I've compiled a list of (most of) the amazing trailers that have come out this week. Gametrailers.com rocks for getting all of these up super quickly. If you have a Xbox LIVE, you can download all the 360 trailers and watch them on your nice big TV.
This isn't everything. I just sort of picked important stuff or cool looking stuff. There are plenty more. Some of these are trailers, some of these just show game play. Check out the site if you want to see some more footage of the games.
Prince of Persia: Yet another re-imagining of the series, and this one is completely gorgeous. A whole new style; the entire game looks like one breathtaking painting come to life.
Fable 2: October can't come soon enough. Lots of oldies are back, and a lot of new stuff polishes it off.
Mirror's Edge: Which makes sure to note - this is all in-game footage. Notice how certain items and pathways turn red - this marks the path you should follow in the game.
Dead Space:
The Last Remnant: My inner JRPG nerd is absolutely bursting with excitement for this game. Really excited.
Final Fantasy XIII: Now on Xbox 360! Thanks, Square!
Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise: Now with more pinatas! That you upload via cardboard! I don't actually know how that's going to work, but it's an upsetting feature.
Ghostbusters: With original movie cast voice acting!
Star Ocean: The Last Hope: Beautiful, and currently exclusive to the 360
Fallout 3 I really don't think I need to say anything here. Just see for yourself.
Gears of War 2 See the meat shield tactic at work.
Mega Man: I lied. There is a new Mega Man. Classic Mega Man, for the console arcades (ie: Live, PSN, Wiiware)
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party: Yes, he is using the balance board with his butt.
Unreal Tournament III: Now on 360 with...Gears of War content on disc? Not sure what that means.
The Wheelman: Now with more Vin Diesel!
Valkyria Chronicles: Is NOT a PSP game.
Resident Evil 5: It's Resident Evil. So...yeah.
Resistance 2: Or, how to take down a really big frakkin' monster. And I mean really big.
Sonic Unleashed: Pretty sure you've never seen a Sonic like this before.
Killzone 2:
Star Wars Force Unleashed: Rancor Battle!
Quantum of Solace: James Bond! Complete with Daniel Craig.
M.A.G. : Massive Action Game. Super original, right? Hope it can live up to it's 200+ players single map battle promise.
God of War 3: One whole (pre-rendered) minute with Kratos!
My Sims Kingdom: Desert Island action!
Wii Music: Play instruments, record sessions, conduct an orchestra.
Animal Crossing City Folk: Lots of old, a little new. Now with live voice chat!
DCU Online: Play your character alongside DCU characters!
Flower: Zen gameplay. Blow the flower petals with your wind (aka: six axis)
Fatal Frame 4: Terrify yourself on the Wii! Screw Resident Evil and Silent Hill. This series is the one to play if you want to be scared out of your skull.
Street Fighter IV:
Alpha Protocol: It's like Mass Effect but with Spies. And it's awesome. Interview and image stills.
Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia: DS vampire hunting
Harvest Moon Tree of Tranquility: Harvest Moon for the Wii.
Dragon Age Origins: Yay Bioware!
Lord of the Rings Conquest: LotR 3rd person shooter/action.
Rise of the Argonauts: I'm guessing it's about Jason and the Argonauts.
Halo Wars: Halo RTS. Finally a Halo I might actually be good at.
Sims 3 Now you can run, in real time, all over your town!
7/19/2008
7/16/2008
E3 - Everybody else
For your own information needs:
I recommend heading over to Kotaku, where you can read transcripts from live blogs of every conference. G4, IGN, Gamespot and Game Trailers have lots of videos from conferences, demos and trailers. 1Up has lots of coverage as well. Though to be perfectly honest...there's not a lot going on this year. The biggest and most talked about news has been the announcement of FFXIII for the 360. That's really been the only bomb shell announcement this week. Which, while exciting, is also rather sad. A lot of the games seen are games we all know are coming, though it is nice to see so many demos. And there's not much news at all on things that we're all now left wondering about (nothing on Kingdom Hearts, FFXIII didn't have a demo, no Mario or Zelda titles (or even Megaman or Metroid), Bungie's big secret announcement got blocked by their publisher). A metric ton of casual games though. Which is good and bad. It's good that they want to go after that casual market, but please don't forget about your hard core fans! Microsoft and Nintendo (as well as Take-Two and Ubisoft) are extremely guilty about drowning us in casual games this year. Fortunately what big titles there are, are big titles and look amazing.
And since I can't get the stupid G4 videos to play all the way through (which seems to be a common problem there), I'll be scanning through Kotaku's excellent live blogs for game announcements (which saves me from riffling through multiple articles and websites to get everything).
Konami -
Expansion pack for Metal Gear Online with new characters and things. Rock Revolution...something with Linkin Park? I guess it's their answer to Rock Band except...why not just play Rock Band 2? Silent Hill: Homecoming. Elebits DS. Castlevania: Judgment (Wii). Castlevania Ecclesia.
EA -
Video montage! Lots of Sports games (not surprising), new Sims, "New Casual Entertainment," Harry Potter, Spore, "New Partners," and Mirrors Edge there at the end.
John Riccitiello takes the stage. No power point, no market shares. Just the people who makes the games showing the games. Starts with the Sims and Rod Humble. Sim Animals, which I guess is like The Sims but with animals instead of people, with a bit of Sim Park in there. And the G4 stream cut. Technical glitches; yeah I'm not bothering with this. So here's a sum of the games they announced/displayed.
Sim Animals. The Sims 3. Dead Space. Mirror's Edge. Spore stuff. EA Sports - same old same old - NBA Live, Madden, golf stuff. Rupture and EA Online (you can track friend's games and stuff). iPhone games. Dragon Age Origins, new PC RPG from Bioware! Left 4 Dead. EA owns id now, I guess. They're making Rage.
Take-Two -
Mafia 2. Sports games - golf, NBA, MLB, Don King, hockey. Carnival Games DS. Dora the Explorer (Wii). Civilization Revolution (which is out already). Borderlands, Bioshock. Champions Online (which is like Heroes, but uses the Champions rpg system). Bioshock is supposedly getting a movie. Midnight Club LA.
Ubisoft-
Rayman Raving Rabbids Wii again. Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway. Tom Clancy's End War. Far Cry 2. More Imagine and Petz games (just what we need /sarcasm). Dogz Sportz on Wii. Plush Petz with keycodes to unlock stuff in Petz games. Imagine Rock Star. Imagine Movie Star. Imagine Fashion Designer New York. Imagine Party Babies on Wii. I really feel sorry for everybody who attended the Ubisoft conference.... Now Ener-G games...sportz for girlz I guess. Cheerleading (???), gymnastics, synchronized swimming, soccer, basketball.... Ener-G Dance Squad, Adventure Riders, Gym Rockets. Clearly Ubisoft desires to expand their 13-year old girl market. Shaun White Snowboard to save the day. And rounded off with Prince of Persia, to thank everyone for suffering through Petz and Ener-G crap. And something brand new called I Am Alive.
Capcom-
I think most of this is all Lost Planet the Movie news. Like, their entire conference.
Activision-
Business stuff about the Activision/Blizzard merger. Singularity. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (to go with the movie). Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen. Call of Duty: World at War. Spider-Man Web of Shadows. Quantum of Solace (new James Bond game). Wolfenstein. Guitar Hero World Tour (now more Rock Band-y).
Square-Enix-
Mostly FFXIII stuff. It won't be on the 360 in Japan, Versus is still PS3 exclusive, there won't be content differences between the PS3 and 360 versions of the game.
Bungie-
Bungie was supposed to have a big announcement Wednesday. There was a snazzy new countdown clock up on their site at the beginning of the week. It wasn't up for long before a letter from Bungie President Harold Ryan took over the space saying that the announcement was blocked by an unnamed publisher. In a marketing fiasco, the unnamed publisher, quickly revealed to be Microsoft (by Microsoft), stated in an interview that their big surprise is a new Halo game (not the PJ game and not Halo Wars, but something new), and that they wanted to save it for a dedicated event, explaining that they felt they had plenty of great stuff to announce already and that a Halo announcement wasn't needed. Except, they just DID announce it. Way to go Microsoft.
