Massively Multiplayer: Gaming In The New Millennium
- Thread starter RySenkari
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I'll leave that to Ry and Nivek. But it's going to need either makeup or CGI for the aliens so either way I don't see it.
E3 2011 Indie Game Special
Chloe Maritzen: Welcome back to G4's coverage of E3 2011! We're going to take a little break from the big studio games, because some of the best games here on the E3 floor are being presented by very talented indie developers, and right now we're putting the spotlight on them!
*Chloe is shown next to a booth where a Zelda-like game is being shown off, the game looks to be in the early development stages but it already looks very fun, with old-school style graphics and a very dark aesthetic.*
Chloe: And here I am with Edmund McMillen, the developer of Super Tofu Boy and the awesomely fun but awesomely tough Sonic's Ultimate Challenge! This next game is called The Binding Of Isaac, which sounds very biblical...
McMillen: It is in fact directly inspired by the biblical story and my thoughts on religion, yes. In this game, you play as Isaac, and your mom is trying to kill you, so you have to escape through the basement.
Chloe: Wow, that sounds incredibly dark!
McMillen: It's not a lighthearted fun time like Super Tofu Boy, no.
Chloe: That game wasn't exactly a lighthearted fun time either, I remember dying a whole bunch!
McMillen: *laughs*
Chloe: Now, how long have you been working on this game?
McMillen: Since 2010, even while I was also putting the finishing touches on Sonic's Ultimate Challenge, I always knew this would be our follow-up to that game. Fortunately, I had a lot of help on Sonic, so most of my work on that was done which freed me to work on this game.
Chloe: And is Apple working with you on this one too, or is this all you?
McMillen: This is all me and my team, we're hoping to release it for the PC first and then after that we'll be porting it to the consoles, not just Apple but Nintendo and maybe Android too, but that might be a little while.
Chloe: So you're thinking maybe you'll be releasing it for Google's new Android console?
McMillen: I like the look of that console, but we'll see.
*Chloe begins playing the early build of the game, she manages to get through several rooms fairly easily, though it is quite tough.*
Chloe: Yeah, this game is a lot like Legend Of Zelda with the top-down dungeon layout and just the graphics look very similar. I've noticed a lot of indie games coming out lately with that Zelda style.
McMillen: I think that's a consequence of a lot of us being gamers ourselves and being inspired by the games we played so much of back in the day. There are a lot of differences though, you're not going to find the kind of items in Zelda that you'll find in this one!
Chloe: I'm having a really fun time, even if it is quite tough!
(...)
*Chloe is now at a booth occupied by a group of young developers, two men and two women, barely older than teenagers, showing off a kind of Secret Of Mana-esque action RPG game.*
Chloe: I'm here with Himiko Mouri, Mark Whipple, Elsie Chang, and Greg Breehome, and this game is called Flying Orb Adventures. Can you tell us a little about this one?
Himiko: Absolutely! So in Flying Orb Adventures, a group of four heroes has to save the world from a powerful beast that roams the planet capturing these magical orbs. If he eats enough of them, he'll become a god and destroy the world, so the heroes have to stop that from happening. At the same time, these orbs are quite powerful, and pretty much every group with any kind of power wants to take them as well, so you've got your work cut out for you in collecting them all.
*The four heroes are battling through a forest, and as they strike the enemies, damage numbers and orbs pop out of them. These orbs are absorbed by the heroes, who can then use tech attacks and magic based on how many orbs they've taken in.*
Mark: There's no magic in this game, you can use your special attacks based on how many orbs of each type you've collected, so you have to set your attacks to be able to take advantage of the kinds of orbs you get.
Chloe: This game looks a lot like Secret Of Mana, was that one of the games that inspired you?
Himiko: It was, but another game that inspired us was the old Sega Saturn game MagiQuest, with the three heroines and the ability to use active and passive magic together in combat.
Elsie: If you notice, a lot of the visuals in this game are similar to the ones used in MagiQuest, which was intentional.
Chloe: I remember, kind of, MagiQuest back in the day, I had a Saturn but I didn't actually own MagiQuest but I did rent it once.
Elsie: Himiko's older brother had it and me and her used to play it at sleepovers when we were in kindergarten.
Himiko: It was the first game we ever played, it and Sonic 4!
Chloe: I remember Sonic 4, that one I did have!
(...)
Chloe: Indie platformers are really cool, and Ruggabeast, which is coming exclusively to the Nintendo Sapphire, is no exception! I'm here with developer Christian Whitehead, and he's showing off this awesome 2-D platformer game.
*Chloe is shown controlling a young man riding on top of a monster that looks like a cross between a buffalo and a bear, with giant tusks that it uses to spear enemies or throw objects out of the way. The monster occasionally goes into uncontrollable rages which can be used to smash objects or open blocked pathways.*
Chloe: Now, you're a big Sonic fan, and you wanted to do some Sonic fan games, but Apple put the kibosh on that, correct?
Whitehead: Unfortunately, yes, Apple was not happy with what I was doing and I got hit with a cease and desist. I actually tried applying for their game studios a few years back, but I got rejected, and that's when I started trying to do the Sonic fangames. I really wanted to make Sonic games but it didn't work out, but fortunately Nintendo was more open to my original platformer concept, which is Ruggabeast. It's not as fast as Sonic, it's a bit like Dog Dash, but this creature here is much more brutal and mean, he doesn't lick things, he just gores them.
Chloe: *laughing* Well, I think he's still cute in a sort of way. And I'm having a lot of fun in this berserk mode that's going on here.
Whitehead; Yeah, if you're able to trigger the berserk mode with regularity you'll be able to find a lot of secret passages. They're not really hidden like in the Donkey Kong Country games, but the trick is making your Ruggabeast go crazy and then being able to control him when you do.
Chloe: If you can't really control him though, you can still beat the stages like normal?
Whitehead: Most of the time, but sometimes you'll be required to make him go crazy and for that we have ways to automatically trigger it.
Chloe: The graphics look quite nice, they're not really retro like a lot of the other platformers we've seen. This looks like a modern 2-D platformer, it's really beautiful.
Whitehead: The art style we used gives the game a sort of fantasy storybook look to it that translates well to the Sapphire's capabilities. It's actually not really that advanced of a game, but the graphical style hides that a bit and should give the game some staying power.
Chloe: Ruggabeast comes out when?
Whitehead: It's a digital exclusive to the Sapphire's storefront and it comes out in September.
Chloe: Can't wait to play!
(...)
*Chloe is playing a very early build of a spaceflight simulator game, attempting to construct a rocket on a launchpad*
Chloe: This is Kerbal Space Program, one of the first games announced as a Google exclusive at E3 this year. It's an indie project by Felipe Falanghe, who left his company in Mexico after Google offered to help him work on his idea for a game. In Kerbal Space Program, you have to help these little green things called Kerbals build rocketships and go to the stars, but things don't always go so well... my last rocket that I tried to build blew up.
Falanghe: You killed your Kerbals.
Chloe: They all died. *frowns sadly* I have a feeling that a lot of Kerbals are going to die before I'm able to get them up into space.
Falanghe: The game will teach you everything you need to know, but our goal is realism, so it's not going to be easy for you.
Chloe: Well, you know, we choose to go to space not because it's easy but because it's hard. And this... this is really hard.
*Chloe carefully constructs her rocketship, and tries to launch it into space, but it falls over and explodes on the launchpad.*
Chloe: *screams in frustration but is also laughing* I'm wondering if people are actually going to play this to get into space or if they're going to try and see how many Kerbals they can murder. Because I remember in The Sims, that's what some people do, they just build these awful houses where all they do is try to kill Sims in as many ways as possible.
Falanghe: I do hope people try to play the game as best they can, there's much more to this game than killing Kerbals!
Chloe: Hey, I'm having fun killing Kerbals. ...I'm a monster.
(...)
*Chloe is standing at a booth with two young game developers, and a very early prototype of an adventure horror title on the screen.*
Chloe: I think I'm seeing double! And that's because I am, because I'm standing here with twins! Alex and Ariel Hirsch to be exact, founders of brand spankin' new indie studio Pyramid Games, and they're showing off this game today which is very spooky and scary but also sounds very interesting and I've honestly just had a blast talking to both of them because they're both really fun to hang out with. Tell us a little something about yourselves.
Alex: Well, Ariel and I originally started out working at Remedy on the game Owl Creek, but while we were working on that game and gathering experience, both of us decided that, you know, this game's nice but we've got so many ideas that we'll never be able to do unless we strike out on our own, so here we are!
Ariel: Yeah, our heads were overflowing with stuff.
Chloe: And as we can see here on the screen, a lot of that stuff has made its way into this game which is called Terror Trip.
