Video Games...Discuss Them

[Dukefrukem]

EA Keynote in One post

• Star Wars: Battlefront shows off some "early in-game footage" inspired by the developers' actual visits to locations where the movies were shot. Very brief little snippet as a teaser.
• Dragon Age: Inquisition looks like it has some impressively large, open environments, leaving a good first impression that was immediately soured when the presenter said "all the feels" out loud like that's something someone should do. Combat looks fairly fun.
• A new Mass Effect was heavily rumored and shows off some "conceptual prototypes" of environments. It looks quite good. "We're building worlds and journeys for the next generation." Fairly content-light, buzzword-heavy preview, but pretty.
• Someone in the audience was SUPER EXCITED about The Sims 4. Looks like emotional states are important to keep track of, as it usually seems to be, especially when that crazy Gladys comes to your party. Apparently these Sims are going to be smarter than what has come before, but yeah, this looks like more Sims.
• EA Sports UFC features...Bruce Lee, which is kinda neat.
• NHL 15 has changed "almost everything."
• A new game from Criterion. Moving on from cars to...helicopters? Plus ATVs, wingsuits, boats, jetskis, planes, etc. Exclusively a first-person experience while driving. Gameplay is very, very early, barely textured, even. No title for the game as far as I could see.
• "Extreme Fantasy Courses" are coming to the next PGA Tour game, which looks entertainingly crazy. Tee off in what looks like a golf course from a Battlefield game.
• The new Madden features the game of football.
• EA wants a slice of that MOBA pie with Dawngate. "Flexible metagame." "The game will change every time you play." I would certainly hope so. "A massive, epic, story arc."
• Our stream went out while they showed Mirror's Edge 2, unfortunately! I am assuming that you run a lot. Got some footage of the end of it and it looks fairly early.
• Fifa 15 also features the game of football. Pretty sure they've used the word "emotion" at least a hundred times so far during this conference.
• Battlefield: Hardline has been the worst-kept secret of this E3. Looks a fair amount like a grittier GTA heist mission. Cops vs. criminals, bank robberies, and so forth. Looks like it could be a lot of fun, although it seems likely that the demo they're showing here was probably scripted fairly heavily for the purposes of this stream. Some impressive action with helicopters, miniguns, ziplines, and collapsing construction cranes - not sure how that'll work mechanically. It looks like beta signups start...today, on PC and PS4 if you have a copy of Battlefield 4. 1080p, 60fps on PS4. Game releases on October 21st.

[Dukefrukem]

Now here comes Evolve, which I predict will be game of the year.

The new monster reveal looks amazing. Check out my write up of Evolve in my blog (in sig) if you're interested on first impressions. Wrote about it at PAX East.

[Dukefrukem]

The Crew coast to coast- open world racing game where you can drive from the east coast to the west coast with no loading. Wut?

[Dukefrukem]

The Crew coast to coast- open world racing game where you can drive from the east coast to the west coast with no loading. Wut?

2 hour missions!

November 11th 2014 release.

[Stay Puft]

[*]From the creators of Killer Instinct comes Phantom Dust. Remake? New game? Trailer appeared to be CGI.

Not from the creators of Killer Instinct (Rare has nothing to do with it and Double Helix was bought by Amazon). It's not clear who is developing it but the original creator of Phantom Dust confirmed on twitter that he is involved.

[*]New Crackdown game is, obviously, an Xbox One exclusive. CGI trailers seem to be a recurring theme here. Also apparently by Platinum Games?

Not Platinum, the original creator of Crackdown is back directing the game at his new studio.

[Gittes]

Rainbow Six: Siege was unveiled at the Ubisoft conference. It looks great. I've been a fan of this series for a while (the last installment I played was Rainbow Six: Vegas on the 360).

[Dukefrukem]

I question the gameplay there though.

