Sony E3 Conference Wrap Up

• Re-Vita-Lising: PlayStation Vita

So, the new handheld has been officially unveiled as PS Vita or PSV if you will. They didn't go over all the technological facts about the device because frankly, its all been covered before. In terms of graphics, it looks very swish, they had Uncharted: Golden Abyss running on it, Modnation Racers and LittleBigPlanet. A bit weird that they are using games that defined PS3 as launch titles but you got to sell units I guess.
Ah yes, price. It's roughly hitting the 250 range in dollars and euros so expecting the same for sterling. Not entirely fair perhaps given the exchange rate but if you don't want it, don't buy it. Vita needs to be both affordable and accessible to all, making sure that there is a control system and a game to suit everyone.

• Support: Move and 3D

Another big plugging year on these from Sony, who have invested a lot in these technologies. 3D is of course a notoriously expensive technology so for Sony to come out, recognise and be pro active about the situtation, is a statement about the market.
Much as in the same way, early PS3 adopters pushed the sales of blu ray, so will they again with 3D with a new affordable 24inch 3D monitor, cheaper multi-functional glasses and game (looks like Resistance 3 but not nailed down) for the low, low price of $500, which will probably translate into like for euros and pounds. Still not cheap but certainly cheaper.
Onto Move now and Sony made it a point to say that move was in both hardcore and casual games, showing off NBA 2K12 with basketball man, Kobe Bryant as well as the new Medieval Moves: Dead Man's Quest. Also, big Bioshock man Ken Levine popped up on stage and said they were supporting both Vita and Move so more on that later no doubt.

• Take to the skies: Starhawk and Bioshock Infinite

 Bioshock Infinite looks doubtably phenomenal and it's a great coup for Sony to not only have a trailer shown at their presser but to also get the big man behind the Bioshock games, Ken Levine on the stage. Not as impactful as last year with Gabe Newell but still nice to see another developer who had critised the platform being positive about it.
To have Starhawk finally annouced and teaser-fied is a relief as it has been rumoured for a couple of years now. So long as they stick to the same formula that made Warhawk great but make it in space, they can't go wrong.

• Exploring the familiar: Uncharted

We have not one but two slices of Nathan Drake action this year and as everyone can see, the Uncharted franchise is going from strength to strength. Two years ago, Among Thieves was one of the hottest games coming out of E3 and went on to become Game of the Year. This year, Drake's Deception is the same.
A nice chunky demo of Uncharted: Drake's Deception was shown of Drake on a pleasure cruise ship, obviously looking for something but it's never stated. Every looked naturally fantastic, even the way the whole ship rocked back and forth in the storm. Obviosuly nothing goes to plan and Drake is left fighting for his life against the sinking ship. This was followed up by a lovely campaign trailer and to take Jack Tretton's words, "We're going to sell a few copies of that bad boy."
The Vita version of Uncharted, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, looked really good and seemed to play well too. Hopefully, Vita offers controls for all players, whether they want to use touch screen or not.

Microsoft E3 Conference Wrap Up

• Halo, Halo: Anniversary and 4

Yes, we knew these games were coming but it was nice to see them get some air time at the show. Anniversary looks great and has a good shot at dethroning Reach as multiplayer king of 360. Halo 4 will be great, no doubts there, we just got to wait a while for the gameplay footage of it. Hopefully it'll have fancy new graphics and take note of Reach's multiplayer for inspiration in that department. Halo 4 is also heralded the dawn of a new triology so god speed to it.

• Encore: Dance Central

Not a core game, or even a particularly important one perhaps but certainly a key Kinect game, the sequel to the popular original will keep those non gamers invested in the platform and hopefully bring more people in, particularly now with the local multiplayer element. Add in the trademark Harmonix good will of importing previous games songs is also a plus point for repeat players and you've got yourself a triple A seller.

