Posts tagged Electronic Entertainment Expo
Shippin’ Out July 26-August 1: Wii Sports Resort
Jul 27th
Nintendo’s sports bundle sequel due out Sunday, with Gears of War2: All Fronts Collection and Marvel vs. Capcom 2 slamming onto Xbox 360; Bionic Commando and East India Company sail to the PC.
Although this week is host to a series of notable titles–like Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection, Marvel vs. Capcom 2 on the Xbox 360, and Bionic Commando for the PC–they will likely be dwarfed by Sunday’s release of Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort. The sports game debuted in Japan in mid-June with nearly 360,000 units sold in its first week, and has received ample critical praise.
Bundled with the Wii MotionPlus, the minigame collection offers over 20 activities–more than double the number of its predecessor, 2006’s Wii Sports. Many of the included sports games take advantage of the expanded control provided by the MotionPlus, like Frisbee Dog and archery. Other new sports include swordplay, basketball, canoeing, cycling, and wakeboarding.
Deploying from another popular franchise is the sci-fi shooter Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection. The add-on will bundle the “Dark Corners” expansion, which includes three new multiplayer maps (Flashback, Snowblind, and Combustible) and the “Road to Ruin” single-player chapter, and all previous map packs into one MSP1600/$19.99 package on Xbox Live. (A proposed boxed retail product was canceled just before last month’s
Electronic Entertainment Expo.) Dark Corners is also available a la carte for MSP1200/$14.99.
Xbox 360 users might be glad to learn that the classic fighter Marvel vs. Capcom 2 will hit the Xbox Live Arcade this week, two weeks before its release on the PlayStation 3. Although Capcom’s arcade game hit the PlayStation 2 and Xbox several years ago, the Xbox 360 release will feature three graphics settings–classic, crisp, and smooth–and remains faithful to the purist-favored Dreamcast edition of 2000.
Although Capcom’s prolific arcade fighter carries on, its sci-fi adventure Bionic Commando is limping to the PC. The series was hamstrung by poor sales and lackluster reviews on its Xbox 360 and PS3 editions released last May. The Windows edition will support higher screen resolutions than their counterparts and touts remappable controls, mouse-and-keyboard support, and DirectX 9 and 10 compatibility.
Rounding out this week’s releases is a voyage back to the 18th century. From the Finnish developer Nitro Games is the naval game East India Company, which is a unique combination of naval trading and warfare, exclusively for the PC. Players can control colonial markets by trading commodities like tea, spices, gold, and silk, and can wage war on the high seas in real-time strategy battles.
For further details on the week’s games, visit GameSpot’s New Releases page. The full list of downloadable games on the PlayStation Store, Xbox Live Marketplace, and the Wii Shop Channel will be revealed later this week. Release dates are based on retailer listings and are subject to change.
JULY 26, 2009
Wii Sports Resort–Wii–Nintendo
JULY 27, 2009
No new releases scheduled.
JULY 28, 2009
Bionic Commando–PC–Capcom
East India Company–PC–Paradox Interactive
Gears of War 2: All Fronts Collection–X360–Microsoft
My Secret Diary–DS–O-Games
Rockin’ Pretty–DS–Aksys Games
Space Bust A Move–DS–Square Enix
The Humans–DS–Deep Silver
JULY 29, 2009
Marvel vs. Capcom 2–X360–Capcom
Memento Mori–PC–Got Game Entertainment
Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2 (download only)–PC–Warner Bros.
JULY 30, 2009
Watchmen: The End is Nigh Part 2 (download only)–PS3–Warner Bros.
JULY 31, 2009
No new releases scheduled.
AUGUST 1, 2009
No new releases scheduled.
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Weaver, Ribisi game for Avatar voice cast
Jul 25th
Sigourney Weaver, Giovanni Ribisi, Michelle Rodriguez, and Stephen Lang to voice game versions of upcoming James Cameron film.
In direct contrast to James Cameron at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Ubisoft has been tight-lipped about its adaptation of the director’s upcoming feature film Avatar. The day after the director showed footage of the film, the publisher opened up to reveal some of the big-name voice talent it has secured for the games.
Foremost among the names is Sigourney Weaver (Aliens, Vantage Point), who will reprise her role as Dr. Grace Augustine for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PC versions of Avatar. However, the rest of the voice cast will be split up by platform.
The Wii version of the game will also feature Giovanni Ribisi (Boiler Room, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), while the 360, PS3, and PC editions will include Michelle Rodriguez (Fast and Furious, TV’s Lost) and Stephen Lang (Tombstone, Fire Down Below). Curiously, neither of the film’s two stars, Sam Worthington (Terminator: Salvation, the forthcoming Clash of the Titans remake) and Zoe Saldana (this year’s Star Trek reboot), were mentioned in Ubisoft’s release.
