E3, let the games begin.
Posted by mortal
JUNE means just one thing to the globe's $49 billion games industry, E3, the world's biggest and flashiest trade show devoted to previewing the latest - and coolest - in gaming hardware and software.
This year's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) has just ended, but not before more than 41,000 enthusiasts and 216 developers from about 80 countries passed through the doors of LA's Convention Centre.
Electronic Arts
MAJOR RELEASES
* Brutal Legend
* Dante's Inferno
DUE late this year or in early 2010 is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Mass Effect 2 and Dante's Inferno from the creators of last year's hit Dead Space, which will have its own release, a prequel called Dead Space: Extraction.
Also, Activision is suing to prevent EA releasing Brutal Legend, which it claims it still maintains rights over having merged with the original developers, Vivendi, last year.
Activision
MAJOR RELEASES
* Guitar Hero 5
* DJ Hero
* Blur
* Wolfenstein 3D
ACTIVISION has announced a fifth version of Guitar Hero, which is going wireless and will support up to a four-person band. It is due after September. Also previewed was Guitar Hero: Van Halen which will feature 25 classic songs.
A new title, DJ Hero, features a turntable peripheral that will allow budding DJs to mash up about 80 tracks. Activision's hit first-person shooter Call of Duty will expand 'into related genres", but no more information has been shared.
Starcraft II will be released before Christmas and Wolfenstein 3D will arrive on August 5.
Atari
MAJOR RELEASES
* Metal Gear Solid: Rising
* Castlevania: Lord of Shadows
ATARI didn't take part in this year's E3, but Konami, whose games Atari distributes in Australia, teased audiences with news that a new Metal Gear Solid game, Rising, will be released for the first time on three platforms, PS3, Xbox and the PC.
One of the show's biggest surprises was the announcement of another Konami title, Castlevania: Lords of Shadows, a new title for the PS3 and Xbox 360 due in 2010. Also announced was Just Cause 2.
Sega
MAJOR RELEASES
* The Conduit n Bayonetta
* Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
EXCLUSIVE to Wii, The Conduit is a first-person shooter centred around a government cover-ups and alien conspiracy. It is due next month and will be one of the first titles to support Wii Speak, a microphone peripheral for Nintendo's hit console.
Also previewed was Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games in which the two mischief-makers hit the slopes with various animated friends before going head-to-head for international gold and glory at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
Similarly, Vancouver 2010, the official Olympic Winter Games video game will be out in January. It features a multitude of winter sports events, real-life Olympic venues and online multiplayer competition sans the animated characters.
Due late this year on PS3 and Xbox 360, Bayonetta is about a seductive witch with built-in weaponry.
Warner Bros
MAJOR RELEASES
* LEGO Rock Band
* Lord of the Rings: Aragon's Quest
* Scribblenauts Olympic Winter Games
WARNER released a trailer for LEGO Rock Band, which gives the adult version a cute LEGO facelift. A surprise hit was WB's puzzler Scribblenauts in which gamers control a 2D character by writing on the screen.
A new LOTR's action-adventure game impressed. It's a simple re-telling of the story we all love, with lots of Zelda-esque sword play.
THQ
MAJOR RELEASES
* Homefront
* Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines
* Darksiders Olympic Winter Games
THQ announced a range of games aimed at both hardcore and casual gamers. Among the highlights was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines, Marvel Superhero Squad and Darksiders, a post-apocalyptic action-adventure crawling with zombies and demons.
Also revealed was Homefront, a first-person shooter that moves away from the traditional gaming arenas of warzones and alien-infested planets. Instead, it is set in a futuristic America where the action takes place on suburban streets and shopping malls.
Rockstar Games
MAJOR RELEASES
* Agent
LIKE Atari, Rockstar games didn't have a dedicated E3 presence, but recent announcements,
including the development of Agent, on Day 2 of E3, are worth nothing.
The creators of the Grand Theft Auto franchise announced the new espionage title, which will available exclusively on the PS3, saying it will be set in the shadowy world of espionage during the '70s.
Last week, Rockstar also announced new GTA4 content, an Xbox-live only downloadable expansion pack called The Ballad of Gay Tony.
But wait, there's more...
DESPITE the closure of more than 20 games studios in the past 12 months and the global economic doom, the array of announcements from games developers has been encouraging.
Yet another Tony Hawk title, Ride, debuted but the use of a skateboard controller with two accelerometers and four infrared sensors, means players can now measure tilts, rocks and rotations, which adds an exciting new angle to a once predictable franchise.
The next God of War title from Sony attracted wave after wave of gamers eager to get a glimpse at the latest antics of destructive demi-god Kratos, while Modern Warfare 2, due in November, dazzled with its intense graphics and fast gameplay.
Heavy Rain, a film noir thriller, which is due early 2010 from Sony, pushes players to the limits to see how far they would go for someone they loved. Other notable previews and first-looks go to Fairytale Fights, first-person shooter Section 8, Batman Arkham Asylum and Demon's Soul.