[Gittes]

This game is getting remastered on the PS4 and Vita:



The announcement has elicited some pretty ecstatic reactions. I actually don't know much about this game but, apparently, it's something special. I like the visuals.

[Gittes]

This also looks lovely:



The studio behind the game is led by Journey's art director. Austin Wintory will be providing the score.

[Stay Puft]

Grim Fandango announcement blew my mind. Bringing it to a whole new audience is pretty cool.

[Dukefrukem]

I'm not sure you do a keynote more perfect than what Sony just did.

[Gittes]

While I was hoping we would see some gameplay footage, this was still exciting. It's interesting that they're explicitly setting this up as the end of Drake's story.

[Dukefrukem]

Aside from being 2 fucking hours long.

God, No Many's Sky. GTAV with progress import feature, Uncharted 4...

[Gittes]

They are aiming for 60fps and 1080p:

You’ve been waiting for it and it’s finally here. At E3 2014 we unveiled two trailers, one for each of the PS4 projects we’re currently developing. The UNCHARTED game we’ve been working on sees the return of…well, why don’t you watch the trailer and see for yourself!

That’s Nathan Drake rendered in full 1080p glory using the power of our PS4 engine. All footage you see in the trailer was captured completely in-engine. We’re targeting 60fps for Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End and as you can see the visual fidelity for our character models will reach new heights. In fact, thanks to the power of the PS4, right now Drake’s Uncharted 4 model is over double the polygons of Joel from The Last of Us PS3.

The next generation of Nathan Drake is going to be very real and will explore what it means when Drake is forced back into the world of thieves. He will embark on a globe-trotting journey in pursuit of a historical conspiracy behind a fabled pirate treasure. It’s his greatest adventure yet and will test his physical limits, his resolve, and ultimately what he’s willing to sacrifice to save the ones he loves.

We’ll have more information on Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End in the coming months.

[Ezee E]

Evolve has pretty graphics and all, but what makes it the evolution of gaming? Looks like Gears of War mixed with Left 4 Dead.

[Dukefrukem]

Evolve has pretty graphics and all, but what makes it the evolution of gaming? Looks like Gears of War mixed with Left 4 Dead.

It's the balance of gameplay. Check out my write up in my blog (link in sig).

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

[Dukefrukem]

Oh and Not only did a PS4 version of GTAV get announced where you can import your saves/progress from your PS3... but GTAV PC version also announced.

Driveclub nowhere to be found. And most people will probably be happy that Quantic Dream didn't make an appearance.

[number8]

Fuck me Arkham Knight looks huge. Those are some tall buildings.

[Dukefrukem]

[Spun Lepton]

:cry: <---- tears of absolute joy.

[Dukefrukem]

Despite Sony's show being 2 hours long, it's hard to deny they won E3 for a second straight year. Just showcasing game after game, keeping in mind some of the games are multiplatform, (GTAV, Batman, Far Cry 4)but a lot were not (No Man's Sky, Uncharted 4, The Order, Bloodborn, Let it Die, LittleBigPlanet 3 not even including Quantic Dream, Driveclub) and that's something Microsoft can't say. Sony has always innovated with new Ips and they appear to be doing it again this gen. Microsoft goes to the conservative approach- they know their audience. Call of Duty this, Battlefield that, Tom Clancy this, while Sony pumps out new stuff while continuing to build their fanbase on important franchises, Ratchet & Clank remake, and a film coming in 2015, Oddworld: New & Tasty. Both consoles will have an explosion of indie titles. Sony is even releasing new HW and cross platform play between all of them.

The question marks for Sony? Why bother showing Project Morpheus? We aren't close to a release date for that. And no real info on Playstaiton Now. I was expecting them to say it will be rolled up into PS+, but that doesn't sound like it will be the case. It was nice to see the Exclusive PSN Series will be available to PS+ members. Just so much being done on the Sony side.

[megladon8]

Thanks for all the details on E3, Duke. I enjoyed reading all your thoughts!