesterday, we spoke to Gamigo about its upcoming titles Grimlands and Otherland. Grimlands was, admittedly, not quite on my radar until Gamigo's Anthony Guzzardo said the magic word: sandbox. I'd heard a few things about Grimlands already, such as skill based over levels, lots of customization, intelligent AI, vehicular combat, and yes, something about owning clan territory. Oh, and it's supposed to be free-to-play. Sadly, E3 was having internet issues at the time of my interview, so while I couldn't play the game, Anthony was able to answer some questions for me.
E3 2012: Hands-on with SOEmote
There's aging gracefully, and then there's EverQuest II. Sony Online Entertainment's eight-year old fantasy flagship is pretty much the benchmark for MMO feature sets and functionality at this point. There's so much to do in the game that it's overwhelming at times, and that was before the introduction of the roleplayer's dream known as SOEmote. SOEmote is one of those things that you'll either love or hate. In a nutshell, it's facial scanning technology that takes webcam input and outputs it to your avatar. EQII's toons already boasted some of the most visually expressive animations in the genre, complete with a laundry list of /emote commands that's longer than this article. SOEmote takes that to the next level (and it also adds voice-modulating capabilities, though these weren't exactly listenable due to the din of noise that is the E3 demo floor). The tech is scheduled to hit the game's live servers toward the end of this month, and it'll be met with both huzzahs (from the roleplayers and the immersion enthusiasts) and WTFs (from the raiders and progression fiends).
Wii U's Game and Wario makes me Wario-wary
It seems stubborn to lament a stylistic and gameplay shift for (essentially) the WarioWare series -- one built on hilariously frequent stylistic and gameplay shifts -- but the Wii U's Game & Wario dramatically shifts away from pretty much all the cornerstones of WarioWare, and toward conventional minigames.To be fair, it isn't a WarioWare game, and that's acknowledged. Instead, it's a vaguely Game & Watch-inspired set of minigames, of which only four were shown, and all using the WiiPad heavily. Where WarioWare used a variety of simple 2D art styles, Game and Wario is straight-up, simple 3D. G&W has time limits like its microgame ancestors, but they're closer to five minutes than five seconds.The games shown include one in which you tilt to steer disco skier Jimmy T. on a downhill course, an archery game in which you fire arrows from a Wario-nose bow to fight off toy Warios (a bit of the old magic there, at least conceptually!), a thief minigame in which you must surreptitiously steal fruit, then pass the WiiPad on to another player who will try to identify the on-screen thief, and a photography game about spotting, and taking the best pictures of, a series of known criminals. It's way too early to judge Game & Wario definitively, but it has the unfortunate distinction of being derived from game that you can judge within ten seconds. The minigames are enjoyable, they're just ... safe. Without the rapid-fire presentation, Game & Wario is essentially just another minigame collection.There's a good reason for the proliferation of safe choices: if all the games involved the WiiPad and five-second time limits, you'd have a great deal of difficulty managing two screens in that short time. And, of course, "a great deal of difficulty" is absolutely not what Nintendo wants to show off on the Wii U.%Gallery-157167%
ROCCAT's Lua and Kone XTD gaming mice shown off at E3, we go hands-on
Before the craziness commenced here in Los Angeles, ROCCAT got its E3 party started with announcements concerning two gaming mice. The outfit unveiled the three-button Lua and the more high-end Kone XTD to suit gamers who prefer a truckload of programmable options and those who fancy a much simpler set-up. We grabbed some hands-on time with the pair on the show floor to see just how the two stacked up. We were particularly impressed with how both felt in the hand and how comfortable they were to use for all our gaming-related movements during the mini session. For a close look at both the Lua and the Kone XTD, stop by the gallery below or head on past the break for a few thoughts on the gaming peripherals. %Gallery-157345%
E3 2012: Crashing and burning in PlanetSide 2
I used to think of myself as an OK pilot. Then I slid into the cockpit of a Terran Republic Mosquito at E3 yesterday and learned just how inapplicable real-world skill is in PlanetSide 2. In my defense, Sony Online Entertainment's demo stations suffered from a severe lack of joysticks, and the controls were also mapped to that goofy up-is-up and down-is-down standard that's, well, standard on every shooter ever made. This is completely unnatural to my way of thinking, and so I'm going to blame it for the fact that my Mosquito lumbered around the skies of Auraxis like a drunken elephant, listing hard to starboard and eventually porpoising down for the ugliest landing in the history of ugly landings. But hey, any one you walk away from's a good one, right?
