SOE Shines Bright In The Middle Of Boringness
July 18, 2008 at 7:38 am | In Game Preview, Industry News, Show impressions | Leave a CommentTags: DC Universe Online
by Lauri Hong
Finally, I come across a company that has something decent… no better than that!!! Take a company that has known the MMO world for well over a decade, and take a giant in the comics industry. Now put them into a blender and what do you get? DC Universe Online! Okay, honestly at first I was thinking… oh great where have I seen people in colored tights before. Hmmmm for some reason a company called NC Soft and their oh so great games City of Heroes and City of Villains come to mind. Anyways, instead of those static mobs that we always love to seek out in order to get any type of enjoyment, SOE has decided to rethink the general idea of the comic and MMO world focusing on the constant amounts of action moment to moment. Okay, before you go deciding which hero or villain you want to be, I hope you realize we can’t have thousands of Batmen or Jokers running around all at once. Instead, you’ll be working along side with these heroes or villains to help them with the city or work on a quest. Huh, working along side with Superman, how awesome is that? For those hard core comic fans, you’re probably thinking… BUT WHAT ABOUT THE STORYLINE?!?! Or what about the super heroes or villains? Or how about the details of the city? Don’t worry your crazy fanboy/fangirl head of yours. DC and SOE will be feverishly working close together to assure the game sticks true to the comics as much as possible. And of course, with all those different stories of each character out there, your next question will be, “well how are they gonna pick and choose what story to incorporate into the game?” Jim Lee and the rest of his Wildstorm team will be assisting them with not only picking out the stories that will flow through the game but also creating a separate story for the game itself.
Hmmm, I foresee possibilities of new characters being introduced into the comic world through this game, don’t you? According to SOE, they have leased over 140 characters from DC Comics to help create their illustrative world. With all these characters involved, players will of course have to make a very important choice in their growing career in tights… do I join the Justice League, do I join the Legion of Doom, or…… do I make my very own guild?! Well, SOE has just scratched the surface of this game. Be sure to tune in for more at the San Diego Comic Con!
Sony Press Conference at E3
July 16, 2008 at 6:45 pm | In Game Preview, Industry News, Show impressions | 1 Commentby Angie Quidim/Additional coverage by Adam Hartley at Techraider.com
This year’s Sony conference was held at the famed Shrine Auditorium and it was packed.
Resistance 2: They talked about tis game alot and the graphics for this game are nothing less than stunning. But is it the same old game with just more stuff to kill? Ted Price the President of Insomniac games pretty much made statements regarding the 8 player online co-operative play and the 60 player online multiplayer mode. This game is defintely brilliant no browns and not too much gray. Can FPS’s start to see the light of day? the feel is like a vintage 50’s game kinda like Bioshock.
Little Big Planet :It’s social gaming and networking at its best. “Play, Create and Share!” Take the Mii creatiion from Nintendo and the Live network from Microsoft and you get this game. Although it’s characters look sugary sweet, that doesnt mean that these characters dont have a fun sadistic side.. But its fun for the whole family. This game promises to bring in more of a non gaming audience than the typical target market of male core gamers.
I won’t bore you with the sales statistics since each company seems to alter the numbers their way to make their company stand out as the best gaming company of the year. Can’t blame them as their stockholders are watching these conferences closely.
I was unable to cover the rest of the conference this year but here is a rundown from techraider.com’s Adam Hartley what happened the rest of the time.
“The PlayStation brand is really hitting its stride,” said Tretton, warming to his theme at an E3 conference in which Sony announced, among other things, God of War III, a DC Universe MMO and a new 256-player Massive Action Game (yes, that’s the title!) for PS3, as well as new handheld titles Resistance Retribution and Super Stardust Portable for PSP.
PlayStation Network, new Ratchet
As of later this autumn, all PlayStation Network users will get a single sign-on, announces Tretton, adding that over 180 million pieces of content have been downloaded from PSN since the PS3 launched back in November 2006 in the US and Japan.
The next new game announced at E3 by Sony is Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty – described by the game’s producer as “a shorter game at a lower ($14.99) price” and by Tretton as “great entertainment for about the cost of a movie ticket.”
A number of other new and already announced downloadable games are also briefly demoed including titles such as Crash Commando, the (ludicrously un-PC) Fat Princess, PixelJunk Eden, Pain: Amusement Park, Flower, Siren: Blood Curse and RagDoll KungFu: Fists of Plastic.
Gran Turismo TV, Home, Movies
Petrolheads in the audience were clearly thrilled to hear that Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo pay-per-view TV service will be launching on 1st August, announced with plenty of footage of feted GT producer Kazunori Yamauchi racing Ferraris and suchlike.
No release date was forthcoming for PS3’s Home service, but Tretton at least thanks gamers for being patient, as he demos some of the game-themed spaces in Home.
