06/07/11

E3 2011 Roundup - Sony

Time for Sony.

Let’s just get it out of the way. Jack Tretton starts with apologizing for the whole hacking brouhaha, apologizing to publishers, retailers and consumers, and thanking them for sticking with Sony. Enough of that though. GAMES TIME.

Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. The trailer was fairly standard Uncharted stuff, nothing unexpected. However, standard Uncharted stuff is awesome, so that’s not the worst thing in the world. Multiplayer beta starts June 20, the game releases November 1, but during October Subway will have a special where you can get access to the full multiplayer. For those of you that are interested.

After exclusive #1 was exclusive #2: Resistance 3. Also not surprising, looks good but nothing we haven’t seen. It’s being bundled with a Move setup for $150. After that they briefly featured a collection of God of War handheld games (Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta), remastered for HD on the PS3, as well as the well-known Team Ico collection.

Who comes to E3 for games though? No one. Sony then showed us a fancy cheaper 3D TV. 24” PlayStation branded 3D TV, with a special splitscreen feature that uses the 3D tech to give 2 players completely different images, so you can play splitscreen and still enjoy the full screen. The TV along with 1 pair of glasses, an HDMI cable, and Resistance 3 is $500. Looks like a pretty good deal, but I just bought a TV, so…oh well.

Ok back to games. Next was NBA 2K12, with Move support. Passing, stealing, and blocking are now point-and-click movements, and it looks quite simple. I could see it being a problem trying to point at moving players, but it seemed to work pretty well. I’m not a huge basketball fan so I won’t be picking this up either way, but everyone else will find out how well it works October 4.

Next: Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest. It’s a cartoony action game that uses the Move for things such as sword/shield combat, bow/arrow combat, and puzzles. Unsurprisingly, the motion controls seem to work pretty well. And I know I’ll sound like a Sony fanboy, but this is how motion controls should be done. Buttons are a huge help to motion controls, as impressive as Kinect is from a technological standpoint, the ability to give binary input in the form of buttons (or more complex input in the form of analog sticks) is immensely helpful. Anyway, Medieval Moves looks like a fun cartoonish romp.

I don’t know why they did this, but they showed Infamous 2. The day comes out tomorrow. Actually, looking at my clock right now, it comes out in 28 minutes. Considering they didn’t bother showing Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, it seems like an odd choice to show a game that’s literally about to come out. Anyway, it looks pretty good, not much else to say. After that they mentioned that they’re bringing more robust Move functionality to LittleBigPlanet 2. Yay, I suppose.

Next was a short trailer for Starhawk, a shooter/vehicle combat game that is the spiritual successor to Warhawk. It didn’t show much, but the emphasis is on space, looks interesting. After that was a short teaser for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, coming out in 2012. It looks like the remastering of the old Sly Cooper games was leading up to this.

Next was an interesting title from the makers of Eve Online. Dust 514 is an MMO shooter that interacts with Eve Online. The two games make up 1 persistent universe, and they interact in battles and the like. This wasn’t mentioned during E3, but it’s worth it to note that CCP has said that Dust 514 will not have a subscription fee like most MMOs, but instead will use micro-transactions to make money. Beta will be out before the end of the year, and the full game will be released next Spring. It looks interesting, and Eve has always intrigued me, so this may be my foot in the door.

After Dust 514 they discussed Bioshock Infinite. The trailer looks beautiful, and exclusive for PS3 the game will be bundled with the original Bioshock on the same disc, so if you missed out on the first one you can try it now. Also they hinted at a Bioshock product on Sony’s new portable (which we will discuss shortly), but didn’t give any real information about it.

Saint’s Row: The Third was the next game, simply to mention that it will have an exclusive game mode and game content on the PS3. Good to know. After that was a preview of a Star Trek game that I believe is just called Star Trek, but it could just not have a title yet. It’s a co-op action adventure, with Move support (surprise surprise), and we’ll get it in our hands in 2012.