I recommend heading over to Kotaku, where you can read transcripts from live blogs of every conference. G4, IGN, Gamespot and Game Trailers have lots of videos from conferences, demos and trailers. 1Up has lots of coverage as well. Though to be perfectly honest...there's not a lot going on this year. The biggest and most talked about news has been the announcement of FFXIII for the 360. That's really been the only bomb shell announcement this week. Which, while exciting, is also rather sad. A lot of the games seen are games we all know are coming, though it is nice to see so many demos. And there's not much news at all on things that we're all now left wondering about (nothing on Kingdom Hearts, FFXIII didn't have a demo, no Mario or Zelda titles (or even Megaman or Metroid), Bungie's big secret announcement got blocked by their publisher). A metric ton of casual games though. Which is good and bad. It's good that they want to go after that casual market, but please don't forget about your hard core fans! Microsoft and Nintendo (as well as Take-Two and Ubisoft) are extremely guilty about drowning us in casual games this year. Fortunately what big titles there are, are big titles and look amazing.
And since I can't get the stupid G4 videos to play all the way through (which seems to be a common problem there), I'll be scanning through Kotaku's excellent live blogs for game announcements (which saves me from riffling through multiple articles and websites to get everything).
Konami -
Expansion pack for Metal Gear Online with new characters and things. Rock Revolution...something with Linkin Park? I guess it's their answer to Rock Band except...why not just play Rock Band 2? Silent Hill: Homecoming. Elebits DS. Castlevania: Judgment (Wii). Castlevania Ecclesia.
EA -
Video montage! Lots of Sports games (not surprising), new Sims, "New Casual Entertainment," Harry Potter, Spore, "New Partners," and Mirrors Edge there at the end.
John Riccitiello takes the stage. No power point, no market shares. Just the people who makes the games showing the games. Starts with the Sims and Rod Humble. Sim Animals, which I guess is like The Sims but with animals instead of people, with a bit of Sim Park in there. And the G4 stream cut. Technical glitches; yeah I'm not bothering with this. So here's a sum of the games they announced/displayed.
Sim Animals. The Sims 3. Dead Space. Mirror's Edge. Spore stuff. EA Sports - same old same old - NBA Live, Madden, golf stuff. Rupture and EA Online (you can track friend's games and stuff). iPhone games. Dragon Age Origins, new PC RPG from Bioware! Left 4 Dead. EA owns id now, I guess. They're making Rage.
Take-Two -
Mafia 2. Sports games - golf, NBA, MLB, Don King, hockey. Carnival Games DS. Dora the Explorer (Wii). Civilization Revolution (which is out already). Borderlands, Bioshock. Champions Online (which is like Heroes, but uses the Champions rpg system). Bioshock is supposedly getting a movie. Midnight Club LA.
Ubisoft-
Rayman Raving Rabbids Wii again. Brother's in Arms: Hell's Highway. Tom Clancy's End War. Far Cry 2. More Imagine and Petz games (just what we need /sarcasm). Dogz Sportz on Wii. Plush Petz with keycodes to unlock stuff in Petz games. Imagine Rock Star. Imagine Movie Star. Imagine Fashion Designer New York. Imagine Party Babies on Wii. I really feel sorry for everybody who attended the Ubisoft conference.... Now Ener-G games...sportz for girlz I guess. Cheerleading (???), gymnastics, synchronized swimming, soccer, basketball.... Ener-G Dance Squad, Adventure Riders, Gym Rockets. Clearly Ubisoft desires to expand their 13-year old girl market. Shaun White Snowboard to save the day. And rounded off with Prince of Persia, to thank everyone for suffering through Petz and Ener-G crap. And something brand new called I Am Alive.
Capcom-
I think most of this is all Lost Planet the Movie news. Like, their entire conference.
Activision-
Business stuff about the Activision/Blizzard merger. Singularity. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. X-Men Origins: Wolverine (to go with the movie). Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen. Call of Duty: World at War. Spider-Man Web of Shadows. Quantum of Solace (new James Bond game). Wolfenstein. Guitar Hero World Tour (now more Rock Band-y).
Square-Enix-
Mostly FFXIII stuff. It won't be on the 360 in Japan, Versus is still PS3 exclusive, there won't be content differences between the PS3 and 360 versions of the game.
Bungie-
Bungie was supposed to have a big announcement Wednesday. There was a snazzy new countdown clock up on their site at the beginning of the week. It wasn't up for long before a letter from Bungie President Harold Ryan took over the space saying that the announcement was blocked by an unnamed publisher. In a marketing fiasco, the unnamed publisher, quickly revealed to be Microsoft (by Microsoft), stated in an interview that their big surprise is a new Halo game (not the PJ game and not Halo Wars, but something new), and that they wanted to save it for a dedicated event, explaining that they felt they had plenty of great stuff to announce already and that a Halo announcement wasn't needed. Except, they just DID announce it. Way to go Microsoft.
Why G4 Bites (and other useful things)
It's the biggest gaming event of the year, and what's on TV? Unbeatable Banzuke. Texas Governor Rick Perry just gave his keynote speech, but all they're showing is Unbeatable Banzuke (and well, Cops was on earlier). In fact, a quick glance at their TV schedule for today shows nothing but Unbeatable Banzuke until later tonight around 6 pm, when they'll do a wrap up of the day's announcements and show some demos. That's it.
The only conferences they've aired on TV are the big 3: Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. No Activision, no EA, no Ubisoft or even Square-Enix or Bungie. Now, at first I thought "Well, maybe they're not allowed to film them." But they are. On their website they have videos of the other conferences, so I don't understand why they won't air them. They're supposed to be the "Network for Gamers," so where is their gaming programing? Why is more than half their programming taken up by shows like Ninja Warrior (which makes a little bit of sense, as it's a Japanese show) and Cops (which makes NO sense)? The only game shows (or show, honestly) they have are Attack of the Show and X-Play. Everything else got consolidated into one of the two. They barely show gaming history stuff anymore.
X-Play...isn't that great. And I really don't like Adam much at all (he's always so ridiculously wired). Morgan is tolerable; at least she thinks about the same as I do regarding the Mii60s (hint: she hates them). I abhor Attack of the Show; it's less about games and much more about Internet culture and...sex. Seriously, it's just sex. And occasionally some tech gadgets. I'm convinced Olivia is on there only because she has a nice rack. And I like Kevin even less than I like Adam.
The whole channel has really gone downhill.
Now that my rant is out of the way, Governor Rick Perry (my governor, btw) gave the keynote speech at E3 earlier today. I don't know why they picked him. Or well, I do. Last year he signed some tax break incentive bill that would give tax breaks to movies and video games (etc) being developed in Texas. However there are strings attached to this seemingly remarkable deal. Game companies are only eligible for up to $250,000 in grants (which hardly covers anything, but hey, it's something I guess). The catch though is that the grant cannot be received by companies creating violent games. The state can pick and choose, eliminating games perceived as too violent, obscene, or have "inappropriate content." Whatever that means. It's not really censorship, but it is saying "If we don't like what you're doing, you don't get the cash." Which is fair, I suppose.
It's nice to see such a high profile politician speak, but...Perry? As a Texan I feel the need to say that the only reason he's still governor is because in the last election he went up against a racist ex-country singer and some lady running with the image of the grandmother of Texas or something. He's generally pretty useless, much like his predecessor. It would be nice to see someone smarter and more competent up there, although I know such people are hard to find among politicians these days.
Kotaku has some highlights from the speech here.
I want to make it clear that I'm complaining about G4 in general, and not just their E3 coverage. Because honestly, there's like 10 websites I can go to and get all the information I need. It's the principle of the thing, I guess. It's a network for GAMERS, but there's no gaming programming.
Anyway, gonna see what I can see/read about the other conferences now.
The only conferences they've aired on TV are the big 3: Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. No Activision, no EA, no Ubisoft or even Square-Enix or Bungie. Now, at first I thought "Well, maybe they're not allowed to film them." But they are. On their website they have videos of the other conferences, so I don't understand why they won't air them. They're supposed to be the "Network for Gamers," so where is their gaming programing? Why is more than half their programming taken up by shows like Ninja Warrior (which makes a little bit of sense, as it's a Japanese show) and Cops (which makes NO sense)? The only game shows (or show, honestly) they have are Attack of the Show and X-Play. Everything else got consolidated into one of the two. They barely show gaming history stuff anymore.
X-Play...isn't that great. And I really don't like Adam much at all (he's always so ridiculously wired). Morgan is tolerable; at least she thinks about the same as I do regarding the Mii60s (hint: she hates them). I abhor Attack of the Show; it's less about games and much more about Internet culture and...sex. Seriously, it's just sex. And occasionally some tech gadgets. I'm convinced Olivia is on there only because she has a nice rack. And I like Kevin even less than I like Adam.
The whole channel has really gone downhill.