While the voice actors address the Avatar games’ audio experience, Ubisoft is banking on their visuals to really blow customers away. The PC, 360, and PlayStation editions of Avatar are being developed in stereoscopic 3D, the same technology previously seen in movies such as Beowulf 3D and Monsters vs. Aliens. The games will have their own stories running parallel to the events of the film. Working with Cameron, Ubisoft’s developers created new characters, vehicles, and weapons to flesh out the universe of Avatar.
No voice cast announcements were made for the PSP or DS editions of the game. All versions of Avatar are set to debut this holiday season, prior to the film’s December 18 theatrical premiere. For more on Avatar, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.
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Gamespot: Borderlands lands Oct. 20 (Borderlands)
Jul 23rd
At last month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Gearbox Software revealed that its eagerly anticipated "role-playing shooter" Borderlands would ship in October. Now, with retail lines being drawn in the holiday-quarter sand, 2K Games has locked down the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 title’s exact launch date: October 20 in North America and October 23 in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, and other territories.
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Borderlands lands Oct. 20
Jul 23rd
2K Games confirms hard launch date for Gearbox’s cel-shaded “role-playing shooter” in North America; game will ship in UK, EU, and AU on October 23.
At last month’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, Gearbox Software revealed that its eagerly anticipated “role-playing shooter” Borderlands would ship in October. Now, with retail lines being drawn in the holiday-quarter sand, 2K Games has locked down the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 title’s exact launch date: October 20 in North America and October 23 in the UK, mainland Europe, Australia, and other territories.
In an interview with GameSpot, 2K Games president Christoph Hartmann said his company is unfazed by the prospect of launching an untested IP within weeks of high-profile sequels like Uncharted 2, due October 13.
“I don’t think we have to be afraid of competition or shy of what’s out there,” said Hartmann, confidently. “I think this holiday season is a little bit lighter in triple-A games than last year. It’s actually a good holiday to put something out. … There’s always risk and opportunity. The risk is you have a hard time standing out against established IP. The opportunity is you have a lot of traffic here and it can be a much bigger product at retail than it would be otherwise.”
The finalization of Borderlands’ release date marks the end of the vehicle-centric, sci-fi action-RPG’s windy road to release. Announced in summer 2007 as “Mad Max meets Diablo,” the game was touted as having the most unique weapons ever–more than 500,000 randomly generated guns scattered in caches in the game’s open world. However, anticipation turned into frustration when its initial late-2008 release date slipped into 2009. Also, concerns were (initially) raised when the game’s new visual style–viewable below–was introduced this spring.
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Raimi directing Warcraft movie – confirmed
Jul 22nd
Blizzard, Legendary, and Warner Bros. announce Spider-Man director will helm the long-in-the-works big-screen version of Blizzard’s genre-dominating MMORPG.
At the 2006 Electronic Entertainment Expo, then-Vivendi Games owned Blizzard Entertainment revealed a World of Warcraft movie was in the works. Legendary Entertainment, the production company behind The Dark Knight and the in-development Gears of War film, was the company lucky enough to land the project. At BlizzCon the following year, Legendary CEO Thomas Tull announced the film would be a live-action $100 million-budget epic, with a target release date of 2009.
However, as the appointed year began, little had been heard about the World of Warcraft movie–other than it would not be directed by Uwe Boll. Late Tuesday, though, Legendary, Blizzard, and distributor Warner Bros., officially announced the first film set in the Warcraft universe has finally found a director–and it’s not Steven Spielberg.
Instead, the filmmaker in question is Sam Raimi, director of the multibillion-dollar-grossing Spider-Man films and the horror cult classics Evil Dead and Army of Darkness. His most recent effort was this year’s Drag Me to Hell, a horror thriller which won critical acclaim despite a PG-13 rating and so-so box office returns. The Warcraft film will be produced by Atlas Entertainment’s Charles “Chuck” Roven, Legendary’s Tull, and Raimi producing partner Joshua Donen. Blizzard Entertainment’s Senior Vice President of Creative Development Chris Metzen will co-produce.
“Partnering with Sam Raimi exemplifies Legendary’s mandate of marrying the highest quality intellectual property to world-class filmmakers” said Tull in a statement. “Sam’s passion for Warcraft is undeniable and we know that he will create an incredible film worthy of Blizzard’s phenomenal franchise.”
“Warcraft is emblematic of the kind of branded, event films for which our studio is best known. We have enjoyed great success with our partners at Legendary, and this is an incredible opportunity for us to work with Sam on a project that is so eagerly anticipated by so many,” Warner Bros. Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov declared in a statement.
