E3 2012

All the news and features from E3 2012

Aisha Tyler Wants You To Go F**k Yourselves

Posted by Jack Rous on June 13, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, News. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 7 comments

Can’t you see the resemblance?

On the one hand, I feel bad about what’s been happening to Aisha Tyler. Since her epic fail at hosting Ubisoft’s  E3 presser a week ago, she has been hated on and flamed by every racist hater troll on the internet, and that sucks. It seems like 90% of people on the  interwebs are assholes, and that may be a conservative estimate. Worst of all, they’re VOCAL assholes who smear their smug bullshit on every forum or FB page they like under the cover of anonymity. However, it isn’t like that’s a secret. So when you go on national television and start talking about how big your “girl wood” is for Assassins Creed III, you should expect that people are going to be all over you.

So after a few days of this, Lana has apparently had enough. She posted the following on her Facebook page today in response:

I play.

I’ve played since I was a little kid.

Since I begged my dad to buy me a Nintendo LCD Donkey Kong, Jr.

Since I blew through three weeks’ allowance playing Defender at the laundromat.

Since you were a twinge in the left side of your daddy’s underoos.

I’ve been a gamer since I made friends with a girl in the 5th grade just to get at her Atari.

Since I missed the bus playing Galaga after school.

Since I missed the start of Return of the Jedi playing Tempest in the theater lobby.

You think you know. You don’t know.

I’ve been a gamer since before you could read.

Since I aced midterms after staying up all night playing Evil Tetris.

Since I became dorm champ at Leisure Suit Larry.

Since I double-wielded on Time Crisis 3 at Fuddrucker’s.

I was a voice in not one, but two major video game titles.

I hosted the Reach Beta tutorial.

I was a Gears of War superfan panelist at ComicCon.

I hosted the Ubisoft presser at E3 2012.

I didn’t do any of it for the money.

For most I got paid next to nothing, and for some, less than that.

I did it because I love video games.

Because I’ve dreamt since I was a kid of being in one of the games I love.

How many games have you done voices for?

How many cons have you repped at?

Your buddy’s Unreal Tournament garage deathmatch doesn’t count.

I go to E3 each year because I love video games.

Because new titles still get me high.

Because I still love getting swag.

Love wearing my gamer pride on my sleeve.

People ask me what console I play.

Motherfucker, ALL of them.

I get invited to E3 because real gamers know I’m a gamer.

I don’t do it for the money.

I have plenty of money.

I don’t do it for the fame.

Fuck fame.

I do it because I love video games.

I don’t give out my gamertag because I don’t want a mess of noob jackholes lining up

to assassinate me on XBL.

I don’t give a shit what you think about my gamerscore.

I don’t play to prove a point.

I don’t play to be the best.

I play because I love it.

I play.

I’ve been playing my whole life.

I’m not ashamed of it.

I don’t apologize for it.

It’s who I am.

To the core.

I’m a gamer.

So to all the haters out there who claim I don’t play;

To the GAF dicks,

Gamespot trolls,

To every illiterate racist douchebag on Youtube:

Flame away. Go nuts.

Post every jackass comment your heart desires.

I’ll still be playing when your mom’s kicked you out of her basement

and you have to sell your old-ass console

and get a real job.

For now, I say to you respectfully,

and I mean this from the bottom of my heart,

GFYS.

Look girl, that’s fine and all, but two wrongs don’t make a right. Not only that, but your performance at E3 really WAS embarrassing and hard to watch. You can be a hardcore gamer all you want, but spouting off stupid one-liners during a press conference doesn’t make you cool. Being on Archer makes you cool, and no one can take that away from you. And while no one EVER deserves racist or gender-based insults, insulting all gamers everywhere with the stereotypical statement “I’ll still be playing when your mom’s kicked you out of her basement and you have to sell your old-ass console and get a real job” isn’t earning you any new friends. So I apologize on behalf of haters everywhere, but do try to watch yourself when you’re writing your next FB rant to the trolls if you want anyone to defend you in the future.

And next year, stay the hell off the stage, alright? Seriously.

Mark Of The Ninja – Side-Scrolling, Stealth-Killing Goodness

Posted by Jack Rous on June 12, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, News. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 2 comments

Mark Of The Ninja is one of those under-the-radar games I almost missed seeing at E3 this year. I guess that makes sense; it is a game about ninjas. Coming this summer on XBLA from Klei Entertainment; the sweet, gentle guys who brought you Shank and Shank 2. Take a look at the trailer; it’s basically Shank with ninjas and stealth gameplay, and who’s not down for that?

From the official website www.markoftheninja.com:

You are a ninja who bears the mark — a tattoo whose ink bestows heightened senses, but at a terrible cost.

  • Observe… your enemies from the darkness, and use your agility to gain the high ground. Plan your line of action, and execute it before they discover you.
  • Manipulate… You foes with simple yet versatile tools. Blow out lights with a bamboo dart, create a diversion with a child’s firecracker, and kill your prey with a deadly trap.
  • Experience… The tension and thril of being a ninja — powerful but fragile, quick but deliberate.

