WebProNews

Tag: E3

  • E3 2013: Here’s All The Battlefield 4 Footage You’ll Ever Need

    E3 has once again become a showdown of sorts for the big shooters of the year. Battlefield and Call of Duty are vying for attention as usual, but they’ve been joined by two major competitors this year – Destiny and Titanfall. Which one’s the best? Well, EA obviously thinks it’s Battlefield 4 and it has mountains of gameplay footage to back it up.

    First up is the single player campaign mission called “Angry Sea” that was shown at the Xbox One press conference. For those just joining us, Battlefield 4 will be the first game released this year to be powered by DICE’s impressive Frostbite 3 game engine. The scripted actions of single player campaigns are excellent canvases from which to display the might of a game engine, and DICE does just that with the below demo:

    All of the above is scripted and predictable. What happens when you’re in the middle of an unscripted and unpredictable multiplayer match? It’s business as usual for Frostbite 3 as it powers massive maps with support for up to 64 players. I’m not usually a fan of multiplayer shooters, but even I’m impressed by what we’re seeing of Battlefield 4.

    DICE has also brought back the Commander Mode to Battlefield 4. In its newest iteration, players will get a top-down view of the action from a tablet. From there, they can direct players on the map to certain locations to take out targets and perform other actions. Of course, nothing is preventing players from disregarding the commander, but team players will be awarded with bonus XP and presumably more victories. Having a commander ally is only a good thing, especially in 64 player maps:

    On a final note, Microsoft announced that the second DLC pack for Battlefield 4 – Second Assault – will be a timed exclusive for the Xbox One. The first DLC pack is available for free to all those who pre-order the game on the platform of their choice.

    Battlefield 4 will be available later this year for the Xbox 360, PS3, Xbox One, PS4 and PC. As for a Wii U version – it’s not happening.

  • E3 2013: Battlefield 4 Multiplayer Gameplay Revealed

    As seen in Microsoft’s E3 presentation on Monday, Battlefield 4‘s graphics are truly ready to take advantage of next-generation consoles. It’s not the single player experience of running around a sinking aircraft carrier that sells Battlefield games, though. With this in mind, EA this week has also released several multiplayer trailers to try and coax Call of Duty players over to the

    Even though Activision and Infinity Ward are touting the new graphics technology implemented for Call of Duty: Ghosts, it’s clear that EA and DICE have won the graphics race this year. When it comes to gameplay, however, the two biggest console shooter franchises are innovating in different directions.

    Call of Duty: Ghosts will have minor additions such as leaning around corners and sliding. Oh, and dog soldiers.

    Battlefield 4, on the other hand, is implementing more interactive elements into gameplay. “Levolution” as EA’s press releases are calling it, will enable players to change map dynamics by, for instance, cutting power to certain lights or destroying entire buildings.

    The “Siege of Shanghai” trailer shows a massive building destruction sequence, while the “Best Moments” trailer shows gameplay similar to what Call of Duty players are used to:

  • E3 2013: Sony’s Presser Gets The Abridged Treatment

    The Xbox One press conference got torn to shreds yesterday as part of VideoGamer’s ongoing abridged series. Now flustered Xbox fans seeking vengeance have something to turn to – the abridged version of Sony’s press conference.

    Of course, Sony fans may be thinking that the PS4 press conference was perfect. That used game announcement may have been nice, but the guys at VideoGamer prove yet again that nothing is sacred. Check it out:

    It’s unknown if they plan on spoofing the Nintendo Direct, but it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Cat Mario alone is worth at least five jabs.

    As an added bonus, here’s an abridged version of the E3 show floor:

  • E3 2013: Infamous Second Son Gameplay Revealed [VIDEO]

    Though the game had already been announced in February, the new trailer for Infamous: Second Son was one of the highlights of Sony’s big E3 press conference. The video teased exactly what was missing from other next-generation games that had already been shown at E3: gameplay experiences that aren’t possible with cut-down graphics on current-generation consoles. Though the title won’t be available at launch, the exclusive will almost certainly help sell PlayStation 4 consoles in early 2014.

    Now, Sony has released a gameplay video for Infamous: Second Son, showing off the cool powers that gamers will use. The demo shows main character Delsin Rowe using his blasts to take down enemies, cameras, bridges, and security towers (anything with a bit of yellow on it, it seems). He also uses his powers to, more or less, fly through the air.

