e3-2014
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E3 2015 lands in LA June 16-18
Set the countdown clocks for 369 days, starting ... now. E3 2015 will officially take over the Los Angeles Convention Center from June 16 - 18. The ESA organized E3 each year and it's contractually obligated to hold the convention in Los Angeles through 2015. In 2016, the show may move elsewhere. At an E3 dinner this week, ESA President and CEO Michael Gallagher said that he was considering other top-tier US cities for the show. Wherever E3 is next year, we'll be there. In the meantime, see all of the news, previews and Vines from E3 2014 right here.
Telltale tells the tale of two tales in Tales from the Borderlands
Telltale's The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us have much in common. They're both based on comic books, they both feature some fairly bleak situations, and they both start with "The." Tales From the Borderlands, on the other hand, is based on an established video game series, is quite funny, and ... ok, it also has a "the," but it's near the end. It also has two playable characters: Rhys, the tech-using Hyperion employee, and Fiona, the steampunky grifter. After watching the first 30 minutes or so of the first of Tales' five episodes, I talked to Telltale's Richard Iggo about what else is different this time around. (Spoiler: Loot. Lots of loot.)
Seen@E3: A perfectly normal human being
Everyone at E3 is taking pictures of this completely average guy, but I can't imagine why. I certainly don't suspect anything.
Confessions of a VR Virgin: Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus
While the rest of gaming world seemingly hopped on the VR bus as soon as Oculus Rift was announced, I've been skeptical. Every time a friend or developer started to extol the virtues of strapping on a Weapon X mask to play Mirror's Edge, I'd ask the same question: How long did you play while wearing it? Half an hour tops? No way anyone's going to want to sit around marathoning Skyrim with shoebox-sized goggles on their dome. That may still be true, but my doubts were unfounded. I finally put the big gaming VR helmets on my face at E3 2014 and took them for a quick spin. I have no idea if I'll ever want to sit in my living room playing four hours of Yakuza 8 wearing an Oculus or Morpheus, but I do think VR technology adds a remarkable bodily element to video games that's unlike anything else. My experiences with Oculus and Morpheus were also dramatically different.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris will have online co-op at launch
The creators of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris can't have forgotten the sour note in the choir of praise around the previous game: Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light launched without online co-op, which was added weeks later in a patch. That won't happen again, I learned in a meeting with Crystal Dynamics this morning. The custodians of all things Croft are planning to have online co-op ready to go when the game arrives ("soon") on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. Single-screen top-down tomb raiding also returns, of course, now with a diverse cast of four playable characters: Lara Croft, a rival explorer named Carter Bell and two imprisoned Egyptian gods, Horus and Isis. The game will support a mixture of local and online players that make up the adventurers, and can also be completed solo. You can read more in our preview, which calls the Temple of Osiris another exciting venue for the older Ms. Croft, once again played by Keely Hawes.
Fez studio starts Polytron Partners to 'give back'
Polytron Corporation is breaking into the not-publishing (but kind of publishing) business with Polytron Partners, beginning with Panoramical, an audio visualizer from designer Fernando Ramallo and Proteus music man David Kanaga. Fez creator Phil Fish announced Polytron Partners on his blog: "We only got to make Fez in the first place because of the help and support of a LOT of cool people. Time to give back a little, you know? When I offered to help with the release, Fernando explained that he was already working out a somewhat similar deal with Adam and Bekah Saltsman's FINJI. They would provide help with day to day operations, payment logistics, things like that. The kind of details independent developers often need help with when they're busy trying to ship the damn thing. What Polytron could help with was production and promotion."
E3 2014: The Division gives you high-tech tools and upgradable bases to save NYC
Ubisoft interviewed... itself, we guess, by chatting up The Division Game Director Ryan Barnard about some of the high-tech gadgets and interesting locales that players will encounter. The team's been showing off the ECHO function, a way to gather intel by projecting a colorful holographic visual. These will be used to help further the story and allow for mystery-solving during quests. "They're in places that would have information that could be relevant or important," Barnard said. Barnard was coy about the story details but said that players will be fighting against factions like the Cleaners to save New York City. He also mentioned that players will be unlocking bases as they progress. Unlike static gameplay hubs, these bases will have upgradable modules that can be improved through various co-op activities. You can catch The Division fever by watching the E3 trailer after the break.
