E3 is epic right? Well here comes one of the a gameplay trailer deserving of that word. Following their E3 2012 conference Nintendo began to stream a new E3 trailer for the Wii U exclusive Rayman Legends. The trailer is called ‘Platforming Hero’ and is undeniably epic.
Rayman Legends is an exclusive launch title for the Wii U and follows in the footsteps of the previous instalment in the Rayman franchise, Rayman Origins (a reboot of the side-scrolling platformer Rayman games) both visually and gameplay wise.
You can check out the ‘Platforming Hero’ E3 trailer for Rayman Legends below. It’s epic, it’s badass and by god it is legendary!
Talk about a pleasant surprise! During Nintendo’s E3 2012 conference, a small segment of the presentation was devoted to highlighting the large variety of third party developed games that will potentially be available at the launch of the brand new Wii U console. Amongst them was one of Bioware’s recent gaming masterpieces: Mass Effect. The brief footage shown highlighted scenes and gameplay moments from Mass Effect 3, still considered to be the finale by and large of the ME series. While groups of players who own ME3 on other consoles might yawn to disregard the prospect with a casual shrug, let’s not forget the implication exists for potential future Bioware releases on the Wii U. And it can’t be denied that it would be a most exciting prospect for the future of the console!
Don’t forget to check below for the offical Mass Effect 3 trailer courtesy of Nintendo.
During their press conference at E3 2012, Nintendo revealed a new title set to launch alongside the Wii U console. The game is currently tentatively titled Project P-100 and is said to be a spiritual successor to Viewtiful Joe with some Pikmin-like elements.
The game is described as ‘mass-hero action’ game, due to it’s large quantity of battling heroes on screen at any one time. Project P-100 is being developed by Platinum Games exclusively for the Wii U console.
You can check out Nintendo’s excellent trailer for the game below. Be sure to let us know what you think of this very frenetic paced ‘mass-hero action’ game in the comments section.
Sorry vegans, this case is not for you. Incase is expanding their Snap Case line with the Leather Snap Case for the iPhone 4/4s. The case keeps the traditional Snap Case design featuring a hardshell construction to protect your iPhone from scratches and impact. The Snap Case easily installs with a snap on attachment system and comes with a stand for hands free viewing. The case is available in brown or black leather and provides openings for easy access to all ports and buttons. The leather is dyed with semi-transparent aniline dyes that allows the leather to keep its unique characteristics. Like any good leather, a rich patina will form that will give your case a unique distressed look that only time can create. The Leather Snap Case is available for $49.95 on Incase’s website.
Steelseries saved the major announcements for E3 this year. Alongside of the previously announced Sensei MLG edition, Steelseries has teamed up with Counter Strike: Global Offensive, DOTA 2, Guild Wars 2, and World of Warcraft for a total of 12 new products.
For Guild Wars 2, Steelseries has announced a new variation of their on ear Flux headset. White bodied with red padding and red logos, the Guild Wars 2 Gaming Headset features an in-line microphone on the cord, packs up easily for travel, and is priced at $99.99 / €99.99. The Guild Wars 2 Gaming Mouse is priced at $69.99 / €69.99 and has a visual design from ArenaNet with red illumination, seven macroable buttons, and a 5670 CPI laser sensor. Going hand in hand with the mouse are three different QcK Mouspads priced at $14.99 / €14.99. Available with the images of Logan, Eir, or the Guild Wars 2 logo, the QcK Mousepads all feature non slip rubber bases, and a texture optimized for a smooth mousing experience. The Guild Wars 2 branded keyboard was also announced, but no details were given beyond a later in the year release date.
In the Valve domain, Steelseries is releasing the DOTA 2 Limited Edition Mouse Bundle featuring a branded grey and orange Kana mouse, a mid sized ambidextrous mouse with a 3200 CPI optical sensor, six buttons, and smooth UPE mouse feet. Also included in the bundle is a QcK Mini DOTA 2 cloth mouse pad measuring 9.8 inches by 8.3 inches and comes with an exclusive in game item, Kantusa the Script Sword. Players will be able to take this bundle home for $64.99 / €64.99. Counter Strike: Global Offensive is getting some love too with the a Steelseries Siberia v2 Headset in a woodland camouflage pattern. Priced at $99.99 / €99.99 MSRP, the closed headset features in-line controls, leather ear cushions, 50mm drivers, and a pull out microphone when you need to scream out orders to your team. In addition CS:GO is also getting a branded Kanamouse and QcK Mousepad. These will be sold seperately at $59.99 / €59.99 and $14.99 / €14.99 respectively.