    The ‘super move’ seen in the video also looks well-animated and satisfyingly destructive. Assuming this is a move that can be pulled at any time, it demonstrates one way in which game design will be changing in the next console generation.

  • E3: New Pokemon X & Y Details, Trailers Revealed

    Nintendo skipped holding a big E3 conference this year, opting to let Microsoft and Sony battle it out with their new consoles. That doesn’t mean that Nintendo wasn’t at E3, though. Instead of a flashy stage show, the company has put out a slew of new online videos, including Nintendo Directs, Developer Directs, and game trailers.

    The new Super Mario 3D World and Super Smash Bros. were the big new announcements from Nintendo on Tuesday, but a Nintendo 3DS game announced earlier this year is probably more exciting to many fans. Pokemon X & Y have already been announced, but new details for the next main Pokemon titles have been revealed at E3.

    At Nintendo’s developer roundtable on Tuesday, Pokemon developers touted new connectivity and gameplay features. First up was the new Player Search System for Pokemon X & Y, which will allow players to trade and battle other players in their vicinity or worldwide.

    Another new feature announced is a “Horde Encounter,” which will pit players against wild Pokemon that attack all at once. Players will have to use just one Pokemon at a time to battle several, making moves that can hit multiple enemies at once an important part of the game.

    Sky Battles are a new feature of X & Y. The happen when trainers in a specific region challenge players to a battle. Flying Pokemon only can participate in the battle, which takes place (wait for it) in the sky.

    In addition to the new gameplay features, Nintendo also announced several new Pokemon: Clauncher, Talonflame, and Skrelp.

    Clauncher is a water-type Pokemon that has one big claw capable of launching a “Crabhammer” attack.

    Skrelp is a water- and poison-type Pokemon that resembles a piece of brown seaweed. It will use poison attacks to cause damage over time.

    Talonflame is the evolved form of another new Pokemon, Fletchling. As a fire- and flying-type, it will use fiery and diving talon attacks to eviscerate other Pokemon.

    Nintendo also released some new Pokemon X & Y trailers at E3. In addition to the long game trailer shown during a Nintendo Direct, a new gameplay trailer has been released since Tuesday, demonstrating Sky Battles and teasing Horde Encounters:

  • The Order: 1886 Is Sony’s Big New IP For The PS4

    The Order: 1886 sounds like an Assassin’s Creed spinoff. It’s not, but Sony’s new IP for the PS4 will share some similarities with Ubisoft’s series.

    During Sony’s press conference, The Order: 1886 was the only original IP to be shown for the PS4. It may be an original IP for Sony, but the team seems to have been heavily influenced by steampunk culture and lore. Here’s the official description from the development team at Ready At Dawn:

    With The Order: 1886, we introduce players to a unique vision of Victorian-era London, an alternate history where technological advances take center stage in a battle against a powerful and ancient foe. The game takes place nearly forty years after the Industrial Revolution. But unlike in real history, our Industrial Revolution stems from mankind’s desire to prevail in a centuries-old war. The advances in technology, invented by some of the foremost minds of the time, give man an opportunity to take the upper hand for the first time in their struggle.

    In the game, you are a knight, a member of an ancient order, and you will take center stage in this fight for mankind’s survival. As the game takes place in an alternate history, you will be able to interact with real-world historical characters who will aid you in your quest. You will see and navigate real places. You will not only be a witness, but have a hand in real events that have unfolded.

    As this is Ready At Dawn’s first major console release, the team is going all out to capture what they feel will be important on the next generation of consoles. In other words, they want to make it feel like a movie that you play:

    Beyond story and setting, there are a select few key concepts to which we wanted to adhere when we created this title. One of these is the filmic aspect of the game. As we developed our visual target, we used aesthetics that have been present in cinematography for decades to achieve our goal; from lenses and lighting techniques to grading, we wanted to recreate a visual feel that would bring you closer to what you have only been able to experience in movies.

    We also strived to create a seamless experience when it came to the game. The idea was to make sure that you never saw any visual discrepancies or breaks in continuity between gameplay and cinematic. Our game models and our cinematic models are one and the same, and everything is rendered real time in the engine as you play the game. The trailer we presented is a great example of that. What you saw is running in-engine, in-game with no gimmicks. These visuals are what you can expect of the final game when you play it.

