Just one of the many games fresh off Microsoft’s E3 Kinect bonanza, Forza 4 was showcased with a trailer and Kinect support for the game has been expanded on from what was already previewed. We’d already seen a vague promo reel earlier which showed how you could view the cars up close with Kinect, but now headtracking and voice recognition have been confirmed for the racer.
A huge roster of cars is a given, with vehicles available from over 80 manufacturers, and monthly expansion packs will prolong the games lifespan greatly. As you’ll see from the trailer that was played, Forza 4 will be for lovers of shiny cars, and the feature of inspecting cars will no doubt prove popular to those who get off to expensive sports cars.
Continuing Microsoft’s Kinect related announcements, a brand new Fable game was unveiled at the event. Fable: The Journey is set in the Fable world, but will be completely motion-controlled via the Kinect sensor. During the debut clip for the game, the familiar voice of Theresa greeted viewers to what will be the first motion-controlled Kinect title from a franchise.
The clip didn’t really go into detail as far as plot goes, but instead we seen a glimpse of how Fable: The Journey will actually play out while using the Kinect sensor. A scene is quickly set with the player taking control of the reins of a wagon as it speeds out of control, only to have to do battle using magic spells with several enemies shortly after. It definitely is a change for the Fable franchise we are familiar with as it appears the gameplay will be 100% on rails. Personally, this looks to be a hard sell for those most familiar with the Fable series as the exploration element seems to be vacant in The Journey. Only time will truly tell though how this epic this journey might become, but for now you can watch the new launch trailer below.
Somewhere in the middle of the Microsoft E3 2011 conference, 343 Industries and Microsoft showed off the trailer for the Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary edition. This edition includes assassinations, co-op over Xbox Live, a remastered campaign and more. 7 multiplayer maps will be included. 6 maps will be for multiplayer, while the 7th will be a Firefight map.
Whether or not Halo 2 will also be included is unconfirmed. Achievements have not yet been confirmed.
Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is releasing on November 15, 2011 and will be cheaper than a standard Xbox 360 game. Watch the unofficially captured trailer below.
Are you excited about all the Halo announcements coming out of E3 2011?
Revealed just a few minutes ago, Halo 4 is coming to the Xbox 360 in the Holiday of 2012. The trailer came at the very end of the Microsoft conference. Apparently, it will start off where Halo 3 ended. In the trailer, Cortana wakes up the Chief and they barely escape the exploding ship. A strange, alien device (possibly another Halo ring) is in front of them. The trailer fades out to the release date. This game will be made by 343 Industries.
An unofficially captured trailer is embedded below. Hopefully, we can find the official trailer soon!
What was your favorite announcement at the Microsoft conference?
MasterAbbott managed to snag some video of the trailer:
Microsoft’s E3 presentation is now finished and the buzz is still among all of us here with what was an impressive line-up, full of surprises. One of the most shocking announcements came with a brief confirmation that Minecraft will now be headed to the Xbox 360 with full Kinect compatibility.
This announcement was also eyebrow raising due to the fact that Minecraft will be an exclusive to the system for a “Winter” release. At the time, no details are known for this version of the popular sandbox phenomenon, but I expect that to change soon. Now is the time though where we can have fun speculating. What kind of role will the Kinect play? How will this version rival what we have seen on the PC? So tell us, what do you think Minecraft will have in store for the Xbox 360 in the comments section below.
A new trailer called “Part 2: Dead Island Begins” has been released by Deep Silver/Techland for upcoming tropical island zombie disaster game Dead Island.
It’s looking very creepy, probably due to the fact that the setting is so real; there’s no haunted mansion or castle of doom, only a sunny holiday resort abroad. This trailer also shows some of the first-person gameplay and the hard-hitting melee aspect which characterises the game, as well as an array of the inventive weaponry as your disposal, including machetes and some make-shift electro-shocker weapon.
The combat is bloody and brutal, and the trailer features some swearing. Consider this a warning.
Microsoft should be giving us the deets on Mass Effect 3 shortly, but for those who are impatient, Amazon have listed a Collector’s Edition of the game with a March 6th release date. Of course that date could just be a placeholder at the moment, so nothing is set in stone. What has been confirmed though is a nice purple strip on the Xbox 360 version of the game, confirming the previously rumored Kinect support.
Details of what the Mass Effect 3 Collector’s Edition actually holds have also been revealed by the online retailer:
Premium metal case featuring commemorative artwork of Commander Shepard.
70-page hardbound art book featuring hundreds of unique and gorgeous illustrations from the BioWare development team plus an exclusive 4×6 lithographic print featuring a one-of-a-kind piece of artwork
Limited edition Mass Effect comic by Dark Horse Comics, complete with unique cover artwork
Join the ranks of the N7 with the premium fabric N7 patch
A full collection of in-game content that can’t be found anywhere else!
Interesting….. Only time will tell though just how the Kinect Support will come into play. As soon as more is known, we will be sure to bring you an update.
We still are about an hour away from the Microsoft conference, but new leaks are already starting to give us a glimpse of what will be shown and announced. The latest is Kinect Fun Labs, which will host several mini-games that all utilize the Kinect sensor. With the leak also comes a new video, revealing four of the mini-games (or “gadgets” )might be available as early as tonight.
The first detailed is “Build a Buddy”, an application that allows you to scan an object and then play with it using the motion controls. Next up is “Googly Eyes”, and as it sounds players will literally be able to tack on Googly Eyes onto objects. “Kinect Me” is another game shown in the video, letting the user do a face & body scan to completely re-design their avatar. Speaking of avatar apps, “Bobblehead” does as promised an turns your created avatar into an interactive bobblehead.
