Evo 2k10, this year’s edition of the crazy fighting game tournament that takes place in Las Vegas, saw Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada & Yoshinori Ono from Capcom tease an excited crowd at the tournament.

Ono (after possibly joking about a Dark Void sequel) tells the crowd that a debut trailer for a new game will be shown at Comic-Con later this month – Game Informer claims sources have told them two Capcom vs Namco games are in development and this will be the Comic-Con reveal.

Here is what Ono stated on his Twitter a few days before the Evo 2K10 speech & mentioned was a ‘hint’:

SuperSF4 is nothing compared to what’s coming!

This is certainly a plausible game to be in development. I’ve done just a tad of research to see the plausibility factor of a Capcom vs Namco game, and based on what I found I’m pretty confident that this will prove to be true. Along with Ono’s hints and his joint appearance with Harada, there are a few other less obvious but possible tell-tale signs:

• Namco have only released a handful of games in the last few years, very few of which have achieved great success – the likes of Time Crisis 4, Tekken 6 and Soulcalibur IV have all been moderately well-received but were somewhat overshadowed by the return of Street Fighter on next-generation consoles.
• The likes of Street Fighter IV/Super Street Fighter IV and the porting of Marvel vs Capcom 2 with a fully-fledged online multiplayer component onto the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 has seen big success.
• A Capcom and Namco joint game has previously existed in the form of the 2005 action-RPG game Namco x Capcom – the game featured a massive character list.
• The GameInformer sources suggest two games are in development: one game will run on the SFIV engine and one on the Tekken 6 engine. This is definitely a realistic possibility as both engines are new and attributable to Capcom and Namco respectively.
• If a Capcom vs Namco (and/or vice versa) game were in development, Namco could take characters from the likes of Tekken, Soulcaliber and even Time Crisis quite easily as all series have next-generation versions. There could even be an unlockable Ms Pac-Man, or as Game Informer point out, the panda from Tekken…
• Capcom have a lot of cross-over ‘Versus’ fighting games with Marvel and SNK, as well as a Wii game with Tatsunoko – a Namco crossover fighting game series would be a great addition to a great list of games.

I’m really looking forward to finding out what this next game will be. I hope Ono’s new game is a Namco vs Capcom fighter – I would really like a feature similar to MVC2 on the PS3 & 360 that allows a graphic change to classic style so I can relive a big part of my childhood which involved playing hours of Tekken 3…

This has turned out to be a big teaser rather than a fan’s tribute to the Mudokon: Gravity Crash developer Just Add Water announced today that they are working on what sounds like multiple Oddworld games.

Here’s what they have to say about the new partnership with original developer Oddworld Inhabitants:

It’s with a huge amount of pride that we can announce that for the past 12 months we have been working extremely closely with the fantastic people at Oddworld Inhabitants, from what started off as brief discussions in June 2009, to now working on multiple projects, across multiple platforms.

“To work with the team at Oddworld has been amazing; being able to tap the minds of Lorne Lanning, Sherry McKenna and others has been fantastic,” said Just Add Water’s Managing Director Stewart Gilray.

“It’s almost symbiotic in that when something moves forward on any of the projects we just start chatting about new items, or what if we do this,” Gilray continued. “We’re all extremely excited to breathe life into the Oddworld universe and indeed to let it breathe life into us.”

I have very fond memories of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysey on the PS1 and while the pessimist in me wonders whether Oddworld is a series that won’t work in modern times, the optimist in me is just looking forward to venturing back into Oddworld once again…

[View with PicLens]

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Screens via Destructoid

Let’s face it. Games that stay in development for so long seldom turn out as good as people expect it to be. Alan Wake was in development for just about nine or so years, and I was hyping it up in my mind big time. I love my horror games, and I couldn’t wait for what I thought was going to be another game in the same vein as the Silent Hill series. What I got however, was a well narrated story attached to game that was anything but survival horror.

You can really see how nice the graphics are during the daytime scenes.

The plot in Alan Wake is certainly something I can appreciate. Wake, a famous writer with some serious writers block decides to take a vacation with his wife Alice in Bright Falls, which is a tiny fictional community in the Northwestern United States. Shortly after arriving, Alice disappears and Alan blacks out, waking up in a crashed car with no memory of how he’s gotten there. As he begins his search for Alice, he finds pages to a manuscript that he himself has apparently written – only Wake doesn’t remember writing it at all. The story gets unraveled through Alan’s narration, as well as through the manuscript pages that you can find scattered throughout the game world. One other thing to mention is that those manuscript pages you’ll be collecting actually document events that have happened to you, and also foreshadows events that will happen to you in the future. It works great as a plot device as well as a means to progress the story in an interesting manner.