    Ready At Dawn was previously responsible for Daxter and the two portable God of War titles on the PSP. Those were all quality games, but this is a major undertaking for the studio as they don’t have much experience with home console titles. In fact, Ready At Dawn has only worked on a single home console title and that was the Wii port of Capcom’s PS2 classic Okami.

    Still, Ready At Dawn proved they can fit a console quality experience onto a portable machine, and they may yet prove that they can fit a larger than life experience into a home console. We only have the below trailer to go off of for now, but The Order: 1886 is definitely one to watch.

  • Megaman: Super Smash Bros. Adds The Blue Bomber As A Fighter

    Megaman – Super Smash Bros. fans have been clamoring for the Blue Bomber since he missed out on Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It was a delight then to see Nintendo highlight Megaman as the first third-party guest character for the new title.

    During its E3 Nintendo Direct, Nintendo showed off the latest trailer for Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U and 3DS. It was revealed that Wii Fit Trainer and The Villager from Animal Crossing would be joining the fray, but the real treat was seeing Megaman for the first time.

    The Megaman we’re getting in Super Smash Bros. is based on his appearance in the NES games. Some may disappointed that X wasn’t chosen instead, but the original Megaman is just way too iconic not to include in the latest Nintendo fighter.

    Here’s some choice screens of his appearance in the Wii U and 3DS versions of the game:

    Megaman Super Smash

    Megaman Super Smash

    Megaman Super Smash

    Megaman Super Smash

    If screens aren’t doing it for you, here’s his video reveal. Longtime Megaman fans will definitely recognize all the weapons that are available to him:

    Did you recognize all of the powers on show? Capcom says that Megaman will have access to the Metal Blade, Leaf Shield, Crash Bomber, Hard Knuckle, Slash Claw, Flame Sword, Super Arm, Spark Shock and Flame Blast. The powers come from different games, but it definitely seems that powers for Megaman 2 have received the most love.

    There are likely to be more third-party characters revealed for the game as we get closer to its 2014 launch. Sonic and Solid Snake will most likely be back as both were fan favorites in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. What about other characters though? Are there any other classic third-party guest characters that could make the jump to the Smash Bros. universe? My personal wish list would include the Black Mage from Final Fantasy or Bill Rizer from Contra.

    As for first-party characters, we’re just getting started. The inclusion of Wii Fit Trainer pretty much confirms that the latest game is going to be whacky, and that’s just fine with me.

  • Microsoft: No Internet? Stick With Xbox 360.

    Microsoft: No Internet? Stick With Xbox 360.

    Following Microsoft’s big Xbox One reveal three weeks ago, company executives began putting out contradicting and worrying statements about the new console’s DRM and used game policies. Microsoft has since confirmed many of the worst parts of the rumors. The company, determined not to let another such messaging fiasco take place, promptly cancelled all of its executives’ E3 interviews.

    One Microsoft exec, however, did give an interview to GameTrailers shortly before the company’s big E3 presentation. Don Mattrick, president of Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, revealed that Microsoft was, in fact, not considering gamers with internet connections when designing the Xbox One.

    “Look, we designed something that’s great,” said Mattrick. “It is, at its core, a games box. And, we’ve innovated for what we think are the appropriate scenarios moving forward.”

    Implying, of course, that Microsoft believes offline gaming is an inappropriate scenario for the future. Mattrick continued:

    “I think people are gonna love it, and then they’re gonna understand what we’re trying to create and how it links games and entertainment, the functionality of the box, some of the advantages that you get of having a box that is designed to use an online state. So that, to me, is a future-proof choice and I think people could have arguably gone the other way if we didn’t do it, and fortunately we have a product for people who aren’t able to get some form of connectivity – it’s called Xbox 360.”

    This seems to be Microsoft’s message to those who don’t have a reliable internet access. Stick with the 360. Nevermind the fact that Sony’s new console will work perfectly fine as an offline games device, and for $100 less.

    Mattrick did go on to cite the scenario that has taken center-stage in the debate about the Xbox One’s DRM: military members stationed in places that lack internet. Mattrick stated that if he was stationed on a submarine he would be “disappointed.”