E3 2014: Final Fantasy XIV Live Letter details fan festival dates
Fans have been eagerly awaiting the dates for the Final Fantasy XIV festival in October, and during the most recent live letter from the producer those dates were finally revealed. The gathering will take place on October 18th and 19th at Rio Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, October 25th at the Tobacco Dock in London, and December 20th and 21st at the Tokyo Big Sight in Tokyo. Other revelations from the letter? Personal chambers are going to be priced at approximately 300,000 gil for players who want a room of their own off of their Free Company house. Patch 2.3 will be going live on July 8th. There are also more questions asked regarding the new floors of Crystal Tower, the addition of new items, and the Frontline system, but all of those answers can be found in the official translation thread. Massively's on the ground in Los Angeles during the week of June 10-12, bringing you all the best news from E3 2014. We're covering everything from WildStar and Landmark to Skyforge and H1Z1, so stay tuned!
Co-Opinion: Super Smash Bros. (Wii U)
This is Co-Opinion, where two Joystiq editors play a game and discuss their experience. This edition focuses on an E3 2014 hands-on session of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, by Nintendo. .portal-left { padding: 10px; background: #CCC; margin: 20px 0; min-height: 85px; } .portal-right { padding: 10px; margin: 20px 0; min-height: 85px; } .portal-right img { padding-left: 5px; } .portal-left img { padding-right: 5px; } Mike Suszek: Sam and I took a moment to throw down in a few matches of Super Smash Bros. on Wii U at E3. Let's get this out of the way: It's definitely still Smash Bros. The controls aren't wildly different from Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the four-player action is still chaotic and I still manage to miss out on every Pokeball that appears. Sam Prell: Being "more Smash Bros." isn't necessarily bad, though. Fighting games aren't often torn down and rebuilt from the ground up - they're tweaked and tightened. Sometimes a surprise feature or two can sneak their way in and shake things up, though. I'm still not sure about how I feel about the addition of the Smash Ball in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, even six years after the fact. Based on our - admittedly short - time with the game this week though, I don't think we'll see a shift quite as dramatic as the one between Brawl and Melee.
Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris doesn't mess with success
Relax, Crystal Dynamics hasn't ruined the wonderful, action-fueled, puzzle-solving fun that made Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light such a joy. When it comes to the basics, at least, Lara Croft and the Tomb of Osiris has it down. The fundamentals have hardly been altered. The visuals have received a next-gen boost, the setting has changed and there's a new cast of supporting characters – Lara is now exploring Egypt with a rival raider and a pair of Egyptian gods – but the twin-stick shooting and cooperative spirit that drove Guardian of Light is intact. Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris doesn't try to reinvent Guardian of Light's winning formula, and that's great news.
Crytek's Arena of Fate aims to change the MOBA as we know it
Crytek's new MOBA Arena of Fate is best described by our sister site Joystiq as a MOBA for people frustrated by MOBAs. Sitting down with Crytek Producer David Bowman at E3 this week, the Joystiq interview focuses on what makes AoF different from every other MOBA out there by removing the "toxic elements that exist in [...] some of the other products." How is this done, exactly? "The store is gone, getting the last hit on a minion doesn't matter, matches operate on a 20-minute countdown, and the first team to 10 points wins," according to the interview. Be sure to check out more on Arena of Fate as the game approaches beta later this summer.
Recruiting goats and researching cardboard in Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain
The in-game demo of Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain features an impressive array of technology, from Fox Engine's fantastic character models and dynamic weather effects to its day and night cycle and open-world locales. Oh, and also, you have the ability to attach a surface-to-air recovery balloon to a goat and send it flying toward your home base. Clearly, the engine's most impressive feat.