*Chloe moves her character, a teenage girl holding a flashlight, on the screen. She's exploring an area with several empty cabins, each of which can be gone through and explored, and each of which has its own story.*
Ariel: So in Terror Trip, you play as a pair of high school students, a boy and a girl, who are on this school trip and get bored and decide to explore. Problem is, they end up in a part of the park that's been closed off by the government, and pretty soon into the game you find out why.
*Chloe enters one cabin and finds all kinds of objects and texts inside, each of which gives a little bit more info.*
Chloe: I've already noticed that this game is really text heavy.
Alex: Pretty much every object you see has a story attached to it, and the characters will actually react to what you're picking up and looking at, so you not only get more of the game's overall story, but you also learn a little bit more about one of the twins.
Chloe: These two protagonists are twins, by the way, you guys didn't mention that to the audience but you did mention it to me. So is this game a little bit autobiographical?
Alex: I mean, uh...
Ariel: *laughing*
Alex: Just a little bit, we were inspired by some other games too. Pickton Lake, on the SNES-CD, that was a bit one, also a lot of the old visual novel games.
Ariel: We had the SNES-CD as kids and we just devoured those games, even the really bad ones. I had Oops!, you remember Oops!?
Chloe: I've heard a lot about it, we've done a segment on it for G4, but I've never actually played it!
Alex: It is the worst-
Ariel: It was awesome! Back when I was nine it was awesome!
Alex: No, it was terrible! I can't believe you ever liked that game!
Chloe: *laughing* Did you guys have arguments when designing the game?
Alex: Oh, every single day. Sometimes having a twin is worse than having a boss.
Ariel: We even argued about whether we should talk to G4 or IGN.
Chloe: Well, I'm glad you talked to us! So, any idea on when this game is due to be released?
Alex: It's not gonna be this year, there's still a lot of work we have to do and we're a small studio, so we're not in any rush. What we're showing off here at E3 is more of a proof of concept than anything.
Ariel: Hopefully we'll be back next year with something a lot more substantial.
Chloe: Well, I've gotta say, this is one of the best proofs of concept I've ever seen, and best of luck to you guys finishing up your game!
-from G4's live coverage of E3 2011, airing on June 6, 2011
*Chloe is shown next to a booth where a Zelda-like game is being shown off, the game looks to be in the early development stages but it already looks very fun, with old-school style graphics and a very dark aesthetic.*
Chloe: And here I am with Edmund McMillen, the developer of Super Tofu Boy and the awesomely fun but awesomely tough Sonic's Ultimate Challenge! This next game is called The Binding Of Isaac, which sounds very biblical...
McMillen: It is in fact directly inspired by the biblical story and my thoughts on religion, yes. In this game, you play as Isaac, and your mom is trying to kill you, so you have to escape through the basement.
Chloe: Wow, that sounds incredibly dark!
McMillen: It's not a lighthearted fun time like Super Tofu Boy, no.
Chloe: That game wasn't exactly a lighthearted fun time either, I remember dying a whole bunch!
McMillen: *laughs*
Chloe: Now, how long have you been working on this game?
McMillen: Since 2010, even while I was also putting the finishing touches on Sonic's Ultimate Challenge, I always knew this would be our follow-up to that game. Fortunately, I had a lot of help on Sonic, so most of my work on that was done which freed me to work on this game.
Chloe: And is Apple working with you on this one too, or is this all you?
McMillen: This is all me and my team, we're hoping to release it for the PC first and then after that we'll be porting it to the consoles, not just Apple but Nintendo and maybe Android too, but that might be a little while.
Chloe: So you're thinking maybe you'll be releasing it for Google's new Android console?
McMillen: I like the look of that console, but we'll see.
*Chloe begins playing the early build of the game, she manages to get through several rooms fairly easily, though it is quite tough.*
Chloe: Yeah, this game is a lot like Legend Of Zelda with the top-down dungeon layout and just the graphics look very similar. I've noticed a lot of indie games coming out lately with that Zelda style.
McMillen: I think that's a consequence of a lot of us being gamers ourselves and being inspired by the games we played so much of back in the day. There are a lot of differences though, you're not going to find the kind of items in Zelda that you'll find in this one!
Chloe: I'm having a really fun time, even if it is quite tough!
(...)
*Chloe is now at a booth occupied by a group of young developers, two men and two women, barely older than teenagers, showing off a kind of Secret Of Mana-esque action RPG game.*
Chloe: I'm here with Himiko Mouri, Mark Whipple, Elsie Chang, and Greg Breehome, and this game is called Flying Orb Adventures. Can you tell us a little about this one?
Himiko: Absolutely! So in Flying Orb Adventures, a group of four heroes has to save the world from a powerful beast that roams the planet capturing these magical orbs. If he eats enough of them, he'll become a god and destroy the world, so the heroes have to stop that from happening. At the same time, these orbs are quite powerful, and pretty much every group with any kind of power wants to take them as well, so you've got your work cut out for you in collecting them all.
*The four heroes are battling through a forest, and as they strike the enemies, damage numbers and orbs pop out of them. These orbs are absorbed by the heroes, who can then use tech attacks and magic based on how many orbs they've taken in.*
Mark: There's no magic in this game, you can use your special attacks based on how many orbs of each type you've collected, so you have to set your attacks to be able to take advantage of the kinds of orbs you get.
Chloe: This game looks a lot like Secret Of Mana, was that one of the games that inspired you?
Himiko: It was, but another game that inspired us was the old Sega Saturn game MagiQuest, with the three heroines and the ability to use active and passive magic together in combat.
Elsie: If you notice, a lot of the visuals in this game are similar to the ones used in MagiQuest, which was intentional.
Chloe: I remember, kind of, MagiQuest back in the day, I had a Saturn but I didn't actually own MagiQuest but I did rent it once.
Elsie: Himiko's older brother had it and me and her used to play it at sleepovers when we were in kindergarten.
Himiko: It was the first game we ever played, it and Sonic 4!
Chloe: I remember Sonic 4, that one I did have!
(...)
Chloe: Indie platformers are really cool, and Ruggabeast, which is coming exclusively to the Nintendo Sapphire, is no exception! I'm here with developer Christian Whitehead, and he's showing off this awesome 2-D platformer game.
*Chloe is shown controlling a young man riding on top of a monster that looks like a cross between a buffalo and a bear, with giant tusks that it uses to spear enemies or throw objects out of the way. The monster occasionally goes into uncontrollable rages which can be used to smash objects or open blocked pathways.*
Chloe: Now, you're a big Sonic fan, and you wanted to do some Sonic fan games, but Apple put the kibosh on that, correct?
Whitehead: Unfortunately, yes, Apple was not happy with what I was doing and I got hit with a cease and desist. I actually tried applying for their game studios a few years back, but I got rejected, and that's when I started trying to do the Sonic fangames. I really wanted to make Sonic games but it didn't work out, but fortunately Nintendo was more open to my original platformer concept, which is Ruggabeast. It's not as fast as Sonic, it's a bit like Dog Dash, but this creature here is much more brutal and mean, he doesn't lick things, he just gores them.
Chloe: *laughing* Well, I think he's still cute in a sort of way. And I'm having a lot of fun in this berserk mode that's going on here.
Whitehead; Yeah, if you're able to trigger the berserk mode with regularity you'll be able to find a lot of secret passages. They're not really hidden like in the Donkey Kong Country games, but the trick is making your Ruggabeast go crazy and then being able to control him when you do.
Chloe: If you can't really control him though, you can still beat the stages like normal?
Whitehead: Most of the time, but sometimes you'll be required to make him go crazy and for that we have ways to automatically trigger it.
Chloe: The graphics look quite nice, they're not really retro like a lot of the other platformers we've seen. This looks like a modern 2-D platformer, it's really beautiful.
Whitehead: The art style we used gives the game a sort of fantasy storybook look to it that translates well to the Sapphire's capabilities. It's actually not really that advanced of a game, but the graphical style hides that a bit and should give the game some staying power.
Chloe: Ruggabeast comes out when?
Whitehead: It's a digital exclusive to the Sapphire's storefront and it comes out in September.
Chloe: Can't wait to play!
(...)
*Chloe is playing a very early build of a spaceflight simulator game, attempting to construct a rocket on a launchpad*
Chloe: This is Kerbal Space Program, one of the first games announced as a Google exclusive at E3 this year. It's an indie project by Felipe Falanghe, who left his company in Mexico after Google offered to help him work on his idea for a game. In Kerbal Space Program, you have to help these little green things called Kerbals build rocketships and go to the stars, but things don't always go so well... my last rocket that I tried to build blew up.
Falanghe: You killed your Kerbals.
