Topic: The E3 2008 Thread (Read 28870 times)

Storm Rider · « **on:** 14 Jul 2008, 11:00 »

E3 is going on throughout this week, which means a whole fuckin' lot of video game news! Microsoft's press conference is going on right now, some tidbits that have dropped so far include:

Too Human demo now available on Live. Downloading it right now, will give impressions later after the conference is over and I have some time to play it.

Fallout 3 drops in October, looks amazing according to absolutely every account I've read. PS3 version will not have any of the DLC of the other two versions.

RE5 gets worldwide release on March 13th, 2009, has online co-op where the second player plays as the girl shown in the last trailer, whose name has been revealed as Sheva. Apparently the trailer shows one of the 'zombies' using a gun.

There's some sort of new Portal game called Portal: Still Alive coming to Xbox Live Arcade soon. Whether it's just the standalone game from the Orange Box or something new isn't really clear.

Fable 2 is out in October, the 'pub game' minigames will actually be a separate Xbox Live Arcade release that will sell for 10 bucks but you can get for free if you preorder the game.

The 20 GB 360 has been dropped to $299, and is being phased out in favor of a 60 GB which will take the old price slot of $349. Kind of a bait-and-switch more than a price drop, but whatever.

Gears 2 is out on November 7th, which we already knew, but they were touting all the new variety in weapons, environments, and enemies during the demo. There's a new co-op mode called Horde where five players have to survive against wave after wave of Locust. Conceptually, reminds me of like Geometry Wars or something, only in shooter form.

As rumored, the 360 interface is getting a serious graphical overhaul, including mini-avatars in a shameless Mii ripoff. Not particularly relevant to games, but... you know. The system was apparently designed by Rare, and will be much more customizable than the Miis, which is nice.

Several new Arcade games announced, including the aforementioned Portal: Still Alive, Uno Rush (which will be the first game to support the new Avatar system), Galaga Legions (which sounds like a Space Invaders Extreme/Pac-Man Championship Edition style re-imagining), and Geometry Wars 2 with 4 player online co-op. Original Banjo Kazooie also hitting XBLA sometime this year.

The XNA-developed Community Games service will also launch in the fall.

First downloadable GTA4 episode to hit Xbox Live sometime this year (which was one of my bets for the Kotaku E3 pool, so let's hope for a Beatles rhythm game so I win some schwag).

New Xbox Live update will include new media partnerships, like online game shows where you can win actual prizes from home, and more importantly a Netflix partnership.
Post more details/previews/whatever if you have them, otherwise let's discuss some vidja games!

KvP · « **Reply #1 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 11:36 »

Might as well cross-post -

New Fallout 3 site up, likely to be updated over the course of E3.

yelley · « **Reply #2 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 11:38 »

mega man 9.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #3 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 11:47 »

The Portal bit is supposed to be an extended version with more levels and challenges/challenge modes.

Edit: Final Fantasy XIII is now shipping on the 360 at the same time as the PS3 version.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #4 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 12:05 »

Kotaku Live E3 Blog thingy just said they announced Final Fantasy XIII....for Xbox 360!?!?!?!!!!!!!!?

Storm Rider · « **Reply #5 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 12:07 »

Final Fantasy 13 is officially multiplatform, and coming on the same date as the PS3 version.. Definitely the biggest bomb of the Microsoft conference. Other tidbits from Square Enix's segments include release dates for Infinite Undiscovery and the 360 version of Last Remnant (September 2nd and November 20th, respectively). Star Ocean 4 is coming to the 360 in Spring '09. I assume they would confirm it as an exclusive if it was, so it's probably just leading on 360.

The rumored karaoke game Lips is real, and is being developed by iNis, aka the Elite Beat Agents/Ouendan developers. You can turn music from your iPod/Zune into songs, which is a big deal, and the microphone has some sort of motion sensing built in that affects your score. I guess it's encouraging you to dance or something while you sing, which is neat.

Full Rock Band 2 tracklist is announced, pretty much the same as the one leaked a week or so ago. All 75 licensed songs can be found here.

KvP · « **Reply #6 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 13:15 »

Sony's going to have to pull out something huge to overcome that FF13 bomb. Looks like Microsoft is gonna win this E3. Because it's a competition.