Mega Sableye debuts in latest Pokemon footage
Nintendo would like you to meet Mega Sableye, the latest Pokemon to break from its lowly roots and Mega Evolve into something more, something better, something you'll find in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Pokemon Alpha Sapphire. [Image: Nintendo]
PlayStation's Adam Boyes points the spotlight on diverse games
Adam Boyes connects developers and publishers to PlayStation, making their appearance on the platform as seamless and as fair as possible. There's an attempt to create equal footing for everyone, which is why it's no longer a surprise to see independent games like No Man's Sky and Abzu getting screen time and drawing applause at Sony's E3 presentation. "The thing I never want to say is, 'You're going to like this, because gaming is such a personal thing," Boyes told me after Sony's E3 presentation. Though he can cast the PlayStation spotlight on games that need a little boost in prominence, highlighting them through the storefront or PlayStation Plus, Boyes prefers not to beat a drum until people care about games outside their comfort zone. "Our whole idea is just, basically, to show you as many different things - and make the judgement for yourself."
E3 2014: Hands-on with Black Gold's PvP
It can be hard to demo an MMO at E3. Some studios stick a bunch of journalists together and have us try an instance, which can be fun or, if the worst of us ends up taking a key position, it can be rather frustrating. Other studios let you into a questing area but, to be brutally honest, these usually feel pretty stale compared to the nearby console games that let you do more than kill 10 goblins. Snail Games broke from the mold by letting us PvP in its upcoming Black Gold Online MMO, and while there were some issues, I felt a bit more confident about the title than I did last year.
NOPEing out of The Evil Within
I wasn't overly impressed with The Evil Within when I saw it last year. It felt too copy/paste to me, too many familiar elements from too many familiar games. It all felt like more of the same, and while I could understand the desire to return to the roots of survival horror, I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't my jam. I wasn't scared. I'm scared now. I was given the option of choosing which of two sections I'd like to try out, and I opted for the one that focused more on exploration, story, and puzzle solving. I'd seen the combat in previous demos and knew the drill there, but I wanted to get a sense of the atmosphere the game had to offer. Scarce resources and the need to burn your enemies (to make absolutely, positively sure they stay dead after you put them down) is a fine basis for combat, but if The Evil Within wasn't creepy, I wasn't going to be interested.
Mortal Kombat X seems to live up to its gory pedigree
I won't claim to have in-depth, intricate knowledge on Mortal Kombat X - the demo I played only featured six characters and three stages - but I can confidently say that short of a few changes, the game should feel very familiar to fans of Mortal Kombat 9. The biggest change I was shown offers characters a trio of styles to choose from before battle. After selecting Sub-Zero, for instance, players can opt for a defensive style, a style focused on crafting weapons from ice and a third style centered around the character's classic ice clone move. Taking a page from the Injustice: Gods Among Us playbook, Mortal Kombat X also features interactive backgrounds, though instead of focusing purely on damage, these elements are more useful for positioning. An example would be Scorpion leaping from the back of a dozing sabertoothed cat to land behind his opponent, or swinging from a frozen tree branch to extend his jumping range. [Image: WBIE]
E3 2014: Hands-on with Star Citizen and a chat with Chris Roberts
Chris Roberts prefers a joystick or controller to the mouse and keyboard. This came up immediately upon meeting him for our Star Citizen demo/interview at this year's E3. As someone who's mainly watched news on the game from the sidelines, sitting in awe of what looks like a terribly complex title with tons of gameplay options, I was a bit intimidated going into this sit-down. But I came out of it feeling, well, relaxed.
The curious case of Splatoon, Wii U's dollop of squidly joy
Splatoon is a game out of time. Steering its funky kid combatants around brightly lit arenas, spraying down thick smears of hot pink and olive green paint out of what looks like Super Soaker 50s, recalls the neon cartoon style of early-'90s cartoons. "Up next on Snick we've got the kids from Splatoon!" yell Keenan and Kel between commercial breaks. That each pony-tailed gunner turns into a squid that can sink into paint smeared on any surface, refilling their ink stockpile for more shooting and speedily sneaking around the grounds avoiding fire, gives Splatoon a surrealistic Nintendo flair but even its cephalopodic nature has a whiff of the Double Dare about it. Even if it feels a bit like a cultural relic, it's a vibrant and vivacious entry in the Wii U library, bright and pleasing to hand and eye in the same charismatic way as Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World. My time with the game was encouraging, but I sincerely worry about Splatoon finding its audience on Wii U.
