• 17Jul 08

  Sony E3 Press Conference

  You can find my round-up of the Nintendo Conference here and the Microsoft one here.

  This conference was much longer than the Nintendo one. A lot was shown to us : I had difficulties keeping everything written down.

  OK, let's start !

  PS 3

  The presentator started with showing us 2 new games exclusive for the PS 3 :

  * Resistance 2 : we will have the possibility to play an 8 player co-op and an up to 60 player muliplayer. There will be of course a singleplayer campaign too.

  * Little Big Planet (LBP) : the MOST important part of this game will be the user created content. You'll be able to challenge your friends to beat your created content.

  A "Greatest Hits" Collection for the PS 3 will be introduced. A few titles : Resistance 1, Motorstorm, Call of Duty 3, Assassin's Creed, Elder Scrolls : Oblivion and Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

  PS 2

  130 new titles will be released this year for the "old" PS 2. Some examples : Tiger Woods 09, SW : The Force Unleashed, Yakuza 2 and Madden NFL 09.

  This Fall a new bundle will be available in stores : the PS 2 console plus the Lego Batman game for 149 US dollars.

  Playstation Network (PSN)

  Your "Sign On" will follow wherever you go (even if you go from the PS 2 to the PS 3). It will be unique.

  You still don't have to pay fees to use PSN for your online gaming.

  Later this year quite some new games will be available on PSN : Ratchet and Clank Future : Quest for Booty, Crash Commando, Fat Princess, Flower, Pixel Junk Eden, Siren : Blood Curse and Rag Doll Kungfu : Fists of Plastic.

  PSP

  A new entertainment pack will be introduced : the PSP plus Ratchet and Clank : Size Matters.

  New games for the PSP : Resistance Retribution (Spring 2009), Patapon 2, LocoRoco 2, SW : The Force Unleashed, Madden NFL 09, NBA 09 The Inside, Super Stardust Portable, Batman The Video Game and Valkyria Chronicles.

  Then we went back to the flagship of Sony, the PS 3. First of all, an interesting news for our wallets : a 80 GB PS 3 will be available in September for the same price as a 40 GB, namely 399 US dollars.

  This is the line-up for the rest of the year for the PS 3 : Call of Duty : World at War, Madden NFL 09, Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Prince of Persia, SW : The Force Unleashed, LBP, Motorstorm : Pacific Rift, Quantum of Solace, Ghostbusters, Soul Calibur IV, Resistance 2, The Agency, Naruto : Ultimate Ninja STORM, Mirror's Edge, Resident Evil 5, Guiter Hero : World Tour, NBA 09 The Inside, Killzone 2 ....

  Beyond this Christmas holiday we can expect :

  * DC Universe Online : a MMO for the PS 3 and the PC, based on the DC comic book universe

  * God of War 3

  * inFAMOUS : open world, you can choose to be the hero or an anti hero, will be released during Spring 2009

  * MAG ( Massive Action Game): a multiplayer game where up to 256 (!) players can play together on the PS 3. Players will be divided into 8 men-squads and your character can grow (skills....).

  Well, that's it what concerns the press conferences. The next days I'm going to watch as much stage demo's and gameplay movies as possible, for some major titles aswell as for games that caught my attention (read : mostly RPG's).

  I'll post my final impressions later. Cya all !

  • Posted Jul 17, 2008 3:33 am GMT
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• 17Jul 08

  Nintendo E3 Press Conference

  So....what did Nintendo tell us during their conference?

  First of all, they showed us A LOT of numbers, you know, the usual stuff "we sold the most games........., we are the biggest.......blabla". For the rest, this conference was quite breef.

  These are the new games for the Wii :

  * Shaun White Snowboarding : release : end of this year - you'll use the Wii Balance Board

  * Animal Crossing : City Folk : release : end of this year - this game will introduce the Wii Speak so finally a solution for Voice Chat.

  * Star Wars : The Clone Wars : release : holiday period 2008 - you'll use the WiiRemote and Nunchunk

  * Rayman : Raving Rabbits : release : Fall 2008 - will make use of the Wii Balance Board

  * Call of Duty : World at War : release : "coming soon" - you'll use the Wii Zapper to fire

  * Wii Sports Resort : release : Spring 2009 worldwide - beach themed games like Disc Dog, water sports, "sword" dueling on the beach and more. This game will introduce the Wii Motion Plus, an accessory for the WiiRemote. It will make the Remote more precise and more responsive so finally you'll have a true 1 : 1 motion control.

  * Wii Music : release : this holiday period. In this music game you'll be able to play up to 50 different instruments like drums, saxophone, piano, violin, guitar and several percussion instruments. You'll use the WiiRemote to play these instruments (plus the Wii Balance Board for the drums). All you have to do is, hold the Remote and move your body as if you're really playing an instrument. The Wii picks up your movements and interprets a note for you. It will be possible to record your own music video and up to 4 people can play this game simultaneously.

  New Games for the Nintendo DS :

  * Guitar Hero : On Tour Decades : you can share songs between this game and, the not so long ago released, GH : On Tour.

