E3 2011 Day 1: Holy Crap, I’m at E3!!!
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E3 day 1: Holy Crap…I’m at E3!!!!!
While E3 is the most amazing time of the year, I continually
forget just how exhausting it is schmoozing with the industry big wigs and
snapping photos with smoking hot booth babes. I do lead a hard life, but
someone’s gotta do it. This year we’ve seen some exciting things at the press
conferences, some less than thrilling things, and some things that should have
been left at the office.
The most exciting press conference announcements were new
console announcements from two of the big three, as well as yet another Halo
title; fan-bloody-tastic. The one we’re all excited about is the Wii going to
college, erm…Wii U. Let’s talk specs first and foremost, and then segue
seamlessly to opinions, finally to mockery. It looks to be a Wii, with slightly
curved edges, which will play 12 centimeter proprietary high-density optical disks in it’s single self loading
media bay. As for audio/video output, it’ll use an AV multi out connector, as
well as PCM linear output through HDMI and it supports 1080p, 1080i, 720p, 480p
and 480i, and is compatible with HDMI, S-video and composite. This console will
have internal flash memory with the option to expand the memory using an SD
memory card or an external USB hard drive disk. Four USB slots are also
included, with backwards compatibility to all of the Wii controllers. Finally,
the new controller incorporates a 6.2 inch, widescreen touch screen and
traditional button controls, including two analog Circle Pads. The rechargeable
controller includes a power button, home button, control pad, a/b/x/y buttons,
l/r buttons and zl/zr buttons. Also included are a built in accelerometer and
gyroscope, rumble feature, camera, microphone, stereo speakers, a sensor strip
and stylus.
For the sake of time and space, I’ll combine my opinions and
mockery in one place. Wii U, really Nintendo? I know that eventually every
child has to leave the nest and go to college and break a few hearts and
eventually become a big kid, but naming your new console Wii U conjures up an
image specifically of some nerdy kid shaving off a few pounds at college to
become slightly sleeker. It seems that the 3DS and the Wii U are just the big
kid versions of the previous Nintendo consoles. There have got to be better
names having been tossed around in Nintendo R&D than Wii U. Onto the high
density proprietary disks; Nintendo has always been the maverick with only
using proprietary nonsense, from cartridges to smaller Gamecube disks, and now
high density disks, which evidently hold more information than a double density
floppy disk. Finally, Nintendo has found its invite to the HD party, and it’s
just before last call. We weren’t allowed to know the size of the internal
memory included, but hopefully the same SD cards we all used on the little kid
Wii will still work. Since most of the games for the Wii weren’t too stellar,
we all played our Gamecube games on the Wii and got rid of the giant
purple/silver/black/orange boxes. Nothing was said about backwards
compatibility as far back as the Gamecube, but I certainly hope it’s there.
Those games got a lot more mileage of the Wii than most Wii games themselves
did. Now onto the new controller; what the hell? I get that two of the big
three unveiled systems, but the Wii U controller and the PS Vita were both very
reminiscent of the Sega handhelds. Unfortunately in that equation, the Vita
comes out equating to the Nomad, which promised to be a portable Sega Genesis,
sorry Sony but you touted that as a ‘PS3 in your back pocket’. Lastly,
Microsoft brought us Halo 4, the first in a new trilogy created by someone who
is NOT Bungie. Way to go Microsoft.
Behind Closed Doors *Cue intense music*
Being a member of the media, I’m entitled to a few perks at
E3; access to more or less anything I please on the show floor, the ability to
take photos of enough booth babes to gag the most hearty nerd, and finally
access to behind closed doors presentations of upcoming games. The first of
which on day one was for The Witcher 2:
Assassins of Kings and GOG.com.
