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E3 Preview: Top Gun: Hardlock

By
Gregory Hutto
– June 9, 2011Posted in: Blogs, E3 2010 Blog, Event Blogs, News, PS3, Xbox 360

For the first time in quite a while, there may be an arcade flight dogfighting game that I may enjoy. Courtesy of 505 Games comes Top Gun, based after the movie staring Tom Cruise of 1986. This game takes place 25 years later and features an entire voiced story campaign along the way.

While I didn’t hear too much about the story itself — save that it would feature similar “bromance” themes — I did get an opportunity to play the game. It’s quite thrilling to fly around in the original F14 Tomcat from the movie, but the final feature will have more crafts available. The game functions largely like most dogfighters, though, it’s upper-hand comes in its easy and intuitive controllability.

Unlike many similar games, tracking down enemy crafts feels natural, and there isn’t a lot of time trying to weave around enemies as they seem to always be behind you, no matter how hard you try to get them in your sights. This is achieved by having an intuitive two-stick design — on the right stick; forward to boost, back to stall, and all the in-betweens to juke. In line with being able to track enemies better comes the hardlock function. When the player tracks an enemy long enough, taking pot shots along the way, a prompt for the ‘x’ button appears that puts the gunplay first as the craft pilots itself.

When the player is in hardlock, the camera becomes focused on the enemy, and the players reticule becomes paramount in targeting. By positioning the aim correctly, the player may lock on to the enemy and get a missile kill. To do this successfully, the player must appropriately react to analog-stick QTEs that appear on-screen.

If the player fails at this, the hardlock may be turned around onto the player. If this happens, players must dodge potshots themselves and hop not to be missile locked. This feature proves to be quite satisfying, and is said to get more difficult and sensitive as the game progresses.

The simple, yet satisfying gameplay is set to an absolutely beautiful enviornment. Headstrong’s in-house engine provides dynamic lighting and scenery, as well as a breathtakingly beautiful sunsets that change the sky as the battle goes on. Even though the build I saw was impressively presented, I was told that it was still being improved and had some improvements already finished that weren’t seen on the E3 build.

Top Gun: Hardlock was a lot of fun for the few minutes that I played it. The game was simple enough to pick up and play, while remaining be a satisfying challenge. It’s clear that the game itself is well-executed, but what will make or break the game is it’s longevity as a fun experience. With a campaign said to be 20 hours, the game must prove to be dynamic and challenging.

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Review – StreetPass, Nintendo 3DS

By
Ryan Kenward
– June 9, 2011Posted in: Nintendo 3DS, Reviews

The Nintendo 3DS comes bundled with a lot of very exciting features; of course there is the ability to play games in 3D, but there are also lots of neat ways to connect you with new people. One such way is via StreetPass. StreetPass allows you to exchange Miis and information between other 3DS owners whilst your 3DS is in sleep mode, or even while you are playing another game. Unfortunately, if you live in a rural area you are not likely to reap the benefits of this fun feature or fully experience what it is all about. I was one of those people, prior to this years E3 I had 5 StreetPasses, 2 of which were with display consoles in a local store. Looking at my 3DS now, I see that my plaza has grown to 262 Miis in the span of 2 days.

Sorry for the smudges!

As I said before StreetPass allows you to swap Miis with the people you pass; but it also shares your birthday (month and day only) as well as some other quirky little questions and a personal greeting. Many use their greeting space to promote their websites, or twitter accounts. Once you collect these Miis you can use them in the two games that are part of StreetPass. There is a puzzle game, where you will receive pieces of various puzzles from the people you encounter. There is also a game called Find Me.  In Find Me, you battle your way through several ghosts and monsters to rescue your personal Mii.  The catch to this is that you battle with the Miis you have collected via StreetPass.  A further caveat is that they can only be used once per encounter. Going through Find Me and completing levels will reward you with hats for your Mii to wear. The game does get very difficult so it becomes critically important to StreetPass as many people as possible. An added feature is that every time you pass the same person their Mii goes up a level and does more damage. The games may be fairly simple, but what really makes it worthwhile is the collecting and networking aspect.

There are some major flaws that hopefully Nintendo will address. Your StreetPass can only hold 10 Miis in the queue; meaning once you pass 10 people, unless you accept them in you will not get any other Miis. The second major problem is that once you get those 10 Miis, you will probably see a notification saying there are more Miis that you have passed and to that all I can say is — “Its a trap!” If you do not use the Miis in the Puzzle Game and Find Me before accepting the new Miis, you will lose the ability to use them. I lost several Miis because of this. As long as you check your 3DS frequently it isn’t a huge issue, but in events like E3 – it isn’t very hard to walk past 20+ 3DS owners within the span of just a few short minutes.

