Capcom is in a frenzy at this years Tokyo Game Show. In addition to releasing a hilarious Street Fighter X Tekken trailer set in a bar (which you can see and read about if you click here) they released 3 other videos detailing other characters and the story that is present in the game. A box named Pandora has fallen from the sky, enabling new game features in addition to providing a story to the game.
Farting bears, fighting men, girls, and more are also included in the game. Which matchup are you most excited to try out?
The absolute highlight of my day at Tokyo Game Show 2011 was spending the time with the coolest dudes on the planet Brent Poynton (right) and Travis Ryan (left) from RARE.
Travis and Brent were kind enough to run us through the latest two modes revealed in Kinect Sports 2: Skiing and Baseball. Skiing has you taking on the mountain and manouvering your way between the flags so that you don’t receive time penalties, along the way down you can launch yourself off little jump ramps and while doing that you can perform special posses that give you star points that count towards your final score. I must admit on my attempt going down the mountain against another journalist, I failed misserably and got beat pretty bad, but my pose jumps were cooler. The trick to it is keep down as low as possible to gain the speed you need race through the circut, but making sure you skii between the flags.
At the end of each event you also get to see how much calories you’ve burnt wile playing also a cool little feature that if memory serves me correctly works with the style points and score you earn in the game, building a group of fans that love your every move making you that superstar you’ve always wanted to be.
Moving on to baseball Travis and Brent went through a few features in the game. The person batting can perform a number of differnt batting styles, like big swing hits for home runs, small taps that will drop the ball right at their feet making the run to first base that little bit easier. Running to the bases is performed by the player batting, you also have the option to slide into the base which can be done quite easily with the Kinect.
Pitching has you selecting either a left or right hand. Then you can throw a variety of differnt styles of pitches, from curve balls, speed balls, under-arm pitches that can be used to trick the batter and making them swing and miss. There is also one extra option in the game that allows you call upon your superstar pitcher or batter, that person will carry a or throw a “Golden Ball” or use a “Golden Bat” that will give that player an advantage in that play.
Finally Travis and Bren briefly ran us through another mode called challenge mode, where you can take on a friend in your friends list to a mini style game, such as downhill dodge, eagle falls, pop darts to name a few. The challenge is quite simple the person who wishes to challenge the other player goes first and attempts to go for the highest score possible in that chosen challenge. Once they are done, the score is sent over to the other person and then once they log back into the game they will see a message saying that they’ve been challenged and then if they want attempt to beat their score. Doing so will earn you braging rights and a big head and will probably make your friend over live a little mad but hey… they started it, so they can get over it 😉
Keep an eye out for Kinect Sports 2, its set for release end of September. MasterAbbott gives it a two thumbs up !!
Although Microsoft and the Xbox 360 have faced a rough market in Japan, they are still trying to capture the hearts of consumers there.
According to Major Nelson, “TGS is also about marking the Xbox commitment to Japan, which is home to some of the most legendary games creators in our industry. One of the most important aspects of the Xbox business in Japan is the relationship with our third party development houses…”
At TGS 2011, Microsoft announced quite a few newsworthy items that dealt with the Japanese market:
-A new title from Toylogic, a Japanese developer, is coming to the XBLA. It is entitled ‘Happy Wars.’ At TGS 2010, there were 5 other games from Japanese creators revealed.
-Microsoft will have a “demo of Project Draco from Grounding” that will be shown to the media.
-“Diabolical Pitch (announced at TGS 2010 as codename D) from Grasshopper Manufacture, and Haunt from NanaOn-Sha” will both be playable during the show at the Xbox booth, with Diabolical Pitch set to release in 2012 on the XBLA.
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today announces Mortal Kombat – most recent iteration in the Mortal Kombat franchise which made its way to Xbox 360 and PS3 earlier in the year – has sold in excess of three million units worldwide, making it the highest-selling fighting game this year.
Martin Tremblay, President of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, said: “We are very pleased with the success of Mortal Kombat, as it surpassed our expectations in becoming the #1 fighting game in North America released so far this year”.
NetherRealm Studios delivered a high quality game which has exceeded our sales goals. We’d like to thank our entire team and all of our partners for their innovative campaigns and tremendous support of Mortal Kombat, as the game sales continue to grow.”