Finally, Steelseries is releasing a brand new product for World of Warcraft. They have taken their wildly popular World of Warcraft mice and chopped off the cable and added a wireless transmitter. Designed by Blizzard, the World of Warcraft Wireless Mouse is steel grey and blue and sports the WoW logo and the map of Azeroth. The mouse has 11 programmable buttons with a drag and drop software that will allow easy macro writing with 130 pre made game commands and the custom macro creation. Running out of battery in the middle of your raid? No problem, switch from the 2.4GHz wireless transmitter to a USB cable to charge and continue mousing as normal. Not a WoW player, don’t worry, the WoW Wireless Mouse is a perfect companion for you, no matter what game you play. The mouse is slated for a Q3 2012 release for $129.99 / €129.99.
With no stall in sight at E3 one has to wonder when and where we get our next WWE13 fix. Details however do continue to trickle forth about this years game, for example the story mode this year is more of an attitude era mode where in we’ll get to take on the roles of 8 attitude era superstars and play out their stories from way back when.
Weight detection is apparently being revisited so that situations are more accurately represented and as an extension of this super heavy weights have had their frames tweaked to better showcase their larger than life size. Other details coming our way this year are the ability to control tag partners when tagging in story and universe mode, the ability to set how many finishers we start a match with (anywhere between zero and infinity) and the return of free roaming backstage.
The most exciting addition revealed so far is that of the OMG moment. OMG moments are those moments in WWE when your jaw hits the floor and you just stare in awe. Like when: Shawn Michaels super-kicked Shelton Benjamin as he flew off the top rope, Randy Orton nailing Evan Bourne with the RKO mid Shooting Star Press or Brock Lesnar superplexing the Big Show only for the ring to collapse around them.
Moments like these will be available to use in actual matches this year, so rather than a finisher symbol appearing above your superstars head an OMG symbol will appear should you be in position to perform such a move. These moves will required specific circumstances, you won’t for example; have Tyson Kidd superplexing Rey Mysterio and collapsing the ring, for that particular OMG moment super heavyweights will be required. This years game continues to entice and as more information comes out about WWE13 we’ll smack it down for you right here.
With the release of the groundbreaking Wii six years ago, Nintendo understood the need for an easy-to-use game to act as a tutorial for the whole system’s capabilities – thus Wii Sports was packaged free with every Wii console. The task ahead of the Wii U is less daunting, with people now used to motion controls in games, but it’s still going to be a leap for a lot of people. Most punters assumed a Wii U Sports title would fill this role once again, but Nintendo have offered something different.
NintendoLand is a virtual theme park, in which players can jump into mini-games that show off the capabilities of the Wii U, and teach players the required skills.
Most of these mini-games are based on established Nintendo franchises: Donkey Kong’s Crash Course, Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest and Luigi’s Ghost Mansion have all been announced in various detail.
A new one, titled Takamaru’s Ninja Castle, evolved out of the ninja star tech demo we saw at last year’s E3. Players hold the GamePad out flat, and swipe across the touch screen to flick throwing stars at targets on-screen.
These mini-games are used to demonstrate the concept repeatedly referred to as “Asymmetrical Gameplay”. Essentially this means that not all players are competing for the same goal, or even necessarily playing the same type of game. Often, one player with a GamePad will be pitted against four players with Wii remotes.
In Luigi’s Ghost Mansion, for example, four players using Wii remotes move around a maze haunted by ghosts they can’t see. As they make their way around, their controller will vibrate when a ghost is near, and they must stun them with a torch beam and capture them. If a ghost sneaks up on a player, it can incapacitate them, rendering them helpless until teammates arrive. The players win if they capture all the ghosts, the ghosts win if they incap all players.
The twist is, the fifth player has a view of the whole level on the GamePad, and they can not only see the ghosts floating around, but direct them, with the intention of trapping the other players. That player may be outnumbered, but it’s balanced by giving them an advantage.