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E3 Preview: Final Fantasy XIII-2

By
Gregory Hutto
– June 9, 2011Posted in: Blogs, E3 2010 Blog, Event Blogs, News

It hasn’t been too long since Final Fantasy XIII, but a sequel is well in the works for a release next year. It’ll be released in December in Japan and Q1 in North America and Europe. For many, this news is unsettling, as XIII wasn’t the critical success that most gamers felt could be expected from this pivotal JRPG series. Even so, Square-Enix claims that this title will “exceed [XIII] in every aspect.”

Final Fantasy XIII-2 seems to play largely like the last title, but boasts a few tweaks. Players will find themselves playing as other characters this time around, such as Lightning’s sister, Serah, and her friend Noel. Though the main protaganist is still Lightning, allowing for more development of a well-received character. Other characters are said to return, but they’ll return in ways that are “unexpected” and with different personalities.

The story of Final Fantasy XIII-2 is said to be darker this time around, as Cocoon has fallen, and Lightning is still trying to find her place in life. She is also posed against a mysterious man who is an equal to her strength in a yin-yang kind of implication. Not too much else is known about the story, but it’s said to continue the mythology of the last title, focusing on the goddess Etro.

The E3 demo reintroduces Serah, along with Noel and their moogle companion. Noel has never been to Cocoon before and makes note that monsters are much stronger there. Before they are able to take in their surroundings, they are attacked by a giant, mechanical-like creature called Atlas. Atlas is mostly ethereal, except for his giant hand.

Serah and Noel take to attacking the hand, as it’s the only thing that they can actually make contact with. Yet, it is very powerful and knocks them around quite a bit. It’s then that the battle starts for the player.

The battle play is largely the same from the previous; however, there is a new mechanic called Cinematic Actions. These are essentially quick-time events that happen during orchestrated battles. Succeeding at these cinematics means an opportunity for increased damage, while failing results in a devastating attack to the player’s party members.

After the battle ends, Atlas retreats for the time being. The Gaurdian Corp allows Serah and Noel to try and stop Atlas. It’s here that “random battles” start appearing.

Yet another new mechanic is introduced. Monsters can now pop out of nowhere into the hub world, but if the player is able to real-time attack them quickly enough, they’ll start the battle with bonuses; such as faster attacks, first-strike and monsters to fight by the player’s side.

In XIII-2, the player may tame monsters and have them perform special attacks that are reminiscent of gestalt attacks from the previous title. Also, tamed monsters can be swapped based on their paradigm — whether one monster is better suited as a caster and another a brute, etc.

After some battling, the E3 demo took a turn into the puzzle category when Serah and her companions found themselves in another dimension. In this dimension, the player must get from one end of the room to the other, collecting every single crystal along the way. The puzzle aspect takes the form of not being able to stand on the same tile twice.

Once the puzzle are completed, Serah, her moogle friend and Noel find themselves at a machine that makes Atlas vulnerable to attack. Staggering makes a return, and once Serah and gang stagger Atlas, he is easily defeated.

At this point, the gameplay looks largely the same, and it’s clearly impossible to say whether or not the pacing will be any better. The tweaks as of yet are more subtle, but perhaps they can change things up enough to allow players to give Final Fantasy XIII-2 a shot. The development team said even before the release of the previous title that they had more story to tell and more gameplay features to integrate, so this may be their golden opportunity to get it right. In the meantime, keep your ears to the ground, and your eyes on Vagary.TV.

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Tune in tomorrow for a posting of an interview with the Final Fantasty XIII-2 dev team!

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Diaries Of A First Time E3-Goer: Day 1

By
Gregory Hutto
– June 8, 2011Posted in: Blogs, E3 2010 Blog, Event Blogs, Staff Blogs

It’s very strange to actually be at E3, but I feel like I’m making a pivotal step toward my ultimate goal of being a renown gaming journalist. I feel quite lucky to be a part of the Vagary.TV team. Not only have I been invited to cover E3 as someone who the industry deems as important to them, but it’s come with many perks.

I’ve had the pleasure of bumping elbows with some very amazing people. I’ve seen Casey Hudson, sat within waving distance to Shigeru Miyamoto and had a drink with IGN’s Daemon Hatfield. To me, that’s really the best part. Seeing all these new games is really interesting, but I would have seen them eventually. Privileged information only lasts so long as news is pouring out, but a good first impression with someone important can define one’s future.