Ozymandias · « **Reply #7 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 13:33 »

FF vs. XIII is still PS3 exclusive, FFXIII is only going to 360 in NA and EU(which makes sense because...uh...why would Japan car eif it's on 360?)

Storm Rider · « **Reply #8 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 16:01 »

It's all but assumed that Sony's going to pull out some God of War 3 in their press conference, but unless it's both actual gameplay and looks really good, I don't think that it'll be enough to overcome the FF13 bomb. Still, Sony has some neat stuff on the horizon, I don't want to belittle what they're offering.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #9 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 19:20 »

Alright, that's about it for today. Tomorrow should be the biggest day for announcements, with 5 press conferences rather than only 2 (Nintendo, Sony, Ubisoft, Capcom, and Activision, in that order). Fallout 3 and Dead Space look fucking fantastic from the footage I've seen, but most of the other stuff looked promising as well.

I played through the Too Human demo earlier today, and my reactions are mixed. On the one hand, the combat isn't as exciting as I had hoped, even considering the genre. However, I didn't end up totally hating it (as I had feared I might), and as the demo ended I really did want to play more of the game, which means ultimately I guess it succeeded. I got some neat looking shit by the end (including a bigass warhammer that looked pretty awesome), so the loot aspect certainly seems right for this type of game. I still love the concept, and the demo definitely presented enough of the story to get me interested to see more. I especially loved the contrast between cyberspace and the 'real' world, it's a cool effect.

Several publications are going to be putting up podcasts with impressions on the day's conferences (and other stuff, if they saw it in private). My personal favorites are the 1Up Yours and Giant Bomb podcasts, for those who want to hear some insider opinions.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #10 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 19:51 »

what do you guys think of the new dashboard look and the avatars?

i think the new dashboard looks great and i'm excited to see how it looks with my woodgrain theme, although i'm reserving final judgment until we see what the ad situation is going to be like. also, i think the avatars are ugly and unecessary but i'll inevitably end up making one anyway.

imapiratearg · « **Reply #11 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 19:57 »

Rock Band 2 tracklist:

UNF

I was absolutely thrilled to see a lot of the tracks on there, namely Dinosaur Jr. and a good Sonic Youth song.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #12 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 20:01 »

Dude...I might actually buy Rock Band 2 for that tracklist.

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed the Too Human demo. I need to play through it again, I still haven't tried all the different maneuvers. I made 4/6 pieces of a set, which was pretty cool. I'm currently trying to find out how to play as the other classes (supposedly there's a glitch), because I saw some armors I couldn't wear, and I just want to see how they play anyways.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #13 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 20:46 »

Quote from: Dimmukane on 14 Jul 2008, 20:01

Dude...I might actually buy Rock Band 2 for that tracklist.

Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed the Too Human demo. I need to play through it again, I still haven't tried all the different maneuvers. I made 4/6 pieces of a set, which was pretty cool. I'm currently trying to find out how to play as the other classes (supposedly there's a glitch), because I saw some armors I couldn't wear, and I just want to see how they play anyways.

Shit, there's a glitch? Tell me if you figure it out, I'd love to try the other classes. Seems sort of silly that they locked them in the first place, since the demo was limited to about an hour of gameplay anyway.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #14 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 21:14 »

Denis Dyack said in a thread earlier (at another forum I post at, no, not NeoGAF) that there would also be Commandos and Berserkers playable. Some people have played as Bioengineers, and one person claims to have all 5 unlocked. As of right now, it seems some people started the demo with stuff unlocked, and some managed to unlock it either from playthrough or from weird button combos. One guy says he just tried to press A on the Commando even with a lock symbol (on his third playthrough) and it let him do that. So I'll probably play it twice tomorrow, see if I can't try other classes. It's a fun demo, anyways, and I paid off the game 2 weeks ago.

imagist42 · « **Reply #15 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 22:07 »

I just wish the Rock Band 2 setlist weren't absolutely terrible for people who like to sing.

I mean, seriously? Half of those songs can't be sung. No, not even by the original artists.

est · « **Reply #16 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 22:26 »

Just watched the FFXIII trailer/preview thing. Looks like it will be absolutely unbearable. That said, it seems like a very big thing for it to no longer be a PS3 exclusive.

est · « **Reply #17 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 22:31 »

Also, the new idtech5/Rage trailer has zombies in it. Great. What a surprising new turn id have taken.