Now that my rant is out of the way, Governor Rick Perry (my governor, btw) gave the keynote speech at E3 earlier today. I don't know why they picked him. Or well, I do. Last year he signed some tax break incentive bill that would give tax breaks to movies and video games (etc) being developed in Texas. However there are strings attached to this seemingly remarkable deal. Game companies are only eligible for up to $250,000 in grants (which hardly covers anything, but hey, it's something I guess). The catch though is that the grant cannot be received by companies creating violent games. The state can pick and choose, eliminating games perceived as too violent, obscene, or have "inappropriate content." Whatever that means. It's not really censorship, but it is saying "If we don't like what you're doing, you don't get the cash." Which is fair, I suppose.
It's nice to see such a high profile politician speak, but...Perry? As a Texan I feel the need to say that the only reason he's still governor is because in the last election he went up against a racist ex-country singer and some lady running with the image of the grandmother of Texas or something. He's generally pretty useless, much like his predecessor. It would be nice to see someone smarter and more competent up there, although I know such people are hard to find among politicians these days.
Kotaku has some highlights from the speech here.
I want to make it clear that I'm complaining about G4 in general, and not just their E3 coverage. Because honestly, there's like 10 websites I can go to and get all the information I need. It's the principle of the thing, I guess. It's a network for GAMERS, but there's no gaming programming.
Anyway, gonna see what I can see/read about the other conferences now.
7/15/2008
E3 2008 - Sony
Sony's turn now. Wow, back to back (though I guess there's an hour break in there for lunch and travel). I said I'd love to be there, but...yeah I don't know if I'd like that very much. :) Still, would be cool to get paid for something like this some day. Just doing this for fun right now. Cross posting to a couple of forums and got some appreciative responses, which is cool. Supposed to be finishing up stuff for tonight's D&D game, but it will probably start late, or be canceled. My fiancee just got back from vacation and there was a huge pile of work waiting for him. It's like he's the only person who does any work around there sometimes. So he may be working late tonight.
Microsoft had some big surprises, Nintendo played it safe. Wonder what Sony's going to do.
I should note that while Nintendo didn't have any huge fan-boy announcements, they did mention that their Mario and Zelda teams are "hard at work" on something. GTA on DS is still kind of surprising considering the image Nintendo is known for, but this just means they're trying to branch out, which is a good thing. Sony, I can only assume, will have some God of War news. Don't know what else. I don't pay much attention to Sony these days since I don't have a PS3 (and with FFXIII going to the 360, now have absolutely no reason at all to ever buy one) or a PSP. I've laughed and mocked my fair share at Sony since the PS3 launched. Well, actually since the PSP. And I have no real interest in Blu-ray. We have a HD TV but...we're pretty happy with the quality that just the TV can bring via the correct cables and a regular DVD player.
Seeing a lot of criticism for the Nintendo conference. While it's true they didn't have much for their hard core players, it wasn't a bad event. Like I said, it was fun and entertaining, and you could tell that they really loved the products they were bringing out for you. That's probably the one thing you can always say about Nintendo.
OK it's starting now. 1:35 pm Central time.
Lots of screens showing various clips - there's Bioshock, some war games, football games (who cares), golf, Star Wars, singing, PSP titltes, Playstation Network. Quite a presentation. Ghostbusters there toward the end.
Jack...Tretton? He's the Pres in the US. Uh, OK, he's talking about actors doing things on the stage they're on now. Making some cheesy jokes. They're at the Shrine Auditorium by the way. He mentioned Kratos. Now he's giving everyone a history lesson on Sony's consoles. Heh, he's talking about console life spans now, and how they committed to a 10 year life span for the PSOne. Now he's explaining that their big titles were a year or two after the launch (sounds familiar). He's saying the PS3 will be another "10 year vision." Yeah, I'd like to see that actually happen. MS is already talking about their next Xbox for goodness sakes. But they are still making PS2 games; the new Ghostbusters game will get a PS2 release. Now he's talking about the PS3 as a media center. Blu-ray pimping now. What? He just said "Games like MGS4 are not only exclusive to the PS3 but [get this] only possible on the PS3." Well, that's rather pretentious. You can do that stuff on the 360 too, it just takes more discs. :)
PS3 has more exclusives than any other platform. Really? Guess you tend to forget that when many of them were horrible. Sorry, sorry, I'll try to keep my biased comments to a minimum...but I make no promises. ^_^
They have 3 successful products on the market now? Are they still counting the PS2? PS3 news now. Resistance 2. The camera just pulled back from the stage; that is SOME set up they've got in there. At least 8 screens up there. Wow that is a big friggin monster. Ouch. Ugly too. Oh cool, they rocket launched his mouth, and it reacted accordingly. Very nice. Seriously this thing is as big as a building (like sky scraper big). Looks pretty sweet. Talking up the plot now. Has 8 player online co-op and 60 player competitive mode (geez, did I hear that right? SIXTY?). Before we were seeing game play (probably a boss fight), now it's a trailer. All in-game footage, they make sure to point out. The game looks pretty large scale. And it is coming out....they didn't say.
Jack is talking about user generated content now. Little Big Planet. They've been talking about this long enough that I'm sure people know all about it by now. He's talking about how you can play it with your children. He's showing a level they created. Character customization. Cute stuff. HAHA. Kotaku was right, it IS a graph level. Seriously they're using the little character to run around some profit bar graphs. They're using the game to talk about their finances, geez.... He keeps running through the level past more facts and charts. Now they're using it to advertise their greatest hits titles (Rainbow Six, Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, etc). He's riding along a little track past the game cases ($30 greatest hits). Seriously this is absurd. Inventive I guess, I'll give them that. Made their charts and graphs mildly entertaining. Coming out sometime this fall.
PS2 now. Really? Sorry, I'm totally laughing over here. 130 titles coming to the PS2. Wow. Football, golf, Force Unleashed, Warriors Orochi 2, Singstar, Yakuza 2, more football, Mercenaries 2. $129 price for PS2. He's talking about Singstar and the eye toy, and now something called Buzz, which he says is now coming to the PS3 and PSP. PS2 limited edition Lego Batman comes with a Justice League DVD, PS2 bundle package for $149.
Playstation Network news. Gah, they're mowing the lawn outside. All PS users will have a single sign on through the PC, PS3, etc. Sort of like Xbox Live I guess. Games, movies, TV, photos.... He's talking about their recent new interface now. And all the DLC they have. "Now what's an E3 conference without a few surprises" Jack says. Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty. It's shorter than normal. I guess it's going to be a PSN game. $14.99, this summer. "We're not interested in filling up the shelves with titles no one wants to play just so we can say we have the most." I'll refrain from the snarky comments as they're launching another video clip...video.
Ratchet and Clank they just showed, Crash Commando, Fat Princess, Pixel Junk, Pain Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse, Ragdoll Kung fu. Lots of artsy looking games. He mentioned something about playing great games for the cost of a movie ticket.
Gran Turismo TV. Motor sport programming in game through PSN. I guess it's sort of like a Pay Per View thing. Not really sure. It's for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Available August 1st.
Talking about community experiences now. Guess he's going to get into the trophy system now. Which is just achievements like the 360 has.
Playstation Home now. Sorry, but I don't really know much about this. I guess it's like Second Life for the PS3? That's what the video looks like. And you can use Uncharted Drake's Fortune and Resistance Fall of Man with it. And Warhawk. They really are taking forever with this thing, aren't they.
PSN downloading movies and TV shows (catching up with Live again). Like to see how they plan to trump the Netflix deal Microsoft made. Sony Pictures (duh), Fox, MGM, Lionsgate, Warner, Disney, Turner, Paramount and...did he say FUNimation? Talking about prices now. Sorry, I missed exactly what he was saying it was for. I think they're for video rental and purchases. And you can transfer it to your PSP. They're doing a visual walk through now, showcasing the new video tab. This guy here is the PSN operations director. Looks like a 2.99 rental price. You can watch previews of the film you're thinking of renting. Buy prices are around 15 bucks. There are also HD rentals, which I think are a dollar or two more than regular rentals. They didn't mention how long you can rent the movies for. This is all supposed to be available tonight.
PSP time. He's talking up the PSP as a media center as well, and about how you can hook it up wirelessly with the PS3 (I believe). Now he's talking about spiked sales from their limited edition PSP packages (like the God of War pack). Ratchet and Clank Size Matters is the next package, which comes with a silver PSP and the new National Treasure. $199. New game.... Resistance Retribution. Similar to what they showed for the PS3 game, though...they are different games. Spring 2009.
Another highlight reel. Force Unleashed again, Madden, Loco Roco 2, NBA game, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman, Patapon 2, Buzz Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles.
