Author - Ripper71

Captain America Marvel Pinball Table Review (PS3)

2011/06/27

ZEN Studios has announced the Captain America Marvel Pinball table downloadable content just in time for the movie which is also set in the classic World War II environment inspired by Ed Brubaker’s Captain America, 65th Anniversary Special. The table has Captain America, Bucky and members of the resistance movement the Howling Commandos fighting it out with Baron Zemo, Red Skull and even The Sleeper as the Captain and his crew storm Zemo’s Castle.

Atmosphere: When it comes to pinball machine atmosphere there needs to be a combination of animated entertainment and real life physics if the machine is going to work. And just like most of the Marvel Pinball games it manages to do just that. It has animated mini-games to keep it entertaining but the ball, flippers and ramps all follow real life pinball machine physics. Add to this a variety of super hero musical scores and this game is instantly entertaining and can appeal to the hardcore pinball wizard and the Marvel video game fan.

Graphics And Sound:

The game simulates a pinball machine very well showing outstanding graphics but at the same time when a part of the machine comes to life and performs actions outside the realm of reality all the graphics are beautifully detailed and very realistic. You see Captain America block Zemo’s Death Ray with his shield then watch as a very realistic looking pinball starts hitting bumpers and flippers causing the characters to react. The graphics are well done for a video game and excellently done for a pinball machine right down to the details on the inside walls of the table and the jeep and barbed wire resting at the bottom behind the flippers. Other wonderful graphic details include the ball launch as a machine gun barrel and periodically Zemo just walks onto the table from out of frame. The sounds of the game all add to the setting too with bumpers that sound like rifle fire to ramps that sound like airplane flybys this game doesn’t miss an opportunity to wow the player with a sight or a sound. Even the ball lost voice changes as does the phrasing to keep the game fresh while playing addictively over and over.

Gameplay:

To a certain degree gameplay on all pinball machines that follow the rules of physics are all the same. However this game forces the balls, bumpers and flippers to follow the rules of physics and just has fun with the rest of it. And this introduces the idea of mini-games which are there to keep the game fun and challenging and give the player a break from the regular play to try what amounts to video games inserted into their pinball table. In one of the video games the Captain America figure standing on the table jumps up on a platform and starts blocking balls coming at him with his shield. Another has him blocking Zemo’s Death Ray with his shield and losing his strength which he recovers with the players help by scoring bumper hits. Each game involves Captain America’s figure on the machine to come to life and fight one of his foes in one way or another while you help with your flippers or the ball. I could go right down the list of all the special mini games on the board because I had a blast finding them all but it is far more fun for players to be surprised and find them themselves rather than be a spoiler.

A Good Addition?:

The Marvel Pinball tables all work off the same physics design for the principle table play it is just the extra animated games and the table design itself that make them different. If you like a table crowded with things to do this is probably going to be one of your favorites if not becoming your favorite over all the other tables. I am still a huge fan of the Blade table but I think this one easily outshined the Fantastic Four and Wolverine tables and actually was not only a good addition to the set but improved it.

Add Another Token:

The table and the whole game in general also includes multiplayer in two ways, hot seat and online. Those who have never heard of hot seat multiplayer the idea is pretty simple, someone sits in the “hot seat” in front of the television, plays player 1’s ball then hands the controller off to someone else putting them in the “hot seat” as player 2 for up to four players. The online is pretty straight forward too, they have a game lobby, you log into it and wait for enough players to match up and away you go into a game.

Cost/Playtime:

The table is going to cost about $3, which when you consider how many hours of play you can get from it by yourself yet alone playing your buddies or making it a party game is a very good deal. Heck at that price you might as well add on any other tables you don’t have.

Last Call:

Captain America Marvel Pinball Table is coming out at a perfect time to get people interested in the franchise again with the movie right around the corner but even if the movie wasn’t on it’s way this new table is an excellent addition to the Marvel Pinball set and is a whole lot of fun while keeping true to the physics of a mean pinball.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Violent Game Law

2011/06/27

Ripper71

Articles, News

Looks like video gamers and video game makers have once again prevailed against a law that would ban the sale of violent games to minors, with Justice Scalia writing:

Video games qualify for First Amendment protection. Like protected books, plays, and movies, they communicate ideas through familiar literary devices and features distinctive to the medium. And “the basic principles of freedom of speech . . . do not vary” with a new and different communication medium.

More From Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Supreme Court struck down on Monday a California law banning sales or rentals of violent video games to minors as a violation of free-speech rights, its first ruling in a video game case.

By a 7-2 vote, the justices upheld a ruling by an appeals court that declared the law, which also imposes strict video-game labeling requirements, unconstitutional.

The law was challenged by video game publishers, distributors and sellers, including the Entertainment Software Association. Its members include Disney Interactive Studios, Electronic Arts, Microsoft Corp and Sony Computer Entertainment America.

The law, adopted in 2005, has never taken effect because of the legal challenge. It defines a violent video game as one that depicts “killing, maiming, dismembering or sexually assaulting an image of a human being.” Retailers who sell or rent a violent video game to a minor could be fined as much as $1,000.

The nation’s video game industry has about $10.5 billion in annual sales. More than two-thirds of U.S. households include at least one person who plays video games.

Six other states have adopted similar laws, and all were struck down in court.