I’m officially pumped. In case you’re counting, this makes TWO excellent side-scrolling games coming to Xbox Live this summer. It’s like the Gods heard our mortal cries from below, and gifted us with zombies and ninjas. They both already have my money, how ’bout you?

The Nerdpocalypse Podcast: Special E3 2012 Edition

Posted by Brad vanVugt on June 10, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, News. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

The fine folks at The Nerdpocalypse invited us to join them for their special E3 edition podcast, and here it is.  Jack and Brad joined Micah and Terrance of The Nerdpocalypse to break down the big news that came out of E3 this year, and they had quite a bit to say about all of the hits and misses from Los Angeles this past week.  Download it, give it a listen, and share it with your friends!  Links below, and don’t forget to check out The Nerdpocalypse blog as well!

Download the podcast: The Nerdpocalypse Podcast- Episode 40.5: E3 2012 Coverage Special

Visit The Nerdpocalypse

Confabia!: E3 2012 Breakdown

Posted by Brad vanVugt on June 9, 2012
Posted in: Confabia!, E3 2012, Feature, Staff Posts. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a Comment

Confabia! is going to be a recurring feature on VG Confab where our staff weigh in on hot button topics in the gaming world.  For the inaugural edition, our editorial team breaks down the big questions coming out of E3 2012

Which of the Big 3 (Nintendo, Microsoft, Sony) “won” E3?

Brad vanVugt: Nintendo. It’s pretty easy to win when you’re the only one bringing new hardware to the dance, and Nintendo finally showed they’re doing what they have to be a player for this console generation. Yeah, a lot of the big games they showed off are already out on current generation hardware. The point is that third parties have stepped up and shown that they will throw their weight behind the new console, even with new IP’s like Zombi U (for now, anyway). Combine that with a strong showing of first party titles for the Wii U and 3DS, like both New Super Mario titles, and the Nintendo looks to make a strong showing out of the gate.

Jack Rous: Wow!  Right out of the gate with the big question!  Honestly, I feel like the question is more: who looked the least terrible?  I have to say Sony.  I’m more excited for their exclusives overall than anything Microsoft or Nintendo showed me, save Halo 4.  Prior to the event, I never thought I’d be saying that.


Carrie Wood: I think it’s hard to say.  Given what they were able to showcase, I’m going to have to go with Nintendo.  We finally got to see what the Wii U was really capable of doing with the GamePad, which apparently involves a lot of feeling like the goddamned Batman.  I’m on board with that.  I’m disappointed in the fact that the 3DS showcase featured almost nothing new, and I’m also disappointed we didn’t get a release date OR price point on the Wii U.  That being said, Nintendo didn’t have a major “what the hell are you doing” moment (Usher, seriously?).

Now that you’ve seen what the Wii U has to offer, are you going to get one?

Brad: Nope. The Wii U was pretty much what I expected it to be, and that doesn’t interest me at all. The GamePad makes for some interesting gameplay applications, but it still feels gimmicky to me. The fact that they felt it necessary to make a traditional controller (for more “intense” gaming sessions) is very telling to me as well. What I dealt with during the life cycle of the original Wii, and to a lesser extent the 3DS, has certainly made me more than a little gun-shy about investing into another Nintendo console at launch. As more compelling games are made available for the Wii U over the next year or so, and if third parties show they’re in it for the long haul, I might change my mind. For now, I have no interest in buying into more potential false promises and perpetual let-downs.

Jack: No.  My overall feeling about the Wii and Wii U has always been: if I want to jump up and down and flail my arms around, I’ll go outside.  Video games are meant to be played on my ass, on the couch, with a controller in my hand, period.  And so far the only interesting thing they’ve shown is Zombi U, and even that forces you to waggle the stupid tablet to shake off zombies.  In a zombie game.  Like every other Wii game that stuff is going to get real old, real quick.

Carrie: Yes, but probably not at launch.  I still need to see: 1. a price point, and 2. a launch lineup.  If all it launches with is Super Mario Bros. U and NintendoLand, I’m going to be upset.  I would also expect Mass Effect 3 and Arkham City as launch titles, at the very least.

Are you interested in Microsoft’s Smart Glass?

Brad: Absolutely.  Since they used Game of Thrones as an example, I will too.  One of the coolest features of the GoT Season One Blu-ray was being able to stop in the middle of any episode to read more extensive bios of the characters, and more about the lore of Westeros.  Being able to do stuff like that on my tablet without interrupting my viewing experience is a very appealing proposition.  Additionally, the decision to make Smart Glass available on a variety of platforms, as opposed to forcing you to buy a Windows 8 tablet, was a stroke of genius by Microsoft.  The amount of early adopters this feature gets will be dramatically higher because many people already have the required hardware.  With Smart Glass, Microsoft just took me from getting ready to get rid of my rarely used 360, to me now being excited about the possibilities that exist with my 360 becoming my new central media hub.