Now Jack is talking about the PSP in the living room, not just as an outside portable.
Back to the PS3. Big title announcement maybe? They haven't said anything more about God of War yet. Did he say Google? Oh, he's talking about loading PS3 game videos onto Youtube. Life With Playstation. DC Universe Online. Everquest. Spitting out a bunch of titles here. Wait, Everquest? Huh. And here's Jim Lee from DC. Doing...push ups. Oh, that's a joke Jack made like an hour ago. Sony is really raining down the titles today. Neither of the other in the Big 3 threw out this much. He's talking about playing a Paladin in some game, missed what it was (EQ I guess). Apparently he likes MMOs. Talking about making yourself a place in the DCU by fighting alongside Batman or freeing prisoners from Arkham Prison (sp?). Video time. It's going to be on the PC too. So OK, the DC characters will all be in there, and you play along side them in some fashion with your character. They didn't show any player created characters though, just DC characters. Looks good, though.
Jack is back now. Talking about the 80 gig PS3. That's huge. $399. This season. Talking about the superiority of the PS3 again. He should just say "We're better than you, MS," because that's what he means. A video is playing of some developers talking about making games on the PS3. Touting the storage capability with Blu-ray. Not a big deal to me; multiple discs doesn't bother me at all. Long term development, talking about...sports games. That's about it really.
Time for yet another video. Little Big Planet, Motor Storm Pacific Rift, MGS4, Quantum of Solace, Socom Confrontation, Ghostbusters, Soul Calibur IV, Resistance 2, The Agency, Naruto Storm, Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil, Singstar, Guitar Hero World Tour, NBA 09, Buzz, Killzone 2, saw some Fallout 3 and Eternal Sonata in there. Most of that they've already talked about or shown. And most of that was not exclusive, though he keeps talking about how they have all these exclusives.
And now God of War 3. Trailer. Looks great. Kratos is continuing his fight against the gods (I think). Pretty short trailer.
Infamous. Some explosion killed a bunch of people. But this one dude got some sort of special powers. Looks interesting. Spring 2009. Also pretty short trailer.
One final title. Sounds like an online game. Andy Bodewin (that's so not how it's spelled) from Zipper Interactive is onstage. Something called MAG. 256 player battles (WOW) with 8 player squads. Massive Action Game. Squad Based, Character Growth, Ongoing Campaigns. Trailer looks good. Pretty expansive (it has to be to support that many players on a map). Massive is certainly an appropriate term.
Wrapping things up. And that's it. Well, that was quite the line up. No big bombshells though, really. Some good looking stuff. Really brief looks at even the big titles though.
Those are the Big 3. G4 covered the smaller ones too, but didn't air them on TV (boo). There's more throughout the week though. I'm compiling a list of trailers from the big games that are being shown this week, so expect that later on. Now, I have a game to finish preparing!
Microsoft had some big surprises, Nintendo played it safe. Wonder what Sony's going to do.
I should note that while Nintendo didn't have any huge fan-boy announcements, they did mention that their Mario and Zelda teams are "hard at work" on something. GTA on DS is still kind of surprising considering the image Nintendo is known for, but this just means they're trying to branch out, which is a good thing. Sony, I can only assume, will have some God of War news. Don't know what else. I don't pay much attention to Sony these days since I don't have a PS3 (and with FFXIII going to the 360, now have absolutely no reason at all to ever buy one) or a PSP. I've laughed and mocked my fair share at Sony since the PS3 launched. Well, actually since the PSP. And I have no real interest in Blu-ray. We have a HD TV but...we're pretty happy with the quality that just the TV can bring via the correct cables and a regular DVD player.
Seeing a lot of criticism for the Nintendo conference. While it's true they didn't have much for their hard core players, it wasn't a bad event. Like I said, it was fun and entertaining, and you could tell that they really loved the products they were bringing out for you. That's probably the one thing you can always say about Nintendo.
OK it's starting now. 1:35 pm Central time.
Lots of screens showing various clips - there's Bioshock, some war games, football games (who cares), golf, Star Wars, singing, PSP titltes, Playstation Network. Quite a presentation. Ghostbusters there toward the end.
Jack...Tretton? He's the Pres in the US. Uh, OK, he's talking about actors doing things on the stage they're on now. Making some cheesy jokes. They're at the Shrine Auditorium by the way. He mentioned Kratos. Now he's giving everyone a history lesson on Sony's consoles. Heh, he's talking about console life spans now, and how they committed to a 10 year life span for the PSOne. Now he's explaining that their big titles were a year or two after the launch (sounds familiar). He's saying the PS3 will be another "10 year vision." Yeah, I'd like to see that actually happen. MS is already talking about their next Xbox for goodness sakes. But they are still making PS2 games; the new Ghostbusters game will get a PS2 release. Now he's talking about the PS3 as a media center. Blu-ray pimping now. What? He just said "Games like MGS4 are not only exclusive to the PS3 but [get this] only possible on the PS3." Well, that's rather pretentious. You can do that stuff on the 360 too, it just takes more discs. :)
PS3 has more exclusives than any other platform. Really? Guess you tend to forget that when many of them were horrible. Sorry, sorry, I'll try to keep my biased comments to a minimum...but I make no promises. ^_^
They have 3 successful products on the market now? Are they still counting the PS2? PS3 news now. Resistance 2. The camera just pulled back from the stage; that is SOME set up they've got in there. At least 8 screens up there. Wow that is a big friggin monster. Ouch. Ugly too. Oh cool, they rocket launched his mouth, and it reacted accordingly. Very nice. Seriously this thing is as big as a building (like sky scraper big). Looks pretty sweet. Talking up the plot now. Has 8 player online co-op and 60 player competitive mode (geez, did I hear that right? SIXTY?). Before we were seeing game play (probably a boss fight), now it's a trailer. All in-game footage, they make sure to point out. The game looks pretty large scale. And it is coming out....they didn't say.
Jack is talking about user generated content now. Little Big Planet. They've been talking about this long enough that I'm sure people know all about it by now. He's talking about how you can play it with your children. He's showing a level they created. Character customization. Cute stuff. HAHA. Kotaku was right, it IS a graph level. Seriously they're using the little character to run around some profit bar graphs. They're using the game to talk about their finances, geez.... He keeps running through the level past more facts and charts. Now they're using it to advertise their greatest hits titles (Rainbow Six, Assassin's Creed, Oblivion, etc). He's riding along a little track past the game cases ($30 greatest hits). Seriously this is absurd. Inventive I guess, I'll give them that. Made their charts and graphs mildly entertaining. Coming out sometime this fall.
PS2 now. Really? Sorry, I'm totally laughing over here. 130 titles coming to the PS2. Wow. Football, golf, Force Unleashed, Warriors Orochi 2, Singstar, Yakuza 2, more football, Mercenaries 2. $129 price for PS2. He's talking about Singstar and the eye toy, and now something called Buzz, which he says is now coming to the PS3 and PSP. PS2 limited edition Lego Batman comes with a Justice League DVD, PS2 bundle package for $149.
Playstation Network news. Gah, they're mowing the lawn outside. All PS users will have a single sign on through the PC, PS3, etc. Sort of like Xbox Live I guess. Games, movies, TV, photos.... He's talking about their recent new interface now. And all the DLC they have. "Now what's an E3 conference without a few surprises" Jack says. Ratchet and Clank: Quest for Booty. It's shorter than normal. I guess it's going to be a PSN game. $14.99, this summer. "We're not interested in filling up the shelves with titles no one wants to play just so we can say we have the most." I'll refrain from the snarky comments as they're launching another video clip...video.
Ratchet and Clank they just showed, Crash Commando, Fat Princess, Pixel Junk, Pain Amusement Park, Flower, Siren Blood Curse, Ragdoll Kung fu. Lots of artsy looking games. He mentioned something about playing great games for the cost of a movie ticket.
Gran Turismo TV. Motor sport programming in game through PSN. I guess it's sort of like a Pay Per View thing. Not really sure. It's for Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Available August 1st.
Talking about community experiences now. Guess he's going to get into the trophy system now. Which is just achievements like the 360 has.
Playstation Home now. Sorry, but I don't really know much about this. I guess it's like Second Life for the PS3? That's what the video looks like. And you can use Uncharted Drake's Fortune and Resistance Fall of Man with it. And Warhawk. They really are taking forever with this thing, aren't they.