Quickly moving on, Tretton is happy to announce that studio partners for PSN’s video download service already include Sony Pictures (obviously) Fox, MGM, Lions Gate, Warner, Disney, Paramount, Turner and Funimation.
Standard and High-def are now available for rental or sell-through TV starting from $1.99 for movie rentals up to $14.99 for purchases. Once downloaded you can seamlessly shift your TV or movie content from your PS3 or PC over to your PSP to watch on the go.
“The video store will be available tonight!” Tretton is clearly happy to announce.
PlayStation Portable, Resistance Retribution
As of this October Sony plans to offer a new PSP bundle, made up of the popular game Ratchet and Clank: Size Matters, a silver PSP, 1GB Memory Stick, a UMD copy of movie National Treasure 2 and a voucher for the stylish puzzler Echochrome all for $199 (£100).
A genuine new PSP exclusive, Resistance Retribution is also announced, due for a spring 2009 release. Also announced was Patapon2 and Loco Roco2.
DC Universe online, 40GB PS3 scrapped
Jim Lee, director of the promising PS3 MMO DC Universe Online enthuses about his project, a game that features every DC superhero, winning the affection of the crowd as he tells them:
“This is really a dream project for me. When I was a kid, my parents wanted me to become a doctor and follow in my father’s footsteps. Meanwhile, I wanted to read comic books.”
Sony then announces that the 80GB PS3 – with the same functionality as the current 40GB model – is set to retail for $399 (£200), which can only mean that the current 40GB SKU is set to be phased out in future.
Jack Tretton follows this news by talking more about the “tremendous amount of support” SCE gets from its development partners and stressing that SCE’s own worldwide studios gives the company a competitive advantage with 23 PS3 exclusives (10 on Blu-ray disc and 13 on PSN).
God of War 3, Infamous, MAG
God of War 3 is announced for PlayStation 3 which, while not a major surprise, still manages to wow the gamers in the crowd. Following this well-received announcement, developer Sucker Punch’s open-world superhero title Infamous is demoed, with a release date of spring 2009 announced.
The final announcement at Sony’s E3 press conference comes from developer Zipper Interactive (of SOCOM fame) who present a game called MAG (Massive Action Game) set to feature 256-player battles.
Zipper’s Andy Beaudoin describes this PS3 exclusive: “MAG will deliver a sweeping battle experience using only real players… the game will be organised into 8-player squads, lead by people who are “proven” to be good leaders,” and is to feature a character advancement tree for gameplay longevity and character development. It’s an intensely ambitious game, which, so Sony assures us, could only be attempted on the PlayStation 3.
“If this is what year 2 of the PS3 lifecycle looks like, imagine what years 3 and beyond will look like,” says Tretton, as he closes Sony’s E3 2008 press conference.
Ubisoft Gives Us More…
July 16, 2008 at 6:01 pm | In Industry News, Show impressions | Leave a Comment
by Lauri Hong
This company, as you know, really keeps the entertainment coming along. With their current lineup of what’s to soon come out, believe me it’ll be worth the wait. Finally a company not afraid to show us their goods without holding back. And if they’re still holding back then all the better… meaning that there’s more to come of all this goodness.
We, of course, continually see a constant growth in the population of gamers non-stop. Along with the growing trend, Ubisoft conforms to what will try to suit the gamers’ constant need. So what am i rambling along here for? Well, according to these guys who are so well known especially for their constant shooters such as all Tom Clancy games (I’ll get back to this in a moment), they’ve, like many others, finally have come to a realization.
Girls that game! Wow, imagine that… such an innovative idea! And yes, I say this with total sarcasm seeing that I started playing video games when I was… ehhh… lets just say that I started with Pong. So anyways, getting back to Ubisoft, and the many other guys I was sitting in the same room with , applauding the great ideas of girls that actually game, they have focused their attentions on two specific titles that have constantly been popular. Those two are Imagine and Petz. Girls will actually be allowed to ‘imagine’ that they could be a fashion designer, interior designer, possibly a wedding designer, a rock star, maybe be in the movies, or even a teacher! Huh, and here I thought we were in the 21st century. Aside from all those oh so glamorous possibilities, Ubisoft has also created a way that many can take care of their ‘Petz’ in a new way. In these upcoming games, people will be able to cross breed and create their own cute and cuddly little family of creatures with dogs, cats horses and even monkeys.
Yes I guess monkeys are somehow in high demand for pets… *raises an eyebrow*. To push the limit even further, Ubisoft has partnered up with Common Wealth to create a plushie that goes right along with Petz. Upon the box should be a code to unlock that certain pet within the game. Talk about taking every opportunity to cover all corners. Oh yes, one other thing that Ubisoft has so graciously given to the growing population of girl gamers are sports. Don’t worry, it’s nothing that would be so violent as wrestling. They had announced that these sports “Ener-G” will be gym rocket… in other words gymnastics, adventure riders… players that want to try their hand at riding a horse, and of course what every girl wants… a dance squad. Need I say more?