Following suit from Saint’s Row, Sony took this time to brag about exclusive content in non-exclusive games. SSX will have an exclusive level modeled on Mount Fuji, complete with, I think he said, 10 drop zones. Need for Speed: The Run will have 7 exclusive supercars. Battlefield 3 will include Battlefield 1943 on the same disc, only on the PS3. Sounds like Sony and EA are good friends right about now. After that, Kazuo Hirai came out to mention PlayStation Suite, Sony’s effort to bring PS content to non-PlayStation devices, such as certain Android phones and tablets. Nothing else was announced, we’ll find out more later. Next was the real reason Kaz came out though: Sony’s new portable.

Previously called the NGP (Next Generation Portable), Sony showed off the PS Vita. 2 analog sticks, 5” multitouch-enabled OLED screen, touchpad, sixaxis motion, front and rear cameras. The wifi model is $250, the 3G model (with AT&T, unfortunately) is $300. It has cross-game chat with friends through the Party feature, and you can also find users around you with the Near feature. But enough of that, let’s get to the games.

You liked Uncharted? How about Uncharted: Golden Abyss? It’s made by the same people who did Syphon Filter and the PSP Resistance game, though Naughty Dog is overseeing development. It looks surprisingly good for a handheld game, and it looks a lot like the Uncharted we know and love. Obviously the graphics aren’t quite as good, but since the screen is so small you can get surprisingly close. You can use the sixaxis motion, touch controls, and regular buttons to control Nathan Drake when climbing. Touch controls seem to make climbing somewhat trivial, but I suppose there’s not supposed to be a lot of difficulty in the climbing segments anyway, so it’s not a big deal.

Next up was an action RPG by the name of Ruin, though it said the title is tentative. The overhead view reminds me of old-school RPGs, Diablo and its ilk. If I get a Vita, which I don’t know if I will yet, I would definitely look into Ruin. One nice feature of Ruin (and, it sounds, other Vita games) is cloud saving between the Vita and the PS3. This way you can save your game on the Vita, then move to the PS3 and pick up where you left off. After Ruin they showed a little bit of the Vita version of ModNation Racers, really only showing the track creation mode. I imagine the rest of the game is what you would expect. Track creation relies heavily on the touch features of the Vita, and it seems to work pretty well and seems very easy, so kudos to them.

Lastly they showed a little bit of LittleBigPlanet and Street Fighter x Tekken before wrapping up with a video of a medley of Vita games, including WipEout 2048, Hot Shots Golf and more. Vita should launch in 2011, so we won’t have to wait long.

Sony had a lot to show. Some of it wasn’t terribly new, some of it they didn’t have much to say, but nearly all of it was interesting in some form. The Vita looks good, the games look pretty good (hopefully most of the ones they showed are launch titles), and their PS3 games also look good, though a lot of it was what we expected and not much more. B+.

Tagged: sony uncharted resistance god of war ico nba move infamous medieval moves starhawk sly cooper dust bioshock saint's row star trek ssx need ofr speed battlefield vita ruin modnation racers street fighter x tekken e3

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08/10/10

Everybody Loves New Content, Though

So I had started this article a couple days ago, but somehow it got deleted. Anyway, here’s a look at some upcoming new franchises, rather than those old sequels I listed before.