Bright Falls itself is spectacularly put together. It feels like a realistic town, especially since there many spots that you can read up on the towns local history. There’s actually an achievement you can grab yourself if you find them all. You will be spending a lot of time in the woods at night, but even still the enviroments look great. You really notice the graphics during the few moments you’ll spend playing through the games daytime scenes. Occasionally, you’ll stumble onto a television set or radio that will play you a snippet from the story, or simply give you something entertaining to watch, such as the Twilight Zone inspired “Night Springs”.

Throughout the games six chapters you’ll encounter hoards of “the taken” – townsfolk who have been possessed by the darkness, which makes them basically invulnerable to conventional weapons. Certain inanimate objects can also become controlled by the darkness and hurl themselves at you. That’s where the games core mechanic comes in. Alan must use flashlights, flares, street lamps, spot lights and flash bangs (amongst other things) in order to strip away the darkness that is protecting the taken before he can take them down for good using a shot from one of the few fire arms he has at his disposal. The combat feels excellent however, as it doesn’t feel clunky and isn’t nearly as frustrating as one might expect. The flashlight also reveals hidden clues and useful items and ammo caches.

You must use your flashlight to strip the darkness away from the Taken.

Alan Wake is scary at points, but I wouldn’t go as far as calling it a horror game. The box promises a “psychological action thriller”, which is exactly what it delivers. In fact, the best part about this game is it’s presentation. It’s set up like a television show, and I almost could guarantee I would be glued to my television set if it were adapted to prime time T.V. It’s broken up into 6 chapters, or episodes, each one beginning with a recap of everything that’s happened in the last few episodes.

One of the only complaints I have with Alan Wake, is that the game lacks any of those “Wow!” moments. Don’t get me wrong, the plot development is very well done, but everything runs kind of flat with a lack anything particularly exciting happening. Upon completing the game, I don’t think there’s a single scene I wanted to go and tell my friends about. Also, the ending is very ambiguous, and was clearly left opened up like that to add the extra DLC episodes and probably a sequel. I’m fine if they saved those events for a sequel, but why not just add that last chapter on the disc? Why add the inconvenience of making me download the DLC to get the true conclusion? I mean, the game has been in development long enough – beginning as early as 2001. That’s just as bad as that cell shaded Prince of Persia Game.

Overall Impressions:

Alan Wake, although not perfect, is a respectable entry in the Xbox 360′s game library, and is actually one of the only worthwhile Microsoft exclusives worth picking up that’s been developed in awhile. With excellent plot development and interesting characters you can almost forgive the lack of imagination and the fact that it doesn’t have a true ending on the disc. In the end though, I have to say I enjoyed it and will more than likely give it another play through at some point. It’s certainly worth the rental at least.

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Zynga are behind games like Farmville and Mafia Wars, two intensely popular social titles on Facebook – the partnership deal (which supposedly was made a month ago) would see Zynga develop titles for the Google Games service.  TechCrunch have speculated that this service will see Google Checkout as the payment method for any transactions made.

Ignition will feature an “interactive comic-style game” that gives fans of the Dead Space series a “unique perspective on the events leading up to Dead Space 2″ whilst introducing newcomers to the storyline.

“[Ignition] is the first of many exciting game extensions we have planned for the launch of Dead Space 2,” commented EA’s executive producer Steve Papoutsis.

Ignition will supposedly have four different endings which each unlock a suit for Isaac to be used in Dead Space 2, which is released in January next year.

Via VG247

Let’s not beat around the bush, the original Kane and Lynch was bad.  Butt ugly with difficult controls and horrible AI, it certainly didn’t look like sequel material and yet, almost three years later, here we are… with early demo access.

Kane and Lynch have come a long way since 2007, as have their developers, IO Interactive.  Kane and Lynch have moved to Shanghai and IO Interactive made a similar fresh start in the east, with their Square Enix/ Eidos publishing deal.  Rather than struggling to make another bland shooter on a last-gen engine they let their creativity run wild the last year, with Mini Ninjas to show for it.  As a studio born in blood however, famous for the Hitman series, it was only a matter of time before IO returned to gritty shooters and Kane and Lynch 2 is undoubtedly their most adult work yet.

The demo sets out as it aims to continue, bloody and pixelated, with an opening cinematic introducing the game’s most striking feature, its handheld camera style.  Mimicking the style of a camera-phone video, your perspective bumps and shakes along with your movements and while you still have total control of the camera, IO have managed to pull off the raw handheld feeling that they were clearly going for.  The sound cracks and pops and the video is full of digital artifacting but there is still enough detail for the gameplay not to be negatively affected.  It is an effect that is quite popular in modern film, but entirely absent from gaming and at its high points; this style of presentation can make Kane and Lynch 2 one of the most visceral shooters around, despite its mediocre graphics.  It would be nice if the plot explained the handheld presentation but even without reasoning, it is a fantastic effect.

