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Wii Interest Grows in Japan
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: E3, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360,
Japanese gamers’ interest in Nintendo’s Wii appears to be accelerating, according to the latest poll published in Weekly Famitsu. When asked which console gamers were most interested in at E3, Wii lead the pack with 68.8% of respondents. The PS3 followed with 21% of the vote, and the Xbox 360 trailed at 7.2%. In addition, the top ten E3 games were polled, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Final Fantasy XIII lead the list. Nintendo titles filled out the majority of the slots, with five Wii titles and one DS title. The PS3 managed three titles on the list, and somewhat surprisingly, the Xbox 360 made a showing with Halo 3 at spot number ten. Playstation 3 pricing was also a concern: 88% felt that the price was too high. It will be interesting to see if Nintendo can build on this interest, and how Sony will respond to the Japanese gamers’ concerns. Suddenly, the market that one would have thought Sony would have locked up, isn’t looking to be such a sure thing.
Read More 
| The Magic Box
Gallery: Wii Interest Grows in Japan
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Kenji Eno, creator of the D series of games, and Enemy Zero on the Sega Saturn, recently told Gamasutra that he planned to return to game development, with a release on a console “...with a new control device.” The implication, or at least the inferrence made by Gamasutra, was that this meant a new game for Nintendo’s Wii. Eno’s new company will be called Fyto, or “From Yellow to Orange.”
Eno has had mixed successes in the games industry; the original D was published for the ill-fated 3DO, but would eventually see releases on multiple platforms. Similarly, the sequel, Enemy Zero would be developed for the Sega Saturn, after a row between Eno and Sony. D2 was originally intended for the M2, the follow-up console to the 3DO, but with that hardware’s death, the game moved to the Dreamcast, another console that disappeared ahead of its time. Thus, having a Kenji Eno game on a console may not be the best thing in the world. Eno’s games have been inventive, but infamous at the same time for some of their content. If there is a game in the future for the Wii, though, with Eno at the helm, it will surely be unique.
Read More | Gamasutra
Gallery: Kenji Eno Returns to Gaming
Gears of War Documentary Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, E3, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
For those gamers that missed the show on Friday, or will manage to miss one of the five thousand re-airings of the documentary, Gears of War: The Race to E3, MTV has the show available for streaming online, along with some bonus footage not shown on the air, including some more in-depth footage with Cliff Bleszinksi and Tim Sweeney, and some insights into motion capture and art direction. In some ways, the additional footage is more worthwhile than the documentary aired, but there is some playtest footage where gamers can get glimpses of Gears of War in action.
More after the jump…
Click to continue reading Gears of War Documentary Online
Gallery: Gears of War Documentary Online
Phantasy Star Universe Interview Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: E3, MMORPG, PC, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Xbox Live,
PSO-World has managed to grab an interview with Takao Miyoshi, producer of the upcoming update in the Phantasy Star Online series, Phantasy Star Universe. While the sequel promises that everything in the game will be bigger and better than before, the biggest development will be the new offline gameplay, featuring a more well-developed storyline that should offer hours of single user play, much more than has previously been offered in the past. Also briefly discussed were the new racial abilities integrated into the game, and the new vehicles like player-controlled fire-breathing dinosaurs. In terms of the online world, the old lobby system will be replaced by larger in-game worlds, that can host up to 1000 people. The segregation of the PS2/PC users and the Xbox 360 users was also touched on, and interestingly, the final decision on splitting the game servers has not been set yet; hopefully, all PSU users will be able to play in the same server environment. No Wii or PS3 support is currently in the cards, but from the interview, it sounds like this may still be a possibility, leveraging the special controllers for both. Phantasy Star Universe should ship in the US in the latter half of 2006.
Read More | PSO-World.com
Gallery: Phantasy Star Universe Interview Online
E3 2006: Peter Moore Interview
Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Accessories, Corporate News, E3, Features, Hardware, Xbox 360, Xbox Live, Xbox Live Arcade,
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In case you missed the Peter Moore interview that was posted over at Gear Live, check it out by clicking above. Peter goes into detail on subjects like Lumines Live, the HD DVD drive, Xbox Live Vision camera, and more. Especially interesting are his thoughts on the PlayStation 3, and how Sony is using it as a juggernaut to push the Blu-Ray format.
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Gallery: E3 2006: Peter Moore Interview
Gears of War Special on MTV2
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: Culture, E3, First Person Shooters, Xbox 360,
MTV2 will be airing their mini-documentary featuring Epic Games, and focusing on the preparation work that went led up to their presence at E3 2006. Major Nelson has some of the details on his blog, but the show itself will be airing Friday, May 19th, at 10:00 PM ET/PT. Of course, this will air multiple times over the next couple of weeks, so those who don’t set their TiVo in time will have additional chances, and the future airings are listed on the Major Nelson blog. The marketing guys at Gamerscoreblog have also posted a promo and some pre-release clips on YouTube as well. From the clips, it looks like there is going to be some actual meat to the show, with nary a hobbit to be seen from last year’s MTV Xbox 360 non-event. Hopefully in addition to seeing developers sweat, there will be actual information about the game, but with the focus on the E3 presentation, there may not be a lot there.
