e3 2012
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E3 2012: not quite ready to go mobile
Perhaps E3 2012 will be remembered as the year that even Nintendo acknowledged the existence of smartphone gaming -- if only begrudgingly so, dragged kicking and screaming into the early '10s. It's a brave new world here, a strange one in which everyone and their grandmother has become a gamer by default, carrying high powered portable computers in their pockets at all times. But even as all the major players took time out to give a nod to the ever enlarging juggernaut that is mobile gaming, its an element that still feels like a bit of a redheaded stepchild inside the Los Angeles Convention Center, where console gaming is still far and away the dominant force -- it's a presence relegated to brief mentions in larger press events and pushed to the sides of the convention floor. It comes as no surprise, of course, that Nintendo didn't dwell on the matter during its show opening keynote on Tuesday. The mere fact that company president Satoru Iwata made reference at all to mobile operating systems is something of a sea change for an executive who has thus far stubbornly refused to even "consider" developing for the Androids and iOSes of the world. And the news from Sunday doesn't do much to shake that stance. While mobile operating systems were name checked, it was only in reference to users' ability to access social information from the Wii U on their browser.
Seen@E3: Joystiq's embarrassment of Dance Central 3 moves
We'll have a more detailed preview of Dance Central 3 shortly. For now, enjoy a reel of our very best moves.
E3 2012: Age of Wushu dresses to impress
Sandboxers and Hollywood script writers, keep your eyes on Age of Wushu. If you've ever wanted to run up walls, align yourself with a game's boss mobs, kidnap and ransom off your fellow players, or write about it into a television script to include your gamer audience, then Snail Games has something that's sure to grab your attention. We got some hands-on time with the game at this year's E3, so follow along after the cut for our impressions.
E3 2012: The world of Defiance
Can Defiance work? The cross-media venture between Trion Worlds and Syfy is one of the most interesting projects in the industry right now, if for no other reason than that a TV/MMO crossover has never been done before. At least, not like this. We hunted down the Trion crew at E3 this week to play the Xbox version of the title and chat with the devs about the setting and specifics of this game. While Jef will have his hands-on impressions of Defiance in the next The Firing Line column, we wanted to share some of the lore and setting that the devs talked about at the expo. Join us after the jump for a look at the world of Defiance!
Uncharted is a 'pillar franchise,' nothing to say about its future just yet
"This show is about Naughty Dog and The Last of Us. So we're not talking about Uncharted for the future," Sony VP of product development and worldwide studios Scott Rohde told Joystiq in an interview this week. That doesn't mean there aren't things happening with the Uncharted franchise elsewhere at Sony, of course. "It's a Sony IP, but it's just not something we're talking about. Of course it's one of our pillar franchises," Rohde said.The latest entry in the Uncharted franchise was the Vita's Uncharted: Golden Abyss – the series' first title not developed by Naughty Dog. Its production was instead handled by Sony's internal Bend studio, with Naughty Dog overseeing development. Rohde added that "it'd be ridiculous to say that we're not always thinking about [Uncharted], but we're just not talking about it right now."
Come on down to Amazon for all your E3 helicopter and bow games
Amazon identified two major tropes in this year's E3 games, and then, to our delight, rounded up all the games featuring these tropes in a promotional page. Allow us to present: "E3 Helicopter and Bow Titles."Everything from Brave (bow) to Beyond: Two Souls (helicopter) to Tomb Raider (helicopter and bow) is conveniently collected for your helicopter and bow game needs. It even links out to a few already-released games featuring helicopters and bows, for the impatient helicopter/bow enthusiast.
E3 2012: Runes of Magic details chapter 5
Runes of Magic is only three years old, but the game has added an impressive amount of content for a free-to-play title. As we've reported previously, it's happening again on June 12th, when Frogster will add the Dwarven race, Warlock and Champion classes, and a few other goodies. We had the opportunity to sit down with Frogster to talk about the new content at this year's E3. Will it be attractive to veteran players? Is it made specifically to attract new players? Read on to find out.
Dead Space 3: co-op meets Carver
The majority of Dead Space 3 takes place on a frigid planet that seemingly hides a secret – and plenty of necromorphs.After Isaac's ship crashes on Tau Volantis, he emerges from the wreckage covered in blood, limping through knee-deep snow and a blinding snow storm. Necromorph enemies emerge from beneath the snow's cover when you least expect it, evoking the same tension we first felt in the corridors of the Ishimura.Dead Space 3 aims to throw a lot of new things at you beyond that sense of dread over what's around the next dark corner. You can invite a friend into the game at any time, and upon reaching the next checkpoint or reverting back to the last one, Isaac Clarke is joined by John Carver. He's a foul-mouthed, hostile man with a scarred face and little love for Necromorph disposal.%Gallery-157336%
WildStar welcomes us to Gallow, teases big reveal
Carbine hosted a light WildStar Wednesday this week due to traveling to E3, and as such we've been given a slew of pictures to tide us over. The five screenshots are of Gallow, one of the towns in WildStar that is located in Algoroc. Gallow appears to be a frontier town with a handful of structures, including a rickety water tower. It sits nestled in a mountainous region marked by pine trees, lush grass, and jutting red buttes. If you feel a little robbed by this week's reveal, Carbine promises that next Wednesday will present a doozy: "Behind the scenes, the community team is working on a pretty major project that we'll unveil at next week's WildStar Wednesday, so stay tuned for an in-depth first look at something we've never shared about WildStar!"