Kane and Lynch isn’t just the original with a new coat of paint however, IO have changed the fundamentals than made the first so profoundly awful.  The cover system is tied to the A button, replacing the awful contextual system of the first and meaning that there is never any doubt as to whether you are in cover or out of it.  The cover improvements are needed as well, as the AI have been completely overhauled.  At one point in the demo a team of police flanked me on both sides whilst another cop destroyed my cover by throwing a gas can and shooting it.  The AI are some of the most aggressive and unpredictable I have seen in a while.  The improvements IO have made in Kane and Lynch 2 may not make it the pinnacle of third person shooting, but they do make it fun, allowing the game’s innovative design and unusually gritty aesthetics to take centre stage.

Turns out Live players are a shifty backstabbing bunch.

Speaking of innovation, a special mention must go to the demo’s multiplayer mode.  Rather than producing the standard multiplayer suite of deathmatch and objective games, IO have produced a unique multiplayer mode to fit the dark criminal world of Kane and Lynch, its called Fragile Alliance.  The idea is simple; a team of criminals commit a heist (in the demo map, robbing an armoured truck) and have to escape the police.  This simple idea becomes a lot more nerve racking however when you add the fact that any player can betray you and steal your money.  This results in some very tense teamwork and a constant sense of paranoia.  With everybody on edge, one wrong move or accidental incident of friendly fire can result in half of the team going down in a panicked massacre.

Fragile Alliance manages to capture all the nervy atmosphere of con movies like Ronin and Heat and also acts as a perfect symbol for all the promise of Kane and Lynch.  It looks like this time IO Interactive have got the gameplay to back up their ambitious cinematic ambition, we will find out when the game hits shelves August 24.

Day One

Microsoft Conference:

Microsoft had a quite frankly sub-par conference this year – they showed off Project Natal last year and what they showed then was intriguing. The realisation of Natal looks quite disappointing, especially from the technological viewpoint – rather than advancing gaming, Microsoft seem to be focusing on bringing in casual/non-gamers into the gaming world by providing them a controller-less, easy access way of videogaming. Kinect, which is the official name for Project Natal, is quite definitely Videogaming Lite.

Games shown:

• Call of Duty: Black Ops – Call of Duty DLC exclusivity for Microsoft until 2012.
• Metal Gear Rising – Zan-Datsu, which means “Cut and take”, is the emphasis in the game – cutting things in certain ways gives you rewards.
• Gears of War 3 – 4 player co-op for the campaign was confirmed for the main story – the game is due out this year.
• Halo: Reach – single player was shown.
• Fable III – Peter Molyneux showed off the game, which takes place 500 years after Fable II. Fable III is due out on the 26th of November.
• Codename Kingdoms – Microsoft teased us with a new game being developed by Crytek. Looks like a gladiator theme…

Kinect was announced and was clearly Microsoft’s big focus of this year’s conference. It’s quite evident that the focus is on casual, user-friendly gameplay that allows anyone of any gaming skill to play the mass majority of games available. Kinect is the official name for Project Natal and will cost $149.

Games for Kinect shown:

• Kinectimals – the Kinect’s version of EyePet
• Kinect Sports – Wii Sports on the 360
• Kinect Adventures – like Kinect Sports but with different activities
• Dance Central – dancing game designed for Kinect
• Joy Ride – lesser version of Modnation Racers for Kinect.
• Star Wars game – Kinect controlled lightsaber game with average-looking graphics and no peripheral so no force feedback in both senses of the word.
• New Forza – includes a virtual tour mode where you can walk around the cars in the game and get inside them on-screen.

Kinect was revealed to feature video chat and an ESPN feature which enables people to watch archived sports matches as well as live content.

The Xbox 360 Slim was revealed at the end. The Slim is interestingly not slimmer, but shorter and will have a built-in Wi-Fi and a removable 250GB HDD which is stored in the bottom of the console. It will cost $299 / £199 and is already available in the US. The UK gets the console on July 16th.

If you didn’t catch the Cirque du Soleil performance to reveal Kinect, it was ridiculous and unnecessary. ‘Nuff said. Also, Milo didn’t make an appearance, but don’t worry: Molyneux has promised us that Milo will be a fully fledged title that is “ten times better” than what we saw at E3 2009. Molyneux is damn good at over-hyping up his projects – ten times better?!

EA Conference

EA revealed the list of games we can expect from them in the next year, along with other EA-related news. There was nothing massively special, just new trailers, some extra content revealed and a new EA reward scheme similar to Ubisoft’s ‘Uplay’; play the publisher’s games and get mini rewards for it. The big announcement from EA’s conference was definitely their first: a brand new Need for Speed game which sees the return of Hot Pursuit. It’s being developed by the Burnout devs Criterion: expect this game to be a return to form for the NfS franchise.