Read More | MajorNelson.com
Read More | Gamerscoreblog Preview Clips
Gallery: Gears of War Special on MTV2
Heavy Rain Casting Demo Online
Posted by Christopher Sasaki Categories: E3, PlayStation 3, Trailers,
Quantic Dream, the French developer’s of last year’s highly acclaimed adventure game, Indigo Prophecy, has placed their rolling audition technical demo online. The video is in HD, and the video capture is based on the real-time demo shown on the Playstation 3 at E3. Quantic Dream boasts the use of Ageia effects and the environment shown is fairly impressive.
The demo purports to show the audition tape of one of the actors for their upcoming game, Heavy Rain and starts in a sparse environment, where one of the casting directors is apparently recording the session. After a while, though, the scene cuts into the same actress, in a kitchen, acting out a scene. The scene is eerie, both in the look of the environment, which is well rendered, and in the emotions portrayed, which can be startlingly realistic. There are times when the rendering strays a little bit too close to the uncanny valley, but there are other times when the viewer almost forgets that this is an animation. For a few moments, everything comes together: the motion capture, facial expressions, and the voice acting all work together towards an emotional impact. At the beginning of the demo, however, things seem a little plastic, and rigid.
Given Quantic Dream’s previous efforts have been heaving on character development and story, the combination of their narratives with the technical achievements seen in the video should make for another strong entry into the adventure game genre.
Read More | Quantic Dream
Gallery: Heavy Rain Casting Demo Online
E3: Reflections & Musings
Posted by Chris Cardinal Categories: E3, Editorial, Nintendo, PlayStation 3, Wii,
E3 2006 is now over and I’ve got some sleep and licked my wounds. Without a doubt, the console to love was Wii this year. Stupid name and all, droves of people flocked to play it and thousands of press outlets threw their support behind it, often lambasting the horribly-conceived abomination that is the Playstation 3. Wii will be affordable, fun, innovative, original and simple. It won’t have the flashiest graphics on the block, but it’ll blow you away with how much fun you can have interacting. The Playstation 3 is exactly as it sounds: Playstation 2, with better graphics. Plus slipshod, “innovative”-except-not-at-all tilt sensing. Oh, and minus rumble feedback. They’ve actually proactively downgraded the controller, citing “difficulties” integrating tilt and rumble, nevermind the fact that Nintendo seems to have no troubles whatsoever with the concept. (The real reasoning plays to a dark underbelly of litigation brought on by technology company Immersion. Sony just keeps whiffing here, don’t they?)
Oh, and a very special thanks to the Electronic Software Association for putting on the E3 Expo, and also managing to completely botch up this giant banner hanging over the Expo’s West Hall exit. Bravo, guys. You could at least get the year right, hm?
Gallery: E3: Reflections & Musings
Star Trek Legacy Impressions
Posted by John Goulden Categories: E3, PC, Screenshots, Simulation, Xbox 360,
We had a chance to speak with Eric Krasnauskas, a designer with Mad Doc Software, the developers of Bethesda Software’s newest Star Trek title – Star Trek Legacy.
The variety of ships at your disposal comes from the entire Star Trek series starting with the recently departed Enterprise, and includes The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager. Not only are the original ships available, but ships can also be customized to suit your every whim.
You’ll re-live epic battles from the Star Trek universe, and one example we were shown was a battle from ST: The Wrath of Khan. Instantly recognizable by any ST fan, your point of view shows the unsuspecting Enterprise approaching the Reliant, with Spacelab Regula One in the background. True to the movie, Khan quickly gets the upper hand by launching a surprise attack, and it is at this point you take control of the Enterprise. Severely damaged, the Enterprise needs a helping hand and the nearby Mutara Nebula can help even the odds. We were concerned about being “forced” to follow a pre-determined course of action, but Eric reassured us that sticking to a movie’s plot wasn’t a requirement for winning a battle. Although it will be more difficult, it is possible to defeat your opponent without adhering to “historical” precedence.
Click to continue reading Star Trek Legacy Impressions
Gallery: Star Trek Legacy Impressions
Company of Heroes was brought to the public’s attention at E3 2005, but was still heavily in production at the time. Now, after three years of work, the PC game is well on track for a scheduled release in Q3 2006. If you’ve been living under a rock, here’s a quick rundown on what you can expect.
In wanting to make a game they would truly enjoy themselves, the developers built an RTS game that is truly dynamic, and one that doesn’t feature traditional choke points based on geography and other static game elements. Instead, the game features a totally deformable world which you can use to your advantage. Everything you see in the game can be destroyed, and we do mean everything. To illustrate, imagine a flank attack that would strike at the heart of your opponent’s infrastructure, but a wall stands between you and your objective. Instead of going around the wall, have your soldiers concentrate their attack on the wall to destroy a portion of it allowing you unfettered access to your enemy’s unprotected flank. That kind of scenario is a simplified concept of some of the awesome things that can be done by using the terrain and buildings to your advantage.
No longer will you need to coddle your soldiers for fear their stupidity will be the death of them. Such brilliant acts like standing in the middle of a street while under fire, or failing to utilize available cover nearby and offering themselves up as cannon fodder will be a thing of the past. With Company of Heroes, your units will automatically seek any cover available to them, while still following the orders you provide to them. That means running and crouching between cover points, and realizing that some cover is better than others. During the course of battle, craters caused by artillery fire or mortar rounds will likely be created and these craters can provide cover for your men as they advance on an enemy’s position.
Click to continue reading Company of Heroes Coming Q3 2006
Gallery: Company of Heroes Coming Q3 2006
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