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The big press conferences may be over but there’s still plenty to see at E3 today — we’ll be visiting 2K, Ubisoft, Bethesda, Tecmo, Eidos, Nintendo, and more. That’s not even counting the inevitable zombiefied wandering of the show floor, which could yield amazing C-list celebrity sightings and unforseen moments of embarassment.
Check back often; we’ll be continually updating this post with impressions, thoughts, and cautionary tales. And if you have a specific question or request, check in with our moderator Paul Gale’s E3 Q&A post. He’ll sort you out.
Read on for Splinter Cell: Conviction, Jumpgate Evolution, Homefront, Brink, Fallout 3: Point Lookout, Just Cause 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, Greg Ford kicking Napoleon Dynamite off a demo and more.
This post was last updated at 8:05 pm, PST.
Demian, 8:05 pm: Back at the hotel. The Mobcast is taping in the room right now but I’m not on it, making way for A-list guests such as ex-EGMer John Ricciardi, Turn 10’s Che Chou, and the Internet’s and EA’s Jeff Green.
Got a chance to see Jumpgate Evolution this afternoon, the sequel to regular old Jumpgate, which I never played. It’s a space combat PC MMO with an emphasis on ship-to-ship battles, as opposed to EVE, which is a space combat PC MMO with an emphasis on dirt mining and machiavellian guild drama. So I’m definitely interested.
Seeing an MMO at an event like E3 is tough — you need to spend hours with an MMO to get any real read on its quality. I can’t say how good Evolution is going to be, but if developer NetDevil can execute on its license system (the spacey equivalent of talent trees in your fantasy MMOs), combat, and PVE/PVP experience, hell. Could be interesting. Not sure when we’ll know, because the release date on this one is the familiar "it’s ready when it’s ready." But for an MMO especially, that’s what you want to hear.
Shoe, 7:44 pm: Saw something really cool today. It’s not a game, but it is really neat technology. I can’t say much more about it other than OnLive may have something to worry about. Also, Ubisoft cracked my (overpriced, admittedly) $3500 Alienware laptop. More on that later.
Greg, 7:30 pm: A nice little surprise I saw today: Homefront in the THQ booth. It’s 2027. North Korea invades U.S. Whatever. What got me interested was the setting: American suburbs and backyards.
Now I’m not sure why that type of setting hits the sweet spot for me — I imagine it has to do with growing up in the burbs and playing guns outside — but I always love it when games at least pass through a setting like this. Even with those that aren’t good, like Blacksite: Area 51, I remember enjoying going through a level set in a sleepy neighborhood with aliens busting through fences and over BBQs.
Setting aside, it looks like a solid shooter with not-too-distant-future weapons and some squad-based combat. This one is now on my radar.
Shoe, 7:18 pm: This kind of talk always worries me: "Our objective is to redefine the franchise," says Splinter Cell: Conviction Associate Producer Jean-Francois Poirier. The franchise got more hardcore (Chaos Theory) before it became more accessible (Double Agent), but in Conviction, it’s about a faster, more brutal Sam Fisher. OK, that’s a redefinition I can deal with.
"We like to compare Sam to a panther…a predator," says Poirier. In the demo, Sam’s more Jason Bourne than …well, old Sam. He springs from cover to cover with one button (a la Gears of War), he smashes heads into walls (or urinals or whatever else that’s handy), and he’s fueled by personal drive, not a sense of duty.
I wonder about the new "Mark and Execute" gameplay, though. Stealth kills earn you tokens that you can spend on one-button takedowns. It seems to dumb down the series’ technical gameplay for the sake of accessibility and cool-looking kills. All you have to do is peek underneath a doorway, mark your targets, and bust through — blam blam…and they fall to the floor with no real aiming required. On the other hand, you do have to earn these "powers" in the first place, and enemies can move before you finish them off.
No word on multiplayer yet. We asked. Many times.