The games:

• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit – return to Hot Pursuit series. Demo showed cop chasing down car – it was awesome.
• Dead Space 2 – it’s back and looks scarier second time around.
• Medal Of Honor – gameplay looks like Bad Company 2. The genericness may override its genuine qualities…
• Battlefield Bad Company 2: Vietnam Expansion Pack – a surprise expansion of Bad Company 2.
• EA Sports MMA – online fighting game that pits your fighter against others around the world.
• Madden 11 – American football game, yada yada yada…
• Sims 3 on consoles – very self-explanatory.
• Crysis 2 – this looks fantastic and it’s on the PS3 and 360 so everyone can experience the crazy graphical spectacle.
• Bulletstorm – not your ordinary shooter – may be a breath of fresh air.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic – oh yeah!

Respawn and Insomniac were introduced to the world as EA developers.

A ‘Gun Club’ rewards program was revealed – playing games from EA gets you rewards like early demo and beta access, news and extra EA-related content.

EA Live Broadcast will broadcast EA MMA games around the world.

EA Active 2 launches on the 16th of November and will incorporate Kinect.

Ubisoft Conference

Ubisoft’s conference was a bit timid with nothing hugely standing out, but it was all games which was good. That being said, it should be a decent year for Ubisoft and a few games should be must-buys. The likes of Driver: San Francisco, Ghost Recon: Future Soldier and Rayman Origins are the games to be keeping your eye on. To promote a new laser tag game, Ubisoft set up a laser tag battle within the crowd watching their conference; Konami one-upped it on Wednesday with Lucha Libre fighters…

Maniaplanet was announced – it’s not a game, it’s a platform for games. It has been described as a “user-powered PC gaming zone” and there is an emphasis on user-created content. The games will be Mania games such as an FPS called ShootMania and an RPG called QuestMania.

The games:

• Child Of Eden – REZ replica?
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood – a multiplayer rendered trailer was shown. No gameplay but the multiplayer looks ace.
• Shaun White Skateboarding – schmeh.
• Battle Tag – laser tag ‘videogame’. Probably condemned to gaming limbo with paintball games – it’s not technically a game…
• Innergy – a stress-reducing game that pretty much just makes you breath in and out.
• Motion Sports – sports game from Ubisoft for Kinect.
• Raving Rabbids Travel In Time – Wii exclusive. The Rabbids are back.
• Ghost Recon – Future Soldier – Ghost Recon is back and looks excellent. Might get lost in a big list of shooters though.
• Driver: San Fransisco – another series revival. Should be good.
• Project Dust – a new IP?!
• Rayman Origins – a 2D home console Rayman game. Intriguing…
• Michael Jackson – dancing game with MJ songs and singing option.

Virgin Gaming

Virgin officially announced they were re-entering the games industry; not as a publisher though, but a developer. Richard Branson was at E3 to announce the return – I didn’t watch this announcement so I’m going to assume Branson painted his face red to match the Virgin logo…

Virgin Gaming will be a competitive online service that rewards players with cash prizes. The service launched today and will work on both the 360 and PS3. Virgin acquired the multiplayer games company WorldGaming and are using them to build the service, which will be free to users but will have premium content. You subscribe as a basic level user and can upgrade your account for extra content.

$1 million in money will available in the first year of the service and there are plans to include more community features over that period.

Don’t expect this to be a full retail gaming experience – it’s very much looking to be somewhere in-between online and console gaming that firmly sits on the fence.

Day Two

OnLive

OnLive has gone live on the PC and Mac: the streaming gaming service is said to be revolutionary but I’m not so sure. It requires a constant high-speed connection and it surely can’t rival the experience had with disc and download gaming… The big list of publishers behind the service may prove me wrong though. And if you live in the US you can sign up to OnLive before the 15th of July and get the first year free, no strings attached. Can’t complain if it’s free – unless you don’t live in the US like me, which means you can grumble about it on the internet.

Major titles available from launch include:

• Assassin’s Creed II
• Batman: Arkham Asylum
• Borderlands
• Dragon Age: Origins
• Just Cause 2
• Mass Effect 2
• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction

EA, Take Two, Ubisoft, Square Enix, Sega, Konami, Capcom and Warner Bros. are just some publishers backing OnLive – for the time being, the service won’t have much content but if the publisher support grows then the amount of content will probably grow rapidly.

Major titles to be released on OnLive:

• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood
• Deus Ex 3
• Driver: San Francisco
• F.E.A.R. 3
• Homefront
• Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days
• Red Faction: Armageddon

Dell are handling the ‘custom-engineered’ servers for OnLive as part of the two companies’ partnership. “Dell has the expertise and mechanisms in place that enable us to quickly ramp up to a mass-market scale for the delivery of the hottest games instantly through the Internet to gamers anywhere on a PC, Mac, TV and other devices,” commented OnLive CEO Steve Perlman.

Nintendo Conference

Nintendo surprised me: they showcased a far more balanced selection of games that did lack new IPs but were more core-gamer focused. There was the occasional whiff of casual gaming but considering how casual Nintendo’s focus has been in the last few years, this year’s change of focus was very welcoming. Some big titles were confirmed, some even bigger titles were announced and the next DS console was revealed with some big surprises.