New Super Mario Bros. U gives multiplayer a 'boost'
As evidenced by the ridiculous sales, many people love the chaotic multiplayer in New Super Mario Bros. Wii. However, it's possible you might have been annoyed by the frequent accidental deaths caused by bumping into other players, or ... the frequent intentional deaths caused by your friends throwing you into a pit.For those of you in the second group, the new "Boost Mode" in New Super Mario Bros. U is just the thing, replacing the pseudo-competitive bumbling with a simple, but enjoyable, and almost entirely helpful interaction.While the game is going on as normal on the television, one player can tap the touchscreen to place blocks, which dissipate as players stand on them. Ideally, these blocks are used to help the Wiimote-based players reach secret areas, make difficult jumps, and avoid falling into Piranha Plants or other obstacles below. It's also possible to be a jerk and place blocks in the way of jumps, but I found that less fun than being helpful.You can also tap the block again to make a smaller block that spits out a bunch of coins, and tap enemies to stun them. Sure, it makes Mario an easier experience, but it's also fun for everyone involved -- I enjoyed trying to land platforms right under a falling Mario with perfect timing, and I liked working together with another player to get through a level efficiently. And I certainly didn't mind having another player in my game who wasn't going to accidentally jump on my head.%Gallery-157149%
E3 2012: End of Nations shows its MMO-ish roots
If there's one thing I love about game companies, it's their capacity to innovate. Trion Worlds and Petroglyph are teaming together to do just that with their new MMORTS End of Nations. I had the chance to demo End of Nations at E3 and talk a bit to the folks at Petroglyph, which is gearing up to launch a strong seller that is taking risks with experimentation for the RTS genre. A lot of questions come to mind when one ponders how an MMORTS will function. How many players are there? Will lag be a significant problem? Unit control? These MMORTS games are so new that experimenting in how the game mechanics work is key. The demo was entirely functional and entertaining to play. Let's dive into some details.
Take a tour with us through IndieCade at E3
We're not very good at lying, so when we say "A Mother's Inferno was an absolutely terrifying indie game," we mean we played it alone, at night, on a big-screen TV, and we just about peed our pants no less than seven times. Seriously, we haven't slept soundly in weeks. Not all of the games at IndieCade's E3 exhibition were psychedelic horror fests; some of them were eccentric, rich platformers, such as Arcen Games' A Valley Without Wind. And a few were downright happy, such as Steve Swink's Scale. Check out a few of our stand-out IndieCade titles in a guided tour right up there.
E3 2012: Matt Firor takes fans inside The Elder Scrolls Online
This year's E3 is winding down, but we're not quite done yet. In addition to Joystiq's interview with ZeniMax's Nick Konkle, we had the chance to join Matt Firor as he gave a preview showing of The Elder Scrolls Online. While he didn't reveal anything earth-shattering that we didn't already know, he did provide some insight into the upcoming title's development. Many fans of the Elder Scrolls series are up-in-arms over TESO's lack of resemblance to earlier entries, but Firor assures us that the studio is doing its best to implement features that will help the game retain its Elder Scrolls flavor. For instance, the game will feature the time-honored resources of health, magicka, and stamina, and as in other Elder Scrolls titles, players will be able to sneak, block, sprint, and so forth regardless of character class. In addition, despite the studio's choice to use often-derided action-bar-centric combat, ZeniMax is still attempting to give combat a more visceral "action-RPG" feel to keep it more in-line with the general type of frantic combat players have come to expect from the series.
Unreal Engine 4 demo deconstructed
Epic's Unreal Engine 4 strides into public view with a spectacular real-time demo, dubbed "Elemental" (seen above). The short film depicts an ancient knight creaking to supernatural life while a decrepit castle comes apart around him, letting in floods of light and gusts of snow. It's a concise showcase of the underlying technology, which features sophisticated dynamic illumination, light-reactive materials, rich particle effects, per-pixel lens flares, and other visual processes that don't sound quite as sexy as they appear.According to Epic, games running on Unreal Engine 4 won't ship until sometime in 2013 at earliest. With partners already lining up to use it, and the engine running in 1080p on a PC built from off-the-shelf parts (the demonstration I saw was running on a variant of the Falcon Northwest Fragbox, augmented with Nvidia's Geforce GTX 680), Epic can focus on highlighting the usability of the editor that accompanies UE4.If you peer past the break you'll see a dry, detailed deconstruction of all the effects that comprise "Elemental," and a twist of sorts: the demo runs in real-time right from the editor itself. We'll leave it to Epic to explain how the engine allows for quick iteration on effects, materials and other visual properties, and how it can help manage the blueprints of a game, right down to the behaviour of the smallest particle.We've also embedded several videos of some simple games created with the aid of Unreal Kismet, an integrated visual scripting system. if you have a cursory interest in the nuts and bolts of game creation, you may appreciate this informative glimpse at our impeccably lit future.
