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[Storm Rider]

As per the title of the thread, Microsoft had their Gamers' Day event in San Francisco today, and dropped a bunch of information on their lineup for the rest of the year.

Stuff that was talked about:

Ninja Gaiden 2 out in June, which we already knew. Bunch of trailers of the bosses and other characters came out, featuring some extremely silly dialogue. That could be good or bad, depending on how you look at it, but the game looks great and you can still cut dudes' heads off so it doesn't make that much difference I guess.

Gears of War 2 also out in November, also something we already knew. Cover is now destructible to introduce more urgency into the fighting so you can't just hang out in the same place forever. Also will feature 'meat shields': you can pick up enemy corpses and use them as cover. Gameplay video is here, doesn't seem to be a dramatic graphical improvement on the first game, instead it looks they're choosing to just increase the amount of action onscreen.

The first episode of the Penny Arcade game is going to hit Live next week, simultaneously with the PC release. Pretty surprising considering the certification process for Live Arcade. Ron Gilbert was helping on this game, for you old-school adventure fans, but whether 20 dollars is too much to ask for a 5-10 hour RPG/adventure game I leave up to you to decide.

Too Human is (finally) out on August 19th. Only other thing I've heard so far is that the online co-op has been cut down to 2 players from the originally intended 4. Video featuring the two player co-op in action is here, still seems to be keeping that Diablo-meets-Devil May Cry combat pretty much in place.

Not much Fable 2 stuff, just a reiteration that it will be out by the end of the year and a brief (but pretty) video showing a dude knocking a bad guy into a well.

The biggest news, in my opinion, was a sudden crapload of Rare news, namely:

The new Banjo-Kazooie, subtitled Nuts and Bolts, features an extensive vehicle-building mechanic that looks really in-depth and in my opinion pretty cool. Game looks great,  has really nice environments like the old-school Banjo games. Hopefully since they're making the parts collectible they don't keep all the other collectibles from the first two games in as well. The official trailer is here, I think my favorite part is when they show that you can actually eject a plane from within another vehicle. Also shows some old-school platforming, to prove it's not totally based on vehicles. Also features a tongue-in-cheek reference to the Nintendo days at the end. Kotaku has a different, smaller video as well.

Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise is coming out in September, and features 32 new species of pinatas, new environments, camera support, and 2 player co-op (!), online and local. Also features a 'Just for Fun' mode, where your pinatas won't get sick and your money is infinite, presumably to make it easier for kids who were undoubtedly baffled by the surprisingly deep management of the first game. Pinatas can also now do tricks and have more interaction with each other beyond just fighting and eating. Professor Pester will also apparently have a bigger role, and he can blockade your garden so that new pinatas can't get in unless you show him who's boss. Another short video available for this one.

There's also a DS Viva Pinata game due out in the fall. Microsoft has loaned out the publishing duties to THQ, and while details are sparse it sounds like it's just going to be a port of the original game, with 7 new species (whether these are just a selection of the new ones added in the aforementioned sequel is not specified) and Wi-Fi support for pinata and item trading.

Overall, I think a lot of this stuff looks great. I wasn't a huge fan of the original Gears, but that trailer actually looks really good with the bigger battlefield and Brumaks going batshit and whatnot. On the other hand, I loved the shit out of Viva Pinata (seriously), so I'm pretty stoked to hear that a new game is coming out already. Hopefully they get rid of the only real problem I had with the first game, which was the overly restrictive item limit. I'm still excited for Too Human, and I don't care what anyone says (and Jesus are they saying it). I'm also pleasantly surprised by the Banjo-Kazooie stuff, I think the vehicle creation tool actually looks really cool and my cautious optimism about this game is definitely reinforced after seeing this new stuff. Hopefully Mumbo will still do the awesome transformations (washing machine, fuck yeah) in addition to being the vehicle guy, but I guess we'll see on that. Little disappointed that there wasn't any news on more Mass Effect DLC, but whatever.

Any thoughts/stuff I missed?

[Scandanavian War Machine]

i just read all that Rare news on Kotaku a little while ago and i'm pretty stoked. i'm REALLY excited for is the new Banjo Kazooey. i loved the shit out of the first game on N64 (never played the second) and the vehicle creation looks fantastic. i'm actually surprised at how excited i am for this, now that i think about it.

also, Viva Pinata is a surprisingly deep, fun diversion and it sounds like the sequel won't disappoint. And on the DS as well? hell, sounds good to me.

[Dimmukane]

I'm right there with ya on Too Human.  A lot of people have been giving it flak; in fact, probably the biggest (and one of few) fansite, toohuman.net, has a lot of members voicing disappointment at the dropping to 2-player co-op.  They're still gonna buy the game, but they ain't happy.  I, on the other hand, am indifferent to there being two or four, so I'm still excited.

[Johnny C]

Man I am not going to lie to you but that combat in Too Human looked super-boring.

[Dimmukane]

It's certainly better than whatever Hellgate was trying to do.  You can at least give me that.

[Storm Rider]

To an extent that's just because that type of game doesn't particularly show well. Supposedly there's a demo coming soon, so I guess we'll know for sure how the gameplay is before long.

Basically most of my enthusiasm for Too Human comes from the fact that it's from the same dudes as Eternal Darkness, one of my favorite games, and also because I think the setting sounds kickass. I don't have any particular love for the Diablo-style loot based RPG style, but I don't mind it either and co-op RPGs are pretty hard to come by.

So yeah, if you look at it as an action game it really does look pretty lame. But it's not, so I still think it'll be fun. Also, preview coverage from GDC a few months ago was like night and day compared to the infamous E3 2006 showing. I remember listening to the 1UP guys rave about it, and they were some of the harshest critics of the first preview of the game.

Edit: Also, Kotaku has a different video up that I think shows a bit more dynamic side to the combat. If you wanted more action, you could always play the class that does all the juggling stuff so you jump around jacking dudes up while they're in the air and shit.

[Dimmukane]

I've watched pretty much every video there is for it.  I'm even participating in the ARG they've got going.  I'M excited, I just wish others weren't so quick to judge (not necessarily you, JC, you certainly wouldn't be the first nor the harshest critic).