ULTRO PUNCH
By John Walker on June 9th, 2011.
If Saints Row 1 was a GTA “tribute”, and Saints Row 2 was Volition discovering how they wanted to approach the genre for themselves, then Saints Row: The Third is the complete rejection of anything that originally influenced it. It is the most anarchic, vile, hilarious and puerile approach anyone has taken to a sandbox game. It’s the silliest and foulest game of E3. It’s the one I’ve enjoyed seeing the most.
By Jim Rossignol on June 9th, 2011.
Ace dev team ACE Team have released a new trailer for their boulder-rolling history-of-art puzzle game, Rock Of Ages, and it shows the ball in action, doing funnies. Previously we saw power ups which embue your happy rolling rock with temporary powers, such as being tough, or being on fire, and there’s some of these here, too. If only life had temporary power ups beyond “mild stimulant drink” and “illegal nose treat”. I want to absorb a glowy thing and be able to double-jump.
The game should arrive this summer.
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The Sneaky Sneaky
By John Walker on June 9th, 2011.
Old baldygrumps is back, and we’ve finally seen him slinking about the place. The level we saw of Hitman Absolution may have been a bit gloomy, but where it captured attention was with the atmosphere it generated.
By Quintin Smith on June 9th, 2011.
Are you excited about Crusader Kings 2? No? That must be because you don’t know what it is. You can read my preview here, but the long and short of it is that the original Crusader Kings sat you in the role of a medieval king, but let you concern yourself more with relationships and human politics than what you were going to build where, or how you were going to invade your peaceful neighbours, or any of the mathematical, combative problems that we’ve come to expect from grand strategy games. No, instead you had to worry about that weird uncle of yours with the glassy eye usurping the throne, or your heir being hated by the entire nation, and the like. Good stuff, and the sequel’s looking more impressive in every respect.
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Podcast!
By John Walker on June 9th, 2011.
Blimey, here’s a surprise. Dusting off our podcasting tools, John and special guest Dan Griliopoulos gather in a noisy restaurant to discuss what they’ve seen at E3 so far. Not only do you get to hear about Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Serious Sam 3, Payday, Torchlight 2, Saints Row: The Third, DUST 514, Dead Island, Batman: Arkham City, and many more, but also find out what they order, and then hear how long it takes to arrive! Hear the conversations of the neighbouring tables. Hear when Dan drops a knife on the dictaphone. Never hear anything else again.
By Jim Rossignol on June 9th, 2011.
Missed the tank bit from Battlefield 3 that everyone was talking about? It’s below. Highlights include a dinosaur, a glimpse of tank interior, a subsequent air-strike, some poor fella tumbling out of a stricken tank on fire, and so, so many explosions. The question for me is whether we can expect multiplayer battles with similar vehicular carnage. If we’re going to get 64-player maps, then will we also get a heavily tanky multiplayer version of this sequence?
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By Jim Rossignol on June 9th, 2011.
According to this article on Giant Bomb, Gearbox are saying that the original, serious story for Brothers In Arms might not be over, and that the wacky craziness evident in the Furious 4 trailer is simply a “test bed” for a new direction. The tale of staff sergeant Matthew Baker, on which the earlier parts of the franchise were based, is apparently set to continue. Perhaps when we’ve finished our long facepalm regarding Furious 4? Something like that.
Phew, maybe.
By Alec Meer on June 8th, 2011.
Pining for something unquestionably PC amidst this recent torrent of sound, fury and pre-rendered chest-thumping? A new Jagged Alliance game should do the trick. Jagged Alliance: Back In Action is a “modernised remake” of the one-time X-COM heir apparent, and it now bears a release date. Somehow, 2011′s ended up being a corker of a year for tactical strategy – this, Frozen Synapse and all being well Xenonauts should all be with us before dirty old Santa pays his next visit.
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By Jim Rossignol on June 8th, 2011.
I say, those computer games people are getting rather good at making cinematic trailers! This one’s quite the thing.
The game is out some time next year.
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By John Walker on June 8th, 2011.
Wednesday 8th June, 10am
Welcome to bus journeys of the poor and a bit famous in the right circles on the Internet. As I zoom my way down Olympic, through Koreatown on the way to the Conference Center, I have a quick moment to update you on yesterday.
By Alec Meer on June 8th, 2011.
Activision boss Big Bobby K is unsurprisingly out on the campaign trail for Modern Warfare 3, and that means any journalists who manage to get past his Nazgûl guards inevitably attempt to ask him how he thinks EA’s rivalrous Battlefield 3 is going to compare.
Here’s what he said. It almost certainly won’t make you say incredibly rude things about a man you’ve never met.
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