gamescom-2012
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Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed into a new trailer
All the way from Cologne, Germany, where Gamescom is taking place this week, here's the newest trailer for Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed, the upcoming kart (and boat and plane) racing game featuring the famous blue hedgehog and his crowd. Oh, and Wreck-It Ralph! And Danica Patrick, too.The racing looks awfully colorful, which should make Sonic and Sega fans very happy indeed. As the trailer says, the game's due to arrive on November 20. There are a few new screenshots for you to browse through as well; just take a left turn into the gallery below.%Gallery-162455%
The Zen of KickBeat
Zen Studios is best known for its prowess in the pinball market, amassing its fame from titles such as Pinball FX, Zen Pinball and Marvel Pinball (Notice a trend?). This success has enabled Zen to expand its creative department and develop a wide range of games for varying platforms.KickBeat, for example, is a music-based crossover action title for Vita that throws a brilliant twist into the tired rhythm genre. It combines the quick dexterity of classic rhythm games with a few of the industry's favorite tropes and trends: fighting and ninjas.The most noticeable fad that Zen Studios doesn't integrate in KickBeat also happens to be the game's best feature: It has absolutely no touchscreen or rear touchpad functions.
Super Joystiq Podcast Gamescom 2012 special: Day 4
Gamescom 2012 continues and it's back to the round table wrap-up style podcast today.The regular crew of Alexander, Ben, Richard, and Jess are in the house joined by a few guests including Bethesda's Pete Hines, and Fredrik Wester and Shams Jorjani from Paradox Interactive.On day four the group discusses DmC: Devil May Cry, the surprising forthcoming relaunch of Final Fantasy XIV, the Oculus Rift, DayZ, the underwhelming showing Resident Evil 6, and other attention-grabbers from the show.Check back tomorrow for the final Super Joystiq Podcast special out of GDC Europe and Gamescom 2012 in Germany.Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Super Joystiq Podcast is also available in the Zune Marketplace Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directlyA stream of the show and details about each segment is available after the break.
Trine 2 expansion 'Goblin Menace' revealed, included in Wii U version
Using Gamescom as its platform, Finnish developer Frozenbyte unveiled the continuing adventures of its three amigos by announcing 'Goblin Menace,' an expansion for Trine 2.Other than being completely gorgeous (seriously, just look at it!), the Goblin Menace expansion adds six fresh levels in an all-new campaign along with new skills that are also available for use in the original Trine 2 campaign.Trine 2: Goblin Menace will debut on Steam this fall before being included in the Trine 2: Director's Cut for Wii U this holiday season. More info, including additional platforms for the content and pricing, is set to come at a later date. In the meantime ... dat graphics!%Gallery-162649%
Gamescom 2012: RIFT Storm Legion walkthrough
Fantasy MMO RIFT has been regularly updated with new content since launch, but its upcoming Storm Legion expansion has the potential to blow all previous updates out of the water. The expansion will triple the size of the game world with the two brand-new continents of Brevane and Dusken. Between them, the new continents will launch with 11 new zones, seven new dungeons, three new raids and a new capital city. At Gamescom 2012 this week, Trion Worlds revealed further details of the new expansion with a full walkthrough. The expansion aims to add even more customisation options to the already expansive game, with one new soul per calling and all existing souls being extended up to the new level cap of 60. Check out the walkthrough video after the cut to see the new Harbinger soul in action and several of the new game zones. [Thanks to Rehlik for the tip!]
Gamescom 2012: Matt Higby sheds light on PlanetSide 2's factions and design
PlanetSide engendered some fierce faction loyalty, which carries over quite naturally to PlanetSide 2. According to Matt Higby in a new interview at Gamescom 2012, every faction's players feel like their faction needs more attention in the early release material. The main challenge of design is keeping all three factions balanced while ensuring that all three are different enough to feel distinct. Higby stresses that the team is trying to push the differences as far as possible without creating balance problems. Another major issue that Higby brings up is ensuring that new players can get into the game without removing anything that old players enjoyed about the original. That means new mechanics to help players drop in if they've never played before, but the same core design of gathering hundreds of players to accomplish sweeping tactical objectives. Check out the full video after the break for more of Higby's insights into design; the video starts off in German, but the interview itself is in English.
Tearaway isn't the only game Media Molecule is working on
While Media Molecule is hard at work on Tearaway, the new 3D adventure game for PS Vita revealed this week during Gamescom, it's not the only iron the studio has in the fire. The developer has a second project underway, though this mystery game is in the fairly early stages."We're working on a second project right now, and that's very much in an R&D phase," Media Molecule's Mark Healy told Eurogamer. Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans added that while the "focus is Tearaway" right now, only 15 people are working on the PS Vita game, and that "Media Molecule is a lot more than 15 people.""We call it in a holding pattern," Evans added, "because the focus is on Tearaway. I'm not saying that from a press angle – our focus is on Tearaway and making it awesome. The other project is very much in an early stage and is a toy. You don't need to worry about it."