Interestingly, today’s announcement refers to the project as the “major motion picture based on Blizzard Entertainment’s award-winning Warcraft universe.” The term “World of Warcraft” is only mentioned in the footnotes of the release when referring to the “rich fantasy setting” of the game series, which began in 1996 with the real-time strategy game Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. Currently, World of Warcraft is the top massively multiplayer role-playing game in the world, accruing nearly 13 million subscribers worldwide since its launch in late 2004. No release date for the Warcraft film has yet been announced.
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Saboteur laying charges Dec. 8
Jul 22nd
Pandemic Studios’ open-world action adventure set in Nazi-occupied Paris sets sights on Xbox 360, PS3, PC later this year.
EA’s Pandemic Studios has been on a tepid run of late, having disappointed critics first with Mercenaries 2: World in Flames in August 2008 and then again with Lord of the Rings: Conquest early this year. With its latest effort, The Saboteur, being a centerpiece to EA’s 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference last month, Pandemic Studios will soon have a chance to end its cold streak.
Today, EA and Pandemic announced that The Saboteur will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on December 8. Having been announced in March 2007, The Saboteur’s final deadline marks the end of a protracted development cycle that saw EA purchase Pandemic, along with fellow VG Holding Corp. partner BioWare, for $860 million.
The Saboteur brings a stylish twist to the all-too-familiar World War II genre. Instead of the traditional linear structure of most WWII shooters, The Saboteur is an open-world action adventure game a la Mercenaries. Taking the role of Irish-racecar-driver-turned-resistance-fighter Sean Devlin, players are encouraged to wreak covert havoc upon the Third Reich in Nazi-occupied France.
For more on the stylish game, check out GameSpot’s in-depth preview of The Saboteur from just before this year’s E3.
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Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising dropping in October
Jul 18th
Codemasters’ much-delayed squad-based shooter sees worldwide release confirmed for this autumn.
Gamers who have been looking forward to Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, the sequel to the critically acclaimed Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, have had to endure a very long wait. Originally announced back in 2003, the title was subject to delays following Ubisoft takeover rumours and was then pushed back to spring 2006. The game surfaced again at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, with the hopes of a release date for later this year.
Codemasters has now revealed that the game will be hitting shelves on October 6 in the US; on October 8 in mainland Europe, Pacific Asia, and Canada; and finally on October 9 in the UK. The game will be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
The game takes a realistic approach to shooters and lets players take command of a marine, a helicopter pilot, a special forces member, and a tank commander battling against the Chinese military. There will also be a variety of vehicles and equipment for players to use alongside their squad.
The game will also feature a full-on story mode complete with “a believable and dramatic storyline.” There will also be a variety of online modes, and a co-op mode that’s available online and offline. Codemasters has released a new Armoury trailer to accompany the announcement, which can be viewed below. Also, be sure to check out GameSpot’s latest hands-on for more on the game.
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PC Alan Wake’s fate TBD – Remedy
Jul 16th
Finnish studio rules out simultaneous launch with 360, says decision to bring game to Windows systems at all is Microsoft’s; publisher remains mum.
Last month, Alan Wake was extensively demonstrated at Microsoft’s media briefing during the Electronic Entertainment Expo. However, the fact the game was shown off during a section of the presentation reserved for Xbox 360 exclusives raised a variety of questions. Had the previously announced, Vista-only PC edition of the Remedy-developed game been canceled? Or was it misplaced in the Xbox 360 exclusive section like Metal Gear Solid Rising, which Konami later revealed is also coming to the PlayStation 3 and PC?
Now, it turns out both options are partially correct. This week, Remedy confirmed to GameSpot that, as had been hinted at, the Xbox 360 version of Alan Wake is its sole focus. “It is accurate that we are currently working exclusively on the Xbox 360 version of Alan Wake,” a rep for the suburban Helsinki, Finland-based studio said. “It’s safe to say that at least a simultaneous launch with the Xbox version will not happen at this late stage.”
However, when it came to the status of the PC edition of the game, Remedy was much vaguer in its response. “PC plans are currently open,” a rep said. “Remedy has a deep heritage in PC gaming and would love to see a PC version available to its PC followers. Ultimately, however, this decision lies with our publisher [Microsoft Game Studios].” Requests for comment sent to Microsoft Game Studios had not been returned as of press time, leaving Alan Wake followers in the same place as the horror game’s flashlight-wielding hero–in the dark.
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MAG delayed to ‘10, Dragon Age CE’d – Retail Radar
Jul 16th
GameStop and GameFly now listing Zipper Interactive 256-person team shooter as arriving next January; BioWare’s fantasy RPG gets extra-packed $75/$65 collector’s edition with Mass Effect 2 in-game bonus.