Chloe: They all died. *frowns sadly* I have a feeling that a lot of Kerbals are going to die before I'm able to get them up into space.
Falanghe: The game will teach you everything you need to know, but our goal is realism, so it's not going to be easy for you.
Chloe: Well, you know, we choose to go to space not because it's easy but because it's hard. And this... this is really hard.
*Chloe carefully constructs her rocketship, and tries to launch it into space, but it falls over and explodes on the launchpad.*
Chloe: *screams in frustration but is also laughing* I'm wondering if people are actually going to play this to get into space or if they're going to try and see how many Kerbals they can murder. Because I remember in The Sims, that's what some people do, they just build these awful houses where all they do is try to kill Sims in as many ways as possible.
Falanghe: I do hope people try to play the game as best they can, there's much more to this game than killing Kerbals!
Chloe: Hey, I'm having fun killing Kerbals. ...I'm a monster.
(...)
*Chloe is standing at a booth with two young game developers, and a very early prototype of an adventure horror title on the screen.*
Chloe: I think I'm seeing double! And that's because I am, because I'm standing here with twins! Alex and Ariel Hirsch to be exact, founders of brand spankin' new indie studio Pyramid Games, and they're showing off this game today which is very spooky and scary but also sounds very interesting and I've honestly just had a blast talking to both of them because they're both really fun to hang out with. Tell us a little something about yourselves.
Alex: Well, Ariel and I originally started out working at Remedy on the game Owl Creek, but while we were working on that game and gathering experience, both of us decided that, you know, this game's nice but we've got so many ideas that we'll never be able to do unless we strike out on our own, so here we are!
Ariel: Yeah, our heads were overflowing with stuff.
Chloe: And as we can see here on the screen, a lot of that stuff has made its way into this game which is called Terror Trip.
*Chloe moves her character, a teenage girl holding a flashlight, on the screen. She's exploring an area with several empty cabins, each of which can be gone through and explored, and each of which has its own story.*
Ariel: So in Terror Trip, you play as a pair of high school students, a boy and a girl, who are on this school trip and get bored and decide to explore. Problem is, they end up in a part of the park that's been closed off by the government, and pretty soon into the game you find out why.
*Chloe enters one cabin and finds all kinds of objects and texts inside, each of which gives a little bit more info.*
Chloe: I've already noticed that this game is really text heavy.
Alex: Pretty much every object you see has a story attached to it, and the characters will actually react to what you're picking up and looking at, so you not only get more of the game's overall story, but you also learn a little bit more about one of the twins.
Chloe: These two protagonists are twins, by the way, you guys didn't mention that to the audience but you did mention it to me. So is this game a little bit autobiographical?
Alex: I mean, uh...
Ariel: *laughing*
Alex: Just a little bit, we were inspired by some other games too. Pickton Lake, on the SNES-CD, that was a bit one, also a lot of the old visual novel games.
Ariel: We had the SNES-CD as kids and we just devoured those games, even the really bad ones. I had Oops!, you remember Oops!?
Chloe: I've heard a lot about it, we've done a segment on it for G4, but I've never actually played it!
Alex: It is the worst-
Ariel: It was awesome! Back when I was nine it was awesome!
Alex: No, it was terrible! I can't believe you ever liked that game!
Chloe: *laughing* Did you guys have arguments when designing the game?
Alex: Oh, every single day. Sometimes having a twin is worse than having a boss.
Ariel: We even argued about whether we should talk to G4 or IGN.
Chloe: Well, I'm glad you talked to us! So, any idea on when this game is due to be released?
Alex: It's not gonna be this year, there's still a lot of work we have to do and we're a small studio, so we're not in any rush. What we're showing off here at E3 is more of a proof of concept than anything.
Ariel: Hopefully we'll be back next year with something a lot more substantial.
Chloe: Well, I've gotta say, this is one of the best proofs of concept I've ever seen, and best of luck to you guys finishing up your game!
-from G4's live coverage of E3 2011, airing on June 6, 2011
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So we do get a Gravity Falls equivalent, but as a video game. That’s awesome.
R.I.P. Sonic Mania...and all the other fangames.....
Does that mean Apple shuts down all fangames, or just the ones that hit too close to things they're actually doing?
On the plus side....Apple does seem to have a knack (no pun intended) for giving the fans what they want in the actual games...
Huehuecoyotl
Monthly Donor
I enjoy the sense of history in these later updates, with the current cast of developers and fans remembering classic games from this timeline’s past. Very realistic. And of course, I’m almost as interested in this fictional E3 as I am in this year’s real one. 
a bit late
otherwise really good post but got to wonder about kerbal. Is that for the google android console? Because getting it first for a consol is totally going to chang the development of the game. Otherwise getting the development out of that complex situation with their parent company should be good.
E3 2011 (Part 1)
E3 2011 - Nintendo Keynote
For the second year in a row, Nintendo's E3 presentation begins with a game trailer. The trailer starts off by playing the sound of an engine revving, then showing beautifully rendered cars on a realistic racetrack. The cars are shown for about 10-20 seconds, then we get an intriguing sizzle reel of cars and tracks, along with some online gameplay footage and footage from the game's career mode. It's apparent that this is the reveal of Gran Turismo 5, with graphics that look much better than the previous game, and a great selection of cars, along with what looks like a really deep and challenging career mode. The trailer only lasts a minute, and finishes by showing the game's logo, followed by "2012". The crowd applauds, and then Satoru Iwata takes the stage. He thanks the crowd for attending, and talks about how excited he is to show off a new piece of hardware for the first time in several years. This time, it's the highly anticipated new Nintendo handheld, and Iwata reveals the device as a slightly larger, sleeker looking Supernova (though it's not actually a new Supernova model, it just has a similar form factor), with an OLED touch screen and a back touchpad. The device, though it looks similar to the Supernova, definitely seems to be a lot more advanced, and Iwata revealed the device's name as the Nintendo Connect, because it will have, as Iwata says, "the unprecedented ability to connect with a wide array of digital devices". These include both the Nintendo Sapphire and the upcoming Nintendo console, with the ability to stream gameplay from the Sapphire to the device on day one. It will also be able to connect with up to 16 other Connect consoles for local online play, and will boast the best wi-fi capabilities of any Nintendo handheld to date for online play around the world. It can also connect to Sony audio devices and televisions in order to play games on those televisions (functioning as another controller) and will have connectivity with certain models of phone as well, including Sony phones. It can also connect to a wide variety of gaming accessories and lifestyle devices, some of which were revealed on day one, including a heart rate monitor and motion control gloves. Iwata claimed that the Connect will be the "center of your entertainment world", and more functionality for the device will be added throughout its lifespan. It also will have a full library of games, including the ability to access the Supernova and Sapphire Flashback services to play classic Nintendo titles, and its own slate of exclusive games. Iwata then introduced the first of these games, which showed off a massive tower and then gradually revealed the game as a new Zelda title, with Link ascending the tower to battle guardian beings known as Sentinels. It looks like the entire game will take place in this huge tower, as Link climbs his way to the top to save Hyrule from destruction. The game's title was revealed as The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels, and it will be a launch title, the announcement of which drew cheers from the crowd. Iwata then showed off some other games, including a slick new Wave Race game with graphics almost as good as a Sapphire title and a brand new Squaresoft RPG called Infinitia which will span a vast world and will see four legendary heroes teaming up to retrieve a series of crystals and battle a great evil. Infinitia brings back a ton of old Final Fantasy elements, including crystals, chocobos, and the job system, but also features a new risk/reward battle system that looks very intriguing. Iwata then personally introduced a new game in his Parcels series, which features a brand new city and allows players to customize deliveries, making the game more of an open world adventure and giving them more interesting characters to meet and things to do. This new game will be called Parcels: Special Delivery, and like Zelda, Wave Race, and Infinitia, it will be out on launch day. We then got a quick look at a fun open-world Spider-Man game, though that one won't be out until 2012. Neither will Quintessence, the new IP from Argonaut, which features Star Fox-like rail shooter gameplay but with brand new strategy twists and an insane combo system. The graphics in Quintessence look even more impressive than those of Tower Of Sentinels, and looks like a great successor to the Star Fox series with a focus on gameplay rather than story. Finally, we got one more game reveal: Call Of Duty: Green Beret, an exclusive launch title for the system. The game features a squad of special forces soldiers conducting a secret campaign to take down a rogue mercenary. It looks like typical Call Of Duty fare, but it looks great for a handheld title and it's a sign that the third party support for the Connect will be quite strong. After the game reveals, Bill Trinen took the stage to help Iwata reveal the system's price for both Japan and North America. In North America, the system will cost $249.99, and will be released on December 2, 2011. Iwata left after the Connect presentation, while Trinen remained on stage to introduce the next round of upcoming games for the Nintendo Sapphire.