• Brink (PS3/360/PC) - We’re getting a lot of new FPS franchises this coming year, so if you’re getting sick of Halos and Killzones don’t worry. The utopian city of The Ark is no longer large enough to support its ever-growing population, and thus two factions, Resistance and Security, are now on the brink (get it?) of a civil war. You will be one of 4 classes (Soldier, Engineer, Medic, Operative), fulfilling objectives and all that jazz. It uses the “SMART” (Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain) system to try to minimize frustration traveling across the maps. This ends up being a Mirror’s Edge/Assassin’s Creed-esque parkour movement system, taking the struggle out of getting where you want to be and letting you focus on the rest of the gameplay. The game comes out next Spring.
• Bulletstorm (PS3/360/PC) - Bulletstorm looks sweet. That’s really all you need to know. It’s another new FPS with attitude, and kind of reminds me of Borderlands, which is in no way a complaint. You play an ex-mercenary who, let’s be honest, just tears the shit out of everything he sees. The game rewards you for creative kills and unique methods of destruction, and the more creative you get the better weapons and upgrades you can unlock. It’s an over-the-top FPS, which is exactly what I’m looking for. Also it’s not as gray and brown as the war simulator FPSes. Keep an eye out for this next February.
• Child of Eden (PS3/360) - When it was presented at E3, Child of Eden looked ridiculous and awesome. It’s a rail shooter a la Rez (same developer), and it can be controlled either with regular controls or by waving your hands with Natal. If you know what you’re doing, playing Child of Eden with Natal looks amazing. If you don’t you’ll probably look like a fool, but there’s only one way to find out. It may also get PlayStation Move support, but that’s not yet confirmed. This one’s coming out some time next year.
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West (PS3/360) - Despite sounding like it takes place 150 years in the past, Enslaved: Odyssey to the West takes place 150 years in the future. Robots have nearly eliminated the human race, and you, along with your female friend, are trying to stay alive and make it to her hometown, which is safe from the robots? Maybe not? Whatever the reason, this action-adventure has you battling robots in a post-apocalyptic world, who cares about anything else? This game sounds like it would be perfect for 2-player co-op, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, though the two characters seem to work together in interesting ways throughout the game. You also don’t have to wait long for this one, it comes out in October.
• Project Dust (PS3/360) - We don’t know much about Ubisoft’s Project Dust. All we know is you’re God, and your control over the elements and nature influences civilization. It appears you can make land, form the planet, create lava, wind, water, etc. Other than that, I can’t say much, but keep an eye out for details.
• Rage (PS3/360/PC/Mac/Linux) - Another new FPS franchise, set in a post-apocalyptic environment, though this one was caused by an asteroid impact. Rage combines an FPS with car combat as well as an RPG-esque inventory, complete with different types of ammo that give guns different abilities. As someone who’s not normally a fan of first-person shooters, all of these new titles look intriguing. Maybe it’s because we’re not getting anything like Modern Warfare or something, all of these seem to eschew realism in favor of the ridiculous, which in my opinion is always a good thing. This is another title that doesn’t have a release date other than “2011.”
• R.U.S.E. (PS3/360/PC) - And now we’re back to the WW2 games. This one’s an RTS though, and it’s a ballsy one if it’s going up against StarCraft 2. Anyway, R.U.S.E. is indeed a WW2 RTS. During campaign you can be either USA or Germany, but multiplayer opens up the options to include Italy, France, UK, and the USSR. Each faction has its distinct strengths and weaknesses, hopefully Eugen Systems can do a good job balancing them. An interesting thing to note about this game is that it’s incredibly scalable. You can zoom all the way in to watch a single infantry unit walk, or you can zoom out to view the entire map so you can get a view of how the entire battle is going. This also allows for incredibly large maps, so it’ll be interesting to see what kind of large-scale battles we get. Take a break from StarCraft to try this one out next month.
• Vanquish (PS3/360) - Crazy Japanese third-person shooter from the same developer who made Bayonetta. Watching trailers and whatnot I’m not sure what exactly is going on, but there’s some slick movement, dodges and dashes going on. Futuristic Japanese crazy third-person shooter? Do want. And it comes out this October.
• Sorcery (PS3) - Time for the interesting new franchise PlayStation Move title that doesn’t look like a Wii knockoff, though it does look kind of like store brand Harry Potter. You’re a sorcerer’s apprentice, gaining magic and saving the land from some cliche evil. It uses the move in some interesting ways, to mix potions, pick out spells from a wheel, etc. Also you can combine different spells, and different spells from different elements interact in different ways. The one example I’ve seen mentioned again and again is you make a wall of fire and then send a tornado through, ending up with whirling flaming tornado. Don’t deny it, that’s sweet. We’ll see this game probably around Spring or Summer next year.
• The Last Guardian (PS3) - Unfortunately it was absent from this year’s E3, but Team Ico’s next game is still near the top of people’s anticipated games lists. It’s another puzzle-ish action-adventure game, and you have a pet, this time a giant griffin-type animal. Other than that we’ve seen some gorgeous little trailers, and know little else about the game. Considering Team Ico’s resume though, I’m not worried. Hopefully it’ll get released sometime next year, but without any more information it could be further off.
• Codename: Kingdoms (360) - Another largely unknown title, all we really know is what we saw at E3, which was next to nothing. Crytek’s making it, and it seems to be a gladiator game, which sounds quite awesome indeed. Considering Crytek’s pension for FPSes, their first foray into another genre should be interesting. This comes out…when it comes out.
• Dance Central (360) - And now the interesting new franchise Natal title that doesn’t look like shovelware: Dance Central. Harmonix knows how to put together a music game, as they’ve proven with Guitar Hero and Rock Band. This time they’re breaking away from the instruments and trying their hand at dancing. Of course it uses Natal for the full body tracking, and it tries to teach you hundreds of dance moves across 90 routines. Also, since Harmonix and MTV Games have plenty of pull with musicians, the game has songs from the likes of Beastie Boys, Snoop Dogg, No Doubt, and Lady Gaga. If you’d rather do the awkward white guy dance in front of your TV instead of in a club, considering picking this up this November.
• Epic Mickey (Wii) - While Nintendo seems to be on a franchise-revival kick lately, Epic Mickey isn’t among that group. Sure, it’s not new IP per se, but it’s certainly a new video game series, and it doesn’t have anything in connection with previous Mickey Mouse games. You play none other than Mickey himself as you wander around the Cartoon Wasteland trying to save the land from…evil. We’ll just say evil. Mickey has a magic paintbrush that can be used to draw and erase various things, everything from creating objects like clocks to slow down time to erasing enemies. It’s a platformer but includes some 2D side-scrolling levels inbetween areas. It’s a quirky game that, honestly, looks really good. I was never much of a Disney fan, but the paint mechanic opens the door to all sorts of creativity, and the whole vintage Disney look is just pretty sweet. Epic Mickey comes out sometime this holiday season.
• God Eater (PSP) - I’ve ignored my PSP since shortly after I bought it, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get any interesting games. God Eater came out in Japan earlier this year, but we’re still waiting for it here. It’s an adventure game akin to Monster Hunter, where you play a warrior who…battles monsters. For some reason you have decided to challenge this mythical creature called Aragami, nicknamed God Eater. Presumably you’ll be fighting some monsters before him, though. For a handheld game it includes a fair amount of customization, giving you the ability to change your character’s hair, face, skin color, and voice, as well as your outfit and weapons. According to Japan it’s a pretty good game, so keep a look out next year for it.