Jack: Meh.  Maybe?  Show me something more interesting than DVD liner notes, Madden play calling, and annoying my friends through social media, and we’ll talk.

Carrie: Interested?  Yes.  I still want to know more details about it before I start foaming at the mouth and saying GIMME.  Linking multiple devices to create a unique gaming experience seems to be where gaming is headed, and with an enormous company like Microsoft backing it, it could be potentially awesome.  I still want to sit down and use it for myself before I fork over the cash for it, though.

Did Sony leave you excited for the rest of their 2012?

Brad: For the PS3, hell yeah.  PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale should be a blast, The Last of Us really impressed me, and there are a few PSN titles, like The Unfinished Swan, that are showing a lot of promise that I’m very excited to play.  That’s not even mentioning a new Sly Cooper or Little Big Karting.  On Vita…not so much.  I have no interest in console Call of Duty games, much less a portable version.  The new Assassin’s Creed is a wild card right now.  The fact that Vita didn’t get involved in the PlayStation Plus program was also a disappointment.  You can dive deeper into my Vita concerns in my feature from earlier this week.  The fact that I don’t have a single Vita game pre-ordered right now speaks volumes, though.

Jack: Yes, you terrible, non-impartial, Sony fanboy editor-in-chief, you, I am!  Two things though: where was The Last Guardian?  And fix your stupid controller.  Even Nintendo is stealing Microsoft’s design for the Wii U. If Sony could get with the program, I’d play other games on it other than system exclusives.

Carrie: I’d say I’m more excited for Sony’s 2013.  The two biggest titles of theirs that I’m interested in are The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls, neither of which are due out before the end of this calendar year.  Given the fact that I do not currently own a Playstation 3 (my roommate has one though!), I can’t say I’m too excited for anything Sony, personally.

What was the biggest surprise of the show?

Brad: Watch Dogs.  There aren’t too many games that go from “never heard of it” to “ZOMG! I MUST PLAY THIS NOW!!!” in the span of 10 minutes, but Watch Dogs did exactly that for me.  I love the Assassin’s Creed series, and I thoroughly enjoyed Deus Ex: Human Revolution last year, and this game seems to combine the feel of those two games in a modern-day setting that focuses on issues that we as a society can relate to, with internet privacy being a hot-button issue in the world today.  All of the cool abilities given to your character (jamming cell phones, gathering personal data from scanning faces) seem like they would incredibly fun to use and experiment with in-game.  There is still much to learn about this game, and it is quite a ways away (Ubisoft themselves said the game wouldn’t be available for well over a year), but you had better believe it is firmly planted on my radar.

Jack: Watch Dogs, of course.  A brand new IP that lives in a world with shades of William Gibson and Raymond Chandler?  Yes please.  Just the tiny bit of big brother-style control teased in the trailer hints at a rich open world sandbox to explore, and I can’t wait to jump in.  Oh, and it has multiplayer.  I’m getting goosebumps just thinking about it.

Carrie: Ubisoft and Watch Dogs.  That game looks incredible.  Ubisoft is good for having obnoxious morons up on stage, but they’re also good for delivering the goods.  Watch Dogs has an incredible amount of ambition behind it and a very unique vision of a story and what a game can become, and I was very pleasantly surprised by that.

What was your biggest disappointment of the show?

Brad: All of the press conferences as a whole.  One of the very best parts of E3 is that the biggest publishers in the business get the stage and the spotlight shown exclusively on them for 60-90 minutes to bring their biggest guns to the table and show why you should care about them in the coming year.  Usually, that leads to some huge announcements, good or bad, whether that means pulling the curtain back on your newest console, showing off an unexpected trailer for an unannounced game, or shocking the world with some unexpected news (“Oh, and one more thing…”).  This year ended up being fairly underwhelming.  Part of that was because a lot of the big news that might have been a surprise was leaked or announced in the weeks leading up to E3.  Part of it was having unfocused presentations (i.e. Microsoft forgetting that people wanted to see games and not Usher).  Part of it is force-feeding info on products that the audience you’re speaking to don’t really care much about (Wonderbook).  The reason that the EA and Ubisoft conferences were probably the most effective was because they kept the focus on their game line-ups and showed us plenty of demos.  The bright lights of the E3 stage should be reserved for the biggest announcements of the year in the gaming world.  I hope the focus shifts more in that direction in the years to come.

Jack: Ubisoft.  Again.  ’Nuff said.

Carrie: The 3DS showcase.  When [Nintendo VP of Sales and Marketing] Scott Moffitt said he was going to spend extra time talking about upcoming 3DS titles, I was expecting him to talk about more than what was mentioned during the main Nintendo presser.  I was wrong.  We heard a lot about Luigi’s Mansion 2, New Super Mario Bros. 2, Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion and Kingdom Hearts 3D.  We heard nothing about Animal Crossing (which got pushed back again), the Smash Bros. that’s been hinted at, or really anything new and exciting.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m hype for the upcoming Mario and Scribblenauts games, but I wanted something truly new and unique for the system.  I didn’t get that.

