E309 – Sony Struts Its Stuff

E3 was going to be big for Sony, a lot saw it as make or break for them and their PS3 console. And how did they do? Well that really depends on who you talk to. They showed off some damn good games and finally revealed their 1:1 Motion Control (which apparently works really, really well).

What they ended up showing wasn’t really new, because most of us already knew about all of it. Whether it be that the game has been talked about for awhile, or whether it be the fact that it had leaked to the public. Where to start off, Sony showed off a fairly large playable example of Unchartered 2: Among Thieves on stage for their conference. And as expected, the game is looking as fantastic as ever with some of the most impressive visuals that you’ll ever see on a PS3 game. For those not in the know though, the game is a sequel to the surprise hit Unchartered: Drake’s Fortune which lit up the world’s PS3’s quite awhile ago now. It is being developed by Naughty Dog and is looking very good. Shaping itself into a “must buy” for me.

The other major game they showed off on stage was the heavily anticipated (and also heavily doubted) MAG. Massive Action Game for those of you who missed last years’ E3 where this game was announced. MAG aims to have 256 online in a major FPS set up. And it is looking amazing in my opinion. Obviously it is still very prone to lag, but if they do somehow pull this off it looks great. Your team will be divided into squads as you all either attack or defend. You will all be coming at the central directive from different directions, but pushing towards the centre (at least in the demo they were). Quite frankly, I’m very interested to see what sort of arenas they come up with for this game. Though the visual quality dips at times, I honestly don’t think that’ll be a big deal when there are 256 players going at each other. Its looking like a game I’ll be getting.

The PSP Go (not really a PSP2… more of a DSi sort of redesign) was also officially announced at E3, though most of us knew about it already. It will be a smaller device, with a smaller screen, the screen will slide up to reveal the control pad (analog joystick, buttons, etc) and possibly its biggest feature is the fact that it will not have a UMD slot. Insisting instead upon download games, which is all good and well if you live somewhere that has decent internet, I sadly do not. The price will be $250US (approx AUD$315), which boggles my mind, and will launch later this year. So Sony… you are charging more for a handheld minus the UMD slot forcing downloadable games. Sounds a bit like a DSi move to me (remove GBA slot, introduce SD slot). Sigh, Sony, sigh!

Probably the coolest thing about the PSP Go is the fact that it linked to a new announcement (that again, wasn’t so new) as Hideo Kojima came out onto stage and announced Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP Go (and I assume the PSP). This game is apparently a true sequel in the MGS timeline (does this been Rising isn’t?) and will bridge between Portable Ops up to Metal Gear. We will play as Naked Snake (aka Big Boss) and play through more of his backstory. Which I’m looking forward to, in fact, I think this was the game that broke me into the idea of buying a PSP Go. Damn you, Hideo Kojima… damn you.

Then came trailers and trailers and Sony’s “bombshell”, that’s right… it finally happened. Sony has confirmed a 1:1 motion control for release on the PS3 and by the looks of it, it’ll actually be quite good (unlike you, Sixaxis). You can look up various videos of it, but it is looking very accurate and very fun. Apparently it is there with all developers now. So let’s see what sort games come in 2010 shall we.

Trailers. What trailers did they show you ask? Well, there was some more Final Fantasy XIII (looking brilliant as always), and then Square-Enix dropped a bombshell. Final Fantasy XIV Online to be released on PS3, I believe there was mention of exclusivity but either way it’ll probably just be timed.  And after that Team Ico revealed their game officially, The Last Guardian, and it is looking strangely beautiful. Giant cute but intimidating creature, little kid, epic adventures ahoy!! Was so happy to see this game in all its glory at the Sony conference, it is looking like a must have.

And they also played out a demo video for God of War 3 (I believe it was the same one that was playable on the show floor), and it is looking so much fun. All the hacking and slashing goodness of previous God of War games comes to life on PS3. Automatic buy for me!! Even after God of War 2’s disappointing ending. Kratos is back, and I won’t stop him… because he’d slaughter me.

E309 – Nintedo Regains Respect

Firstly, I know this has been a bit slow. But you learn to deal, I have been writing up reports for E3 over at WiiLoaded in an attempt to get us some attention. Should be going pretty well actually. Anyway, back to E3.

I think by many, this will be known as Nintendo’s redemption for reasons I will get into. When Cammie first came out onto stage I think a lot of Nintendo fans felt their heart sink. She was part of the reason that last year’s conference sucked so very, very much. But this year things were a bit different, sure she was as boring and annoying as ever. But she announced Nintendo’s first new game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii. Basically this game is a follow up to the hit DS title, and seemingly intends to keep the same visual style. I already hear a lot of gamers rising up saying, “What?! A Wii game that has the visual quality of a DS game?!” and I’ll tell you now to calm down. The game will also feature four player (drop in and out) co-operative play for its side-scrolling action. Now I do believe this is the selling point, and from the demo it looked like a lot of fun. Due out around Christmas 2009 as well, so this was a very good start for Nintendo.

However, what followed was not as inspiring. Reggie came out and bleh, Wii Motion Plus and Wii Sports Resort were talked about (even though we heard all about them last year) and it seemingly made the conference drag on. A lot. But they also slipped in another new announcement, which was already being talked about several months ago. Wii Fit Plus is coming to the Wii, with new mini-games and improved exercise features.

