Gaming Today |
- Final Fantasy XIV E3 2010 Hands-On Impressions
- NBA 2K11 E3 2010 Impressions
- Formula One 2010 – Thoughts On The E3 2010 Demo
- There’s a New King, er, Prince of Video Game Movies
- John Carpenter and Hideo Kojima Get Along Alright
- NBA Jam E3 2010 Hands-On Impressions
- Hands On at E3 2010 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
- Get Yer Tron Controllers Here
- How About December for the 3DS? I Hope You Like Lines.
- Jaffe Doesn’t Like Lying, but You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do
- Hands On with Fallout: New Vegas at E3 2010
| Final Fantasy XIV E3 2010 Hands-On Impressions Posted: 22 Jun 2010 11:25 PM PDT
Final Fantasy XIV was first announced at least year’s E3, before Final Fantasy XIII had even come out. It was kind of a shock, but a joyful one for FF fans. The game was announced as a PC/PS3-exclusive MMO (possible Xbox 360 version?), and the initial trailers were reminiscent of Final Fantasy XI. Well, at E3 last week we got a chance to try out the PC beta build of Final Fantasy XIV (beta testing will start approximately in July). We created a character, joined a party and killed some a-hole crabs. Impressions, and more pictures of sexy cat chicks, after the jump. Character Creation: There appeared to be 9 different aspects of character customization: race, clan, disciples, jobs, etc. We took a pause at the “customize” screen, where you can alter your character’s face. Here we were pretty impressed. You can choose from a rather extensive list of preset faces, each one highly crafted, and dare we say, very pretty. Yes, the females looked very pretty in Final Fantasy XIV, like completely realized anime chicks with intricate facial features. We actually kind of got lost tweaking our girl’s hair, eyes and so on. There clearly is an impressive amount of fun to be had here making your character very unique. One other thing to note about character customization in Final Fantasy XIV, is your character will no longer be locked into one class once you choose. Rather, your class is determined by the weapons and items you carry. Also, traditional character-leveling, via Final Fantasy XI-esque grinding, that’s going away, friends. Instead, a new system will replace it that focuses on how you play, and the skills you acquire. Combat: After wandering around a bit, we formed a party with a fellow demoer. We accepted a group quest, and were actually able to choose the difficulty of the quest before proceeding, which was interesting. We then headed into a cave to slaughter some crabs. Here’s where things got a little messy. There were a few issues. Firstly, once we started running through the cave (which looked beautiful, I might add), we noticed the PC’s performance started to chug a little bit. It didn’t come to a grinding halt or anything, it just felt like steering a big, slow ship. We got deep within the cave, and came to some luminous, reflecting pools. And there were the crabs. I targeted the crab with my Gladiator chick, and clicked an attack technique. She ran over to the crab, and started swinging, similarly to how I remember Final Fantasy XI. In theory, what happens is you have a stamina gauge, which fills gradually over time. When it’s completely full, it executes the next action you’ve selected in your queue. That is, in theory. In practice, it was kind of confusing and difficult to tell which actions were firing off, and when. The attack animations looked pretty cool, though. Our crab friend, he became frightened of my strength, so he turned tail and ran (like a bat out of hell) across the cave. I gave chase, but was not gaining on him. I was told that if I sheathed my sword, I could run much faster. I pushed “F” to do this, and much to my dismay, my character came to a complete stop, sheathed her sword, and then finally continued to run. It was quite clumsy and took too long. So, how did I feel about all this? Excited and interested, but with a couple of reservations. I loved the graphics, the world of Eorzea, the slick character customization, and the new innovations for jobs and character leveling. But the controls and combat definitely need some work. Hopefully the upcoming beta test will help Final Fantasy XIV get a few more coats of polish before it hits later this year.       Share and Enjoy:    
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| Posted: 22 Jun 2010 05:33 PM PDT
