No longer will you need a memory unit to cart your profile or save games to a friends house to play. Buried in a recap email after their big E3 hooplah for some random, bizarre reason, Microsoft let us in on “Cloud Storage for Game Saves and LIVE Profiles”. Why they didn’t have this front and center during their press event is beyond me as it’s certainly pretty exciting. Xbox’s Marc Whitten stated, “We are making it easier for you to sign into your Xbox LIVE account from any console at any time to access your game saves and full profile, including items such as Microsoft Points to make purchases, Achievements and friends. Cloud storage will allow you to enjoy the same great Xbox LIVE gaming experience even when you’re not in your own living room by giving you the option to store your “game saves” securely in the Xbox LIVE cloud instead of on a portable memory unit or your console’s hard drive.”
No details whether this will be for Gold members or any finer details on the service were given.
Microsoft is making a new game announcement for Xbox LIVE every single day this week for E3. Today RedLynx and Microsoft Game Studios are letting us in on their upcoming title, Trials Evolution. A sequel to last years Xbox LIVE hit, Trials HD which was a huge success during Microsoft’s 2009 Xbox LIVE Summer of Arcade campaign, Trials Evolution will expand with all new challenges, huge outdoor environments, a level editor which lets you share your creations over LIVE for endless replay ability and four-player multiplayer via Xbox LIVE. Trials HD was tons of fun, and I’m really looking forward to hopping back into some motocross obstacle course action.
Trials Evolution is due for arrival on Xbox LIVE later this year.
Today at E3 I was invited backstage at Bethesda’s booth for an in-depth demo of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The demo lasted for forty minutes and it showcased many new features that the teams at Bethesda have implemented in the latest entry to the Elder Scrolls series. Read below for my summary and analysis of the title.
The demo was shown on the Xbox 360 and the developer walking through the demo told us that Skyrim has been in development for three years. Skyrim will be using the creation gameplay engine and Havok. The developer used a Nord class that was level 34 and had maximized health so unfortunately actual damage received by enemies wasn’t shown during the demo.
We were shown the various visual improvements that Bethesda has made in Skyrim, this includes fully textured rock faces that look as realistic as actual cliff faces, various plants and ingredients that can be harvested look much more impressive, players can often view mountains in the distance that will not appear as simple gray blobs in the shape of mountains, but will be able to see all the details of the mountain even at a greater distance. This was further emphasized when we were shown a river that had fish swimming along the water and jumping up a small waterfall.
Rather than being born under a sign in Skyrim, players will be able to choose a Birthstone which will provide various statistical enhancements to their character. Combat has also evolved with a kill cam feature which will slow down the world around the player as they finish off an enemy in third person view through an elaborate finishing move.
Other than the finishing moves, players now have the ability to equip two one handed weapons at the same time, or mix and match with various combinations of magic, magic and weapons, or a sword and shield. If the player uses the same magic spell in both hands however they will be able to create a stronger version of the spell by holding down both triggers at the same time, and releasing towards their enemy in a wave of devastation.
The visual enhancements of Skyrim show themselves again when it comes to magic, as the developer showed me that certain spells will allow players to shoot a continuous fire or frost stream. Further magical enhancements were shown in the game’s Glyph system which allows players to create Glyphs on the ground which act as traps to enemies, causing the spell’s effect to go off only when an enemy steps on them.
After fighting a few enemies we found ourselves in one of the towns of Skyrim and we were introduced to the new way players will be interacting with characters. No longer will time freeze the instant you talk to a character in game, instead everything in the world will continue on as usual and time will pass as if you were walking around normally.
After we were shown the new dialogue system we were shown the enhancements to the inventory system. All items in the players inventory will be able to be viewed as complete 3D models, allowing full examination from every angle that you would like. Also mentioned is that cooking has been implemented as we were shown raw salmon meat, and then cooked salmon meat that had better values. Exactly how cooking will be done was not shown, but it was mentioned that players will be able to do so.
After leaving town the developer showed that players’ skill menu will show them looking up into the heavens as they view their skill levels. There will be no minor or major skills this time around, as the developer stated that all skill growth will count towards leveling up. Players can customize their character’s skills further by selecting a skill such as “Blocking” and unlocking further skills inside of the Blocking skill tree, such as a shield bash and more.
The Shout system was also demonstrated throughout the demo. These shouts will provide players an ability that is unique only to their playable character and can be unlocked through various ways. Players can find word walls hidden in any of the game’s 150 dungeons and these word walls can unlock new Dragon Shouts that the player can use. Many of these Shouts are used for destructive purposes, such as Dragon Breath that spews out a flaming ball fire, a storm shout which summons a powerful storm that causes lightning bolts to strike your foes. There are also shouts which allow the player to dash through traps or closer to far away enemies and shouts that can freeze time that were shown through demo gameplay.