What was your game of the show?

Brad: Tomb Raider.  I was expecting Lara Croft’s newest adventure to be a solid game.  I was happy they were shaking things up by rebooting a series that has long been stale and in need of new ideas.  It’s still Tomb Raider though, and because of that, there’s always that little bit of doubt in the back of my mind.  The trailer and gameplay demo that were shown this week took any doubt in my mind, and replaced it with unabashed excitement.  When Uncharted came on the scene, it took the groundwork that was laid out by the Tomb Raider franchise, fixed the things that didn’t work, and made a kick-ass action series with memorable characters and personalities.  Well, the action we’ve seen from Tomb Raider is pretty kick-ass, and by all accounts, it seems like they’ll be developing Lara Croft’s character more in this one game than it’s been in every other Tomb Raider game combined.  Now it’s pretty clear the section of game played in the demo was tailor-made to showcase all the awesomeness that Tomb Raider had in store.  If the entire game can even maintain half of that fast pace throughout, you’re looking at an all-time great title, and one that I have no problem saying will be a serious Game of the Year contender for 2013.

Jack: Halo 4 and Watch Dogs, in a dead heat tie for first.

Carrie: Gotta go with Watch Dogs.  I’m terrible at being sneaky in games that require being sneaky (Metal Gear, Assassin’s Creed… the list goes on).  That being said, getting to be a cyber spy in such a large-scale environment looks too intriguing for me not to play it as soon as it comes out.  It looks awesome and I can only hope it delivers when it drops.  Other candidates for this in my head were New Super Mario Bros. 2, and Beyond: Two Souls.

Agree with our thoughts? Vehemently disagree with some of our responses?  Confab below!

Metal Gear Rising: Anger

Posted by Rob Jackson on June 7, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, Editorial, Feature. Tagged: , , . Leave a Comment

In Metal Gear Solid for the PSX, it was revealed Solid Snake is a genetic clone of Big Boss, the result of a secret government project.  For Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, it was revealed at E3 that it is actually a clone of about 40 different Dynasty Warriors games; the result of Hideo Kojima withdrawing from the directing role to an executive producer role.  We have seen in the past what happens when a brilliant mind takes a back burner approach to a project.  For example: Steven Spielberg directed a movie about an alien that was nominated and won multiple Oscars.  He also was an executive producer on a movie about alien robots which featured the likes of deep characters such as skids and mudflaps, so never let the name fool you.

An announcement that came out from the Konami camp late last year notified fans Kojima and his team were passing the baton on to Platinum Games, creators of titles such as Bayonetta and Madworld.  From its original unveiling back in 2009 where we were shown the complete control of Rising’s main character (and Metal Gear alum) Raiden, it was clear that Hideo Kojima’s ambitions were high.  Featuring a demonstration of the sword play capabilities that would be in the game in an early on tech demo, we saw where you could use the PlayStation Move to dissect a watermelon.  From a man who has developed deep, involved characters and generated innovative ideas like the Psycho Mantis battle in Metal Gear Solid or the Vamp battle in Metal Gear 4: Guns of the Patriots, these sort of standards were nothing new.

http://images.wikia.com/metalgear/images/d/d9/Mantis_Castlevania.jpg

From the first introduction of Raiden in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, it had been an uphill battle for stateside gamers to buy in to the character.  After his revamped display put on in Guns of the Patriots, there was new hope for the kid.  The idea of a full-blown Metal Gear game with him as the main character now seemed like an appetizing thought.  Then, like going to an upscale top rated restaurant, the waiter shows us steak and potatoes on the menu and we were ready to sink our teeth in to this title. We grabbed our forks, looked down, and there in our mashed potatoes was a dirty greasy hair.  This dirty greasy hair was now Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.

Take everything that was good about this franchise: the stealth, the movie-like story line equipped with beautiful cut scenes, the intensity of a character driven piece.  Now remove that, add a hack-and-slash battle system with God of War like boss battle prompts, and we are now left with this ridiculous piece of trash.  Have we not learned anything from the past?  Case in point: Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus.  Not only is there a hair in our mashed potatoes, but we come to find out the chef knew about it and told the waiter there wasn’t enough time to make a better batch.

I have never been rendered speechless, but that was exactly what I felt while watching the first trailer released nearly a year ago, after the announcement of the change in developers.  I do not want to fall in to the category of a fanboy who criticizes a franchise for trying something new, but there is nothing new about this formula.  This has been one of the most amazing rides of any IP in video game history, and initially I applauded the idea of Kojima not committing to directing the game if you aren’t going to release what your real vision is.  However, stamping a executive producer credit on it and still allowing it to use the Metal Gear brand is evidence of a pure fiscal decision.

