WebProNews

Tag: Gamescom

  • Here’s the Microsoft Xbox Gamescom Presentation That Wasn’t Streamed

    Though Microsoft declined to livestream its major Gamescom presentation on Tuesday, that didn’t mean the event wasn’t being filmed. Microsoft today released the full 35-minute presentation through its YouTube channel. The news coming out of this conference was nearly as big as anything Sony announced during its big Gamescom presentation, save for the release date announcement for the PlayStation 4.

    The Microsoft presentation covers a wide variety of topics, and announcements and reveals are packed tightly into the event. Phil Spencer, Phil Harrison, and other Xbox executives took to a town hall-type stage to mention topics such as the Xbox One’s new indie initiative, dedicated servers for Call of Duty: Ghosts on Xbox One, and Smartglass integration for games such as The Division.

    Games were also a focus of the presentation. A new co-op multiplayer Fable game, Fable Legends was announced, along with Ubisoft’s new Kinect fighting game Fighter Within. Microsoft’s own Kinect Sports Rivals was previewed as well.

    Some of the biggest announcements of the show, though, came courtesy the new familiarity between Microsoft and publisher EA. Both Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, and Peggle 2 will be timed exclusives for the Xbox One console. FIFA 14 will come packaged with every Xbox One pre-order in Europe and gets exclusive “legendary” players for Ultimate Team mode.

  • EA Gamescom Presser Gets The Abridged Treatment

    E3 isn’t the only place where the heavy hitters of the games industry gather to show off their latest wares. Gamescom is just as big, and that means press conferences are bound to happen. EA was one of the first out of the gate with more details on the stuff it announced at E3, but that’s boring.

    What is exciting is that the wonderful folks at VideoGamer are back with another proper abridged take on the whole affair. As usual, it’s a hilarious and poignant take on an industry that oftentimes takes itself way too seriously, even when the stuff it’s showing is entirely too silly.

    Unfortunately, this is the only Gamescom abridged presser we’ll be getting this week as the folks at VideoGamer are way too busy to take on Sony’s hour and a half long presser at the moment. Once it does arrive, you can be sure that it will be hilarious.

    In the meantime, check out their previous abridged parodies to see just how ridiculous E3 really was this year.

  • ‘Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare’ Detailed, Trailers Revealed

    EA had some of the biggest announcements today at Gamescom. The publisher is heavily supporting the Xbox One with exclusive FIFA 14 content and a pack-in deal. It announced Battlefield 4 Premium, previewed more gameplay from its much-hyped Titanfall, and showed off new features from the upcoming The Sims 4.

    The big titles weren’t all EA focused on, though – it also found time to mention on its smaller IPs. In particular, more details about Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare were revealed.

    The game is a third-person shooter set in the Plants vs. Zombies mobile game universe. It will feature four-player co-op for horde mode and 24-player competitive multiplayer gameplay. Gamers will be able to play as either plants or zombies, both of which are customizable with a variety of items.

    EA also announced that it and Microsoft have come to an arrangement to make Garden Warfare a timed exclusive for the Xbox One. The length of the exclusivity window was not announced, but will begin at the game’s spring 2014 launch.

    Along with the exclusivity, the Xbox One will be getting exclusive features on Microsoft’s new console. Two-player split screen gameplay is one of those features. Another is Kinect and SmartGlass “Boss Mode” gameplay as either “Crazy Dave’s RV” or “Dr. Zomboss’ Blimp.” A preview of the Boss Mode can be seen in the first video below. The second video shows EA and PopCap’s silly new trailer for Garden Warfare.

  • PS Vita Price Dropped to $199, Memory Card Prices Drop Too

    [UPDATE 2] Memory card prices for the U.S. have been announced:

    • 4GB – $15
    • 8GB – $20
    • 16GB – $40
    • 32GB – $80

    [UPDATE] The PlayStation 4 launch date was announced at the conference. It’s November 15 for the U.S.

    Though gamers are extremely excited for today’s PlayStation 4 news, Sony isn’t giving up on its mobile platform. During its big press conference at Gamescom, Sony revealed that the price of the PlayStation Vita will be dropping to just $199 (199€).