Fitch, 6:00 pm: Tecmo’s booth tour this afternoon was the perfect example of why I enjoy E3 — not to see the big stuff, but to find the (possible) hidden gems. The tour started off with a look at Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, which was…well, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2. With ninjas. And sexy female purple-clad ninja (and former Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyballer) Ayane. And sexy hammer-wielding fiend hunter Rachel. Both in booth-babe form a few yards away. Cool, but we know exactly what we’re getting with this game (more Ninja Gaiden), so it didn’t interest me too much.
Instead, I was intrigued by Undead Knights and Quantum, two under-the-radar action titles on the PSP and PS3, respectively. Undead Knights puts you in the shoes of a former loyal knight who’s made a deal with the devil and now commands a zombie legion to dispose of any and all who oppose him. You can lob zombies at enemies, grab zombies by the scruff of the neck and slam them into foes, or just sit back and watch your undead horde shamble forth. The whole playing-as-the-bad-guy angle reminded me of another imaginative Tecmo game, the underrated and overlooked Deception on PS1 (where you made a deal with the devil to take over a castle…and subsequently slaughtered anyone who dared to venture inside), but Tecmo associate product manager Sean Corcoran says that he’s unaware of any inspiration from the earlier title.
Meanwhile’s Quantum’s intimidating protagonist, the hulking Syd, looks more space marine than androgynous Japanese RPG hero. Clearly, this is a new direction for the Japanese developer known more for ninjas and boob physics than gritty Gears of War-style offerings. But Tecmo consumer development team director Makoto Shibata says that Tecmo’s shown they’re the king of action games with Ninja Gaiden, so it makes sense for them to develop a Western-inspired title. In fact, he says his goal is to fool people into thinking that it is a Western game. There’s just one problem: Quantum’s a third-person shooter — not exactly a strong point of Japanese development, particularly among developers just dabbling in the genre (as Dirge of Cerberus can attest to). Still, it’ll be interesting to see if Tecmo’s action-game know-how can overcome their unfamiliarity with the genre.
Sure, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 will almost certainly be the best of these three titles in the end. But at E3, sometimes you don’t wanna see the best, since you know you’ll be playing that later anyway — you just wanna see something you didn’t expect.
Fitch, 5:00 pm: OK, I didn’t have Internet access to report this at the time, but on my way to the Tecmo booth tour this afternoon, I spotted a group of twentysomethings posing with a potbellied gentleman in his early 40s. I didn’t recognize the man, but I figured he must be some famous developer that just wasn’t registering with me. Intrigued, I looked toward his badge. Who was this veteran developer, clearly well-known by many E3 attendees? What game was he here to promote? And then I saw the words…
CURT SCHILLING
Yep, there’s a reason this Red Sox World Series hero retired a few months ago. He’s clearly got the body of a game developer now.
Demian, 4:18 pm: Finally have some time in between appointments to catch up. I got a hands-off demo of Brink delivered by Paul Wedgewood, CEO of Splash Damage. Lots going on with this one and it’s kind of hard to get a handle on it all.
Basically it’s a single-player multiplayer co-op deathmatch RPG first-person shooter with parkour overtones, that takes place on a run-down floating city called the Ark. In 2035. You’ll choose one of two factions, the resistance or the security forces, and then swap from class to class based on play style and the particular mission, kind of like in Tribes. Each class has various objective quests available that change during the course of the overall mission, and separate weapon load outs that you can set-up beforehand. You gain XP for completing objectives and killing other dudes, which probably ties into some leveling up action but Wedgewood didn’t really get into that much.
Considering that Brink is an FPS, don’t expect it to look like this.
One weird thing, though: You can only play as a dude. A garbage barge full of dudes, no wonder they’re shooting each other all the time. Brink’s on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, coming out in early 2010.
While at the Bethesda booth I also got the chat on Point Lookout, the fourth Fallout DLC, from Senior Producer Jeff Gardiner. Point Lookout takes place in southeast Maryland, over an area about a fifth of the size of the original game’s Wasteland, and includes "three different versions of hillbillies." Gardiner referenced The Hills Have Eyes about four times so its safe to say it has a very The Hills Have Eyes sort of vibe. You’ll fight alongside Desmond, a ghoul who bears a striking resemblance to Half-Life’s G-Man, except in ghoul form. And then maybe later you won’t fight alongside Desmond, depending on choices you may or may not make and your empathy towards hillbillies. The hillbilly feel extends to the new weaponry, too — shovel, axe, and double-barrel shotgun.