• Power of 3: Mass Effect and Gears of War

 Two big games from two big companies, EA and Epic. Not much time was spent on them although rarely any time in the conference was left for standing still.
The voice recognition functions in ME3 seems solid and will add to the immersion. Surprised that Microsoft didn't showcase any exclusive 360 content for this title but the draw of playing as the same Shepard as in the previous two games will keep this one in the family.
Gears 3 is going to be unremarkably different but doesn't matter as Gears is a lot of fun regardless. The beta has shown that they have upped the multiplayer so fingers crossed for the finished product.

• Kinect to the hardcore: Star Wars and Fable

Two games that have appealed to the hardcore on 360 are Star Wars and Fable and now both are going to make an appearance on Kinect. Which is a good thing by the way. Star Wars looked much better this time out compared to the dodgy footage of last year. Fable also looked really good with some pretty engaging controls. Hopefully, this will sate the promises that Microsoft have made about Kinect being for the hardcore.

The Importance of Seeing E3

So, E3 kicks off officially tomorrow and, with any luck, this year will be a good one, particularly for hardware, with Nintendo and Sony looking to show off some of their new funky hardware not to mention Microsoft no doubt having some good things for the core gamers on Kinect. Many gamers hard at work where ever they may be will be following along to the events that will unfold over the next couple days.

And they honestly should because as an event, it is as important to gamers as the G8 is to the planet Earth and The X Factor is to Simon Cowell. Sound like too much? Not so, as the future of games will be displayed to the world here and, as long as most of use are paying attention, we get to "vote" on that future with our cash.

E3 is so important to the industry globally, as is the Tokyo Games Show although that lacks the pizzaz and global prominence that only the LA show can provide. It's not just an event to gamers but something to hang their hats on and unite around.

So much of the industry is deeply involved with in fighting, with publishers, developers and console manufacturers alike always looking for the various "killers" in their field and although that sense of warfare is magnified at E3, it's perhaps a rare chance for loyalists to take but a passing glance of how the other half are going to be enjoying their hobby in the future.

More to the point, E3 acts an icon to all gamers. We have so few "superstar" developers in the industry and those names that we do have are strongly affliated with one side as opposed to another. Nintendo have Miyamoto, Microsoft have Peter Molyenux and Sony, well, I guess they have Kevin Butler. Point being, it's hard to unite gamers all under one banner and that's what having the big show is: uniting all gamers and celebrating the future of the industry.

So, in those immortal words of Kevin Butler himself at last years show, we say, "Gaming, forever may he reign."

The LA Noire Verdict

Another day in LA, another grizzly murder. Called on to the scene with my partner, we step over the tape and talk to the corener to get his opinion. Leaning over the poor victim's body and examine it for any distinguishing marks and important clues as to motive. After searching the area for anything else that could provide me with additonal clues, I get to the business of interviewing the witnesses. With all this in hand, we head off to crack the case.

This is LA Noire and how every case starts off. And why shouldn't it, you would expect my local bobbies to kick off a case by covering all this details. You'll repeat this same start point about 20 times and for some reason, each crime scene still feels as fresh as the first one.

This is all because of LA Noire's greatest trick- detail. So, let's get the much lauded facial motion capture technology out of the way. To sum it up very quickly, it's beautifully detailed, you can . If an interviewee is holding something back, so long as you pay attention to their movements and quirks before and after you ask your questions, you'll root out the wrong 'uns . Perhaps if more games use this tech, it could be a defining feature of this generation, as is the case with third person cover mechanics.

But it's not just the faces that have detail. LA itself has been meticiously crafted, assembled and put together ala '40s style, as we often now expect with games these days, but it is always good to appreciate and admire the level of work and attention to detail the blocks and buildings have. Internal locations also have significant levels of details, particularly with the clues that you find in them

The story itself is pretty standard. You play with the role of Cole Phelps, former lieutant in the US Army and LAPD beat officer who becomes a detective for the force after showing great potential and promise. You go around solving cases and stopping crime quicker than Scooby Doo. Phelps usually has a partner with him who accompanies him on cases. They all have their own personalities and can be fun to talk to but never so much that you miss them when they are replaced by your next partner. Same situation with Phelps unfortunately, he's not particularly well developed as a character and some of the plot points involving him aren't conveyed well, particularly in the game's final third.

