E3 2008: Wolfenstein, Singularity unveiled at Activision Blizzard event
[UPDATE 2] Snubbing E3 proper, the newly merged publisher shows off two new Raven and Marvel games and demos Guitar Hero World Tour's studio mode at a shindig all its own; Rock Band instruments will be compatible with new game, which will even adjust its drum scheme.
Maybe it was the free food and booze. Maybe it was the fact it was held by the world's newly minted largest third-party publisher. Maybe it was that its hosts publish Guitar Hero, Call of Duty, and World of Warcraft. Whatever the reason, the Activision Blizzard press conference and reception drew several hundred reporters, investors, and analysts--including industry wise men Michael Pachter, Colin Sebastian, and Todd Greenwald--to Vibiana, a sprawling restaurant-cum-villa in downtown. Outside, the street offered the bizarre sight of Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima walking out of a nearby pizza restaurant by himself.
Besides people-watching, attendees at the event engaged in the requisite hobnobbing, speculating about what Activision Blizzard might announce. The previous day, internal studio RedOctane had used the Microsoft event to reveal Metallica would release its next album, Death Magnetic, simultaneously as a Guitar Hero download. Earlier today, Activision confirmed it was publishing id Software and Raven's next Wolfenstein game, a fact backed up by the label on the press asset discs handed out at the front desk.
So what does Activision have in store? The insistent voice on the public address system reminded those present they would soon find out.
[7:21] Sushi chefs, financial types, and scraggly hipster journos mill around, despite being told to sit down ASAP.
[7:23] So yeah, this event is now 20 minutes late, no doubt thanks to the ample food and cocktails everyone seems to be carrying around.
[7:25] "Please welcome actor, comedian, and video game freak...Nelson Diaz!" Apparently Jamie Kennedy was unavailable.
[7:26] Diaz, tonight's host, has all three gaming systems, and says his gamerscore is over 45,000.
[7:28] Enter Mike Griffiths, president of Activision Publishing. He promises the developers of Call of Duty, Guitar Hero: World Tour, and "Wolf-en-steen." Gene Wilder would be proud.
[7:28] Guitar Hero: On Tour has sold 10 times more on the DS in one week than Activision's next best DS title has in one month.
[7:29] "You'll see how we build on that success with Guitar Hero On Tour and GH Tunes."
[7:31] Activision Blizzard is the most purely profitable game company on the planet, according to Griffiths. In the past year, the number of Call of Duty players has doubled, and the number of Guitar Hero players has quadrupled.
[7:33] Now for a new IP, Singularity from Raven Software. A sci-fi shooter, it concerns the effects of a rift in time. First-ever trailer rolls, and shows a city being destroyed by an experiment. Time is shown running forward and backward. Lots of dank interiors.
[7:34] Next up, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2: Fusion from Vicarious Visions. Featuring 24 heroes and villains, it allows superheroes like Spider-Man to share powers with others with "a new fusion power." Trailer shows Wolverine, Captain America, and Sue Storm.
[7:35] After some sideburns jokes, Griffiths introduces X-Men Origins: Wolverine, a spin-off of the upcoming Hugh Jackman film.
[7:37] Griffiths is going rapid-fire now, talking about Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen. The second Transformers film is already in production with Michael Bay at the helm. Griffiths hands it back to Nelson Diaz.
[7:39] Mark Lamia, head of Treyarch, strolls out to introduce Call of Duty: World at War. Lamia said they threw out the rulebook for WWII games for this title, and said the enemies will all show no fear. Cue the first trailer for the game, which was released several weeks ago.
[7:42] After the trailer ends, Lamia talks about the multiplayer modes, including four-player online co-op mode and two-player local split-screen. Breaking news: 24's Kiefer Sutherland will voice a major character, and they have some gameplay footage with his character in action. He's the hero of the Pacific part of the campaign.
[7:45] After a brief jungle scroll, Kiefer and his squadmate are ambushed by some Japanese troops. A firefight as bloody and intense as anything in Call of Duty 4 ensues. Cut to a scene on the beach of Iwo Jima, where players run behind tanks in split-screen mode on a fiery battleground of black volcanic sand. Explosions everywhere, and nowhere to hide.
[7:47] Trailer ends, with Diaz electing moderate applause before introducing the trailer for Spider-Man: Web of Shadows.
[7:51] Trailer shows Spidey himself looking down on the New York City skyline--which shows many buildings shrouded in black webbing. The original story depicts an alien invasion by slimy black alien symbionts like Venom. Apparently, Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. will be evacuating the city via skyscraper evacuation points. Gameplay footage shows Spider-Man engaging in some melee combat on the side of a building, with symbionts advancing on a rooftop evacuation point.
[7:53] Players can have Spider-Man use either his traditional red suit for stealth or the black Venom suit for brute strength.
[7:54] This section ends with some gameplay footage of Spider-Man fighting one of his many nemeses, Vulture. Apparently, it will be up to the player to decide which villains to fight or befriend.
[7:55] Next is some energetic aerial combat, with the webslinger tangling up the Vulture in midair. Lights go up to solid applause.
[7:56] Cue the movie trailer for the film Quantum of Solace, starring Daniel Craig.
[7:58] This is the first simultaneous release of a James Bond game and film.
[7:59] Keith Snellgrove, head of Danjaq, the privately held company which holds the rights for the James Bond brand, takes the stage. The company was founded by the late producer Albert R. Broccoli.
[7:59] He begins talking about long-term merchandising partnerships, and drops some brands which have had product placement in the films for years--Omega watches and Bollinger champagne.
[8:00] The crowd is getting visibly antsy...
