Pagoda of Gaming

This is what… 2 weeks late? Nevermind. It’s done now. I suggest you watch them ALL, and watch some of them in HD, should your bandwith allow.

I suppose, if anything, I was surprised that this isn’t a multiplatform title. First item on the list is a PS3 exclusive. Looks like Heroes meets Crackdown, which doesn’t sound bad at all. I saw a gameplay demo over at gamespot, and yeah, it looks amazing. I’ll post the link if I can find it.

This is the new game that Jade Raymond’s all up in. She’s the former Assasin’s Creed lead attractive designer, and also had some sue-able hentai comic drawn of her come the assasin’s creed launch. How I know that - the internet. I know the trailer doesn’t say much gameplay wise, but it’s got apocalypse and dudes fighting over evian, and those are never bad start off points. I predict action adventure, with emphasis on exploration and puzzle-solving, in an I-Am-Legend-minus-zombies New york. Yum. And more developer interviews with Jade ofc.

Shinier Prince, New Story, weird Yorda woman, pretty flowers. Sure I’ll bite. But isn’t that the cleanest cell shading you’ve ever seen! Hot damn. Not quite Naruto PS3, but certainly different and appealing.

I’ve never been sold on resistance. There was some resistance between me and playing the first one, pardon the obvious pun, and I just loathed what I played of it. This time, it’s set in america, which always looks better destroyed than britain does. And it also looks like they’ve found the freaking colour pallete in photoshop. I might bite on this, if a sufficient demo is produced. It’s in this list for one thing and one thing only - the closing scene of the trailer, with the Motherships hanging over San Fran. Watch in High Def if you can, and no, it’s not prerendered.

This one’s a no-brainer really. whilst the gameplay doesn’t show off alot, again here, the final scene with the vault guy and the dog walking the wasteland is enough to sell me on that, the live-action stuff is really what entrigues me. The overall feel of that, and the super change in tone when the guy goes “seems perfect, but what if it’s not“, sells me on the humor. I hope that something like this makes it into the final game, for the opening cinematic or something. Fallout 3 was the game of the show for many, but part of that might be due to it coming out rather soon. Fall is just around the corner.

The Final Fantasy 13 console jump was probably the ‘Megaton’ of the show. Though for me, it felt somewhat lacking. The XBLive crew need to get this trailer up on marketplace quick, so we can see how this all looks in hi-def. I think I’ll still play it on the PS3 tho. It just… feels right.

I get a little choked up whenever I see some footage from this game, in the same way I did with bioshock. I look at Mirror’s Edge, and I see GOTY material. I suggest you watch this one in HD, or if possible, get the trailer off your console of choise’s marketplace and watch it on your HDTV. It looks GORGEOUS. And a small bit of info, the game’s only HUD is a small dot in the centre of the screen, and it’s purpose is not as a crosshair. It’s a point of reference to prevent a player’s motion sickness. I shit you not.

If anything, Gears 2 is pretty much a safe game. We don’t need to hear about it, it will most likely be an 8/9/10 out of 10 game, and it will be awesome. So here’s some nice pre-rendered, possibly cut-scene, to remind you that it’s coming out this pwnmas, and you’d better have £50 ready. note- also looks awesome in HD.

I’m going to make a storyline prediction here - the girl in the trailer, the one not stuck to a wall with a billion new tentacles, GHOST. There, I said it. Deadspace looks really good though. And I’m usually not one for survival horror’s. There’s some gameplay footage out there somewhere, dev interview or live demo, If I find something I’ll post it up. Right now I’m just satisfied with a horror game being on my radar.

Endwar gets my award for awesome tech. Voice > waggle-wand. THERE, I said it. I’ve heard anything bad about the game. A contact of mine got into the beta, and apparantly it’s awesome. My watching of a live demo only reinforced this statement. If Endwar works, it could be the voice-control revolution we’ve all been waiting for.

This was certainly the year of post-apocalypticism. About half the videos here featured that as the main premice, whether it’s alien invasion or A-bomb. Though some might be rather filed under Orwellian. The point being, it’s pretty predominant.

