nycc-2009
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BattleForge open beta is now ... open
Considering that it doesn't sport any offline play, it was pretty difficult for us to get a read on EA's sort-of-card-based RTS BattleForge at the New York Comic Con last month when the company's nets went kaput. But no longer must you tolerate the hazy impressions of The Internet's Only Video Game News Source! We've just learned from EA the game has gone into open beta for anyone willing to put the effort into clicking right here.As we haven't really experienced the full package yet, we're relying on you to let us know what you think of the game in the comments. Don't let us down, the internet!%Gallery-44102%
Star Trek Online not getting that quirky Captain Kirk smirk
Alas, in case any dear readers were holding out hope for some kind of time traveling Captain Kirk appearance in Star Trek Online, we're here to inform you that it probably isn't going to happen. MTV Multiplayer's Tracey John sat down with STO's executive producer Craig Zinkievich last weekend at NYCC and got the goods on both Shatner's absence from the game, as well as some intriguing cross-platform information.So yes, no Kirk. However, it seems like Cryptic is not against the idea of dropping console and PC players into the same server. While no revelations were given about which (both?) console would see the game, apparently both Sony and Microsoft are excited at the prospect. ZInkievich stressed that ultimately their choice will have a lot to do with how certification for patches is handled.It's certainly a touchy subject, but Final Fantasy XI seems to have handled itself well on the Xbox 360. If we had to throw down a guess, it would be that we're likely to see the game his Microsoft's console at the very least. But until Cryptic makes an announcement, everyone will just have to assume they'll be boldly clicking, etc, etc.
Allakhazam get the spoils of WAR at New York Comic Con
Darryl Gangloff of Allakhazam made the trip to New York Comic Con last weekend and got the inside scoop on what Mythic has planned for Warhammer Online in the near future. He caught up with Associate Art Director, Adam Gershowitz, who walked him through new features such as the Slayer and Choppa, Bitter Rivals live event, Twisting Tower RvR scenario, new guild reward mounts, and much more.NYCC attendees were given the opportunity to try out in-development alpha Slayers and Choppas, which seemed to have the desired effect of whipping them up into a frenzy. The three Choppa masteries will be Path of Da Savage (straightforward mixed path), Path of Da Hitta (focusing on single target spike damage), and Path of Da Wrecka (focusing on high level beserk and AoE attacks). The Slayer will share similar mechanics to the Choppa and will boast many customization options including at least seven different mohawk styles and a number of body tattoos. Both careers are intended to have a more simple playstyle than some of WAR's other careers. For more insight on some of the specific updates Adam mentions, take a look at these 1.2 Public Test Server patch notes hot off the presses.
Grouping, procedural content and PvP in Star Trek Online
Star Trek Online's attendance of the New York Comic-con has happily resulted in some new information finding it's way to the internet. As such, Allakhazam has a good write-up of their time spent with Cryptic's Craig Zinkievich, and we've concentrated it down into the newest puzzle pieces of information. Firstly, players will always play planet content in groups of five, either with four NPCs or four friendly players. NPCs fill any gaps, so three friends could play together with two NPC allies trotting alongside them. Additionally, Cryptic says their goal is to truly encapsulate the spirit of Star Trek by allowing players to be the first to discover locations and planets. To that end, procedurally generated space content will compliment the manually created variety.The final new gameplay-related information is that PvP functionality already exists in the game now -- which is a promising piece of news considering the amount of balancing time required to make such a feature work properly. Lastly, it seems like a late 2009 or early 2010 launch date isn't entirely out of the question. While Zinkievich didn't give any actual dates, he did say the game could be coming sooner than expected, albeit sometime after Champions Online hits retail shelves.