PSN downloading movies and TV shows (catching up with Live again). Like to see how they plan to trump the Netflix deal Microsoft made. Sony Pictures (duh), Fox, MGM, Lionsgate, Warner, Disney, Turner, Paramount and...did he say FUNimation? Talking about prices now. Sorry, I missed exactly what he was saying it was for. I think they're for video rental and purchases. And you can transfer it to your PSP. They're doing a visual walk through now, showcasing the new video tab. This guy here is the PSN operations director. Looks like a 2.99 rental price. You can watch previews of the film you're thinking of renting. Buy prices are around 15 bucks. There are also HD rentals, which I think are a dollar or two more than regular rentals. They didn't mention how long you can rent the movies for. This is all supposed to be available tonight.
PSP time. He's talking up the PSP as a media center as well, and about how you can hook it up wirelessly with the PS3 (I believe). Now he's talking about spiked sales from their limited edition PSP packages (like the God of War pack). Ratchet and Clank Size Matters is the next package, which comes with a silver PSP and the new National Treasure. $199. New game.... Resistance Retribution. Similar to what they showed for the PS3 game, though...they are different games. Spring 2009.
Another highlight reel. Force Unleashed again, Madden, Loco Roco 2, NBA game, Super Stardust Portable, Lego Batman, Patapon 2, Buzz Master Quiz, Valkyria Chronicles.
Now Jack is talking about the PSP in the living room, not just as an outside portable.
Back to the PS3. Big title announcement maybe? They haven't said anything more about God of War yet. Did he say Google? Oh, he's talking about loading PS3 game videos onto Youtube. Life With Playstation. DC Universe Online. Everquest. Spitting out a bunch of titles here. Wait, Everquest? Huh. And here's Jim Lee from DC. Doing...push ups. Oh, that's a joke Jack made like an hour ago. Sony is really raining down the titles today. Neither of the other in the Big 3 threw out this much. He's talking about playing a Paladin in some game, missed what it was (EQ I guess). Apparently he likes MMOs. Talking about making yourself a place in the DCU by fighting alongside Batman or freeing prisoners from Arkham Prison (sp?). Video time. It's going to be on the PC too. So OK, the DC characters will all be in there, and you play along side them in some fashion with your character. They didn't show any player created characters though, just DC characters. Looks good, though.
Jack is back now. Talking about the 80 gig PS3. That's huge. $399. This season. Talking about the superiority of the PS3 again. He should just say "We're better than you, MS," because that's what he means. A video is playing of some developers talking about making games on the PS3. Touting the storage capability with Blu-ray. Not a big deal to me; multiple discs doesn't bother me at all. Long term development, talking about...sports games. That's about it really.
Time for yet another video. Little Big Planet, Motor Storm Pacific Rift, MGS4, Quantum of Solace, Socom Confrontation, Ghostbusters, Soul Calibur IV, Resistance 2, The Agency, Naruto Storm, Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil, Singstar, Guitar Hero World Tour, NBA 09, Buzz, Killzone 2, saw some Fallout 3 and Eternal Sonata in there. Most of that they've already talked about or shown. And most of that was not exclusive, though he keeps talking about how they have all these exclusives.
And now God of War 3. Trailer. Looks great. Kratos is continuing his fight against the gods (I think). Pretty short trailer.
Infamous. Some explosion killed a bunch of people. But this one dude got some sort of special powers. Looks interesting. Spring 2009. Also pretty short trailer.
One final title. Sounds like an online game. Andy Bodewin (that's so not how it's spelled) from Zipper Interactive is onstage. Something called MAG. 256 player battles (WOW) with 8 player squads. Massive Action Game. Squad Based, Character Growth, Ongoing Campaigns. Trailer looks good. Pretty expansive (it has to be to support that many players on a map). Massive is certainly an appropriate term.
Wrapping things up. And that's it. Well, that was quite the line up. No big bombshells though, really. Some good looking stuff. Really brief looks at even the big titles though.
Those are the Big 3. G4 covered the smaller ones too, but didn't air them on TV (boo). There's more throughout the week though. I'm compiling a list of trailers from the big games that are being shown this week, so expect that later on. Now, I have a game to finish preparing!
E3 2008 - Nintendo Conference
Not super interested, honestly. Nintendo has been very hush hush (as usual), which either means they have a big secret announcement...or they have nothing. I wouldn't count on a new Zelda so soon. Though it is time for a console Animal Crossing. All I really care about is more Ace Attorney and Fire Emblem.
I think it's going to be hard to top Square's bomb shell announcement yesterday about bringing the new Final Fantasy game to the 360.
They do have their new motion plus device. It's supposed to add a higher level of precision and motion tracking to the wii-mote. Great for FPS games.
And here we go! Will Nintendo try to go for hard core gamers this year? Or more casual gamers (some more)? What franchises will be seeing new releases?
I think this woman here is the VP of marketing at Nintendo America (Cammie Dunnaway?)? She's kicking it off talking about her children and being a mom, but we all know that Nintendo is fairly family oriented. Oh, she's talking about snow boarding, which I'm guessing will lead into the balance board...and there it is. .......................... HAHA I thought that was Carrot Top for a second. He's actually an Olympic gold medalist...for snow boarding, I'd assume. I can say this for Cammie: she doesn't sound like she's reading off a cue card like the Microsoft dude did. And she appears to be genuinely excited. Now Cammie is playing; she's not bad. The game is Shaun White Snowboarding (the name of the fellow here).
Global president Satoru Iwata. What's he have to say.... Talking about the Wii development and how well it's done. Talking about the long lasting...ness...of their games (he's calling them "evergreen" titles). Basic Nintendo mottos.... Mentioning Mario and Zelda games may be upcoming. Innovation, etc. He's a little hard to understand. Talking about expanding the game market beyond traditional gamers. Gah, the camera signal keeps cutting out. Destroying the psychological barrier is his next point. Innovation again, engaging players and enriching the experience. It's all basic Nintendo stuff - what they stand for, etc.
Here's the creator of Animal Crossing. "In 2008 Animal Crossing comes to Wii." It's called Animal Crossing City Folk. Nice new additions here. You go into the city where Gracie sells her clothes from an actual store instead of a car trunk. Oh! You can dress up your character to look like your Mii; that's cool. Oh...they're coming out with a microphone now. WiiSpeak. It sits on top of the TV like the sensor bar. You can visit other people's towns, of course, like in the others.
Ah, here's Reggie, the pres of Nintendo of America. Sales numbers. Marketing figures. The DS is stomping all over EVERYTHING. Pokemon is a big seller, no surprise there. More sales figures; LOL at the PS2 outselling the PS3. Now he's talking about giving the loyal gamers what they wanted at launch, and pulling in new gamers at the same time. 3rd party game stats. Now he's talking about a balance of classic games, casual games, and new franchises. O.o They're going to preview just 3 new games.
Star Wars: Clone Wars. Showing some nerdy looking guys using their wii-motes as light sabers. Holiday 2008.
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. Well...it's Rayman. Not much else to say really. You can use the balance board with it. Fall 2008.
Call of Duty World at War. Showing people using the Wii gun trigger thing. "Coming Soon."
Lol - "As you can see, Wii creativity is mushrooming."
Cammie is back to talk about new players. She's showing the rise of female players with the DS.
More Guitar Hero DS (On Tour: Decades). Spore is coming to the DS? I didn't know that.
For Guitar Hero you can share songs through Guitar Hero on Tour and Decades between friends, even across the separate titles. All of these demos and videos (except for the snow boarding one) have been prerecorded sequences. There haven't been any more live onstage demos. Annnnnd more Pokemon, coming on November 10. Wow. Grand Theft Auto for the DS this winter. China Town Wars? It's not a port, but it does take place in Liberty City. Now she's talking about flying. Are they partnering up with airplane companies? Checking baggage, flight times, restaurant times with the DS. Using the DS at baseball games to check scores and watch highlights. WOW. DS in the kitchen? A DS cookbook. Nifty.
Reggie is back. He's talking about the Wii Motion Plus. As I said before, increased sensitivity, etc. Wii Sports Resort, like a sequel to Wii Sports. They're going to do a live demo using the new Motion Plus thing. OOO - they'll package a Motion Plus with every Wii Sports Resort, along with a new larger rubber sleeve (like what they were giving away before). Aw, she's playing frisbee on the beach with her dog. CUTE. Reggie is...riding a jet ski? Resort is all beach games. This other fellow is...chopping logs or something. Now Reggie and Cammie are going at it together in some sort of stick/sword battle.
