All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

#e3 At some point during E3, this happened, but we were far too busy working to see it. More »

Fair warning for those who have yet to complete the first Force Unleashed title, I'm about to ruin the ending for you.

The major question I had walking into my demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 was: Is it possible to feel an emotional attachment to a character we've already said goodbye to? In Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, players will be asked to do just that. Although the game's lead character Starkiller -- or Galen Marek, according to Star Wars novels -- sacrificed himself during the true ending of the previous title, the character returns as the playable character in Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2.

During my E3 2010 hands-off preview of the upcoming sequel to the "fastest selling" Star Wars title of all time, executive producer Haden Blackman walked us through the game's opening, which follows a mentally-torn Starkiller as he attempts to escape from his former mentor, Darth Vader.

#e3 It may not have gotten the same attention as the original echochrome did at E3 2007, but the sequel looks like one of the more promising games coming to the PlayStation Move, Sony's new motion controller. More »

#consoletaisen Thanks to first week sales of the new Wii role-playing game Xenoblade in Japan, Nintendo's motion-controlled console managed to outsell the PlayStation 3 in Japan this week. More »

What a week! With eight years of the E3 Expo under my belt, there’s no doubt in my mind that this year was an E3 high point and perhaps the most exciting, inspiring show I’ve personally attended. For me, the highlights included experiencing stereoscopic 3D in games like Killzone 3 and Mortal Kombat (seeing is believing), sampling the various PlayStation Move games (the precision and gameplay versatility were on full display), and the much-anticipated return of Twisted Metal from Eat Sleep Play. Oh, and Kevin Butler.

And of course, games, games, games: From heavyweights like MotorStorm Apocalypse, LittleBigPlanet 2, Gran Turismo 5, SOCOM 4, inFAMOUS 2, and God of War: Ghost of Sparta to head-turning PSN titles like Dead Nation, Journey, and PixelJunk Shooter 2 — this year, the games did all the talking. And don’t get me started on the third-party lineup, with Dead Space 2, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Medal of Honor, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Crysis 2, Mafia II, Portal 2, Scott Pilgrim…I could go on all day and I’d run out of breath before I named them all.

This is an excellent time to be a gamer. It’s also an excellent time to have access to a camera, as this year’s E3 booths were bigger and bolder than I’ve seen in years. I wanted to give PlayStation.Blog readers an inside look at some of the most inspired booth layouts we spotted on the show floor. It’s by no means a complete look, but I hope you enjoy the eye candy.

And if you were overwhelmed by the onslaught of E3 PlayStation news this week, no worries — I’ll be back tomorrow with a comprehensive PlayStation Recap column to get you up to speed. And trust me, it’s gonna be a doozy.

Enjoy the pics! And see more PlayStation E3 2010 photos on our Flickr Photostream.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 for PS3

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood for PS3

Homefront for PS3

Killzone 3 in stereoscopic 3D for PS3 (so popular it averaged a one-to-two hour line wait)

Left: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow for PS3; Right: Yakuza 4 for PS3

MAFIA II, coming to PS3 with exclusive bonus content

Mortal Kombat, coming to PS3 with Stereoscopic 3D

Red Faction Armageddon for PS3

Lord of the Rings: War in the North for PS3

TRON Evolution for PS3

Left: Marvel vs Capcom 3 for PS3; Right: DC Universe Online for PS3

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a return to form. Instead of reimagining Rare's classic SNES series, as it did Metroid in its Metroid Prime trilogy, developer Retro Studios is creating a game that's a lot more, well, "retro." DKC Returns appears to erase the 14-year gap since DKC3 -- really, it has been that long -- doing its best to fit in with a series that was designed for a console benchmarked by "bit."

DKC Returns does employ modern platforming design and technology, like 3D environments with playable foreground and background areas, but it does so subtly, as not to stray far from an authentic feel -- how we might remember DKC on the SNES. And, truly, I had forgotten that the original DKCs were not fully co-op. Oh right, I'm remembering, the SNES games had that tag-in/tag-out multiplayer. So, as I demoed DKC Returns at Nintendo's E3 booth with Joystiq's own JC Fletcher, it was actually a new Donkey Kong Country experience that felt just like something I'd enjoyed many years ago.

Firaxis' next major strategy game is only a few months away.

#clips Dead Nation producer Damion Pinnock has thrown down the gauntlet. More »

We're still a good long way away from the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution, so keep in mind that it's hard to say if what I saw inside Square-Enix is truly representative of what we'll get when the game finally releases. But the small sliver of combat and social puzzle solving I saw looked extremely promising for series stalwarts and newcomers alike.