It's a good thing then that the cases themselves remain the focal point of the game as they are incredibly interesting and highly addictive. Picking from one of the four desks; Traffic, Homicide, Vice and Arson, you got across LA picking up clues and interviewing suspects. There's no QTE rubbish here, if you pick up a ledger to search for a name, your damn sure going to have to find it yourself.

Each desk has it's own micro-plot that spans across all the cases, linking them together. Homicide is by far the most involved as it deals with LA's infamous Black Dahlia murder but Traffic has some of the more interesting cases, tackling some of the tough issues of the time, everything from anti-semitism and communism to paedophilia and fame.

However, herein lies the main problem that LA Noire has in that you don't ever feel that you're driving the story forward, that anything that you do actually creates a change in the direction of the story. After completing one case where I have to pick between two suspects: a neglected husband and a creepy paedophile. Either one could of done it so I send the creep to the gas chamber. Fast forward two cases later, the topic of the case comes up and it's made out that the husband was sent down and, for those keeping score, that wasn't my choice.

It feels more like your a back seat passenger in a car, yeah you can fiddle about in the back, wind the windows down and get told off for smearing chocolate all over the back seat, but it's not as though it affects the journey.

This quibble aside, definetly a worthwhile purchase, a throughly enjoyable ride from start to finish with plenty twists and turns to keep you guessing as to where it's all going. More downloadable cases please Rockstar.

Bringing it Back

It's been so long, nay, too long since I last blogged anything but starting right back up again. Hope I can get across some important views and make some interesting posts to make you think. I hope to be picking up LA Noire on Friday and playing it all weekend, so I hope to post some sort of a review of that. i'm also doing the Twitter thing these days so feel free to follow that too, you can link through to it via the blog.
That's all I got for you right now, hope I have some more interesting stuff to write about over the coming days/weeks/months that I manage to update and maintain this blog. Fingers crossed that I stick at it but who knows what the future holds.

~ N.D.

Edit Note: Let me know if there is anything you would like to see my blog about, else I'll just self indulge in games, sitcoms and films.

Games to be declared M.I.A.

We're coming up and out of the slump called summer and into this wonderful thing called the "Holiday Season" aka, Autumn and Winter. If there is a worthwhile purchase to be made, it will be done here. Now, we KNOW what is coming out for these months, these dates have been nailed down but, a more interesting question is what WON'T we be seeing any time soon and try to establish where they are at currently. Duke Duken forever (and ever and ever and ever...) aside, what's hot products are frozen in time:

Splinter Cell: Convinction

Ah, Splinter Cell. You're black-and-white stealth mechanics made for a brilliant experience for those blessed with the gift of patience and you were fortunate enough to notice them becoming stale, unlike other developers in the past (read as EA). Light and dark is released to crowd blending mechanics and Sam Fisher, no longer an NSA agent or even a Double Agent, on the run for one reason or another. Like the brilliant Hitman series. However, SC:C has now become like a girlfriend who really doesn't care about you. You had those really great times together, stuck together through the smooth and the rough gradually before the calls just stopped coming and you were left wondering how you ended up at this point.

Current Status: A few claims of a Q2 2009 release from a while back is about it. It's worrying that such a high profile game, nah, franchise like SC is getting so little time in the sun. Apparently they've had to go back to the drawing board so you can expect that date to shift. I'm now less worried about when the game is come but what state it's in. Advice to Ubisoft? Get in touch with the boys at IO. Sure, they screwed up Kane and Lynch but the mechanics in Hitman are exactly what you should be aiming for but on a bigger scale.

Alan Wake
Challenging Splinter Cell for "New Biggest Joke in Games" crown, or maybe even the current holder, Mr. A. Wake (for those who have spent the last 3 years trying to work out the pun) has been absent from just about every gaming event since TGS... 2006. Not to say that we have not been without information there's been more than one apology over the delay. I think we're at a six count here. From what footage and other information has been revealed, none of which tells us how it will be playable, is saying that it's Silent Hill meets the Shining.

