We am tyep goodWith the help of an NES and multiple trips to arcades with his uncle, Dave developed an appreciation for video games at a very young age. Although he may not be a professional journalist, that appreciation shows through in what the writes about the games he loves.
Currently playing: Brutal Legend, Henry Hatsworth, Final Fight: Double Impact
Top 5 Games
1. Halo 2 (Xbox)
2. Pokemon (GB)
3. Final Fantasy VII (PS)
4. Super Mario Bro 3 (NES)
5. Starcraft (PC)
Just the other day we told you about the newest six characters joining the list of Marvel vs Capcom 3 fighters, and now Capcom has unveiled an additional two.
From the Marvel Universe you will be given the opportunity to play as Thor, and from over on the Capcom side they’ll be bringing us Amaterasu from the PS2 and Wii action-adventure game Okami.
You can check out each character in action in the trailers below.
Capcom unveiled four new characters today that will be making an appearance in the upcoming release of Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.
In addition to the previously unveiled characters, we now know that Chun-Li (Street Fighter) is coming along with Trish (Devil May Cry) from the Capcom side, while Marvel’s Doctor Doom and Super-Skrull will each take up a roster slot as well.
You can check out the new characters in action in the all-new trailers that were released earlier today.
We first mentioned Mega Man Universe a couple months ago, and now Capcom has released a trailer for the upcoming project.
I don’t really know exactly what this game is yet, and the trailer doesn’t do a great job of giving any indication of what we can really expect, but if you’re a Mega Man fan, chances are it’s going to get you pretty excited.
Take a look for yourself below.
Interested in finding out which of your favorite musicians will be featured in the upcoming release of DJ Hero 2? Well look no further because the full list has been revealed. Over 100 artists will be adding songs to the upcoming sequel, and since Daft Punk will be making an appearance once again, my interest has been piqued.
So far this is only a list of the musicians in the game, not which songs will be available, but hopefully we’ll be able to provide more information soon.
You can check out the full list for yourself after the break.
WB has registered a series of domains that hint at some of the possible names for the upcoming sequel to Batman: Arkham Asylum. Some of my personal favorites below include Ashes of Gotham and War in Gotham City, and it will be interesting to see if any of the registered domains make an appearance at all.
You can check out the full list below.
PC Gamer apparently received an image from Popcap that suggests we may soon see an announcement for Plants vs Zombies 2. No other news was given besides the image so we’ll just have to wait until August 2 to find out more.
A new trailer for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock was just released and it is titled Act 1. Check it out if you want to see some of the new songs in action including Dire Straits’ “Money For Nothing,” Muse’s “Uprising,” Linkin Park’s “Bleed It Out,” and Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar On Me”
An all new gameplay trailer is now available for Infamous 2. You can check out all the action (electric tornado included) in the video below.
Last week we counted down our Top 5 Moments from E3 2010 and now you can check out all of those entries on one convenient post. See what we thought of this years show and weigh in with your own opinions in the comments below.
Anthony
5. The discovery of an Ocarina of Time remake
It’s not often anything is leaked by Nintendo, but someone out there discovered images of an unannounced project on Nintendo’s E3 press site. The images were removed quickly by Nintendo before being put back up the next day, after the remake for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was confirmed. This discovery brought attention to an exciting possibility before an official announcement and created even more buzz around a company who had their best E3 showing in years.
4. Twisted Metal for PS3 is real, Jaffe’s pants ablaze
David Jaffe is many things — a great game designer, a candid and memorable personality — but he can add “liar” to that list in the best possible way. He firmly denied his company, Eat Sleep Play, was working on a new Twisted Metal for the PS3… all the way up until Sweet Tooth rolled onto the stage in his ice cream truck o’ death. The truth is Jaffe’s involvement in this project will only benefit the product, and that’s the most important part.
