Author - Ripper71

Hitman Absolution E3 Demo and Video

2011/06/23

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!

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Hands On (E3)

2011/06/20

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

Developed by the Project Aces team, Ace Combat Assault Horizon intensifies the franchise, escalating combat to the next level with aircraft that are literally torn apart, spewing oil and debris across the sky. Players will engage in combat across the globe, dodging skyscrapers and turning their enemies into fiery supersonic debris in both single player and online multiplayer. Never before has combat been so fast and in-your-face.

Features

Dramatic realistic storyline – Written by New York Times Best Seller and military author Jim DeFelice, players will experience an engaging war drama spanning real-world locations across the globe
Entirely new aircrafts to pilot – Experience split-second maneuvering and positioning, pinpoint targeting, hovering attacks and other gameplay diversity through the introduction of the Attack Helicopter, Door Gunner and more
Revolutionary Close-Range Assault system – Delivering high-speed acrobatics, dizzying one-on-one encounters, satisfying visceral low-altitude and high-flying death from above
ACE COMBAT online reinvented – Take to the skies and engage hostile forces in a variety of modes

E3 Impressions:

So this screenshot above looks like a nice cinematic but in reality that is how the gameplay works as the planes go through “Steel Carnage” and you literally tear them apart. Shoot the tip off the wing it blows off and the enemy loses some control with fire and smoke bellowing behind them. Here’s another:

Those are pieces of airplane that you probably don’t want to be flying through but seconds before you took that plane out in a dogfight mode that you enter by getting close enough behind them while targeting. There are different views of the game available but when you get to exploding aircraft time they clear everything out of your way so you can see the majesty of their graphic destruction system. It is absolutely awe inspiring the first couple times you see it then you start talking loudly at the game as you shred your enemies who are trespassing on American soil. Ok, I gave away just a touch of storyline, a storyline which is both great and exciting I might add, but it isn’t too hard to notice that some of the buildings and cities you fly over look pretty darn familiar if you watch any gameplay video. The plane handleing takes a little getting used to, the poor rep who watched me was almost jumping out his skin with how close I would get to dogfight mode before, at the last second, I was zigging when I needed to zag and missing the lock of Steel Carnage. After taking down a few and having some fun I handed the stick over to him and had him show me how it was done. I think it was therapeutic for him, as battle video games can be. Soon he had the skies ablaze and he was in the zone. After getting out of it he showed me another one of the most exciting additions to the game. Attack helicopters.

I play plenty of first person shooters that give you access to helicopters and so I was a much quicker learner on this fly through and I was taking out enemy SAM sites in no time. The detail you see above is the same detail maintained throughout the game and made for a far more realistic and gritty environment with the smoke and explosions having such great resolution. The only time anything becomes a bit grainy or out of focus is when you zoom in on a long distance target to give it a strafe with guns or missiles. Once again when I’d had some play I turned it over to my rep (sorry man I truly wish I had caught your name) and he showed me how it was done. He was such an expert with the game and controls that he could stay in zoomed in cam shot so I could see the details of the guys jumping out of the backs of trucks, the patterns on their shirts and the looks on their face as they fire or run for their lives. This game wasn’t just addictive to me, my rep was so into showing me details in the game and I was so into seeing them that I was late to my next appointment because we both lost complete track of time.

Final Thoughts:

I think it says a lot about a game when the game play representative was into the game as much as I was, antsy to get me into dogfights and just as happy to get his hands on it and play through. With the variety of view options available, the amazing graphics and all the air weapons at your disposal all driven by a powerful storyline this game proves to be addictive on the demo and I just can’t wait to get my hands on the full game. If you doubt me just watch the representatives in videos at the booth, they play the game between guests and on breaks because even they can’t get enough of it.

Star Trek Infinite Space Hands On Preview (E3)

2011/06/20

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

For over 40 years, Gene Roddenberry’s science fiction universe Star Trek has been enthralling millions of fans all over the world. Names like James T. Kirk, Jen Luc Picard or Catherine Janeway are as familiar to us as the militant Klingons, the bargaining Ferengi or the imperialist Cardassians. Star Trek has influenced our every day culture so much that even Google or Facebook are available in the Klingon language. Gameforge has signed an extensive cooperation agreement with CBS to publish the first browser-based Star Trek game. ‘Star Trek-Infinite Space’ is currently under production in Frankfurt, in close collaboration with Star Trek screenwriter Lee Sheldon. The game will take place in the diverse Deep Space Nine universe and is scheduled for release in summer 2011. At the start of the game you can choose between two factions – the Federation or the Klingons and choose from a range of races including Human, Andorian, Klingon or Bajoran.