The concept of asymmetrical gameplay is fascinating, although it may be hard to understand in text. But that only highlights how useful Nintendoland will prove to be: a few minutes watching the game play out and it makes sense. The ideas for potential strategies begin to flow almost immediately.
Nintendo have said there will be software included with the Wii U console to show off the new hardware, as Wii Sports did for the Wii. NintendoLand could fill this role perfectly: it shows off the capabilities of the hardware perfectly, and acting as a player’s first experience with the Wii U it can start their mind reeling with possibilities for future titles.
It hasn’t been confirmed, but I can’t see many people forking out for a mini-game compilation that probably won’t hold attention for too long. If it isn’t shipped with the console, the only other reasonable option would have to include other hardware, like a GamePad – similar to how WiiPlay was packaged with a Wii remote. Either way, NintendoLand looks to be a microcosm of the Wii U’s exciting potential.
The Nintendo conference may not have been too surprising, but that didn’t make it any less delightful. Last year, we were teased with a prototype they were calling New Super Mario Bros. Mii, because of the feature of having players’ Mii characters running through levels alongside Mario. This year, we got to see how it has progressed over the year from a tech demo to a fully-fledged launch title.
Now titled New Super Mario Bros. U, the game follows the trends of the recently-established spinoff franchise. So, it’s a 2D side-scrolling Mario adventure, with 4-player co-op and plenty of trolling opportunities. Items, environments, enemies and music will all be highly familiar to anyone who’s played a Mario game before – which is everyone – but it feels improved.
While players will still have to argue over who is forced to play as Blue and Yellow Toads, the game introduces a few new features to make up for it. There’s a new acorn mushroom, which grants players the ability to glide with a stylish flying squirrel suit. Rideable Yoshis are still present, although it looks like they start off small, as they did in Super Mario World: players will have to carry them to find food, if they want to grow them to riding size. But while small, Yoshis can spit bubbles at enemies, and can be inflated as balloons, to help players glide. So maybe there’s a trade-off system there: grow your Yoshi for ease of transport, or keep it small and glide to areas you can’t otherwise reach.
While it isn’t apparent in the trailer, Reggie mentioned in the press conference that a fifth player, using the Gamepad, can place blocks in the levels to help (or hinder) the players controlling Mario, Luigi and the Toads. Hopefully, the Gamepad integration is deeper than just that, but we’ll see.
Strangely, the prototype’s Mii functionality was not mentioned or shown at all in this version. Whether it’s been removed entirely or they simply see it as less important remains to be seen.
New Super Mario Bros. U is a launch title, filling the Mario gap that Nintendo have apparently finally learned to fill at launch – a bitter lesson from the original Wii and 3DS launches. Watch the gameplay trailer below and get excited!
Ubisoft are one of the world’s biggest video game companies out and they are in full support of Nintendo’s Wii U. Ubisoft appears to be nothing but enthusiastic with high hopes for the console. Their titles for release cover a wide variety of genres and tend to think outside the box when it comes to bringing players new gaming experiences unlike anything ever before. At This year’s E3 Press Conference 2012 Ubisoft announced the following titles for Wii U:
Assassin’s Creed 3
Just Dance 4
Rayman Legends
ZombiU
YourShape Fitness Evolved 2013
Rabbids Land
Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth
Sports Connection
Also to make sure to check outall the other fantastic titles coming to Wii U as well!
Which ones are you planning to pick up? Make sure you check out the trailer below and see them for yourself!
The music and singing game trend continues with Nintendo’s Press Conference at E3 2012 as Nintendo announced their 1st Party music game SiNG. While it is just a working title right now, SiNG is set to make the players more a part of the action then just reading what is on the screen by having the lyrics come up on the Gamepad. The trailer, which players can view below, shows it off a little bit cheesier with the friends apparently really getting into it and singing the back-up sections, but none-the-less present a much different style of karaoke game for home use.
While the trailer hypes it up a bit higher than probably necessary, the idea is solid. Since SiNG is still a working title hopefully they can add a lot more to the game or maybe they will just keep it the separate screen karaoke setup, which would be useful for anyone interested in that sort of thing, as it is much closer to that kind of experience. We’ll probably hear more from this title later, though maybe as Wii SiNG or U SiNG, etc.