Hideo Kojima is currently working on a new project that takes a different approach to the type of game he wants to release.  He was quoted as saying: “There are a lot of real world issues I want to address, but the reason I kept making the MGS saga and its sequels is that it allowed me to explore my ideas.  But now I’m starting a new series, focusing on new set of issues.  It’ll probably be different to what MGS addressed.  Of course, I’m turning 50 now, so if I’m going to approach new topics, it might be something more on a human level, like the concept of love, or rearing a family, things of that nature.”  Giving his overall body of work and commitment to groundbreaking gaming, I have no doubt that his new project, dubbed “Project Ogre,” will give us more of the same forward thinking gaming.

None the less, no matter how many times I watch the trailer for Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, I still find myself unable to defend it at all.  At the end of this trailer, the tag line for the game is “Make it Right.”   Maybe Kojima should take that advice.

WTF Guys? Terrifying And Confusing Moments At E3 2012

Posted by Jack Rous on June 7, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, Editorial, Feature, Staff Posts. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a Comment

I’m not going to get into Usher dancing, or uncomfortable french dudes bantering with Reggie, or Aisha Tyler and her nerd minion, or any of the things we can all agree were awful about this year’s E3. No, I want to hit you with a few things that were a little more subversive, things you may not even have realized yourself.  As you were hungrily absorbing every second of shiny new trailer goodness, I was busy watching for what those trailers were saying beneath the surface. Some of what I discovered is terrifying, some simply perplexing, but I’m here to report it to you, and damn the consequences.

It’s cool. It’s what I do.

Crystal Dynamics apparently hates either Lara Croft, or all women everywhere

I’m all for gritty, and violent, or “Violent n’ Gritty,” which was the title of my debut album. But watch this trailer again, and tell me they’re not taking it a little too far.

In the first sixty seconds of the trailer, Lara gets set on fire, impaled, nearly drowned and almost crushed by a cave-in. Then she gets dropped on her face, and shortly thereafter gets attacked and chewed on by a wolf for awhile. Oh, she also gets her leg caught in a bear trap. This is the two-minute mark, by the way. She then gets caught and pimp-slapped to the ground by a bad guy. I’d like to mention, this is just the physical damage she’s enduring that I’m describing, not the psychological damage taking its toll as well.  The developers make that clear by showing Lara after her first kill, covered in blood and sobbing, in case you weren’t getting it. Then gunfire, gunfire, explosion; falling, drowning, falling off a waterfall, tumbling down a cliff, explosion.

If the only evidence was that first trailer, I might be wrong for calling them a bunch of misogynists. But then, at E3, this trailer debuted:

Seems pretty normal at first. We get some great-looking gunplay, some smart combat tactics, all’s well. Then Lara gets washed off a waterfall, slammed through the crumbling wreckage of a crashed plane, and falls too her doom, only to be saved by a decrepit old parachute and the highly recommended survival technique of smashing your helpless body into every tree in the forest.

Do you really need to beat teenage Lara Croft with sticks like a pinata at a Mexican quinceañera, Crystal Dynamics? I grasp what you’re trying to get across; it’s her first adventure, she’s vulnerable, she’s in danger. She’s the female Nathan Drake, which is such an obvious inspiration for your new project that “Uncharted” should be the subtitle. I know you need SO BAD to remind the kids what an awesome pedigree Tomb Raider comes from, and dark and edgy is the new “thing.” However, please remember Drake might’ve gotten shot up, beat up and hurt with the best of them, but he still got a soft lap to lay his head in when things got too hard to handle alone. I imagine your new Lara gets a wet blanket, a bed of glass to sleep on, and in the middle of her lonely, sleepless night, gets raped by a cave bear.

Far Cry 3: Every black tribe needs a white savior

Every black guy I know had some choice words for Ubisoft regarding the new trailer. But first, to clarify;

In Far Cry 3, this is you:

You are white. This is not a surprise. In most games, you are white, and male. I’m not here to comment on that, but what I AM here to draw your attention to is the fact that Ubisoft, in their epic Canadian wisdom, decided to show off the below trailer at E3, which I’m positive you remember seeing. It was the only one that featured hot mohawked chick nipple stimulation:

So what we have here is either a conscious or subconscious attempt at a terrible, clumsy Jesus metaphor, or our friends up north didn’t understand how every black male in America who plays video games (read: all of them) were going to feel about this. I’ve even heard online rumblings of a possible boycott of the game. I mean, seriously guys, you couldn’t achieve your desired creative goal with, say, a black protagonist? Just off the top of my head. But again, they’re Canadian. I’m not even sure they have black people in Canada, so this could all be a terrible misunderstanding. Either that, or they’re all a bunch of f**king racists.

Honorable Mentions

Dead Space 3 becoming un-scary. Michael Ironside getting replaced by someone far less gravelly-voiced. Dana White looking embarassed as his game is forcibly traded to the Dark Side. Magic bullets in Call of Duty. Nintendo making a great-looking zombie game and forcing you to play it with their stupid controller. “Girl wood.” And on and on and on. You tell me, but I’m pretty sure this was the most head-scratching E3 ever. And Ubisoft? For REALS yo, fire your entire marketing team and start over from scratch. Trust me, you’ll be better off.