There were a couple of other games that might’ve made the list, but were obscure, not at the show, or riddled with pre-rendered footage that it wasn’t worth the hype. These games include MAG, God of War 2, Darksiders, and Dawn of War 2.

I’m going to go sleep now, chances are high that I’ll be scumming the harbour for fucking lazy fisherman rubbish tomorrow, and I’d like to be awake enough to multitask between doing the job and pretending I’m not actually there. Next post whenever there’s something worth commenting on, or whenever I feel like it.

As a final side-note, I had a really fucked up dream last night, where I was being shown a game that was basically House meets TF2. Wilson had a flaming index finger that when he poked an enemy with would deal damage. As awesome as that would be, I don’t think it would sell IRL. Maybe in my dreams.

Call your friends and bring a gun

It’s been over a week since my last proper post, my bad, I won’t try to drown you in the details. I will say that my viewing of E3 vids was hampered by my ISP shoving me on the ‘high usage’ server. Atleast I think that’s what happened.

So in summation of E3′08, it was a pretty mediocre show. Microsoft turned up and showed us inevitable products, and slapped a wet one in sony’s face with a FFXIII platform jump. Sony told us all that they’re in it for the long run and showed us a bunch of pre-rendered footage, but failed to show us much of NOW. And Nintendo dissapointed everyone except housewives and 5 year olds. I agree with many when I say that The entire show can be summed up in two webcomics, located HERE and HERE.

Apart from the big three press conferences there really wasn’t much else that caught my eye. Alan Wake failed to show, which was the greatest dissapointment for me. EndWar looks intereting, but we won’t really know until we get it in our hands… or mouths I suppose. There were shooters everywhere, most of which we’ll all probably play. Valve was somewhat absent, apart from their latest build of Left 4 Dead, and I’m really not interested in hearing or seeing much from that game, other than getting to FINALLY PLAY THE FREAKING THING. And Fallout 3 looked interesting, but felt… wrong, but it’s like trying to publically sell a MMO, so we won’t really know what’s up with it until we take up the adventure for ourselves. inFAMOUS got little praise, but I think it looks amazing. Dead Space got alot of praise. That’s all I can get off the top of my head, but I assure you an embed-a-thon tomorrow, now that my connection has returned to normal speeds.

So, it was a pretty decent show. I suppose it was lacking in the hardware department, but I’m sure we’ll see something for that next year, and probably from microsoft.

This time last week I was compelled to play Halo 3 again. I’m not sure how that happened, I always thought that I’d never play it again after the 2 days it took me to consume the game after it’s launch. Legendary mode is a completely different beast. The game is harder, more frustrating and a hell of alot more satisfying than it’s normal counterpart. Dying 20 times on the same checkpoint, and then coming up with a winning strategy and see it all play out in your favour is simply awesome. I finished legendary last night, around 1am. But I don’t think I’m done yet. There’s multiplayer to get back into, and there’s the campaign meta scoring thing, each with an achievement that’s in a forseeable grasp, and I’ve still got to access all the terminals in the last 4 levels, since I must’ve done something wrong to not get the achievement.

I appreciate Halo alot more now. I think it’s pretty safe to say that we’re past the hype now, and I didn’t think the game could stand up without it. But it surely does. And it’s amazing how many games failed to emulate Halo’s style. 1 word. COLOUR. It’s rare these days to see a shooter embrace colour in the way halo does (see ‘Gears of Grey’ and ‘Brownsistance: Turd of Man’). Enemies wear everything from purple to blue to gold armor, and environments just seem to pop off the screen. Covenant capital ships are practically pink. It’s dissapointing, especially in this hi-def era, when we’ve got all this graphical power at our disposal, and we waste it on ‘realistic’ browns and greys.

Though, you can’t like halo too much, or else you might turn into this:

Oh and the teaser at the end of the game, after the credits, totally screams Halo 4.

I should also mention that since my only nerd contacts in Fails’ are a bunch of WoW-Fags, I’m slowly getting the need to finally level my Druid to 70. Consider this a Public Service Announcement.

Yeah, that’s pretty much the end of this epic 10 day wait post. Not much to talk about since all I’ve been doing is work and Halo. Anyway, I’m off to look for the best rcorded footage of E3, and hopefully kick some ass on snowbound. I’ll try and get a regular posting thing going too, though I can’t guarantee anything, work’s being a total ass as of late, and I’m going to HAVE to ASK for a saturday off so I can go see batman. Enjoy a video as I figure out how to pull off that one.