#e3 Mercury Steam's take on Castlevania, vetted by Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima, is a very different thing, full of God of War-like action. Including a new Belmont, this is the all-new cast of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. More »

#comicbooks When one gamer's FoxBox630 fails, he trades up to the ESexy3. When the FoxBox630 returns from the shop, it's war. This is Ryan Kinnaird's Next Gen Warz, a two-issue comic series due in September from Image Comics. More »

Speaking with OnLive company head Steve Perlman at E3 2010, he revealed to Joystiq that the TV-based version of OnLive should be widely available the end of 2010. "When we get to what we call 'cruising altitude' -- this is the bumpy takeoff -- we can introduce the Microconsole. It's a walk before you run sorta thing. Frankly, this is the quietest -- well, it's not the quietest, but it's one of the quieter times of the year for gaming -- the fourth quarter is the really big ramp up." It's his hope that the service will have a chance to become completely stable before going live with the home console.

"So between now and the fourth quarter gives us an opportunity to sort of get our legs underneath us without being at huge risk of disappointing people." When asked to elaborate on whether that meant the Microconsole would be arriving by the end of 2010, Perlman responded. "Oh yeah yeah yeah. They're working ... We have beta users who are using it."

Additionally, Perlman pointed out that the service is already up and running (for beta users) on "the iPad or on the iPhone as well -- or on Android now." Our full interview with Perelman and OnLive's Joe Bentley will be up in the coming days.

We know enough about Media Molecule's follow-up to 2008's highly customizable platformer LittleBigPlanet to know that it's remarkably ambitious. Still, for each feature the studio announces, dozens of questions surface about how they'll actually be implemented in LittleBigPlanet 2. For answers to these burning queries, we turned to Media Molecule co-founder Alex Evans. Click past the jump to learn more about the sequel's bold new creation tools, community features, PlayStation Move functionality, and the unconventional ways the small development studio has expanded.

#clips Playing the soundtrack of Super Maro Bros. of any number? Old hat. But throwing in all of the sound effects, and doing it on a violin, that's something special. More »

Hello PlayStation Fans,

E3 may have come to a close, but we couldn’t be more excited by the plethora of great games and content available for PlayStation fans. Along with PlayStation Move and a host of exclusive titles coming from our first party developers, our publishing partners were out in force taking full advantage of everything PS3 and PSP have to offer.

One of the biggest surprises at E3 was Gabe Newell from Valve’s arrival on the stage at the press conference earlier this week. He acknowledged his appreciation for the PS3 as “the most open platform of all the current generation consoles.” He went on to not only announce that Portal 2 was coming to the PlayStation 3, but also to state that it’ll be the “best version on any console.”

EA also introduced several exclusives to PS3 including the special edition version of Medal of Honor that comes with the 2002 classic Medal of Honor Frontline, which has been updated and re-mastered with HD visuals. And those of you looking forward to Dead Space 2 can pick up the premium edition, which includes Dead Space Extraction. A prequel to the original Dead Space, Dead Space Extraction will be fully Move compatible and also offer trophy support. Offering these packed-in hits like Medal of Honor Frontline and Dead Space Extraction is something only possible on PS3 because of Blu-Ray.

Fans of Assassin’s Creed can look forward to an exclusive beta of the new multiplayer campaign within Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, with the beta hitting PSN in late summer. 2K Games’ Mafia II will also feature unique content for PS3, including exclusive day-one content including missions, story and gameplay. There’s also the much-anticipated shooter from Crytek, Crysis 2, which will sport 3D-compatible graphics on the PS3.

These along with other great titles, including Kojima’s recently-released masterpiece Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker and Sony Online Entertainment’s much-anticipated MMO DC Universe Online, are expanding our library of titles and offerings for gamers, and help make our family of products some of the best of the industry.

Once you’ve digested all things E3, keep an eye out in the coming weeks and months for further news and updates from our publishing partners.

#screengrab Harmonix and MTV brag about their ever expanding Rock Band set list at E3 2010 by printing out the whole thing, now with more Rock Band Network, on a huge wall, with human being included for comparison. More »

#e3 I can't very well ignore an E3 booth that's handing out free food. Gamer Grub debuted two new flavors at the show, and I went mouth-on with Smores and BBQ to see if they are worthy of our stomachs. More »

Visiting Sega's booth for a little hands-on time with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1, a representative told us something that fans may find a little disconcerting. Someone asked the representative if Sonic was the only playable character, to which the rep replied that Sonic is the only playable character "in Episode 1." While he wouldn't confirm if future episodes will have other playable characters, he certainly hinted at the possibility.

Consider our fingers crossed for Big the Cat.