I don’t know what this means for my future, but I do know that I’m having a good time. Anyhow, these are some of the things I’ve done thus far:

Nintendo Conference — I started Day 1 of E3 by seeing the Nintendo conference, and it really was a great time. I stood in line with IGN’s Scott Lowe and eventually took my seat in one of the first 20 some rows. Then, the orchestra started playing classic Zelda music, and I knew I finally “made it”. The conference had me on the edge of my seat, as this was supposed to be the reveal for the new Nintendo console. While the controller was revealed, the console really wasn’t. It blew me away how much they said without really saying anything. I found myself appreciative of the opportunity, but ultimately let down by the conference itself.

Appointments — After the conference, we headed in to E3, and the floor was officially open. I grabbed my media badge, but not until after being accosted by media for being a grown-ass man and not having my credentials with me in print form. I shook it off and headed out to the first appointment. The first game I saw was Awesomenauts, an ode to League of Legends for the XBL and PSN platform. I was ultimately unimpressed, but I definitely appreciate their efforts as a Dutch, independent developer. I also recognize the premise of the game didn’t really speak to me in the first place, but it impressed  my colleague, Kyle Baron. It may be worth checking out. After that, the rest of the team took off for more appointments, but I stayed on the floor to check things out, as I was overwhelmed by my first E3.

2K — After lunch, the Vagary.TV gang got back to E3, and I took some more time on the floor. I checked out some amazing things, including a PS Move/Wii like peripheral for Portal that changed the game’s mechanics drastically. I’ll be doing a write-up of that quite soon. Eventually, we got back together for a VIP appointment with 2K. Here, I previewed nearly their entire line-up, including two games that have previews on Vagary — The Darkness II and XCOM. They both were impressive, and I was really happy to be able to do the previews myself. Unfortunately, we had to split again for the team to make more appointments, but it meant that I get to solely cover one of the biggest studios on the floor.

Mass Effect 3 — From there, I took the time to check out even more booths, and better yet, booth babes. However, I saw that EA had some exclusive VIP showings of Mass Effect. I had been working on getting a VIP appointment already, but I’ve been very busy and it was proving to be difficult. However, BioWare was taking a few people in who were willing to wait for VIP screenings. Being a huge fan of BioWare and Mass Effect, I was willing to wait an hour in a line of less than 20 people to MAYBE get an opportunity to preview it. I was one of the few who actually did, and boy, was it worth it. The game is MASSIVE, as implied by the title, in a way that can hardly be described in words. Though, you’re certainly welcome to try out the words for their worth on Vagary, as I did get the pleasure of writing the preview.

Partying — Finally, I hit a few more booths to check out some things I was merely sort of impressed by. It’s truly hard to take everything in, so it sometimes feels overwhelming when trying to decide what is worth your attention. The Vagary team got back together, but we had to blow off our invite to the VIP Konami party. Instead, we went to the “war room” — the room that media can do their writing — and started up on some previews. We didn’t get as much time as we’d like, but we were still able to throw some content together. From there, we took back to our hotel and left for the Bethesda Private Party. There, they had an open bar and free food, as well as some important people in which to bump elbows with. We talked shop and had a conversation with Daemon Hatfield, and then we went back to the hotel to be ripped off by a cab driver, get some writing done and sleep.

– So there it is! That’s Day 1 in a nutshell. It may not seem like a lot, but time really flies in transit to appointments, and we’ve been doing our best to plan some amazing content for you folks who read Vagary.TV, and I’ve been gearing up for some awesome podcasting on GameON Radio, The BlankShowCast and more! In fact, we’ll be doing an E3 team podcast coming soon. Tune in!

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Editorial: Microsoft E3 Conference Recap

By
Magnus Risebro
– June 8, 2011Posted in: Blogs, Magnus' Blog, News, Xbox 360

“Sorry, gamers, Kinect is here to stay. Aww, don’t cry! Here, have some Ice-T playing Gears of War. Not doing it for you? Well how about some Halo Combat Evolved Beautiful Edition? Still not enough? Oh, well, you can have Halo 4 I guess.”

The above paragraph neatly describes my experience with this year’s Microsoft E3 press conference. Apparently unfazed by the mild backlash towards last year’s focus on family friendly Kinect-powered hand-waving, Microsoft belted out a conference tall on said hand-waving and short on truly exciting news. Sure, the hand-waving might now be accompanied by voice-speaking and bolted on to games you may well care about, but the press conference was a disappointing affair nonetheless.

Modern Warfare 3 footage surprising no-one opened the show with a ”Meh”-inducing submarine shootout and boat chase, before giving way to a Tomb Raider Gritty-’Boot gameplay demo we’d read about months ago. Despite impressive graphics and promising news about this game, the demo failed to excite me, largely due to the part featured being so scripted watching it on a livestream would likely not differ dramatically from actually playing it.

