E3 2011 The Second Day of Information Gathering
Wow! What a fun and productive second day. As promised, I visited the Nintendo booth, and got profoundly hands-on with their new Wii U console. The first demo that I played was a pirate themed game called, "Shield Pose." Basically, it's a mock-up of a game that teaches you how to use the new-fangled controller. You're on a pirate ship adrift on the seas, and you can look in all directions with the controller's screen. Up ahead, is a rival pirate ship that starts shooting suction cup darts at you from all angles, it's your job to catch them with the controller's screen, and then shake them off, so that you can catch more. A simple concept, that basically taught you all the moves necessary to enter this new world of gaming. Quite fun, and it was sound-tracked to a fun, danceable beat, making this the weirdest rhythm-dance game that I've ever played. Sorry, Pa Rappa!
Next, I also saw two demos that showed the power of the Wii U. One was called, Japanese Garden, where you could use the controller to look in every single direction imaginable, while the action on the TV screen concerned the activities of a young swallow, flying and nesting in a cherry blossom tree. The second demo, was called Zelda HD. It was a 1080p mock-up of a Zelda game, where you can control: the lighting (i.e. literally switch between night and day, to test the system's lighting effects processing power), the camera angles, and finally you can choose to remove the action from the TV screen, and transfer it all to the controller's screen instead. Very cool, and both demos were being rendered in REAL TIME!
The next game that I played was the New Super Mario Bros. Mii. Why the "Mii" in the title? Well, it's because you can upload your Mii into the game, and play along with Mario! Very cool concept, and the game itself was a complete blast. There were five stages to choose from, and each was everything that you have come to expect from a Mario 2D, side-scroller. Which is to say, brilliant. Using the oversized controller, in order to play such a game was surprisingly easy and intuitive.
Let's be honest, at this stage in my life, putting a controller in my hand and having me play a Mario game is as intuitive as tying my shoelaces in the dark. Here's a couple of brief videos, that show what it was like to play this great game:
There was also a multiplayer component, which is where the Mii's came in to play. On those demos, they had the Wii nunchuck controllers for all the other players, while Player 1 still used the Wii U controller.
I left the Wii U section of the Nintendo booth, and headed for the Nintendo 3DS section. I was greeted by Kid Icarus: Uprising, a fast-paced shooter, that has completely shed its action-RPG past. It was fun, but it didn't feel like the franchise was properly utilized in my opinion. Next, I played Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, the game was simply a perfect translation of the PS2 game. This is astonishing, since the original PS2 game was well-known to push the PS2 to its limits. My own PS2, makes all manner of noises when playing this graphics intensive game. Is it any surprise then, that they had to use a special 4GB cart, in order to bring this title to the 3DS? I should think not. I also played Resident Evil: Revelations, which lived up to the creepy trailer that I talked about yesterday. It felt and played, just like a Resident Evil title. I couldn't have asked for more. I also played Luigi's Mansion 2, and the new Pokemon Pokedex 3DS. The former, is a great platformer, that rivals its Gamecube forebear, while the latter is of interest only to the most hardcore Pokemon fan (although it utilizes the 3D capabilities of the system beautifully).
I left the Nintendo booth, and headed for the Aliens: Colonial Marines preview show. The man responsible for the game's development, had gone back to the original H.R. Giger, Syd Mead, and Ridley Scott drawing boards, to make sure that everything was completely authentic. As an underling played through the game with him, he was narrating all of the special touches that he and his team had put into the game, that would appeal to the hardest of the hardcore Alien(s) fan. They even placed objects that were only visible in the director's cut of the movie, just to be all inclusive! I was quite impressed, and hope it sees the light of day soon. Sorry, but no video or photos of the game were allowed. :(
On the other side of the hall, and for all you Xbox 360 fans, who also happen to be Kinect owners, I observed, Kinect Star Wars. If you have ever wanted to use the Force to push or pull your opponents, or to levitate giant objects, then this game is for you. Yes, of course you can also swing your arms, as if holding a lightsaber, and throw said lightsaber at objects on the screen so that it comes back to you boomerang-style. This game looked insanely fun to play. I cannot imagine any StarWars geek, that wouldn't want to play this game to death.