The Supreme Court rejected California’s argument that the Constitution’s free-speech guarantees under the First Amendment do not prevent a state from prohibiting the sale of violent video games to minors under 18.

“Our cases hold that minors are entitled to a significant degree of First Amendment protection. Government has no free-floating power to restrict the ideas to which they may be exposed,” Justice Antonin Scalia said in summarizing the court’s majority opinion from the bench.

Talk of E3 – PAYDAY: The Heist

2011/06/26

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

PAYDAY: The Heist is a premier quality downloadable game designed to deliver a unique spin on the First Person Shooter genre. As an intense, gritty and unapologetic episodic co-operative shooter, PAYDAY is packed with cocky attitude, epic Hollywood-inspired action and endless replayability.

With six action-packed heists to complete at launch, players embark on a spectacular crime tour of heists, including shooting their way through a downtown bank vault robbery, trading hostages in an armored car hijacking and even a moonlit infiltration of a high-security headquarters.

Additionally, PAYDAY: The Heist challenges players with dynamic environments and adaptive enemy tactics meaning no scenario will ever play out the same way twice. Players will have to work together, assigning team members to various tasks guarding key positions, keeping civilians in check and cracking through various security measures, while surviving wave after wave of law enforcement that shift their strategies based on player actions.

Key Features:

Six High-Intensity Heists to Pull: Whether you’re blowing the roof off a building to extract a safe via helicopter or emptying the vault at the First World Bank, these action packed heists will have players checking their six in the living room.

Interactive Co-op Gameplay: Whether AI or live, your crew of four must operate as one to bring home the bacon. Sharing extra ammo and medic kits, helping regen wounded partners, distributing tasks like guarding key positions, taking civilian hostages or cracking through various security measures. It’s one for all and all for one.

Endless Replayability: Dynamic, adaptive environments combined with non-scripted enemy behavior, shifting entry points, FBI agents repelling down on ropes through the skylights, SWAT teams crashing through the windows or special units crawling through the ventilation shafts makes play-through of every heist a unique fight.

Massive Character Progression Tree: Choose a specialty – assault, sharpshooter or support – players gain weapons and equipment that fit their preferred form of violence. Unlock trip mines, silenced pistols, machine guns and much, much more.

Shout Out Button: Players need to be vocal and shout commands and directions to the co-op crew, as well as hostages and the police if they want to survive to spend their cut of the take.

Hostage Trading: Hostages can be a lifeline. If anyone in the crew is taken into custody, trade hostages to get crew members back and increase the odds of completing your objectives.

PlayStation or PC: For keyboard and mouse marksman, as well as handheld controller snipers, PAYDAY is the uber FPS for a high intensity shooter fix.

More DLC in the form of additional heists, weapons and equipment means PAYDAY—a digitally distributed AAA quality title for less than half the price of a retail game—is total OVERKILL.

E3 Impressions:

I was walking around E3 and heard a couple guys talking about a game saying “It’s like they watched the beginning of Batman and based the game off the Joker’s robbery.” That sounded kind of interesting to me so I decided I would keep an eye out. I went on about the conference and later heard a couple guys talking and saying “Hey did you try that heist game? That thing is so much fun!” Not realizing it was the same game I kept an eye out for that too. Then I came around a corner and saw this:

Well that kind of grabs your attention. And right behind it is a kiosk full of gaming stations all full with players and onlookers. As I looked on each player took on a role in the heist, some being overly aggressive and getting themselves caught, others playing it cool, trying to control the bank employees while watching for the police. It is a scene from many movies though obviously an homage to one. As I stood there watching, a man in a black suit with the red word “Overkill” across his back stood beside me and started talking about it. Had I ever wanted to be running through traffic trying to get to the van like in the movie Heat? Did I like the beginning of The Dark Knight and wish I had been one of the Joker’s henchman? So they had planned homages and had planned to come into E3 quietly and become the word of mouth sensation by their theatrics and dynamic demo. They didn’t announce the existence of the company until a short time before E3 then didn’t announce they were going to be there until the week before. It seemed this tactic worked pretty well for them because the gamers weren’t the only ones paying attention, so were the judges and nominations got heaped upon the game. But did it play as well as it looked?

The game’s premise seems simple on the surface but is more sophisticated when you got hands on. Much like an actual heist things can go down a lot of different ways. As a result there is a bit of a learning curve, especially for casual gamers so a bit of patience is required while you get the hang of things. Once you do though this game sucks you in, the idea and the plot one that every guy who has every seen a heist movie has entertained at least in a daydream.

Last Call:

This game snuck into the show and soon stole a good portion of the FPS crowd’s attention. Was it because of the novelty of playing the robbers from a scene from a movie or the theatrics of the costumes on the representatives? It’s hard to say but I do know I will be looking forward to the full game’s release and seeing if the play lives up to the hype.