What Does the PlayStation Vita Need to be a Success?

Posted by Brad vanVugt on June 6, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, Editorial, Feature. Tagged: , , . 2 comments

There was much speculation before Sony’s Monday night presentation at E3 this year, as to what Sony was going to do to “save” the PlayStation Vita.  Even though the Vita has only been on the market since December (February in North America), slow sales, inconsistently announced upcoming software support, the resurgence of the 3DS in the east, and the meteoric rise of mobile and tablet gaming has many industry analysts and even developers speculating that the Vita is dead in the water.  Because of this, it was assumed Sony would be pushing a lot off chips into the middle for Vita during their press conference.

Some of the things predicted by many were the announcement of a Vita price drop, the expansion of the PlayStation Plus program to include Vita, and a ton of new Vita game announcements.  What we got was about 5 minutes spent on Vita where Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified was announced (with no screens or gameplay), Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation was announced (with a small trailer), the announcement of a variety of video services coming to the Vita, and confirmation that the new Playstation All-Stars: Battle Royale will be releasing on Vita alongside the PS3 version.  Add in PSX classics support coming soon to Vita (in limited form, it would seem) and that was the extent of the Vita talk.  No price drop, and the PS Plus announcement concerned the 12 free PS3 games that are being given away this month.  Not exactly making anyone jump off the couch to run out and buy one, right?

To be clear, I purchased a Vita on day one, and love it.  Unlike my 3DS, which only got played when Pokemon White (a DS game) came out last year, my Vita is used almost daily.  My addiction to Hot Shots Golf was rekindled with World Invitational, Unit 13 was a pleasant surprise, and there are a bunch of PSN releases like Escape Plan and Tales from Space: Mutant Blobs Attack that kept my hands glued to Sony’s new portable.  WIth all that said, the feeling I got about the Vita after Monday night was worry.  I truly wonder what third-party developers are thinking about the Vita’s future, and whether or not they want to be a part of it. Watch the Ubisoft and EA shows again, and notice that they didn’t acknowledge the Vita at all.  Aside from what was shown during Sony’s event, the two Vita games that have been shown most prominently at E3 were Sound Shapes and Guacamelee!, both of which are PSN titles.  Hell, Sony’s announcement that they are taking PlayStation Suite (now PlayStation Mobile) to other mobile manufacturers shows they are doubling down on the Vita.

So what does Vita need to be a success?  Sony needs third-parties to buy in heavily to the console’s future, and needs it bad.  It speaks volumes that the cross play functionality Sony debuted in MLB 12: The Show,  and that is also coming to PlayStation All-Stars, is not coming to big Vita titles like Madden NFL 13 and FIFA 13.  FIFA is a title that sells over 10 million copies annually around the world.  Madden usually sells right around 5 million in the US alone.  If fans could pick up their franchise or Ultimate Team and take it with them while on the commute to work, or play while they’re on their lunch break, you don’t think a decent chunk of them would pick up a Vita to do that (especially where FIFA is concerned)?  Personally speaking, if they released NHL on Vita and gave it cross play support, I’d be all over it.  It’s also telling that past the announcement of Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed for Vita, we have yet to see any gameplay footage for either, and these are games presumably releasing in 5-6 months.  We have seen a handful of other third-party titles at E3, but nothing that I would say is going to move Vitas out of the stores.  Sony have themselves published some top-notch titles for the Vita, but they alone can’t shoulder the load and expect to find success.

You won’t be taking your franchise or Ultimate Team on the road this season

That said, it’s important that those big budget experiences are still tailored to take advantage of the fact that the Vita is a portable system meant to be played on the go.  Unit 13 was so brilliant to me because while it played like a console shooter, each mission didn’t take more than 30 minutes to complete, with most clocking in around 10-15 minutes.  Lumines Supernova was great because they had a variety of different and shorter game modes aside from the standard marathon mode.  A game I didn’t play a whole lot of was Uncharted: Golden Abyss.  The reason was because it felt exactly like Uncharted on the PS3, expect with Vita specific (read: touch) controls tacked on.  The game was fine, but I felt like I needed to play for long periods of time; the experience didn’t feel very…digestable.  At that point, I’m playing on my couch, and if I’m playing on my couch, why wouldn’t I just be playing on PS3?  I look forward to Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, but I also sincerely hope that it is a different experience than Assassin’s Creed III (aside from having a female assassin, which really won’t be all that different).  That means tweaking things like having to travel on foot to get from one end of the city to the other for your next objective.  I have no issues doing that on my PS3 when I’m sitting down playing a game for a couple of hours, but if I only have 20 minutes to play my Vita on a given day, I want to be able to feel like I accomplished something in those 20 minutes.  The reason games like Angry Birds and Plants vs. Zombies revolutionized the mobile landscape is because titles like that are very easy to pick up, play for 20-30 minutes, and put down again.  Developers making games for the Vita would do well to keep that notion in mind.  Having console-like gameplay that can be picked up and put down on a whim is exactly the optimal experience that only a device like the Vita can deliver.