Shortly following was the charismatic Peter Moore, talking about Kinect support for slightly annual EA Sports games.More interesting about the EA segment was Mass Effect-like Mass Effect 3 gameplay where Shepard’s dialogue-options were determined using Kinect. After selecting dialogue options, first with ever-lovable Mordin Solus, then with -gasp – a female Krogan, Shepard stabbed an armor-wearing goon with his glowing Sci-Fi knife while the voice-commanding his squad to attack other armor-wearing goons.

Speaking of squads, after the Mass Effect 3 gameplay there was new trailer for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier featuring ironically-used classical music and time-freeze camera-pan tacticoolness. A french-accented Ubisoft rep briefly strolled out on stage to chat about the game, before handing over the reigns to a younger fellow who demonstrated the dismantling, building, and accessorizing of guns using Kinect in the game. “Optimize ranged”, he would utter, and the game would assemble a long-barreled assault-rifle with a scope for him. The Minority Report-like motion-based menu-navigation shown off was thoroughly impressive, but past being thoroughly impressive, is there any benefit to playing this way? I’m skeptical.

However, the gun-porn was quickly cut short by a PR speech about a “new entertainment experience” using Kinect, in the form of a new Xbox dashboard. We were shown videos of attractive people elegantly motioning at the  screen to watch X-men films and use “that-other-search-engine” Bing to look online for more X-men stuff. Also included in this “New experience” is the ability to watch UFC with your friends using online social networking magic. The presentation was eerily similar to last year’s, the primary difference being Bruno Mars having been replaced by X-men and UFC.

This far, it was not a thrilling conference. Nothing that had been shown would have been massive news during any normal week, let alone E3. Not good enough, MS.

"I'll be doing the soundtrack too, right?"

The conference needed something bigger. It needed something better. It needed something more badass. It was lucky then, that Cliffy B himself strutted into the limelight accompanied by none other than Old-Skool gangsta-rapper ” Ice-T. Together, they played Gears of War 3, which looked like the solid cover-based shootery Gears has always been. The demo given depicted took place in what looked like a level set onboard a tanker ship, and featured a battle against a towering boss with a glowing eye as weak-spots. Cliff and Ice-T shot the weak spot and concluded the level. “Gears of War 3 is looking quite excellent”, you might have thought to yourself. “Maybe things are looking up.”

And for three more trailers, they kind of did. First up of these was Crytek-developed Project Kingdoms, now named “Ryse”. The mysterious teaser shown last year did not offer much info about the game, so I was naturally intrigued as a powerful voice boomed out at me while images of a dog roaming about the streets of a war-torn Roman-times Rome among armored men stabbing each other passed to reveal the player would participate in this stabbing action through the magic of, you guessed it, Kinect. As you may have deducted, I’m not a huge fan of the peripheral, but as far as swinging your arms goes, doing it to simulate melee battle seems rather fun and apropriate, especially when it’s being brought to you by highly competent studio: Crytek.  Having said that, the Kinect has hardly had luck with fighting-games in the past, as the Metacritic score for Fighters Uncaged can testify to.

After the Ryse trailer, the huge screen overlooking the stage went dark as the soothing voices of a female choir began to sing some very distinctive notes. The rumors were true: Halo remake! As the Nostalgia-triggering Marty O’ Donnel masterpiece pumped out of the speakers, we were presented with lovely HD renditions of Combat Evolved’s levels filled with bright colors and shown a release date of November 15, dooming the game to compete with CoD.

The final third of this trilogy of decent excitement was a slickly-directed Forza 4 trailer using Kanye West’s tune, “Power”. Apparently Turn 10 had forgotten that Saint’s Row 3’s recent trailer also used the very same song in a similarly slick way. It’s Forza. But with more stuff. As good a recipe as expected.

Then, ultra-ambitious hype-machine Peter Molyneux appeared briefly to announce his wonderful next Fable game, combining the two elements all gamers hold dearest: On-rails shooting and gesture-based combat. Oh, wait. After a rather unexciting demo, I was left with little of that classic Molyneux hype. Is Fable: the Journey, as it’s called, what became of Milo & Kate?

The strangest segment of the conference was the following announcement, about which I’m unsure what to feel: Minecraft, coming to Xbox! Being a fan of Mojang’s indie megahit, I still see no point in Minecraft being released on consoles. In my opinion, the entire idea of Minecraft is based around total freedom regarding what you want to do with the game. Community-texture packs, modding, and other PC-exclusive shenanigans are what define Minecraft. Relocating it to Microsoft’s strictly-monitored console seems pointless to me.