They also gave spotlight for a few games that we already knew about, these included the Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space Extraction. Nothing too new from these games, Conduit looking like it’ll be as fun as ever. And the two rail-shooters looking like they could have been so much more than ever. Nintendo also gave some time to the DS, and officially announced Golden Sun DS (which exploded the RPG fanbase on the DS with unstorable amounts of awesome) and a release window for Mario & Luigi 3: Bowser’s Inside Story and Kingdom Hearts 352/2 Days. I was so surprised to hear a new Golden Sun was coming, I am a fan of the franchise but I didn’t think Nintendo seemed to concerned about following it up. Sounds like they made a fool of me, but they did so for most of this conference. And I was happy to see Kingdom Hearts on DS, it is looking like one of the most visually breath-taking DS games yet. Not surprising either, the ROM is 200mb in size as well.

After this Iwata came out, and introduced us to the newest Nintendo gimmick: the Wii Vitality Sensor. This is directed towards Nintendo’s casual audience. I assume it’ll be used with a future Wii Fit game (maybe Wii Fit Plus), but definitely something along that line. The device apparently reads your heart rate and various other messages being sent around your body. The only positive I can think of from this is a new horror point-and-click adventure game that could react to your heart rate. Imagine this, if you please, you are in Silent Hill (a town which is noted for reacting towards the person in it) and every time your heart reat increases, the game would trigger something that would scare you more. Forcing you to control your heart rate and push through. However this concept would rely heavily on gamers being scared, which isn’t likely.

Towards the end of the show Nintendo officially announced Super Mario Galaxy 2 as well, and it will apparently contain 90% new content. Which is an exciting prospect, apparently it is going to be similar to Super Mario 64 in terms of gameplay. Whether this means more landscape related environments (instead of tiny planets) or just more classic platformer gameplay is yet to be completely seen. It is slated for 2010 though and I am very excited about it. Note to self: Buy Super Mario Galaxy 1.

And last but not least, Nintendo closed with the biggest surprise yet, one that blew me off my feet and even as I tried to get back up it blew me up again. For the whole minute and fifty seconds of the teaser video I was exploding all over. Metroid: Other M is coming to the Nintendo Wii in 2010. It will not be like Metroid Prime 3, and nor will it be developed by Retro Studios. The reigns have been taken up Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden fame) who are now working together with Nintendo to create a game that will bridge Super Metroid and Metroid Fusion. And it will seemingly be 3D side-scroller/3rd person action/1st person shooter all at once. I’m so very, very excited for this game.

Nintendo, you won my heart… again…

Bastards.

E309 – Microsoft Sets The Pace

So, first of the big three was the giant Microsoft. Coming into this, they had been pretty tight lipped. All we had were a few pieces of hype, like revolutionising and such.

What they delivered was by no means something to scoff at, it was a pretty good line-up. Besides showing off some Final Fantasy XIII (not much of interest, some stuff from the PS3 demo with some new footage as well). Soon things shifted into gear when Epic revealed a Metroidvania-esque game coming to XBLA, and it looked pretty awesome actually. This is the sort of shit Nintendo needs to do with Metroid, and the fact that they won’t do it annoys me to no end. So, one can see things started off pretty interesting.

Crackdown 2 also got a bit of a look, but I never really looked into the first one so seeing this was kind of moot to me. However, Splinter Cell – Conviction was a different matter on the other hand. It has changed a lot from its first appearance, but I’ll stick to Metal Gear Solid…. speaking of which…

However, sadly, things took a turn for the boring when they dragged out Halo: ODST. No matter what anyone says, it still looks like another game bearing the Halo label. I will confess, it is looking very pretty. And visually the game did make my draw drop a bit. Announced its date for September, pretty cool for XBox owners really. However, credibility I held for Bungie slipped when they announced Halo: Reach. A new Halo title apparently, it drops next year and ODST will come with a beta code. I hereby predict that Halo: Reach will contain a beta code for Halo 4. Or for increased irony Crackdown 2 will contain a beta code for Halo 4. One of the two.

…Oh yeah, Kojima. He rocked up, revealed Metal Gear Solid: Rising, featuring the label Lightening Bolt Action. Where to start, contrary to original beliefs this game is also being developed for PS3 apparently. And it will star Raiden, not involving Solid Snake (unless he is in flashbacks or something, still possible) and apart from that we can’t tell much. I’m expecting more of a reveal from Sony’s conference. As expected, no MGS4 for 360 though. And really that’s the main thing. This was a pretty big revelation nonetheless, because Kojima’s teaser had been uber hyping some sort of reveal for a long time. I don’t like how cocky this will make Microsoft though, they are going to get a lot more annoying to listten to now.

After dealing with some Sony stuff, Microsoft next moved to take on the competition leader, Nintendo. Revealing Project Natal, which I think looks quite a bit silly. Interesting, but silly. In my opinion, seems a bit like a glorified EyeToy. Obviously not a complete rip-off, but it is definitely reminding me of that a lot. I don’t like this “YOU ARE THE CONTROLLER” talk either, I’m a human being… not an inanimate object! Also seem to be getting rid of the need for friends by allowing you to stream movies to a virtual cinema where you and your Avatar buddies can watch and react like emotes (instead of going to the movies) and some weird AI-like feature. XBox 360, forget real life just use this.

They also revealed some stuff about streaming TV from Sky, but that was of not much interest to me. Because my TV is used for TV. Or my internet. I don’t need a console for it.