The mannerisms of the girl talking in that clip looks makes her look like she is out of a really shitty rom-com or something. You can just tell she's got attitude.

On the plus side, I can't wait until someone makes a decent game with id's new engine. It looks pretty sweet.

KvP · « **Reply #18 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 23:11 »

Id's something of a dinosaur these days. I remember buying PC Gamer waaaay back in '97 and reading about the "FPS War" that was to take place in '98 to determine the course of the FPS genre over the coming years. Of the contenders, there was Daikatana, Duke Nukem Forever, SiN, Quake 2, and... some other game that I forget the name of. Anyway, the obvious victor was Half-Life. Id does not do Half-Life style games well, they do meat and potatoes shooters. Doom 3 took some ideas from System Shock but it was overlong and not terribly good. Quake 4, I don't know anybody who played it. Hell, Valve even out-engined Id with Source, which had never happened before (Half-Life 1 was based on the Quake 2 engine) and the only other game I remember using the Doom 3 engine was Prey, which almost doesn't count. John Carmack is and has always been a pretty brilliant programmer (I can't recall ever running into a bug in an Id game) but the market is hungry for a slightly greater level of ambition than Id can manage to come up with.

Cartilage Head · « **Reply #19 on:** 14 Jul 2008, 23:56 »

Man that FFXIII trailer was so bad. Once again, Square Enix goes on about everything except details about the fucking game.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #20 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 06:14 »

I'm still somewhat interested in id's new game. It's supposed to be much more of a driving game than a shooter, so zombies or no zombies, I can run over people. I just have yet to see the driving bits (I have not seen the new trailer yet).

Edit: For Storm Rider and anyone else trying to play multiple classes in the Too Human demo, this thread shows how to at least get the berserker and commando, and possibly the defender and bioengineer. It apparently is just a matter of being really fast with the buttons.

Second edit: Also, changing the year to 2009 (or anything non-2008) seems to unlock the Berserker and Commando.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #21 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 10:22 »

Guys, Wii Speak. I....I actually screamed like a little girl. Also, Wii Music and a new Wii Sports game.

Can't really say I am too excited about motion plus though.

KvP · « **Reply #22 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 10:33 »

New screens from the upcoming Obsidian-developed espionage RPG, Alpha Protocol.

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I likes it.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #23 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 10:48 »

I think Kotaku summed up Nintendo's conference pretty well...it was more like a board meeting than anything else. They announced sequels and peripherals, and showed off sales numbers. Which is pretty much what everyone expected.

Those Alpha Protocol screens do look nice, though. Especially the quadruple-lens goggles.

KvP · « **Reply #24 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 11:07 »

A DS GTA game... interesting. Sony just keeps getting slapped up.

Also, fake nerd rage, courtesy of SA. I know people who actually talk like that.

Ikrik · « **Reply #25 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 12:41 »

Quote from: KvP on 15 Jul 2008, 11:07

Also, fake nerd rage, courtesy of SA. I know people who actually talk like that.

Oh dude, If I ever meet someone like this.......I will kill them SO VERY slowly, as slowly as possible. I know that the dude isn't being serious but honestly that kind of behaviour (because I know people who respond like this to other stuff) gets right under my skin.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #26 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 13:15 »

God damn it I am so pissed at Sony right now. They're dropping the 80 GB model to 400 dollars in September, but they're also taking out the backwards compatibility with PS2 games. In other words, Sony decided: "Hey, we made the most successful game console in history, but if you want to play any of the hundreds of great games on our new, struggling system, you're shit out of luck!" It costs them NOTHING to keep the software-based backwards compatibility in. What the hell were they thinking?

Scarychips · « **Reply #27 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 13:41 »

That was announced a while ago though, no? Cause I heard of it like 4 months ago.

Anyway, I'm incredibly excited for Animal Crossing: City Folk, the Wii Speak will be really awesome. I giggled when they talked about the motion plus, skeptic of GTA DS but we never know. Really want to try Wii Music. Hope they'll announce something bigger at Leipzig though. Like more memory space or more information about the "Pay to Play".

I only saw the Fallout 3 part of the Microsoft's conference and It gets me interested in buying one.

Melodic · « **Reply #28 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 13:45 »

Fallout 3 is multi-platform. I'm snagging my copy for the PC, because Bethesda rocks when it comes to community content.