From there on, the conference proceeded to present a stream of other Kinect titles barely worth mentioning. Suffice to say, last year’s two decent Kinect titles are getting sequels, Double Fine’s Sesame Street looks cute, and that Star Wars Kinect demo showed last year is actually a game.

Finally, Microsoft closed off the conference with Halo 4, unexpectedly numbered, expectedly announced. The has-to-be-CG teaser trailer showed Master Chief being awoken from the coma he was left in at Halo 3′s end by AI lady Cortana, whom he promptly slots into his helmet. Dodging bits of exploding spaceship, he jetpacks out of the frigate and into space, where he faces a massive, glowing, alien construction with some sort of portal in the center.

Did Halo really need any more sequels? Not really. Am I excited about Halo 4? Naturally. Was this a good press conference?

Hardly. A misplaced focus on things the majority of the E3-attending crowd has little interest in – though it was probably inevitable that the focus would be placed on Kinect given the peripheral’s good sales last Christmas – as well as total lack of any truly unexpected announcements has left me somewhat bitter about the Xbox’s near future. Sure, many of the games shown off will likely be great, but the conference was lacking the surprise and bombast you want from E3. Here’s hoping the upcoming conferences deliver.

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E3 Preview: The Darkness 2

By
Gregory Hutto
– June 8, 2011Posted in: Previews

The Darkness didn’t make its way into necessarily everyone’s home back in 2007, but it was one of the titles early one in this generation that caught some attention. In 2011, we now see the Darkness II, and it’s certainly worth more note than the previous title.

The Darkness II features Jackie, a man plagued by demon possession. It’s been two years since the death of his girlfriend, but he’s since learned to cope and keep the Darkness contained. However, things turn when Jackie is attacked, “unprovoked”. A mob war starts in front of him, and he must call upon the Darkness again if he is to survive.

In truth, Jackie is being hunted down by a seedy, unknown group that is trying to kill Jackie. The group is being run by someone referred to as the “Crippled Man”, but further exploration finds that this group is trying to harvest Jackie’s darkness. This group was once good, in fact. They wanted to squelch the Darkness, but were corrupted in the process, merely abusing its powers for their gain.

The demo takes place in a carnival and showcases some amazing lighting and detail. Gone are the murky environments. Everything is clearly defined, and the AI is very intuitive. Jackie loses his connection to the darkness when the lights are on, so enemies will use all sorts of tricks to get him into the light and kill him when he’s weak.

Fighting enemies seems to be more fluid and kinetic this time around. Like in the previous title, the left demon arm picks things up, and the right demon arm attacks. Not only that, but each of Jackie’s arms can tout a gun. This allows the player to pick up a piece of rebar with on demon arm and impale an enemy, whip one across the face with the other demon arm and unload a bullet storm from an uzi and hand gun at another enemy all at the same time!

This may seem like a lot going on, but it’s looks to be a fairly natural playstyle. Plus, players will be rewarded for their creativity by receiving points for impressive kills. These points will translate into upgrades that are exceedingly fresh and interesting. For example, one upgrade transfers the demon energy into the player’s guns, allowing the player to do more damage and not use any ammo. Better yet, when the skill is upgraded, the player can also see and shoot through walls — making shooting galleries much more survivable with a satisfying amount of carnage.

It seems as though the Darkness II is not about rewriting what they already had, but simply refining the experience into something that looks to be more fluid and satisfying. With this may come a larger audience, and it seems as though they may end up being satisfied with their potential purpose. Hopefully, anyway.

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E3 Preview: XCOM

By
Gregory Hutto
– June 8, 2011Posted in: Blogs, E3 2010 Blog, Event Blogs, News

With 2K having quite the line-up at E3, it may a bit too easy to over-look what may be their strongest title. While I haven’t actually played XCOM, the E3 demo was far more intriguing than The Darkness 2,  Duke Nukem, or even BioShock: Infinite.

For those who’ve not heard of the game, XCOM is a sci-fi shooter with 1950′s throwback themes. Presenting itself much like you’d expect BioShock to look above ground as Rapture was being built, the player finds him or herself in a culture of hoop skirts, bowler hats and smoking indoors.

XCOM is actually a reboot of games made by Mythos Games. 2K has since taken on to rebooting the game, and rebranding it as XCOM, as opposed to X-COM. You know, because there is a big difference? Anyhow, the game sets itself to take concepts from the original series and take it to the Nth degree.