Sony
SONY'S presentation was the most surprising of the "big three", with new hardware and software announcements as well as the unveling of the worst-kept-secret of E3, the PSPGo (right), a reinvigorated, slimmer, 16Gb version of Sony's handheld games machine.
New PSP titles announced include Rock Band Unplugged, Assassin's Creed Bloodlines, a new Resident Evil game, Gran Turismo PSP and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
The biggest announcement was a motion-sensing controller, a wand-like device used in conjunction with a PlayStation EyeCam to track speed and power of movements, and can double as a trigger.
Visually stunning, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is to be the latest offering in Sony's Indiana Jones style PS3 adventure series and MAG, a new first-person shooter that will allow 256 players to join a single match, proved a hit.
Nintendo
SUPRISINGLY, there were no major hardware announcements from Nintendo who only showcased the upcoming MotionPlus attachment, which tracks and mimics a player's movements more precisely than the current Wiimote.
The Wii Vitality Sensor, which checks a player's pulse, was novel, but mainly quirky, and all Nintendo's other announcements focused on software.
However, with both Sony and Microsoft taking aim squarely at the Japanese games giant with their own motion-sensing offerings, all Nintendo had to say was that it was flattered.
New games include Super Mario Galaxy 2, but it won't be seen until 2010. Metroid: Other M will also launch next year and will be developed by Team Ninja, the folk behind Ninja Gaiden and
Dead or Alive.
A new Dance Revolution game will use the Wii Balance Board rather than a mat and on the DS front, Nintendo showcased the anime-inspired Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box while gamers lined up for more than an hour to preview the new Zelda game for DS, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (pictured).
Microsoft
LIKE Sony, Microsoft's big announcement was also a motion-sensing device, Project Natal, a controller-free interface for the Xbox 360. It allows Xbox games to be controlled with movement rather than a controller and the camera's sensitivity showed just how much time, research and effort has gone into the technology.
No date was given as to when Project Natal would make the leap from lab to loungeroom. A huge coup for Microsoft was news that the latest version of Final Fantasy, XIII would be available on Xbox, signalling an end to Sony's exclusivity on its PlayStation platforms.
Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr unveiled Rock Band: The Beatles, which enables Rock Band players to download and mimic Beatles songs from every album via Xbox Live.
Halo: OSTD, the new Firefight mode for Halo 3 that allows up to four players to fight Covenant enemies, was also previewed.
[www.mediafire.com] Some say you should click it, you know you want to.
[www.gp4central.com] <----GP4 Central
This year's E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) has just ended, but not before more than 41,000 enthusiasts and 216 developers from about 80 countries passed through the doors of LA's Convention Centre.
Electronic Arts
MAJOR RELEASES
* Brutal Legend
* Dante's Inferno
DUE late this year or in early 2010 is Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Mass Effect 2 and Dante's Inferno from the creators of last year's hit Dead Space, which will have its own release, a prequel called Dead Space: Extraction.
Also, Activision is suing to prevent EA releasing Brutal Legend, which it claims it still maintains rights over having merged with the original developers, Vivendi, last year.
Activision
MAJOR RELEASES
* Guitar Hero 5
* DJ Hero
* Blur
* Wolfenstein 3D
ACTIVISION has announced a fifth version of Guitar Hero, which is going wireless and will support up to a four-person band. It is due after September. Also previewed was Guitar Hero: Van Halen which will feature 25 classic songs.
A new title, DJ Hero, features a turntable peripheral that will allow budding DJs to mash up about 80 tracks. Activision's hit first-person shooter Call of Duty will expand 'into related genres", but no more information has been shared.
Starcraft II will be released before Christmas and Wolfenstein 3D will arrive on August 5.
Atari
MAJOR RELEASES
* Metal Gear Solid: Rising
* Castlevania: Lord of Shadows
ATARI didn't take part in this year's E3, but Konami, whose games Atari distributes in Australia, teased audiences with news that a new Metal Gear Solid game, Rising, will be released for the first time on three platforms, PS3, Xbox and the PC.
One of the show's biggest surprises was the announcement of another Konami title, Castlevania: Lords of Shadows, a new title for the PS3 and Xbox 360 due in 2010. Also announced was Just Cause 2.
Sega
MAJOR RELEASES
* The Conduit n Bayonetta
* Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games
EXCLUSIVE to Wii, The Conduit is a first-person shooter centred around a government cover-ups and alien conspiracy. It is due next month and will be one of the first titles to support Wii Speak, a microphone peripheral for Nintendo's hit console.
Also previewed was Mario and Sonic at the Winter Olympic Games in which the two mischief-makers hit the slopes with various animated friends before going head-to-head for international gold and glory at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Games.
Similarly, Vancouver 2010, the official Olympic Winter Games video game will be out in January. It features a multitude of winter sports events, real-life Olympic venues and online multiplayer competition sans the animated characters.
Due late this year on PS3 and Xbox 360, Bayonetta is about a seductive witch with built-in weaponry.