The next part of the presentation was an in-depth look at Rare's upcoming RPG Slaughtered Planet, which will finally be released for the Sapphire in just a few weeks. E3 2011 is our first chance to see the full, finished game in action, and it looks amazing, from its massive world filled with an incredible amount of things to do, to multiple types of vehicles including a motorbike and a flying jet, and some of the best combat we've yet seen in a JRPG, with characters able to adapt different fighting styles (similarly to the Rise A Knight series). The game is fully voiced and will feature a plot combining elements of a class warfare struggle with an eldritch horror title, with a planet deep in the throes of corruption both political and physical. We really liked the game's shooting mechanics, which build on those from games such as Velvet Dark, allowing for full first or third person gameplay (the game allows you to switch from first to third person and back quite easily). The presentation didn't feature a plot trailer, as the Rare officials on stage want to keep the game's storyline close to their chests so players can find out for themselves what Slaughtered Planet is all about. The game will be released on July 18th, which is just a few short weeks away. Bill Trinen quickly segued into the next presentation, for the new Nintendo IP Hoseki: Gamestones Of Lostland. One of the more unique Nintendo IPs in recent memory, Hoseki combines elements of 3-D platformers with a ton of different minigames and puzzles. Its main characters are a brother and sister team named Seku and Sumi, who must first collect ancient artifacts known as Gamestones, and then cash them in to battle a different ancient being in a contest of intellect and skill. The game seems to combine 3-D platforming with a sort of Mario Party-like game board and minigame battles, and the whole thing looks very bright, colorful, and wholesome. The game includes both a single player mode and modes for co-op and competitive multiplayer, and Nintendo is hoping to make Hoseki a popular party title in addition to having it serve as a robust adventure game. Hoseki comes exclusively to the Nintendo Sapphire in August. Bill Trinen then introduced another trailer, this one being the final trailer for the upcoming Selene 2.
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(Authors' Note: The following trailer was provided to us by the reader jolou! He also provided some of the discussion after the trailer.)
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The trailer begins with a stunning view of a Gas giant passing in front of the camera. Then a spaceship appears and slowly docks with a space station.
Mathew Fullington (narration): Fullington Log. We dreamed of those past years. Exploring newfound solar systems, meeting other species.
We can see Mathew shaking hands with an alien. This alien looks like a mix between the Prothean, the Asari and a bird. Bipedal, He has four eyes and has blue skin, he also has feathers covering his head.
Fullington: But they never tell us about the sacrifice we had to make, about those we could lose.
Some scenes from the battle of the Alien vessel from Selene 1 are seen.
Mathew: And the choices we had to make along the way… I don’t know if they’re right, I don’t know what the others think of them.
We see a split screen with Elis in Jail and in the other, Rana in jail and then another one with a planet being attacked from orbit or one where a fleet is fleeing this planet. This planet looks exactly the same, leading to a conclusion that it is the same planet.
Mathew: But they are my choices and I will defend them.
We see a shot with Matthew, on a stage, in front of thousands of people after what seems to be a speech. Suddenly, the image change. The music too. Before, it was mostly similar to the Selene Theme. Now, it seems more a warrior theme or meant to encourage soldiers to go to war.
Signs of battle are everywhere on the wide plains of this planet. And survivors of this battle are trying to flee it. They seem to know that something, someone is going to arrive. And it arrives. Two small shuttles land near some survivors. Soldiers get out and get one survivor who wears tattered Selene clothing. He is brought by two soldiers in the front of a shuttle.
Someone emerges, wearing magnificent armor, made to impress everyone around it. She approaches the soldier and holds him by the neck. She takes off her helmet but we can only see the reaction of the Selene soldier.
Mysterious alien: Some of you escaped. But don’t worry…
We get the first look to the main enemies of the Selene Saga as the camera slowly rise up and we can see the face of the alien. Visibly, she is a female. And she’s smiling. She looks sympathetic, but with a firm resolve. She looks like quite like the Krill from The Orville (very bright white skin) with purple eyes and no hair.
Mysterious Alien: …we will teach you your true purpose!
The trailer ends as we slowly dezoom from the scene to see both the soldiers being taken in the shuttle and a vast fleet of shuttle, planes and spaceship on the horizon looking similar to the shuttle and the Alien spaceship from Selene 1.
SELENE 2
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The crowd applauds the trailer. Then, Trinen introduces the President of Arkane and creative director of Selene 2, Raphaël Colantonio. Colantonio thanks Nintendo, and then reveals that Valve has also been working with Nintendo and Arkane on the game, drawing some surprised gasps from the crowd that the company has been working on something other than Half-Life 3 (and has been working with Nintendo). As he reveals a small ship called the Nautilus that will serve as a personal ship to Matthew, there is a small gameplay segemtn of someone controlling the ship inside a solar system, you can actually control the ship and though it looks quite difficult to do so, it's actually very casual friendly. He then shows some concept art about the interior of the ship. Before leaving, he adds two others things, that your choices matter, those you did in the first one and those you’re going to do in this one and that a main protagonist of the game is tied to someone from the Selene Expanded universe. As he leaves, Trinen announces that not only will the game be playable here at E3 on the show floor, but that a demo of the game has already been uploaded for Sapphire owners to download online, consisting of one of the game's early quests taking place on board an abandoned space station. The Selene 2 presentation got quite a positive reception from the crowd (not quite as big as the Slaughtered Planet presentation but far more than the Hoseki one). The next presentation was a brief one for a game announced late last year that surprised a lot of fans, and that's Earthbound 4 (or MOTHER 4 in Japan). The game, which, like the others, has been conceived by Shigesato Itoi, is an RPG unconnected to the events of the first three games, but will involve the series' familiar quirky humor and strange sci-fi motif. It will take place in a strange, America-inspired land called Summerset, and sees a team of young children working together to battle a mysterious corporation. Earthbound 4 utilizes the Sapphire to great effect to create a strange stop-motion inspired world that gives it a look unlike any RPG we've ever played, and looks to modernize the battle system from previous titles with more action RPG-like techniques. We didn't get a lot of new information about the game, but RPG fans should be quite pleased to play it this fall. Next up, Guerilla Games took the stage to show off two titles. We got a brief presentation for Killzone: Aegis Of Aggression, which features genetically modified soldiers and a Mad Max-like motif, but the bulk of the presentation was devoted to Hazardous, a game created by a different team from the Killzone devs and which is being positioned as a major release for early 2012. A third person shooter taking place in a city decimated by nuclear war, Hazardous sees survivors roaming the streets of the city, battling mutated creatures and hostile enemies. The game has a ton of RPG elements, and could quite possibly be classified as an action-RPG, though it's less like Fallout and more like Ballistic Limit, with even some elements of the Shin Megami Tensei series in terms of pacing. One of the more unique titles of Nintendo's presentation, Hazardous looks like a technical marvel that may well push the Sapphire to its limits, and is expected to be released in February. After the presentation for Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog took the stage and began showing off more footage from the finished Tales Of The Seven Seas: Horizon, due for release in August. We saw an extended sequence of a quest featuring Erick, Dona, and Victoria, and as they snuck their way through a jungle to raid a beached treasure ship while battling hordes of other treasure seekers, we saw a game nothing like the Tales Of The Seven Seas games of the past. Everything was super cinematic, combat was uber-realistic, and the dialogue between the three young pirates was both informative and hilarious, with the three regularly bouncing quips off one another. After this brief quest, which ended with Dona watching as Erick and Victoria ended up trapped under the water, we next got a brief look at Jack and McKenna investigating some ancient ruins that began spawning living skeleton pirates, forcing the two to flee. Again, the dialogue was on point, the quest gave us a lot of room to wander, and everything looked stunningly beautiful. Naughty Dog's work made us feel like we were playing a pirate movie, but with dialogue that could easily rival the best of Joss Whedon or Quentin Tarantino (maybe not quite as vulgar as Tarantino). We then got a look at another huge title coming later this year, Pokemon: Legend Quest, which is being worked on by Naughty Dog's other studio. The game delivers all the fun and content of the Wave's Master Quest, with a robust single player adventure (not quite as big as the ones on the proper handheld games, but enough to keep players occupied for 20+ hours) combined with a full stadium mode featuring all the Pokemon from five previous generations. The new game will focus on a trainer tasked with hunting down several legendary Pokemon for a mysterious man known as the Collector, who may be friend or foe. The game will also allow for at least one previously unobtainable in the main titles Mythical Pokemon to be acquired and transferred into Pokemon Rise And Fall. Legend Quest comes out in November, and for fans looking for something fun after Rise And Fall, this will definitely be able to keep them satisfied.