Reggie is talking about Motion Plus some more. "We care about smiling faces!" That's nice. What are they showing now? Smoke effects? Lol Here's a guy playing a drum set with the wii-mote/nunchuck. Oh, he's using the balance board too. Miyamoto is using the Wii-mote to play a saxaphone. This must be their new music game. Oh, the other guy is playing drums at the same time. Well that was certainly interesting. It's called Wii Music. He's pointing out that this isn't a rhythm button game like other music games (like Guitar Hero). You just move your body around, and the game plays the notes to match the song you're playing. Oh, he is pressing buttons - that sets the tempo, like when you actually play the notes, but it does not determine the actual note you play. Piano, violin, guitar, can't remember what kind of drum that is, lots of different instruments. Oh, here's their orchestra game. Is it the same game? I think it is. Heh, Miyamoto pokes fun of himself: "Two years ago I conducted an orchestra. Many of you said I was pretty bad." You can record videos of your performances. The Wii really needs a HD expansion. You can play with up to 4 players at a time. But...there's 6 of them playing it right now. Oh, they're playing the Mario theme song. Two trumpets, bells, cow bell, drums. OK there is actually a little thing in the corner that tells you when to press the buttons so you don't have to memorize the melodies. Doesn't sound too bad, really. Looks fun.
They're wrapping things up now. Cammie and Reggie have been pretty amusing through the whole thing. You can tell they love what they're doing. Would be cool to be there; Nintendo put on a pretty entertaining show today. No Mario titles, no Zelda. Animal Crossing, two new casual family games, and some big title cross overs. Nothing huge, really, though WiiSpeak has good potential. But a good conference all around.
I think it's going to be hard to top Square's bomb shell announcement yesterday about bringing the new Final Fantasy game to the 360.
They do have their new motion plus device. It's supposed to add a higher level of precision and motion tracking to the wii-mote. Great for FPS games.
And here we go! Will Nintendo try to go for hard core gamers this year? Or more casual gamers (some more)? What franchises will be seeing new releases?
I think this woman here is the VP of marketing at Nintendo America (Cammie Dunnaway?)? She's kicking it off talking about her children and being a mom, but we all know that Nintendo is fairly family oriented. Oh, she's talking about snow boarding, which I'm guessing will lead into the balance board...and there it is. .......................... HAHA I thought that was Carrot Top for a second. He's actually an Olympic gold medalist...for snow boarding, I'd assume. I can say this for Cammie: she doesn't sound like she's reading off a cue card like the Microsoft dude did. And she appears to be genuinely excited. Now Cammie is playing; she's not bad. The game is Shaun White Snowboarding (the name of the fellow here).
Global president Satoru Iwata. What's he have to say.... Talking about the Wii development and how well it's done. Talking about the long lasting...ness...of their games (he's calling them "evergreen" titles). Basic Nintendo mottos.... Mentioning Mario and Zelda games may be upcoming. Innovation, etc. He's a little hard to understand. Talking about expanding the game market beyond traditional gamers. Gah, the camera signal keeps cutting out. Destroying the psychological barrier is his next point. Innovation again, engaging players and enriching the experience. It's all basic Nintendo stuff - what they stand for, etc.
Here's the creator of Animal Crossing. "In 2008 Animal Crossing comes to Wii." It's called Animal Crossing City Folk. Nice new additions here. You go into the city where Gracie sells her clothes from an actual store instead of a car trunk. Oh! You can dress up your character to look like your Mii; that's cool. Oh...they're coming out with a microphone now. WiiSpeak. It sits on top of the TV like the sensor bar. You can visit other people's towns, of course, like in the others.
Ah, here's Reggie, the pres of Nintendo of America. Sales numbers. Marketing figures. The DS is stomping all over EVERYTHING. Pokemon is a big seller, no surprise there. More sales figures; LOL at the PS2 outselling the PS3. Now he's talking about giving the loyal gamers what they wanted at launch, and pulling in new gamers at the same time. 3rd party game stats. Now he's talking about a balance of classic games, casual games, and new franchises. O.o They're going to preview just 3 new games.
Star Wars: Clone Wars. Showing some nerdy looking guys using their wii-motes as light sabers. Holiday 2008.
Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party. Well...it's Rayman. Not much else to say really. You can use the balance board with it. Fall 2008.
Call of Duty World at War. Showing people using the Wii gun trigger thing. "Coming Soon."
Lol - "As you can see, Wii creativity is mushrooming."
Cammie is back to talk about new players. She's showing the rise of female players with the DS.
More Guitar Hero DS (On Tour: Decades). Spore is coming to the DS? I didn't know that.
For Guitar Hero you can share songs through Guitar Hero on Tour and Decades between friends, even across the separate titles. All of these demos and videos (except for the snow boarding one) have been prerecorded sequences. There haven't been any more live onstage demos. Annnnnd more Pokemon, coming on November 10. Wow. Grand Theft Auto for the DS this winter. China Town Wars? It's not a port, but it does take place in Liberty City. Now she's talking about flying. Are they partnering up with airplane companies? Checking baggage, flight times, restaurant times with the DS. Using the DS at baseball games to check scores and watch highlights. WOW. DS in the kitchen? A DS cookbook. Nifty.
Reggie is back. He's talking about the Wii Motion Plus. As I said before, increased sensitivity, etc. Wii Sports Resort, like a sequel to Wii Sports. They're going to do a live demo using the new Motion Plus thing. OOO - they'll package a Motion Plus with every Wii Sports Resort, along with a new larger rubber sleeve (like what they were giving away before). Aw, she's playing frisbee on the beach with her dog. CUTE. Reggie is...riding a jet ski? Resort is all beach games. This other fellow is...chopping logs or something. Now Reggie and Cammie are going at it together in some sort of stick/sword battle.
Reggie is talking about Motion Plus some more. "We care about smiling faces!" That's nice. What are they showing now? Smoke effects? Lol Here's a guy playing a drum set with the wii-mote/nunchuck. Oh, he's using the balance board too. Miyamoto is using the Wii-mote to play a saxaphone. This must be their new music game. Oh, the other guy is playing drums at the same time. Well that was certainly interesting. It's called Wii Music. He's pointing out that this isn't a rhythm button game like other music games (like Guitar Hero). You just move your body around, and the game plays the notes to match the song you're playing. Oh, he is pressing buttons - that sets the tempo, like when you actually play the notes, but it does not determine the actual note you play. Piano, violin, guitar, can't remember what kind of drum that is, lots of different instruments. Oh, here's their orchestra game. Is it the same game? I think it is. Heh, Miyamoto pokes fun of himself: "Two years ago I conducted an orchestra. Many of you said I was pretty bad." You can record videos of your performances. The Wii really needs a HD expansion. You can play with up to 4 players at a time. But...there's 6 of them playing it right now. Oh, they're playing the Mario theme song. Two trumpets, bells, cow bell, drums. OK there is actually a little thing in the corner that tells you when to press the buttons so you don't have to memorize the melodies. Doesn't sound too bad, really. Looks fun.
They're wrapping things up now. Cammie and Reggie have been pretty amusing through the whole thing. You can tell they love what they're doing. Would be cool to be there; Nintendo put on a pretty entertaining show today. No Mario titles, no Zelda. Animal Crossing, two new casual family games, and some big title cross overs. Nothing huge, really, though WiiSpeak has good potential. But a good conference all around.
7/14/2008
Koihime Musou
Koihime Musou is based on an adult PC adventure game, in a Romance of the Three Kingdoms style. It's a 12 episode series from Dogakobo and Marvelous Entertainment.
Big breasted "black-haired bandit hunter" Kannu travels from village to village taking out bandits. When she arrives in a new town, she's practically run over by a group of children calling themselves the Rinrin Bandits. The Rinrin Bandits are led by a girl named Rinrin, and the wreak mischievous (though harmless) havoc on the town. Rinrin's parents were killed by bandits, and she now lives alone. The kids are mostly allowed to run rampant, but they've gone too far this time by drawing on the chief's wall. That's the last straw for him, and he insists that Rinrin be arrested and punished for her actions. The townsfolk believe she likely won't be killed, but a harsh whipping might occur instead. Kannu offers to take care of it herself in order to protect the child from such a punishment.
One of the children overhears this and they gang up to protect Rinrin. Kannu easily escapes their traps and explains to them that she won't turn Rinrin in. But when she finally locates Rinrin (or Chouhi as she calls herself), she discovers that the child is not to be taken lightly. Indeed she gives the older and more experienced Kannu quite a workout well into the evening before finally conceding the battle. It's clear that Chouhi is just lonely, and she invites Kannu to stay the night with her. Kannu explains that her family was killed by bandits as well, and that she chooses to fight against them instead of become one of them. By morning Kannu has convinced Chouhi to travel with her to help her change the world.