Features:

Once a team with differing skills has been assembled, there’s nothing to stop the voyage into hundreds of diverse individual missions, during which they will come across the occasional familiar face from the TV series. Additionally, players can use the special cooperative mode to explore space with up to five friends and they can meet with up to fifty other players in special player-versus-player sectors to battle it out in space conflicts.

Graphics:

Utilizing Unity3D technology, players will enjoy spectacular 3D action on an unprecedented graphics level has got Star Trek experts Michael and Denise Okuda, as well as screenwriter Lee Sheldon on board to offer fans a genuine Star Trek experience. And it is free, simply log on and play Star Trek: Infinite Space!

E3 Impressions:

First off I have to point out how enthusiastic the Gameforge team are about their project and how contagious that enthusiasm is. I was just starting my day full of appointments, the NOS energy drink hadn’t kicked in yet and the team of Gameforge greeted me warmly and immediately filled my hands with information about their title including a book on how to learn Klingon. After many warm handshakes we sat down, had a brief tutorial and before I knew it I was flying a Federation ship, checking out the lounge in Deep Space Nine and getting a quick feel for a universe I had watched far more than I had played.

Flying the ship was fun, my crew worked like a skill system, each one bringing their own abilities to the fight. The ship was easy to learn to handle but not so easy as to make it boring and the battles looked beautiful. Even though the game is still in fairly early development (not in Alpha yet) I was still able to get a feel for the game and I could understand the team’s excitement. 2D navigation will be available for more access to non-hardcore gamers so that if you are not a big gamer but love Star Trek you can still play the story. If you are just a hardcore gamer and want to feel the power of a Klingon war bird or a Federation star ship and don’t care much for dialogue you can ignore the boxes, skip the cut-scenes and start blasting away. They really are trying to make the game not just accessible to a wide audience but also make it tailored to a wide audience which, as any Trekkie or Trekker could tell you “does not sound logical”. But damnit reader, they are developers not just fans! Ok I’m sorry I’ll stop but I do have to elaborate just a touch more on the skill set. Your percentage of success at anything from scanning a planet for life to firing a successful torpedo depends on the skill level of your crew in that area and when you are about to attempt them it gives you a percentage so you can decide if you want to risk it. These decisions as well as where and how you choose your battles mean the difference between survival and your coffins being jettisoned by another ship.

Last Call:

This game is still in the early stages but has everything you could want for a successful game: great graphics, excellent engine, Star Trek experts on board and oh yeah, one more thing I forgot to mention: the music changes dynamically and was performed by a 67 musician orchestra. I know I will be giving this game a run at warp speed!

Editorial Question:

On this interview I was also asked to find out the answer to how they feel about BigPoint moving into the U.S. and starting to compete with Gameforge globally. Gunnar Lott, Gameforge Productions, let me know that they feel on equal footing in the U.S. and that they are actually stronger in Europe. Lott went on to say that there are no bad feelings between the two companies and they are both working to expand the niche. “And” Lott said, “we consider ourselves more than an MMO company.”

Screenshots

Runes Of Magic: Lands Of Despair And The Challenge Hands On Preview(E3)

2011/06/20

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

This week ‘Runes Of Magic Chapter IV – Lands of Despair,’ released telling the story of a mighty yet mysterious demon who is throwing the world of Taborea into turmoil. As part of his devious plan, he has released a horrifying contagion across the land, turning the inhabitants of entire villages into soulless zombies. Even Annelia, daughter of Lord Grafu, has joined his ranks as a young apprentice and has been consumed by the darkness inside her. Venture deep into two new, perilous, high-level zones, each bringing along a brand new instance for both groups and raiders, 6 and 12 player instances. Participate in the new Public Encounters and grab those new quests waiting for you, leveling all the way up to 67. Heroes that wish to ensure the safety of the old lands can help defend against the impending invasion in the World Battlefield. You also now get the option of choosing a third class for your character! Pick up the 3rd class quest in Varanas and teleport to the new starting area, the Coast of Opportunity, to level-up your new class. And it is still free to play!