The other way to unlock shouts is defeating dragons and absorbing their souls. Defeating a dragon won’t be as easy as fighting any other opponent however because, according to the developer, the dragons in Sykrim have a separate AI designed especially for them. Dragons will react differently to various attacks each time you face them, and they are completely non-scripted meaning at any time you can come under attack from one of them, even if it means that the dragon will your current opponent just to take you on.
The developer was in combat with a Giant and was enduring a losing battle to its club when a dragon swooped out of nowhere and grabbed the giant in its claws, throwing it into the air and killing it. These dragons aren’t invulnerable however and once you do enough damage to them they will no longer be able to fly. They will crash down into the ground in a spectacular scene leaving a dirt trail as well as an impression in the ground where they came to a stop. Then once they are on the ground, players will be able to finish them off however they like; or in the developers case, an axe to the back of the skull.
Many new features were shown off in today’s demo and each of these new additions is certainly welcome to the series. Attacking a dragon in mid-air seemed to be a bit sketchy still however, as attacks that looked like they had hit cleanly, sailed right through the dragon without causing much damage. We’ll be having more coverage of Skyrim and many more E3 impressions in the days ahead!
Dancing has been a part of humanity since, well, ages ago! It provides enjoyment, entertainment and brings people together, especially at parties! The development of Just Dance 3 has been announced by Ubisoft at E3 and the game will hope to get people’s grove going and keep parties alive! The third game in the Just Dance franchise will be available on the Wii, Kinect for Xbox360 and PlayStation Move for PlayStation 3.
Just Dance 3 will be introducing new game features exclusive to each of the 3 platforms, taking advantage of each platform’s unique capabilities. New game features include four-player choreographies and dynamic environments on the Wii, and a new “Shout Out!” feature which allows players to gain extra points by singing song verses on Kinect. Has anyone tried doing karaoke and dancing at the same time? I have, and even though I had fun making a fool of myself, it got everyone singing and dancing with me and guaranteed laughs from my friends!
The more than 40 tracks that will feature on Just Dance 3 will come from a wide range of musical genres such as pop, rock, R&B, disco and more.
Tracks that have been confirmed for Just Dance 3 include:
2 Unlimited – “No Limit” Black Eyed Peas – “Pump It” Duck Sauce – “Barbra Streisand” Groove Century – “Boogie Wonderland” Gwen Stefani – “What You Waiting For” Katy Perry – “California Gurls” Kiss – “I Was Made For Lovin’ You” Laura Bell Bundy – “Giddy On Up (Giddy On Out)” Taio Cruz – “Dynamite” MIKA – “Lollipop” LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett and GoonRock – “Party Rock Anthem”
With the new game features plus the latest music, and choreographies developed by professional dancers, Just Dance 3 will provide players heaps of fun and entertainment. Whether you’re in it for the dancing, the singing, the fitness, the fun, Just Dance 3 will be released worldwide in October 11, 2011.
Holy Wii U Batman! The announcement of the Nintendo’s latest console, the Wii U, means that there is a list of games that will be available at the time of the Wii U release. While Nintendo, especially with games released for the Wii console, have focused largely on a casual market and aimed to expand gaming markets, a few of the games that will be released for the Wii U seem to be aimed towards more hardcore gamers with an emphasis on combat games. A notable game to mention, if you didn’t guess from my cheesy Adam West-esque catch phrase at the beginning, is Batman: Arkham City. No doubt many of you already know a lot about the game, as it will be released on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 as well. What is interesting with this is that we can see Nintendo releasing some titles that might appeal to a more hardcore gamer demographic, although going from the release date of the Wii U, it looks like Sony and Microsoft console owners will get to experience Batman: Arkham City before loyal Nintendo fans. Despite this, it is still an interesting path for Nintendo to go down, one I am pretty excited for.
Batman: Arkham City will feature a new story line, taking gamers deep inside the heart of Gotham. After the closure of Akrham Asylum and Blackgate prison, Gotham’s new mayor Quincy Sharp has relocated the inmates to Arkham City – a new super-prison five times the size of Arkham Island. In order to get through the game, there are a bunch of new gadgets for Batman to utilise, such as the Cryptographic Sequencer V2 and Smoke Pellets. With these new gadgets and new advanced free flow combat, it’ll be no problem for Batman to defeat the huge cast of characters in Arkham City, including but not limited to: Two-Face, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Hugo Strange, Victor Zsasz, Calendar Man The Joker and The Riddler. As we at Capsule Computers mentioned in a previous post Arkham City will include a new playable character: Catwoman. Judging by the latest images released for E3, Batman: Arkham City looks to be an impressive game regardless of which console you play it on.