Epic senior technical artist Alan Willard talks Unreal Engine 4 for next-gen consoles
There's no PS4 or Xbox 720 behind the curtain, Alan Willard assures a dark room full of eager video game journalists. Nope, it's just a current high-end piece of PC hardware. In spite of the company's position as a creator of one of the industry's leading game engines, Epic doesn't get a peek at Sony and Microsoft's next generation consoles before the companies are ready for their grand unveiling. "We won't know final hardware specs until everyone else does," the company's senior technical artist tells me after the presentation, adding with a laugh, "If they do, I don't know anything about it." The company spent this year's E3 cycling media in and out of its small meeting room on the second floor of the convention center, dimming the lights and showing off just what Unreal Engine 4 has to offer -- or at least a pretty good idea of what it will offer when it's finally ready for prime time. It's clear from the excitement on the Epic employees' faces that all involved are relieved to finally show the demo off for gatherings of eager writers. No surprise there, of course. After all, the engine has been in development in some form or other for eight or nine years -- several lifetimes in the roman candle-like world of video game development.
Might and Delight planning August debut for Pid
Might and Delight, an indie outfit composed of ex-Grin folks, is crafting a charming platform-adventure game called Pid. Look for our impressions on this very website soon.Pid was slated to launch sometime this year back in December, but during a demo on the E3 show floor, lead programmer Kian Bashari told me the current goal was to launch in August. As for pricing, Bashari said it had yet to be determined.%Gallery-157631%
SOEmote tracks our face, transplants our expressions onto an Everquest II persona (faces-on)
Sony's PlayStation division may have been the main focus this week at E3, but Sony Online Entertainment has something unique of its own to show off for MMORG players. Specifically, folks who are into the PC title Everquest II will soon be able to access a facial recognition feature called SOEmote (S-O Emote). It's no secret that these types of games require massive amounts of communication between players, and SOEmote is an attempt to make in-game conversations more personal than ever. Utilizing any webcam, the software is able map and track your noggin at 64 points, allowing your onscreen character to replicate any facial movements you make. We got a chance to mess around with a beta version of the software, and the results are impressive to say the least -- pretty much all of our facial expressions were accurately recreated. Join us past the break for more details and a hands-on faces-on video demo of it in action. %Gallery-157578%
Sony PlayStation Pulse Wireless Stereo Headset Elite Edition hands-on
Aside from the PlayStation Move Racing Wheel and Wonderbook, Sony has one more accessory to show off at E3 -- the Pulse Wireless Stereo Headset Elite Edition. Naturally, we hunted down this peripheral aimed at all-things audio to check it out for ourselves. The PWSHEE is the company's second full-on PS3 headset to date, expanding on what it offered with its Wireless Stereo Headset from last year. As we're told, the headset is also ushering in a new Pulse moniker for its PlayStation oriented ear-blasters, although there's no word on what we can expect down the line. For now, this unit packs a lot on paper for its $150 price, touting key features like 7.1 virtual surround sound, PS Vita and cellphone compatibility (thanks to a detachable cable with inline remote / mic), BassImpact technology for massive low-end pulse (get it?), audio profiles, higher-fidelity drivers than the WSH and hidden noise-cancelling microphones for chatting. Does it have the potential to live up to its hype and one-up its $80 predecessor? Join us past the break for our initial impressions. %Gallery-157587%
E3 2012 had 45,700 attendees, will announce dates and venue for 2013 soon
The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) had 45,700 industry personnel in attendance for the 2012 show. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the trade organization that puts on the annual mega show, estimated E3 generated 30,000 total hotel room bookings and nearly $40 million in revenue for the city.The ESA, for the first time in years, did not announce next year's host city nor show dates at the end of the expo. The group is currently in a little spat with the city over assurances that the show will run efficiently during next year's construction of the Farmers Field stadium.
Crytek's CryEngine 3 makes it easier than ever for devs to build games as pretty as Crysis
It's not every day you get to speak with the folks who make one of the most advanced game engines in the world, but today at E3, Crytek (you know, the folks responsible for Crysis) let us in on some of the secrets behind its latest game platform, CryEngine 3. We sat down with Kirthy Iyer, an animation technologist at Crytek, and had him walk us through some of CE3's tools that are enabling publishers to build games for any platform -- including PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 -- faster and better than ever. Among the highlights are a "multi-layer navigation mesh" that automates the movements of AI-controlled game characters, and super realistic water rendering technologies. We could go on singing CryEngine's praises, but instead we'll let you get all the details from Mr. Iyer in the video after the break. Enjoy.