E3 Impressions:

This game is really nice and hard to believe with the graphics quality and the complexity of the game platform that it is a free to play game. In this installment the world is basically being increased by 25% with 20 new areas. It is going from dual to triple class format but players should know only two of the classes can be active at a time. Bag space is being increased as is the size of the mount and pet bags which, let’s face it, for collectors you want as much room for as many of both of those as possible (if you collect mounts make sure to pick up the steelseries QcK Limited Edition mouse pad, it comes with a permanent mount!). Few things are more frustrating than running around and getting loot and having to pick and choose because of bag space. The game competes with subscription platforms for quality and earns it’s money through mini-transactions such as pets and mounts. It is possible though to play the core game and have a great experience without paying real life dough. That’s kinda important in these days where most “free” games are actually free to play, pay to win. The world design is also interesting since the game is made in Japan but the developers are based out of California so it has a Western game feel with an Asian blend making for a very interesting building style and game philosophy. The team was excited about their project and very gung-ho about getting it out into the public and getting word out that they may be on the fourth chapter, the game is not just alive and well but growing in great strides. Their passion and dedication shows.

Runes Of Magic: The Challenge:

Based off the same world discussed above, Runes Of Magic: The Challenge is a new Facebook app/game from the same developers as the Runes Of Magic series this is an independent game relying on Facebook technology. It is designed to be attractive to the casual gamer but prize cards can be won playing Challenge that can be redeemed in the full Runes of Magic game.

“Runes of Magic is the first free-to-play MMO game ever to expand into the social networks sphere with a rich, full, social gaming experience that will appeal to fantasy fans of all ages – independently of whether they play the full client game or not”, comments Lars Koschin, CEO of Frogster America, Inc. “With the success of Runes of Magic among core MMO players, it was a natural decision to build upon the franchise by taking it to a genre with mass market appeal and the powerful viral approach of the rapidly evolving social networks. The result is ’Runes of Magic – The Challenge’ for Facebook.”

E3 Impressions:

The graphics for this Facebook game look amazing, it is kinda hard to believe that browser technology has gotten so good that such nice looking games can pop out of Facebook apps. It is turn based and playable with friends and has only a 100mb download with an 8 gb client. I see players of the main game REALLY gravitating towards this side game simply for the codes that can be earned. Casual gamers and casual Facebook gamers will probably try this out, get their codes and give the main game a chance. It has a lot of the standard MMO elements that appeal to the casual player yet the hardcore grinder or raider will have plenty to keep them occupied working on Challenge to get codes and on Lands of Despair for game progression. This was an amazingly smart move that should have been thought of by more game developers sooner. Kudos Frogster.

Screenshots

Ninja Gaiden 3 Hands On Preview (E3)

2011/06/17

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

I was greeted quickly at the check in and Team Ninja had me back in a discreetly tucked away booth by myself in seconds, seated before a PS 3 and Xbox 360 both ready to let me start running Hayabusa through his ninja paces. So I settled in with a grin on my face and started doing just that. Near the end a member of Tecmo Koei America made his way in and after I was done he showed how you did it after a whole lot of playthroughs. Even from the demo I could tell this game has chops.

E3 Impressions:

The game has a distinctly darker look than games in the past, with Ryu doing a very Ghost In The Shell dive from great heights into the fray. Everything looks gritty, dirty and war torn. This mood isn’t changed as you tear through enemy after enemy, listening to their incredulous cries and curses and death throes. While keeping Ryu’s signature moves it is obvious that the game designers were going for a more realistic damage system, less gore more war horror. Sure there are sprays of blood and you can spin up in the air slashing your enemy up then dumping them on their heads (I still get a great thrill out of this) but when you stab an enemy once they start staggering around cursing, dying slowly or giving one last attempt at stopping your grisly progress. The demo is set as a tutorial though so they never seem to quite succeed and you are free to move onto the next enemy and learn a new combo or new move for the game. It is nice to have the lessons available since there is no manual in front of you and to truly understand the scope of Ryu’s abilities you really need to be able to put him through his different skills and get the hang of them. To hardcore gamers who were trying this demo this might have actually seemed like a down point or even a complete weakness in the game but the developers were trying to allow access and understanding of the game to a wide variety of reviewers and so to me at least it made sense to show the damage system, show the skill system and show the graphics.