3. James Mielke calling Microsoft out
What do you showcase when trying to sell your new device at the industry’s biggest trade show? Pet simulators and casual games, right? You certainly wouldn’t want to include the core-gaming crowd at all, and leave Child of Eden out of the show. There is some controversy surrounding this story, but the original reporter stands by his story as accurate, even if Child of Eden’s producer James Mielke attempted to retract his statement. According to the report, he said Microsoft “fucked up” by leaving his game out of their presentation, and while Kinect’s showing might have resonated with soccer moms, it certainly did nothing for the hardcore crowd. In this respect, Mielke would have had a point, regardless of post-interview damage control.
2. Behold: Kid Icarus Uprising and the power of the 3DS
The unveiling of Kid Icarus is one of the things I’ll always remember. I was making a chicken sandwich in the kitchen and set my laptop on the counter. As it was cooking the trailer started rolling — the second I saw Madame Snakehair I knew. The ensuing jump-kick was unexpected, but my excitement could not be contained. And honestly, I thought it was a Wii game when I first saw it. I can see now, upon closer inspection, that it’s not quite at that level, but it’s damn close. The 3DS has got some kind of magic under its hood, that’s for sure.
1. Konami’s madhouse
Who won E3? Nintendo had the best show in my opinion, but I’ll likely never watch it again. Konami’s trainwreck, on the other hand, is well-suited for multiple viewings — you’ll discover something new every time you watch it. Whether it was Russell Simmons of Def Jam taking the stage and immediately swearing (“I was just fuckin’ with Nick about his socks”) or the rise to internet glory seen by Ninety Nine Nights II producer Tak Fuji (“Extreeeeeeeeeeme”), every presenter brought their own brand of delightful insanity to the stage. There will probably never be another conference like it and is a must-see in every respect.
Dan
5. 3D and motion control reigned supreme
I’ve already bitched about this enough. There were two very clear themes this year at E3, and I’m far from sold on both.
4. 3DS actually isn’t horrible
I know what I said yesterday about 3D, but everything I’ve heard about the 3DS is that it’s actually not bad. Of course, ‘well it’s not the worst thing ever’ is far from a glowing endorsement, and I’ll need to see it for myself before passing any sort of final judgment, but the single best news about this handheld is that you can, at any time, just turn the 3D off. Maybe you won’t want to! You’ll definitely be missing out on some of the game, but you’ll at least be able to play it like you would a game today. I expect many, many gimmicky pieces of shovelware, at least at first, but then it seems like we might see some interesting new experiences.
3. Heavy plays to nostalgia
I’m not actually sure how I feel about all of the old games being brought back. I’ve never played Kid Icarus (stone me now), but Donkey Kong Country, that was good, right? And Twisted Metal! Yeah! Though while it’s nice to get updated versions of franchises I loved when I was younger, it seems… easy. Much easier to whip the crowd into a frenzy listing off names than to develop a new IP.
2. Kinect’s fever dream event
Cirque du Soleil, elephants, families suspended from the ceiling, some sort of 2001 journey involving Kameo and crowd interaction via lighted shoulder pads. ‘Welcome to the event: here’s your poncho and here’s your tab of LSD.’ The twitter streams of the journalists there, utterly confused, were probably more entertaining than Kinect itself could ever be.
1. We have always been at war with Eastasia
Gabe Newell admitted that he had been critical of Sony in the past, sure, though I’m not going to give him two points for honesty because not acknowledging that would have made his entire presence at the Sony press conference a sham. What was amusing, though, was that he said ‘PlayStation 3 is the most open platform of all the current generation consoles and has worked extremely hard to make the platform the most desirable for consumers and developers.’ I’m not sure what Sony has done differently in the three years since he said ‘The PS3 is a total disaster on so many levels. I think it’s really clear that Sony lost track of what customers and what developers wanted,’ except for maybe Kevin Butler driving up in the Sweet Tooth truck and delivering a large burlap sack full of money. I don’t hate Sony or the PS3 — last year I enjoyed its games much more than the 360’s — and maybe there have been changes made that I’m just not seeing, but this was a 180 flip for, as I see it, no real reason.