    That hasn’t deterred Microsoft, however, and the company shows no signs of backing down on its policies. Mattrick emphasized that Microsoft believes the future of gaming is in always-connected experiences, and used smartphones as an example of a technology that has made a huge connectivity leap in recent years. (Again, nevermind the fact that Angry Birds will still work on a phone that hasn’t been connected to the internet in the past 24 hours.)

    Microsoft may be right in predicting that in 10 years services such as Google Fiber will have rolled out across the U.S., bringing a reliable, affordable high-speed connection to all parts of the country. For now, though, millions of Americans will not be able to use the Xbox One as a gaming machine when it launches in November.

  • E3 2013: The Dark Sorcerer Is The Funniest Thing You’ll See This Week

    Comedy is hard. Comedy in games is even harder. That’s why it’s such a delight to see Sony diving headfirst into comedy with the a fantastic tech demo from Quantic Dream.

    David Cage, director and writer on titles like Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain, wrote and directed the above tech demo/short film. He wrote about his experience in writing comedy and working with the PS4 in a guest post on the PlayStation blog this week. His candid words on writing comedy and the cliches that games fall into are worth repeating:

    In a few months, we experienced something between Monty Python and Terry Pratchett (obviously without claiming to match their talent), and we laughed at each projection of the Goblin’s antics and the growing annoyance of the Sorcerer. We learned how attempting to produce beautiful images with such computing power is painstaking, how each second has to be worked out in minute detail, how light and shade became essential, how difficult it is to raise a smile.

    And there was also, somewhere in all this, a desire to distance ourselves from the clichés of video games with their stereotyped themes where the bad guys are really evil, where sorcerers summon up demons, where heroes have big muscles and girls have big boobs. We wanted to gain a little distance from our tendency to take ourselves seriously and believe that we are saying something original or important, whereas the stories and universes of many video games are no more than the echoes of things that have been done better a thousand times before us. Howard created Conan the Barbarian in 1932, and Tolkein wrote The Lord of the Rings in 1954, and nothing our industry has created so far can even hold a candle to the genius of Frazetta or the visionary talent of someone like Peter Jackson.

    Dark Sorcerer is also about what video games are like today, an extraordinary and fantastic world where anything is possible, but also a world where everything remains to be invented.

    The Dark Sorcerer is just a tech demo, and won’t be turned into a full game. I do hope, however, that Cage continues with this. Heavy Rain was good and Beyond: Two Souls looks better, but it seems that his talent really lies in writing comedy. It would be great if he could do something like this, but somehow turn it into an interactive comedy.

  • E3 2013: This Was The Year Of Final Fantasy

    You could argue that the Final Fantasy brand is in tatters after the abysmal launch of Final Fantasy XIV and the lukewarm reception to Final Fantasy XIII. Square seems to have recognized this and is doing what it can to reinvigorate the brand. It may accomplish its goal yet with the wide variety of Final Fantasy titles on display at E3 this week.

    First up is the last Final Fantasy game to grace the current generation of consoles – Lightning’s Return: Final Fantasy XIII. The game will hopefully close up all the loose ends that have emerged since the time traveling adventures of Final Fantasy XIII-2.

    Next is the return of Final Fantasy XIV. The failed MMO now has a new subtitle of A Realm Reborn. The game promises to be a complete overhaul of the original game. It will be available on PC and PS3 this year, and then PS4 next year.

    Coming to the PS3 this year as well is Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD. The hi-def remakes of the classic PS2 title will surely delight many fans, while simultaneously making many others relive the hell of Tidus laughing.

    Moving to PS4, Square Enix revealed that the long-in-development Final Fantasy Versus XIII has been renamed Final Fantasy XV. We already got a trailer last night, but Square Enix has now released some gameplay footage that looks absolutely fantastic. Final Fantasy XIV will be coming to both the PS4 and Xbox One.

    It’s not really a Final Fantasy game, but Square Enix chose to unveil the latest Kingdom Hearts title alongside its Final Fantasy games. Kingdom Hearts 3 will be coming to the PS4 and Xbox One as well.

  • E3 2013: Nintendo Takes Us Behind The Scenes Of Its Biggest Games

    Nintendo brought a lot of games to E3. Not everybody can attend the show, however, and even less can pick the minds of the peope behind the games. For them, Nintendo has released a number of video interviews with the creative minds behind each game.