The animation is good, though they randomly jump to chibi characters for no real reason. Nothing about the story has grabbed me so far, but I plan to check it out for a few more episodes to see what the over arching story will be about. There's nothing particularly amazing about it really, though if you liked the game, I suppose you'll like this as well. I'm still waiting for some nice looking guys, but I won't keep my hopes up. In fact, I haven't seen any evidence of any sort of major male character appearing in the show, which isn't really a complaint so much as me just overwhelmed by all the boobage. There's nothing really notable about the opening and ending sequences. The opening presents a large assortment of characters, and the ending shows them all chibi-sized.
E3 '08 - Microsoft Press Conference
Fallout 3 looks amazing. Bethesda strikes again. The level of detail they're showing in this demo is incredible. There are various ways you can play the game. It can be played in 1st or 3rd person, you can attack in real time (like any other FPS game), or you can pause the game to target specific body parts of enemies and then watch your character blast away and your enemies explode into (literal) pieces. Environments look great, and there's just so much (gory) detail. It really does look fantastic. I've never played a Fallout game before, but I assume if you've liked the others you'll go for this one. To me it's reminiscent of the dark humor and detailed action in Bioshock.
Resident Evil 5 I really have no interest in, but it looks good. It takes place in Africa, at a site of a bioterrorism incident that the main character has come to investigate. For the first time in Resident Evil, there is an online co-op mode, which it looks like you're going to need to reach certain areas on the game. Not sure if that means you must play it that way, or if an AI will be available instead (or if you as a player just switch between them), but they obviously want to showcase the online feature. March 13, 2009, world wide release.
Lionhead! Woo Peter Molyneux! Time for some Fable 2. The game is complete apparently. I loved the first one and have high hopes for the sequel. Cut scene graphics here are looking incredible, characters still look a little cartoony, like they did in the first. Hilarious little trailer here. Dramatic bird poop drop. And here's the famous dog companion. Co-Op over Live...very interesting feature here. Your friends who are playing the single player game show up as glowing orbs, and you can invite them into your game at any time; they can interact with everything just like you can. Lots of my favorite things are back - getting drunk in the bars, getting married...you can have KIDS now? And it seems you can play a female hero as well this time around. Wow. Holy crap, awesome! October can't come soon enough.
Gears of War 2 now. Didn't care for the first one, but I can't deny the fantastic visuals. And they're sure devoting a rather large amount of time to its demo.... Now has a 5 player co-op mode where you can fight wave after wave of locusts.
I was not much of a fan of the original 'box, but the 360 is hands down my favorite platform this generation. I hope Square will present us with some good shots of Last Remnant. It's going to be their first simultaneous Japan/US release, and they'll be breaking from Sony to offer this on the 360 (as well as the PS3). There's no release date yet, but I'm hoping for one to be announced this week.
5+ million units ahead of the PS3 in the US. Wow. Not surprising, though. Little bit of LIVE pimpage...it really is a great online service. Not a fan of DC for games though, as I believe it leads to uncompleted game releases. They're partnering for more movie releases; no wonder they're releasing yet another 360 with an even larger HD. Hmm, they're changing the interface/dashboard this fall. I don't think there's anything wrong with what they've got now. Must just be an excuse to add a 360 version of the Mii. It's cute, but it's kind of excessive; though I can see how they can snag the more casual gamers with this.
Most of the rest of this it little arcade games and different features for the new interface. Gameshow games you can play with the avatars, different ways to share through the friends list, etc.
GLADOS! Now they've got my attention again.
OMG. Portal - Still Alive. A new Portal game (or is it an expansion?) for the Live Arcade. Portal anything is good.
5 seconds of a South Park arcade preview.
More arcade community games.....
More TV and movie announcements...stuff I can watch for free on my TV.
New partnership with Netflix? ............. Oh now that IS interesting. If you have Netflix and Live you can watch Netflix downloadable movies with the 360. But, of course, I can do the same thing on my computer. On Live though, it seems you can invite people off your friends list to watch them with you. Boy...way to promote reclusiveness Microsoft.
E for everybody game trailers. Including NEW VIVA PINATA! W00t! .... Oh geez, card marketing. *sigh* Buy cards and scan them in using the 360 camera for new pinatas in game. Oh I hate that crap.
Hm, here's a game that utilizes the camera to put yourself into movies using improv and games. It's called "We're in the Movies." Basically "movies" stands for "mini games," just that your actual self is up on the screen. It takes your movements from the mini games and places them into cheesy B-movie sequences. The motion capture seems to work well, but the movements didn't seem to fit that well into the movie.
Moving on to music games, which basically means Guitar Hero. And karaoke games. HAHA that was a BAD idea. They got the actual artist of this song to come sing along with the game...it's not turning out well. It's pretty funny. Duffy singing "Mercy" (yeah, I don't know who she is either). The game is called Lips.
And there's the Square-Enix president! Come onnnn Last Remnant!
Infinite Undiscovery (which looks great) Sept 2 in the US, a Star Ocean game spring 2009, and Last Remnant THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. YES. Footage! Woooooooo! Bet you can find this up at Gametrailers or G4 later. .... That's it? That was crazy short (maybe a minute) You can see more on their website from their Tokyo Game Show trailer (and you ~should~ watch it). Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant are on my must have list. Eh? He interrupted the MS guy for a "big announcement." Camera angle at the request of MS? WTF you can't see anything! OMG it's FFXIII. OMG!!!!! It's not going to be a PS3 exclusive! OMG OMG OMG. Yeah, the past hour or two has just been erased by that single announcement. Thank you Square!
That's the biggest blow to Sony since they launched the PS3. Haha, sorry that's harsh. But it's definitely their biggest blow since MGS4 and RE were announced as 360 titles as well.
Resident Evil 5 I really have no interest in, but it looks good. It takes place in Africa, at a site of a bioterrorism incident that the main character has come to investigate. For the first time in Resident Evil, there is an online co-op mode, which it looks like you're going to need to reach certain areas on the game. Not sure if that means you must play it that way, or if an AI will be available instead (or if you as a player just switch between them), but they obviously want to showcase the online feature. March 13, 2009, world wide release.
Lionhead! Woo Peter Molyneux! Time for some Fable 2. The game is complete apparently. I loved the first one and have high hopes for the sequel. Cut scene graphics here are looking incredible, characters still look a little cartoony, like they did in the first. Hilarious little trailer here. Dramatic bird poop drop. And here's the famous dog companion. Co-Op over Live...very interesting feature here. Your friends who are playing the single player game show up as glowing orbs, and you can invite them into your game at any time; they can interact with everything just like you can. Lots of my favorite things are back - getting drunk in the bars, getting married...you can have KIDS now? And it seems you can play a female hero as well this time around. Wow. Holy crap, awesome! October can't come soon enough.
Gears of War 2 now. Didn't care for the first one, but I can't deny the fantastic visuals. And they're sure devoting a rather large amount of time to its demo.... Now has a 5 player co-op mode where you can fight wave after wave of locusts.
I was not much of a fan of the original 'box, but the 360 is hands down my favorite platform this generation. I hope Square will present us with some good shots of Last Remnant. It's going to be their first simultaneous Japan/US release, and they'll be breaking from Sony to offer this on the 360 (as well as the PS3). There's no release date yet, but I'm hoping for one to be announced this week.
5+ million units ahead of the PS3 in the US. Wow. Not surprising, though. Little bit of LIVE pimpage...it really is a great online service. Not a fan of DC for games though, as I believe it leads to uncompleted game releases. They're partnering for more movie releases; no wonder they're releasing yet another 360 with an even larger HD. Hmm, they're changing the interface/dashboard this fall. I don't think there's anything wrong with what they've got now. Must just be an excuse to add a 360 version of the Mii. It's cute, but it's kind of excessive; though I can see how they can snag the more casual gamers with this.
Most of the rest of this it little arcade games and different features for the new interface. Gameshow games you can play with the avatars, different ways to share through the friends list, etc.
GLADOS! Now they've got my attention again.
OMG. Portal - Still Alive. A new Portal game (or is it an expansion?) for the Live Arcade. Portal anything is good.
5 seconds of a South Park arcade preview.
More arcade community games.....
More TV and movie announcements...stuff I can watch for free on my TV.
New partnership with Netflix? ............. Oh now that IS interesting. If you have Netflix and Live you can watch Netflix downloadable movies with the 360. But, of course, I can do the same thing on my computer. On Live though, it seems you can invite people off your friends list to watch them with you. Boy...way to promote reclusiveness Microsoft.