After the Naughty Dog segment, Trinen brought several representatives from Squaresoft to the stage to show off several new titles, leading off with the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III, which will be released worldwide in December. Certainly one of the year's most anticipated new titles, the game will continue the adventures of Sora, Kairi, and Riku as they attempt to restore the Hearts of the Pale Knights, which have seemingly been captured by an intimidating new foe. Telos has been revealed to be a major antagonist in the game, blaming the heroes for Gwyneth losing her heart, and of course, the Keyblade Knights will visit a series of brand new Disney-themed worlds, including the world of Rapunzel Unbraided and also Pixar's Seashell. We'll also pay a visit to the world of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame for the first time in the series, and will revisit several previous worlds, including Olympus Coliseum and Hyrule. Nothing was revealed as to whether another Nintendo world will be making the leap into Kingdom Hearts for the first time, but we got to see some amazing combo attacks between Sora, Kairi, and Riku, who will be fighting together while Donald and Goofy join King Mickey for their own separate mission. The Kingdom Hearts III footage was followed by some intriguing (and terrifying) Parasite Eve 4 gameplay footage, and then we got to see a sneak preview of another upcoming Connect game: SaGa Frontier 3, featuring the return of the Regions and ten different protagonists each on their own quest. We then got a quick trailer/preview of a brand new IP set for release on the Sapphire next year: Air Of Mystery, a dungeon crawler-type game with a lot of old school Final Fantasy elements, featuring a young squire in search of some magical crystals. Air Of Mystery doesn't exactly look like a Final Fantasy tentpole game, or even a Fairytale for that matter, but it should be a decent mid-range release for people looking for more great Squaresoft RPG action. Finally, the segment concluded with a brief teaser for the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. We only saw a few quick video segments and some imagery of giant mechs, but it was enough to make the crowd cheer and get our whistles properly whetted for some amazing RPG action. Tetsuya Takahashi is confirmed to be returning, and the game will see the return of the giant Guardian mechs from Final Fantasy VIII. Takahashi also confirmed that it would be another open world game like Final Fantasy XII, getting fans even more intrigued. The game is still early in development, but at least it seems like we'll be getting it this generation, rather than the next. Squaresoft's presentation then ended, and we were treated to some quick burst previews for upcoming games. A quick trailer featuring an especially sadistic Sweet Tooth was used to hype up Twisted Metal Chaos 3, which will be coming next year, and then we got a full-on third party sizzle reel, showing off some more upcoming games, including Max Payne 5, a new Deus Ex title, the upcoming Call Of Duty: Nightfall, and Prince Of Persia 4. We also saw great looking footage from the upcoming X-Men: Fallen, and then we got the biggest reveal of all: a confirmation that yes, the Cyberwar Trilogy is going to be making its way to Sapphire later this year. With Psygnosis an independent studio again and free to release the Cyberwar games on other consoles, the Sapphire will be seeing the first three games, with full online multiplayer for the third. After the third party reel ended, we got a quick look at some upcoming Supernova games, including some digital indie titles and games like Alien: Awakened (a full FPS game exclusive to the system) and Dissidia Final Fantasy 2. We also got a look at the upcoming Goldeneye remake, coming in just a couple weeks. It's the full original Ultra Nintendo game with online multiplayer and some graphical enhancements, and one of the Supernova's most hyped games this year. It's good to see Nintendo supporting the Supernova, even with the Connect's release just six months away.
The Supernova reel seemed like an anticlimactic way to end Nintendo's E3 presentation, and Bill Trinen agreed, inviting Mark Cerny up on stage for one more reveal from Naughty Dog. The reveal was a teaser trailer for Mystic 2, revealing a world recovering from the apocalypse that wiped out humanity, thanks to the discovery of Oridae magic. While Luma and Lake will return for this game, the trailer revealed a brand new protagonist, with features unlike any Oridae seen before. It's also been revealed that a potential pocket of pure humanity still remains on the planet, but what role these neo-humans will play in the game's story was not revealed in the teaser trailer, which intriguingly cut off just after revealing a giant mech activating. Mystic 2 is scheduled to be released next year, but is still quite early in development, and it's not clear whether it will be released for the Sapphire or possibly its successor. We then got one final introduction from Bill Trinen, who asked Katsuya Eguchi to reveal one final game. The game showed off a mysterious laboratory, before a pipe opened underneath and Mario popped out, drawing cheers from the crowd. We saw Mario doing some science experiments and then emerging into a vast open world wearing a jetpack, which he fired off to fly high into the air, revealing a vast landscape of pipes, hills, and Koopas. After seeing Mario doing more science outside the lab and exploring more worlds, including an autumn world, a volcano world, and even outer space, the game's title, Super Mario Laboratory, and its release year, 2012, was shown. The crowd applauded wildly, sending Nintendo's E3 2011 keynote away on a high note.
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Hands On With The Nintendo Connect
Nintendo finally revealed its new handheld, the Nintendo Connect, here at E3 2011, and of course they had plenty of demo units available to play on the show floor, demonstrating the device's connectivity and its multiplayer capabilities. While we loved getting a nice game of Call Of Duty: Green Beret going at Activision's booth (and yes, the game looks and plays almost exactly like Modern Warfare on home consoles, showing just what the Connect can do), we also loved putting the device's connectivity to the test with our other electronics, including our Sony phones and some wireless speakers. It's possible to actually connect the Connect (looking forward to saying that thousands of times over the next few years) to a ring of speakers positioned around the player, giving them true surround sound on a handheld device not much bigger than the Supernova. And yes, this is the Nintendo Connect, not the Game Boy Connect: Nintendo is finally saying goodbye to the "Game Boy" brand after 22 years, positioning this thing as a console-like experience (and perhaps a Sony entertainment device) rather than "just" a gaming handheld. The price of $249.99, which is 50 bucks cheaper than Apple's Gemini but more expensive than any other Nintendo handheld ever released, also positions this as a "premium" gaming device, and we'll have to wait and see if the Connect's capabilities justify the price tag. It's certainly a powerhouse, with graphics that fall a bit short of the Apple iTwin, but not all that short, and it's easy to see seventh generation console games ported to it with ease. Of course, it can also play Sapphire games using wi-fi, though you've got to have a good connection or you will experience lag. The Connect comes with clicky control sticks, giving it functional L3 and R3 buttons (a first on a handheld device), and it also has the ability to upgrade its on-board memory with MicroSD cards (which you'll probably want to do, since it only comes with 4GB of on-board memory devoted mostly to save space).
How are the games? Well, the games are pretty good, for the most part. We were most impressed with Wave Race, which looks absolutely gorgeous on this thing, with some of the prettiest water effects we've ever seen on a handheld and some amazing white-knuckle racing action. The game has a robust stunt mode clearly inspired by the water-based Thrillseekers titles, though don't be looking for Marina Hirano (or even Shad and Rebecca from Squad Four) to show up: Nintendo's confirmed no guest characters in this game. The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels looks and plays awesome, much like Spirit Of The Woods did, but we're still a bit skeptical how robust this quest will be, considering it essentially takes place in one giant dungeon (albeit a dungeon far, far bigger than any other dungeon in any other game we've ever played). It's just great to have a full Zelda game as a launch title, and from what we played so far, we think it'll live up to the series' great reputation. The other game we absolutely loved was Squaresoft's Infinitia, which gave us a few dungeons and towns to mess around with in the demo, mostly highlighting the game's outstanding battle system. Players will be able to give up turns in exchange for buffs, which can include an attack buff or an additional turn, making strategy crucial in how tough battles play out. The risk/reward system can benefit both players and enemies, who can also give up their turns to launch a brutal counterattack, and players have to watch carefully to see if an enemy will decide to make their big play that turn so they can properly defend. In contrast with Tower Of The Sentinels, Infinitia will take place in an enormous overworld said to be as big as the world in any Final Fantasy game, making it the perfect RPG for Connect players with a lot of time on their hands. So far, we love the Connect: its ability to connect to a wide variety of other devices, its advanced OLED screen, and its early game library all give us reasons to be excited, but the real question will be if it can compete with the seemingly more powerful Gemini, which will feature a bigger game lineup and more powerful hardware than Apple's current home console, all for just 50 dollars more. This holiday will see an epic handheld showdown play out, and it's not likely that most gamers will have enough cash to buy both.