Wet, Rogue Warrior, and some game that seemed to be a Medieval Times-themed thing on Wii were also there, but upon inspection I wasn’t really feeling them so much. Then I left because it was time to stand in line for 45 minutes to purchase a disgusting cheeseburger before my next appointment. I should have taken a picture, damn it all.
Greg, 2:44 pm: Had some fun at the Ubisoft booth this morning. After Michael got down with some turtles, that is.
You’ll see some coverage on the other Ubisoft games throughout this diary, but I focused on Assassin’s Creed 2. Shoe, Michael Donahoe, and I got a personal tour through the demo you may have seen at the Ubisoft press conference from game designer Mathieu Gagnon. Funny enough, he recognized Michael and said, "You’re the one who didn’t like the first game, right?"
Michael’s response: "Dude, I gave it a 7. That’s a good score!" At which point they agreed to disagree and got on with the demo.
In Assassin’s Creed 2, you once again take on the role of one of Desmond Miles ancestors, this time another hooded assassin named Ezio. But enough background. Instead, here are a few quick hits that stood out to me:
First, Leonardo da Vinci is in the game and serves as Ezio’s personal inventor, meaning he’ll hook you up with items like a flying machine, based on real blueprints by the legendary mind. Wait, what? I asked Gagnon why Leo would help a professional assassin, and he said the Templars — the series’ main enemy faction — are the evil ones. Hmm, OK. He also said the relationship will be further explained in the game, so I guess we’ll have to wait to see how this Bill & Ted’s-esque pairing works out.
Something I liked was the HUDless display. The final game will have one, but you should be able to turn it off. To make this work, the developers had to put in some other visual indicators for players to know how to progress, such as flames that both give your flying machine a boost (remember, hot air rises) and lead the way (you’ll be following the lights). Also, birds will converge where leaps of faith are, so you know where you can safely swan-dive from.
The fighting system has been revamped. Instead of just blocking and waiting for countering opportunities, now each weapon (of which now include axes, spears, and swords) has specific counters you need to look for. Unfortunately, no hands-on time means we didn’t get to see if this actually works.
Finally, the game features an economic system that is tied into your character’s progression, with Gagnon indicating that your playing technique will influence how you spend your money.
Those were the big hits. The game looks gorgeous (the cityscape from the top of a building is stunning, with fireworks going off in the background as the crowd noise rises from below), and the scaling/parkour system still looks slick. I got bored with the first game’s repetitive objectives, but Gagnon assures us that missions are more fluid, with nonplayer characters giving you varied missions.
More from the floor later….
Shoe, 1:54 pm: Just Cause 2 wins the "Most Air Conditioned Demo Room" award. It may also be one of the most free-form games I’ve seen.
During our demo, the developer:
Base-jumped deep into the rainforest; popped open a parachute at the last second; steered right onto a speedboat; drove it to an enemy base camp; blew lots of s*** up; attached an enemy to a propane gas tank with the grappling hook; shot that gas tank to cause it to flare up and jet away (taking the tethered bad guy with it); rode shotgun on a car’s rooftop; jumped to an enemy car, planted some C-4, jumped back, grapple hooked the speeding enemy car to a bridge tower, let the car get hung up and swing away (think tether ball), then detonated the C-4; and…whew. It’s like Spider-Man got jungle fever and is starring in the ultimate guy action movie.
Greg, 1:42 pm: OK, Michael’s description of me booting Napoleon may be a little dramatized for effect (at least that’s the story I’m going with — see below), but it wasn’t all just celebrity sightings.
I had a lot of fun with Dark Void. This one is like Gears of War meets Rocketeer. What grabbed me was how easy it played. Walking/running and gunplay is standard third-person shooter stuff, but then you just tap a button and your jetpack engages. At that point, the flying is smooth and freeing.
