Hello Bitmob readers. My name is Paul Gale, and I’m one of Bitmob’s official moderators. As you all know, E3 is around the corner, and with that I would like to offer you my services. During the three days of E3, if you come back to this article, you can ask me any question you can think of about anything going on at the show, and I will personally do my best to answer it.
Q27) What’s Ubisoft’s new real time strategy wargame, R.U.S.E, like?
A27) R.U.S.E. might have close to a year before it’ll be ready to ship, but it’s already looking like it’ll be a pretty solid title. One of the things that Eugen Systems (its developer) is doing well in the game, is making it serious enough for traditional RTS fans, but seemingly accessible for people that might be new to the series. The camera system is friendly and welcoming, which is important in games in general, more probably moreso if you’re trying to catch the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 audience. PC users are already use to quality RTS titles, but its definitely more rare to find a really solid one for home consoles. I think it has a good balance of commanding troops on ground, which should be easy enough to understand for most people, but allow depth and strategy, when combining these attacks with called-in air strikes. Overall, it’s a nice game and has a good shot at being cool.
Q26) What platforms is Castlevania: Lords of Shadow coming to?
A26) PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
Q25) What’s the info on Edge of Twilight?
A25) Edge of Twilight is coming out on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, Quarter 3 of this year (my guess for the title is September). As you may already know, it’s being developed by Fuzzyeyes Studio and being published by SouthPeak Games. If I’m correct, its development started up in 2007. Aside from a beautiful trailer and knowing that it shares similarities to God of War, things like an exact release date are not yet known.
Q24) What were some of the show’s sleepers?
A24) A few sleepers as in "the good kind" and not snore fests, that were present at the show, include Span Smasher, SciFly 2, and Project Cube (tentative title).
Span Smasher is a game for Wii that utilizes the Wii Motion Plus add-on, which gives you accurate control over a ball that you move through an always sidescrolling level, constantly smashing things up. It’s a simple concept, but one that also works. It looks like it’ll provide you some quick games sessions of fun, recklessness.
SciFly 2 is a sequel to the popular iPhone original intellectual property, developed by Licentia Software. It’s an aerial combat game that utilzes the touch screen and motion sensitivity of the iPhone, well, and has good graphics. If you’re looking for a new, quality title for your iPhone and enjoy games such as StarFox 64 or the Star Wars: Rogue Squadron games, then check it out.
Project Cube is in a way, a Geometry Wars clone, but not in a bad way. It’s produced by Square-Enix, and has some cool multiplier and multiplayer aspects, as well as a good level up system. The game should be a fun addition to most people’s Xbox Live Arcade experience, providing new leaderboards to try and top.
Q23) Is there anything new spoken of, on Castlevania: Lords of Shadow?
A23) Aside from the latest batch of screenshots and the new trailer shown at E3, and the fact that the game just might be a sweet 3D Castlevania, there’s not too much known yet on it. You are correct though on the fact that it is Kojima’s cool new project.
Q22) Is there any chance that Sony will release the God of War 3 demo on PSN?
A22) I never completel rule out anything, but no, I think it’s highly unlikely to have a GOW3 demo on PS3’s PSN, anytime soon. :( Oh and if I kicked anyone without just cause, I could get in trouble because I’m a government recognized black belt. :) Now with a little spin, I probably could get away with it…lol.
Q21) Where was the DSi Virtual Console at E3?
A21) Though I was asked to get Mr. Iwata on the phone for this question, lol, I wasn’t able to. ;) I have met him a few times though, and I’m sure if I saw him at this year’s E3, he would have given me an answer. Unfortunately, I don’t know where the DSi’s VC was at.
Q20) What’s an example of an overlooked booth at E3 this year?
A20) One booth that I felt might not have had a big turnout, too, is Sure Disc. They’re parted with RTI, in providing a quality, yet affordable service to people looking to get their cd’s, dvd’s, etc., back into working condition. Basically, you send your scratched disc to them (Wii, PS3, Xbox 360, Blu-ray, DVD, and CD as examples) and for $3, they will professionally fix it. Now I’ve seen the machine used and it’s pretty advanced, so I support them.
Q19) Why is Valve coming out with Left 4 Dead 2, so early after the first game?
A19) According to Valve, and EA in regards to Dead Space, both companies struck good with well publicy received new games that also scored well, and they want to capitalize and try to build them into franchies. This I overheard, first at Nintendo’s booth with Dead Space Extraction, and then, later, when I was checking out Left 4 Dead on the AlienWare PC.
Q18) Why wasn’t American McGee’s Alice in Wonderland shown at E3?
A18) Similar to Ubisoft’s stance on Beyond Good and Evil 2, EA had its plate full with what they did show off. I would like to see more on the new AiW, however, much like I’m interested in seeing more on BG&E 2. I guess we can’t get it all, like no Zelda Wii shown (but at least it was mentioned…)
Q17) Why wasn’t Beyond Good and Evil 2 shown?
