Sony Computer Entertainment of America has announced the official release of the demo for the forthcoming third-person actioner, inFamous 2. The demo features both story missions as well as some side quests for gamers to sink their teeth into and can also go exploring the city using the main character’s new Parkour-inspired movement mechanics. inFamous 2 is due out on the PlayStation 3 platform come June 7th, 2011.
2K Sports has released a new trailer for their popular tennis title, Top Spin 4, discussing the pro’s and con’s of the All-Around in-game playstyle as used by legends like Roger Federer. Top Spin 4 is in stores now for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PlayStation 3 platforms.
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Ubisoft has announced via their Facebook page that the online vote for which vehicle will be the Gamestop pre-order bonus for the upcoming Driver: San Francisco is now closed. The next in the Driver series, the game is due out on August 30th for the Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo 3DS platforms. The online vote was between the El Camino, the1963 VW Beetle, and the 1966 Shelby Cobra 427. The winner of the voting will be announced soon on their Facebook page.
In light of Mad Catz recent announcement of ThunderHawk Studios creation, we were left wondering when we would hear about the studios first game? The answer, is now. Mad Catz has announced that the first combat flight simulation in development is War Wings: Hell Catz. Hell Catz is due out next year and is being developed by Trickster Games. This will be the first in the War Wings series of games. No word yet on exactly what kind of simulation it is or how realistic it will be.
“The War Wings series of games, alongside the ThunderHawk Studios(TM) MMO game development initiative, should further leverage the market share leadership and global distribution enjoyed by our flight simulation hardware products,” said Darren Richardson, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. “The launch of War Wings: Hell Catz will mark an important milestone as we pursue our longer term goal of expanding our participation in developing, publishing and distributing games.”
Majesco Entertainment has announced that in celebration of the announcement of their upcoming Hulk Hogan’s Main Event wrestling title, Hogan himself will be spreading Hulkamania about the Los Angeles Convention Center. On Tuesday, June 7th, Hogan will be making his way back and forth between South and West Halls, shaking hands and taking photos. Perhaps you will be lucky enough for him to body slam you as he passes by! Hogan will be on-site from 1:30pm to 2:00pm.
Akella has updated their official Disciples III: Resurrection Facebook page with additional screenshots and info concerning the various leaders you will encounter and control in the upcoming title. Disciples III: Resurrection is due out later this year on the Windows PC platform.
We were very excited when we first got word that Konami would be making a special, “first annual”, Pre-E3 show. Usually, when something like this occurs, you can pretty much expect some awesome announcements. Konami then followed up their save the date with an official invite which led us to the Sony Pictures Studio in Culver City, CA. The event was to take place in the studio’s new commissary and, upon arriving, we were greeted by various PR folks and got a chance to sample the open bar menu.
Proceeding into the commissary room blocked off for the event, Konami had several kiosks running various upcoming titles. We were very excited to get our hands on a kiosk running Silent Hill: Downpour or perhaps even an early build of one of the upcoming remastered packs. Unfortunately, those were not there. Instead, we had games like Burgertime and SkullGirls which, while fine games in their own rights, just lacked a certain pizazz one would expect from a “first annual Pre-E3 show”.
After some wrangling about to hook up to the event’s network connection, we were told the press briefing would begin at 5pm so we gathered around one of the tables next to the podium and waited. At about 5pm, Jay from Konami PR took the helm at the podium and said a few words. Then he began a presentation on multiple monitors around the area. We were, in fact, seeing a pre-recorded press briefing. The press briefing itself was a mixed bag.
On one hand, we were treated to interesting tidbits on Pro Evolution Soccer 2012, the upcoming Silent Hill title, and even a look at their upcoming NeverDead in which the player controls an immortal character able to lose limbs and continue on fighting until they can re-attach them. We also learned about the upcoming re-mastered collections of the Silent Hill games, Metal Gear Solid titles, and even the Zone of Enders games.
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On the other hand, there was no big reveal or killer-app announcement to be found at all. There was an especially lengthy, pre-recorded segment featuring Hideo Kojima talking about his “gaming lifestyle” ideal where gamers can take games from one platform to another at will – “Transfarring” he coined it. Even his announcing a new game engine for future titles that he could not talk about seemed over-shadowed by the lack of a killer-app game for the show. Everyone in the room was just waiting for Kojima to crack and give us some insight into the next Metal Gear title or even his brand-new IP, but it never came. Kojima re-iterated that he would not be making an appearance at this E3 and would be returning next year with more information.
Even a cool looking teaser bit for a new Contra game was not enough to save this event for us.
While we are ever-so appreciative of the folks handling the event for sending us an invite and setting everything up, I can’t help but wonder why Konami did not wait just one more year to get the big scoop on the new Castlevania and Metal Gear titles. It seems like perhaps they were going to have something revealed but maybe at the last minute pulled it? I can’t say for certain on that point.
The fact that they made such a big deal about the Pre-E3 show seemed to be self-defeating by its very nature. For the to go through all the trouble to put the event on, one would think they were prepping us for some big reveal – was just not the case this time.
Do I think they should do this event again next year? Absolutely! Especially if they have the big announcements expected.
Other Ocean Interactive has announced that they are bringing The War of the Worlds to the Xbox LIVE Arcade and PlayStation Network this summer. The game puts players into the shoes of a human survivor trying to escape the chaos of the alien invasion in 1950’s London.
“As a developer, we are extremely fortunate to have access to this beloved franchise,” said Mike Mika, Head of Development with Other Ocean Interactive. “The team and I are huge fans of the original rotoscoped cinematic platformers of early PC gaming. This is a dream project for everyone on the team. Having the ability to approach the game in a completely retro way and pay homage to one of our favorite periods in gaming is more than we could ask for.”
We just finished up at the Konami Pre-e3 2011 show at the Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City and, while there was no real earth-shattering announcements, one very interesting thing to hear was that Kojima is developing his ver own game engine. The FOX Engine is under development at Kojima Productions and will be utilized first in Kojima’s still unannounced title.
The engine will be multi-platform, feature “transafrring” support right out of the box, and will also include a full suite of dev tools for when they decide to farm it out to other developers.
We should hear more on this engine, and Kojima’s next project, at the very latest by next E3. So, stay-tuned!
Here are some photos from the ongoing Konami Pre-E3 2011 show in Culver City, CA. The full presentation is set to begin at 5pm, so be sure to checkout our live blog of the event.