Sony rules out PS Vita price cut in 2012, works to lower the price later
It's time to get realistic about the prospects of a PlayStation Vita price drop. Sony Worldwide Studios' head Shuhei Yoshida dampened the fires of speculation at GamesCom this week by telling Eurogamer that it was simply "too early" to slash the price on the gaming handheld -- it was only just launched this year for every active region beyond Japan, after all. That's not to say Sony is determined to keep the PS Vita at $249 forever. Much like what it did for the PS3, the company is working to bring down the price by streamlining part costs. The cuts might be necessary given the mismatch between the warm reception to the quad-core, OLED-packing hardware and the actual sales; Sony would "like to see more uptake" than what's been seen to date, according to Yoshida. In the meantime, we'll have to be content with bundles like the European LittleBigPlanet combo if we want to eke out a little more value at the game store counter.
Capcom US, Japan's creative relationship with UK's Ninja Theory
DmC: Devil May Cry represents Capcom's focused, intentional effort to add western flair to a traditionally Japanese-styled game, left in the care of UK-entrenched studio Ninja Theory. Both Capcom Japan and US left the westernization entirely in Ninja Theory's hands, only providing advice on the game's core essentials and at times making strong suggestions about characters and controls. Otherwise, Capcom took a hands-off approach to the game's modernization.Among three branches of two studios in three disparate areas of the globe, creating anything successfully – let alone a new, yet familiar game in a popular franchise – was bound to be frustrating. According to Capcom producers Motohide Eshiro and Alex Jones, it certainly was stressful working with Ninja Theory, but it was also successful.Read their thoughts on Ninja Theory and the international DmC development process below.
Get $1 PC games from Ubisoft's new Uplay client
Uplay the vague Ubisoft online service is now also Uplay the PC client, through which Ubisoft sells games and offers friends lists and other services. It's worth checking out, because the company is offering a selection of $1 PC game downloads, one a day. Today, it's HAWX 2; tomorrow, From Dust, with Silent Hunter 5 and Driver: San Francisco following.The same deal applies in the UK and Europe, with prices of one unit of the local currency. There are other deep, if not as dramatic, discounts as well.
'Spun (God is a DJ)' and Remember Me's memory remixing are cut from the same creative cloth
When I first saw Remember Me's "memory remix" sequence play out during Capcom's press conference at Gamescom, my first thought was another Capcom game: Ghost Trick. Creative lead Jean-Maxime Moris agreed that Ghost Trick is a fair comparison, but he denied that that was where Dontnod drew inspiration from when crafting its memory remixing. In fact, Remember Me's memory remixing was "already in place" when Ghost Trick launched in early 2011."We tried it, and we played it, and I liked it very much," Moris says. "The main difference is that we are carrying realistic narrative states in the memory remix, and there will be key revelations about the storyline within the memory remix, or in the way things are gonna pan out before and after the remix ... that's very different, 'cause Ghost Trick was very gamey. And I don't mean that in a negative way at all, but it didn't try to achieve what we're trying to achieve in terms of scenario."Rather than Ghost Trick, Dontnod took inspiration from another source entirely: 2007's YouTube short by Double Edge Films, "Spun (God is a DJ).""Have you seen the short movie on YouTube, 'Spun (God is a DJ)'?" Moris asked me. I hadn't, but, watching it this morning, it was easy to see the inspiration shine through. "In the beginning, it was a massive inspiration for us, and one of the first things I did when I started to design the game was to go back to that and say, 'Well, this is the feeling we want to achieve. And how do we do that in the game?'" Moris admitted that Dontnod failed "two or three times" before the studio figured out the current version. "I'm confident we found the right way," he added.In case you haven't seen the short, it's a clever riff on a DJified deity remixing the world around him, slightly altering events to create alternative outcomes (take a look above). In Remember Me, the game's protagonist Nilin commands that same deity-like power over others, remixing memories to elicit outcomes of her choosing (seen in a video after the break).Like in "Spun," Nilin must first identify the "glitches" in her target's memory that allow for tweaking before she can begin altering the future. "One thing you didn't see in the video yesterday is that she first needs to identify where she's gonna be able to interact. And then, she can try out various combinations of objects," Moris said."Spun" mirrors this concept, where the all powerful DJ must first see what his remixing effects have on the world before he can correctly re-engineer the scenario. The only difference in the case of "Spun" is that the DJ, unlike Nilin, isn't trying to get someone to kill themselves.%Gallery-162365%
Oculus Rift will cater to those who wear glasses
Upon first learning about the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, you may have had one of two reactions. Most of us would look at the promising headset and think, "that looks really promising." Others, however, have only one question: "Will it fit over my glasses?"The short answer is no, it won't. The longer, much more positive answer is that even those with impaired vision will be able to use the Oculus Rift when it's finally available to consumers. While the unit won't fit over eyeglasses – creator Palmer Luckey tells us it would put the headset too far away from the user's face – it will have adjustable optics. Exactly how these will be implemented hasn't been finalized, though two possibilities include binocular-like dial adjustment or special optical inserts. The only impairment that could be problematic, says Palmer, is cases of severe astigmatism, though that may be correctable via software.In other words, years of destroying your eyes by sitting too close to the screen won't stop you from strapping this one directly to your face.