Then we have the irony of Sony touting the greatness of their simplistic motion control games, having dismissed it entirely in the past. And let’s not forget John Schappert, announcing a plethora of exclusive special editions for the PS3 and bringing up the ‘Blu Ray lets us put more on the disc‘ thing again, when last year it was ‘the power of Xbox.’ You know, because he worked for them. I know you’re supposed to say nice things about whoever’s paying you, but do you need to make it so obvious?
Keith
5. Pac-Man the TV show
In the 80’s, cartoons based on toys and video games were all the rage. Pac-Man was Hanna- Barbera’s first cartoon based off a license and it rocked. If the new 3D Pac-Man cartoon can be even half as good as the silly 80’s cartoon, Namco might just have a winner on their hands. Plus this cartoon won me half-a-point in out E3 predictions so it’s a double winner!
4. Xbox 360 slim
Redesigns have always been a sign of a successful home system throughout the years. The NES, SNES, Genesis (a few times) and even the PS2 have all gotten smaller as time went on and every one of them saw a sales bump because of it. The Slim 360 is a great deal with the bigger hard drive and wireless abilities all at the same price. It might be just what some gamers that were still waiting to upgrade needed to make a decision on which system to go with.
3. Kinect only works while standing up
From the moment Microsoft announced Natal I was a little unsure of its usefulness in today’s motion loving gaming world. After seeing it in action on an episode of Smallville this past year I was no longer unsure. It seems to be an expensive EyeToy that only works if you stand up and only supports two people at a time. Unless Milo can make a comeback and bring with him all the originally promised features Ill just stick to my PS2 and EyeToy: Monkey Mania. I love monkeys <3
2. David Jaffe is a liar!!
Some people may have gotten upset that David Jaffe lied about a new Twisted Metal but I think it was a stroke of genius. With the advent of the internet its hard for any company to keep secrets about new games in development, and for the first time in years I was genuinely surprised from the Twisted Metal 3 announcement. I felt like I did the first time I saw Super Mario Bros. 3 in the movie The Wizard. Go Jaffe!
1. Nintendo 3DS looks to rock the world
As a PSP gamer I was only slightly interested in what Nintendo would be showing in the handheld department but the 3DS may just make me convert. Resident Evil and Kid Icarus easily looks better than 90% of the games on the Wii. A Zelda remake and promises of more 3D remakes is mouthwatering. Plus the idea of possible future 3D video chat is just icing on the cake. I’m sold.
Dave
5. Nintendo 3DS games look pretty impressive
Although we couldn’t see the actual 3D aspect of the new Nintendo 3DS, I was very impressed by the trailers that were shown off. Games like the new Resident Evil look amazing, and if Nintendo can deliver the 3D graphics they say this system can create, this is going to be easily the most impressive handheld device ever released.
4. Halo Reach has space battles
This is probably mostly because I am a huge Halo fan, but I was incredibly excited watching the Halo Reach campaign trailer. Watching the jet take off and fly into space, and then transition to a space fight was such an awesome moment. Air vehicles have existed in the Halo series, but this is something completely new and I can’t wait to check it out this fall.
3. Microsoft unveils the slim Xbox 360
Although it felt a little tacked on at the end of the press briefing, that doesn’t take anything away from how awesome the new Xbox 360 is. Sure the design isn’t spectacular, but the 250gb hard drive and built in wireless make this a substantial upgrade over the previous model. Oh, and how do you not get excited about the fact that it costs the same price as the current model. I am seriously considering adding another Xbox 360 to the house after seeing this thing.
2. New Twisted Metal
Twisted Metal was probably my favorite game series from the original Playstation, and the announcement of a new Twisted Metal might finally be the reason for me to go pick up a Playstation 3. The game looks amazing and the presentation and the conference was surprising to say the least. Personally my favorite part of the Sony press briefing.
1. Sony forgets about the PSP?
Nothing decent announced for the PSP this years, except that it exists and they’ve got some new commercials on the way. The one thing I hoped for more than anything else at this years show was the announcement of a new PSP, and such an announcement was no where to be seen. Instead we heard about a bunch of games we already knew about, and saw a new marketing campaign aimed at pushing those games. Seriously disappointing is the only way to describe it.