Enough talking about the girl games that I know will go flying off the shelves during the holiday season. So right about now, you’re probably thinking… well what’s in it for the rest of us?! Not to worry… like in the Nintendo press conference, they have shown us their handy work at the new and ever so comical Rayman. Along with that, of course, the new snowboarding game that they and Shaun White have worked closely on together. And as I have stated before, dust off that balance board since you’ll make good use of it with these two games.
Of course Ubisoft can’t skip a beat without its continually popular shooters. This time around they will be celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Tom Clancy series. Tom clancy’s End War will be their first attempt to play a game that is strictly controlled entirely by voice command. Hmmmm, I can already see an issue with this especially if you have a LAN party. Of course let’s not forget the long awaited Far Cry 2. In this version, they have decided to try to re-invent the shooter game and attempt to focus more on stealth. Not only that, but this will be a new and open world to gamers where they can play how ever they feel like. Nothing to lead them in a straight pattern or line, thank god. FREEDOM!
Remember that wonderful entertaining game Prince of Persia? Ubisoft is finally releasing a second one using the Assassin’s Creed engine this holiday season. With a new engine, of course, comes new gameplay. In doing so, the story will evolve differently for each player depending upon the paths you take within game. With an illustrative unique look to the game, who could ask for anything more? New dynamics to the flow of the game, a new prince, wow… everything’s just soooo…. new? Like many other Ubisoft games, I’m sure that this baby will be flying off the shelves before it even gets to it.
Finally, and lastly, Ubisoft has presented us with just a morsel of thought… a new brand? Hmmmm amBX… I am Alive!
Nintendo Dragging Their Feet
July 15, 2008 at 6:51 pm | In Industry News | Leave a CommentBy Lauri Hong
Okay, I admit it. I’m usually a big fan of Nintendo and what they usually offer the large mass. However, I was sorely disappointed once I attended the press conference. The initial sight of Shaun White introducing his new snowboarding game sadly enough didn’t send me into a whirl of frenzy. Instead it made me begin to think… so what did Nintendo have for us today to make us drool and nearly drop everything to rush out and get it? Hmmm, I think I’m still waiting on that one. Understandable that instead of trying to go head to head with the other two massive companies to compete in making something that is just totally draw dropping, they have instead refocused their ideas into expanding their audience to continually attempt to remove that nasty barrier that splits the gamers from the non-gamers.
As for the hardcore gamers, well there are a few titles that deserve some mention and credit, such as a new Animal Crossing for the Wii, which will include a new microphone the Wii Speak so that players can chat with each other. Yay, more interaction with people…. personally, I’d rather invite them over to talk smack to them face to face. I mean after all, isn’t it much more fun that way? Well, that’s just my preference. Anyways, moving right along, there’s also another Call of Duty, and a new Rayman as well. Oh, let’s not forget Star Wars: The Clone Wars for this holiday season.
Also remember about two years ago, they opened the press conference with Miyamoto conducting an orchestra? Well, you can finally take charge of your own mini band in Wii music. At least for those that are… lets just say musically challenged, you can follow the music to your own beat.
Moving right along to what we can look forward to for the DS, well that star is a bit brighter. The well known Spore Creatures game that has been out for the PC will be available in travel size. Of course we can’t forget about those famous pocket monsters that have continually popped up for just about every Nintendo system out there. And of course, for all you GTA fans, get ready for a customized version of GTA Chinatown Wars.
Can you tell I’m jumping up and down in my seat? … Well as I stated before, they’re looking to expand their market from just gamers to the everyday person doing everyday things. Can you imagine checking your flight information on your DS? Or how about checking your favorite baseball team’s stats and scores while chilling at the game? Be sure to always keep an eye out on Nintendo. Even though, this conference was fairly disappointing, I have a feeling Nintendo will somehow come up with something that will knock us right back off our feet again sometime soon. In the mean time, I’ll just sit here somewhat patiently.
Deep Silver and Apogee sign a co-publishing agreement
July 15, 2008 at 6:42 pm | In Current Events, Game Preview, Industry News | Leave a CommentYes folks…
They are back Apogee, the makers of Duke Nukem have agreed to re-release
the popular trilogy under the Deep Silver label. These games will be released for the
Nintendo DS as well as the Sony PSP. According to a recent press release the Trilogy is
comprised of three new episodes, released sequentially, beginning in the Summer of 2009
Critical Mass ™, Chain Reaction(tm), and Proving Grounds(tm). The Trilogy is being produced
by Apogee under an exclusive license agreement with 3D Realms Entertainment and
MachineWorks Northwest LLC, and will be released by Deep Silver, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch
Media.
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