Games shown:

• The Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword – game world looks stunning, character art style oddly plain.
• Mario Sports Mix – Mario spin-off sports game.
• Wii Party – *sigh*.
• Just Dance 2 – again, *sigh*.
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn – long-awaited DS Golden Sun game.
• GoldenEye 007 – even longer-awaited Goldeneye game. Includes tons of multiplayer modes, remastered gameplay & graphics and Brosnan replaced by Craig (presumably for marketing reasons).
• Disney Epic Mickey – not as visually impressive as the concept art suggests but it looks weirdly brilliant.
• Kirby’s Epic Yarn – Kirby’s back with a different art style based on yarn. The gameplay looks fantastic.
• Dragon Quest 9 – I’m not a fan, but fans of the series will love this announcement.
• Metroid: Other M – looks surprisingly boring. I think Metroid may have reached the end of its shelf life.
• Donkey Kong Country Returns – Donkey Kong on the other hand is still alive and well. This Wii game looked fantastic.
• Kid Icarus: Uprising – the triumphant return of Kid Icarus. This was Project Sora, the secret project announced at E3 2007. Will be developed specifically for the 3DS.

The Nintendo 3DS was revealed rather emphatically with smoke and the specifications were shown off: two cameras on the front for 3D photo taking, a sliding analog stick, a 3.5 inch widescreen display, a 3D depth slider and a gyro sensor were the biggest features. The 3DS can play 3D movies and there is a motion sensor. The best feature perhaps is that you don’t need 3D glasses and you won’t get headaches from playing games in 3D: this was a concern Nintendo managed to wipe away.

Twenty developers are going to be working on games for the 3DS, including Konami, Level 5, EA, Ubisoft and Capcom. Games such as Kingdom Hearts, Saints Row, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil and Ridge Racer were games shown as being in development, along with Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater in 3D.

Nintendo gave my favourite conference of E3 2010: their conference was a huge improvement on previous years. Another sidenote: where was the Vitality Sensor?

Sony Conference

Sony managed to cram in the most amount of stuff into their two hour slot but it weirdly took them a while to really get going. Kevin Butler managed to revive a dying conference with his lively comedic personality and the conference improved from there. Shame Sony spent so long touting their 3D content and Move technology…

Exclusive was the word of the day for Sony: they tied up a ton of PS3 exclusive content for multiple games. Also, Coca Cola has partnered with Sony to promote Move – drink Coke and you may win prizes.

Sony confirmed there will be twenty games in 3D by March 2011 – the games include Motorstorm Apocalypse, Killzone 3, the Sly Cooper Collection and Gran Turismo.

Applications are being taking for season two of The Tester.

Playstation Plus was revealed: it is the long-rumoured PSN Premium. Online gaming on the PS3 will still be free but if you fancy early demos, free content, invitations to betas and discounts on the PSN, you can pay $49.99 for a year’s worth or $17.99 for 3 months. Interesting to note that you only get to keep the things you download free via your PS+ subscription for the length of it.

Release Dates & Prices For Playstation Move:

• September 15th – Europe
• September 19tg – United States
• October 21st – Japan

The Move motion controller will cost $49.99 and the Navigator controller will cost $29.99.

Move bundles to be released:

• Motion & navigator controllers, Playstation Eye, Sports Champions – $99.99
• Playstation 3 Move Bundle (PS3 Slim, Move, Playstation Eye, Sports Champions) – $399.99

Lots and lots of games shown. There were a hell of a lot of trailers and compilation videos which showed brief glimpses of some of the games – the amount of content was squished in to fit the time frame:

• Killzone 3 – jetpacks added. Other than that, Killzone 2 with a new layer of polish.
• Sorcery – Move-orientated Harry Potter clone with a couple of slightly interesting aspects.
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 – Move demonstration. Looked really good.
• Heroes On The Move – Ratchet, Clank, Jak, Daxter, Sly & Bentley in one Move game. Awesome.
• Invizimals – yawn.
• EyePet – pretty boring additions. Will probably be bettered by Kinectimals.
• God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta – PSP God of War shown off with a shiny trailer.
• Patapon 3 – the rhythm game series for the PSP is back.
• Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep – another Kingdom Hearts game…
• The 3rd Birthday – Square Enix’s new PSP RPG.
• Valkyria Chronicles 2 – sequel to the surprising PS3 RPG.
• Final Fantasy XIV – online MMO for the PS3.
• LittleBigPlanet 2 – showcase of some awesome game mechanics. Big emphasis on more in-depth user creation including game mode making.
• Medal Of Honor – exclusive content shown. Beards are important.
• Dead Space 2 – exclusive content again.
• Portal 2 – Valve appeared briefly to show a trailer & say that the PS3 will provide the best Portal 2 experience.
• Mafia II – very brief mention.
• Socom 4 – Move controlled shooter, should make people forget the underwhelming Confrontation.
• NBA 2K11 – Move control etc.
• Sports Champions – the game to be bundled with Move.
• The Fight: Light’s Out – bare-knuckle boxing Move game. Emphasis on full body movement.
• NCAA Football 11 – college American football revamp.
• Start The Party – one of the Move launch games alongside The Shoot, Socom 4 and The Fight.
• Motor Storm Apocalypse – the 3rd PS3 Motorstorm game. Looks brilliant.
• True Crime – set in Hong Kong.
• Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 – awesomely awesome.
• Mortal Kombat – should be gruesomely great fun.
• Dead Nation – most zombies in any video game ever.
• DC Universe Online – self-explanatory title.
• Tron Evolution – looks more than just a movie tie-in. Set before Tron Legacy.
• Gran Turismo 5 – look at the shiny, shiny!
• inFamous 2 – reskinned, more approachable Cole.