In case you hadn’t heard, Michael Jordan himself will grace the cover of NBA 2K11, which is set for release this October 5. But, will the game inside that cover prove itself worthy of its own packaging? We had a sit-down meeting with 2K Sports Gameplay Director Rob Jones at E3 to find out. Hit the jump for details on NBA 2K11’s battle with its cover. Jones explained the positioning of NBA 2K11. NBA 2K10 outsold its competition (NBA Live 10), which was good and bad. Good, because…well, sales are good, but bad because the game’s multiplayer had some connectivity issues post-launch. It was like being “caught with [their] pants down,” as Jones put it. Another point of criticism with NBA 2K10 was the controls didn’t allow you to “cancel” movements in mid-motion. So, NBA 2K11 hopes to correct all that. We watched a video demo of the game to get a feel for how this stuff would shake out. Right away, I was pretty struck by the high quality presentation of the pre-game sequences. It was Lakers vs Celtics (obviously), and the way the game highlighted the starting players and arena was definitely a notch above NBA 2K10. Everything looked explosive and big. What changed, you ask? It turns out 2K Sports poached a producer from TNT to help with design here, and it definitely shows. Next, we got to see some actual gameplay running at 60 FPS. The game has new player models, uniforms and lighting, which all look pretty great. The ball handler looked pretty smooth as well, thanks to the revamped controls. Jones explained that 2K Sports is shooting 1-to-1 response with “what you think you should be able to do with the ball handler.” This new precision looks like it will allow you to do things like half-spin forward, and then half-spin back, and do it pretty seamlessly. Lastly, Jones talked a bit about how 2K Sports is going to be better prepared to support multiplayer functionality the day the game goes live. If you remember, NBA 2K10 had some issues with multiplayer gameplay post-launch. Players reported issues with lag, and many couldn’t connect to the 2K Sports servers at all. Jones assured us they’d be ready this time. And so far, the game looks pretty solid. The new ball handling mechanics look fun, and the souped up presentation is a nice touch. Personally, I just hope Michael Jordan will be playable, and that you can dunk from the free throw line. Share and Enjoy:
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| Formula One 2010 – Thoughts On The E3 2010 Demo Posted: 22 Jun 2010 04:26 PM PDT Fun fact: Formula One racing is the world’s largest driving competition with viewership and financial outcomes that out-perform the combined totals of NASCAR and Indy! And yet you’ve probably never seen more than 5 seconds in a James bond movie! Not your fault mind you: Americans just don’t go for the long distance, multiple day, decreased chance of fiery redneck explosions. Even so, it’s big business and, you’d think, that means big video game business as well. You’d be wrong. F1 games have never been as successful a street racing simulators and NASCAR games, and the F1 gaming franchise languished under Sony’s ownership for the better part of the last decade. After Sony’s license to make F1 games lapsed, it was quickly snatched up by venerable British gaming house Codemasters. They launched their first F1 game, Formula One 2009, last year. It sold a’ight but didn’t set the world on fire. They aim to change that with the upcoming Formula One: 2010, and we got the chance to see a bit of it last week at E3. During the same presentation in which we saw Bodycount, I saw a short presentation by F1:2010’s developers, followed by a short demo, and the chance to play. After the fold, my thoughts on this compelling, if still frustratingly opaque, upcoming game. NOTE: I don’t play a lot of racing games. But the story! I bring to you anyway. 1) “Be the driver; live the life”. That slogan is the game’s tag line, and it was repeated more than once. Overtly, it refers to the developers’ intent to create a visceral, real-feeling racing game, but it also refers to some unique sounding gameplay elements. I say “sounding”, because we didn’t actually get to see it, but according to Codemasters, it’s a much more complex game than racers tend to be, including the the promise of light RPG elements in the form of interactions with your agent, crew, and even the press. These interactions, in addition to sounding like a blast, will have direct repercussions on your career as you advance through the world of F1 competition. You’ll manage your career by choosing to follow, or disregard the advice given to you by your agent, including switching teams. You’ll be able to interact with the Pit Crew regarding cars. Best of all, according to Codemasters, you’ll interact with the media in two distinct ways. First, depending upon your standing after a race, you’ll face a size-variable press scrum. Do well, or better than expected? Or you’re a high ranked driver who turns in a surprisingly bad performance? The scrum will be larger than if you turn in a mediocre performance. There will also be occasional formal press conferences – I’m guessing for occasions such as the decision to switch to a different team, or change agents. You’ll field questions from the press gang