    The price drop takes effect starting tomorrow in the U.S. and Europe. Sony also announced that PS Vita memory card prices will also be dropping. Though no specific price points were announced, Sony promised, “Significant reductions” in card prices.

    In addition to the price drop, Sony announced that 2K Games is bringing last year’s hit Borderlands 2 to the Vita. New indie titles for the device were also announced, including Starbound, Fez, and Velocity 2X. Those indie titles and more unannounced indies will also be coming to the PlayStation 4 this fall.

    More PlayStation news is on the way, including (possibly) the rumored launch date of the PlayStaton 4. The livestream of the conference can be viewed below:

  • Sony Is Saving Some PS4 Game Announcements For Gamescom

    Sony may have “won” E3, but it didn’t really show anything new as far as games are concerned. The hardware maker revealed The Order 1886, but that was about it. Some Sony fans may be disappointed by the lack of new games, but it assures fans that it has more games in the work than you think.

    In an interview with Gamereactor, SCEE’s Jim Ryan says that Sony will have more PS4 games to announce at Gamescom in August. Ryan says Sony has 30 games in development so there’s still plenty to show come August:

    “There’s a lot coming. I’m sure you heard from Shu [Yoshida] that he has 30 games in development. Twenty of them are going to ship within the first year of the console’s life, and of those, 12 are new IP. There’s a lot going on, we need to keep stuff back. We’ve got Gamescom for us Europeans–we need to have something to show at Gamescom, don’t we?”

    So, what can we expect to see from Gamescom? Well, we never saw anything from Media Molecule at E3 after it showed an experimental game at the PS4 event in February. Naughty Dog, coming off the success of The Last of Us, may have something in store as well. As for other Sony partners and studios, we haven’t heard anything from Insomniac, Sony Santa Monica, Sony Bend and Sony San Diego. It’s likely that all of them are working on PS4 games.

    Aside from Gamescom, we’ll probably see a host of PS4 games announced at Tokyo Game Show in September. Those games will be more Japan-centric, however, so they may not get as much attention. That may not be the case though as Sony has been pushing to localize more Japanese games for Western audiences, especially for the struggling Vita.

    Gamescom 2013 will start on August 21 and last through the 25.

    [h/t: Gamechup]

  • New Resident Evil 6 Trailer Leaked From Gamescom

    Resident Evil fans have already gotten a nice taste of what awaits them in less than 2 months when they get their hands on Resident Evil 6. Capcom has been releasing trailers and gameplay videos with regularity, and a demo for the title is even available for owners of Dragon’s Dogma on the Xbox 360.

    This week, what appears to be a launch trailer for Resident Evil 6 has hit the internet. Once again, Gamescom 2012 has become a font of information and leaks about upcoming titles, rivaling even the info-dump that is E3. The trailer was apparently filmed secretly at Gamescom using a smartphone, and the video and audio are of poor quality. Still, the trailer shows the events that propel Leon, Chris, Ada, Sherry, and others toward what could be the conclusion of a major Resident Evil story arc.

    Much of the early part of the game has been previewed already, but this trailer shows that Leon and Helena, framed for a bioterrorism attack which released the “C” virus, will be faking their deaths in an effort to throw off the Umbrella Corporation. The rest of the trailer is filled with fast-cut action scenes, and is similar to a modern blockbuster movie trailer. Take a look at the trailer below and catch a glimpse of the exciting, though undoubtedly convoluted, story in Resident Evil 6.

  • Ubisoft’s Uplay Becomes a Digital Distribution Platform

    Gamescom 2012 has already featured some big announcements, some revealing more than at this year’s E3. Perhaps the biggest announcement of the show, though, has not been directly about a video game.

    Today Ubisoft announced that its Uplay digital rights management (DRM) system has become yet another publisher-specific digital distribution platform for the PC. Uplay has now replaced the individual Uplay game launchers that are required to play modern Ubisoft games. The software will consolidate players’ Uplay-enabled games in and will, of course, feature an online shop, a friends list, a chat system, and achievements.