OnLive Gaming System Demo (E3)

2011/06/26

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

OnLive is the pioneer of instant cloud gaming, delivering real-time interactive experiences and rich media through the Internet. With groundbreaking video compression technology, OnLive harnesses cloud computing to provide the power and intelligence needed to instantly deliver the latest, premium game titles to any HDTV via the OnLive Game System or nearly any PC and Mac via a small browser download. The OnLive Viewer app is available for the iPad and full gameplay is coming to both iPad and Android tablets. OnLive is currently available in North America, and has launched in the UK and will be expanding into Europe later this year. More than 100 games are available today, over 60 are available as part of the Playpack Subscription bundle for $9.99 a month. All OnLive games played using the OnLive Player App will play seamlessly across all OnLive-compatible devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android, on HDTV via the OnLive Game System, on connected HDTV and Blu-ray/media players and on PC and Mac. Full voice chat-enabled multiplayer is supported, both in-room and with others throughout the world, providing a complete multiplayer experience whether at home or on the go with a mobile device. Core patent-pending exclusive OnLive cloud gaming features such as massive spectating of live gameplay throughout the world, instant no-obsolescence gameplay, Facebook integration with Brag Clip videos, etc., will work seamlessly on both tablets and HDTVs and will continue to distinguish OnLive from consoles, both in 2011 and beyond. The Intel Atom Processor cE4100 provides the processing power for the system and allows the OnLive Game Service to be experienced on HDTVs and soon will support 3D games.

“The power of the cloud is definitely the theme this week, displacing what had been assumed to be platforms that could never be displaced,” said Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO of OnLive. “The OnLive Player App for iPad and Android shows how with the power of the cloud, the question is not whether cloud gaming will be able to catch up to consoles, it will be whether consoles will be able to catch up to cloud gaming.”

OnLive is also unveiling as part of this experience the first 10 gigabit cloud-based full-featured browser for iPad, Android and HDTV; bringing the full richness of the Web loading from ultra-fast 10 gigabit/second Web connections to OnLive’s cloud-based servers, including support for full-featured Flash and video sites. Mobile and home devices will no longer be limited to the speed of their local connection for Web browsing or Web plug-in compatibility, opening up access to Flash games and social gaming for tablets and HDTVs.

Here’s a presentation from CEO Steve Perlman on the OnLive capabilities.

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E3 Impressions:

This was one of the first companies I talked to at E3 and it all started in the press hospitality room. OnLive had a small booth set up in there to give the media a chance to check out the system in a far quieter environment than the conference hall floor. It was nice to get a little hands on with it before the meeting so I took the opportunity to put the system through it’s paces. I chose Borderlands GOTY edition to try out first since I had just recently been playing it on the Xbox 360. There was no noticeable lag or latency issues or at least no more than would happen when playing multiplayer on the XBox 360. Considering the game was actually being played on a server in Santa Clara and each of my moves on the controller were sent there performed in the game, then the information sent back and it all reacted in about the same time frame as a system in the room with you I was immediately impressed and at first a bit leery. How could that be possible? Also how could this game be running so well through a little box slightly larger than a deck of cards? So I headed out, stood in the sea of people waiting to get into the main halls and had a nice sweat going as I went toward the OnLive booth to get a much more in-depth look. After being among all the other folks I was a bit overheated and they were nice enough to head me straight upstairs where it was cooler and I could talk to Bruce Grove, Director of Strategic Relations. Bruce had been a computer builder before he joined them, building huge high end gaming systems. When they showed him they could do with the little OnLive box the same thing the high end computers were built for he thought his head would explode and he was quick to join up.

“Since we launched the real focus has really been adding titles , really getting the service off the ground and bringing it to more and more users. We launched something no one has ever been able to do before which is the PlayPack bundle, so all of a sudden you have a Netflix type approach for games. The great thing about this model system is we can disrupt all the traditional delivery and pricing mechanism and experiment and bring new ideas to people.”

“What we are doing now is expanding the play anywhere theme. We have the micro console, the PC, the Mac. We actually have a fully working IPad client. We’re bringing it to IPad, android devices, we took investment from HTC who are launching a variety of tablet devices through various carriers. It’s the same service, the same games, the same product and you come into the service exactly the same as you did from the TV or your PC or your MAC, it’s really a play anywhere.”

“The game controller we have today will work with tablets or work with TVs or work with blu-ray players and now I have a gaming device and now I am on the road with my tablet having the same gaming experience and carrying on where I left off earlier.”

“We’ve also been working with a lot of chip vendors so the idea there is to get ourselves into more and more devices. blu ray players, TVs, what we’ll do is have a universal control that will just talk to those devices, you don’t need a game console, your blu ray player or your TV just became the console, and it’s OnLive and again it’s the same service wherever you go. We are seeding ourselves into as many places as possible, we want to be platform agnostic, we want to be on everything, we want to play everywhere.”

“When you go onto OnLive online you are on line with everyone else, one big social network, we want to create a world wide gaming environment and based on different countries they will have different preference and you will be able to see them so you can imagine we go to Europe, we go to Asia and you will see things you have never seen before.”

“It’s just getting bigger and bigger, it’s snowballing, really exciting times for us.”

“Voice over IP everyone said you can’t do that. streaming videos, everyone said you can’t do that, I remember all the press around Netflix and how Netflix wasn’t going to make a successful business out of streaming videos, how many times do we say these kinds of things? OnLive comes along and they say you can’t do that and we say we are doing it, look at that! ”

“Everyone will come up with a reason why you can’t do it and we just keep pushing forward and saying we can and we are just going to keep pushing and pushing.”

“New cell phones are starting to have hdmi wireless built into them so you will be able to have OnLive come through to your cell phone then onto your TV. Tablets are starting to have hdmi out so your tablet can be the device. The game’s up in the cloud and we will just deliver it wherever we can.”