Is it time to get up: No. Quite simply. This one isn't getting started in any way. Promo flyers told us that we could be seeing it at TGS 08 ended up being flyers from a year ago. That's how bad things have gotten with this game. In April we were told the media blackout wouldn't be much longer and there have been some mag features but other than that, nothing. It's even having a knock on effect with Max Payne 3, originally a Remedy product, rumoured to be shifting back to Rockstar due to the work being done on Alan. To Remedy, I hope if and when this is released it was worth it and end up with a product you're proud to have worked for so damn long on.


White Knight Chronicles

It's not all about Xbox MIA's, oh no, there are some PS3 ones too. White Knight, or "Shirokishi Monogatari" for you Japanophiles out there, was annouced back when the PS3 hype was at it's peak. That's right, before it's, and the Wii's, launch. Since then, we've not nessacrily been drip fed more than scrounged like hungry hyenas for information on what could be an FF beating title. Result- uuuhhhh, not much. It's worrying when the official website hasn't been updated since July, 2007. There have been some shots of a town upon the back of a turtle and other equally impressive visuals but not alot else. No footage since TGS07 either

When's levelling up: Another grey date of the end of Q4 08 (that's March to us common people). It's also rumoured to be at this year's TGS (which makes sense as that as that was when it was last spotted). Seriously Sony, why aren't you getting behind this? It's an exclusive game that looks freakin' fantastic and has the potential to actually show what you're machine does! Finger out, now!


Ghostbusters

Upon searching for big Wii titles to hit delays (and moving through the mountains of shovelware to include Wii Fitness and Wii Excercise. No joke, they're there... disturbingly), I decided that there were no already annouced future big titles, which swings both ways in the fan boy war, and will instead talk about Ghostbusters.

Why? Well, with Activision/Vivendi merger, this game has been dropped by the publisher. To which I mentally and verbally said, "Waht?!" This is a fully licensed game from one of the biggest movie franchises of the late '80s - early '90s. Dan Akyroyd and Harold Ramis writing. Bill Murray's likeness and voice. You've been given a license to essentially print money if it's done right. So you drop it? It didn't meet the Acti-Blizz standards along with a number of other sierra products including Brutal Legend (Jack Black in alternate Psychonauts inspired rock-iverse = surely win?) and left with dying stars, Crash and Spyro and promising Prototype. My main punt at why these games have survived is the potential sequels.

When's it gonna call: 2009? Maybe? To be fair, it's been having good coverage up until recently and it looks half decent, with the prospect of wielding a proton pack with the Wiimote too tantalising to bear. Sony are rumoured, a word I use bluntly, to be publishing this as they have the movie rights but, luckily Sony Pictures (and not SCE) are looking for a publisher. With the anniversary coming up, blu ray movie special editon? Again, it's on you Sony.


These are just 4 big ones that stick in the fore front of my mind. I'm certain there are plenty more where those game from. If I missed out any important ones you want me to cover, I am more than happy to revisit this topic.

Are the dice finally in Sony's hands

After a solid 2 years of the Internet telling Sony how much it's having it's ass handed to it by Microsoft's hardcore crowd and Nintendo's mainstream assault, Sony have the chance to strike back come October and it's all down two 3 words. Or is it one?

Littlebigplanet.

The game has probably seen more hype shoved behind it than Halo 3 and more potential than Portal. We've all heard the talk; Littlebig for the win, Sackboy for president and even as an entertaining way to rally off Sony stats but these last two months, Sony and Media Molecule need to get their heads down and shut the hell up.The best way to kill any game is over hyping, particularly with the critics.

Metal Gear Solid 4* is the great example with the concept of nowhere to hide, giving us visions of fully destructable environements, being quickly reduced to hiding in plain sight, merely a (technically sound) reworking of MGS3's camo system and a team mechanic which was dropped for latter stages. Or, if you want a better example of hype over kill, Haze.

Lesson for today? It's fine to say that you're game is great and show it off because if you don't, you'll get another Okami but hold off one saturating the market with promos until those precious sales figures get in.

*Note: Love MGS4, honest :)