Well I went through 26 sequels, and now 14 new franchises, so that gives you guys 40 interesting games, most of which are coming out in the next year, some may be a year and a half or 2 years away though. That’s a lot to keep track of, and I didn’t even name all of them. This is why I’m glad I only have one current-gen console, and I’m struggling to keep up with all the games as it is.

Tagged: new ps3 360 wii psp move natal

Notes

06/16/10

Sony’s Complete Move Lineup

So a complete list of games announced for the Move has been released. When I can find them, I’ll post a complete list of 3DS games and Kinect games. Actually I think I already know the 3DS list, so that’ll be up in a couple minutes. Here’s the Move list though, ordered by release date. Notice that some of these are new games and others are current games that will be updated or re-released (we don’t know) for Move.

• Beat Sketcher (Fall)
• John Daly’s ProStroke Golf (Fall)
• Racquet Sports (Fall)
• SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs (Fall)
• Brunswick Pro Bowling (September)
• echochrome ii (September)
• EyePet (September)
• Kung Fu Rider (September)
• Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition (September)
• RUSE (September)
• Sports Champions (September)
• Start The Party! (September)
• The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (September)
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2010 (September)
• Time Crisis: Razing Storm (September)
• Toy Story 3 (September)
• Tumble (September)
• Heavy Rain (October)
• High Velocity Bowling (October)
• Hustle Kings (October)
• Kung Fu Live (October)
• NBA 2K 11 (October)
• PAIN (October)
• The Fight: Lights Out (October)
• The Shoot (October)
• TV Superstars (October)
• Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos (November)
• Disney Tron Evolution the Video Game (November)
• Little Big Planet 2 (November)
• SingStar Dance (November)
• Sly Collection (November)
• Killzone 3 (February)
• Heroes on the Move (2011)
• Sorcery (2011)

34 titles in total, 31 of them coming out this year, a mix of retail games and PSN, new and updated/re-released.