    Bayonetta 2 – Atsushi Inaba

    The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD – Eiji Aonuma

    Super Mario 3D World – Koichi Hayashida

    Pikmin 3 – Shigeru Miyamoto

    Mario Kart 8 – Hideki Konno

    Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze – Kensuke Tanabe

  • E3 2013: Wii Fit Trainer Comes To Super Smash Bros.

    Earlier this morning, Nintendo finally showed off the new Super Smash Bros. The footage only left me, and undoubtedly many others, wanting more. Nintendo has heard your inner thoughts and has delivered another character reveal.

    During the Smash Bros. developer direct, Nintendo revealed that the Wii Fit Trainer will be joining the cast of Super Smash Bros. You may not remember this character if you never played Wii Fit, but she seems to fit well within the Super Smash Bros. universe. Check it out:

    Coupled with this morning’s announcement, we now have three new characters confirmed for the latest Super Smash Bros. The Villager from Animal Crossing, Wii Fit Trainer and Mega Man will all be joining the roster of the most popular “fighting” game in existence.

    Super Smash Bros. will be coming to the Wii U and 3DS in 2014.

  • E3 2013: Metal Gear Solid V Red Band Trailer Released

    Microsoft kicked off its E3 conference with a bang, showing an extended gameplay trailer for Metal Gear Solid V. It was also the longest trailer shown during the Microsoft presentation.

    It turns out, though, that the already six-minute Metal Gear trailer shown was cut down from an even longer trailer Konami had prepared. It may have been cut down to save time (Microsoft did pack its presentation with about 20 different game trailers), but it’s more likely that it was cut for content.

    As violent as E3 presentations traditionally are, a torture scene and a bloody surgery to remove drugs from a woman’s torso are probably not the headlines Microsoft wanted coming out of its presentation. In hindsight, though, the “violent video games” headlines may have helped distract the public from the Xbox One’s draconian DRM and relatively high price.

    What follows is Konami’s red band trailer for Metal Gear Solid V. It’s filled with depictions of pretty much the worst parts of humanity:

  • E3 2013: Ubisoft Is One To Watch This Year And Next

    Ubisoft generally has the most entertaining press conference at E3 thanks in large part to just how bizarre it usually is. Unfortunately, this year’s press conference wasn’t as weird as years past. That’s fine, however, as the publisher showed off some killer games instead.

    Ubisoft opened with a trailer for the latest game in its popular Rocksmith series. Unlike the dead Guitar Hero franchise, Rocksmith uses a real guitar and is more of a learning aid than a game.

    Up next was Splinter Cell Blacklist. The game looks very much like Splinter Cell, and it brings back a couple of requested game modes and features that were not in Conviction.

    Rayman Legends made another appearance on the E3 stage only to confirm that the game was still on for its September launch. As you already know, the game will also be coming to the PS3, Xbox 360 and PS Vita as well.

    Of course, Ubisoft would be foolish not to bring out its major acquisition from the ashes of THQ – South Park: The Stick of Truth. The game is still on schedule for release later this year, and it looks absolutely amazing.

    Ubisoft apparently didn’t get the memo that Sony, EA and Microsoft were all releasing racing games alongside the launches of the next gen consoles. The publisher has decided to throw in its hat as well with The Crew – a racing game that seems to be a cross between Sony’s Driveclub and EA’s Need for Speed Rivals. In short, it could be good. It does gets bonus points for using The Glitch Mob in the trailer:

    Speaking of racing games, Ubisoft will be publishing two games in the popular Trials series next year. Trials Fusion will be coming to home consoles and Trials Frontier will be on mobile devices:

    it wouldn’t be E3 without the refresh of Ubisoft’s annual franchises. Both Just Dance and Assassin’s Creed were on show with new trailers:

    Ubisoft ended the night with a look at an entirely new IP that wowed just as much as Watch Dogs did last year. The new title – Tom Clancy’s The Division – puts players into the role of a secret agency that handles disaster response in the event of a devastating flu virus that destroys the economy and brings ruin to the United States.

    If the foreboding trailer above wasn’t enough for you, here’s some gameplay to go with it:

    Overall, Ubisoft had a solid show with great to good looking games. Nothing was too surprising outside of The Division, but that’s okay. Not everybody can be Sony.