  * Spore Creatures

  * Pokemon Ranger : Shadows of Almia - release : 10th of November 2008 in the US

  * GTA Chinatown Wars : release : winter 2008 - it will be a free roaming game like all previous GTA games.

  EDIT : Miyamoto announced that a new Pikmin game is in development for the Wii ----> Happy Linkyshinks

  Ok, this was the round-up of the Nintendo Press Conference. I'll make another one today about the Sony Conference.

  • Posted Jul 17, 2008 2:01 am GMT
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• 14Jul 08

  Microsoft E3 Press Conference

  Today E3 started with the Microsoft E3 Press Conference. It was the first time I watched one Live. For those who don't have the time to watch the show(s), I'm making an overview. I'm just writing down facts. I think we should wait till we've seen the conferences of "The Big 3" to write down our impressions. Doing this now, is too soon in my opinion.

  Just to let you know : I missed a big part of the start of the conference due to not being able to get on the E3 Live page of Gamespot (too crowded I guess). I came in when they said the release period of Fallout 3 and I also missed a part of Resident Evil 5 (the video screen froze).

  Blockbusters

  * Fallout 3 will be released this Fall, in October. There should be more than 100 hours of singleplayer. Downloadable content will be available later on, exclusive on the 360 and PC.

  * Resident Evil 5 will be launched worldwide on the 13th of March 2009.

  * Fable 2 : Molyneux told us that we'll be able to play this action RPG in October 2008. In your singleplayer game you'll see purple orbs. These are your friends on Xbox Live who are playing too. With one click you should be able to invite them into your singleplayer game.

  * Gears of War 2 : will be released worldwide on the 7th of November this year. There will be a new Mode incorporated in the game, called "Horde Mode", it's a 5 men co-op.

  Some Numbers

  During this part of the conference Don Mattrick told us about how big and good Microsoft was/is/will be and "proofed" this with a bunch of numbers. I think we'll hear similar stories during the other 2 conferences. One sentence was important; he stated "Of this generation of consoles, the 360 will be the most sold console". I just hope, one day, he doesn't regret to have said it.

  New Xbox Experience

  * Microsoft is introducing a new dashboard for the 360 later this Fall. This will happen through the use of software. We will be able to create an avatar with our own chosen haircuts, clothes etc. The avatar looks like a little doll.

  * Xbox Live Primetime : you'll be able to participate in TV shows like 1 vs. 100 (Endemol productions). You will be represented by your created avatar on the screen. It will even be possible to win prices.

  * New games on Xbox Live Arcade : Geometry Wars 2 : Retro Evolved - Galaga Legions - Portal : Still Alive (exclusive on XBLA) - a South Park game.

  Some More Announcements

  * GTA IV : later this year downloadable content will be available

  * Banjo-Kazooie : Nuts and Bolts (available this "holiday", I presume they mean Christmas). The original Banjo-Kazooie will be available on XBLA.

  * Viva Pinata : Trouble in Paradise : will be released on the 5th of September, didn't hear if this was worldwide or not. You'll be able to import new pinata's in your garden through scanning of cards.

  * Scene It? Box Office Smash : a quiz about movies. Your avatar (remember the created one with the new dashboard ?) will represent you in this game.

  * You're in the Movies : a game where you will have to perform a certain action for example dancing. Another player has to perform another action, like as if he's running away from something or smashing bugs around him. All these actions will be assembled (by the players) to form a "real" movie.

  * Guitar Hero : World Tour : will be released this Fall. There will be Xbox360-exclusive songs of Van Halen and The Eagles. And the, yet to be released, new album of Metallica will be downloadable.

  * Lips : a music game with microphones. Looks a lot like Singstars but you can connect your Ipod to your 360 and you can sing your favourite songs.

  * Rock Band 2 : will debut exclusive on the 360 in September. The playlist will contain 84 songs (Bob Dylan, ACDC, Guns 'n Roses, Megadeth, Beck among them) plus 20 songs will be downloadable for free. But that's not all : the original songs from Rock Band will be playable in Rock Band 2 so you don't have to switch discs when you want to play a song from the original game. This means that, in total, more than 500 songs will be available.

  A Big Announcement is on its Way...

  Square Enix is making 3 major RPG-titles for the 360, being :

  * Infinite Undiscovery (exclusive on the 360) : will be released later this year in September.

  * Star Ocean : The Last Hope : can be expected during Spring of 2009.

  * The Last Remnant : will be released first on the 360 on the 20th of November 2008. This Japanese RPG will also be available on the PC but no release date has been announced.

  BUT.....that's not all.....

  Square Enix announced that Final Fantasy XIII will be available on the 360 with the same release date as the PS3 version !!! Speaking of a "final" touch !

  Ok, this is really the end of this blog. I'll try to do the same for the other conferences but as I only own a 360 this was for me the most important conference. But my gamer heart tells me to make an overview of the others too. Because they are on the same day, I'll spread the overviews in 2 blogs.

  Nightnight everyone !

  • Posted Jul 14, 2008 2:27 pm GMT
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