-from a June 7, 2011 article on Games Over Matter
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Nintendo And Sony Confirm Work On Next Generation Console, But No Details At E3
Nintendo's E3 keynote was unexpectedly barren of any news about new home console hardware. We got a reveal for the Nintendo Connect, and Mystic 2 looks like it might just be a next generation game, but no mention was made of a Sapphire successor. Again, this was to be expected: the Sapphire just came out three years ago, it's selling quite well, and it still has plenty of big new games coming out. However, in an interview at the Nintendo booth, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata did confirm that yes, new hardware was in the works, but that it wouldn't be released until the Sapphire had "run its course" as a home gaming system. Iwata said that while some of Nintendo's focus had shifted to next generation development, and that Nintendo was hard at work on the next generation machine, the Sapphire still had plenty of room for more games to fill out its already strong library.
We know that Google is working on a next generation console, and was here at E3 to show off some of that console's technical details, though the company did not make a formal speech or address. Apple is also confirmed to be "quite far along" in development of their next generation console, and even gave a demo at their presentation for technology expected to be a part of that console. However, Nintendo has, as expected, kept its cards mostly close to its chest. We know the next generation is coming, and Iwata's small reveal of Nintendo's progress on the Sapphire's successor is more than we expected to hear. With E3 2011 focused mostly on handhelds and games, E3 2012 is likely to be the Year of the Consoles, and if Nintendo has their next gen tech ready by then, we'll no doubt see it along with everything Apple and Google have been up to these past few years.
-from a June 7, 2011 article on Kotaku
For the second year in a row, Nintendo's E3 presentation begins with a game trailer. The trailer starts off by playing the sound of an engine revving, then showing beautifully rendered cars on a realistic racetrack. The cars are shown for about 10-20 seconds, then we get an intriguing sizzle reel of cars and tracks, along with some online gameplay footage and footage from the game's career mode. It's apparent that this is the reveal of Gran Turismo 5, with graphics that look much better than the previous game, and a great selection of cars, along with what looks like a really deep and challenging career mode. The trailer only lasts a minute, and finishes by showing the game's logo, followed by "2012". The crowd applauds, and then Satoru Iwata takes the stage. He thanks the crowd for attending, and talks about how excited he is to show off a new piece of hardware for the first time in several years. This time, it's the highly anticipated new Nintendo handheld, and Iwata reveals the device as a slightly larger, sleeker looking Supernova (though it's not actually a new Supernova model, it just has a similar form factor), with an OLED touch screen and a back touchpad. The device, though it looks similar to the Supernova, definitely seems to be a lot more advanced, and Iwata revealed the device's name as the Nintendo Connect, because it will have, as Iwata says, "the unprecedented ability to connect with a wide array of digital devices". These include both the Nintendo Sapphire and the upcoming Nintendo console, with the ability to stream gameplay from the Sapphire to the device on day one. It will also be able to connect with up to 16 other Connect consoles for local online play, and will boast the best wi-fi capabilities of any Nintendo handheld to date for online play around the world. It can also connect to Sony audio devices and televisions in order to play games on those televisions (functioning as another controller) and will have connectivity with certain models of phone as well, including Sony phones. It can also connect to a wide variety of gaming accessories and lifestyle devices, some of which were revealed on day one, including a heart rate monitor and motion control gloves. Iwata claimed that the Connect will be the "center of your entertainment world", and more functionality for the device will be added throughout its lifespan. It also will have a full library of games, including the ability to access the Supernova and Sapphire Flashback services to play classic Nintendo titles, and its own slate of exclusive games. Iwata then introduced the first of these games, which showed off a massive tower and then gradually revealed the game as a new Zelda title, with Link ascending the tower to battle guardian beings known as Sentinels. It looks like the entire game will take place in this huge tower, as Link climbs his way to the top to save Hyrule from destruction. The game's title was revealed as The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels, and it will be a launch title, the announcement of which drew cheers from the crowd. Iwata then showed off some other games, including a slick new Wave Race game with graphics almost as good as a Sapphire title and a brand new Squaresoft RPG called Infinitia which will span a vast world and will see four legendary heroes teaming up to retrieve a series of crystals and battle a great evil. Infinitia brings back a ton of old Final Fantasy elements, including crystals, chocobos, and the job system, but also features a new risk/reward battle system that looks very intriguing. Iwata then personally introduced a new game in his Parcels series, which features a brand new city and allows players to customize deliveries, making the game more of an open world adventure and giving them more interesting characters to meet and things to do. This new game will be called Parcels: Special Delivery, and like Zelda, Wave Race, and Infinitia, it will be out on launch day. We then got a quick look at a fun open-world Spider-Man game, though that one won't be out until 2012. Neither will Quintessence, the new IP from Argonaut, which features Star Fox-like rail shooter gameplay but with brand new strategy twists and an insane combo system. The graphics in Quintessence look even more impressive than those of Tower Of Sentinels, and looks like a great successor to the Star Fox series with a focus on gameplay rather than story. Finally, we got one more game reveal: Call Of Duty: Green Beret, an exclusive launch title for the system. The game features a squad of special forces soldiers conducting a secret campaign to take down a rogue mercenary. It looks like typical Call Of Duty fare, but it looks great for a handheld title and it's a sign that the third party support for the Connect will be quite strong. After the game reveals, Bill Trinen took the stage to help Iwata reveal the system's price for both Japan and North America. In North America, the system will cost $249.99, and will be released on December 2, 2011. Iwata left after the Connect presentation, while Trinen remained on stage to introduce the next round of upcoming games for the Nintendo Sapphire.
The next part of the presentation was an in-depth look at Rare's upcoming RPG Slaughtered Planet, which will finally be released for the Sapphire in just a few weeks. E3 2011 is our first chance to see the full, finished game in action, and it looks amazing, from its massive world filled with an incredible amount of things to do, to multiple types of vehicles including a motorbike and a flying jet, and some of the best combat we've yet seen in a JRPG, with characters able to adapt different fighting styles (similarly to the Rise A Knight series). The game is fully voiced and will feature a plot combining elements of a class warfare struggle with an eldritch horror title, with a planet deep in the throes of corruption both political and physical. We really liked the game's shooting mechanics, which build on those from games such as Velvet Dark, allowing for full first or third person gameplay (the game allows you to switch from first to third person and back quite easily). The presentation didn't feature a plot trailer, as the Rare officials on stage want to keep the game's storyline close to their chests so players can find out for themselves what Slaughtered Planet is all about. The game will be released on July 18th, which is just a few short weeks away. Bill Trinen quickly segued into the next presentation, for the new Nintendo IP Hoseki: Gamestones Of Lostland. One of the more unique Nintendo IPs in recent memory, Hoseki combines elements of 3-D platformers with a ton of different minigames and puzzles. Its main characters are a brother and sister team named Seku and Sumi, who must first collect ancient artifacts known as Gamestones, and then cash them in to battle a different ancient being in a contest of intellect and skill. The game seems to combine 3-D platforming with a sort of Mario Party-like game board and minigame battles, and the whole thing looks very bright, colorful, and wholesome. The game includes both a single player mode and modes for co-op and competitive multiplayer, and Nintendo is hoping to make Hoseki a popular party title in addition to having it serve as a robust adventure game. Hoseki comes exclusively to the Nintendo Sapphire in August. Bill Trinen then introduced another trailer, this one being the final trailer for the upcoming Selene 2.
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(Authors' Note: The following trailer was provided to us by the reader jolou! He also provided some of the discussion after the trailer.)
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The trailer begins with a stunning view of a Gas giant passing in front of the camera. Then a spaceship appears and slowly docks with a space station.
Mathew Fullington (narration): Fullington Log. We dreamed of those past years. Exploring newfound solar systems, meeting other species.
We can see Mathew shaking hands with an alien. This alien looks like a mix between the Prothean, the Asari and a bird. Bipedal, He has four eyes and has blue skin, he also has feathers covering his head.
Fullington: But they never tell us about the sacrifice we had to make, about those we could lose.
Some scenes from the battle of the Alien vessel from Selene 1 are seen.
Mathew: And the choices we had to make along the way… I don’t know if they’re right, I don’t know what the others think of them.
We see a split screen with Elis in Jail and in the other, Rana in jail and then another one with a planet being attacked from orbit or one where a fleet is fleeing this planet. This planet looks exactly the same, leading to a conclusion that it is the same planet.
Mathew: But they are my choices and I will defend them.
We see a shot with Matthew, on a stage, in front of thousands of people after what seems to be a speech. Suddenly, the image change. The music too. Before, it was mostly similar to the Selene Theme. Now, it seems more a warrior theme or meant to encourage soldiers to go to war.
Signs of battle are everywhere on the wide plains of this planet. And survivors of this battle are trying to flee it. They seem to know that something, someone is going to arrive. And it arrives. Two small shuttles land near some survivors. Soldiers get out and get one survivor who wears tattered Selene clothing. He is brought by two soldiers in the front of a shuttle.
Someone emerges, wearing magnificent armor, made to impress everyone around it. She approaches the soldier and holds him by the neck. She takes off her helmet but we can only see the reaction of the Selene soldier.
