Gamescom-2013
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Opinion: Blue Estate's humiliated mermaid won't leave me alone
When the embargo for Blue Estate lifted last week, I had two options: write about the game and include that I felt excluded while playing it, or don't write about it at all. The second choice is hardly an option when it's my job to provide feedback on games the world hasn't seen yet, and I take my job seriously. Unfortunately, my personal response to Blue Estate is so overwhelming, even one month later, that I can't write about it without including these reactions, even though I find it embarrassing and extremely stressful to share my emotions – gah, gag me with a spoon – in a public forum. So, here we go. Blue Estate is a boiling bevy of extremes – it's based on the Blue Estate comic series published by Image, which tells the sordid tales of drug lords, mafia men, scantily clad women, has-beens and sarcastic jerks of every flavor dumped into the back alleys of LA. Blue Estate the game focuses on one of these caricatures, Tony Luciano, who is – you guessed it – a mobster and son of the Godfather of West Coast Cosa Nostra. I played a demo of Blue Estate at Gamescom. In the demo, it's clear Tony is a sarcastic, fumbling racist with a gun and a lot of luck. He's greedy, inconsiderate and narcissistic, and I can practically feel the grease building up in my hair as I point his gun at enemy after enemy. Tony is every bit the stereotypical, jaded mobster, with that cliché's most obvious traits pushed to the extreme. Another character featured prominently in the demo, but not playable, is Cherry Popz. She's a stripper, and in the same way Tony's macho stupidity is enhanced, Cherry has enhancements – when she's introduced, the narration focuses on her jaw-dropping beauty while the images focus on her body. She has a problem and she's seeking professional help from an overweight, unshowered, male private eye (who is privately eyeing her through a pair of thick glasses). During playable moments, Cherry wears a tiny black two-piece and heels, and at one point she gives me a full-on pole dance. Now – I've been to strip clubs and I don't find the notion of a woman in lingerie offensive or disgusting, but Blue Estate has the natural ability to turn sexiness into exploitation, humor into humiliation and my own enjoyment into exasperation, with a neon sign flashing the philosophy that I don't need to feel comfortable here. I've never felt unwelcome in a strip club.
Dead Rising 3 has up to ten endings, brings back Overtime mode
Capcom Vancouver producer Mike Jones confirmed Dead Rising 3 will follow the series' precedent of branching paths and multiple endings. "I think typically we've always had about somewhere between six and 10, something like that," Jones said during a Gamescom meeting with OXM. "There's a handful of branching points that make a significant difference, and whether you're able to play beyond the normal timeline or not." Jones also touched on Overtime mode, the series' sandbox gameplay that extends beyond the main campaign timeline. "So there's not just the six days, we're going beyond that if you make the right story decisions. So it's not like choose-your-own-adventure crazy infinite endings, there's a finite amount, but they all [correspond to] meaningful story decisions that you make as you play through." Dead Rising 3, in development at Capcom Vancouver as an Xbox One launch exclusive this November, stars new protagonist Nick and takes place ten years after the events of Dead Rising 2. Outside the core sandbox go-anywhere gameplay, Dead Rising 3 is anchored by an expanded weapon crafting system first introduced in Dead Rising 2.