Well, it’s been a long time coming, but to those of us fortunate enough to get in on the Duke Nukem First Access Club, members will be aware that the downloadable demo is now available for your enjoyment. Finally, after 14 long years we now have the chance to see if Duke still stacks up as a major contender in the modern gaming market.
To many fans and followers of the King, Duke Nukem is highly regarded as Gaming’s very own Chuck Norris. A vision of pure ass kicking manliness who can excel at anything he puts his mind to. The up front and crude humour that was shown off in previous installments of the franchise won Duke many fans the world over. The demo offers players a chance to re-experience that same *ahem* magic that Duke Nukem 3D offered to us all those years ago. Similarly, I personally believe the demo also shows off enough ass-kickage to entice the newer generation of Duke fans who have not yet been able to experience the glory of the King.
Featured below is a small play-through segment that I recorded of the downloadable demo. For some added humour, I also added my own captions to describe my train of thoughts as I played through. Check it out to see why I, and every other editor on the site, are raving about the impending release. Finally, Duke Nukem Forever has arrived!
The Complete game is scheduled for release Internationally on the 10th of June 2011, and the 14th of June for the United States. Available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC.
I waited eagerly during Nintendo’s press conference for any news about a new Pikmin title, which has been hinted at and rumoured for years. No news on that front came during the public event, and although I was slightly disappointed, there was more than enough exciting news to make up for it.
But during the developer roundtable event afterwards, Shigeru Miyamoto showed that there was still life in the rumours.
Miyamoto stated that he had hoped for the Wii version of the game, apparently in development for years, to be released this year to coincide with the tenth anniversary of the series. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the little vegetable things will ever see light on the Wii, beyond the updated ports of the GameCube versions of Pikmin and Pikmin 2.
Instead he announced, somewhat unofficially, that the project was moving over to the Wii U. Gamespot quotes Miyamoto as saying, “since we’ve been working on Pikmin for the Wii for a while, maybe it won’t be too long before we see it on Wii U.”
Let’s hope this doesn’t fade into limbo, where the Wii Pikmin project has been floating for years. We’ll keep an ear to the ground on this one, and hopefully we’ll have some solid news to report soon.
At Sony’s press conference Yoshi Ono wowed everyone with Street Fighter X Tekken running on the Vita now it seems that they aren’t the only one’s itching to take the fight on the go. Arc System Works has announced they will be bringing Blazblue Continuum Shift 2 Plus will be released on the Playstation Vita. Its expected to be a port of the original game found on the PS3 and Xbox 360 with more features. Aksys Games has not officially stated if there will be a North American release but we will keep you posted on any further details.
A lot of what Nintendo had to show this year was stuff we had heard vague rumours of already, and they simply gave us some details. But of course, E3 is no fun without a few out-of-the-blue surprises, and one announcement in particular made me happily squeal like an injured rodent – a new Luigi’s Mansion title will hit the 3DS early next year.
I loved the original Luigi’s Mansion, and have been hoping for a new one for years. It was an interesting departure from the usual Mario fare, and played like a non-violent Resident Evil. And it helped Luigi, my character of choice in Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Mario Party and New Super Mario Bros, step out of his brother’s shadow and develop his own identity.
Luigi’s Mansion 2 features not one but several new mansions, and appears to revolve around much the same kind of gameplay as its predecessor. Namely, wandering around spooky mansions, stunning ghosts with light and vacuuming them up. The 3DS’ thumbpad will presumably play an important role in reeling the ghosts in – a D-Pad just wouldn’t work. Check out the trailer below.
One main part of the first, that wasn’t shown in the trailer for the sequel, are the “room bosses”. In each room in the first was one unique ghost, with the smaller common ghosts simply getting in your way. The puzzle aspects of the game came from figuring out how to defeat each room’s ghost and clearing the room. All the trailer shows for the second is the common ghosts. I’m hoping they will still include the unique room ghosts, but either way it looks to be a great game.
This surprise title is one of the highlights of this year’s E3 for me, and adds to a strong, albeit delayed, first-party lineup for Nintendo’s new handheld.
Quite often you see people who claim anime is merely for children and does not hold any artistic merit. This is a misconception widely spread in Australia as amongst the most well known anime series in Australia are the likes of Pokemon and Bakugan: Battle Brawlers, which are aimed at children.
Anime has an unfortunate stigma in the country that isn’t exactly warranted. In an interesting discussion on ABC radio, Jane Goodall argues the point that anime can be both mature and highly artistic beyond even the point of western forms of television in some cases.
The ABC Radio discussion has made waves in the Australian anime world, even appearing on anime distributer Siren Visual’s website and several anime based forums including Madman’s madboards, sparking much discussion on the subject.
You can listen to this fascinating discussion here.