Mysterious alien: Some of you escaped. But don’t worry…
We get the first look to the main enemies of the Selene Saga as the camera slowly rise up and we can see the face of the alien. Visibly, she is a female. And she’s smiling. She looks sympathetic, but with a firm resolve. She looks like quite like the Krill from The Orville (very bright white skin) with purple eyes and no hair.
Mysterious Alien: …we will teach you your true purpose!
The trailer ends as we slowly dezoom from the scene to see both the soldiers being taken in the shuttle and a vast fleet of shuttle, planes and spaceship on the horizon looking similar to the shuttle and the Alien spaceship from Selene 1.
SELENE 2
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The crowd applauds the trailer. Then, Trinen introduces the President of Arkane and creative director of Selene 2, Raphaël Colantonio. Colantonio thanks Nintendo, and then reveals that Valve has also been working with Nintendo and Arkane on the game, drawing some surprised gasps from the crowd that the company has been working on something other than Half-Life 3 (and has been working with Nintendo). As he reveals a small ship called the Nautilus that will serve as a personal ship to Matthew, there is a small gameplay segemtn of someone controlling the ship inside a solar system, you can actually control the ship and though it looks quite difficult to do so, it's actually very casual friendly. He then shows some concept art about the interior of the ship. Before leaving, he adds two others things, that your choices matter, those you did in the first one and those you’re going to do in this one and that a main protagonist of the game is tied to someone from the Selene Expanded universe. As he leaves, Trinen announces that not only will the game be playable here at E3 on the show floor, but that a demo of the game has already been uploaded for Sapphire owners to download online, consisting of one of the game's early quests taking place on board an abandoned space station. The Selene 2 presentation got quite a positive reception from the crowd (not quite as big as the Slaughtered Planet presentation but far more than the Hoseki one). The next presentation was a brief one for a game announced late last year that surprised a lot of fans, and that's Earthbound 4 (or MOTHER 4 in Japan). The game, which, like the others, has been conceived by Shigesato Itoi, is an RPG unconnected to the events of the first three games, but will involve the series' familiar quirky humor and strange sci-fi motif. It will take place in a strange, America-inspired land called Summerset, and sees a team of young children working together to battle a mysterious corporation. Earthbound 4 utilizes the Sapphire to great effect to create a strange stop-motion inspired world that gives it a look unlike any RPG we've ever played, and looks to modernize the battle system from previous titles with more action RPG-like techniques. We didn't get a lot of new information about the game, but RPG fans should be quite pleased to play it this fall. Next up, Guerilla Games took the stage to show off two titles. We got a brief presentation for Killzone: Aegis Of Aggression, which features genetically modified soldiers and a Mad Max-like motif, but the bulk of the presentation was devoted to Hazardous, a game created by a different team from the Killzone devs and which is being positioned as a major release for early 2012. A third person shooter taking place in a city decimated by nuclear war, Hazardous sees survivors roaming the streets of the city, battling mutated creatures and hostile enemies. The game has a ton of RPG elements, and could quite possibly be classified as an action-RPG, though it's less like Fallout and more like Ballistic Limit, with even some elements of the Shin Megami Tensei series in terms of pacing. One of the more unique titles of Nintendo's presentation, Hazardous looks like a technical marvel that may well push the Sapphire to its limits, and is expected to be released in February. After the presentation for Guerrilla Games, Naughty Dog took the stage and began showing off more footage from the finished Tales Of The Seven Seas: Horizon, due for release in August. We saw an extended sequence of a quest featuring Erick, Dona, and Victoria, and as they snuck their way through a jungle to raid a beached treasure ship while battling hordes of other treasure seekers, we saw a game nothing like the Tales Of The Seven Seas games of the past. Everything was super cinematic, combat was uber-realistic, and the dialogue between the three young pirates was both informative and hilarious, with the three regularly bouncing quips off one another. After this brief quest, which ended with Dona watching as Erick and Victoria ended up trapped under the water, we next got a brief look at Jack and McKenna investigating some ancient ruins that began spawning living skeleton pirates, forcing the two to flee. Again, the dialogue was on point, the quest gave us a lot of room to wander, and everything looked stunningly beautiful. Naughty Dog's work made us feel like we were playing a pirate movie, but with dialogue that could easily rival the best of Joss Whedon or Quentin Tarantino (maybe not quite as vulgar as Tarantino). We then got a look at another huge title coming later this year, Pokemon: Legend Quest, which is being worked on by Naughty Dog's other studio. The game delivers all the fun and content of the Wave's Master Quest, with a robust single player adventure (not quite as big as the ones on the proper handheld games, but enough to keep players occupied for 20+ hours) combined with a full stadium mode featuring all the Pokemon from five previous generations. The new game will focus on a trainer tasked with hunting down several legendary Pokemon for a mysterious man known as the Collector, who may be friend or foe. The game will also allow for at least one previously unobtainable in the main titles Mythical Pokemon to be acquired and transferred into Pokemon Rise And Fall. Legend Quest comes out in November, and for fans looking for something fun after Rise And Fall, this will definitely be able to keep them satisfied.
After the Naughty Dog segment, Trinen brought several representatives from Squaresoft to the stage to show off several new titles, leading off with the upcoming Kingdom Hearts III, which will be released worldwide in December. Certainly one of the year's most anticipated new titles, the game will continue the adventures of Sora, Kairi, and Riku as they attempt to restore the Hearts of the Pale Knights, which have seemingly been captured by an intimidating new foe. Telos has been revealed to be a major antagonist in the game, blaming the heroes for Gwyneth losing her heart, and of course, the Keyblade Knights will visit a series of brand new Disney-themed worlds, including the world of Rapunzel Unbraided and also Pixar's Seashell. We'll also pay a visit to the world of The Hunchback Of Notre Dame for the first time in the series, and will revisit several previous worlds, including Olympus Coliseum and Hyrule. Nothing was revealed as to whether another Nintendo world will be making the leap into Kingdom Hearts for the first time, but we got to see some amazing combo attacks between Sora, Kairi, and Riku, who will be fighting together while Donald and Goofy join King Mickey for their own separate mission. The Kingdom Hearts III footage was followed by some intriguing (and terrifying) Parasite Eve 4 gameplay footage, and then we got to see a sneak preview of another upcoming Connect game: SaGa Frontier 3, featuring the return of the Regions and ten different protagonists each on their own quest. We then got a quick trailer/preview of a brand new IP set for release on the Sapphire next year: Air Of Mystery, a dungeon crawler-type game with a lot of old school Final Fantasy elements, featuring a young squire in search of some magical crystals. Air Of Mystery doesn't exactly look like a Final Fantasy tentpole game, or even a Fairytale for that matter, but it should be a decent mid-range release for people looking for more great Squaresoft RPG action. Finally, the segment concluded with a brief teaser for the upcoming Final Fantasy XIII. We only saw a few quick video segments and some imagery of giant mechs, but it was enough to make the crowd cheer and get our whistles properly whetted for some amazing RPG action. Tetsuya Takahashi is confirmed to be returning, and the game will see the return of the giant Guardian mechs from Final Fantasy VIII. Takahashi also confirmed that it would be another open world game like Final Fantasy XII, getting fans even more intrigued. The game is still early in development, but at least it seems like we'll be getting it this generation, rather than the next. Squaresoft's presentation then ended, and we were treated to some quick burst previews for upcoming games. A quick trailer featuring an especially sadistic Sweet Tooth was used to hype up Twisted Metal Chaos 3, which will be coming next year, and then we got a full-on third party sizzle reel, showing off some more upcoming games, including Max Payne 5, a new Deus Ex title, the upcoming Call Of Duty: Nightfall, and Prince Of Persia 4. We also saw great looking footage from the upcoming X-Men: Fallen, and then we got the biggest reveal of all: a confirmation that yes, the Cyberwar Trilogy is going to be making its way to Sapphire later this year. With Psygnosis an independent studio again and free to release the Cyberwar games on other consoles, the Sapphire will be seeing the first three games, with full online multiplayer for the third. After the third party reel ended, we got a quick look at some upcoming Supernova games, including some digital indie titles and games like Alien: Awakened (a full FPS game exclusive to the system) and Dissidia Final Fantasy 2. We also got a look at the upcoming Goldeneye remake, coming in just a couple weeks. It's the full original Ultra Nintendo game with online multiplayer and some graphical enhancements, and one of the Supernova's most hyped games this year. It's good to see Nintendo supporting the Supernova, even with the Connect's release just six months away.