    Electronic Arts (EA) released its digital distribution platform, Origin, just over one year ago with many of the same features. All of those features, however, were modeled after the current most popular and widely used digital distribution platform for the PC, Valve’s Steam.

    To get PC gamers to download the new Uplay platform, Ubisoft is practically giving away free games. Starting today and ending on Sunday, Uplay is selling a specific game for $1 (1€ in Europe). The games, in order of the day they will be on sale, are: Hawx 2, From Dust, Silent Hunter 5, and Driver: San Francisco. Several other Ubisoft games, such as the Assassin’s Creed franchise, will be on sale for 75% off for a limited time.

    “Uplay PC is a great way for customers to discover Ubisoft’s games, connect with their friends and gaming communities, and win achievements and content that’s not available anywhere else.” said Stephanie Perotti, worldwide director for online games at Ubisoft. “For PC gamers that are already fans of Ubisoft’s titles or have been considering trying some of our classics, this promotion is a great deal, and our way of saying thank you for their support.”

    When Electronic Arts launched its Origin distribution platform, it soon after stopped offering its games for download over any other PC digital distribution system. Whether Ubisoft will follow a similar path is not yet known, but already gamers are becoming afraid of being required to have many different distribution platforms and stores to play the games they love. Assassin’s Creed III is still listed in the Steam store, but is not available for pre-order and has an outdated release date listed for the title.

    Check out Ubisoft’s trailer for the new Uplay to see how the service will look:

  • New Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation Info and Trailer From Gamescom

    Gamescom 2012 is shaping up to be the best gaming conference of the year. While developers and publishers teased gamers at E3 with hints of what is to come, Gamescom is becoming a show-and-tell-all event. Of course, part of the reason for this is that the holiday buying season, and therefore the release dates of major titles, are just on the horizon.

    Assassin’s Creed III is only a little over two months away (though not for PC gamers), and anticipation for what is already one of the most anticipated games of the year is still increasing.

    At Gamescom this week Ubisoft has unveiled yet another trailer for Assassin’s Creed, this time for Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation, which is the PlayStation Vita version of Assassin’s Creed III. The trailer shows how the female assassin Aveline de Grandpré will make her way in an 18th century version of New Orleans:

    Martin Capel, a Producer at Ubisoft also provided answers about Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation for a global q & a session at Gamescom. When asked about Aveline, Capel stated:

    “What I can tell you about Aveline is that she is of mixed heritage – her father is French and her mother African. She is born of a form of temporary marriage called plaçage, where wealthy young men would typically take an African, Chinese or Native American women for a bride before they later found a more “acceptable” French bride. Plaçage was created because not enough French women could be persuaded to immigrate to the New World, and resulted in many children. Some of the children were pressed into slavery, while others were truly loved by their fathers, and were raised and educated with all the benefits that their father’s wealth could bring.

    “Aveline is one of these lucky ones.

    “As she grows, Aveline sees New Orleans from both sides – the luxury and social position that her father’s money brings, contrasted by the treatment she sees of those who share her mother’s heritage. Becoming a young woman, Aveline’s inner strength and confidence develop – she becomes an opponent of slavery, while her father’s love, wealth and status shields her from repercussions from the more conservative elements.”

  • Gamescom 2012: Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Seeks To Redefine Action Games

    Gamescom is sometimes like a really bad sequel to E3. Some of the announcements seem rushed or they just show the exact same footage that we saw just a few months ago at E3. This year, Gamescom has been different. It’s like a good sequel that expands upon what we loved in the first, but gives us more.

    Following that trend, the Gamescom 2012 trailer for Metal Gear Rising Revengeance is everything that was awesome about the E3 trailer and then some. It features some of the footage from the E3 trailer, but what you should care about is the new gameplay footage. Platinum Games have truly outdone themselves with this one.

    In short, Raiden is still the amazing badass that he was in Metal Gear Solid 4. He’s just even more amazing as he chops up helicopters, Metal Gear Geckos and other baddies into tiny bits. If you’re looking for the action game of 2013, Metal Gear Rising will probably be that game.