that will offer various response options via conversation tree. What really stands out here is their insistence that the way you choose to answer media questions will have direct impact on your career. Offer interesting, flippant, or outrageous answers and the press will cling to you like deer ticks. But if you come off as a prick, you risk alienating your team or even your crew. Same goes for post victory, or post defeat. You can be humble, and credit the team for your victory and yourself for losses. Or you can go full on dick and do the reverse*. Either way, the amount of fame and money you stand to make is affected and can potentially make for a very varied experience. A quick note: You don’t control a playable character outside of the race. All NPC interactions happen rail shooter style. This is something of a gamble. It isn’t the first time someone has tried to add light RPG elements to a sports game; previous attempts have not been well recieved. As someone who typically doesn’t play sport games, I’m all for it, but I can see how adding RPG to a racing game makes about as much sense as a mini game where Sub Zero has to purchase groceries in order to pull off a Babality**. Sports gamers, perhaps more than any other gamer demo, want to get the hell to playing. Racing gamers are particularly inclined. As I said, we had to take their word on how this aspect of the game will actually work, but my guess is that if the RPG element isn’t something you can skip through, it’s going to result in a lot of groaning. 2) The actual racing looks fantastic. Formula One 2010 is, first and foremost, supposed to be a robust racing game experience. The player will race through several seasons as they rise from rookie to celeb (or not!). You’ll be able to change teams, interact with NPCs (as described above), and generally experience, in limited video game form, the nuts and bolts of being an F1 competitor. We didn’t get to see any of that, but what we did see was pretty great – game physics, play, and mind blowing graphics contributing to a level of realisim that, frankly, was impressive. Someone in the room actually thought to ask about the frame rate – given the rich textures and visceral high speed feel, they assumed 60 FPS but apparently the game runs at 30. If so, it’s one hell of a good goddamned 30. We were informed beforehand that weather patterns are randomized and will differ over the course of the game but unprepared for how it would look. The camera control allows you to switch between several POVs, from inside the cockpit, to an entirely external, 3rd person view, to a RIGHT UP CLOSE FPS style view. We were repeatedly informed that the goal was to create a series of races with environments that generally reflect real world conditions, particularly in the way weather affects the track. In real life, over the course of weeks or even months of rain-free weather, a dry track accumulates grit in the form of pulverized asphalt, oil residue and melted/shredded tire fragments, which creates a rougher track that has a lot more grip. Rain washes that grit off and returns the track to a state closer to fresh pavement. It also causes residual oil to float above the track, creating a more slippery, more dangerous race. To demonstrate, the demo we saw took place on a rainy track. Water droplets cascaded onto the screen and collected randomly, much as you’d expect to see when driving your own car. The tires showed signs of genuine interaction with the environment, slowing, locking, even visibly spinning at different rates as you drove over wet patches. And wind seemed to affect the position of the car along the track. We were also told that the dev team spent a lot of time talking to real racers about the experience of driving F1, and the thing they took away is that the racing is FAST, but not light speed. A lot of racing games portray the passing scenery in a barely perceptible blur, but Codemasters’ team said that racers told them how they often have enough time to notice something happening in the audience, or to make note of the actions of other drivers, all while boxed in by the limited perspective of the cockpit and driving queue. I’ll never be able to verify if it’s actually true in real life, but the game as demo’d and played captured that idea – you felt like you were going fast but the scenery remained somewhat sensible at most speeds. 