The concept is pretty simple. Earth is being attacked by an unknown alien objective with unknown intentions — a force comprised of humanoid like soldiers, aliens posing as humans, turrets, and much more yet to be seen.  It’s up to the player to effectively manage teams to combat alien forces. This is done through research, effective ground tactics and maintaining base operations. Players learn from alien technology by capturing alien resources.

The research strategy is easily one of the most intriguing parts of the game. As the player commands a team of three, including himself and two ghost busters like characters, the player must tread the fine line of using alien technology in the field and knowing when it’s best to save alien technology for research and power upgrades.

Gamers who defeat alien forces capture the aliens using a tactical pausing screen, much like the one found in the Mass Effect series. It’s from this screen that the player may choose to capture a fallen enemy — such as humanoids, turrets, and warships — or reposition the other members and plan strategies; use powers like shielding, energy blasts and whatever else the player has earned through research; and more.

The game presents itself in an eerie way, but still somehow manages to have style and extremely impressive. Most impressively, at the tech demo, the producer captured a spherical warship and used it later to take out an all-sides opposition in a shooting gallery. The massive ship, about the size of a floating dump truck. Just as the ship shot its lazer cannons, rubble started flying everywhere, and the environment reflected the chaos ensued.

Rubble and fallen structures may seem reasonable in and of itself, but seeing as the player can deploy captured technology when they feel fit, this scene is implied to not be scripted during the final product. If the game really does reflect real time destruction throughout the game in a dynamic way, this is truly impressive and something noteworthy.

XCOM may really be 2K’s best product at E3, but it’s a shame that many may be distracted by larger 2K titles and title by other developers as well. In it’s current form, it seems straight forward enough to tickle our familiar nerd fancies of The Twilight Zone and Ghostbusters, but it’s what isn’t known that is just as tempting. Hopefully the end product meets the potential of this ambitious reboot, because I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out.

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E3 Preview: Mass Effect 3

By
Gregory Hutto
– June 8, 2011Posted in: E3 2010 Blog, Event Blogs, PC, Xbox 360

It comes as no surprise that Mass Effect 3 looks amazing, but it is still mind-blowlingly fresh to actually see in person. If any word can describe Mass Effect 3, the word is ‘grandiose’. It truly caught me off guard how large this game is. It’s easy to feel like a tough guy when you’re shooting down a few geth, skull bashing some husks, and sniping mechs like they were cheap toys. Now that the Reapers have invaded Earth, Shepard is a spec standing “tall” to the opposition.

In the newest installment, things start off harsh as Shepard stands trial for his “crimes” against the Batarian colonies. Before Shepard is given the verdict, Reapers invade Earth, and it’s to each their own survival. All efforts on Earth prove to be futile. Shepard is then given orders by Lt. Anderson to guild together a feasible opposition as he is reinstated as Commander. Hesitantly, Shepard agrees to embark on a journey, leaving Earth to its seemingly inevitable destruction, in order to gain resources, alliances and whatever else he can possibly attain to defend Earth from Reaper onslaught.

The most amazing part of the E3 demo was the scale. It’s clear to see that BioWare wants Shepard to seem powerless — an ant being stepped on by giants. Mass Effect 3 plays with a dynamic camera angles during gameplay, and it looks exceedingly smooth and really contributes to the cinematic nature of the game. Think the newest iteration of War of the Worlds, but actually good. All this is set to the very beautiful Mass Effect 3 engine, tailored from the Unreal 3 engine. The game is so beautifully cinematic, it may even confuse people for another Blur trailer.

Many characters make a return, and it can only be assumed that everyone that survives Mass Effect 2 will somehow effect the story. In the demo I was shown, Liara, Garrus, Legion, Joker and Mordin all made their return. There seem to be new characters in Shepard’s squadron as well, but they’ve yet to develop.

The gameplay seems to largely follow the structure of the previous title, but there are many more options for how tactics may be enacted. Cover mechanics seem to be much more intuitive, and the game displays where Shepard will rush to, so that the player can be certain they are making careful tactical advancements without taking away from the pace in over-calculation.

Even better yet, the cover mechanics and beefed up AI allow for a more in-depth playstyle. Flanking is much more tactically relevant and useful, and Shepard can even sneak up to his opponents. Why would the player want to sneak behind an enemy? Well, shooting them in the back is fun and all, but it’s much more satisfying to stab them with the new “Omni-blade.” The new arm lance initiates a sort of in-game cutscene, stabbing opponents viciously, replacing punching as the melee option. It’s very much akin to Halo: Reach’s assassinations. Also, Shepard is able to pull people from across ledges, much like something seen in Splinter Cell: Conviction.