Assassin’s Creed and other third-party titles need to deliver unique experiences that are still tailored around a pick up and play style

PlayStation Plus support is also going to be integral.  Sony looks to be really pushing for a wider adoption rate for PS Plus, which for my money is a much better value than what people are spending on Xbox Live.  Instead of making you pay money annually for the pleasure of using their servers and premium services, Sony gives you that stuff for free and instead uses your money to deliver tons of free games, early releases for new games, and discounts on a variety of titles.  You also can take advantage of features like cloud saving and automatic overnight downloading of game patches.  The 12 free games (6 of which are full retail games) that are being given to members this month are going to bring in a ton a new subscribers.  Case in point: Cheetimus, one of our writers, has long been a detractor of PS Plus, with his assertion being that you are paying money to “rent” free games, as you lose the ability to play any free titles you earned through Plus if you let your subscription lapse.  Last night, Cheets bought himself a 3-month Plus subscription.  Clearly the service is going to be gaining steam.  So why the hell are there no Plus benefits to Vita owners?  Imagine if Sony had also included, say, free downloads for Hot Shots Golf, Wipeout 2048, Super Stardust Delta, and Unit 13 in the Plus bundle this month.  Do you think a few people would’ve been buying a Vita this week if they could get 4 free games to start out with?  Hell, Sony could’ve even driven that further by giving new Vita owners a free month of PS Plus just to get them in the door.  PlayStation Plus is becoming quite the value service, and getting the Vita involved will help both products be that much more successful.

No Vita games in the bunch, and that has to change

Vita isn’t done just yet, but clearly Sony must do more to keep it from fading away.  Right now, it’s clear customers don’t see the system as valuable enough to justify the price tag.  Anything they can do to change that, from cross play to PlayStation Plus to unique console-like experiences, must be done.  There’s a lot more besides what I mentioned that could help dig the Vita out of the perceived hole it’s in, like more PS3 connectivity (which was touched on during their press conference).  Sony had better get started quick, because every day that they don’t is a day closer to the Vita becoming irrelevant.

Do you agree or disagree with my thoughts?  Have any other suggestions to improve the Vita?  Confab below!

The Last of Us is as Brutal a Game as I’ve Seen

Posted by Brad vanVugt on June 5, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a Comment

I will admit, I was not too high on Naughty Dog’s upcoming action title The Last of Us, even though game critics around the world have been lauding its praises in previews.  The game’s setting didn’t really speak to me, and some of the mutated creatures that have been shown off made the game look like a survival horror title, which is not a genre I am particularly interested in.  After seeing the 5-minute gameplay demo shown off at Sony’s E3 press conference, I might have to change my tune.

Naughty Dog has said The Last of Us is a game that centers on the story of Joel and Ellie, the two main characters that have been seen in every preview of the game so far.  They appear to be two of a small amount of survivors in a metropolitan city that nature appears to be taking back, and anyone that survived is doing whatever they can to stay alive.  The demo has the protagonists making their way through a beaten down hotel.  Along the way, they come across another group of survivors who are holed up in the hotel, and they don’t like a group of folks to be messed with.  As the player, you control Joel as he sneaks in behind one of the thugs and takes him out with a choke hold.  Joel gets spotted while picking up some ammo, and all hell starts breaking loose.  One of the things I noticed throughout the demo is that fact that ammo is extremely limited.  At no point during the presentation did Joel have more than 6 bullets for his revolver, which means as a player, every shot has got to count.  It reminded me of the PSX Resident Evil titles where you were often scraping by with supplies which added as much to the tension as anything else in the game.

You’ll need to use stealth effectively to survive

You really must be smart to survive, and use whatever is at your disposal.  You can use enemies as human shields, whose struggling might lead you to miss a well-aimed shot.  You can use supplies gathered in your backpack to create new weapons, like Molotov Cocktails.  During a tense moment where Joel has run out of ammo, a gunman stalks in to finish him off.  A hidden Ellie throws a brick at the enemy, stunning him, before Joel rushes in and kills him by brutally slamming his head against a table.  Brutal is the word to use for the close quarters combat in this game, as every strike looks disturbingly real.  During another moment, Joel rushes an shotgun-wielding adversary.  After Joel wrestles the gun from him, he strikes the enemy hard in the face with the butt-end of the shotgun.  Immediately after, a new foe rushes in and breaks a 2×4 over Joel’s head.  Ellie stabs the man in the back with a knife, distracting him just enough for Joel to kick him off and discharge the shotgun in the man’s face as he pleads for his life.  It’s not the type of over-the-top violence that is usually glorified in games.  It’s very gritty and real; the kind that makes you squirm in your seat as you watch it.

