Ubisoft Montreal’s brand new IP Watch Dogs was one of the surprise announcements at Ubisoft’s E3 2012 Press Conference. The new open-world action game is set in a futuristic Chicago where everything is connected with one another thanks to a single supercomputers called CTOS, but the question is “Who controls the computer?”
In a world where everything can be hacked, players will use their hacking skills to control the technology around them. Watch Dogs’ cryptic E3 Introduction Trailer may confuse some, but its E3 gameplay demo will be sure to impress all who had doubts about this very promising game.
Watch Dogs is currently set to be release for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, no release date has been announced yet.
As Jack Tretton focused the shift of Sony’s E3 media conference to the Playstation Network, he revealed that Journey, from thatgamecompany, has become the best selling title on the Playstation Network. Journey sees the player as a robed figure smack bang in the middle of the desert. They see a mountain and move towards it, unearthing the remnants of a once great civilisation. Players will have to explore these ruins and unlock the secrets hidden underneath.
Journey was the third game from thatgamecompany to be released on the PSN. They were also behind the hit PSN titles Flow and Flower. It is available right now.
For a brand new IP, The Last of Us is gathering quite a lot of attention. It was good to see Sony give it the spotlight as the finale to their E3 conference, providing us with the first look at what we can expect from gameplay.
Labelled a survival-action game, The Last of Us is set in a world decimated by a plague that wipes out much of humanity, leaving survivors to struggle for the most basic human needs.
Players control Joel, a survivor who is tasked with smuggling 14-year-old Ellie out of a military quarantine zone, but of course, it isn’t as easy as he expects.
The story sounds a little bit clichéd, but it’s the presentation and structure that has everyone excited. As with Uncharted, Naughty Dog have obviously given the visuals a lot of love, with some really fluid movements and contextual animations. From the video, it’s actually hard to tell where the scripted sequences end and gameplay begins.
Combat is brutal and satisfying, and looks quite challenging, using whatever is on hand to defend yourself: no overpowered gatling guns here. AI looks quite intelligent, adapting to your actions logically.
Perhaps the most interesting part is its tendency to not rely on balls-to-the-wall action: it looks more survival-focused than the survival-horror franchises we’ve seen: Resident Evil 6 and Dead Space 3 are both moving their franchises away from slow-burn horror towards straight-up action.
The Last of Us is comparatively slow-paced, but not without moments of intensity. There are times to wander the ruins of society, take in the ravaged beauty, and engage in dialogue between Joel and Ellie. These “lows” serve to make the action sequences all the more intense.
Being a Playstation 3 exclusive, The Last of Us is a convincing argument to jump over to Sony’s console, if you haven’t already.
Anyway, why am I still explaining it? Watch the gameplay trailer and judge for yourself!
During Sony’s not so extravagant E3 2012 press conference, with the help of their ‘best friends forever’ Ubisoft, they revealed that Ubisoft’s upcoming instalment in the Far Cry series, Far Cry 3, will in fact feature 4 player co-op campaign.
The game itself looks spectacular and will of course be one of Ubisoft’s biggest games of the year. You can check out the 4 player co-op gameplay demonstration below. It is freaking awesome and sexy.
What do you think of 4 player co-op campaign mode for Far Cry 3? Love it? Hate it? Dress it up real pretty and take it to dinner? Let us know in the comments section below.
It wouldn’t be a motion controller without plenty of little plastic peripherals to stick on it right? Well, at lease these plastic peripherals come from Sony themselves instead of some third party company. Anyways, Sony revealed today that they are making an interesting looking racing wheel peripheral for the PlayStation Move.
Anyone eager to pick up this piece of plastic to put on more plastic will have to wait until Fall when it will be available for $40. Interestingly enough, this racing wheel will provide buttons, a D-pad and even vibration. Plus the side sticks can be adjusted, meaning that you can even place them out to the sides as if you were racing a motorcycle. Color me interested…
Sony have just announced during their E3 2012 press conference that they will be bringing a Hulu Plus and Crackle service to the Playstation Vita.
As you may or may not know, Hulu Plus and Crackle are video streaming services that provide users with hours of television and movies to engage themselves with. Both of these services are also currently available on the Playstation 3, so it was only a matter of time beore they made the jump to the Playstation Vita.
What do you think of Hulu Plus and Crackle heading to the Playstation Vita? Are you excited, disinterested or whatever else you are capable of emoting? Let us know in the comments section below.
It had been rumored for quite awhile that there would be a Call of Duty game of some sort released on the PlayStation Vita and with the release of Call of Duty Black Ops II later this year, it only made sense that Sony would somehow have a title correlating with that release window.
Well, it seems all those guesses were indeed correct as Sony revealed during their Pre-E3 conference that a Call of Duty game would indeed be coming to the Vita sometime this holiday season. Not much is known about the title as Sony only revealed the name of the game, Call of Duty Black Ops: Declassified. We will likely know much more over the coming months, perhaps even the next few days so stay tuned!
Augmented Reality (AR) functionality is becoming a lot more prevalent in games, with all the major platforms featuring it in some way. I find the possibilities it affords really exciting, and Sony are exploring an interesting direction with their Wonderbook peripheral, announced during their E3 conference.
From London Studio, the team behind EyeToy and EyePet, Wonderbook is a natural extension of the previous titles, utilizing the tech to add a layer to that old “reading” thing. What’s been demoed so far looks like a virtual pop-up book, with players (readers, maybe?) able to interact with it physically, like pulling tabs and turning pages, as well as apparently influencing the story.
Sony have announced the Wonderbook will retail for $39.99US, which includes the peripheral and a Blu-Ray game. A range of “stories” will be available to download for use with it, the first of which is quite impressive: The Book of Spells, written by J.K. Rowling and set in the Harry Potter universe.
The Wonderbook takes the role of an ancient Book of Spells, and the player/”reader” is a Hogwarts student studying it in the library. There are over twenty spells to learn about, practice and master, with House Points awarded for completing challenges. Examining the book close up can reveal hidden notes from previous students, including clues to what Sony so intriguingly refer to as a “conundrum” written by Rowling for players to solve.
The hardcore fanboys are already complaining about this, but they tend to do that about games that don’t involve shootin’ dudes in the face. The Wonderbook peripheral is a great idea, and I’m really interested to see what else Sony can do with it. If they continue to support it with quality stories and games, the Move might become the standout motion control platform.
THQ laid off the entire staff at their San Diego Studio and shut all operations down. It has been speculated that they did this on the first day of E3 in order to avoid a lot of press. In addition, it was widely rumored that this studio was working on the UFC game for 2013. THQ revealed today that theysold the rights to EA for an undisclosed amount of the green stuff.
THQ has responded by saying: “THQ confirms that today’s announcement regarding the UFC license transition will affect the company’s San Diego studio,” the company said in a statement. “THQ is working closely with those relevant staff to either find possible employment within the company, or potentially with EA.”
Two special Assassin’s Creed III Playstation bundles have been announced at Sony’s E3 2012 press conference. The first bundle will include a Playstation 3 320GB console, a copy of Assassin’s Creed 3 and exclusive Playstation 3 DLC.
And the second will include Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, a ‘crystal white’ wi-fi Playstation Vita, and a 4GB memory card.
Ubisoft have to name exactly what that “exclusive Playstation 3 DLC” might be, but players who link up their Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation game with Assassin’s Creed III will unlock Connor’s tomahawk, an exclusive character skin, a multiplayer character, and a complete upgrade of ammunition pouches.
The both Playstation 3 and Playstation Vita bundles will be available on October 30, the same day that Assassin’s Creed III hits stores.