The gadget I am most curious about though is the finger-tracking “Kinect Sparklers”. With Sparklers, the sensor snaps a photo of the player, shoots a background image, and then allows players to use their finger to draw around their image from different angles.
A sharing service is also detailed, allowing for other users to share their videos and activity with the gadgets in the Kinect Fun Labs Hub. Check out the full video below for a better view of all this in action and if the rumors are indeed true, Kinect Labs might indeed be launching tonight. Stay tuned as we are sure a reveal is just hours away.
That’s right we have a killer new character reveal trailer for the upcoming SSX game straight from E3 2011! We get some awesome game play footage and get to see what is sure to be some “tricky” tricks as well as some characters. I for one had no clue that SSX even had characters apart from generic snowboarder and generic skier, but apparently we have this apparently god-like snowboarder named ‘Mac’. Radical name dude!
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Developer: Electronic Arts Publisher: Electronic Arts Genre: Racing Platform: iPhone(reviewed)/iPad Release: 6/11/10 Price: AU$5.99/US$4.99 Buy Now
Overview
Apart from Mario Kart, I’ve never really been a fan of racing games. I was never any good at the arcade style racing games when I was a kid, and stared on in disbelief as I continued to ram my car into a wall while all my peers and computer generated racers passed me by over and over. This trend continued into my early teens, where at friends houses I would embarrass myself with my poor attempts at virtual driving on PC, Nintendo and Playstation consoles. I’ve always attributed this to my extreme lack of interest in motor vehicles. Despite my long history of not enjoying racing games, I’ve found Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit to be nothing but enjoyable.
Gameplay
I’m sure it goes without saying that Need for Speed: Pursuit is a racing game. I mean, the name says it all. There are two career paths to choose from, either a cop or a racer, both with different level types fitting your chosen path. Similarly, there are different cars to be earned through the collection of bounty points in both careers. Stars are awarded based on how well you completed the level, with three stars being the best and earning the most bounty. A feature I really like in this game is that if you repeat a level or even fail a level you still earn bounty. Obviously if you don’t complete the level you aren’t awarded the allocated bounty, but you can still earn something. This comes in handy when you get stuck on a level and is a great way of boosting your overall bounty and unlocking new cars.
In terms of controlling the car, I think the game does a fantastic job. Taking advantage of both the racing narrative and the iPhones gyroscopic technology, you need to hold your iPhone, preferably with both hands at two and ten positions, safety first! Once you have a firm grasp on your iPhone, you can tilt it left of right in order to control the direction of the car, while also occasionally swiping your finger on the screen to either implement a nitro boost or the hand break.
Within the different career paths, there are level types specific your chosen drivers standing in society. Not to mention boosts to help you achieve these goals. Within the street racer career, most of the levels revolve around going fast and avoiding the police. The first type of level is ‘Road Race’. This is basically a straight up race between you and three other hooligans. ‘Hot Pursuit’ involves out smarting and out driving the police within a certain time frame. Within the racer career, this is definitely my favourite of the level types. It provides the most challenge and has the strongest and most engaging narrative. Not to mention, if you ram the police car it will crash and provide a spectacular cut scene! But I’ll discuss this in more detail later. Other levels include ‘Eliminator’ where the car in last position is eliminated when pass through a check point and lastly is ‘Speed Trap’ where the goal is to go as fast as possible through a check point to accumulate a speed score in order to gain bounty. Overall, I find the racer career a little boring. As I said, I grew up never being a fan of the racing genre. I think this is purely because the goal of placing first in a race isn’t enough motivation for me.
If you prefer to fight for the side of justice, then maybe the cop career is a better suit for you. Like the racer career, there is a straight up racing level type. ‘Power Struggle’ pits you against three other police officers in a race. For a different way to experience speed, ‘Rapid Response’ tests your driving skills, having to get through check points before the timer runs out. Heading into some of my preferred level types, ‘Interceptors’ main goal is ramming some punk speed racers off the road. Of course this needs to be done within a certain time limit in order to qualify for the highest amount of bounty. If stopping one racer from breaking the law isn’t enough, then try out a ‘Tough Justice’ level. Here you are given the opportunity to knock a number of racers off the road within the time limit. The more you take off the road, the hirer the bounty. I feel that the last two of these level types are the most engaging and goal driven in the whole game, and I’ve found myself replaying the levels over and over trying to get three stars in all of them. Or maybe I just have some road rage that I need to vent. Either way this is easily the best part of the game.
Graphics and Audio
Without a doubt, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has the best cut scenes I have ever seen on an iOS based game. Whenever you destroy a car, be it from ramming it into a wall, a roadblock or laying down some road spikes, the game stops and there is a very cinematic cut scene featuring a crash. Most often, the car will flip over in the air and it is just spectacular. The graphics during game paly are up to the same standard as the cut scenes, but obviously it is all a bit fast paced and you tend to not really notice how much detail has actually gone into the landscape and the cars, especially some of the later cars you earn.
The audio is fairly typical of a racing game. It has fast paced music, roaring engines and due to the police verses racer theme is littered with police sirens. At times, I think it is all a bit much, but I’m aware it is just a convention of racing genres and I have learned to tolerate it. On the plus side, it is an iOS game and the sound can always be turned off. Having said, and also done this, you really notice the impact the sound has on motivating you to speed like you’ve never sped before, proving that while it may be all a bit much for me, the soundtrack for Need for Speed is an integral part of the game.
Conclusion
Bringing all the elements that make a good racing game, mixing them up to create new, more engaging and interesting elements, I think that Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has anything a contemporary racing game should have. The means of controlling your car while racing is innovative and engaging, sure it might not look so cool on a bus, but I love the fact that it’s attempting to simulate a steering wheel. Overall, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit has fantastic graphics and some highly innovative game design. A must for an iOS owning racing genre fan.