The new gear doesn’t stop there. Mass Effect 3 sports an upgrade system in which the player can add parts — like gun barrels, sights, etc. — to enhance the effectiveness and tactical advantages to guns. This is something that was brought up in one of the latest GameInformers, but until now, it’s yet to be seen. It uses a bench mechanic like Dead Space, but is more visually appealing and “hands-on”. Frag Grenades also make a return, but function much more realistically and dynamically.

Finally, Mass Effect 3 touts a more in-depth character stats progression. For example, many people remember combat mastery as adding damage, persuasion, health and storm speed. However, this time around, players can designate what parts of Combat Mastery they’d like to benefit from specifically. This is some exciting news, as it will mean that players will have a more unique character with different playstyles.

Mass Effect 3 has been largley a close-to-the-chest project, but it’s clear to see it’s not for any reason other than saving the best for when it’s available. BioWare staff said they’d not even show the gameplay demo that was previewed at E3 again untill the game is officially released. It’s bittersweet, really. On one hand, many gamers are craving the instant gratification of seeing more and more of Mass Effect 3, but it is sure to be a reward in and of itself when the disc is actually in their hands as they discover just how amazing this game is looking to be.

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Wii 2 Thoughts

By
William Milby
– April 18, 2011Posted in: Blogs, News, News, Staff Blogs

This might come as a surprise, but we here at vagary.tv are not really in the position to get a giant scoop on the next hot thing from Nintendo (yet). However, what we are adept at, is giving ideas and feedback to an idea, proposing theories and just all around down to earth views on the gaming industry. That being said, I have a rather unusual prediction for the Wii brand.

First, to cover what is coming out of seemingly every corner of the gaming news arena. Game Informer first broke the news a few days ago, citing it’s HD capabilities (duh). Then the floodgates broke open, sources like IGN, Kotaku, CVG and some French website called 01net , all started giving their two cents in. Rumors from a traditional controller with an enormous touchscreen on it, to being considerably more powerful than current-gen systems and even the codename “Project Cafe” popped up! Obviously all these sources had heard their own tidbits about the new console but had held their tongue up to this point for fear of being the first to break news that Nintendo might hold a grudge against them for. But as we all know, once someone else breaks the rules it is all fair game from that point on.

There are a few fascinating things I would really like to cover here. First is a clear breakdown of what Nintendo needs to do in order for this to succeed.

To me, this is surprisingly simple. I’m not going to say Nintendo needs to get all hardcore with their games and start making new hardcore properties (which would be nice), but rather that all they need is to re-secure their home console on the cross-platform circuit. There are countless games that are now cross-platform that they could capitalize on. There are fewer and fewer console exclusive games with each generation, and even the most sacred properties are now fleeing their traditional homes. If Nintendo can simply capture this, in addition to their prized IP’s, then they will be golden. Of course, things like online infrastructure, and social aspects will be crucial, but not nearly as much as third-party support. I honestly do not see it being too difficult to pull this task off anyway, developers love getting their hands on new hardware, unless of course that hardware happens to be “two Gamecubes taped together”. The real failure of the Wii was not the lack of power. The problem was the lack of being on par with other consoles so games could be easily co-developed alongside their 360 and PS3 counterparts. Of course, this is a direct result from the lack of power, but still, the effect is indirect.

IGN's Mock-up Controller

I do want to take this time to point out that a few months ago on the podcast I co-host (the n00bketeers), I said that I wouldn’t be surprised if Nintendo planned on making the Wii slightly underpowered on purpose to gain casual players. While, at the same time, the other consoles were planning a longer console life of up to ten years. Nintendo could then leapfrog five years later (aka, now) the other consoles with something more powerful, have the top-dog position for at least a few years and at the same time be competitively priced relative to everything else. A hugely risky yet brilliant move, but here is my problem, Nintendo is not going to just ignore the casual gamers they spent the last 5 years roping in.

This leads to my most radical statement. When I wrote Wii 2 thoughts as the title, I was not referring to the console we are all hearing about today. While reading some thoughts by the IGN editors on the new console codename, Peer Schneider (IGN’s SVP) made the statement that this could be Nintendo’s new third pillar! A strategy some long-time Nintendo fans will remember from the days of transitioning from the GBA to the DS. Of course, they certainly did not seem committed to the idea for very long, but I propose it didn’t work out because both of those consoles played into the same market at the time.

In reality, the Wii was still an attempt at the three-pillar strategy, DS for the handheld gamers, the Wii for the casual gamer, and the Wii for the hardcore. They tried consolidating the market with the Wii; and it didn’t work! So this entire article is in anticipation of the statement that I would bet that Nintendo now tries to keep the Wii brand separate from the console they are about to announce. Even to the point of releasing a Wii 2 maybe even sometime next year and marketing it specifically towards the young and casual audience. Still motion based, still cheap, still Wii.

