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Posts Tagged ‘E3 2012’

Forza Horizon still on the…horizon!

Its been a while since I was excited for any new Need For Speed. The last two titles I truly enjoyed were ProStreet and the first Shift. I’m a simulator racer at heart and prefer fine-tuning a drift with a Mazda RX-7 in Gran Tourismo than in an arcade racer failure like Hot Pursuit (I dislike Hot Pursuit in general, it feels very cobbled together for me). I don’t like the new Ridge Racers and I hate the way Test Drive Unlimited 2 has degraded to being another arcade romp with little nodding in the direction of fans who enjoyed the previous titles in the series. Its times like these I wish I had an Xbox. Its times like these I also could play Forza.

I always stop at Look and Listen in P.E. whenever I get the chance to take some of the cars for a spin in Forza Motorsport and I enjoy it. Its like a beefed-up version of Shift and its a love letter to players who enjoy using racing wheels, rewarding to master and simple to pick up. The latest in the series, Horizon, will bring players into an open world with changing weather and road conditions as well as realistic damage of all kinds of shapes, bumps and squishes. Strangely enough, it seems, the game is actually taxing on the Xbox 360, prompting the developers to announce that it will run at a solid 30fps instead of the regular 60fps on most console titles. More info after the break.

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Posted by Wesley Fick Jun 15, 2012
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A new Angry Birds for consoles from Activision?

Its quite possible that Rovio’s epic adventure using birds to smash down towers made by fat little piggies may be making its way onto consoles, but this time not as a port. Apparently, at the Activision booth during E3 there was a teaser reel in a loop that shows one of the flightless birds hiding in plain sight. Some people speculated what that might mean and Activision has gone on record to confirm that studio will be launching on the Xbox Live and Sony Entertainment Network with a made-for-consoles HD version.

A spokesperson for Activision further said; ”We’ll have some news for you in about two weeks, wait until you see Angry Birds on consoles in HD.”

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Posted by Wesley Fick Jun 11, 2012
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E3 2012: Hands on with Guardians of Middle-Earth

For some odd reason, the massively online battle arena (MOBA) genre has taken a while to move over to consoles. We could discuss the reasons behind this for hours, but the important thing to note here is that this will soon no longer be an issue: with the upcoming release of Guardians of Middle-Earth, Xbox and PS3 gamers will have a chance to get their hands on a top-down, classic-style MOBA game with all the bells and whistles one would expect from the genre, and a few extra.

Guardians of Middle-Earth is, as the name suggests, set in the Lord of the Rings universe. This is no doubt to pull in a bigger crowd that would otherwise probably pay no attention to the game, but rest assured that there’s a lot more to Guardians than the Lord of the Rings hook.

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Posted by Geoff Burrows Jun 08, 2012
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Assassin’s Creed III to feature naval combat

For many, Ubisoft’s defining moment for E3 2012 will undoubtedly be Watch Dogs. That doesn’t mean that the publisher didn’t give us new information on their most successful IP in company history: Assassin’s Creed.

During the Sony press conference, Ubisoft’s Alec Hutchinson and Philippe Ducharme got up on stage to reveal a new aspect of upcoming Assassin’s Creed III: naval combat. The American Revolution wasn’t only fought on land, but also at sea. This means that at some point during the game, Connor will get to command a ship in the open Caribbean seas, hunting down British galleons and peppering them with red-hot cannon balls.

These sections will also feature dynamic weather that might change throughout the course of your mission. In the gameplay trailer after the jump, you’ll see the striking, turquoise waters of the Caribbean sea transform into a dark, angry ocean as a storm builds during a confrontation with multiple British ships. Can’t say we were expecting naval combat in Assassin’s Creed III, but it looks awesome.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jun 07, 2012
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NVIDIA announces five new Tegra 3-Optimised games

While a lot of game publishers and dev teams have been hard at work on the E3 floor to showcase their products, a few people may or may not have missed the Nvidia announcement happening somewhere at the event (I wouldn’t know where because I’m not there). Judging by what the company is doing to help Tegra 3 developers, its an astonishing achievement to even see how these titles handle on the tablet platforms.

These five new titles form part of Nvidia’s TegraZone market that is available on the Android app store, and features a number of Tegra-optimised games that have been tweaked with the help of the graphics company. Hit the jump to find out more about them. 