Tagged: sony ps3 move

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06/16/10

E3 Recap: Sony

Oh Sony. Sony Sony Sony. You’ve been doing a great job the past year or 2, you’ve really stepped up your game. So let’s keep this momentum going, right? That’s a good idea.

That plan didn’t hold up as well at this E3. This time last year they wowed us with all sorts of great reveals. This year? They started us off with some montage footage and talk about 3D. By next March, we’ll have 20 titles made for native 3D. Sounds okay, I’m not too interested in 3D because of the high price point to join in, but I’ll play along. So what do you have? Killzone 3. Okay, this is good. The game looks good, there are jetpacks, close-quarters combat, some intense stuff. Compatible with the Move also, so you get Killzone 3, with Move and 3D, next year. Awesome. Good start, I say. Not a surprising reveal of course, but a strong title nonetheless. We’re getting SOCOM 4 also with Move, as we’ve known. Then they rattle off a list of titles coming to 3D: Sly Cooper Collection, Gran Turismo 5, Shaun White Skateboarding, Tron Evolution, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, NBA 2K11, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. That’s great, but we didn’t really see any of those games, they just basically let us know. Thanks I guess, but I’d like to see gameplay or something. Then Jack Tretton rambles about the PlayStation brand. A recurring theme for this presser is the fact that Tretton appears to be presenting to stockholders, when he’s instead presenting to gamers. Whatever, it’s normal for Sony nowadays. Another montage, this time for Move.

We finally see the first interesting new game, Sorcery. They actually tell us about this one instead of glazing over. You are a wizard, your Move controller controls a wand, it’s a pretty interesting use of the technology, and the tech is flawless. It looks pretty much like genericized Harry Potter, but oh well. You can combine spells, combining a whirlwind with a fire spell to make a fire tornado of sorts. You prepare potions and the ball on the Move controller changes colors when they’re ready, tip to drink. Basically showing off what the Move can do, which makes sense considering they’re up against Wii’s established controls and Microsoft’s Kinect. Sorcery doesn’t come out until next year though. Then we see Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11. Again, 1:1 motion. Swinging that golf club takes serious skill, which could be an issue. I personally don’t want perfect realism in sports games like these, the reason I play the video game is because I suck in real life. Looks good nonetheless though, it just might take a fair amount of practice. Next Move game is up: Heroes on the Move? It’s a Sony mascot game: Jak, Daxter, Ratchet, Clank, and Sly Cooper. Some of those are some old names. We’ll hear more about this in the future.

Aaaaaaand Kevin Butler comes out. Or rather, Jerry Lambert comes out to play Kevin Butler. Some comedy filler to help hide the fact that Sony doesn’t have that many great announcements. At least it’s decent filler. News about Move pricing and availability: comes to the US September 19th, Europe 4 days earlier on the 15th, and Japan on October 21st. The Move controller is $50, “nunchuck” is $30, and for $100 you get the camera, the Move controller, and the game Sports Champions, Sony’s Wii Sports/Kinect Sports. No nunchuck in that little bundle though, so if you want the whole Move setup it’ll cost you $130, but you’ll get a lousy game with it. Not very enticing prices, but apparently you can use a regular PS3 controller as the secondary controller. Sounds comfortable. Nicely enough though, it sounds like a lot of these Move titles will only be $40. Time for a list/montage of Move games: RUSE, SingStar Dance, echochrome II, EyePet, Time Crisis, and some aforementioned titles.