3) Easy handling, control. I got to play for about 5 minutes, and it was limited strictly to a single race that, we were told, was demo only. The game is in final completion stages. Certain aspects of game physics have yet to be completed, and the graphics aren’t final. For instance, the race we played had no spectators. Even so, it was a blast. Dumbed down for the demo sure, but fun and easy to do. I wiped out thrice, incidentally, but to the dev’s credit, when I did, I could feel why it happened. If the final product is any indication, it’s going to do a lot to help newbies and old hands alike improve. After spending only 20 minutes with Formula One:2010, I’m not entirely sold. A few things leave me feeling they’re missing out on the kind of gamers likely to play. For instance, they don’t know if they’ll have online multiplayer at all (maybe after 2011, but definitely not at first). They indicated that, at least at first, there are no plans for DLC. They’re also not planning to support modding (though they admitted it is “inevitable”, and should it prove popular support may be provided down the line). These aren’t suicidal decisions of course; if they weren’t shining us on, then they avoided those features in the interest of making the best game possible. F1:2010 isn’t out until September and they’re still putting the finishing touches on it. However, if it lives up to their hype, who cares if you can’t trash talk 12 year olds on XBL. I won’t. Formula One: 2010 will be out 09/24/2010 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. ********
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| There’s a New King, er, Prince of Video Game Movies Posted: 22 Jun 2010 04:18 PM PDT
Yeah, that’s right, despite bombing outright in North America, the bland, boring and whitewashed Prince of Persia managed to somehow sucker audiences elsewhere into buying tickets, and its near-$300 million total gross around the world beats out Tomb Raider’s $275 million from 2001. And we still don’t have a game movie really worth watching (although I am partial to the Resident Evil films and Doom, though I won’t ever say they’re good, and the most recent Street Fighter is always good for a laugh), because Neill Blomkamp’s Halo film never got off the ground. Thanks, guys. Thanks for the heads up, Edge. Share and Enjoy:
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| John Carpenter and Hideo Kojima Get Along Alright Posted: 22 Jun 2010 04:03 PM PDT
Currently, Mr. John Carpenter is working on F.E.A.R. 3, and in an interview with CVG about that game, they also talked about the Snakes. It turns out that Kojima, being the nice man that he is, asked Carpenter if it was cool to basically transplant Snake from his movie to Kojima’s game. And Carpenter was just like, “That’s cool, dude.” “[Hideo Kojima] has written me and asked me for my blessing on the game and I wrote him back [to say] how about it?” he told CVG. There, one of gaming’s great mysteries solved. *I’m young too. Share and Enjoy:
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| NBA Jam E3 2010 Hands-On Impressions Posted: 22 Jun 2010 03:28 PM PDT
NBA Jam is a game that has a distinct why-the-hell-haven’t-I-been-remade-yet quality about it. It was a smash hit in the arcade, and kind of redefined what a sports title could be. The announcer’s “boom-shakka-lakka!” antics, the on-fire mechanics, the absurd dunks–all of it solidified the game as one of the best sports games ever. And while the SNES and Sega Genesis console versions saved you thousands of quarters as kid, they never really captured the arcade version’s flash and pop. Even the arcade version has aged rather poorly. Enter: the Wii-exclusive remake of NBA Jam. Now, the Wii wouldn’t necessarily be my first choice of console for this remake, so I was excited, but a bit concerned. Does it live up to our nostalgia? I got a chance to school some fools on the EA showfloor at E3 to see for myself. Impressions after the jump. I played a full game of NBA Jam against two Lakers bastards. Me and my teammate–I didn’t catch his name, so let us call him Claude–were the Miami Heat. The first thing I noticed right away about the game, is it looks fantastic. Waaaay, way better than the arcade version (more on that below). It’s a very bright, slick looking remake of the original. We played the game using the Wii Mote/Nunchuk combination. Here are the controls: Z – Turbo How did this work? It was easy to pick up and play, but challenging to master. Passing, dribbling and shooting is simple enough, and felt great. There’s also something extra satisfying about flicking the Wii Mote down to execute a brutal slam. The Z + B crossover dribble is a new addition to the game as well, which was pretty cool. Alley-oops also feel very, very good. Claude and I were able to execute some doozies. Just wait for your teammate to jump towards the basket, flick the Wii Mote up, and watch the show. Everything else felt wonderfully familiar. Tim Kitzrow, the original announcer, is back and he rocks. The on-fire mechanics work the same as well: shut the other team out for 3 consecutive baskets, and you’re “on fire.” It’s just as exciting as it always was. It just looks way better. Where I found the controls a bit tricky was playing defense. The reason is in order to