NYCC 09: Infamous hands-on (PS3)
Click to embiggen. A huge shadow has been cast over Sony's upcoming Infamous -- and it's called Prototype. It's strange that two very similar games are coming out so close to each other. Both games involve learning superpowers in a post-apocalyptic, open-world environment, but Prototype seemingly has more hype due to the over-the-top nature of its presentation. In spite of their similarities, the two games play very differently. Whereas Prototype has an immediate hook, Infamous is a more meticulous affair, taking its time to draw the player into its world. Prototype is more of a beat-em-up, with easy lock-ons and quick melee combos. Infamous, on the other hand, plays a lot like a traditional third-person shooter, with the slow progression of a RPG. It may be a bit less flashy than its competitor, but it has the potential to be far more substantial and rewarding. %Gallery-44232%
Rumorang: More Mass Effect DLC on the way
You remember, eight freaking months ago, when we reported on BioWare talking about" more DLC for Mass Effect? Well, while you were vicariously experiencing the New York Comic Con through our virtual window into the Jacob Javits Center last weekend, BioWare community manager Jay Watamaniuk was dropping bombs on CinamaBlend.com's Pete Haas regarding that very same DLC, though remaining notably vague. "Watamaniuk mentioned earlier in our chat that a second Mass Effect DLC episode was on the way," reads the piece, noting that Watamaniuk quickly redirected the conversation. We've reached out to BioWare for comment and have yet to hear back, but will update this post accordingly as word comes in.
NYCC 09: Returning to Wolfenstein (why?)
Click to embiggen. It's been 8 years since the release of the last real Wolfenstein game. After seeing Wolfenstein last week at an Activision event, we wonder if there's any reason to revisit the franchise.There's a fine line between "classic" and "dated," and Wolfenstein finds itself on the wrong side of the fence. Fighting Nazis was a novel idea back in the series' prime, but it has since become a tired idea. At first glance, Wolfenstein can only be described as generic. A FPS that has you crawling through World War II shooting Nazis? After dozens of Call of Duty and Medal of Honor games, to call the era overused would be an understatement.Gameplay and setting aren't the only things dated about Wolfenstein. The visuals are lackluster, undoubtedly hindered by the aging idTech 4 engine (Doom 3 engine). We couldn't help but notice how poor the texture work was and how uninspired the levels looked through the entirety of the hands-off demonstration. Although the visuals were rather bland, we were taken aback by the shoddy framerate. Yes, the game still has quite a bit of development left ahead of it, but this early look certainly didn't give us much confidence.%Gallery-27813%
NYCC 09: Gears has 'ten-year plan', prequel possible
This weekend, during a NYCC held panel on Gears of War, Gears 2 lead writer Joshua Ortega let slip information on plans to extend the Gears franchise ten years, which may result in an Emergence Day prequel."You will not be disappointed in the next ten years," revealed Ortega when answering a panel question that asked about a future Gears project being a prequel. "It's a ten-year plan. Gears is long-term. The lancer is the new lightsaber." You know, just replace the glow of the saber with a chainsaw and a few bullets, and you have one accurate analogy.While Ortega didn't flat out confirm a Marcus Fenix prequel, his talk of a ten year life cycle makes it all too possible that Gears' storyline would (eventually) have to go into prequel territory. And is it just us, or lately, has talking up ten year life cycles been all the rage?[Via GamePro]
Blizzard at the New York Comic Convention
Blizzplanet did a terrific job of covering all of the Blizzard action at the New York Comic Convention last week (none of us, unfortunately, were able to go). The best place to start is probably Medievaldragon's big roundup -- he was able to meet both Mickey Neilson as well as the man himself, Chris Metzen, and talk to them about the lore of Blizzard's various universes. He also learned more about that upcoming Arthas book, and visited the DC folks to see what's new on their front: namely an upcoming King Wrynn figure, as well as a new Night Elf Hunter and even a Ghoul figure.He also nabbed video of all the Blizzard products floating around the convention (including those figures, very cool-looking), and a long interview with Chris Metzen and Mickey Neilson, in which we hear lots of insight about what's going on in the Starcraft and Warcraft extended universes and the lore books at Blizzard, including what's going on with Sargeras' body, Garona and her mysterious background, and a really interesting hint about what might happen to the Aspect of Magic now that Malygos is dead.And there's a nice little hint at what's next in Warcraft: Malfurion Stormrage is the next big focus of the lore books, so that might tell you a little bit about what might happen in the game's next expansion. Big thanks to Medievaldragon for covering the NYCC -- even though we weren't able to go, it was nice to have him on site there for the whole community.