Dragon's Prophet EU crowns cosplay winner at Gamescom
Back in June we reported that Infernum Productions was holding a costume contest for Dragon's Prophet EU and a special fashion show for the best at Gamescom called Dragon Cosplay Summit 2013. The game itself may still be in beta, but the players released some impressive skills to create a variety of DP themed costumes to take part in the show. In the end, only one was crowned the winner with the €2,500 worth of prizes and the ability to design a virtual costume to be added into the game -- Laura "Lightning" Jansen. Check out how these players brought virtual characters to life in the gallery below, starting off with Jansen's winning costume. Then watch highlights of the fashion show in the video after the break. [Source: Infernum productions press release]
Bungie: Destiny is different 'every time you experience it'
Bungie's David "DeeJ" Dague sat down for an interview with the official PlayStation blog at Gamescom, discussing Destiny's world design, class mechanics, and replayability. According to Dague, Destiny takes place in a world of "mythic science-fiction" where fantasy, mysticism, and technology collide. Destiny's plot revolves around humanity's quest to recover the artifacts of the Golden Age and find redemption in the post-apocalyptic wastelands that its brazen rush for advancement has created. Dague explained that Destiny is about making choices, with one of the most important being the class you decide to play. Whether it's the tanky Titan, the stealthy Hunter, or the magic-y Warlock, class selection will determine how you interact with the world, and groups with mixed classes will see greater success. According to Dague, the dynamic world of Destiny and its reliance on inter-player reactions ensure that no two playthroughs are the same. Bungie is expecting the game to have a very long life cycle due to the idea that "the game is completely dynamic and will be different every time you experience it with other people." Also mentioned was Destiny's focus on dynamic group events and the way in which players choose to deal with them. If you're on your own, you may see a public event and decide that you want to jump in and participate in it, or you can bypass all of the actions over here and continue on your own path. You're going to see other players participating in their own portions of the game and you can decide to participate or just go your own way.
How to make players sick in your virtual reality game
There is a great, undiscovered potential in virtual reality development. Sure, you can create lifelike virtual worlds, but you can also make players sick. Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey and VP of product Nate Mitchell hosted a panel at GDC Europe last week, instructing developers on how to avoid the VR development pitfalls that make players uncomfortable. It was a lovely service for VR developers, but we saw a much greater opportunity. Inadvertently, the panel explained how to make players as queasy and uncomfortable as possible. And so, we now present the VR developer's guide to manipulating your players right down to the vestibular level. Just follow these tips and your players will be tossing their cookies in minutes. Note: If you'd rather not make your players horribly ill and angry, just do the opposite of everything below.
Low level dungeon and raid scaling technology complete
Blizzard's Game Director Tom Chilton and Lead Content Designer Cory Stockton have really gone out on a limb with interviews at Gamescom, spilling every bean and answering every question with the transparency and openness we're coming to expect from new look Blizzard. One question they were asked related to the up-scaling of low level dungeons. Tom responded as follows: That's something that we did actively work on and certainly the technology is pretty well in place at this point. We were also hoping to get the dungeons to a point where they were scaling, however we didn't actually end up coming up with a reward scheme that we felt fit correctly. I think it's important to remember that today, players can go back and do old content by soloing it and they usually do that to get the transmog gear, and I think if they were going to to go back and do it as a true 25-man raid of Black Temple, as an example, they'd would have to feel like they were getting something that was useful for it as well as transmog gear, and we still have to figure out what the right reward scheme for that is. We don't want it to compete with the new raid in terms of getting you the best possible gear, but at the same time, it has to be worth something. So that's something we haven't really resolved yet, so we won't be seeing scaling raids until sometime in the future. So what do you think they could offer as a reward for redoing old content "properly", in an upscaled raid or as downscaled characters? I feel like points, Valor, Justice, whatever, would be a good reward, along with the transmog gear and pets, but maybe also a low and random drop-rate of Garrosh-style heirloom weapons. What's your take on it?
Black Desert Gamescom video shows 22 minutes of gameplay
Gamescom 2013 may be over, but that doesn't mean great stuff isn't still trickling out from it. And today's stuff is a 22-minute video of Black Desert gameplay, complete with dev commentary. In this extended tour of the upcoming sandbox, Pearl Abyss shows off plenty of the action combat, active dodging, and wall climbing as well as the characters and the terrain. Besides that, viewers can see and hear about the weather system, the world map and exploration, worker NPCs who will harvest and deliver resources to you, and other features. If you've got a good chunk of time, sit back and have yourself a lengthy look at Black Desert after the break. [Thanks to Erik for the tip!]