[8:01] Snellgrove is talking more about the film production, which apparently always had Activision staff on hand taking notes. He says he hopes Activision will be Danjaq's long-term game partner. A producer of the game is called up to show some all-new footage from the game.
[8:03] A Treyarch producer talks about how they wanted Quantum of Solace to be both a third- and first-person game. He says the fact that the game uses the Call of Duty 4 engine doesn't mean that Bond will be running through battlefields.
[8:04] He says the game will cover the plotlines of both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. They've met with Craig several times, and apparently he's quite the gamer.
[8:05] First scene is from a Casino Royale-inspired sequence, which shows Bond sneaking around a hotel with armed guards in the halls. He pulls a Sam Fisher on one guard, taking him out melee from behind.
[8:07] Bond pops out on a ledge and sneaks by a room full of guards. He hops on a balcony and breaks a guard's neck, and slips inside. He's discovered, though, and has to shoot it out with a group of SMG-toting, grenade-throwing heavies.
[8:10] The next clip is from Quantum of Solace. Bond is chasing an assassin through a series of sewers. The POV is mostly first-person, but often shows 007 from the third-person when he's taking cover. The first-person parts seem very Call of Duty-like, while some of the sliding dodges he does are reminiscent of Niko Bellic's maneuvers in Grand Theft Auto IV. Lights come up, big applause.
[8:11] One final trailer, apparently cut together last night. It mixes scenes from the film and the game, including a shootout in a bathhouse and on a train.
[8:12] Diaz comes out with "the latest in the Wolfenstein series," introduced by id cofounder Todd Hollenshead.
[8:13] "Now I can reveal some details about the game for the first time in public," he says, after chastising the crowd for "not giving me as much applause as Carmack got last night."
[8:14] Apparently the half-spy, half-soldier hero BJ is back to fight the Nazis. Everyone's favorite bad guys are apparently interested in an interdimensional portal, and its up to BJ and the French Resistance to stop them.
[8:16] Hollenshead says the game will stick to the heavy multiplayer emphasis of previous Wolfenstein games. The game is called straight "Wolfenstein," and the 30 seconds of footage looked much like the Hellboy movie.
[8:17] Onto the stage bounds Neversoft's Brian Bright, who says Guitar Hero: World Tour will have 85 original recordings on the disc.
[8:19] He reminds the crowd the new Metallica album will be available on day one of its release for download for the PS3, 360, AND Wii?
[8:20] Bright is now showing off the World Tour guitar and its freeplay bar, which will allow players to play slap-bass and a variety of other styles.
[8:22] Out comes the drum kit, which will will allow for left- and right-handed play. The drums have a thick layer of silicon to keep them quiet, and are velocity-sensitive for certain aspects of the game.
[8:24] He points out several ports on the back of the drum kit, one which will allow players to hook it up to a real set of drums or a drum machine and use them to play the game "right out of the box, no homebrew, no nothing" with anything with MIDI output.
[UPDATE] Activision has since confirmed to GameSpot that not only will Rock Band instruments work with Guitar Hero World Tour, but the game has been programmed specifically to recognize and adapt to Harmonix's drum set. The game will switch its orange cymbal control to Rock Band's green fill drum, and will also make adjustments for the differing kick-pedal schemes.
[8:25] Out comes ex-Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker to try out the drums, which he apparently helped test out during development.
[8:27] Barker says he likes the Studio mode, since it allows people on other sides of the country to record different instruments and combine them without ever being in the same room.
[8:31] Brian Bright is now showing off the recording studio, which will not only let you pick notes, but also add various moves such as hammer-ons and pull-offs.
[8:32] Players will also be able to pick what type of guitar sound (metal, indie, and so on) and drum sound (authentic, electronic, and so on) they want to include. Bright, a 20-year-DJ, uses the drum section to create a track that sounds like Herbie Hancock's "Rockit."
[8:34] "You can create stuff from Acid House to analog bass--anything you want, really," says Bright. He starts getting very technical about the level of complexity in the game, and uses the guitar to play the most stripped-down techno track this side of Kraftwerk.
[8:36] Now he's using "GH Mix," which he describes as being much like the professional audio software ProTools. Players can loop sections and use the mixer to create everything from hip-hop to country. There's even an in-game graphics program that will let players create up to 40-layer graphics for album covers and band logos. The "GH Tunes" service will let players exchange songs and track their popularity. "It's like YouTube meets Billboard," says Bright.
[8:38] Last but not least, it's the Rock Star Creator, the detailed character creation tool that lets players customize clothes, hair, faces, age, and even body type. Expect a wave of Iggy Pop doppelgangers within hours of World Tour's release.
[8:40] Bright leaves the stage, and Diaz introduces Haley Williams, lead singer of Paramour. She is a playable character in the game, and one of her band's songs is included in the game. Surprise! She's a fan of Guitar Hero.
[8:42] Bottles are starting to audibly clink under seats. The natives are restless and half-drunk, apparently.
[8:42] Someone comments that Williams looks like Elisha Cuthbert gone bad.
[8:43] Now the "Neversoft Band" will play rendition of "Hot for Teacher" by Van Halen.
[8:45] The master track looks quite fun to play, and the guitarist is doing a fine Eddie Van Halen handwork imitation.
[8:48] Although the singer's voice sounds very David Lee Roth-ian, the audience is losing many members around the edges. Lines are beginning to quietly form around the bars in the corners of the main presentation room.
[8:48] The drum track looks very Rock Band-like, and it appears they are playing this almost flawlessly on expert. Song ends, crowd erupts.
[8:49] Diaz wants a standing ovation. All but a few bloggers oblige.
[8:49] And that's it! For more on Activision's lineup, check out GameSpot's E3 coverage.
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