“We’ve had to look at every single piece in the chain, we have had to look at the controller, we’ve looked at the protocols, we’ve looked at how we code and decode, we built our own codec from the ground up, everything about the network from beginning until end had to be thought about. How do we do graphics processing? Everything. So what we have been able to do is not just have one magic piece that breaks through but it’s lots and lots of interactive pieces that really all come together and have just completely rethought how you shape latency. So as a result you can put us on a good, decent network, you can put us side by side with console and we’re comparable. And that’s where we want to be, we want to be in a place where somebody tries it and they stop caring about the devices and they care about the games and the content and what OnLive is. We want people to look at the service and go ‘That’s the service I want’.”

“As we increase the multiplayer content you can find what your friends are playing and jump into the game or into what they’re doing and it really helps your interactiveness with other player’s in the network because everyone’s there.”

“We want to get away from this how did you do it and get to I don’t care, I want to play games. At the end of the day that’s all it is, we all just want to play games.”

Last Call:

If you ask anyone around me, I rave about this company. In all honesty I think it will be the Netflix of gaming, it already has a very solid base and it is moving across devices with amazing speed. If you need the box to play it the box is small and perfect for traveling. The game base for their subscription set up is great already and always growing and at $9.99 is really, really affordable and you don’t have to wait for it to arrive in the mail. You can rent titles and if you like them purchase them and have them available on the system at any time. They are teaming up with Disney, SquareEnix, THQ and many other game developers to have games on their system release at the same time as stores. I love that I could start a game on my TV, play it on the car ride somewhere on my phone or iPad and then on my laptop when I get there. Or if I get bored playing one game I have over 100 other titles to choose from. Interacting with the representatives of the company they had an excitement that was contagious and I think for good reason since I truly believe I was witnessing the future of gaming.

Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II Demo (E3)

2011/06/24

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

Combat Wings: The Great Battles of World War II gives you the opportunity to pilot the most famous combat planes of the World War II. It will be up to you to tip the scales of victory in favor of the Allies. Experience aerial combat through the eyes of four pilots, fighting on four main fronts of the war. Take part in the Battle of Britain, help the Allies win the African campaign, defend Russia from the Third Reich’s powerful army and face fearless Japanese pilots over the Pacific.

GAMEPLAY

Piloting a wide range of aircraft, players engage in aerial dog fights and dangerous fighter missions across the major theaters of war during WW2. Featuring realistic WW2 aircraft and an unprecedented multiplayer experience, Combat Wings introduces cutting-edge multiplayer features allowing players to challenge each other in different multiplayer modes including Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Racing, Team Racing, Bomb-Target Hunting, Mission Survival and Fleet Escorting.

FEATURES:

• Pilot the greatest aircraft ever made
• Triple A: Aerial Arcade Authenticity
– explosive arcade action alongside advanced physics and painstaking recreation of actual events
and aircraft to create an experience that’s easily accessible but hard to master
– All aircraft are based on authentic designs
• Free Flight mode that enables players to choose a plane and roam over faithfully created environments
• 20 different planes, fighting on all fronts of the war

E3 Impressions:

This meeting got off to a bit of a late start causing this presentation to be reduced as well as other City Interactive presentation paired with it, Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2. As a result there wasn’t a lot of Q & A but was really just showing us a truncated demonstration of the game. That doesn’t mean what we saw wasn’t impressive.

The game is set back in the 1940s when air to air combat was a lot less neat. Missiles weren’t just fired from miles away, there was a good chance you would see the face of your foe as it plummeted through the clouds or exploded in mid-air. The aircraft for this game were extremely well-rendered and historically accurate (I am an airshow junkie, what can I say?) and the terrain for the most part was very well created even if there were some terrain disappearing and re-appearing issues still and the clipping on the edge of the aircrafts, particularly the one you are piloting, needed a bit of work. Normally I wouldn’t be quite so critical of a work in progress demonstration but their target release date is September 13th, which means the game should be pretty well polished up and just requiring some fine tuning. Some parts of the game are definitely ready to go, the damage system to the planes was very well done as is the crashing renders. Shots to the wings cause debris to fly off and the wings to catch fire. A lot of effort and time was put into making the damage system as accurate as possible right down to how the crash would look as a result of the damage and how each attacks signature damage would effect the outcome of the enemy. If you shred his tail the enemy will go down differently than if you sheer a wing off. These are the elements that will pull a player in, hold their suspension of disbelief and make them start leaning back and forth in their chair as they pilot. Their Ace Mode for new or younger pilots also makes the flying a lot easier so that a wider audience can enjoy the game without getting to frustrated.

The missions will take place at Iowa Jima, Midway, Africa, Russia, The Battle of Britain and the Pacific and there will be 30 missions (each running about 15 minutes to keep them short), 4 campaign settings and up to 60 planes. Owners of the Wii should know that it will have only about have the planes available but plans to utilize the nun chuck as a yoke. That is almost worth the price of the game right there, a nun chuck yoke sounds like fun! As for multiplayer, the most asked question of the company as far as I have seen, at the meeting they could only smile and shrug, guess we will have to see if that is ready when it launches.