block a shot, you have to flick the Wii Mote up, and do so at precisely the right time or you’ll be way off. It’s a twitch command that would probably be easier on a standard controller. I did get used to it by the third quarter or so, though. Still, personally I’ll probably make use of the game’s support of the Wii Classic Controller (yes, it supports that. Phew!). Here’s the other thing. NBA Jam on the Wii might not have a full fledged multiplayer mode. In a recent interview, NBA Jam Producer Trey Smith said: “That was one of the questions we asked ourselves, "Sixty frames or online? Which one will we really bet on?" and sixty frames absolutely improved the gameplay so that's what we chose and that's where we are at. I'm not giving up yet, but we are not there yet.” Uh oh…Well, it will still be a blast to play, even if it’s with 4 people on your couch, right? NOTE:
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| Hands On at E3 2010 with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 Posted: 22 Jun 2010 01:46 PM PDT
It’s no secret that the Harry Potter games have never lived up to the success of the movies or the books. Heck, I overheard a lot of people in EA’s booth saying something along the lines of, “Man, did you see that new Harry Potter game? It actually looks kind of good!” It’s also no secret that movie tie-in games have, with relatively few exceptions, been less than successful. EA is hoping to change all that with the latest chapter in the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1. Developed by EA Bright Light, Deathly Hallows is a different approach to the Harry Potter universe. Instead of the mostly exploration-based gameplay of previous titles, Deathly Hallows looks more akin to a third-person shooter. This makes perfect sense if you’ve read the Potter books, as Deathly Hallows puts Harry into a direct battle with his nemesis, Lord Voldemort, with more action filling the pages of the final book than any other in the series. So, how does it translate into a game? Well, we grabbed a controller at E3 last week to find out for ourselves. The first thing that struck me about Deathly Hallows was how much like a shooter (say, Gears of War) it feels when playing it. You run to a piece of cover, and press A to snap to it. You can lean out, fire off spells, and move back into cover. You can even generate your own cover by pressing the RB on the XBox 360 controller, casting a shield spell (Protego). This spell has a limited duration, and roots you in place, but can be quite handy if caught in the open. Navigating between the various spells is accomplished by simply scrolling through the list using the D-pad. This seems like it could become quite cumbersome if the list of spells grows any larger than it was in the demo. Anyone familiar with the series will recognize the game’s spells, although some of the effects have been tweaked. A few highlights include:
You can also use the ‘Four Points’ spell to navigate your way to your next objective. A ghostly silver trail, Four Points glides along the ground, up stairs, and around corners to lead the way. Deathly Hallows perfectly captures the visual style you’d expect from the darker Harry Potter books. It’s dark, and the spells are bright contrasts to the melancholy backgrounds. In the demo we played, buildings reduced to rubble were the order of the day, and wayward spells could add to the destruction. My only current worry with the new style of the game is that it appears that the spells are heading more the direction of gunfire than the powerful spells they’re made out to be in the books. I was using Stupefy to deal with an enemy in the demo, and it took numerous hits to put him down. I understand why this has to be so, but it does take away from the feeling books and movies have. All in all, I was impressed by the execution of Deathly Hallows. It really appears that EA is endeavoring to find a sweet spot with this Harry Potter title that would allow them to have it follow the movie closely without sacrificing game quality. Whether or not they pull it off remains to be seen, but EA Bright Light is off to a great start. We’ll find out more once the game is released, which won’t be until the fourth quarter of this year. To tide you over, here’s the debut trailer to give you a look at the game until Q4 rolls around. Share and Enjoy:
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| Posted: 22 Jun 2010 01:41 PM PDT
You know what looks killer? Tron: Legacy. I’m not really a fan of the original film, but the new one, with its Daft Punk soundtrack, definitely has the chance to rule ‘em all. Similarly, these Tron Wii, 360 and PS3 controllers from PDP look absolutely bonkers, and I just might get one or five. The downside? The 360 and PS3 versions are wired. But that’s not a dealbreaker necessarily. All these are coming out this fall, and all three carry a retail price of $49.99. God, these are cool. Hit the jump for pics of the PS3 and Wii controllers FYI, I put the 360 controller up top because I’m an Xbox fanboy, and because Playstation sucks.*