The mission I played involved knocking out an energy field encasing some friends. After taking out some turrets surrounding the platform via jetpack, I flew up to a platform, got my feet back under me, and started raiding the generator station. This is when the Gears of War vibe kicks in, as I was using cover and stop-and-pop shooting moves to take out some enemies.
The easy transition between two gameplay variations had me wanting more, but we had more games to check out.
Next up was Lost Planet 2. I reviewed the first game and found it underwhelming, but I enjoyed what I played of this one so far. Most notable is the addition of co-op (up to four players). Donahoe wasn’t of much help as my backup — he seemed to be at his best getting his ass whupped. But talking to a producer, I learned that co-op is more than just players blasting away at oversized space aliens.
For example, one player can be shooting at the glowing weak point (in this instance a spike on a gigantic crawling creature’s back) until it actually goes back into the giant Akrid itself for protection. The other player can then shoot out its legs and head into its mouth and blast the internalized spike as he passes through — eventually popping out the monster’s ass. Fun, crude, creative.
Some of the other additions: more weapons, customizable characters and guns, and larger Akrid (the one we fought was a smaller one, we were told). Again, I enjoyed what I played and am looking forward to this one — but then again, I loved the original game’s demo as well, so we’ll see.
Michael, 1:16 pm: Just got back from Capcom with Greg Ford. Man, Ford is an asshole! Not only did he steal the controls away from me before I had a chance to play Dark Void, but he shafted Napoleon Dynamite from the game, too. No, seriously — actor Jon Heder was playing Dark Void…or at least he was until Ford made Capcom PR shove him off. Gosh — what an asshole, indeed!
But what I watched looked like a blast — it was as if Uncharted hero Nathan Drake put on a Rocketeer jetpack.
I also had a chance to kick Ford’s celebrity-hating ass in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. Such a fun fighting game for the Wii — basically, it’s like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 without the Marvel.
Speaking of Marvel vs. Capcom 2, I also had a chance to checkout the XBLA/PSN port coming out soon. It’s been a few years since I played this frantic fighter, but it’s every bit as awesome as I remember it. Except for the part about me sucking. Hmm, gotta work on that.
The last game I played was Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. This Wii Remote-gun shooter sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles is every bit as slow and plodding as the zombies I was zapping. Seriously, in the 5-10 minutes we played, half of that was spent randomly walking around waiting for the undead to chomp on us. I almost fell asleep. But then I remembered I’m at E3 and I still have 323,324,234 more appointments to go to.
Shoe, 12:16 pm: What the hell is going on? So far today, I’ve seen three grown men picking their noses with authority…not bashful about it in the least bit.
Shoe, 12:12 pm: Shaun White Snowboarding: World Stage is exclusive to the Wii, which isn’t exactly bad news for those who’ve played the non-Wii versions of the last game. The Wii Balance board is a must — not literally, but it feels awfully good despite not being quite as accurate as a normal controller. The focus this time is on competitions instead of all-mountain riding and in-game Achievements.
Demian, 11:36 am: Just saw Mafia 2 demo’d at the 2K booth. I wasn’t nuts for the first game so this one wasn’t on my radar before, but what I saw today looked really good.
Think of it like a buttoned-down Grand Theft Auto set in a wintry, 1940s NYC look-alike called Empire Bay. Main character Vito is climbing the mob ranks, etc., etc. — I can’t say yet how the script is going to hold up, but the world looks pretty amazing, both outside and inside the sometimes dilapidated buildings. Combat is all about ducking in and out of cover rather than the lock-on and unload style many open world games rely on. I wasn’t on the stick, but it looked smooth.
Shoe totally snaked me by sneaking into 2K yesterday and catching BioShock 2 and Borderlands (see his write-ups in yesterday’s diary), so now I’m going to hit the show floor until my 12-o’clock with Bethesda. I hear Activision’s Singularity is a must-see so maybe I’ll check that out.