Well… who said it was YOUR damn dragon anyway? Smaug is Smaug’s, so deal with it fast or start wearing that asbestos underwear and padded iron pants for a little extra protection…
Yeah, yeah… CG trailers are fine and dandy, but I hate them so far into this generation where game engines can do this stuff and look better overall. Oh well – as long as the actual game itself is fun to play and gets the look and feel of the Mad Max movies right (well, I don’t mean that last one so much), it’ll be a hit. If it’s not a hit… well, I still have my copies of Outlander for the Super Nintendo and Genesis here to replay. Then again, this IS being done by Avalanche Studios (Just Cause, Just Cause 2), so it’s bound to be impressive and quite awesome as an open-world experience should they go that route.
OK, so the live stream was a bit… c..h…op…p…y, ut here’s the YouTube version that runs just fine. Nintendo has yet again, charted its own path with games for it’s core users and some cool exclusives, not all of which I care a hoot about. Still, Pokemon X and Y, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros Wii U and SSB 3DS. and the rest of the old favorites look spiffy indeed, that Windwaker HD remix is a must-play and the third-party games are certainly going to make the hardcore happy. I actually prefer Bayonetta’s old hair and costume, but Platinum knows what it’s doing with the character. And yes, The Wonderful 101 looks great. I’m dying to try those Art Academy tools once they’re released, so I’ll need to keep an eye on the eShop and Nintendo’s emails to see when they’re available. As for Monolith Soft’s work in progress X… wow – I’ll be keeping an eye on that and HOPING it’s not as draggy as Xenoblade Chronicles after about 20 hours in. That new game sure looks gorgeous in motion.
Well… Sony and their newly revealed PlayStation 4 pretty much made a mockery of Microsoft’s press conference, turning it into the video game equivalent of Game of Thrones’ gory Red Wedding sequence and making the folks in Redmond probably wonder what the hell just happened during that last 20 or so minutes when everything they offered in TWO press conferences was peeled away point by point in favor of core gamers and consumer in general. The video will go down in gaming history as THE moment for many where loyalties changed and the big rectangular egg on the wall over Redmond way collapsed to the pavement. It’s going to be an innnnteresting holiday season, that’s for damn sure…
Well, it’s pretty much a no-brainer for some gamers this holiday season. Or NOW if you hit up Amazon.com and pre-order (which is VERY highly recommended if you want one of these before Xmas).
Sony’s upcoming PlayStation 4 console comes in at a hundred dollars less than the Xbox One, used games CAN be sold, lent and traded as before (and as they’ve been for decades), PSN accounts with content can be transferred over and there are a really nice selection of games and services on the way. That said, the one wrinkle in the new deal is the requirement for users who want to play online to have a PlayStation Plus account…
But VERY misplaced internet rage aside, this isn’t a bad thing at all, as it’s basically the cost of a new game for a whole year ($60) and Sony will not only add free NEW games to those who buy in, PS Plus actually gets costs DOWN on games you buy in the future from PS One Classics to current and future PSN releases. So it’s really a case of do you want that discount or not. The PSN free ride had to end at some point as Sony has most likely been bleeding money keeping it running for so long.
ALSO (and this is the important part)… that Xbox One price doesn’t include the cost of an Xbox Live Gold membership, mandatory for using that console for pretty much anything. Mama said knock you out, Microsoft… Sony listened to mama, it would seem…
OK, my eyeballs are absolutely swirling in my head after a day of E3 craziness. One more update after this and I’m taking the rest of the night off, getting some sleep and popping up bright and early to add a ton of posts from this evening’s wild announcements before the Nintendo press event kicks off. The PS4 looks really interesting in terms of the powerhouse first-party studios doing cool stuff, the Xbox One is following its own path with its own nice-looking exclusives and a crazy always-online plan that’s shutting out loyal 360 owners living in areas with bad to no online connections. Granted, Sony’s combo of the PS Eye camera as standard issue seems to also do the same thing… but according to the press conference, the console allows for selling of used games and no DRM restrictions (whee!), so it’s going to be an easy choice for some and a hard as hell one for others…
Nope, I’m betting my entire WARP games collection this has no relation to Kenji Eno’s great, languidly paced horror game D or it’s more mature and outrageous follow-up D2, but it’s from one of my favorite game creators, so it’ll get played… provided it eventually comes to a console I can play it on, grrrr. This is the ONE and only thing I despise about this “exclusive” thing, especially in this coming cycle where a lot of games will indeed be VERY “exclusive” as in you can’t play at all unless you meet too many requirements. Bleh. Swery-saaaaaaaaaaaan! PLEASE get this on other systems as soon as possible. ALL your fans deserve to play it – not just a select few!
OK, Ubisoft… you always pull this SURPRISE stuff at the right and wrong times, don’t you? No platforms yet, but I’ll say PC, PS4 and Xbox One, as this just looks way too wonderful for current gen AND I can’t see them wanting to beat Watch_Dogs for sheer killer app-ness in 2013. Well, color me impressed, folks… now as to what this is running on? I guess we’ll find out soon enough…
This super early teaser means there’s nothing ready to show at all as far as gameplay goes. Still, I totally called this one on a game industry board a few months back to some skeptical replies even though it was SO obvious that the same developer that brings you the Battlefield series would absolutely love it if they were handed this license to work their magic on. Are you kidding me? Frostbite 3 engine, Star Wars license, chance to redeem the license AND bring gamers one really insane FPS action across multiple consoles? Nope, that’s not going to be passed up at all, folks. That said… there had better be a solo play mode like the other Star Wars Battlefront games made for less powerful consoles in the past or to paraphrase Uncle Owen “There’s going to be hell to pay!” Well, not from me, necessarily… I can see plenty of fans of those old games wanting to dive in and play Solo (ha ha)… OK, OK, I’ll quit it with the puns while I’m ahead.
Er… I am ahead, right? No? Rats…
You can’t keep a good (well, so bad she’s good) witch down it seems. If that is indeed, Morrigan we’re looking at, well – the game is sold already to many Dragon Agers out there who love the character and her evil ways… The open world focus HOPEFULLY means no recycled maps (one of Dragon Age 2’s notorious downfalls) and a lot more to see and do than in previous entries and even better, it’s coming to current gen as well as next-gen consoles (but not the Wii U, oops), so it’ll be played by more when it launches next year…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 