E for everybody game trailers. Including NEW VIVA PINATA! W00t! .... Oh geez, card marketing. *sigh* Buy cards and scan them in using the 360 camera for new pinatas in game. Oh I hate that crap.
Hm, here's a game that utilizes the camera to put yourself into movies using improv and games. It's called "We're in the Movies." Basically "movies" stands for "mini games," just that your actual self is up on the screen. It takes your movements from the mini games and places them into cheesy B-movie sequences. The motion capture seems to work well, but the movements didn't seem to fit that well into the movie.
Moving on to music games, which basically means Guitar Hero. And karaoke games. HAHA that was a BAD idea. They got the actual artist of this song to come sing along with the game...it's not turning out well. It's pretty funny. Duffy singing "Mercy" (yeah, I don't know who she is either). The game is called Lips.
And there's the Square-Enix president! Come onnnn Last Remnant!
Infinite Undiscovery (which looks great) Sept 2 in the US, a Star Ocean game spring 2009, and Last Remnant THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. YES. Footage! Woooooooo! Bet you can find this up at Gametrailers or G4 later. .... That's it? That was crazy short (maybe a minute) You can see more on their website from their Tokyo Game Show trailer (and you ~should~ watch it). Infinite Undiscovery and Last Remnant are on my must have list. Eh? He interrupted the MS guy for a "big announcement." Camera angle at the request of MS? WTF you can't see anything! OMG it's FFXIII. OMG!!!!! It's not going to be a PS3 exclusive! OMG OMG OMG. Yeah, the past hour or two has just been erased by that single announcement. Thank you Square!
That's the biggest blow to Sony since they launched the PS3. Haha, sorry that's harsh. But it's definitely their biggest blow since MGS4 and RE were announced as 360 titles as well.
Yakushiji Ryoko no Kaiki Jikenbo
Or, simply, Ryoko's Case File. 13 episodes from Dogakobo and Starchild Records.
The show opens with a vision of a girl committing suicide. Quite powerful imagery to put right at the beginning of the show, as these sorts of things are usually foreshadowing an equally powerful event. Police officer Izumida Jun'ichirou has been having this nightmare frequently. It seems to be a dream about his boss, the very sexy Yakushiji Ryoko.
Izumida is supposed to be Ryoko's subordinate, but he's more of a babysitter and servant, running around town with her and even carrying her shopping bags. He's no pushover though; he has an eye for detail and good deductive skills. They're on one of these outings when their car is hit by a man who mysteriously ages until he dies in an explosion of dust (or smoke?). Apparently these sorts of supernatural things happen often when Izumida is out with Ryoko, as if she attracts them. They chase a suspicious looking fellow down an alley, but he slips inside a nearby building, dropping a strange ring along the way which Izumida picks up. The owner of the building, a man called Soga who is a former member of the Ministry of Health (with ties to the QTR), refuses to let them go inside to search without a warrant. Ryoko is incredibly smart and capable however, and after calling Soga out on his past and effortlessly beating down one of his subordinates, he lets them inside. They quickly decide that the ring is their real lead, and so what follows is a rather amusing sequence where Ryoko is shopping for a swim suit and insists on a somewhat embarrassed Izumida's opinion.
The ring they picked up turns out to be from an organization called the Tsukuyomi Party, an occult group that worship Tsukuyomi and is led by a small child, but run by a group of executives. They take the ring to a man named Professor Tatsumi, who helps them with their supernatural cases. He's done an autopsy on their body and discovered contaminated food in his stomach. The catch is that the food was pre-contaminated before it was cooked, and it was imported from somewhere. Ryoko goes straight to the top and points to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. However she doesn't accuse them of poisoning the food, but of letting it slip past their inspections. She's been itching to delve into the ministry, which she is sure is riddled with scandals, and this is her big chance.
They soon meet up with Ryoko's rival, Muromachi Yukiko, whom she's known since college. Yukiko is escorting someone to a party for the QTR (Quarantine Technical Research, a division of the Ministry of Health), and Ryoko insists on going as well. Soga's people aren't going to sit quietly by, however. They set up a trap for them, but they've sorely underestimated both Ryoko and Izumida. (One of the goons makes a comment that Izumida looks good in a tux, and holy cow is he right.)
The animation is nice, and I love the opening sequence. The song that plays is very jazzy and catchy, and fits the tone of the show very well. The ending theme is a more subdued jazz song, and is equally fitting, though in a different way. Don't be turned off by the supernatural elements of the show; it's a very gritty show with a realistic feel, and the supernatural elements are (so far) handled well and don't overshadow the rest of the show. Check it out if you're into crime/detective shows.
Time for lunch and G4 E3 news (I hate G4, but they're the only channel to get that sort of news from, so it's better than nothing). There's a big Fable 2 party this week, so hopefully there will be more news on that front. Hopefully some news on what will be happening with the Halo franchise. FFXIII is oddly absent; for a game coming out so soon, Square doesn't have a playable demo there. This year will be fairly subdued, as it's an industry only event instead of the massive convention it used to be. The ESA hasn't been doing a good job of handling the industry lately, either, which seems to be reflected in the multiple companies that have dropped from the organization recently. The future of E3 seems to be a little shaky.
7/13/2008
Kure-nai
Kure-nai - 12 episodes from Brains Base
Kure-nai follows the life of high school student Shinkurou Kurenai. Shinkurou has a rather unique job as a dispute mediator for a woman named Benika. This basically means that he goes on odd jobs for her where he inevitably ends up getting into brutal fights. Despite his appearance, he is an excellent fighter, and has studied a particular and unique fighting style developed by the Houzuki family. An orphan whose parents died in a terrorist attack, Shinkurou devotes his life to Benika, the woman who rescued him. Her trust in him leads her to give him her biggest job yet - protecting a 7 year old girl named Murasaki Kuhouin.
But Murasaki is no ordinary girl. She is a woman of the Kuhouins, a very prestigious family line with a very dark secret. The Kuhouin family is entirely pure blooded as a result of incestuous inbreeding. The women in the family are forced to live in the Inner Sanctum and are not allowed access to the "outside" from the moment they are born until the day they die. When they reach a certain age (around 14 or 15), they are forced to breed with their own brothers to produce children. The men of the family in turn marry women outside of the family, but they do not have children with them. Instead the women they marry raise the Kuhouin children as their own. For all purposes, any woman born into the family does not exist, so that they keep their way of life a secret.
Murasaki's real mother, Souju, asked Benika (who had worked for the family) to take Murasaki and show her the outside world so that she could discover what it means to love and be loved, and to have her own will. When Souju committed suicide, Benika made good on her promise and kidnapped Murasaki, then turned her over to Shinkurou for protection. Shinkurou is not only meant to protect her, however, but to show her love and give her precious memories. Of course, the Kuhouins will not just let their only current daughter leave. The family is dangerous, and Shinkurou will be harshly tested during this job. He is not alone, however; Benika's subordinate Yayoi is keeping an eye on them, and his two female neighbors, Tamaki and Yamie, help him show Murasaki what a world away from the Kuhouins can be like.
It's a very sad, but at the same time a very charming story. The relationship that develops between Shinkurou and Murasaki is innocent and precious, as he teaches her what it means to live a normal life. She is remarkably adept for a 7 year old, and her initial shock at having to live in a tiny one room apartment with no servants quickly makes way for a mature understanding of the world that only a child could have.
There's a good amount of action in the show, because even though his main task it watching over Murasaki, Shinkurou still has other jobs to attend to. We see a darker side of him that manifests when he lets himself go during a fight. He has a weapon, a horn, that he has put into himself in an effort to become stronger (it pops out of his forearm like a bone), but he tries not to use it because he realizes that he needs to become stronger on his own. His selective use of this ability is rather strange, however, as he seems to use it quite often when it is not necessary, and never when it truly is (like when protecting Murasaki, though it's possible he simply does not want her to see the monster he becomes).
The animation is excellent. I was particularly taken with the animation of the female characters' hair. I'm sure that seems like a strange thing to take note of, but if you watch the show, you'll see the way it falls around their faces and shoulders; it's quite beautiful. The opening animation is adorable, using very stylized and artful depictions of the characters (they sort of look like cardboard cut outs or paper dolls). I like the ending song ("Crossing Day" by Ryoko Shintani for the first few half of the series) the best, but the opening is also good ("Love Jump" by Minami Kuribayashi). It's a short series, and it's definitely worth checking out.
The show aired in the 2008 spring season, from April through June.
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