The Last Call:

It is nice to see a development team who wants to remind us of the gritty closeup nastiness of dog fighting in the past. Today battles are so sterile in the air, with missiles fired from miles away, that it is easy to forget during the last Great War great battles were fought face to face in the skies and pilots often had to face the humanity of their kills as they jigged their planes to avoid their enemy’s ball of flame. City Interactive is doing their best to remind us.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 Demo (E3)

2011/06/24

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

Hot of the heels of the news of Sniper: Ghost Warrior going gold here is some information and impressions of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 from E3. Powered by the CryENGINE 3 engine, the missions of Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 are graphically stunning and more challenging as you once again step into the ghillie suit of a special ops sniper to take down the enemy.

FEATURES

Diverse Gameplay

• Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 takes all the precise controls and skill of sniping and mixes it with stealth and silent elimination play, action scenes, a co-operative move playbook
• Night vision and thermo vision goggles to use in limited visibility situations
• Vehicle sections are a new addition to the Sniper series
• Multiple and varied locations including urban, jungle, mountain and tundra environments

THE Authentic, Modern Sniper Experience

• Realistic ballistics take into account the player’s location, wind speed and direction, breathing rate and distance from the target
• Snipers do not fight alone in the real world and nor do they in Sniper 2. Working with your spotter is key
• All environments are based on real-world locations
• An array of faithfully recreated weapons are at your disposal, including six sniper rifles, three assault rifles, heavy machine guns, and more

More Skill, More Rewards

• Silent kills allow for quiet enemy elimination and successful execution sees the player rewarded with a brutal kill animation
• Bullet cam shows particularly successful hits
• Limb dismemberment from large calibre guns and explosions

Innovation & Technology

• Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 is built on CryEngine3, the most advanced multi-platform development tool for current-generation consoles and for PC
• New equipment for stealth gameplay
• Distinct co-op mode built especially for two players
• Multiplayer modes designed especially for sniper duels.
• Epic story crafted by acclaimed writers

E3 Impressions:

This demo was grouped together with another City Interactive title ‘Combat Wings:The Great Battles Of World War II’ which unfortunately got off to a fairly late start that had some journalists in the room looking at their watches worried about their next appointments and ending the demonstration of this game pretty early to get the next group in on time. So as a result the cinematics and mission briefing information was skipped to just show some actual in game play which was still very impressive. Beautifully rendered graphics made for rich environments which will include jungle, urban, arctic, just to name a few. For the demo they chose the jungles of Malaise which showed off the rendering far more than arctic may have with all the leaves and vines and old buildings but the engine will get a workout in the arctic when it comes to visibility no doubt. Wind, distance, and bullet drop all effect your shot and as in real life sniping if you miss the first time you may not get a second shot. Having played it many times our demonstrator was able to speed us through kills, hitting on the first shot despite all these conditions and give us beautiful bullet cam cinematics. Since each cinematic is exactly rendered and tailored to your shot the strength of the CryEngine3 did not take long to show off. I was loving every minute of the demonstration and truly wished it hadn’t had to be cut short. Knife kill is new in this game so if you need to get closer to your next target without drawing attention you can stick them where it hurts and drop them silently. You had better be careful on your approach though, the AI has been dramatically improved and though you no longer have to worry about the enemy immediately knowing where you are you do have to worry about how they react if they do catch you. Also there are opportunities to ride around in vehicles, which though new to the series, isn’t very new to first person shooting and is kind of surprising it wasn’t in the first game (though as guess as the title implies it concentrated on the sniping).

Personally one of the most exciting aspects of the game to me and one I wish would get implemented into more games was the ability to switch out scopes on the fly. That’s right, you can pick from your stash of scopes and unscrew one and put another on so that you can use a different scope for each kill or conditions. This weapon versatility seems like a simple addition, but in the world of first person shooters this is a very exciting addition. I am looking forward to playing this game for that reason alone, though play times is expected to run about 10 hours. Multiplayer modes specially designed for sniper versus sniper fights will keep the gameplay fresh past the campaign. They even put in Objective respawn to help stop campers.

Last Call:

The team really seem to take into consideration the complaints and issues of the first game and not only made a graphically amazing sequel but fixed the issues that plagued players in the first place. Add to that the ability to switch out scopes at a moment’s notice and I can see this being a VERY successful sequel worthy of the game’s name.

Hitman Absolution E3 Demo and Video

2011/06/23

Ripper71

Articles, E3, News, Previews

Here is where I would normally have taken a whole section of press release so you would know what this game was about. But the title really says it all and unless you have been out of gaming and movies for some time you should have at least a rudimentary understanding of what the game is and who stars in it. I’ll be nice and give the slightest of refreshers. You play Agent 47, a Hitman, not just an ordinary gun for hire but a breed apart. He has a barcode on the back of his bald head, a very nice suit with a red tie and the sharpest killing reflexes in the business. Simply put, he makes killing an art form and therefore makes himself an artist. This may sound like it was lifted from a press release but any fan of the series will smile and agree that this is the core of Agent 47 and so game developers that take on this character as a project have to understand that they have to create an artist so the artist can work his craft. A daunting project for a game developer and from what has been seen so far, one IO Interactive are up to.