Gamescom 2013: Destiny, ESO take top honors
Over 340,000 attendees descended on Cologne to see what the biggest in the business had to offer at Gamescom 2013, with the upcoming battle between Microsoft and Sony's next-gen consoles taking center stage. So what came out on top? According to this year's Gamescom Awards, pretty much the games you'd expect. Bungie's MMO-shooter hybrid Destiny took home the award for Best PlayStation game, along with Best Action Game, Best Online Multiplayer Game, and Best of Gamescom. Meanwhile, ZeniMax Online and Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls Online walked with Best Role-Playing Game and Best Social/Casual/Online Game. Gaijin Entertainment's War Thunder was named Best Simulation Game. Other awards were meted out to non-MMO contenders; Titanfall, Forza 5, Mario Kart 8, FIFA 14, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Battlefield 4 all ended up with some sort of official recognition.
Yaiba 'is its own thing,' Team Ninja would love to make Yaiba 2
Although it's set in the Ninja Gaiden universe, Team Ninja looks at Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z as its own entity, separate from Ryu Hayabusa's outings and able to develop into its own property. Speaking to Joystiq at Gamescom, studio head Yosuke Hayashi said his team would love to make a Yaiba 2, but it needs to ensure the first Yaiba is a success first. "It's not a sequel or a spin-off, it is its own thing," Hayashi said, "And so the systems are very different. We want to have it open to another audience, to people who like zombie games. The target is a little bit different, but it should still feel like a good, solid action game." Yaiba isn't just a ninja meets zombies crossover, it is also a worldwide collaboration between three separate games studios: Ninja Gaiden dev Team Ninja and Keiji Inafune's Comcept from Japan, and California-based Spark Unlimited. It's an unusual collaboration to say the least, but one Inafune believes has worked out well. "It's been interesting to see the Comcept team, the Team Ninja team, and the Spark team working together on this project," Inafune said. "First we were being careful with each other and respecting each other's boundaries, and stuff like that. But it really has become an open dialog between the teams, respecting the strengths of each team, and bringing out those strengths through discussion and through open and honest collaboration. To see that happen that between Team Ninja and Spark has been something that's really good for Yaiba."
Super Joystiq Podcast Special: The Games of Gamescom 2013
Gamescom 2013 is done, but the crew makes a surprise return for one more Super Joystiq Podcast Special. This is the one where we put the "games" in Gamescom (incidentally, we still don't know where the "com" comes from). Alexander, Richard, Jess, and Sinan take their final night in Germany to share impressions of all the games seen and played throughout the week. Set aside 2+ hours for the word on more than 25 games including: Dying Light, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Knack, The Witcher 3, Beyond: Two Souls, Hotline Miami 2, The Sims 4, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and many more. And that really does conclude the Gamescom podcast explosion. Thanks for tuning in! Listen to the Super Joystiq Podcast: Subscribe to the Super Joystiq Podcast in iTunes Add the Super Joystiq Podcast feed to your RSS aggregator Download the MP3 directly Details about each segment are available after the break.
Stick and Rudder: Star Citizen's risky hangar module reveal
Man, I'm excited for next Thursday! Not because it's the day before Friday -- although that's pretty great, too -- but because we're going to get our hands on the first official release of Star Citizen. Chris Roberts called it the "baby Star Citizen" during last night's Gamescom love-in, which you should watch if you'd like to see the Cloud Imperium crew overwhelmed by the rock star treatment it received from the backers who journeyed to Cologne. Anyway, the hangar module! The devs have been showing it off to fans and press, and if initial reactions are anything to go by, it's going to be a successful mini-launch. It's still a risky move, though.
Gamescom 2013 attendance more than 340,000
Gamescom: The Fünfening pushed the limits of the Koelnmesse, with attendance numbers causing shutdowns and resulting in the annual gathering being completely sold out. Organizers at the Koelnmesse said today the premier public gaming event's attendance reached over 340,000. Last year's attendance stabilized at a little over 275,000, thanks to Microsoft and Nintendo's absense from the show. That was not the case this year. On top of that, we're heading into the next console cycle and gamers around the world are pumped. Our annual roundup of official and unofficial stats can be found after the break. We also have six nights of Super Joystiq Podcast episodes to check out, all recorded in the traditional method of people who deserve better than being crowded around a microphone in a tiny German hotel room.