The graphics were excellent, already to the point beyond tearing or pixel issues and the loading screens were cleverly disguised by game features so it never seemed like a pause in the action. Also his new soul sucking arm is well rendered and as the soul meter rises Ryu is able to unleash a wicked combo attack, which for the time it lasts is actually out of your control, turning into a cinematic slaughtering. I would have liked to be able to control this part more than grouping up enemies to watch what combination of unearthly destruction he will wreck upon their bodies and sometimes I found myself passing on the special attack in favor of a speedier, self-controlled tear through the enemies. I enjoyed watching the disturbingly beautiful ways that Ryu could mince his foes with his new arm but I am expecting the new arm to play more of a story role somewhere down the line so I felt fairly comfortable leaving the killing to my own play. Besides as I said before, I love dumping them on their heads, even with the increased realism.

Another nice way the graphics worked with the play was in the special non-combat moves Ryu makes. He scales walls using daggers dug into the bricks, the sails down from great heights to bring death from above, he glides across puddles on the ground to slide under obstacles. It is all great and gritty eye candy that I look forward to so much more of.

When I was working on the final boss, Sean Corcoran from Tecmo Koei America came in and gave me a couple of pointers before, with a smile, I handed him the controls and asked him to show me how it was done. He showed me how to streamline combat and tear through the demo like it was tissue paper rather than the long worked on and developed demo it is (he had run through it over 80 times). He probably could have gone even faster but my laughter at Ryu’s special attack was contagious and soon we were laughing together and having a blast ignoring the “E3 is now closed for the day” announcement in favor of what video games are really all about when it comes right down to it: having fun. I can talk about graphics or Ryu’s growing angst throughout the series or the consequences of his new arm but what it all really comes down to is whether or not the game is going to be fun. I can honestly say that it was a blast to play but even more fun to watch as Sean had fun with it, even after so many plays, he was enjoying it as much as I was. I think that is a testament to what is in store as much as anything.

Dead Island Hands On Preview from E3 2011

2011/06/13

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

The island of Banoi is a lush, tropical paradise in the South Pacific where its flagship Royal Palms Resort serves as the ultimate getaway for vacationers with money to burn. However, all good things must soon come to an end – and the picturesque resort falls into madness, carnage and chaos after a mysterious and contagious zombie outbreak claims its once peaceful atmosphere. Cut off from the rest of the world, only four individuals who strangely find themselves immune to zombification have the power to protect the remaining survivors from the horrors of the island, discover what’s really going on and find a way to escape before their own fatal ends.

Highlights:

In keeping with an atmosphere of desperation and survival by any means, Dead Island focuses on serious, first-person action gameplay with a close-quarter, immersive melee focus.
With an open-world setting on a massive tropical island, Banoi is filled to the brim with things to do and objectives to tackle, allowing a fresh way to advance both the characters and story at the same time and providing for endless replay value.
Dead Island’s seamless 4-player co-op multiplayer seeks to provide the most immersive multiplayer experience to date. Players can drop in and out of each other’s games at any time with no loss of progress as well as the ability to continue on alone or with others.
The ability to enhance and develop your character using RPG-like elements including four unique character/classes, an XP-based leveling system and un-lockable skill trees put the power in your hands to create and play a unique protagonist.
With thousands of weapons in-game, from simple wooden bats to fire-axes to heavy rifles, Dead Island is a collector’s dream. This in combination with Dead Island’s weapon customization system will enable the player to craft the ultimate weapon to ensure their survival.
Dead Island’s damage system gives an unprecedented visual detail of the effects of each attack
on enemies, pushing the boundaries of visualized gore.
The game’s damage system considers the type of weapon you have and they way you would strike with it as to whether or not you take off a limb or a head or nothing at all.