E3 Impressions:

I walked by and in the Square Enix complex several times, sometimes to preview games, other times just to join the masses sitting in chairs like they are at a movie in front of a gigantic screen watching game trailers. Two that always caught my eye were Dead Island, one of the games I got to go hands on with, and Hitman Absolution, which was a short but very well done teaser trailer. I knew on the last day I would get a chance to check out the video demo but I still got pulled into the beauty of the trailer (and I’ll admit it, a well graphically rendered woman stepping into a shower kind of stops a person in their tracks), watching it to the end every time. So when my chance to go see the longer demo came up I was at the booth promptly on time and given a grimace of concern. A representative took me back to the screening room and through the little porthole window in it I could see a head literally pressed up to it and 5 people sitting outside waiting for the next time slot. As I found out it had started kind of quietly at the beginning of the show, everyone was interested but in a fairly nonchalant manner. Then as they saw the video screen, noticed every publication was raving about the demo previews they took it a little more seriously and suddenly the room was packed. I was offered to view other games, demo some, just about anything while waiting for Hitman screening but I just waited so that I could get a good seat and see what the fuss was about. Wow. Worth the fuss. I would sometimes forget I was watching a video game walk through rather than a computer generated animated movie.

The IO Interactive Glacier 2 Engine lived up to it’s reputation and created an experience so detailed and beautiful it was hard to believe this is going to be a sandbox game. To render such amazing graphics you would think that it would require limited options or exact paths of travel but it flawlessly executed every move, showed different opportunities to take different routes and the AI is so well designed that it can react to whatever you decide as the method and direction of attack. Simply put the video that everyone was watching on the big screen was a nice cinematic, but the gameplay video made you want to reach for a controller that very moment. The Instinct system is demonstrated flawlessly, showing Agent 47’s knowledge of his human prey and his understanding of his environments to show the paths of AIs and possible weapons in the area.

As Agent 47 you are also a master of disguises and can hide in plain sight if you have the guts and talent. This little write up was delayed because I expected by now for the play video to have been released but at the most there has been a leak through a European demo play through so you can see some of the level but you will have to wait to see the whole thing. Trust me, it is worth that wait. The video below is a bit of both a level spoiler and a demo video spoiler but I think doesn’t do either too much.

Demo Video

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Screenshots

Video Game History Museum Exhibit (E3)

2011/06/23

Ripper71

E3, News

The museum was founded by John Hardie, Sean Kelly, and Joe Santulli, the creators of the Classic Gaming Expo. Long before there was mainstream interest in “classic” or “orphaned” games, each had been privately gathering as many physical artifacts, memorabilia, and information as possible. Everything began to come together with the publication of the Digital Press Collector’s Guide which is recognized as the blue book standard of classic videogame information and rarity and is published by museum founder Joe Santulli. A physical museum display was first seen at Classic Gaming Expo in 1999 which essentially spawned the awareness of not just the forgotten games themselves, but the importance that they never be forgotten again or even worse, lost forever. Through the relationships forged with hundreds of former and present game designers, their generous donations as well as personal acquisitions, the unparalleled archive that was displayed in the Videogame History Museum was truly a sight to see!

The Video Game History Museum returned to E3: Electronic Gaming Expo at South Hall Booth #601 and gave a glimpse of the future content of the Videogame History Museum. At E3 they featured:

30 Classic Coin-Op machines (no quarters necessary)
18 Classic Console stations (play a favorite past system)
256 Pieces of Nostalgia (a tiny piece of our future museum)
2 Bands rockin’ classic game tunes (they do, indeed, rock)
1 more player who plays it old-school (that’s you)

E3 Impressions:

Tucked back behind the flashy booth was what might have been mistaken at first for a rummage sale in front of a video arcade. But if you took the time to give it a proper look you got the chance to walk down gaming’s memory lane and in some cases play history all over again. And it didn’t cost anything. You could sit down on a couch in front of an old television and play an Atari 2600. You could go up to a Coin-Op Centipede machine, press player 1 and start rolling that ball. And what at first look like a rummage sale was an amazing collection of video game history, most of which was in beautiful shape and many of which were operating and available to play. All the time you checked it out the bands played with old school sounds that took you right back to the era when you played the games. This was all tucked behind some VERY impressively set up booths and so it was lost in the shadows, but those who managed to find it and get some time playing NARC or Dig Dug got to capture a part of their past again at least for a short time.

The full museum doesn’t have a physical facility yet, it just makes exhibits a trade shows and such right now so catching it when you can is even more important. They have over 20,000 pieces spanning over 25 years and you can bet when they get a physical location it will be on my travel plans! For more information go to www.vghmuseum.com

PRO VS. GI JOE (E3)

2011/06/21

Ripper71

Articles, E3, News

1 Comment

Addie and Greg Zinone founded Pro vs. GI Joe in June 2007 to give back to our military men and women in a truly unique, fun, and interactive way! Like many Americans, they are a military family who personally understand the sacrifices service members and their families make, especially now. Addie is a Staff Sergeant in the U.S. Army Reserve and has served two tours of duty in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, from 2003-2004 and most recently from 2007-2008.

Although Greg is not in the military, he feels those who don’t wear the uniform have an obligation to give back and support those who do. His way of doing it is through video game competitions with the pros. Greg played football at West Virginia University and knows first-hand that athletes love to get on the sticks. And since Addie has spent a lot of time with troops during her two combat deployments in Iraq, she knows that all branches of America’s Armed Forces also like to play. Greg put the two together – thinking it would be a fantastic way for our troops to unwind and for the pros to say “thanks” – and came up with Pro vs. GI Joe.