And finally: a new Twisted Metal game was revealed. Due for release in 2011, the game features a helicopter vehicle as well as a new game mode called Nuke. In Nuke, you have to take out the opposing team’s statue by capturing their leader and sacrificing him in order to launch a team-controlled nuke.

Day Three

Konami Conference

This was very disappointing. There was a scripted Lucha Libre slapping fight between fighters to promote a game and a few big game announcements including two Castlevania games, an intriguing game called NeverDead and a brand new Silent Hill game, but in general this conference was flat, boring and generally dire. Not helping this was the announcement of Glee: Karaoke Revolution which was promoted by the show choir that inspired the TV show appearing in the conference hall and singing along with the game.

Horrifying.

Games Shown:

• Def Jam Rapstar – karoake rap game…
• Lucha Libre Heroes Del Ring – promoted by Lucha Libre fighters who later fought in a ring at the Konami booth.
• Saw II: Flesh and Blood – awful. Awful, awful, awful.
• Ninety Nine Nights II – better.
• Otomedius Excellent – Japanese import for the US. Lots of anime girls fighting people.
• Adrenaline Misfits – Kinect launch title with monsters on boards.
• Dance Masters – new dancing game from the guys who made Dance Revolution. Demo made it look average.
• Karaoke Revolution Glee – oh dear God, no.
• Beyblade – moving on…
• Deca Sports 3 – the Home Bargains of sports games.
• Deca Sports Freedom – the Home Bargains of Deca Sports games.
• Lost In Shadow – looks artsy.
• Silent Hill – the first title in the Konami conference of major interest.
• NeverDead – quirky edge, but invincible protagonists is a development no-no.
• Metal Gear Solid: Rising – a bit more info about the concept of Zan-Datsu. Same trailer as Microsoft conference.
• Castlevania: Harmony Of Despair – first Castlevania game with multiplayer.
• Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow – the trailer made this game appealing to me & I’m not a Castlevania fan.

Overall, E3 2010 was not an improvement over last year as the quality and focus on gaming was too erratic – there is a lot to look forward to in the next year and some fantastic things to take away from this year’s expo.

Unfortunately, the overriding thing I’ll be taking away from E3 2010 is that what was exhibited wasn’t so much a revolution and a step forward in gaming. The supposed innovativity that we were meant to be seeing wasn’t as apparent as expected – lots of first-person shooters, hardly any new IPs worth mentioning and a huge focus on motion control and 3D, two things that I don’t believe are the future of videogaming.

E3 2010 was bittersweet.

Naruto Shippuuden is an anime and manga series, created by Masashi Kishimoto. It follows the story of an orphaned boy, Naruto Uzumaki, who has been impregnated with the spirit of the evil nine tailed fox on his journey to becoming the greatest ninja his village has ever known. Naruto is one of nine Ninjas who house these creatures and in turn has become one of the nine targets of Akatsuki, a organisation who hunt down and capture these creatures to use them to their own ends.

Naruto Shippuuden is the second part of the Naruto manga and takes place three years after its predecessor, by which time the characters have grown and matured. Naruto: Ultimate Ninja is a series of video games based on Naruto and Ultimate Ninja Storm is the next-generation version of the game series.

With the sequel to Ultimate Ninja Storm due out this year, Namco Bandai released this trailer as a teaser to show us what the game will look like and what it contains. Most notable is that the game is going to be on both the PS3 and 360 (UNS1 was a PS3-exclusive). It looks to be the same style and gameplay as the last game, with a few tweaks made. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though…

Here are some details on Ultimate Ninja Storm 2:

• In terms of story, it takes place exactly where its predecessor ended.
• Now features many more playable characters
• Set for release in Q4/2010
• Available on both PS3 and Xbox 360
• Presumably covers up to the conclusion of the Sasuke and Sai arc.
• The special moves have been re-animated to be closer to the characters personalities at this point in the story

Overall, it looks like another solid game which strongly follows the format of the first. Hopefully, if another trailer comes along it can show us a few more of the newer features on offer as well as the playable characters. For now though, this gets a thumbs up from me and looks like another solid Namco creation.