Switch Galaxy Ultra boosts to PS4 and Vita
Reflex-based time trial and high score hybrid Switch Galaxy Ultra is signaling to merge into the PS4 and Vita lanes, an announcement following Sony's GDC presentation revealed. The announcement states that Switch Galaxy Ultra is a revamp of PlayStation Mobile's Switch Galaxy that will improve visuals and add a "host of new levels, lots more player ships to acquire and upgrade" and "more power-ups." Unlike its visually-comparable, fallen racing counterpart, Wipeout, Switch Galaxy Ultra will task players with gathering as many points in as few seconds as possible by switching between fixed lanes. Gates, other drivers and occasional lasers of death fired from overhead aircrafts will stand between players and indisputable glory atop the leaderboards. Switch Galaxy Ultra will have pre-defined tracks in a story mode, but players can also try to persevere on the Survival Mode's infinite track and shove their success in their friends' faces.
Team Ninja still open to Wii U, but no current plans to port existing games
Team Ninja is open to making more Wii U games, but the Japanese studio doesn't have any plans for ports like Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge at the moment. Despite the Wii U's commercial struggles, studio head Yosuke Hayashi told Joystiq his team would consider games for the Nintendo system, as long as they're a good fit. "Of course, I think there are games that would be good for Wii U," Hayashi told us at Gamescom. "So I think we need to still see what exactly those games they are and how you make a game for Wii U that is perfect for the Wii U. So if we get a chance to make a game like that, well, maybe we can think about it then. But right now we have no plans to port existing games to Wii U." Razor's Edge was one of the first third-party games announced for the Wii U, and the port brought welcome revisions to the PS3 and Xbox 360 original. As for Team Ninja, it's currently collaborating with Keiji Inafune's Comcept and Lost Planet 3 dev Spark Unlimited on the zombie-plagued Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, due on Xbox 360 and PS3 in early 2014.
Secrets of Rætikon soars above the clouds and into our hearts
We all dream differently: The ocean is green to Bob and purple to Jane; Dave's teeth fall out and Carol's hair sheds from her head; Felix flies by flapping his arms and Martin floats above the ground effortlessly. That last example is a real-world tale from two friends, Broken Rules co-founders Felix Bohatsch and Martin Pichlmair, and it's the difference that sparked their coming title, Secrets of Rætikon. It's a single-player exploration game set in a flattened, vectorized landscape, starring a bird as it searches for glowing slivers that revitalize ancient machinery scattered around the mountainside. At Broken Rules, if there was a debate about which form of dream flight was more correct, it looks like Bohatsch won. The aerial mechanics in Secrets of Rætikon embody a sense of controlled chaos inherent in the natural flight of most birds. It's a balance of pressing one button to flap the bird's wings and gain speed and power, or pressing another to immediately curve down and dive, and then simply guiding the bird along wind streams or behind cave walls to find all of the shiny objects littering the world. The alpha version of Secrets of Rætikon already demonstrates a dreamlike quality with its art, gameplay and story, perhaps inspired by that initial spark. It's soothing and surprising, with the opportunity to be immensely challenging. While playing Secrets of Rætikon at GDC Europe, I was on cloud nine.