A little over a year ago I wrote an article about the then recently announced gaming service OnLive, and what it could potentially mean for game distribution. Well, OnLive has officially arrived and we finally have the chance to see if it performs as described. I’ve had a couple of weeks to play around with it and see what it’s all about and my initial impressions are better than I would have anticipated. The service isn’t perfect, but it performs much better than you might imagine.
I think it’s useful to point out that although OnLive is up and running, you still cannot just sign up and start paying them money at the moment. Currently your only option is a sign-up page that allows you to apply for their founding members program. Upon being accepted into the program (I received a response after about a week) you’ll be given one year of free access to the service with the option to continue for $4.95 a month after that. After receiving your invitation and filling out the required forms, you’ll be prompted to download a small file and then you’re off to the races and ready to jump in.
The application loads relatively quickly, but an important item to note is that in order to launch the program you have to be using a wired connection. That’s right, at the moment you are not able to connect to the service over a wireless connection. It’s unfortunate because one of the highlights for me about this service was being able to play games on my laptop that I should have no business being able to run. Personally I was able to get around this by connecting to the wired port on my Airport Express, so there are some potential ways of getting around the limitation.
After you load everything up you’ll be brought to the main dashboard which has a number of options available to you. The Games tab is where you can shop for new games (I’ll get more into that in a little bit), there is also a spot to modify your profile, check in on your friends, play your purchased content, view game clips, and check in on what other people are playing. The most exciting part about the interface is how well everything flows together. As you transition between menus and watch video clips, everything is seamless and there are no loading screens to be found. The amount of video content that is delivered without requiring a separate load is quite impressive.
The marketplace is something I feel like I should get into a bit more since it’s one of the places I have the biggest problem with. Now, granted I have a full year subscription to the service, I still find it hard to swallow the full price they are charging for copies of some of the games. $50 dollars on top of a monthly subscription is a lot of money, especially when you consider you only own these games as long as the service is active. Some games do allow you to purchase either a 3 or 5 day rental, but there doesn’t seem to be any consistency as to what each game costs or whether or not they offer a rental period. Not to mention, the selection of titles available to purchase or rent is very limited at the moment.
So lets get into the real reason you’ll want to pick up and try this new service, the games. Although yes, there is a limited selection of games, you do have the option of playing some major releases such as Borderlands, Assassins Creed 2, and the all new Lego Harry Potter. If you’re interested in checking out a game you can play a 30 minute demo of the title. The first game I decided to try out was Just Cause 2 and I was incredibly impressed with how well the service performed. The game loaded up very quickly, and looked great. Surprisingly, the controls were extremely responsive, and it was actually hard to tell that the game was not running on my own machine. I’m running a previous-generation white Macbook that, under ordinary circumstances, would not have any chance of running this game or most others on the service.
Although the game looked and played great there were a couple instances of lag, but they were few and far between. I did notice this a bit more while playing Unreal Tournament III, but that could have also been my own internet connection so it’s hard to tell. I don’t believe the quality is quite as good as if you were able to run the title on your own computer, but for those people that can’t, it’s definitely a reliable and solid experience. I do want to point out that my experiences with each title were only short play sessions of fifteen to twenty minutes with each game, so I don’t know if the sessions would be consistently great with longer periods of gameplay.
To sum it all up, I can say that you should definitely at least check the service out, especially if you can get into the founding members program since the first year is free. I don’t know how much I’ll personally utilize the service unless the game selection becomes a bit more robust. What I’d like to see is more PC specific titles made available such as Crisis or perhaps the upcoming Starcraft 2, both of which are games that I currently have no way of playing. Since I own an Xbox I have no reason to purchase and play games like Borderlands or Assassins Creed 2 on my computer since I prefer to play on my console. It would also be nice to see the pricing system get worked out, and maybe the cost come down a bit. Either way though, its definitely worth your time to check out, and if you already have, let us know what you think.