Warner Bros and NetherRealm Studios today announced that they are working on a new Mortal Kombat, scheduled to release in 2011 on the 360 and PS3.  The game will take place on a 2D plane with 3D graphics and will include 4-player tag team fights for the first time.  Creative Director and series veteran Ed Boon stated that

This game really is a response to what players have been demanding: mature presentation, reinvented 2D fighting mechanic and the best, most gruesome fatalities ever!

I have to agree with Ed that this series reboot, simply titled “Mortal Kombat” looks great, but crazy trailers speak louder than words however so without further ado.

Rule of thumb when making a video game is to have a reason for making the game. This is the problem with The Forgotten Sands: it doesn’t have one. There is no legitimate reason for its existence, and this irks me greatly.

I would be more accepting of its existence if the game wasn’t rife with problems. The sword-fighting feels stale and monotonous and when you’re thrown into fighting set-pieces with whole squadrons of the undead the monotony is amplified. It’s a development no-no to have enemy fights triggered by entering an area and it’s an even bigger no-no to bunch the enemies up together in big groups like a moshpit – increase the difficulty of fighting your opponents through game progression, don’t increase the amount of them.

Swinging & jumping around the environment still has a bit of its charm left...

Another problem is the game’s length (or lack thereof). I completed it in one sitting and was done with it – Ubisoft threw in a point-based upgrade system but after the halfway mark I was already overpowering my enemies with just a couple of powers. There are collectibles which give you extra points outside of killing enemies but unless you have a guide-book handy you won’t find them all first time round, meaning you won’t fully upgrade the Prince.

Re-playability value here is very low: getting all the collectibles alone isn’t a good reason for playing the game through again because you have no personal connection to the game whatsoever.

You don’t feel for the characters – The Forgotten Sands is an empty, hollow experience of swinging on poles and jumping around things. The game tries to make you feel for the Prince’s dilemma of having to kill his brother to save the kingdom but it’s hard to feel sympathetic to his plight when the Prince constantly throws out cheap one-liners while running around the place. There is a side character who acts as a helper but her purpose wears thin and when she literally becomes integral to the storyline you spend the rest of the game wishing she didn’t exist – she provides sword sound effects later on that are not too dissimilar to Maria Sharapova playing tennis.

I’ll play nice for a little bit by detailing a few redeeming features the game offers: there is a marginally acceptable storyline running through it and there are a couple of enjoyably reminiscent cut scenes and gameplay mechanics that add a rewarding level of nostalgia. The time-reversal system is still fun to use too and Ubisoft included the ability to freeze water when you stop time, which gave the game a rare breath of fresh air.

Reminiscent is not good enough though: if I’m expected to pay £40 for a video game I don’t want to play a six/seven hour game that is almost completely void of ingenuity or originality. I appreciated Ubisoft’s attempted rebooting of the Prince of Persia franchise a few years ago: it was a bold move and while it didn’t pay off it showed that Ubisoft were willing to take a risk in the hopes of giving gamers a new experience within the Prince of Persia franchise.

For some reason, The Forgotten Sands includes an Arena mode where the focus is purely on the poor sword-fighting. It's not like the enemies were varied either: the genericism was copy and paste clear...

It appears though that my admiration of Ubisoft’s boldness was short-lived – what Ubisoft have done with Prince of Persia is what Marvel did with the Hulk film franchise. Rather than allow the reboot of their franchise to continue despite mixed critical reception, Marvel opted for sticking to the norm and making a more fan and franchise-friendly Hulk film that was comfortable in the norm. Ubisoft have done the same with The Forgotten Sands, although Marvel did a better job with their reboot of a reboot.

I can understand why Ubisoft would want to go back to basics but what I can’t understand is why they actually did. The Forgotten Sands doesn’t need to exist – it’s interquel status is very clear as you realise rather quickly that you’re not playing anything innovative or creative. You don’t remember the story, you don’t feel any connection to the game or the characters within it and when you’ve finished with it you’re still having that aching for Sands of Time you had pre-Forgotten Sands.

If The Forgotten Sands exists to unofficially accompany and make money off the film release, shame on Ubisoft. If it exists because Ubisoft wanted to try and forgot their failed Prince of Persia reboot by making a back-to-its-roots game that lacks creativity or purpose other than to give in to the fan demand, then shame on Ubisoft.

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

My fellow writer Balaam feels Fifa 11 isn’t a big a leap from Fifa 10 as EA are suggesting, but I remain optimistic. EA have released information about some of the changes being made to the Fifa series and what will be included in the next Fifa game.