A jaunt through Nintendo Land
We took a quick stroll through Nintendo Land today, shortly after Nintendo implicitly positioned the game as the Wii U's educational answer to Wii Sports. It's launching alongside the hardware this holiday – though not necessarily inside a bundle – and breaks down all of the Wii U's standout features into friendly, easily digestible mini games.Unlike the tennis and bowling in Wii Sports, the games here are embellished with Nintendo's vibrant characters and history, set within the context of an elaborate theme park visited by your Miis. When you enter the The Legend of Zelda section, dubbed Battle Quest, you and your friends don Link's iconic tunic in green, red and blue.%Gallery-157153%
One day, Portal 2 in motion DLC will come to PS3, it's such a shame the same will never happen to Xbox
Remember Razer's Hydra controller that came with a motion-controlled version of Portal 2? PS3 owners will be receiving those same levels as a DLC later this year with added support for the PlayStation Move. Players will be able to manipulate objects in order to solve puzzles with more flailing limbs than you can shake a stick at when it arrives later this year.
Miyamoto designing a new game, but it'll be a while
Shigeru Miyamoto told me during an E3 interview that he's working on a new game of his own, when his other job of being a very important executive allows it."One thing I want to clear up," Miyamoto told Joystiq, "people like to ask me if I want to do a small project with a small team. I do like working with a small team, and I'm working with a number of small teams on a lot of different ideas, but the problem is because of all these different roles that I have to fulfill, it takes me a long time to write the design document." In addition, working with small teams causes design work to take longer, he said, so "maybe this time next year I'll have something ready to show you that perhaps will illustrate that idea."Miyamoto confirmed directly that he's working on design documents right now. "I have some storyboards that I have to draw before I finish this trip," he added. "It's fun. I use Flipnote Studio to draw my storyboards."
E3 2012: Spacetime Studios demos another smash Legends hit
If you're a fan of Spacetime Studios' mobile MMO Pocket Legends or any of its brethren, you're in for a treat. The studio's next installment in the series, Arcane Legends, promises to deliver more of what all gamers crave: a standard hack-'n'-slash dungeon crawler feel, with more weapons, more environments, more lore, and more of just plain ol' fun. For free. Players who haven't experienced any of the Legends series will find it familiar yet entertaining. Spacetime is entirely dedicated to gaming software on all platforms. Pocket Legends was its first foray into the market, and thus was born Star Legends and Dark Legends, each with its own style and flair. Arcane Legends delivers more of what the previous titles offer. I was able to sit down with Fernando Blanco, Director of Marketing, at E3 to see a demo for the game, which the studio showcased on two tablets -- including a Kindle Fire. It was quite impressive.
Editorial: Engadget on Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo's E3 Keynotes
Live from Microsoft's E3 2012 keynote! Live from Sony's E3 2012 keynote! Live from Nintendo's E3 2012 keynote! It's early June and we're in Los Angeles, and that can only mean one thing: it's time to get our game on at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. The show is now in full force, the floor having opened up yesterday at noon Pacific Daylight Time. But even though the convention just kicked off, much of the big news is already out of the way. Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo have each had their time to shine with pre-show press conferences. So, how did the big console makers perform? Is this an E3 for the record books or just a year of lackluster demos? Our editors sound off after the break.
Trion Worlds CEO pinpoints the failings of 38 Studios and Star Wars: The Old Republic
Trion Worlds' CEO Lars Buttler has never been one to pussyfoot around his competition, and at this year's E3, Buttler bluntly addressed what he saw as the failings of both 38 Studios and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Buttler talked about said studio and game in light of the perceived crumbling of the AAA MMO segment. Citing different issues between the two companies and projects, he said that "process management" was 38 Studios Achilles' Heel: "38 Studios had a concept they couldn't deliver on... It was too big of a scope. It was too much. It just went broader and never narrowed. They never even came close to the finish line." In the case of SWTOR, Buttler sees BioWare fumbling where Trion's RIFT has stayed consistently strong: "I don't think [SWTOR's] business model was necessarily the issue, but I think it was content updates, and what to do in the game, and how you can play it without it becoming repetitive." So what is the key to success for an MMO? "You have to be able to keep people interested," Buttler concluded. "The key about an online game is that it's a live service. If you make it more like a packaged goods game, people will stay about as long as they stay with a packaged goods game."