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Posted by Wesley Fick Jun 06, 2012
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Agni’s Philosophy – or what next-gen Final Fantasy will look like

During E3, publisher Square Enix decided to show off a clip called “Agni’s Philosophy”. It caused quite a scene because the whole shebang is rendered in real-time on their proprietary Luminous Studio engine. It’s all cinematic (in other words: no gameplay) and is a tech demo through and through, but it’s thoroughly impressive and a clear indication of what to expect from the publisher in future.

Square Enix’s engine is what will drive their next-gen games such as Final Fantasy. I’m not a fan of the Final Fantasy IP at all, but it won’t be the only Square Enix title to get this treatment.

Hit the jump; be amazed; start saving for the next-gen consoles.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jun 06, 2012
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E3’s big surprise: Watch Dogs

There are a number of great things about Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs: first is that it was a genuine surprise, which is practically unheard of with most “announcements” at E3. Second, it’s a brand new IP, and a seriously ambitious one to boot. Third: it looks unbelievable.

The open-world, GTA-like game has a mechanic that centres on hacking and controlling the plethora of technology scattered around the city. Your character (exactly who he is or what his profession is remains a mystery) can hack other people’s cell phones, traffic lights, bridges and more. The game’s tagline pretty much sums it up: “everything is connected; connection is power”.

The nine minute gameplay clip is running on PC, but it has since been discovered that the game is heading to current-gen consoles as well. It looks stunning on PC, so it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the console versions. Still, the look of the game is only half of what makes it so fantastic; the other half is just how believable that city is. Hit the jump and be ready to clean up your bits of brain and skull thanks to the imminent mind ‘splosion.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jun 06, 2012
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Here’s The Last of Us in action

Naughty Dog’s new IP turned some heads when it was unveiled back in December 2011, and it’s done it again at this year’s E3. Here we have the first showing of actual gameplay. The PlayStation 3 exclusive is looking amazing; somewhat familiar (as it has Uncharted mechanics lathered all over it) but amazing nonetheless.

In the gameplay clip, Joel and Ellie are trying to reach a bridge, but in order to get there they need to navigate a flooded street and detour through the remnants of a fancy building. Unfortunately for the duo, there’s a mob of your typical post-apocalypse jackasses standing in their way.

What follows is a heady mix of stealth and visceral violence as Joel fights to get himself and Ellie through the building. Uncharted was rather violent in a 90s adventure film kind of way, but The Last of Us is heading into some really brutal territory. You’ll also see a glimpse of an inventory system and scavenged items being combined in order to survive. Hit the jump.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jun 06, 2012
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E3 2012: Medal of Honor: Warfighter MP hands-on

Barring the past six or so months, I’ve been what could be considered a “Call of Duty guy”. It’s been my multiplayer drug of choice for years, from the release of Modern Warfare, right up until MW3 that managed to entertain me for a good 50 hours or so until I eventually decided that enough was enough. I’ve had a good run with the series, but, like many other gamers, I’ve reached the end of my tether with this series. We’ve long been promised a “COD killer” – a concept so utterly short-sighted that it’s a wonder it even exists, but it does, because people want it. Battlefield isn’t a suitable replacement (for those looking for such a thing) because it offers a very different overall experience despite its apparent similarities. F2P titles like Tribes: Ascend seem to fit the requirements for quick bouts of action, but might not be quite what you’re looking for. If you, like me, are desperately searching for a new modern combat, infantry-based, close-quarters action multiplayer FPS with just the right combination of tactical and twitch-based combat, then Medal of Honor: Warfighter might be what the doctor ordered.

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Posted by Geoff Burrows Jun 06, 2012
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Microsoft unveils SmartGlass – it looks fantastic

Yesterday we posted a rumour that Microsoft would be unveiling something dubbed the “Xbox LIVE Companion” app. It turns out that the rumour was close, except that the app is actually called SmartGlass, which was until now thought to be the app’s codename.

Revealed during Microsoft’s E3 press event, SmartGlass is an application that will allow your iOS, Android or Windows phones and tablets to talk to your Xbox 360. This we knew, but it’s the examples that Microsoft showed off that indicate just how much potential there is.

Instead of relying on new hardware, Microsoft is planning to utilise that which people already have. It’s great news for us as the consumers because it negates any hardware purchases. Instead, our smartphones and tablets, together with our Xbox 360 consoles, are about to become extensions of everything we use our hi-def TVs for.

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Posted by Miklós Szecsei Jun 05, 2012
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