Using the best of modern technology (online gaming and webcams) and forging an absolutely essential partnership with the USO, Pro vs. GI Joe has made connections for countless troops, their families and friends, and the pros. To date, we’ve connected troops serving in Kuwait, Dubai, Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Japan, Germany, and Cuba as well as those here at home with professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, WNBA, PGA, NASCAR, IRL, and Boxing. They’re growing every day and welcome the opportunity to expand to every sport and athlete, musician or celebrity.

The most meaningful aspect of Pro vs. GI Joe, however, isn’t the connection they make between the Pro and the GI Joe; it’s the connection they make with the families. Troops are often separated from their family for months and years at a time. When possible (and it’s usually at every event), they invite the troops’ family members to attend the competition so they can meet the Pros, tour the facility, get some autographs and, most importantly, chat with their loved one via webcam from USO centers all over the world. These reunions mean so much to the troops and their families and it’s and they love to provide that opportunity when it’s possible.

In 2010, Pro vs. GI Joe hired Joe Oneto, the organizations only employee. Joe was working at the USO Center in Kuwait when Pro vs. GI Joe launched – bringing online gaming to the troops in the Middle East for the first time ever. While working at the USO, Joe personally witnessed how our events affect the troops that participate. Upon his return to the states, he volunteered at numerous Pro vs. GI Joe events and was hired full-time in September of 2010. Joe is truly dedicated to the success of the organization and is now considered a member of the Zinone family.

Pro vs. GI Joe relies solely on the generosity of the American people and sponsors/partners to fund our organization. With Pro vs. GI Joe, you get a personal connection and a guarantee that they will never quit working for our men and women in uniform and their families.

E3 Impressions:

This wasn’t so much a booth as a trailer and they were having a raffle fundraiser as well as parachuting t-shirts off the top of it. It’s location was good, in the corner of one of the main halls. Compared to the flash of most of the booths though it didn’t draw much attention, though not for a lack of trying. It is a non-profit though, most of it’s money goes to their cause making it so they didn’t have corporate flash. World Of Tanks put a huge crate full of their mini tanks in front of the Pro vs. GI Joe booth at one time to help attract attention and I heard people talking about it and heading that way.

I kept walking past it myself because it struck home with me. I had memories of my nephew sitting on the hood of my car with me and enjoying summer days when he was a kid, and I remembered the day my wife and I bought him a computer so that no matter where he was and where we were we could keep in touch, first through WoW, then through other social channels such as Facebook. I have always loved my nephew and he has often been on my mind.

During E3 our troops were attacked in Iraq. It didn’t make much of a splash in our submerged world of gaming and entertainment that is E3. Meetings went on and products were shown. But for me there was always something in the back of my mind. My nephew was among the attacked. It was not the first time, he already had his Combat Action Badge and a Purple Heart. This time was different though. This time we knew there was deaths.

So I went from booth to booth, learning what I could about assigned projects, gleaming a bit about others. And once again I came upon this booth. I bought raffle tickets with numbers I never checked simply to do a little part and knowing that when it came to my nephew I thought of how proud I am of his service and how much I know he loves gaming, even over in distant lands.

I got the call, five of his friends had died but he was alive. Due to national security all we could know was that he was fine, just a few scratches. I went to the restroom and washed my face.

Yesterday was Father’s Day and my nephew who had gone through a year of war, done his service overseas, earned his medals, was on leave to see his children in person for the first time in a year. So I write this little story to honor a father for Father’s Day, to remember our troops many of whom are fathers and still in harm’s way, and to remind people there are ways to not just help our troops but make them feel almost home.

WWW.PROVSGIJOE.ORG

Interview with Tekken Creator Katsuhiro Harada

2011/06/20

Ripper71

Articles, E3, Interviews, News, Previews

I showed up at the Bandai Namco complex at E3, yes I called it a complex because there were two floors, lots of meeting rooms and tons of kiosks. I stood in the wrong spot for a bit before I even realized there was a check-in desk at the front of the complex where they called up the representative assigned to you and took you back into the section you need information on. There they would lead you to a meeting room, a demo room, or a kiosk with the games you need to see. It should have been chaotic but they had it running like a well-oiled machine. I found myself teamed with another journalist who was there for the same information I was and we were whisked, much to my surprise, into one of the meeting rooms. There sitting across a table from us and motioning to chairs was a face I recognized from years of gaming news and reviews. Katsuhiro Harada, Chief Game Director for Bandai Namco Games and the legend behind the Tekken franchise was sitting there. I tried to keep my face from showing shock as I settled down in a chair next to my fellow journalist and Michael Murray from the development team, who also translated, sat on the other side along with Syouichi Tanaka from Product Management. They made us feel very welcome and at the end of the interview we even got to go hands-on with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 in front of the people who made it before they ran off to another engagement. They left at the last possible moment giving us as much time as they could. I’d like to thank Michael Murray-san, Syouichi Tanaka-san and Katsuhiro Harada-san for honoring us with their time during such a busy event.

Q: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is that just arcade or is that going to be on the consoles?

A: Yeah it’s going to be ported to consoles eventually. we’re still working on this one, its about 80% complete.

Q: Is there a timeline when you expect to see that finished?

A: Consoles or for this [gestures to the arcade version]?

Q: Consoles.