One of the centerpieces of Sony’s press briefing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo was the first live demo of MAG. (See video below.) The first-party military shooter was shown being simultaneously played by 256 employees of its developer, Zipper Interactive, from a variety of points of view. Commanders will see a top-down video of the battlefield from which they can direct lower-level soldiers, who will see a grunt’s-eye view.
Playable on the show floor, the PlayStation 3-exclusive MAG made an impression on many E3 attendees, who were eager to pick it up later this year. Now, though, it appears the wait may be a bit longer. Though Sony said at E3 that the game would ship in the fall, both GameStop and GameFly are now listing it as arriving in January 2010. Conversely, Best Buy is still listing the game as arriving in October, while Amazon is not offering up a ship date at all. Sony had not responded to requests for clarification on MAG’s launch window as of press time.
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Electronic Arts is being far less recalcitrant about its release plans for Dragon Age: Origins, the role-playing game from BioWare due out on October 20. Besides the previously announced no-frills edition ($49.99 PC, $59.99 consoles), the game will come in a collector’s edition that will retail for $64.99 on the PC and $74.99 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
The collector’s edition will feature a tin case, a cloth map, and an extra-laden bonus DVD that includes a soundtrack, a strategy guide, concept art footage, wallpapers, and a “making-of” documentary. It will also feature several virtual goods, including the “Stone Prisoner” bonus quest and an unlockable character called Shale. The disc will feature three other pieces of in-game content whose types were unspecified:”Bergens Honor,” “Grimoire of the Frozen Wastes,” and “Final Reason.” Those who preorder the game from GameStop will get two other in-game items that increase health regeneration and experience accrual.
Finally, also included in the Dragon Age: Origins collector’s edition is an unnamed in-game item to be used in another BioWare game, Mass Effect 2, due out in spring 2010.
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Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 Hands-On
Jul 16th
We got the first hands-on with this year’s PES, as Konami showed us gameplay, tactics, and those much-talked-about character models.
The competition between football games looks set to be fiercer than ever this year. EA Sports showed its hand early, demoing FIFA 10 all the way back in April when it was only 45 percent complete. Konami responded with a teaser trailer for Pro Evolution Soccer 2010 at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in June, which showed an extraordinarily realistic-looking Lionel Messi tearing up the pitch. Today, Konami offered us the first chance to play its game in central London so that we could assess the gameplay, features, and players firsthand.
Take a tour around Konami HQ and get the lowdown on PES 2010 from Seabass himself!
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The first trailer for Pro Evo 2010 emphasised player likenesses, and from what we saw of the preview build, the in-game models deserve as much praise. Players from Liverpool and Barcelona–the only two teams included in this demo–looked incredibly realistic, with Steven Gerrard and Lionel Messi in particular looking just like their real-life counterparts. The most impressive aspects of the character models were the fine details, such as arm hair, the rippling material effects on their shirts, and their overall likeness to the real players.
The build we played was running on the PC, which is apparently the format that the game is developed on, and we used the Xbox 360 pads to play the game. Konami has said that it’s not introducing 360-degree control this year, addressing the major upgrade to FIFA 10, but it is something that’s being considered for Pro Evo in the future. Fans of the series will be pleased to hear that even at this early stage, the game plays very well, although it was sadly too early to pick up some of the finer tweaks that have been made to this year’s game.
The big upgrade for this year’s game is the tactics system, which includes two new features. The team-style feature allows you to tweak defensive and offensive team strategies using sliding scales. Both attacking and defending have their own tweaks on a 100-point scale. For example, you can set player support higher if you want your teammates to move ahead of the ball carrier to receive a pass, or you can set it lower if you want them to stay behind for a more defensive game. Konami has done a great job of creating visual feedback for these changes in the menu, so you can see their effect immediately onscreen.
In addition to team styles, there’s a new card system that takes advantage of specific player strengths. Each player has access to five cards that can focus player attributes, and these can be useful in specific situations. For example, you can turn off Gerrard’s natural tendency to track back, or you can switch on his ability to shoot from anywhere as and when it suits. It’s another thing to think about when you’re playing the game at a high level, but it looks set to add a new level of strategy to the game.
While the preview build that we saw was limited in terms of teams and modes, we did manage to take a sneaky look around the menu system to find out what’s in store. Champions League mode looks like it will make a return from last year, as will Become a Legend mode, where you take control of a single player through his career. The visual presentation is slightly different from last year, with football tickets and magazines used to present some of the game options, but the music is still generic, covering genres described as “new wave” and “tech funk.”
It’s still early days for Pro Evolution Soccer 2010, but the first hands-on was certainly encouraging. We’re looking forward to seeing more of the game at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, so check back next month for even more Pro Evo-related news.
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