    As for the new content in the trailer, it only brings up more questions. We’re shown a robot that looks suspiciously like Sniper Wolf from MGS4. We’re led to believe that it’s a remote controlled robot this time around and that its main mission is to kill Raiden. With a chainsaw on its tail, it might just succeed.

    Metal Gear Rising Revengeance will launch on the PS3 and Xbox 360 on February 21, 2013 in Japan. It’s unknown if that’s the same date for the U.S. and European launch. It’s a fair assumption since the localization seems to be mostly done.

  • Gamescom 2012: Star Wars 1313 Still Looks Amazing

    After the disappointing Force Unleashed II, a new Star Wars game wasn’t high on anybody’s anticipation meter. That all changed at E3 when LucasArts gave us our first look at Star Wars 1313. It’s a new game starring not the usual Jedi characters, but a regular bounty hunter on the planet/city of Coruscant.

    It’s been a few months since E3 and that first trailer still amazes to this day. What could LucasArts to do ratchet up the hype for their new game? Make an even better trailer. That’s what they did today with Gamescom 2012 playing host to our next look at Star Wars 1313.

    The new trailer only confirms that the visuals are still one of the strongest parts of the new title. It’s clearly some of the best work done in Unreal Engine 3. There are even rumors that the title may be next gen due to just how good it looks.

    The visuals aren’t the only thing the game has going for it though. The new trailer gives us a look at some more of the gameplay present. As a bounty hunter, the game will focus a lot on gunplay. There will be some melee combat as well. It all looks fast and fluid. In all honesty, it looks like Uncharted set in the Star Wars universe. That’s not a bad thing at all and LucasArts definitely impresses.

    We still have no clue when the game will be out except for a vague 2013 release date. LucasArts hasn’t mentioned platforms yet either adding to the next gen buzz. Much like Watch Dogs, the game is being run on a powerful PC decked out with the latest components. We’ll probably find out more throughout the end of the year. Hopefully they’ll be ready to announce a launch date by E3 2013.

  • Gamescom 2012: Dead Space 3 Launches On February 5

    Dead Space 3 is probably one of the most anticipated games of next year. Visceral Games proved that they knew horror with the first two games. The expectations are high for the third entry and we’ll know if the game meets those expectations early next year.

    EA announced during their Gamescom press conference today that Dead Space 3 is launching in North America on February 5, 2013. The game is launching in Europe just a few days later on February 8. The game features returning protagonist Isaac Clarke as he takes on the necromorph menace on Tau Volantis. The new planet is completely covered in ice. It’s obvious that the developers are channeling The Thing with Dead Space 3.

    The addition of co-op has some players concerned that Dead Space 3 will lose its edge. The first two games were fantastic horror romps with great environment and sound design that really hit home the fact that you were alone. Adding on a co-op partner relieves the tension. It’s great for people who don’t like horror games, but are they really going to buy Dead Space 3 now that it has co-op?

    Fortunately, the trailer released today seems to confirm that Dead Space 3 will still be just as scary as previous entries. Check it out for yourself:

    EA also announced a Dead Space 3 Limited Edition for those who preorder the title. It’s similar to Dead Space 2’s Limited Edition on the PS3. It includes two bonus suits and weapons that are available right from the outset. There’s no mention if EA will be packing in extra games like they did with Dead Space 2.

  • Sony Will Attend Gamescom After All! So Will EA

    There are 3 major gaming conventions in the world. E3, which just happened. The Tokyo Game Show which is in Tokyo of course, and Gamescom which is held every year in Cologne, Germany. Gamescom, despite being the largest has had to deal with many publishers and console makers pull out of their conference one after another. First it was Nintendo, then Sega, then Microsoft.

    Earlier in this week a report came out that Sony had not yet signed a contract to show up to the event. SCE’s German communications director Guido Alt said that “We are still negotiating with Koelnmesse. What I can say is that we did not sign a contract so far.”

