E3 2011 Message Board older than one year ago

You might recall that last year I talked to Cryptic’s Jack Emmert about the MMO he called “an old school Western tactical RPG”. It’s Neverwinter, a game that also, apparently, marks a new direction for the studio. You can see some of the fruits of that new direction over on the official site, and also in the teaser trailer below.

Looks like a fantasy action-RPG to me! Yes sir. The most interesting aspect of this, of course, is that Cryptic are planning to let people come up with their own dungeons, with their own fictions, to be installed in the world. If they pull it off it could be a genuinely interesting spin on the way these kinds of games work.(more…)

#toys Yes. It's been announced at E3 that NECA, makers of fine action figures (increasingly these days based on games), have picked up a license from the Half-Life creators "to produce consumer products based on Valve's much-acclaimed games". More »

#playbeyond One of Sony's big E3 reveals was its 3D display that allows gamers to see two different images on the same screen at the same time. This isn't new. Some dude is already enjoying this feature at home. More »

#bwah PlayStation title Dragon's Crown has the worst game title font I've ever seen. It also has enormous norgs. Go figure. More »

#watchthis The very definition of a tease, this is a clip for upcoming MMO Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium, a game set in the classic sci-fi universe of the same name. More »

#e3 A Pikmin game has long been in development for the Wii. Well, it's not anymore, as Nintendo has announced that the game is instead going to be released on the Wii U. More »

The Wii Vitality Sensor debuted at the 2009 E3 gaming expo. Then it was too mellow for last year's and this year's E3. Why? More »

#bigbrother At Nintendo's Q&A session earlier today, Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto revealed that prior to development of the upcoming Skyward Sword, he'd given the franchise team a warning: either it was the best Zelda ever made or there would be no more Zeldas. More »

#sony Whoa! A PlayStation TV. It's a $500 24-inch 3D TV that Sony's promising delivers "best in class" entertainment for way more people than are able to currently afford 3D. It looks like a giant PSP, sorta. Update: Hands on. More »

#watchthis Disney Universe is essentially LEGO: Disney Movies without the LEGO. If that doesn't make sense, watch the video. More »

#whatchagonnadolittlegreenman Hulk Hogan passed Yoda in the halls of E3 today. No punches thrown. No force choke applied. Hulk was here to promote his Kinect game, Hulk Hogan's Main Event. We'll be showing Hulk's encounter with another short, but less green person, in the near future. That person just might be me. More »

#sonicgenerations There is more than one way to skate your way down a busy city street in Sonic Generations: 2D or 3D. Sega just gets a kick out of making trailers with two hedgehogs in them. More »

#brutal Dark Souls, the upcoming title from Demon's Souls developer From Software is going to be a hard game. That bittersweet pill is made easier to swallow by the game's beautiful look. More »

#watchthis Brace yourself—not for the gameplay footage—but for the guitar soundtrack. Dynasty Warriors is coming to the PS Vita, and this latest trailer shows how the game will make use of some of the PS Vita's features. More »

#cloudgaming Cloud gaming service OnLive is going portable later this year, when the OnLive Player App brings PC gameplay to your iPad and Android tablet PCs. More »

Gravity was one of the few fully original titles we saw running on the new PS Vita console at Sony's event last evening. Most of the games on the new system are updates of Sony's big properties, but Gravity is different -- a brand new IP by Sony Japan centered around what's probably the least sexy of the Vita's new control schemes: The internal gyroscope.

The idea is that you play as Kat, a girl wandering around a dreamlike, stylistic city called Hexaville (complete with a pink sky and a comic panel look) who finds herself with the ability to control her own personal gravity, floating up in the air with a flick of the R trigger. Once floating, you can use the right analog stick (or, more likely, the PS Vita's gyroscope) to aim her towards a wall or building, and then the R trigger sends her flying across the world that way, changing up gravity until you hit the R button again and bring her back down to the ground.

#watchthese You may be done with Dead Rising 2, but Frank West isn't. And in this trailer, Frank West sticks things up a zombie's ass. Gameplay footage follows. More »

#deathtonook I swore I was done with Animal Crossing. That too many same-same games and too many wasted days meant I was finished with the franchise. But this just looks so...charming. More »

#warneverchanges Are you ready for a radical departure from the Animal Crossing formula for the game's foray on the Nintendo 3DS? That's just not going to happen, but here's a guy dressed as Link. More »

You know that list of games we posted earlier today? They came from a Nintendo U promo reel, shown during Nintendo's E3 2011 press conference. We've got the video for you now, in full-on HD -- yeah, we feel just as awkward typing out "Nintendo" and "HD" in the same sentence as much as you must feel weird reading it. We all better get used to it!

#wiiu Although it's certainly not necessary to use a stylus all the time with the Nintendo Wii U's touchscreen controller, as this picture shows there may be games that work better with the 3DS-like stylus. (That also implies that it's a resistive touchscreen, not a capacitive one like the iPhone and iPad.) More »

#wiiu At first, our editor Brian Crecente has trouble with this rhythm-based game for the new Wii U. It's a little tricky. Maybe he never played Rhythm Heaven. But he gets it, and you'll "get" the Wii U, if you pay attention. More »

#wiiu This is the Wii U controller. See it's buttons. See its circle pads. See how it compares to an iPhone and to a 3DS. Never mind the rough shooting techniques here. We raced to get this to you. Because we love you. More »

Trion and the tediously-named SyFy TV channel are teaming up to create a multiplatform MMOFPS that somehow links into a TV show, apparently going as far as featuring player’s characters in the TV show part of it. The project is called Defiance, and there’s a teaser trailer below showing flowers, part of an insectile monster, a heavily modified Golden Gate bridge, and a man with a gun. Trion offer this explanation: “Set on a future Earth, Defiance introduces players and viewers to a world where humans and aliens live together on a planet transformed by decades of conflict. The game combines the intense action of a “AAA” console shooter, with the persistence, scale, and customization of an MMO, while its TV counterpart weaves the rich tapestry of the world into a series with the scope, characters, and drama of a classic sci-fi epic. Because they exist in a single universe, the show and the game will influence each other and evolve together over time, with actions in both mediums driving the overall story of Defiance.”

I do love the “intense” “action” of a “AAA” console “shooter” on my PC, yes sir. Ooh, snarky! But I had a late night. It does look intriguing, though. We need more details!(more…)

Tuesday 7th June, 11am:

So Monday contained the first proper bit of E3ing – the EA conference. This took place in a theatre in central LA, with quite the embarrassing typo on the outside. They’ve called it a “theater”! Everyone seemed too polite to point it out, so I didn’t say anything.

So 800,000 games journalists crammed themselves in and everyone attempted to set up their wifi/3G/4G connection at once, causing a crack to open up in the sky and purple light to rain down, killing at least a third of the attendees. Which was a relief, as it meant I was able to get a fraction of a connection in order to be able to liveblog the events.

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata just said that a new Smash Bros will release for the company's new console, the Wii U, as well as for 3DS. No specific time frame was given, but Iwata said the game will feature cross platform compatibility. More »

#gogreen Mario's brother gets another chance to shine on the 3DS in Luigi's Mansion 2, with multiple mansions, tons of ghosts, and one sucktacular vacuum cleaner. More »

Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime has announced one of the first third party titles for the Wii U. Entitled LEGO City Stories, it includes an expansive city to explore. Few details were offered, though it looks a bit like a family-friendly version of Grand Theft Auto. The title will be exclusive to Wii U and 3DS.