A17) Since Beyond Good and Evil 2 is farther away than the games shown off at E3, it’s more important to focus on making the game than making a demo. For them (and every company, really), making a demo involves quite a bit of work, as it’s not just taking a small amount of data from the full game, and sticking it on a disc. If I can get anything more out of Ubisoft, I’ll be back with more.
Q16) Does Rare have anything for the show?
QA16) No, but they do have an announcement, and that’s that Perfect Dark will be coming to Xbox 360 (on Live) and will run in 1080p. Expect this later this year.
Q15) Is there a new SSX game coming soon?
A15) The feeling around EA’s booth is hush on SSX, and that usually means that something is in the works. I would think that EA is looking closely at Tony Hawk Ride, and seeing how it does, because they might be onto something similar. Perhaps that, or a combination of the Balance Board and Wii Motion Plus. This is speculation on my part, by the way. We’ll have to wait and see.
Q14) Why isn’t Valve showing off Episode 3 yet?
A14) They simply aren’t showing it so you’ll get mad. :) Just kidding; I guess they’re just not ready yet.
Q13) Are any companies yet using the DSi’s camera for creative gameplay?
A13) I haven’t seen anything at the show that would prove it, but I have a hunch, based off of how developers slowly eased into DS and Wii development, that after a fewmore months, they’ll start utilizing that camera more often.
Q12) How does the new PSP feel in your hands?
A12) It’s honestly pretty smal (about the size of an iPhone), and pretty thin. I think that it feels ok, but it does make both of my hands come rather close together. The shoulder buttons feel good though, in terms of both responsiveness and positioning. The d-pad is very small and clicky, which depending on whether you like clicky or not, it could be a good or bad thing for you. The four face buttons feel like they’re "in" a little too much, and lastly, the Start and Select buttons are in a good spot, but may be slightly too close together for some. Its button sensitivity seems to be on par with that of its predecessor.
That’s the PSP in my normal adult male sized hand.
Here’s what the PSP Go looks like in comparisson to an iPhone and DS Lite.
Q11) When is project Natal coming out?
A11) Though we don’t have an official word, I’m going with Fall, 2010. I don’t think that Microsoft is going to release this thing until it is well and ready, rid of bugs, and has a healthy amount of software to support it.
Q10) Is there a good chance that we the readers of Bitmob.com will run into any of you at E3?
A10) I’d say, most likely. For the few hours I was at E3 today, I ran into over a dozen old friends. If you see one of us, call us out and we can chat. I’d be happy to.
Q9) Can you interview Che Chou about Forza 3?
A9) If I see Che Chou at E3, I’ll ask him about Forza 3. I’ve known Che since my early days of E3. Here’s hoping. In the meantime, though, check out the first episode of Mobcast the Podcast.
Q8) What systems is Star Wars: The Old Republic coming out for?
A8) So far, I believe the only platform that it’s officially announced for, is the PC.
Q7) Is there a good reason why Red Steel 2 is only single player?
A7) I don’t have an answer for you like "it’d be too much for the Wii to handle four Wii Motion Plus units at the same time" (which by the way is not true) or anything really concrete. It seems like the only real reason is that a lot of time was spent in the game’s creation, going through a few different looks and periods, so in the end, when one was finally chosen, they decided to just make a solid single player effort. If I learn anything else, I’ll report.
*Update: I spoke with one of the game’s producers, and he said (after I told him that I was aware that the game went through a couple changes before its current build) that early on, before they knew that Wii Motion Plus was coming out, that they were considering multiplayer. However, since this new peripheral was coming out, they decided to implement it, and thus, it took up much of their development time. Hmm, I was pretty spot on with this assumption. :)
Q6) Are there any updates to new middleware development tools?
A6) Unfortunately, I didn’t hear much (or any for that matter) talk on the subject. I heard from High Voltage Software, though, that their Quantam 3 engine is being amped up, quite a bit, for Gladiator A.D. and moreso, for The Grinder. This is already news you probably new about, though.
Q5) Will there ever be a return to Jumping Flash and Monster Rancher?
A5) I would like to see new iterations of both games, but don’t have anything specific to report on.
Q4) Who has the best lanyard at E3?
A4) I haven’t seen who has the best lanyard, yet, but Capcom sure does have an awesome Ryu shirt of him doing a Shoryuken (though the kanji says Hadouken).
Q3) What’s new with Supreme Commander 2?
A3) The game looks solid and seems like it will improve upon some of its predecessor’s slowdown issues. Square Enix wants to pump out more story and get behind the characters more, this time around. Also, as far as I can tell, the game’s going to have some big maps, which should make fans happy. Now I’m not sure what multiplayer client it will use, but hopefully we can find that out soon.
Q2) Does Fat Princess have voice chat?
A2) Yes it does, and by the way, feeding your opponent’s princess and making her as fat as possible, is funny.
Q1) What’s the WhiteMoon Dreams demo like?
A1) I haven’t been able to find it at the show, but will try again tomorrow.
*Update: I didn’t personally receive or see any e-mail regarding the game, and during my three days at the show, it never popped up, either.