E3 2009 Day One Round Up – We cover Microsoft, Ubisoft and EA
June 2, 2009 by
Filed under Featured, Playstation, XBox
Microsoft
Last.fm service coming to XBL – The social music community, Last.fm will be coming to XBL later this year. Last.fm is a service that recommends bands and music to people from people with similar tastes, in a way connecting people through their choice in music. The service will be intergrated in the Xbox 360 dashboard and best off all, it will be free.
Metal Gear Solid Rising in-bound to Xbox 360 – Our eyes nearly popped out when we saw the master of steal himself, Hideo Kojima take the stage and intro his new game that will be making it to 360 consoles. There was no mention on whether it will be a 360 exclusive or not.
Facebook and Twitter to XBL – Adding to XBL’s social bouquet is Facebook connectivity. You will be able to see all your XBL and Facebook friends all in one interface. Even better – is the ability to post text and in-game screens directly to your Facebook account.
Twitter is also coming to XBL – so now you’ll be able to game, tweet and interface with your Facebook chums all over XBL. I think I’ve hit my 140 character limit here.
Watch your media with your XBL party – Now, if your house is an absolute pigsty you have the option to watch flicks with XBL virtual viewing and the best thing about it is that virtual junk is easy to tidy up.
Netfilx will upgrade soon – with added functionality to browse categories and add films to your 360’s dashboard.
Project Natal -Microsoft’s much rumoured motion camera has finally been confirmed. A video showed that it can be used for a range of things including: steering wheel simulation, navigating the dashboard and even controlling a kung-fu fighter.
Not only will your camera will recognise you and automatically log you into live but it will allow your avatar to mimic your movements. We can wait to see just how good our Avatars are at mimicking certain movements.
Full XBL game downloads arriving in August – New releases will be made available weekly and will be comparable to the box version while the possibility of online rental was brought up, it was not confirmed. Assassins Creed and Mass Effect will be among the first few games to be made available.
Unloackable avatar marketplace apparel – Players will be able to browse through game specific storefronts and purchase new kit for their virtual selves. Awardables will also debut which essentialy allows developers to reward players with fancy clothing bits after achieving certain tasks in a game. As yet, the release date has not been confirmed.
Ubisoft
Splinter Cell Conviction – Sam Fisher is back people, in a big way! From the very first minute of the demos shown it’s clear that this isn’t the Splinter Cell we know. Sam is no longer working for an agency but is out for personal reasons: finding the people behind his daughter’s death. Let’s just say he now has personal reasons to bust open some heads! The game seems much more action oriented, almost like a mix between Uncharted and the Borne films where hand-to-hand combat and a quick trigger are required to get the info he needs. Fans of the series shouldn’t worry though as the stealth gameplay the series is known for seems to be intact. Climbing up walls, scouting out the dangers and using gadgets are all present. This time around however the only reason for him to stay hidden is for his own safety: when he’s ready, he can break down the door and break some necks. Sam is now the ultimate predator: he’s quick, agile and lethal. The “mark and execute” mechanic lets you mark targets, be it lights and/or enemies, before executing it in two or three quick shots. The game looks brilliant and a sure game of the show contender.
RUSE – Ever since the release of the teaser trailer for this simulated table-top RTS we’ve been quite intrigued as to how exactly this game will play. Gameplay trailers at Ubisoft’s conference show the game controlling in a much more traditional way (if there is such a thing on consoles) as we expected, using the analogue sticks to pan and move around the terrain, button presses to select and deploy units etc. No Natal support unfortunately. Even though, it does seem like quite a good looking game and with console RTS’s no longer taboo, it’s sure to please the strategists in all of us.
Rabbids Go Home – Formerly from the Rayman series, the rabbids get their time in the sun with an entire game dedicated to these crazy critters. In this action-adventure platformer created by Ubisoft’s Montpellier studios you will control two rabbids tired of partying and trying to find their way home. All sorts of madness ensue in this comedic adventure game for the Wii and will be released in time for Christmas this year.
Assassin’s Creed 2 – Last shown at the Ubisoft conference was the sequel of the award winning Assassin’s Creed. The trailer depicted a masquerade being invaded by the new assassin, Ezio, taking out his target and being pursued by guards. Showing nothing more than what we’ve already seen and know from the series does feel as if they were underselling a bit. Either way we’re sure everyone’s looking forward to getting their hands on the sequel being released on the 17th of November for all current-gen consoles.
EA
EA brought quite a number of exciting titles to the show for almost all current generation platforms. Chief among these are Bioware’s Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age: Origins as well as Dante’s Inferno from the team who created the brilliant Dead Space. Less surprisingly were The Sims 3 and the plethora of new sports titles to keep the more actively inclined gamers happy.
Dante’s Inferno – Based on the 14th century poem, The Devine Comedy, this latest title from EA’s Visceral Games studio looks like yet another dark fantasy epic that seems to be very inspired by a certain game about gods and wars. To be honest though, who hasn’t tried to imitate Sony’s mythological action brawler? Yet with Dead Space being such a big surprise hit we can be confident that these guys will bring us something worth playing. I’m personally very much looking forward to seeing this game in action after the pretty impressive trailer.
Need For Speed Shift – From what we’ve seen of NFS Shift we can all agree that it looks mighty impressive. Developed by a new team this time around, EA hopes to redefine the series that’s been circling the drain since its last few iterations. The game sets to really capture the essence of driving at 200km/h, trying to bring a realistic and thrilling experience to each player. A driver profile will also be built around each player’s skill, driving personality and success which will represent each player’s persona. How this will affect the game is still unknown.
Dragon Age: Origins – Bioware came to the show with Dragon Age Origins. According to them, this dark and gory fantasy RPG is set to “redefine the fantasy genre”. Just from what’s shown in the trailer it’s clear that they didn’t hold back on creating a truly mature experience that’s sure to make gaming news headlines. The release is set for October 20th on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
Mass Effect 2 – The original Mass Effect set a very high bar and it seems as if Bioware is confident that they’ll raise it even higher with its sequel. Following closely after Mass Effect 2 you’ll follow Commander Sheppard again on his most dangerous mission yet. Very little else is known apart from the fact that the game will be at least a good, if not much better, than it’s predecessor. Release is set for early next year for both Xbox 360 and PC.
More titles like The Saboteur and Brutal Legend were all present making EA’s overall show a quite impressive one indeed.
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