Well, that's all for the second day. Wish me luck, and I'll see you all tomorrow, to give you one final wrap-up to this year's E3. Until then, take care and happy gaming!
Next, I also saw two demos that showed the power of the Wii U. One was called, Japanese Garden, where you could use the controller to look in every single direction imaginable, while the action on the TV screen concerned the activities of a young swallow, flying and nesting in a cherry blossom tree. The second demo, was called Zelda HD. It was a 1080p mock-up of a Zelda game, where you can control: the lighting (i.e. literally switch between night and day, to test the system's lighting effects processing power), the camera angles, and finally you can choose to remove the action from the TV screen, and transfer it all to the controller's screen instead. Very cool, and both demos were being rendered in REAL TIME!
The next game that I played was the New Super Mario Bros. Mii. Why the "Mii" in the title? Well, it's because you can upload your Mii into the game, and play along with Mario! Very cool concept, and the game itself was a complete blast. There were five stages to choose from, and each was everything that you have come to expect from a Mario 2D, side-scroller. Which is to say, brilliant. Using the oversized controller, in order to play such a game was surprisingly easy and intuitive.
Let's be honest, at this stage in my life, putting a controller in my hand and having me play a Mario game is as intuitive as tying my shoelaces in the dark. Here's a couple of brief videos, that show what it was like to play this great game:
There was also a multiplayer component, which is where the Mii's came in to play. On those demos, they had the Wii nunchuck controllers for all the other players, while Player 1 still used the Wii U controller.
I left the Wii U section of the Nintendo booth, and headed for the Nintendo 3DS section. I was greeted by Kid Icarus: Uprising, a fast-paced shooter, that has completely shed its action-RPG past. It was fun, but it didn't feel like the franchise was properly utilized in my opinion. Next, I played Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D, the game was simply a perfect translation of the PS2 game. This is astonishing, since the original PS2 game was well-known to push the PS2 to its limits. My own PS2, makes all manner of noises when playing this graphics intensive game. Is it any surprise then, that they had to use a special 4GB cart, in order to bring this title to the 3DS? I should think not. I also played Resident Evil: Revelations, which lived up to the creepy trailer that I talked about yesterday. It felt and played, just like a Resident Evil title. I couldn't have asked for more. I also played Luigi's Mansion 2, and the new Pokemon Pokedex 3DS. The former, is a great platformer, that rivals its Gamecube forebear, while the latter is of interest only to the most hardcore Pokemon fan (although it utilizes the 3D capabilities of the system beautifully).
I left the Nintendo booth, and headed for the Aliens: Colonial Marines preview show. The man responsible for the game's development, had gone back to the original H.R. Giger, Syd Mead, and Ridley Scott drawing boards, to make sure that everything was completely authentic. As an underling played through the game with him, he was narrating all of the special touches that he and his team had put into the game, that would appeal to the hardest of the hardcore Alien(s) fan. They even placed objects that were only visible in the director's cut of the movie, just to be all inclusive! I was quite impressed, and hope it sees the light of day soon. Sorry, but no video or photos of the game were allowed. :(
On the other side of the hall, and for all you Xbox 360 fans, who also happen to be Kinect owners, I observed, Kinect Star Wars. If you have ever wanted to use the Force to push or pull your opponents, or to levitate giant objects, then this game is for you. Yes, of course you can also swing your arms, as if holding a lightsaber, and throw said lightsaber at objects on the screen so that it comes back to you boomerang-style. This game looked insanely fun to play. I cannot imagine any StarWars geek, that wouldn't want to play this game to death.