Ed Boon, Creative Director, NetherRealm Studios, said: “All of us at NetherRealm Studios are very excited that players have embraced Mortal Kombat. The game was a labor of love for us and we could not be more pleased with its performance. Fan reaction to this latest installment has made all of our hard work worth it.”
Today at their Tokyo Game Show press conference, THQ revealed some details for their upcoming game Saints Row The Third. The first glimpse into the game came in the form of a short trailer, which features the Saints infiltrating a group of cyber criminals called the Deckers. Characters delve into a virtual reality world (ala the Matrix/Neuromancer) in order to defeat the team of cyber criminals. I thought this idea of a virtual world within a virtual world was rather interesting, especially when the phrase: “in the real world you’re just a bitch with the keyboard” was uttered. But lets steer away from that and onto more announcements!
Even bigger news came when celebrated Japanese Game designer, Tomonobu Itagaki graced the stage, revealing his fondness for the game after watching the trailer at E3, and another 14 viewings following the first. It was then announced that Itagaki himself would be a playable character in Saints Row The Third, featuring his trademark leather jacket and sunglasses. THQ showcased the high levels of customizability the game will have, before allowing us to get a hands on look at the game itself.
While the characters were already pre-designed by the time I turned up, some a little more appropriate than others, I still had the chance to edit the character. Built into the game are clothing shops, tattoo parlors and even a plastic surgeon, that allow for players to design and modify their playable character in amazing new ways.
Picking up where the player before me left of, with a guy in a green and blue superhero outfit, I roamed the streets getting the feel of the controls. Volition studio manager Eric Barker gave me a few pointers that helped make the game a lot more enjoyable than my initial roaming the streets throwing grenades.
Firstly, while walking around, you are able to sprint. While this feature may not seem like the most exciting news, it does mean that with a press of a button, your character will spring into a randomly generated melee attack and ground what ever poor victim is next to you. The maneuvers are clearly inspired by wrestling games, including power bombs and some rather aerodynamic jump kicks. I should also note that you are able to jump from tall buildings (in a single bound) and land safely, with the help of a parachute. While it isn’t ever visible until deployed, I am willing to accept this paradox mainly because the game is designed to be very out there, not to mention I am happy my character is able to land safely from dangerously high jumps. Another handy game element branching from sprinting includes being able to jump through car windows while running in order to steal them.
After rocketing through a glass window and driving away from the scene of the crime, I noticed a few other handy little game elements that stood out. Most notable was the GPS system, which as you can imagine, is accessible from the map and gives you directions to locations within the game world. I used this to find my way over to Professor Genki to par take in his Super Ethical Reality Climax. This is basically a little side game in the form of a shooting gallery. I didn’t have the time to develop the shooting skills to make my way through without being killed, but still really enjoyed the challenge. This and a few weapons developed by the Professor, such as the octopus gun, are some of the few new elements that are coming to the Saints Row Franchise.
At first I was unimpressed by Saints Row The Third. I am a bit of a stickler when it comes to the rules of games, and prefer a solid story line grounded in set rules and boundaries. After roaming around and conducting some open play, I found myself easily bored, but that is just me. When I started to get into the missions and the side quests, I found the game pretty enjoyable. Granted, I only played a demo and didn’t get to cater the experience to my personal taste as much as the developers allow you too so I can’t comment on what the increased player agency might bring to the formula in terms of game experience. Regardless, the anticipation for the release of Saints Row The Third is high, and with the release date set for the 15th of November in North America and the 17th in Japan, it won’t be long until you can experience Saints Row The Third too.
38 Studios and Electronic Arts have revealed a few of the items you will be able to receive if you preorder Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Depending on your choice of retailer, one of the 3 packs below will be yours. Which one will you be getting?
The Destinies Choice Pack: Offers a unique “Twist of Fate” card to enhance the beginning of your gameplay experience, the Compass of Fate and three unique armor sets. Each armor set is tailored to a specific class which players will define and redefine during their time in Amalur.
The Fate-Touched Weapons Pack: Players can enter battle as fully prepared as ever with an arsenal of rare Fate-Touched weapons including a longbow, hammer, staff, faeblades, daggers, scepter, chakrams, longsword and greatsword. The weapons will help satisfy every player’s combat style with Reckoning’s on-the-fly weapon swapping in combat to take down even the most dreadful of foes.
The Ultimate Treasure Hunter Pack: For treasure hunters who will dive into every nook and cranny in the world of Amalur, the Dowsing Rod will seek out all reagents for concocting potions on your in-game map. A worthy companion tool for any adventurer, the Dowsing Rod will help players get the most out of their alchemy skill.