Their flagship change seems to be the “Personality+” system, which is “the evolution of individual distinctiveness that sees a footballer’s abilities on the pitch mirrored authentically in our game, creating individual personalities.” What this means is that players will garner individual attributes depending on their styles of play and their real-life personalities: for instance, Rooney will run around like a dog chasing a tennis ball.

“We have reached a level of sophistication within our game engine where footballers in our game will behave and perform as true individuals.” That’s the opinion of Executive Producer Kaz Makita.

Here’s the details about Personality+ in full:

Personality+ distinguishes individual footballers from one another by utilizing a database that evaluates and grades each player’s skill-set over 36 attributes and 57 traits. The EA SPORTS FIFA franchise utilizes a network of 1700 scouts, editors and reviewers positioned around the world to evaluate each player, creating one of the world’s most comprehensive databases to drive its market-leading football engine.

Personality+ plus will be integrated everywhere in-game. Elite players are now empowered to showcase their world class skills. Real Madrid’s Kaka will deliver crisp, creative passes, Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta will utilize tighter turns and close control to dribble through defenses, Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney will hold off defenders and strike shots from distance with pace, and top-flight defenders like Giorgio Chiellini of Juventus will anticipate, predict and react to offensive players to win back possession. New body types and player models will further distinguish each player on the pitch.

In addition, goalkeepers have also been injected with Personality+. The real-life personality of the keeper, whether acrobatic or traditional, will dictate his style in game. Dive attributes will determine the keepers with the ability to reach for further shots while reflex attributes determine reaction times, so a keeper like Petr Cech of Chelsea FC will be able to showcase world-class skills.

It really does sound good on paper.

EA are also introducing Pro Passing which will make the way you pass the ball in Fifa 11 more controlled and personalised. Pass accuracy will be “determined by a gamer’s ability on the control pad, and player skill, situation and urgency on the pitch, yielding a deeply rewarding passing system.” There is going to be the ability to play swerving passes too, as well as do things such as apply backspin to lofted through balls.

These changes, plus the traditional graphical airbrushing, game mode tweaking and other things – EA are letting fans of the game express their opinions as to what should be included in Fifa 11 – EA are going to be unveiling new game modes and other new features at a later date.

As an added bonus to their new feature press release, six screenshots have been released along with what are presumably the three player images (who will feature on the front of the box this year) showing off: Wayne Rooney, Karim Benzema and Giorgio Chiellini.

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The internet’s a great place sometimes: someone has scanned the 10-page inFamous 2 spread from the July edition of GameInformer. Great news for people like me who live outside of the US – there’s a lot of content in those 10 pages.

Note that protagonist Cole McGrath from inFamous 1 has had a Sam Fisher-esque restyling – he looks more movie-star now. Whether this will impact the whole “real person with superpowers” thing is left to be determined… The scans also show us New Marais, the new area for Cole to fling electric bolts around.

If you want to read what’s on the pages in full, right-click the images in the gallery and open the images on separate tabs so you can zoom in.

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Darius will be able to use his “Nano forge” ability to rebuild the environment as well as destroying it this time around and, while all the classic Red Faction chaos remains, this looks to be a much more focused, possibly linear game.

As a big fan of the Red Faction franchise I am looking forward to this one but I am weary about taking the franchise in a more linear direction after all the open world fun we had in Guerrilla.  Expect more info from E3.

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Five screens of Motorstorm 3 have leaked today, they seem to depict a collapsing San Francisco.  There is more than a hint of Split/Second in the screens and it shall be interesting to see exactly how Evolution Studios explain the collapse of major cities within their loose fiction.

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Unfortunately it’s a Clone Wars MMO. Bad times.

SOE are going to be releasing a brand new massive multiplayer online game based on the Clone Wars part of the Star Wars franchise. Star Wars: Clone Wars Adventures will be a more kiddy-friendly MMO, the kind that is free-to-play and based on the kid’s television show rather than the geniune Star Wars films.

You will get to play as either a Jedi, Padawan or Clone Trooper – characters such as Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker and Master Yoda will feature. This MMO will have a stronger mini-game focus, with lightsaber duelling and speeder bike racing as the epicentre.

“Clone Wars Adventures is the ultimate destination for fans of The Clone Wars series and will bring the action and excitement of the show to players online so they can experience The Clone Wars universe firsthand,” SOE President John Smedley stated.

There will be a monthly subscription option too, but there’s been no mention as to what you’ll get with that.

Literal game-changer, then…

EA have announced a “re-invention” of the NBA basketball game series – NBA Elite 11 will have “an all-new technology base, a new control scheme and a real-time physics system.”

NBA Elite 11 is due out in October. I like that EA are taking gambles like this: if it pays off, we get better games.

Electronic Arts announced today that NBA Elite will be the new moniker of the long running EA Sports NBA videogame franchise. NBA Elite 11 will revolutionize the way basketball simulation games are played, with an all-new technology base, a new control scheme and a real-time physics system. Currently in development for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, NBA Elite 11 will be available in retail stores this October.