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NYCC 09: Roogoo Twisted Towers and Roogoo Attack! hands-on
When we first got our filthy mitts on a demo of Xbox Live puzzler Roogoo way back when, we noted its deceiving looks in comparison to its addictive and surprisingly complex gameplay. Nearly a year later and we're back in the same position, though this time we're playing Wii and DS iterations Roogoo Twisted Towers and Roogoo Attack! (respectively). Checking out a demo of each before this weekend's New York Comic Con, we walked away smiling once again -- childish looks and throwaway story aside, Roogoo Twisted Towers and Roogoo Attack! look to be shaping up very well.%Gallery-44143%
NYCC 09: Marble Saga Kororinpa hands-on (Wii)
If you ever find yourself in need of something a little different, then Marble Saga Kororinpa has you covered. It's a puzzle game that caught our eye at this year's New York Comic Con, particularly because it utilizes the Wii Balance Board for some of its levels. There's a lot of variety and challenge within its stages, and players can even create their own if they don't find what they're looking for in the preset levels. Read on after the break for our impressions on the title, including impressions on the Balance Board support and level creator. %Gallery-30046%
NYCC 09: Cryptic panel covers Champions MMO, reveals Star Trek Online race creator
Yesterday's Cryptic Studios panel was a two-part affair. The majority of the hour-long panel was allotted to talk on Champions Online – a super hero MMO based off the original 80s paper-and-pencil RPG. The last five minutes were reserved for Star Trek Online. Both games yielded tons of new info.First off, Champions will feature a lot of unique and odd weapons such as guitars. Essentially, this means you can create a "Guitar Hero" (hey, not our joke – blame executive producer Bill Roeper). The crew at Cryptic is also looking into implementing vehicles such as motorcycles, tanks ... and pogo sticks. Lastly, the formation of "super hero groups" will still follow the basic MMO guild structure, but with an integrated ranking system.Moving on to Star Trek Online, the game was revealed to be set in the year 2409. That's 30 years after the events of Star Trek Nemesis, which marks the end of the ST timeline. The MMO puts players in the captain's chair as they are tasked to command their own ship either under the banner of the Starfleet or Klingon Defense Force. Ships and bridge officers are customizable. Cryptic says to expect a lot of "beaming up and down" from ship to ground for an authentic ST feel. The most interesting reveal was the race creator, allowing players to customize their own race. See that in action after the break.
NYCC 09: Riding a mech in Resistance Retribution
Resistance Retribution continues to impress. Bend's upcoming prequel to Resistance 2 will be one of the best looking games on PSP when it releases next month. You should be familiar with our glowing praise of the game's standard third-person combat. The team has really nailed PSP controls perfectly. However, at Comic Con, we were able to try another section of the game. Here, players will get a chance to ride a giant mech. It's a fairly straightforward segment which gives players access to a chaingun and giant explosive missiles. The destructive power on display is rather impressive, but there are some tactics to consider.You can't spam your weapons. Players will want to keep a close eye on the bottom right side of the screen to see when their missiles are ready. When there are flying enemies, for example, it's best to aim at the floor below and let the splash damage take out a large handful of enemies. Even with regenerating armor it's pretty rough.Check out screens of this new mode in our gallery:%Gallery-44129%
NYCC 09: Marvel Comics releasing two more Halo mini-series
If you enjoyed Marvel's yet-to-be-completed Halo: Uprising comic series then you may be interested in a recent announcement from Marvel editor-in-chief Joe Quesada -- during his Cup O' Joe panel at NYCC, Quesada confirmed that Marvel will be publishing two more Halo miniseries by the end of the year. Hopefully, these two won't get bogged down by late-in-the-game story revisions and accompanying year-long delays.The first five-part series, which is set to deploy this summer (and could conveniently wrap in time for Halo 3: ODST) will be penned by She-Hulk writer Peter David, and drawn by Gigantic's Eric Nguyen. The second series, due out in winter, will be produced by Fred Van Lente and Francis Portela, the writing and illustrating (respectively) team behind Wolverine: First Class. Best of luck, guys -- you've got some awfully big shoes to fill.