The Supernova reel seemed like an anticlimactic way to end Nintendo's E3 presentation, and Bill Trinen agreed, inviting Mark Cerny up on stage for one more reveal from Naughty Dog. The reveal was a teaser trailer for Mystic 2, revealing a world recovering from the apocalypse that wiped out humanity, thanks to the discovery of Oridae magic. While Luma and Lake will return for this game, the trailer revealed a brand new protagonist, with features unlike any Oridae seen before. It's also been revealed that a potential pocket of pure humanity still remains on the planet, but what role these neo-humans will play in the game's story was not revealed in the teaser trailer, which intriguingly cut off just after revealing a giant mech activating. Mystic 2 is scheduled to be released next year, but is still quite early in development, and it's not clear whether it will be released for the Sapphire or possibly its successor. We then got one final introduction from Bill Trinen, who asked Katsuya Eguchi to reveal one final game. The game showed off a mysterious laboratory, before a pipe opened underneath and Mario popped out, drawing cheers from the crowd. We saw Mario doing some science experiments and then emerging into a vast open world wearing a jetpack, which he fired off to fly high into the air, revealing a vast landscape of pipes, hills, and Koopas. After seeing Mario doing more science outside the lab and exploring more worlds, including an autumn world, a volcano world, and even outer space, the game's title, Super Mario Laboratory, and its release year, 2012, was shown. The crowd applauded wildly, sending Nintendo's E3 2011 keynote away on a high note.
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Hands On With The Nintendo Connect
Nintendo finally revealed its new handheld, the Nintendo Connect, here at E3 2011, and of course they had plenty of demo units available to play on the show floor, demonstrating the device's connectivity and its multiplayer capabilities. While we loved getting a nice game of Call Of Duty: Green Beret going at Activision's booth (and yes, the game looks and plays almost exactly like Modern Warfare on home consoles, showing just what the Connect can do), we also loved putting the device's connectivity to the test with our other electronics, including our Sony phones and some wireless speakers. It's possible to actually connect the Connect (looking forward to saying that thousands of times over the next few years) to a ring of speakers positioned around the player, giving them true surround sound on a handheld device not much bigger than the Supernova. And yes, this is the Nintendo Connect, not the Game Boy Connect: Nintendo is finally saying goodbye to the "Game Boy" brand after 22 years, positioning this thing as a console-like experience (and perhaps a Sony entertainment device) rather than "just" a gaming handheld. The price of $249.99, which is 50 bucks cheaper than Apple's Gemini but more expensive than any other Nintendo handheld ever released, also positions this as a "premium" gaming device, and we'll have to wait and see if the Connect's capabilities justify the price tag. It's certainly a powerhouse, with graphics that fall a bit short of the Apple iTwin, but not all that short, and it's easy to see seventh generation console games ported to it with ease. Of course, it can also play Sapphire games using wi-fi, though you've got to have a good connection or you will experience lag. The Connect comes with clicky control sticks, giving it functional L3 and R3 buttons (a first on a handheld device), and it also has the ability to upgrade its on-board memory with MicroSD cards (which you'll probably want to do, since it only comes with 4GB of on-board memory devoted mostly to save space).
How are the games? Well, the games are pretty good, for the most part. We were most impressed with Wave Race, which looks absolutely gorgeous on this thing, with some of the prettiest water effects we've ever seen on a handheld and some amazing white-knuckle racing action. The game has a robust stunt mode clearly inspired by the water-based Thrillseekers titles, though don't be looking for Marina Hirano (or even Shad and Rebecca from Squad Four) to show up: Nintendo's confirmed no guest characters in this game. The Legend Of Zelda: Tower Of Sentinels looks and plays awesome, much like Spirit Of The Woods did, but we're still a bit skeptical how robust this quest will be, considering it essentially takes place in one giant dungeon (albeit a dungeon far, far bigger than any other dungeon in any other game we've ever played). It's just great to have a full Zelda game as a launch title, and from what we played so far, we think it'll live up to the series' great reputation. The other game we absolutely loved was Squaresoft's Infinitia, which gave us a few dungeons and towns to mess around with in the demo, mostly highlighting the game's outstanding battle system. Players will be able to give up turns in exchange for buffs, which can include an attack buff or an additional turn, making strategy crucial in how tough battles play out. The risk/reward system can benefit both players and enemies, who can also give up their turns to launch a brutal counterattack, and players have to watch carefully to see if an enemy will decide to make their big play that turn so they can properly defend. In contrast with Tower Of The Sentinels, Infinitia will take place in an enormous overworld said to be as big as the world in any Final Fantasy game, making it the perfect RPG for Connect players with a lot of time on their hands. So far, we love the Connect: its ability to connect to a wide variety of other devices, its advanced OLED screen, and its early game library all give us reasons to be excited, but the real question will be if it can compete with the seemingly more powerful Gemini, which will feature a bigger game lineup and more powerful hardware than Apple's current home console, all for just 50 dollars more. This holiday will see an epic handheld showdown play out, and it's not likely that most gamers will have enough cash to buy both.
-from a June 7, 2011 article on Games Over Matter
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Nintendo And Sony Confirm Work On Next Generation Console, But No Details At E3
Nintendo's E3 keynote was unexpectedly barren of any news about new home console hardware. We got a reveal for the Nintendo Connect, and Mystic 2 looks like it might just be a next generation game, but no mention was made of a Sapphire successor. Again, this was to be expected: the Sapphire just came out three years ago, it's selling quite well, and it still has plenty of big new games coming out. However, in an interview at the Nintendo booth, Nintendo's Satoru Iwata did confirm that yes, new hardware was in the works, but that it wouldn't be released until the Sapphire had "run its course" as a home gaming system. Iwata said that while some of Nintendo's focus had shifted to next generation development, and that Nintendo was hard at work on the next generation machine, the Sapphire still had plenty of room for more games to fill out its already strong library.
We know that Google is working on a next generation console, and was here at E3 to show off some of that console's technical details, though the company did not make a formal speech or address. Apple is also confirmed to be "quite far along" in development of their next generation console, and even gave a demo at their presentation for technology expected to be a part of that console. However, Nintendo has, as expected, kept its cards mostly close to its chest. We know the next generation is coming, and Iwata's small reveal of Nintendo's progress on the Sapphire's successor is more than we expected to hear. With E3 2011 focused mostly on handhelds and games, E3 2012 is likely to be the Year of the Consoles, and if Nintendo has their next gen tech ready by then, we'll no doubt see it along with everything Apple and Google have been up to these past few years.
-from a June 7, 2011 article on Kotaku
Does the connect have a second analog stick like otl's vita?
It sure does. It's VERY close to OTL's Vita in appearance and capabilities.
AeroTheZealousOne
Monthly Donor
With this hilarious and incredibly telling line I take it The Walking Dead is butterflied?
I presumed correctly, it would seem.
It looks like it. We get alien comedies, and with these new additions to the world I imagine we lose the aptly-titled 2009 film Zombieland.
EDIT: Apparently I forgot to respond to the past couple of day's worth of stuff. I'll just go ahead and do that.
[insert obligatory "IT LIVES!" reaction here]
I myself have never seen Gravity Falls, but I'd probably appreciate TTL's game quite a bit if I could get my hands on it...
It's one of the numerous things I really do love about the world of Player Two Start and Massively Multiplayer. I myself have yet to play Secret of Mana despite being an unabashed '90s JRPG fan, I should really get around to that this summer, and I always love little flashbacks like these every now and then.
Oh look, I have a game to look forward to a tad later on!
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Don't know if you're talking about the game or the show, but if you're interested in the latter, it's all on Hulu. Gravity Falls is honestly one of the best pieces of media I've ever consumed, right up there with Phineas and Ferb, The Empire Strikes Back, and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. A shame Disney decided to kill it after just a few seasons.
Didn't that was finished by own creator? for me seems very conclusive ending, more could have drag on so much the story. Still is good..not that super good(is not Generator Rex or Kokkoku) but still a very nice cartoon was heavily inspired by X-files and anime, you could call it the X-files for kids of the new generation.
I don't really know, that's what I've been told from my time on the Internet. Though I guess you can't always trust everything you read, huh?
Tastes are suggestive, the series is very good and so well done, just there other better before it. Still is worth your time, one few series will not disapoint you, unlike other(i see you netflix castlevania season 2 and ben 10 post UA, or some of gen rex filler at times, even if very funny), the thing the series take time to become good, season 1 is too weak in hindsight for my taste at times.
No... I love the show and have seen every episode, I just meant I didn't know if Disney had actually been the ones to pull the plug on it or not.
Disney didn't kill Gravity Falls; Alex Hirsch pulled the plug on it himself because he felt that the story was told by the end of season two. I know there's speculation that the big gaps between seasons were Disney trying to convince Hirsch to actually continue the series, but he didn't budge if that's true.
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