  • E3 2013: Sony Shows Us How To Rub Salt In A Wound

    Microsoft will be adding some restrictive used games DRM into the Xbox One. On the other hand, Sony will not. In classic fanboy fashion, PlayStation fans are using this to berate Xbox fans.

    Now, Sony could have taken the high ground. It could have just said its piece and carried on. Instead, Sony released an instructional video for used games on the PS4 that might be the funniest piece of corporate mudslinging the gaming world has ever seen.

    Of coures, this isn’t the first time that Sony has directly attacked its competitors. In fact, it was pretty common when the original PlayStation came out for Sony to directly attack Nintendo and its latest console – the Nintendo 64. Let’s take a trip to the past for one of the very best:

  • E3 2013: The Order: 1886 Details Revealed

    Most of the games shown at Sony’s big E3 conference last night had already been seen in February. Though new looks at titles such as Knack and Infamous: Second Son were welcome, most gamers were really waiting to hear some new game announcements. There were a few – Mad Max is being developed by the creators of Just Cause 2, and the Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts III announcements were everything fans of those series’ could reasonably hope for. Then there is The Order: 1886, the only brand-new PlayStation 4 exclusive that Sony announced last night.

    The CG trailer shown at the presentation was flashy, but left a lot of questions about the game unanswered. Thankfully, Sony has provided a short rundown of what the game actually is. The Order will take place in an alternate-history Victorian London where high-tech gadgets co-exist with supernatural creatures. Players will be cast in the role of a knight member of a secret order that has been battling these supernatural elements for centuries.

    Sony says The Order has a “unique” mythology and that it will, similar to the Assassin’s Creed series, blend real historical places, people, and events with a new game world full of mythical creatures. The game is being developed by Ready at Dawn Studios, the developer best known for creating the God of War games for the PlayStation Portable.

  • Don’t Have Time For The Xbox One Press Conference? Watch This Instead

    As is now customary, the folks at VideoGamer release an abridged version of any and all video game related press conferences. The Xbox One went first yesterday so it’s the first on the chopping block.

    I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of these. They’re undoubtedly hard at work at tearing Sony a new one for its E3 press conference, but that might be kind of hard since Sony really didn’t mess anything up. I’m sure they’ll find something…

    Oh, how about that time when Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag crashed during Sony’s presser? That’s unfortunate and totally detracts from the PS4 not blocking used games, right?

  • E3 2013: New Legend Of Zelda Headlines Content Coming To 3DS

    Today’s Nintendo Direct was mostly about upcoming Wii U games. It makes sense. Nintendo needs to reinvigorate its fanbase and make them excited for its home console. On the other hand, the 3DS is doing pretty well for itself. It will continue to do well for itself if the games being shown at E3 are any indication.

    Arguably the most exciting 3DS game this year is the new Legend of Zelda game. At E3, Nintendo gave it a proper title – The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds. The game is a sequel to the SNES classic – A Link To The Past – so the title makes sense. Here’s our first real look at the title in action:

    Next up is Mario & Luigi: Dream Team. We’ve already seen quite a bit of the new RPG from Intelligent Systems, but each new trailer just makes the game look better and better.

    Nintendo also announced a few months ago that it was bringing a new Yoshi’s Island title to its handheld. It now has a new, and rather uncreative title, for E3. Yoshi’s New Island is just as its name suggests – a new Yoshi’s Island.

    The only major non-first party title for 3DS this year is Shin Megami Tensei IV. It’s the first mainline entry in the series in over a decade so there’s a lot of hype surrounding the title. It will be out in July so the E3 trailer is probably the last proper trailer we’ll see until launch:

  • E3 2013: The Walking Dead DLC, Vita Bundle Announced

    It was easy to overlook the opening moments of Sony’s big E3 press conference last night. While the world was waiting for titles such as Final Fantasy XV and praying that Sony would not follow Microsoft’s draconian DRM scheme, Sony front-loaded its presentation with news about the struggling Vita console.

    Though the segment was mostly sad, a bright spot of news did appear: Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead will officially be getting DLC in the form of a new story chapter. The Walking Dead, an adventure game based on the comics and TV series of the same name, surprised gamers with its intense storytelling and ended up on many best-of-2012 lists.

    Titled 400 Days, the add-on will follow five new characters during the first 400 days of the walker outbreak. Players will be able to choose any character they like, and play through their stories in any order. Telltale has confirmed that decisions made in 400 Days will “echo into future installments of the series.”