Why try to balance on a tight rope when you can just walk across two completely separate planks. If PC manufactures can have a netbook for casual people who want to play solitaire and surf TMZ, and simultaneously have a war machine built for dominating alien species with your almighty gunships, then why can’t Nintendo?

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Why I’m Not Excited For Nintendo’s New Console

By
Gregory Hutto
– April 18, 2011Posted in: Blogs

For those of you not in the know, Nintendo has been telling various press outlets that they’ll be announcing a new console at this year’s E3. Nintendo claims that this console will be a powerhouse of digital entertainment, sporting technology that exceeds that of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. In that claim, Nintendo says their console will be capable of 1080p resolutions. According to them, this is their shot at regaining the hardcore gaming market.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Nintendo hasn’t officially confirmed anything, but sources are numerous and reliable.

Let me say, I’m all for the idea of Nintendo recapturing me. However, I’m not thinking that this new console is the ticket – at least, not for me. In their release, they said that the next-generation console of theirs will be backwards compatible. That actually scares me. I think it would be important for any other console to tout their backwards capable console, but Nintendo is notorious for doing the same gimmicky thing, time and time again. By taking such a deliberate stance right away, it kind of seems to me that they’re likely to keep with this same motion control gimmick.

I’d like to believe that Nintendo’s goal is to regain the attention of gamers like myself, but it sounds more like that notion plays second fiddle. What sounds most likely is that they’ll appeal to very same casual market they do now and try to simultaneously garner a bit more attention from the other side. I think that second notion will eventually fall wayside, just as it has now. If anything, I think Nintendo is hoping to get attention using alluring statements, but I’d have to see it to believe it. It’s because of this that I refer to the console as the Wii 2, despite its true and unannounced title.

How does Nintendo actually plan to recapture the wayward gamers that have deserted them? Well, by the sounds of it, they believe the tech speaks volumes. Granted, their release so far is sparse. While they haven’t said much, the boldest statement is that the console will be more powerful than other current-gen consoles. What does that really mean in terms of processing power, graphical capabilities, and features? Only time may tell, but as it stands, it sounds like they expect to compete with their opponents in graphical fidelity by touting its 1080p output. Yet, their statement pits their next-gen console against current-gen technology.

Even now, current-gen consoles support DVD and even Blu-Ray playback. 1080p fidelity sounds good and all, but if Nintendo follows their trend of single-sightedness, I can’t imagine 1080p being as valuable to this new console as it is to PlayStation 3. 1080p, as it stands, is somewhat of a misnomer, anyhow. While both Xbox and PlayStation support 1080p, most games run at about 640p and are upscaled. This could change in the next generation, but I’m still really skeptical as to whether or not the 1080p will be fully realized on Nintendo’s new console.

Perhaps the processing power of the next-gen console will be outstanding on the whole, but I’m not holding my breath. What it really comes down to is Nintendo’s games and their strategy. My biggest trouble with Nintendo is their lack of enticing titles and true innovation. Their strategy has been largely the same for years; find something that works and run it into the ground. Obviously we can expect more Mario, Zelda, and Metroid titles, but what is the new console going to do for them that they haven’t done before? What does 1080p Mario Bros. look like, and more importantly, what does it play like?

Those titles that Nintendo puts at the forefront of their brand. There are plenty of other titles that are great, but don’t really challenge the idea of where gaming is and could be. Motion control and 3D are not the future, and Nintendo has been the one to show us that with a lack of critical success in their Wii and 3DS hardware (see: financial vs. critical success). So what half-realized feature are they going to spew on us now that hardcore gamers don’t care about? Nintendo may have heard our complaints about their underwhelming hardware, but I have to see the specifications to believe it.

In all of this, my biggest concern is Nintendo and their way. While their tech has been disappointing, it’s not really the problem; it’s just indicative of Nintendo’s problem as a whole. They really don’t push the envelope. Sony gave us Blu-Ray and Metal Gear Solid 4, and Microsoft Studios gave us Mass Effect and Xbox Live. Nintendo gave us… well, a handheld that is just okay (see 3DS), the same Mario games over and over again, and a ton of ill-conceived gimmicks. Again, I’m ready and willing to be wowed by Nintendo, but I’m not convinced as of yet. Hopefully future announcements bear better insight , and hardcore gamers may find what they were looking for from Nintendo all along. In the meantime, this just gets me more jazzed to hear about what other companies are going to announce next in retaliation.

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