And then came the PSP segment of the show. First some lousy ad campaign with “Marcus,” the young, black PSP version of Kevin Butler. Then some rambling about how good games are, and a casual mention of a PSP game that uses a PSP camera, Invizimals, because every system needs a pet game (Nintendogs, Kinectimals, EyePet, Invizimals). Then a trailer for God of War: Ghost of Sparta. Finally back to games that may interest me. Chains of Olympus was good, so this should be good as well. Coming in the fall. Then…another montage. This time for PSP games. Tron Evolution, UFC2010, ModNation Racers, Ace Combat Joint Assault, Gravity Crash Portable, Dragon Ball Z Tenkachi, Hot Shots Tennis Get a Grip, Madden NFL 11, Patapon, Tetris, EyePet, Piyotma, Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep, The 3rd Birthday, Persona 3 Portable, Ys: The Oath in Felgana. Sure it’s a nice library to tout, but these montages tell me nothing about the games. I want more than just “Oh, game X is coming.” I want details, a gameplay demo, something.

Moving out of the PSP realm, PSN’s Tester show is starting a second season soon. And the PSN video store is getting NBC and Nickelodeon shows. And the Sony E3 booth is virtualized on PlayStation Home. Joy. After those duds, we get a segment on LittleBigPlanet 2. Most of the information is old, but it’s nice to see again. Players will be able to make their own minigames, of sorts, from top-down racers to RTS games to old-school side-scrolling shooters and more. It looks good, but it’s the same set of old information. Then back to PSN, and they officially announce PlayStation Plus, PSN’s subscription service. $50 a year (or $18 for 3 months) will give you early demo access, beta invites, and even some free PSN games. Since it’s subscription based though, you only keep the games and whatnot while you subscribe. Plus, after the presser, it was announced that Plus subscribers will have cross-game chat, though they can invite non-Plus members, only Plus members can initiate the chat. $50 is on par with XBL’s pricing, but I don’t really see the value in it, unless there’s a lot of free games involved. Now it’s time for Medal of Honor. We already saw it at the EA presser, not much worth noting. Then came another EA presser game, Dead Space 2. PS3 gets an exclusive limited edition version with a Move-enabled Dead Space Extraction. Interesting.

A cute interruption by Portal’s GLaDOS and the appearance of Gabe Newell revealed Portal 2 coming to PS3, and supposedly being the best console version. It’s also bringing Steam to the PS3, which is an interesting move. We get a little teaser for Final Fantasy XIV, and then a little teaser for Mafia II, which will have exclusive day-one content for the PS3. Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood will also have exclusive missions, and the multiplayer beta is exclusive to PS3. It’s nice to see that Sony isn’t spending too much time on these 3rd-party, multi-platform games. Just reminding you they exist, telling you whatever Sony snagged as exclusive about it, and moving on. Another montage, and then Gran Turismo 5. It looks gorgeous of course. Night racing, day racing, damage, all that good stuff. It also finally has a release date of November 2nd of this year. Nice. Moving on, they introduced inFamous 2. The city and appearance looks quite a bit different from the original, but the original was pretty ugly so I’m not complaining. It appears that Cole’s powers extend beyond just electricity this time around.

And, saving the best/biggest surprise for last, we were shown a new Twisted Metal game. Coming in 2011. Campaign mode, two-player split-screen multiplayer, a new objective-based team mode called Nuke. It looks good, it looks Twisted Metal. It’s a shame it’s not hitting this year though.

All in all, Sony’s presser was up and down. It’s clear that they had a lot of games they wanted to showcase but not nearly enough time, so we got tiny snippets of a lot of interesting games that I would’ve liked to have seen. A lot of it was also old news though. But we did see some decent Move games, and the software to go along with Move looks a lot more promising than the software that goes along with Kinect. The hardware also looks good, and motion looks fluid and accurate, which is always a plus. Not a very surprising conference, but most of the things they showed were at least okay. Twisted Metal was a wonderful surprise at the end, but the lack of The Last Guardian really sucked. In the end? B.

Tagged: sony e3 killzone move 3d sorcery gran turismo infamous twisted metal

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