Yoshida: 2012 is 'too early' for Vita price drop
If you're holding out on a Vita until the price goes down, you may be holding out for a while. Speaking to Eurogamer at Gamescom, SCE Worldwide Studios president Shuhei Yoshida that the price will not go down this year. "It's too early," he said. Sony engineers are working on "cost reduction," which Yoshida said takes time."At a certain point in the future we would like to address the pricing issue for some of the people who are waiting," Yoshida said. "But this year we are trying to add value by creating different types of bundles," like the LittleBigPlanet PS Vita bundle announced at Gamescom. "That's affordable for people who are looking for a good deal."
Dishonored's Harvey Smith on the risk of letting players break your game
There are a lot of choices available to players in Dishonored. At every player's disposal is an impressive array of weapons, gadgets and abilities, each offering a different way to tackle a given situation. Take the simple assassination mission I played at Gamescom, which just so happened to be the same mission we detailed earlier this month at QuakeCon. Tasked with infiltrating a posh party at a lavish mansion, freelancer Britton Peele chose to walk right through the front door. Me, I possessed a fish, swam into the sewers and worked my way into the mansion via the cellar. That's only two of many possible choices.Allowing players that much freedom – the freedom to potentially break the game – must be a nightmare for quality assurance, I tell Arkane Studios' co-creative director Harvey Smith. "It's not just a nightmare for QA," he says, "it's a nightmare for us as well."%Gallery-161677%
Diving into Deadpool at Gamescom
I can't speak with great authority on the character of Deadpool, but I've played more than my share of third-person action games, and High Moon Studios' interpretation of the ludicrous anti-hero is shaping up to be an over-the-top experience.%Gallery-162446%
See Engadget try out the Oculus Rift
You've read our impressions of the Oculus Rift from our Doom 3 session at QuakeCon, but now you can see it in action as Engadget's Mat Smith takes the prototype for a spin (with yours truly manning the camera). Head over to Engadget for lots of pictures and Mat's detailed impressions.
Gamescom 2012: CJ Games showcases upcoming games in videos
Back at E3, Massively had the chance to chat with folks from CJ Games Global about a number of their upcoming games, including the horror-themed shooter Hounds, the medieval strategy game Monarch, and the urban action shooter District 187: Sin Streets (formally called Sin Streets Online). For Gamescom, the company showed two short trailers highlighting some of the in-game action of both Monarch and Hounds. Hounds will feature five types of gameplay, including endgame raiding and PvP. The game is scheduled for a fourth-quarter release in 2013. Planned for release just before that in Q3 2013, Monarch utilizes soldiers-for-hire to siege opposing territories in large-scale combat. Check out the in-game footage of both titles in the trailers after the break. [Source: CJ Games Global press release]
Oculus Rift's latest VR headset prototype gets a showing at Gamescom 2012 (hands-on)
"This is the latest prototype," the Oculus guys tell us. That's great, now strap us in. The team decided to make a sudden stop in Germany ahead of appearances back in the US over the next few weeks -- and we're glad, because it meant we got to call in on them and grab some time with the Oculus Rift. If you didn't know, the Rift is a Kickstarter-funded VR gaming headset (stay with us) that's caught the attention of several games developers -- most notably John Carmack. He liked it so much, in fact, that he developed a special Rift-ready version of Doom 3 for the headset and Doom 4 will also be heading to the VR peripheral too. We got to play with the earlier game and while there's a video after the break, we reckon you'll really need to try this in person to fully grasp how the Oculus Rift plays. Check out our impressions after the break. %Gallery-162593%
Gamescom 2012: World of Warcraft reveals Mists of Pandaria opening cinematic
Ever since Blizzard announced that the opening cinematic for World of Warcraft's next expansion Mists of Pandaria would be revealed at Gamescom 2012, fans have been patiently waiting to watch the introduction of the Pandaren in the popular fantasy MMORPG. Now the wait is over: Watch as the black and white kung-fu master takes on two warring combatants in the video after the break.
Hitman: Absolution 'Contracts' mode spelled out in video
Here's the clip from Gamescom detailing Hitman: Absolution's recently revealed asynchronous multiplayer mode, "Contracts." Playable at the German mega show, Contracts allows players to make their own scenario of Agent 47 marks and challenge their friends to do better.