Warner Bros
MAJOR RELEASES
* LEGO Rock Band
* Lord of the Rings: Aragon's Quest
* Scribblenauts Olympic Winter Games
WARNER released a trailer for LEGO Rock Band, which gives the adult version a cute LEGO facelift. A surprise hit was WB's puzzler Scribblenauts in which gamers control a 2D character by writing on the screen.
A new LOTR's action-adventure game impressed. It's a simple re-telling of the story we all love, with lots of Zelda-esque sword play.
THQ
MAJOR RELEASES
* Homefront
* Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines
* Darksiders Olympic Winter Games
THQ announced a range of games aimed at both hardcore and casual gamers. Among the highlights was Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines, Marvel Superhero Squad and Darksiders, a post-apocalyptic action-adventure crawling with zombies and demons.
Also revealed was Homefront, a first-person shooter that moves away from the traditional gaming arenas of warzones and alien-infested planets. Instead, it is set in a futuristic America where the action takes place on suburban streets and shopping malls.
Rockstar Games
MAJOR RELEASES
* Agent
LIKE Atari, Rockstar games didn't have a dedicated E3 presence, but recent announcements,
including the development of Agent, on Day 2 of E3, are worth nothing.
The creators of the Grand Theft Auto franchise announced the new espionage title, which will available exclusively on the PS3, saying it will be set in the shadowy world of espionage during the '70s.
Last week, Rockstar also announced new GTA4 content, an Xbox-live only downloadable expansion pack called The Ballad of Gay Tony.
But wait, there's more...
DESPITE the closure of more than 20 games studios in the past 12 months and the global economic doom, the array of announcements from games developers has been encouraging.
Yet another Tony Hawk title, Ride, debuted but the use of a skateboard controller with two accelerometers and four infrared sensors, means players can now measure tilts, rocks and rotations, which adds an exciting new angle to a once predictable franchise.
The next God of War title from Sony attracted wave after wave of gamers eager to get a glimpse at the latest antics of destructive demi-god Kratos, while Modern Warfare 2, due in November, dazzled with its intense graphics and fast gameplay.
Heavy Rain, a film noir thriller, which is due early 2010 from Sony, pushes players to the limits to see how far they would go for someone they loved. Other notable previews and first-looks go to Fairytale Fights, first-person shooter Section 8, Batman Arkham Asylum and Demon's Soul.
Sony
SONY'S presentation was the most surprising of the "big three", with new hardware and software announcements as well as the unveling of the worst-kept-secret of E3, the PSPGo (right), a reinvigorated, slimmer, 16Gb version of Sony's handheld games machine.
New PSP titles announced include Rock Band Unplugged, Assassin's Creed Bloodlines, a new Resident Evil game, Gran Turismo PSP and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.
The biggest announcement was a motion-sensing controller, a wand-like device used in conjunction with a PlayStation EyeCam to track speed and power of movements, and can double as a trigger.
Visually stunning, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is to be the latest offering in Sony's Indiana Jones style PS3 adventure series and MAG, a new first-person shooter that will allow 256 players to join a single match, proved a hit.
Nintendo
SUPRISINGLY, there were no major hardware announcements from Nintendo who only showcased the upcoming MotionPlus attachment, which tracks and mimics a player's movements more precisely than the current Wiimote.
The Wii Vitality Sensor, which checks a player's pulse, was novel, but mainly quirky, and all Nintendo's other announcements focused on software.
However, with both Sony and Microsoft taking aim squarely at the Japanese games giant with their own motion-sensing offerings, all Nintendo had to say was that it was flattered.
New games include Super Mario Galaxy 2, but it won't be seen until 2010. Metroid: Other M will also launch next year and will be developed by Team Ninja, the folk behind Ninja Gaiden and
Dead or Alive.
A new Dance Revolution game will use the Wii Balance Board rather than a mat and on the DS front, Nintendo showcased the anime-inspired Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box while gamers lined up for more than an hour to preview the new Zelda game for DS, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (pictured).
Microsoft
LIKE Sony, Microsoft's big announcement was also a motion-sensing device, Project Natal, a controller-free interface for the Xbox 360. It allows Xbox games to be controlled with movement rather than a controller and the camera's sensitivity showed just how much time, research and effort has gone into the technology.
No date was given as to when Project Natal would make the leap from lab to loungeroom. A huge coup for Microsoft was news that the latest version of Final Fantasy, XIII would be available on Xbox, signalling an end to Sony's exclusivity on its PlayStation platforms.
Yoko Ono, Olivia Harrison Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr unveiled Rock Band: The Beatles, which enables Rock Band players to download and mimic Beatles songs from every album via Xbox Live.
Halo: OSTD, the new Firefight mode for Halo 3 that allows up to four players to fight Covenant enemies, was also previewed.
[www.mediafire.com] Some say you should click it, you know you want to.
[www.gp4central.com] <----GP4 Centralwas just about E3 in todays paper funnily enough, the new XBOX sounds pretty cool, Wii type games without the need for the Wii style controllers, it said that these features in future would be built into TV screens
LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat
LS's Tip of the week
ESSENTIAL OILS aren't essential unless you're an engine, a gearbox or a twat
Metal Gear. 360. Hell Yes.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.