    The game was mentioned during Sony’s conference because it will be included in a new bundle for the PS Vita. The bundle will come with the complete “first season” of The Walking Dead adventure game (all five episodes) and the 400 Days DLC. The bundle and the DLC, which will hit all platforms, will be out sometime “this summer.”

  • E3 2013: Nintendo Focuses On Their Core Franchises

    Going into E3, Nintendo was a bit of a mystery. We had a small idea of what the company would be showing for Wii U, but its latest Nintendo Direct shows that the company knows what its fans want.

    Nintendo kicked off its show with some new information for Pokemon X and Pokemon Y. It revealed there’s a new type called “fairy” that’s especially strong against Dragon types. The game will be out on October 12.

    Next up is the latest 3D Mario title – Super Mario 3D World. Unlike the Galaxy games before it, the newest 3D Mario is taking a cue from the excellent Super Mario 3D Land. What that means is that Nintendo is distilling Mario into its core essence. That doesn’t mean the game won’t have anything new, however, as the developers are introducing a cat suit power up and simultaneous four player co-op. It will be out in December.

    Sticking with Mario, Nintendo announced that Mario Kart 8 would be coming to the Wii U in Spring 2014. The game will borrow elements from Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii to create the definitive version of the title. It will also implement some new online features that the company isn’t discussing at the moment.

    Earlier this year, Nintendo said that it would be bringing Wii Party U and Wii Fit U to the console in Summer. Both titles have been delayed with Wii Party U coming later this year and Wii Fit U launching this Winter.

    Nintendo noted that fans have been creating fantastic art in Miiverse ever since the console launched. They wanted to bring more sophisticated tools to those fans so they will be creating an updated version of the popular 3DS title Art Academy for Wii U. The game has no release date just yet, but Nintendo will launch some of the drawing tools found in the main game for Miiverse artists in Summer.

    Moving on, Nintendo shared more details regarding its remake of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD. The game will ditch the Tingle Tuner from the original game in favor of the Tingle Bottle. This item will allow players to toss a message in a bottle out to sea and then have it wash up on shores of other players. The title will be available in October of this year.

    Platinum Games got some love during Nintendo Direct with The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 both getting new trailers. The Wonderful 101 will be launching September 15.

    The latest Bayonetta 2 trailer shows taht the central character has received a redesign with shorter hair and a new outfit. The game will be out in 2014.

    One of the brand new announcements was of a new Donkey Kong game titled Donkey Koung Country Tropical Freeze. The new Wii U title will be similar to Donkey Kong Country Returns, but will feature some fancy new camera angles. It will also bring Dixie Kong as a playable character. It will be out later this year.

    Near the end, Nintendo showed a new trailer for X. If you recall, X is the codename for the new title from Monolith Soft. It looks like a mashup between Xenoblade and Xenogears. That’s hardly a bad thing. X will be released in 2014.

    On a final note, Nintendo showed the first trailer for Super Smash Bros. for both 3DS and Wii U. The 3DS title will be using a cel-shaded style while the Wii U version will look more realistic. The Villager from Animal Crossing will be joining as a fighter.

    The big surprise this time around is that Mega Man will be joining the fray as a guest character. He looks to play a little like Samus, but he can also call upon the power of every single robot master from Mega Man 2. Both versions of Super Smash Bros. will be out in 2014.

  • E3 2013: Mad Max Video Game Coming From the Makers of Just Cause

    It’s clear that Sony peaked early this year, showing most of its new game announcements at its big PlayStation 4 announcement in February. Many of the games the company showed last night at its big E3 conference had already been seen, making the early portions of the Sony conference feel a bit stale.

    There were a few surprises, though. In addition to The Order: 1886 and Final Fantasy XV, another big announcement came during the Sony conference, courtesy Avalanche Studios, the makers of Just Cause and Just Cause 2. A game based on the Mad Max movies will be coming to next-generation consoles sometime next year.

    The game will feature the road warrior himself, who will “embark on a dangerous journey” after his car is stolen. No doubt the game will feature plenty of violence and a few of the ridiculous game mechanics that made the Just Cause games so fun. Also, here’s hoping that gamers will get some Thunderdome multiplayer action.