A: We can’t really say. The arcade this will be finished, well released, sometime in fall of this year and then after that at some point the consoles.

Q: And Tekken Hybrid, there was a lot of stuff going on, there’s the movie and then there’s the games. Is it one package or is it…?

A: So umm, you know we announced the movie first and normally we would have this first in the theaters as a special release and then later to Blu-Ray that would be the typical marketing approach to that. But since we’re a game company we want to do something more interesting than that. So on one Blu-Ray, what the Tekken Hybrid is is it’s got Blood…Tekken Blood Vengeance which is the animation. It’s going to be paired with Tekken Tag Tournament 1 HD. The reason for choosing that title is we are just working on [Tekken Tag Tournament 2] and people are really excited about it. And the reason why we made it now is just because its such a huge request from fans to see a sequel. But a large portion of our player population is pretty young, maybe in their teens, and some of them haven’t played the original. So we wanted to give them a chance to check out [Tekken Tag Tournament 1 HD] and see why it was so popular back then while they’re waiting for us to get [Tekken Tag Tournament 2] to them. But not only that, we hope to have some other bonus content and some surprises for fans all on one disc. So that’s why its called Hybrid.

Q: So as far as the Tekken storyline is Blood Vengeance, is that more story oriented or is Tag 2 more story oriented?

A: Obviously the movie will be more focused on the story aspects where Tag 2 is kind of taking like we did with past installments whether that’s 4, 5, 6 or even Tag 1 and all the evolutions of gameplay we’ve done for each installment and then adding a lot of new features for Tag 2 on top of that.

Q: There’s a ton of new Tekken games coming out with Blood Vengeance and Hybrid and 2 and Street Fighter, is there one that you’re most excited about?

A: Well you know obviously Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was one of the games that [Harada] always wanted to create because of the popularity of Tekken Tag Tournament 1. There was just a lot of obstacles, technology-wise, that we had to overcome before it came out. But you know its 80% complete for the arcade so [Harada]’s pretty happy with that so far. So [Harada]’s next dream is probably Tekken X Street Fighter because [Harada] was always a big fan of Street Fighter and even in developing the past installments [Harada] kind of mentioned to people all along that he’d love to do something with the Street Fighter team. So it really is a dream come true and [Harada]’s been doing that for 16 years and now the 16th year, possible the 17th year of his career at Namco the Tekken X Street Fighter game will come to life. [Harada]’s really looking forward to that.

Q: What are the release dates for arcade Tag 2, console Tag 2, the 3DS… just everything?

A: [Harada]’s currently thinking about the best schedule for release dates. The only thing we can say is [Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Arcade] will be fall of this year. The rest we’re trying to bring out as soon as possible.

Q: Does Tekken X Street Fighter have a release date yet?

A: Not at the moment because its not very far along in development yet. The reason for that is because all those teams currently on Street Fighter X Tekken so there’s really no purpose in taking away from that by doing 2 at the same time. We’re waiting for [the Street Fighter team] to finish on that game and give that its time in the spotlight before we start ours.

Q: How hands on have you been with Tekken X Street Fighter? Hows the collaborative process been?

A: Do you mean Street Fighter X Tekken or ours, Tekken X Street Fighter? Well, we’ll answer both.

Well first off for Street Fighter X Tekken [Yoshinori Ono]’s working with that on his team. Of course [Harada] provided them with all the background materials about the universe and our characters and popularity and stuff. And then we let [Ono] go ahead with that and he comes by once a month with the latest build to show us. But you know [Harada]’s full of surprises, he lets them do their own thing because he doesn’t want to be a limit to their creative process. [Harada] wants to have them do 120% of what they’re capable of. Our development team as well, we’re all kind of interested to see what each other comes up with.

In our case when we actually go and create Tekken X Street Fighter Ono-san actually has made it clear he’s going to keep his mouth shut in regards to what we’re going to be doing just because if [the Street Fighter team] were giving us instructions or whatever we might have some great idea but wouldn’t really go through with it because we’d be kind of worried about what they would think. We really don’t want to stop each others creative possibilities.

Q: Who approached who for this venture?

A: So [Harada] has been saying for over 13 years now that he wanted to do something with the Virtual Fighter team or the Street Fighter team in all kinds of different interviews all over the place so a lot of people are aware of that. But they didn’t really go to Capcom and ask for anything. Just happened we were eating Korean BBQ and said it would be really cool if we could actually make something cool together. And that’s how it started.

Q: And those are going to be cross platform and arcade or…?

A: First Ono’s game will come out, Street Fighter X Tekken on consoles. But Ono-san is saying he would like to make an arcade version as well because that’s what Namco is best at. So we’ll probably make some arcade versions of that one and of course ours when it comes out.

Q: Will Tag 2 have any new characters?

A: There aren’t any characters who are completely new that no one’s seen for the first time. There are a lot of revivals that a lot of the fans have been asking for. So for example we have Ogre, we have Jin Kazama. Heihachi has drastically changed, he’s gotten quite young as you can see. JC…she has a lot of new moves. We’ve just had so many requests to bring back this character or bring back that character. [Harada]’s twitter has exploded with “bring back ….”.

Q: Is True Ogre or Devil Jin coming back?

A: True Ogre’s in there. It’s listed as Ogre, but its really the True Ogre, the one with the snake head.

Q: Thanks a lot for the time!