Harmonix has revealed 7 new tracks that will be available on the Dance Central 2 disc. In addition to these 7, over 40 songs will be included for you to shake it to. Plus, you’ll be able to import your Dance Central 1 disc music, and we expect to see some DLC for this game too. The 7 seven songs that were announced at TGS are as follows:
Mary J. Blige – Real Love
Chingy – Right Thurr
Missy Elliott – Get Ur Freak On
Kevin Lyttle – Turn Me On
New Boyz – You’re A Jerk
Atlantic Connection and Armanni Reign – Reach
Remy Ma – Conceited (There’s Something About Remy)
At TGS 2011, Turn 10 has said that they are bringing some Japanese racing tracks to the next game in their series. Forza 4 will include “four legendary Japanese tracks – Motegi, Fujimi Kaido, Tsukuba and Suzuka.” Which track is your favorite?
Forza 4, which continues the critically acclaimed realistic racing series, will launch exclusively on the Xbox 360 on October 11 for the USA, October 14 for Europe and October 20 for the rest of the world. Considering that the previous games in this franchise have been silky smooth and awesome, we expect nothing less from Forza 4.
Today at Tokyo Game Show, I had the opportunity to speak to Jonny Plumb, producer over at Microsoft Studios and got some one on one time with both Kinect Disney Adventures and also Kinet Star Wars.
Both titles were announced at this years E3 for the Xbox 360 Kinect and I was eager to try out the updated builds.
With Disney Adventure I got to experience first hand two Disney attractions out of the possible 30, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan. Along with being able to navigate through an amazing looking recreation of Disneyland filled with all the Disney mascots, like Donald Duck, Mickey, Peter Pan and Alice just to name a few. The park is also filled with people walking around making it look and feel even more authentic and real.
Using the Kinect once you find a special character such as Donald you can greet him and perform all sorts of gestures, such as hugs, dances, posing for a picture with the Kinect camera and even perform a high five. It’s an absolute ball for the younger kids.
The two attractions I tested out was Peter Pan, here you fly through obstacles along-side Peter Pan whilst collecting coins and collectibles along the way. In Alice in Wonderland you’re thrown into the Croquet scene from the movie, but this time you’re not hitting the ball, you are the ball. Alice will whack you with her pink flamingo and you’ll have to navigate through obstacles once again and collect more coins. Both mode’s control systems reminded me of Kinect Adventures with its maneuvering, which works really well as players and younger children who have already played that game should feel right at home here.
Next we jumped in to Kinect Star Wars and tested out two new modes. Pod Racer and Rancor mode. Testing out Ranco mode honestly reminded me of the old classic RAMPAGE. You move the Rancor by walking on the spot, then with your arms you can pick up enemies and throw them, smash the ground and even destroy buildings by walking into or punching them. It’s good old fashioned clobbering time that I think we all need once in a while. Also in Rancor mode you get given objectives to do like destroy 10 enemies or plow through set amount of buildings, if you do you get bigger bonuses if you complete them. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to, and just walk around and cause all sorts of mayhem my destroying everything in your path.
Next we tested out the Pod Racer mode, and was instantly impressed with how it worked. Using both hands you maneuver the pod left and right depending on what hand you’re leaning towards. Pulling back together breaks, and pulling forward thrusts you forward very quickly. Jonny advised that Pod Racer has a huge amount of gameplay and will take up to 10 hours to go through and complete, very impressive for a game with in another game.
All in all both titles were great fun to play and should keep you and the children busy for hours on end.
Along with the great announcement of the Razer Arcade Stick mentioned at this years TGS 2011, Razer have also been working together with DICE to bring us the Battlefield 3 Keyboard and Xbox 360 controller.
Hilmar Hahn, product Evangelist runs us through our hands on preview on the Battlefield 3 Blackwidow Ultimate keyboard and Xbox Onza Controller. No major differences or tweaks in terms of functionalty have been made to either products apart from the lights on the Blackwidow are now changed to Orange to suite Battlefield 3 and of course the Battlefield 3 skins which look great on both the products.
Enjoy the video preview and the pics, leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
Today at Tokyo Game Show, I had the opportunity to speak to Jonny Plumb, producer over at Microsoft Studios and got some one on one time with both Kinect Disney Adventures and also Kinet Star Wars.