Well, that's all for the second day. Wish me luck, and I'll see you all tomorrow, to give you one final wrap-up to this year's E3. Until then, take care and happy gaming!
Labels: E3 2011 Day 2 Second
posted by Mehrdad at 1:22 AM
2 Comments:
Another great post, Mehrdad. So Shield Pose was kind of a music/rhythm game? I haven't watched the video yet, but it sounds a bit like a patapon game, but more fun. Oh well, it's essentially just a tutorial, by the sound of things.
So, it's good to see they actually have a system at least prototyped. It sounds like they're still tweaking the hardware, and hopefully the year + before the console launches means there'll be enough time to have a decent game or two at launch. The Wii did well, but faded in the stretch; and the 3DS was kind of a botched launch if you ask me. I know, no systems have a really robust software lineup at launch, but it's been a couple of months and I don't know when anything must-have is actually coming out and if it will be anytime soon. I just read Kotaku's take, echoing Michael Pachter's sentiments that it might be too little too late. What do you think, Mehrdad?
I'm really looking forward to Aliens; glad they had actual gameplay. So far what I've read from other bloggers is that it's still in the really early stages. I have a feeling they were focusing on getting Duke Nukem finished and that "Inglourious Basterds"-esque Brothers in Arms game.
Still, it's good to see that it's not vaporware and I think Gearbox is probably the right studio for it.
I'm glad to hear Star Wars looked fun-- now that Nyko has a peripheral that supposedly adapts Kinect for smaller living rooms I might actually consider getting one at some point. I kind of expected them to have some more compelling games by now, but looking back at what happened with my Wii (or more accurately, what didn't happen), I'm still not sure it's worth it.
Back to Star Wars Kinect, Adam mentioned he thought there was lots of input lag, but I haven't seen anyone actually playing it so I'm not sure. That and most Star Wars games these days don't really speak to me (being a hater of the prequels), the prequel material doesn't seem to have the same heart, charm and spirit of the originals. Not to get into a big discussion again, but it seems like George Lucas himself didn't know how to connect with his own creation. At least now he can Kinect with it, nyuk nyuk.
Good luck today, and thanks for another great post!
Yes, Shield Pose was indeed a music/rhythm game. Very quirky, but quite fun.
It's true that the Wii faded in the end, after a GREAT run (basically putting Nintendo back on the map). However, that was their own doing. To quote Jay, "I knew it was screwed when I looked up the game release schedule, and it was empty!" Maybe they killed it early to push all their efforts into Wii U? Time will tell.
The 3Ds seems like a botched launch, simply because Nintendo does slow, deliberate launches nowadays. I personally miss the "shock and awe" launches of the SNES era. But for whatever reason, this is the way they do things now. After seeing the next wave of 3DS games, I'm sure it'll pick up nicely for them. But the PS Vita is priced juuuuust right. So it will definitely take away some thunder from the 3DS.
I too read the "too little too late" article. But again, time will tell. I still can't believe that the Wii did the insanely good business that it did in its heyday. I never would have guessed it in 2005. We have to see what else Nintendo has up its sleeve. Also, they're the masters of misdirection. For all we know, the Wii U may only be a small component of their next generation hardware.
Yeah, the producer of the Aliens game kept mentioning that this was still in a very early stage. But, it was so well put together, and this guys passion for the franchise was so evident, that I'm sure it will see the light of day, and will most likely impress.
The article I linked to about Kinect Star Wars, also mentioned the lag. However, I didn't notice it. I think it was more a function of noobs, not knowing how to properly use the Kinect. As was evident, when a more seasoned player jumped in the booth to play it. It pretty much is the Star Wars game that we all wanted to play as kids. Force-pushing droids into each other, throwing your lightsaber at a distant enemy and having it come back to you. Also, when you get to a big object that needs to be moved, BOTH players have to stand with their arms outstretched, as if doing the Force-lift, to pull the giant roadblock out of the ground. Very cool stuff indeed.
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