Hands On E3 Impressions:

When it was time for my turn at zombie beating I went to the media contact for Square Enix and asked where the Dead Island kiosk was. After a moment’s blank stare she turned to someone else and the other woman pointed me to a kiosk with another game playing. So I walked to the back side, not visible to anyone who wasn’t looking for it and tucked in a corner were three consoles set up with a mass of onlookers pushed tightly together, some waiting for a chance to play, others just gawking with amazement. I had really been looking forward to seeing this game, had followed it’s progress as best I could and now it was my turn to give it a shot.

The headset though amazing looking was drenched in sweat when I slid it on but I didn’t care. I was in the zone and the game had a 5 minute timer so I had to savor every second of it. After a little adjusting to the controls and some storyline development I was beating down zombies, watching their blood and gore fly all about and constantly picking up different items from a broken oar to a machete beating and hacking away to save other folks on the island. Five minutes goes by pretty quick and really doesn’t give you the greatest chance to actually get a feel for the game, but the play was smooth, the mechanics and controller response time were excellent and the gore was over the top and fun. I smashed zombies to a pulp and got attacked by burning zombies all while making my way along beautiful beaches and gorgeous seas. I’m pretty sure I saw the sun setting over the ocean just as my time ended and I wanted more. I was already invested in the story and wanted to be on the search for the next weapon to take down the next zombie.

Dead Island was one of the games I was looking forward to the most at this E3 and it did not disappoint. Well, maybe it did just a little bit in that I only got to play for such a short period of time. I easily could have played the same demo over a couple more times and still have been thoroughly entertained. This game is going to be huge when it comes out, taking the best of other zombie based games like Left4Dead and Dead Rising and bringing the genre to a whole new level.

E3 Preview of Gamigo’s New Lineup (PC)

2011/06/11

Ripper71

E3, News, Previews

Those of you who don’t play many free online games. particularly browser based ones, may not be familiar with the company Gamigo. The German based company has launched it’s first MMOG back in 2001 and has since built an impressive line-up of diverse free-to-play titles. They are currently the home to over 20 client or browser based video games with such names among them as Mytheon, Witcher VS and one of my personal favorites Black Prophecy. I think a lot of people discovered Black Prophecy at the show this year because the computers playing it were constantly busy with players. I was a beta tester on the game and was amazed at how nice the 3 dimensional ship maneuverability was. This is a problem that has plagued bigger names in gaming but Gamigo had it down so well that it was a pleasure to fly them and test the game. Which was probably why so many found themselves just checking out the game at the booth and then spending a long time at it.

This story isn’t so much about Black Prophecy, though it is definitely a fun game that should be going into open beta soon and is well worth the time, I simply brought it up as an example of the level of excellence you can expect from a company that you might not have expected great things from. Let’s face it, browser games don’t always have the best reputation but I think Gamigo will help change that.

So here are a couple of their offerings I got to look into at E3:

UFO Online: Fight For Earth

“We come in peace.” – The red flag should probably go up whenever extraterrestrial visitors use this phrase. In the tactical browser-based game UFO Online: Fight For Earth humanity has also made the mistake of trusting the aliens.

That was a terrible mistake, as it turns out. The supposedly-peaceful aliens soon turn out to be nasty invaders looking to exploit our planet’s resources. While a majority of the population still believes their lies, three factions of resistance fighters form to take up arms against the aliens.

In UFO Online, players choose a faction to join and build and expand a base that acts as a hub in the fight for freedom. This is where mercenaries are hired and trained and where technologies and weapons are researched and added to the arsenal. Then it’s time to take on the aliens in turn-based tactical battles. The player commands an team of specialists, each of which has their own class-specific skill tree. Only with the right combination of targeted research and carefully planned out tactics will the player come out of battle victoriously.

PvE mode is all about destroying the extraterrestrial invaders while PvP battles are between players. Here they need to demonstrate their tactical skills and the firepower of their troops against other human opponents. Thanks to Flash and the Unity engine, UFO Online has highly-detailed modern 3D graphics on par with those found in most client games.