KvP · « **Reply #29 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 14:23 »

Unfortunately Bethsoft aren't planning to release any sort of end-user modification tools with the game (this might change, but it was said just a week or two ago in their forums) but they might release some later on through the web. Who knows. For now you, me, and everybody else is shit out of luck when it comes to correcting the sort of bad design Bethsoft puts in their games. We'll just have to deal.

Melodic · « **Reply #30 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 15:23 »

Dimmukane · « **Reply #31 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 16:28 »

Outside of fixing/tweaking gameplay and item/perk mods, I'm not sure how you'd use it. Postapocalyptic DC isn't as conducive to extra dungeons as Tamriel was...there seems to be a significantly larger portion of unique geometry. Since I don't really care about mods that aren't new areas, I'll opt for the 360 version. I may be getting ahead of myself, I know, but I don't see much mod potential in it unless they decide to include 3DSMax/Maya compatability (which they didn't last time).

Melodic · « **Reply #32 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 16:55 »

It is generally considered Oblivion's saving grace that it was modifiable, because the game with mods was far superior to it without them. Better textures, performance improvements, unofficial patches, new weapons, new dungeons, new clothing, new perks, new towns...

Although I agree that the world of Fallout isn't exactly as kind to new content, I disagree that it won't be sorely missed.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #33 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 17:43 »

After more time with it, the Too Human demo is really growing on me. The combat system is much more fun when you get used to it, and I'm enjoying playing through the demo multiple times and see just how different my character looks each time even in such a short gameplay period. I haven't managed to get the other classes open through glitching and I'm still having a good time. Not sure if I'll pay full price for it, but I think it'll be fun, especially in co-op.

Dimmukane · « **Reply #34 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 18:57 »

The other thing with a lot of these games is that I like to show these games to my friends. My PC isn't exactly portable (it's fucking huge), so I tend to buy any multiplat game I'm interested in for the 360 so my friends can play it. Sometimes I end up purchasing two copies of things (Orange Box, Halo + Halo PC cuz I had money to burn), if I see a sizeable amount of Fallout 3 stuff (providing end-user tools are released), I'll probably get a PC copy as well. And make something.

And Storm Rider, if you wanna get the Commando and Berserker unlocked, all you gotta do is unhook the ethernet cord, turn the 360 on, and change the year. Not sure why they decided to do a time-lock on those...

I managed to play as a Bioengineer using the glitch...it's definitely harder to finish the challenge areas (you have done those, right? You get a couple armor blueprints if you finish them/beat the time limit that make a pretty sweet set if you can get all 6). But the health regeneration certainly kept me alive in situations that I died using the Champion. I did the Commando briefly, and he's great for taking out shields and missile goblins.

Storm Rider · « **Reply #35 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 19:06 »

I did the unplug to unlock the Commando and Berserker, and I really liked the Berserker a lot more than the Champion. None of this 'air-juggling' shit, I just dashed around and beat the shit out of guys to build my combo meter, then unleashed a Ruiner whenever I got mobbed by a lot of guys. Much more fun, and I found I was much more effective with that playstyle anyway. And yeah, I did the secret challenge areas, that optional goblin boss is a bitch if you go fight him too quickly.

Noct · « **Reply #36 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 19:28 »

Too Human demo was pretty much exactly what I was expecting it to be, and once I got used to the controls I started having a great ol' time. It looks like it'll satisfy the sick parts of my mind that crave both mindless violence and loot whoring, and seems like a good game to play with a friend and have a chat while smashing robots. Wondering a bit about the difficulty though, haven't really come close to dying once during the demo, and I was able to kill the optional boss without getting hit once by knocking him in the air, doing an air combo, then emptying my guns into him while he was still hanging. Rinse and repeat until dead.

And come on, you get to be a Technoviking.

Spluff · « **Reply #37 on:** 15 Jul 2008, 23:49 »

Those Alpha Protocol screenshots look intriguing. They have made up for the let down that was the Fallout 3 gameplay videos.