*I bought a PSP yesterday. Share and Enjoy:
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| How About December for the 3DS? I Hope You Like Lines. Posted: 22 Jun 2010 01:01 PM PDT
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| Jaffe Doesn’t Like Lying, but You Gotta Do What You Gotta Do Posted: 22 Jun 2010 12:45 PM PDT
This is kinda like what David Jaffe has been doing all year when he kept saying there was no Twisted Metal PS3 game in the works, and then, whoops, there was. “And people say to me, ‘Well, you could have said no comment.’ I’m like, ‘No comment is the same as saying… it’s what people say when they don’t want to answer you,’ ” he told Joystiq. And I don’t blame him. It’s not a surprise if it’s not a surprise, right? And I like his reasoning for wanting it to be a surprise. “And it used to be you’d come and you didn’t know what you were going to find on the show floor and that was a big part of the fun and you walk from booth to booth and you just discover stuff.” I agree, Dave. Keep fighting the good fight, if it means we get crazy surprises at E3. Share and Enjoy:
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| Hands On with Fallout: New Vegas at E3 2010 Posted: 22 Jun 2010 12:02 PM PDT
Without question, Fallout: New Vegas was a game I was longing to get my hands on. Luckily, I got the chance to do just that at E3 last week. While visiting Bethesda’s booth (pictured above), I got the chance to spend some quality time with the next chapter in the post-apocalyptic world. The first thing that will jump out at you about Fallout: New Vegas is that it looks a lot like Fallout 3. While Obsidian is using the same engine for this installment, it has been updated since Fallout 3 was released. You can see that the graphics have improved a bit, and some of the animations seem a bit smoother. In the section we got to play, we were able to check out the New Vegas strip, which reveals the first differences from Fallout 3: everything is pretty much intact. The casinos are still standing, and no nukes have landed too near the city. So, since we’re in Vegas…time to hit the blackjack table! We tried our hand at blackjack (see the photo below), roulette, and slots in the demo. All the games pay out in chips, which can be cashed in at the cashier for bottle caps, one of the three currencies in New Vegas. You can also expect to have NCR Dollars (the official currency of the New California Republic) and Caesar's Legion’s coins. When dealing with the respective faction, you’ll need to have the proper money, and exchange rates will vary from place to place, meaning you could even play currency games to increase your personal wealth.
Once we cashed in our winnings, we were given an expedited quest that took us right into the desert. Here we saw another new feature: the companion wheel. The companion wheel allows you to quickly give orders to your companion, such as stay, follow, etc… Combat feels very similar, with the V.A.T.S. system returning. The slight zoom on weapons in Fallout 3 has been replaced with iron sights, but outside of that minor change, there’s really not a lot that feels new about taking down your enemies. That’s all we got to try out in the E3 demo, but it was enough to make me ready to head out West. Fallout: New Vegas is slated to hit stores here in the States on October 19. It may look like a Fallout 3 expansion, but it also looks like an absolute ton of fun. Share and Enjoy:
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You kids may be too young* and ignorant to know who John Carpenter is or why he’s such a big deal, so here’s the scoop. John Carpenter is the man behind They Live and the longest fistfight in cinematic history. He’s the man behind the Halloween franchise. He’s the man behind Assault on Precinct 13, Big Trouble in Little China, The Fog and The Thing, among other b-movie classics. But most relevant to this discussion is that he’s the man behind Escape from New York and its main character Snake Plissken, who is the basis for Solid Snake.
March? Bah. 
Those of you reading this who aren’t nerds will know that college football coaches are in tough spots when they’re thinking of changing schools. They get hounded constantly by the press about it, and if they tell everybody they’re thinking of going somewhere else people at their schools hate them, and if they say they have no interest in another job and then leave everyone says they’re liars, like my beloved Coach Nick Saban, King of the Crimson Tide. There’s actually game stuff after the jump.
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