E3 Impressions:

Still very much in the Alpha stage of development stage the AI is rather simplified but will no doubt develop nicely. The graphics are similar to a Command and Conquer title but the play is turn based and movement and attacks are based on energy levels. There are two ways to move, normal or stealth and though stealth is a lot slower it does decrease the chance of you being spotted. This game takes into account sound as much as sight so that if you walk too close to a door or fire an unsilenced gun there is a good chance you will get caught. To help with this issue there are multiple classes to use, specialists, designed to help in various scenarios. You get scouts who can quietly find the enemy, tanks who have better armor to handle taking the gunfire and damage units such as the sniper who stays at the back of the pack and picks off the enemy. The sound system is a lot of fun since it works both ways so that either both of you sneak around or one of you get the edge. I can’t wait to play with this game when it gets further along in development. This is one of the games that they are testing the Unity engine on and I for one am excited to see what they can do with it.

Jagged Alliance Online:

Jagged Alliance Online is built around the same mixture of turn-based battles and real-time action which made the long-running Jagged Alliance franchise a real cult classic. Players take control of a group of soldiers, commanding them from an isometric perspective to complete tasks in order to earn cash and fame. If a player wants to stay on top, mercenaries will need to be trained and equipped with better weapons and gear. If that’s not quite enough, then mercenaries can be borrowed from friends or alliances can be formed with other players.

In their base, players have full control of all their military operations. Here they set up strike forces, equip and train mercenaries and plan their next missions. They can also communicate with other players to ask for help or send some of their mercenaries out to assist friends in some of the hardest missions of the game. But the base is not invincible to enemy attacks, so players will have to invest their resources in fortification of their defenses or go out to raid their enemies’ bases.

In the actual missions, players will need to prove their tactical skill by interacting directly with the mercenaries on the battlefield to make the best use of every soldier‘s “Action Points” in the turn-based skirmishes. Action Points are required to perform each activity, from simply running to a new position or breaking down a door to shooting at targets. Because these points are not unlimited, players will need to make clever decisions each turn if they want to earn the reward waiting at the end of each successfully completed mission.

E3 Impressions:

Jagged Alliance stays true to is origins and is very similar in many ways to UFO Online but with a different setting and iconic characters from the Jagged Alliance franchise. The AI is currently in the works but if you like a good turn based strategy or are a fan of the previous games this will be worth your time, especially since it is free. Much like UFO Online I look forward to when it hits the Beta phase and hope I can see that it delivers what it promises. Right now it looks good and demonstrates the sound presence/alert system very well, just time to teach the AI how to think. They will probably be thinking pretty well too, since this game uses the Unity engine also.

Grimlands:

Twenty years after devastating earthquakes lay everything to waste on Earth, what remains of humanity is fighting hard for its survival. Those cities that did not crumble in the quakes have been flattened in the bitter struggles for power that have ensued. Roving bands of marauders, mutants and psychopathic robbers wander the streets, looking for trouble. In this inhospitable post-apocalyptic scenario there’s only one goal: survival!

Not only does the MMORPG Grimlands have an interesting setting, it also has intuitive and innovative gameplay. Players take aim at their enemies with a variety of weapons, primarily firearms, from a classic shooter-game-style third-person perspective. Using a gunsight will make accurate shooting easier though aiming manually will increase the chances of causing more damage. Linear character development and non-flexible class systems are a thing of the past in Grimlands. Skills are improved simply by using them. Grimlands is all about “learning by doing”. Skills that aren’t used often are forgotten after a while. The southwest United States is waiting to be explored in highly modifiable vehicles. The incredibly comprehensive crafting system plays a very important role in the overall gameplay. Clans can control cities and build up new islands of civilization in these. Arenas and battlegrounds set the stage for rough-and-tumble PvP combat.

E3 Impressions:

Scheduled to be demoed this game is so early still in the Alpha stage that stability issues caused it not to be able to be shown. It is kind of a shame since a few of us on the team wanted to know most about this one (there is an apocalypse/wasteland contingency on our team that scouts out zombie/mutant refuges when we travel) but it just wasn’t meant to be for E3. But trust me when I say when they have the game ready for me to check out I will make sure to pass the news on to you.

Overall:

Gamigo’s new offerings at the show were not quite ready for prime-time but that’s fine, they were a taste of things to come from a company that has already proved it can do the job well. Just check out the 20 other games they have running for free.