KvP · « **Reply #38 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 02:07 »

Gamespot has a look-see at Alpha Protocol

Quote

Our demo began with Michael Thorton, the former spy protagonist who's been cast out of the CIA, overlooking the United States embassy in Moscow. With the story still mostly under wraps, we didn't get much information on what brought Thorton to this location, or what his ultimate goal is once inside, but we were given a look at some of the gameplay basics involved in getting there. It begins with the guard at the front door. You can stroll up to him and try to smooth talk your way in using the game's "Dialogue Stance" system, which is essentially a way of choosing basic emotions over pre-set lines of dialogue, but a few other options exist. If you're the sneaky type, you can try to make it around to the back entrance using stealth, and if you're the straightforward type, you can simple shoot the guard where he stands. That last option carries a penalty, however, because one of the many factions you have to do business with over the course of the game is the Marines, so when they get wind of you killing their own, they're les [sic] inclined to cooperating with you later on...

...

Finally, Obsidian finished off by giving us a look at some of the ways your decisions in the game carry consequences that affect you throughout the rest of the story. This time, Thorton was sent to a level in the Middle East to find a weapons dealer named Nasri. When you get to him, you're given the option to let him go, turn him in, or just kill him. If you let him go, you'll lose reputation with the agency that sent you on the mission, if you let him go [sic], you can buy weapons from him whenever you like, and if you kill him, you'll unlock a perk called "Any Last Words." We couldn't pry an explanation out of Obsidian about this perk, but they did tell us it affects your dialogue abilities. Of course, that can't help us from wondering if it might be a technique to help you intimidate people. They know you've killed in the past, so they'll be more willing to dish out information to you--that type of upgrade.

Scandanavian War Machine · « **Reply #39 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 09:45 »

i'm pretty excited about Alpha Protocol.

to me, it basically sounds like Mass Effect with spys instead of space and that is just fine with me.

KvP · « **Reply #40 on:** 16 Jul 2008, 17:38 »

Some more vidyas for yas.

Dead Space:
Demonstration

RE5:
Demo / walthrough
Trailer
Alternate Trailer

Ozymandias · « **Reply #41 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 02:43 »

This....this is the best thing to come out of E3 in a long, long time.

jmrz · « **Reply #42 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 04:21 »

Quote from: Storm Rider on 15 Jul 2008, 13:15

God damn it I am so pissed at Sony right now. They're dropping the 80 GB model to 400 dollars in September, but they're also taking out the backwards compatibility with PS2 games. In other words, Sony decided: "Hey, we made the most successful game console in history, but if you want to play any of the hundreds of great games on our new, struggling system, you're shit out of luck!" It costs them NOTHING to keep the software-based backwards compatibility in. What the hell were they thinking?

We haven't had PS2 backwards compatibility in Australian PS3 systems since the original PS3 release. They removed it when they cut down the hard drive sizes here. If you have a PS3 with PS2 compatibility, you are considered rather lucky. The weird thing is, they still play PS1 games. Go figure.

est · « **Reply #43 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 04:43 »

Quote from: Ozymandias on 17 Jul 2008, 02:43

This....this is the best thing to come out of E3 in a long, long time.

What? I clicked expecting something good. All I got was 4 mins of Apogee masturbating on video. No gameplay clips, just all bullshit. I am interested in if it is returning to a 2D scroller game for the handhelds or if they are going to be shitty 3D games, but that showed me absolutely nothing other than there's going to be three of them.

Also, Sony doesn't care about backward compatibility with the PS3 because they are still selling PS2s for $100 a pop. And they are still selling.

KvP · « **Reply #44 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 16:14 »

KOTOR MMO confirmed.

Oli · « **Reply #45 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 17:16 »

Quote from: Ozymandias on 17 Jul 2008, 02:43

This....this is the best thing to come out of E3 in a long, long time.

I AM PUMPED!

The video didn't tell me anything about the new games but damn, I can taste the testosterone.

Blue Kitty · « **Reply #46 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 17:39 »

I gotta ask, does any body really care that Dead Rising is coming to the Wii?

imagist42 · « **Reply #47 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 18:12 »

I know people who do, but I can't understand why.

KvP · « **Reply #48 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 18:50 »

They need to make the sequel already. Fucking Capcom.

Wankers.

Melodic · « **Reply #49 on:** 17 Jul 2008, 19:12 »

They need to make a sequel whose learning curve isn't fucking Mount Everest.

Wankers.

THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Author Topic: The E3 2008 Thread (Read 28870 times)