NYCC 09: The Conduit revisited; hands on a 'new' game
The Conduit is a story of hype because it is a story of hope. Not the interactive story (that might be about hope, too), but the story of the game's development. We won't rehash the dramatic rise to relevance of High Voltage Software's labor of love, but we certainly thought about it as we played a section of the game at New York Comic Con this weekend. The Conduit has a publisher -- finally -- in Sega, but it is still cherished for its grass roots origin. Technically, this was very much the same game we previewed back in October, but we couldn't help but notice the change taking place as we blasted through an alien invasion inside Sega's Comic Con booth.The Conduit has made it -- acquired by a major third-party publisher. Its chapter as indie orphan is over. Now, on the verge of release, it competes with any other title that reaches store shelves. We may want to hold onto the sentiment of victory (the little guy making it to the big show), but the game has changed. We must consider The Conduit from a different perspective. In fact, dual perspectives: How does The Conduit rate as a Wii game; and how does it rate as a contemporary first-person shooter? %Gallery-33787%
NYCC 09: 38 Studios panel
Despite officially labeling Saturday's discussion with the subtitle "How I Learned to Talk on Panels Without Saying Anything," 38 Studios actually ended up sharing a little bit about their MMO project Copernicus. Thom Ang, director of art, said to expect the final look of Copernicus' world to adhere closely to the previously shown concept artwork. He said that, unlike typical production structures, concept artists at 38 Studios are doing all the artwork – from initial sketches to modeling the environments. This ensures the artistic vision is maintained throughout.Other than that, there's no news on Copernicus to speak of. The panelists mostly talked about the studio itself. So for those who are interested, 38 spoke about how they've grown to become a 60+ member team, and that they're surviving the tundra of Maynard, MA on a diet of gamer cakes and pastries. Hopefully the next time 38 holds a session, we'll finally get some deets on this uber-mysterious MMO.
NYCC 09: BattleForge hands-off / system-down
Know this: BattleForge is not a trading card game. BattleForge is an RTS. Correction: It's an online RTS -- it's not playable offline. And so, when producer Sebastian Nell connected to the server for a hands-on demonstration on the New York Comic Con show floor, the server temporarily went down, and we were left to chat in front of a blank screen. BattleForge is still in an open beta testing phase, so we'll forgive the technical outage for now -- but surely this is a key issue that needs to be avoided after the official game launch. The other issue is the general misconception that BattleForge is a trading card game. It's true, traditional RTS units are represented as virtual cards in the game, and players command "decks" -- and "booster packs" (8 cards: 1 rare, 2 uncommon and 5 common cards) can be purchased for $2.50 from an online marketplace; cards can also be traded between players. Still, there aren't physical cards to be collected, and the trading card aspect is more bullet point than innovation.%Gallery-44102%
Seen @ NYCC 09: Old frenemies in the bargain bin
Once bitter rivals sharing the throne, these old familiars now find themselves huddled together under a discount sign. At least they're still on top of the heap ...
NYCC 09: Velvet Assassin hands-on
click to embiggen When we first got our hands on Velvet Assassin nearly eight months ago at E3 2008, we were impressed. The level of polish exhibited for a game still months from any formal release was a good sign to us that the game was on the right track to becoming one of few stealth/action titles we might really enjoy. We delighted in sneaking up behind a group of unwitting Nazi soldiers, pulling a pin from one of their grenades, and watching the resultant explosion of humanity from a comfortable distance. Not just for the obvious reasons but because little touches like that helped to make VA feel like a living world and brought you into the role of French WWII-era assassin Violette Szabo, the interesting real life person the game's based on. And though we were assured the grenade trick has been left in the game (even if it wasn't in the most recent build we checked out just before the 2009 New York Comic Con), enough has changed since we first met protagonist Violette Summer to be concerned. The polish once exuded by German developer Replay Studios' first game for the Xbox 360 has all but vanished, leaving behind kludgey player animation, poor enemy AI and glitch-prone graphics. With two months to go until the "April launch window" of VA, we're hoping (but not exactly confident) they can bring back the experience we had so many moons ago.%Gallery-17268%
NYCC 09: Hands-on with Unbound Saga
Let's face the truth: new PSP exclusive games are far and few. We were surprised to hear that Dark Horse Comics was going to announce a brand new game for the PSP at New York Comic Con. Even more surprising is the game's unique distribution model: it is a brand new game that will be available exclusively on the PlayStation Store for PSP.This brawler is planned to release simultaneously with a brand new satirical comic series. You play as Rick Ajax and Lori Machete, two fighters on a journey to meet "The Maker." Rick Ajax suspects that he's trapped in a comic book, and he's trying to fight his way out. Unfortunately, "The Maker" will make things won't make it easy, drawing in new challenges and enemies in the panels Rick travels across.%Gallery-44095%