Hey, hey, hey ,hey. Ohhh…

…And… I think I like it.

Aaaaaaaand then I found this, and I threw up a little.

Blog post tomorrow, Caturday Style.

I know I haven’t posted anything the past couple of days, and I really should considering we’re currently in the E3 fallout period. But I think I can explain myself in a couple of sentences:

Work is being a bitch of a thing to wake up to, and to get called out to, repetedly.

Halo 3 on Legendary doesn’t play itself.

There, now Enjoy THIS link. I may ninja the Nintop with me to work tomorrow for some lunchtime catch-up posting, which would require further ninja’ing of a wireless connection, one that I’m not sure is active anymore…. and BBIAW.

this is how we like to do it in the murder scene

And we’re on the home stretch now with the Sony Press Conference. Microsoft Delivered yesterday with a well rounded refinement of the 360 platform, and Nintendo kept me not wanting their products just less than an hour ago. From Sony, I’m expecting nothing but games, I think they have to show the best lineup ever if they’re going to beat down the fact that Final Fantasy went multiplatform 24 hours ago, and the need to stop people saying “IT HAS NO GAMES”, as I often enjoy doing myself. They’ll show more Littlebog planet OFC, and I’m still hoping for a Rock Band 2 demo. And a “OH NOES HE DI-NT” moment would be pretty cool too, like gears 2 confirmed for PS3 or something stupid like that.

As a side note, I saw a Seal kill and devour a Seagull today, it was pretty awesome. The Seal used amazing drown-tactics to kill it proper good.

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GO GO GADGET SEMI-LIVE BLOG!

5-10 minutes to go, and there’s no picture on any of the live streams yet. I’ll try and get it going with Gamespot this time, so I can go fullscreen. There’s a Sony logo with generic electro music in the background. Oh Yeah, we’ve got fullscreen.

Come EEEEEEERRRRNN, hurry the fuck up!.. And why do they always play mind-numbing Electronica at these events. Maybe there’s some subliminal messaging in it. I hope it works, Sony needs a major boost this year to properly stay in the game.

OH SHIT IT’S STARTED. Now that’s what I call a stage, I’m counting SEVEN cinema sized screens. Weird gameplay montage, Riddick was mentioned. BIOSHOCK FUCK YEAH. LOL PS2 games roo. They’re going for the the whole shabang this time. GHOSTBUSTERS!

And here’s JAck Tretton, the main man, hitting the stage, with a very Ray Liotta hairstyle. He’s keeping it real, which is nice, compared to the previous Conferences. It’s a famous stage apparantly, Jack Bauer won some award on it or something. He’s going through the general Playstation history. He’s basically saying that the PS3 is in it for the long game. He’s made it official, Blu-Ray has won. “we’re he to talk about genre defining kick ass games” - I hope so.

He’s going to talk PS3 now. Resistance 2. Gameplay TRailer, looks alot better than the first one was. Nothing spectacular though. A developer appears, ninja-like, spouting Resistance lore. 8player online co-op. 60 player multiplayer. “huge scale” he says. Another Trailer. Looks pretty good, they’ve sold it well, I will consider it when it’s out.

Jack’s back, about to talk LittleBigPlanet.They’ve made a custom level of LBP to replace boring old powerpoint slides. VERY CLEVER. A shitload of launch titles are becoming budget titles, never a bad thing.

Talking PS2 now. Let’s see if he manages to keep the audience alive. Yakuza 2 seems to be the only thing that’s interesting there.
New PS2 bundle, with lego batman, and a justice league movie… ok sure.

Playstation Network now. Unique playstation ID for accross all platforms by the end of the year. Ratchet and Clank Future: Quest for Booty, for download by the end of the year. Shorter and Cheaper than a regular game, available by the end of the summer. Focus on platforming and exploration, continues the main storyline. Seems like a pretty good idea, like a PORTAL good idea, if you knowwhaddImean. Montage time for PSN games. Crash Commando, FAt Princess, PJ Eden, Pain Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse, Ragdoll Kung Fu. All look pretty entertaining. GT5 Prologue, SNORE. Gran Tourismo TV…. Is basically an internet TV station that shows Car stuff in High Def at Pay-Per-View. I suppose that’ll sell. Oh nice, Top Gear.