    That statement confuses Koelnmesse, the organizers of Gamescom. They told Joystiq earlier today that, “Yeah Sony is coming, even though there was a strange article that question marked it a week ago… but they are coming for sure!”

    So with that confirmation, we are now looking at having Sony there without any competition from Microsoft or Nintendo for 2 of the 3 remaining gaming conferences. WHat does this mean for Sony? Probably being lazy since they do not have to worry about out doing Microsoft or Nintendo. You could also see them focus a little more on the Vita which was strangely minimal in presence at the E3 keynote.

    EA also announced that they were definitely showing up at Gamescom. EA corporate communications SVP Jeff Brown said, “We are definitely committed to Gamescom – love that show and the people who attend it.” He then added that, “We’re planning the press conference for the day before the show and will send out invites in the next couple of weeks.”

  • Microsoft To Join Nintendo And Not Be At Gamescom

    Just like the industry it self has whittled down over the years, the video game convention circuit is also starting to whittle down and Gamescom might be the next victim. Microsoft is joining Nintendo in announcing that they will not be at this years convention in Cologne, Germany.

    Major Nelson released this statement on his blog:

    “As you saw at E3, we have a solid line-up of games launching this holiday, along with other entertainment experiences. We’ve changed our approach a little, though. This year, Xbox will be focusing on smaller, more localized promotions and experiences for press, partners, retailers and customers around the world. Which means that as you might have seen on some of the news sites today, we won’t be taking part in Gamescom or Tokyo Games Show this year.”

    That leads us to the other big news, they will also not be attending the Tokyo game show. This one makes sense as the Xbox 360 has little to no exposure in the Japanese market. It is completely dominated by Sony and Nintendo. But with Microsoft’s recent efforts to get a bigger presence in Europe, I’m surprised that they are pulling out.

    Sony remains the only console developer that has neither confirmed or denied whether they are attending. We do know that they do not have a contract to attend the German gaming convention and now I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled out. It is all up to publishers now to make this conference special.

  • Microsoft Skips Out On Gamescom And Tokyo Game Show

    Microsoft was probably the most agressive of the big three over the past few years when it came to trade shows. They would be at E3, Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show trying to convince people of all regions that they had the best games. Unfortunately, that won’t be the case this year.

    Larry (Major Nelson) Hryb announced on his blog this morning that Microsoft would be skipping out on Germany’s Gamescom and Japan’s Tokyo Game Show this year. For those unaware, Gamescom and TGS are by far the largest gaming events in their respective region drawing thousands of people who want to try out the new games in store.

    Previously, Microsoft would use Gamescom to display the new content they had in the works from their European studios. The departure of Peter Molyneux, who headed Microsoft Game Studios Europe and Lionhead, may have had something to do with their absence this year.

    The absence from TGS, however, isn’t surprising in the least bit. While the Xbox 360 has enjoyed continued success in the U.S. and Europe, it has never found much of an audience in Japan outside of hardcore otaku who love the console’s selection of visual novels and shmups. It could be a sign that Microsoft has finally given up on trying to reach any kind of success in the country.

    Hryb realizes that this news may be a bit saddening for Xbox fans in these regions who were looking forward to the events. He says that Microsoft will be “focusing on smaller, more localized promotions and experiences for press, partners, retailers and customers around the world.” In a way, it’s pretty smart. Gamers appreciate smaller events instead of the large industry events that are harder to get into. Sony has seen massive success out of its PlayStation meetups and Microsoft could be hoping to achieve similar success.

    The lack of Microsoft and Nintendo at Gamescom and Tokyo Game Show gives Sony a major advantage. They will be the only big player at both of these events so they will be able to grab all of the attention without having to compete. Of course, gamers may flock to Nintendo’s and Microsoft’s smaller events since they promise to be more intimate.

    If all these publishers start skipping out on these big trade shows regularly, it may put them at risk. Gamescom’s relevance is already being questioned and Japan’s games industry is shrinking to the point where TGS might not even be worth it. It’s good to remain optimistic and hope that these trade events stick around, but the industry seems to be heading for what Microsoft and NIntendo are doing now – small, localized events tailored for gamers.