Project Spark expected to add Kinect gameplay too, says producer
At Gamescom, Team Dakota gave me a quick demonstration of how to animate characters using Kinect motion capture in the Xbox One game-maker Project Spark. I've got to say, there are few things that have given me more pleasure in Cologne than watching a game designer pretend to be a troll, stomping his feet and gesturing angrily at the screen – the irony wasn't lost. The demo worked great, the on-screen troll reflecting software engineer Eddie Parker's exaggerated stomping with a palpable accuracy. The mo-cap is just another facet of Project Spark, and the Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Windows 8 game continues to ooze potential. At the demo I saw a visually authentic recreation of Limbo, one that Team Dakota was able to seamlessly switch from black-and-white 2D platformer to lush, tropical-looking first-person adventure with just a few clicks. As closed alpha has shown, people can make all kinds of things in Project Spark: third-person RPGs, shooters, even god games. Parker told me one member of Team Dakota put together a Sim City-like game. Given the Kinect integration and the game's apparent flexibility, I asked executive producer Sax Persson if Team Dakota was considering implementing Kinect for gameplay control too. Sure enough, the studio is, and has explored the idea recently. "We expect over time that we're going to add that," said Persson, although he stipulated that mo-capping character animation was first priority. "When I saw the new Kinect and the specs for it, and got to try it the first time, for me it was obvious that I wanted to put myself in the game. You know, I wanted to be able to make movies with it. We tried to find what's the lowest barrier for entry for people to express themselves, right. Getting up and acting out a scene and making machinima has been a great avenue for people to express themselves for a long time." At Gamescom, Team Dakota announced Project Spark will enter its beta phase on Windows 8 in October, and then on Xbox One in January. That beta will help guide which new features, like Kinect gameplay, will come to the game. "Part of the reason why we're in beta is to hear what people want to make," said Persson. "If everybody tells us that we need to make it so I can play my Kinect games, then that's the next thing we do."
'Most' on-disc Rocksmith songs will work with Rocksmith 2014
Ubisoft's FAQ for Rocksmith 2014 notes that the game will support all DLC from the original Rocksmith as well as its on-disc tracks. Speaking to executive producer Nao Higo at Gamescom, we've learned that there will likely be a few tracks that don't transfer. Higo told us that Rocksmith 2014 will support "most" of the original game's songs, though licensing issues may prevent some tracks from making the jump. "We're still working out the licensing on a couple of stragglers," said Higo. "We want to get to the point where we can say [all the original tracks will transfer], but we don't want to lie to you, so right now we're saying most of them." Rocksmith 2014 will launch this October on PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3.
PSA: Gamescom sold out
Gamescom 2013 is "completely sold out." The Koelnmesse, organizer of the world's largest gaming convention, says there are no more day tickets left for the weekend. The convention center reports there are Saturday afternoon tickets available but, if you're already in town and were planning to pick up a ticket today, we'd strongly recommend finding a cafe near the Dom and chilling. "People who don't have a ticket for Sunday should not travel to the exhibition center on that day," the Koelnmesse posted on the convention's main page. The annual convention regularly surpasses 250,000 attendees, but Electronic Arts COO Peter Moore mentioned during the company's press conference on Tuesday that the show was expecting more than 300,000 revelers. [Image: Koelnmesse]
Peggle 2 gets animated masters, new abilities
During Microsoft's Xbox One event at Gamescom, EA announced Peggle 2 would come to the next-gen platform. Speaking with GameInformer, Lead Producer Jared Neuss revealed some of the changes the game will see when it arrives later this year. PopCap's pachinko-inspired game features new worlds, new masters - those amazing characters that gave players special abilities - and a different method of bringing its characters to life. They are now fully animated and react to the on-screen action, Neuss said. Showcasing a new character with the ability to hide a board's blue pegs, Neuss said the new Master powers will be very "over-the-top compared to the old Master powers." Despite changes, Peggle 2 looks a lot like Peggle. But ... Saying "Peggle 2 looks like more Peggle" is like saying, "Why do I have all this dumb blood in my body?" Well, because you need it to live. Peggle 2 will arrive on the Xbox One at the console's launch and make its way to other, unspecified platforms, at an undisclosed date.
Gamescom 2013: Dewback mounts spotted in SWTOR cantina tour files
BioWare's latest Star Wars: The Old Republic cantina tour descended on Gamescom this week, bringing with it a glimpse at the sci-fi MMO's not-too-distant future. Fan website Dulfy.net obtained the files from the thumb drive handed out at the event, and has posted several images from the upcoming content additions. Let's see, there's concept art for a dewback mount, screenshots from the planet Oricon, and an image of the F5-SC battle droid refer-a-friend award, among other goodies. Click through the links below to see for yourself. [Thanks Austin!]