After not playing the first, I expected to be lost through the entire
presentation; luckily this was not the case. This game has been out for PC
since the middle of May, and we were shown an early build of the adaptation on
the Xbox 360. This is not simply a port from the PC version, it’s a game
completely build from the ground up by CD Projekt Red, a Polish company who
looked to know what they are doing. The demo showed us a prison break early in
the game, and looked to be a much darker tone for an action RPG. The specific
mission shown could have been solved one of four ways, with the programmers
showing us how to sneak to complete the mission, as well as butcher everything
in sight. It’s been said to be the most complex and mature title to come out on
the 360, and while that is a huge claim, this game can back up those words just
based on the demo. While the game includes its fair share of quick time events,
it also runs on the new ‘Red’ engine, created by this company, so you’ve gotta
take a couple QTEs to be able to use this beautiful engine. In the same
meeting, GOG.com gave a little presentation. This website is a download service
for classic PC games, who get more licenses every day. Currently they offer
titles from Ubisoft, Acitvision and EA, in addition for offering both The
Witcher 1 & 2. Definitely worth checking out if you are a PC gamer.
Next, I found my way into the Majesco meeting room to check
out the new titles they’ll be offering in the near future. First was a new
Kinect game called Take Shape, which
looked like a ton of fun. The premise is simple; you pose in front of your
Kinect in the shapes on screen, so if the shape is a triangle, you have to duck
down and form a triangle in one game mode. Another game mode offered a co-op
mode where the players have to mirror the shapes on screen, oft times having to
interact very closely. For your sake, I hope you’re good friends with whomever
you choose as your player two.
Majesco also featured a reboot of BloodRayne, fresh off
being butchered by Uwe Bol on the silver screen…err DVD. This game looked slick
as hell. BloodRayne Betrayal is a 2D
side scrolling platformer featuring a less overtly buxom vampire heroine. The
art style is gorgeous; and reminiscent of a graphic novel. I was fortunate
enough to have the chance to play the second level, complete with the ‘hardest
common bad guy in the game’ according to the lead designer, Sean Velasco.
You’re able to abuse your enemies way too graphically for the game to be rated
Teen. These abuses range from a tame gunshot, to slicing in a fierce attack
with your blades, to infecting and leeching life from them, only to be given
the option to explode them whenever you please. This was the closest game I’ve
seen yet to create an interactive graphic novel, complete with campy one liners
and slick retorts in speech bubbles. Sean Velasco, the lead designer, was
thrilled to have gamers show such interest in the game, as well as his awesome
pink chucks. I, for one, cannot wait for BloodRayne
Betrayal to grace the Xbox Live Arcade this August.
Gazillion Entertainment was up next on our hunt for the
latest information E3 has to offer. They featured two free online games that
can be played right from your browser. The first one was called Fortune Online, and looked similar to
Diablo 2, but was a lot easier to pick up and play for even a short amount of
time. They featured two classes, a fighter/tank and a healer/fighter in the
beta. I was not able to find out whether they will be introducing more classes
than the two, but since this is the beta, who knows what tricks they will have
up their sleeves. They also featured Marvel
Super Hero Squad, a more kid friendly game based in the Marvel universe.
While it has a cute cartoony style, it’s hella fun to play. While speaking with
the exhibitors, I was told that while it is a kid based game, a lot of adults
do play, often with their children. Hearing this warmed my heart a bit; just
knowing that there are parents not afraid of video games, even willing to play
them with their children bodes well for the industry as a whole.
Everyone with a smart phone should have played Fruit Ninja from Halfbrick by now,
everyone. In one of the most exciting parts of the day for me, now everyone
with a Kinect can as well! That’s right, Fruit
Ninja Kinect will be coming out within a couple months exclusively for the
Kinect. While it is similar to the popular iPhone game, this one offers a two
player mode with both cooperative as well as competitive modes. I found myself
striking a martial arts pose (that was probably unlike any actual pose and one
has actually seen ever) after chopping just a couple pineapples. As soon as
this comes out, you should go get it. If you don’t have a Kinect or an Xbox,
get those first solely to play Fruit
Ninja Kinect.
Those are all the goodies I’ve brought to you from day one
of E3 2011, stay tuned tomorrow for more coverage of everything I can get my
hands on, and as many pics of booth bases as you can get.
-Pete Lindmark, GMU “Community Overlord’
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