Playstation Home. Montage! MONTAGE! Looks more like Second Life. The ‘Living Game Spaces’ look nice.

Talking Download movies. Can buyable and rentable content. ALL CONTENT IS PORTABLE. Awesome, I love that. Works just like playstation store. VERY Hefty catalogue. Streamable full screen preview for all content. 1 hour to DL a full Standard definition movie, but can play 1 minute after downloading. PSP can get your content library from PS3 or PC, can then video out to a TV from PSP. That’s pretty awesome. (well I think it is -_-). OH SHIT IT’S GOING LIVE TONIGHT!!!! FUCK YEAH (This better include Europe too Jack oh it’d better >_<).

Onto PSP now. I wuv my PSP, and so does jack… aparantly. New PSP bundle, Silver PSP, National Treasures 2, R&C Size Matters, and cupon for a free Echochrome. New Title, Resistance Retribution. Third Person Shooter, set in europe. More Montage, they really love their montage. SW Force Unleashed, Madden 09, Loco Roco 2, some NBA game, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman, Patapon 2, Buzz Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles. Nothing there takes my fancy, Maybe Super Stardust if it’s pick-up-and-play.

Back To PS3, hopefully he’ll drop a bomb. “Life with Playstation”, it’s interactive CNN, hosted by sony, launching by the end of the month. Talking Sony Online Entertainment, Preview of DC Universe Online - Jim Lee, creative director. Been in the works for three years. Not actuall play as the characters, but join forces with them. Both Heroes and Villains. Help Lex Luthor steal some pies OHYEAH. WTF, The Green Lantern is White? Looks very sharp. No live demo, awwww.

80GB PS3, the main product for this year, $399. Interview montage with Devs, they seem happy with where it is now.

PS3 Montage, New Titles. LBP, Motor Storm 2, MGS4, Quantom of Solace, Socom Confrontation. Ghostbusters, Soul Calibur 4, Resistance 2, The Agency, NARUTO ULTIMATE NINJA STORM, Mirror’s Edge, Resident Evil 5, Singstar, GH World Tour, NBA 09, Buzz Quiz TV, Killzone 2, Fallout 3, I think I missed some too.

God Of War 3! Trailer. Teaser Trailer, No Gameplay. Out in ‘09. Infamous, Looks very Heroes The Game. Assasin’s Creed + Crackdown + Heroes. typed “inFAMOUS”. Brand new title, “not possible anywhere else” - Zipper Interactive (the original socom team) - “M.A.G.” Massive Action Game. 256 players in a game at once, big moments, players broken down into smaller 8 person squads by a team system. ongoing faction based campaigns. Character Growth. TRAILER. (no gameplay). Oh yes, this looks like something I could get VERY into. Looks VERY AWESOME. no release date dommit.

And that’s a quick outro from Jack. I need to get some supper brb.
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So, IMO, that was a very good show. And it focused on all the things we, the gamer, wanted - New Games and New Network integration. MAG looks super interesting, inFAMOUS, and DC Universe. Made me happy that I own a PS3 for a change, though, honestly, I think I’ll still get my multiplatform titles via PC or 360, it’s just the way it is.

I suppose if anything was missing, for me, it would be a mention for more PS1 titles to appear on PSN. It’s a fucking great idea, and I’m just LOVING Theme Hospital right now. Specifically when Europe will be getting all the additional titles that the Americans already have, and has had for about a year now. Some God of War 3 details or some gameplay footage would’ve been good too. MAG looks super interesting, inFAMOUS, and DC Universe.

Since that’s the press cons over with now, I think tomorrow I’ll do some digging and find some initial impressions from the show floor. And later on in the week, I’ll do a best vidoes showcase, with a fuckton of embedded players, enough to break your freaking browser.

Just checked PSN, and the Movies and TV section is not up yet. I’ll check tomorrow, maybe in the morning.

CYOTFS! Nin Out!