With the Uncharted series, Naughty Dog brought great gameplay and story to create a gripping thrill ride of a video game with huge action pieces.  The Last of Us looks to be a game that taps into raw emotion and put you in the shoes of two people doing whatever they can to survive in a world as close to post-apocalyptic as any other we’ve seen in a game.  My interest is now significantly more peaked for this title, and am looking to see more information as it becomes available.  Check out the full demo, and confab about it below!

Need for Speed is One of My Most Wanted

Posted by Brad vanVugt on June 5, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, News. Tagged: , , . 1 comment

I’m not much of a car guy, but I do love playing racing games, especially arcade style racers who are all about the action on the road.  Naturally, I love almost anything that comes out of Criterion Games, best known for the Burnout series, and their debut in the Need for Speed franchise with 2010′s Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit was one of my favorite games of that year.  I couldn’t wait to see what they were going to bring to the table for E3 with the debut of Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and I was very excited with what they showed off during EA’s presentation yesterday.

Much like Hot Pursuit before it, Most Wanted is a reboot of sorts from an earlier game in the Need for Speed franchise of the same name.  Also like Hot Pursuit, the game is definitely punctuated with Criterion’s signature style.  The game takes place in an open world setting a la Burnout Paradise, which means you aren’t limited to the specific tracks and roads seen in most racing games.  Instead, you have free reign to get to the finish line by any means necessary, including ducking down alleyways and driving up walkways to get ahead of your fellow racers and avoid the fuzz who are trying to slow you down.  The action was as frantic and fast as you would expect from a Criterion title, and yes, you can takedown other racers and cops alike Burnout-style.  After the race ends, the game transitions into a new section where your racer needs to get the hell away from the police.  This is where the open-world setting really shines, as the driver took the cops through alleys, used aggressive evasive maneuvers to leave cops in the dust, and even drove into a construction site.  The demo ends with the racer driving up a large dirt ramp and over a stretch of highway.  Whew.

Yep. Takedowns are back again.

Also returning is the newest Need for Speed trademark: the innovative Autolog.  In Hot Pursuit, the Autolog showed you at all times how your race times stacked up against your friends, and notifying you when your buddies beat your top times.  Overtake a friend on a particular course, and you could easily send them a smack talking message rubbing it in their face.  Autolog kept Hot Pursuit in my PS3 for quite some time, as the drive to be at the top of my personal leaderboard kept me playing again and again.  In Most Wanted, Criterion is upping the ante by logging everything imaginable, including race times, pursuit scores, billboards broken, and more.  I have a feeling that Most Wanted will keep my competitive drive going even more than Hot Pursuit did.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted crashes in to stores October 30.  In the meantime, watch the full demo from E3.  Confab about it below!

Tomb Raider’s Combat Highlights an Impressive Demo

Posted by Brad vanVugt on June 5, 2012
Posted in: E3 2012, News. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment

I find it pretty amazing that in a Microsoft press conference that featured gameplay from Halo 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the game that everyone still seems to be buzzing about is Tomb Raider.  We did a post a few days before E3 when the most recent trailer dropped, but I had to do another one after watching the outstanding live demo during Microsoft’s press event.

The demo showed off a lot of action.  Lara Croft was her normal, nimble platforming self, jumping long gaps with ease, sliding down rope lines with the assistance of her new standby weapon: her bow.  What was new and awesome was a lot of the combat features that were shown off.  The comparisons to Uncharted are inevitable, so no sense in shying away from them.  The one thing about Uncharted that could be considered lackluster is that the combat is really straightforward.  Duck behind cover, pull out your assault rifle with a gazillion bullets, and wait for the enemies to make their mistakes. In close quarters, Nathan Drake can hang with the best of them as well, throwing out CQC maneuvers that would make Solid Snake jealous.  All in all, Uncharted always reminded me of Gears of War with its combat.  This isn’t a bad thing per se, but it certainly was always the weakest part of those games for me.

Tomb Raider shakes up the formula by allowing to use elements in your environment to your advantage.  At one point, Lara draws her bow and lights the arrow on fire before firing it into a pool of oil, dispatching an entire group of enemies in one shot.  She later fires an arrow into a hanging lantern to douse another group of enemies in flame.  Right after, she uses her shotgun to unleash a pile of barrels at a group of mercenaries, allowing her to gain higher ground to pick them off one by one.  All of this is infinitely cooler than your generic “red barrel,” and makes the combat, which can sometimes get very mundane in action titles, stay fresh and engaging.  Not only that, but in a game with a very Indiana Jones feel, having crazy amounts of bullets and skill seems far-fetched.  A treasure hunter like Lara Croft should have to be more resourceful to take care of a bunch of thugs who ought to be her superior in a combat setting.

There is still much to see from this game, including whether or not the story (something I’ve always bemoaned in most Tomb Raider titles) will be worth the price of admission.  Seeing this demo got me that much more excited for this one though, and it certainly is one of my most anticipated titles of next year.  Watch the whole demo below, and tell us what you thought!