Breaking News in Gaming

This post will probably be my last before school starts. I’ve got a lot to talk about primarily because E3 2009 has just concluded. There have been a ton of announcements in the gaming industry so far and since the beginning of the week, I haven’t been updating much on the anime side of things. Before I start though, I have to say the only complete coverage I have is from Nintendo since the only console I have at home is a Wii. I have news here and there from Microsoft and Sony, but what I’ll be saying about them won’t be everything they said in the conferences. Just to make it short, I only have coverage of the things that really matter to me.

Okay, on to E3.  I do have to say, this is the first time I’ve actually stuck my head over for the E3 conferences. Every morning for almost 3 days, I went over to the site that I most rely on for gaming these days, IGN.com. They have tons of coverage on every platform, console, developer and publisher. Those three days for me were literally drowning me with all the gaming stuff you could find on the planet. It was an interesting start because on day one, Microsoft had their conference and I had a back-to-school orientation on the same day. Beginning 7am, I stuck my head on the laptop ingesting all the Wii news and Microsoft on-stage tech demos that I could find. I didn’t get everything there though because like I said, I only get what I need. Day two was more of a breeze because I had nothing to do for the whole day. It was also the most important day for me because Nintendo was having their conference on that day. Although I didn’t know it, Sony also had their conference on the same day. I was all confused with thinking that each of the big companies had their conferences on one day for three days. E3 actually went on for four days with the major conferences on the first two days. How ignorant of me. Anyway, I had feared that Wednesday morning (Tuesday afternoon in PST) that I would overestimate Nintendo’s performance. After browsing through the news highlights, I was actually correct. I thought Nintendo would overload the press with more than five hardcore titles. We only got three. It’s not a bad thing and I believe it to be my fault that Nintendo’s conference wasn’t what I hoped for. In essence, they did quite well, a whole lot better than last year’s.

So we go on to what’s hot this E3. It was an utterly amazing Tuesday morning for me (Monday afternoon PST) when I just shuffled through some of the demos at Microsoft’s conference. They were on a lot about the whole XBoxLive thing, a feature which I could never enjoy. Besides that, there were a lot of impressive stuff like Modern Warfare 2. It’s a game I wish had a longer campaign. The first game had little over 3 hours of gameplay, a frustrating deal when you had so much going on for the engine. To compensate for that though, there’s always the multiplayer. Modern Warfare 2 would most likely have that as well. There were a bunch of Halo-related stuff there as well. It’s unbelievable for me that Bungie would get themselves into such a long deal. As far as I’m concerned Halo ended with Halo 3 and I am so amazed that they attempt to push it further with Halo ODST and Halo Reach. It’s just sickening to the point of vomiting. I have nothing against Halo, put pushing and pushing the universe too much is not the way to go. Other than Halo though, the real thing that caught my eye is Microsoft’s Project Natal. It’s complete motion control without the use of controllers. I was just struck in the back by this announcement. It’s camera-based and it works.

WA-BAM! Actually, this gig makes me want to get an XBox360 a whole lot more than it did a month ago. Besides Natal, I had a little taste of Alan Wake, a little game I’ve just heard of before E3. It’s another horror game in a sense. I’ve seen the gameplay and it doesn’t look bad. I might get it if I get more interested as time passes.

Besides Microsoft though, the first day pounded me with a lot of Wii third-party updates. Most prominent among all those were Red Steel 2 and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, two games that had already sparked a lot of interest in me. Red Steel 2 was naturally interesting because it can be debuted as the first hardcore Wii title to make use of the WiiMotionPlus technology. From what I heard so far, it’s definitely the real deal when it comes to accuracy in sword play. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories is another natural favorite because I could say I have a knack for horror games wherever they may be. There were also other stuff available for viewing which I just checked out like High Voltage’s The Grinder and another game called Muramasa: Demon Blade. Other pretty interesting stuff on the first day was the head-to-head competition between the two on-rail shooters coming for the Wii: RE: Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space Extraction. I definitely prefer the latter because it’s a younger franchise, a universe still undiscovered.

And then we go onward to the next day of E3, Nintendo’s big day. You can’t imagine the tension I had in myself as I turned on the laptop. I was actually considering not checking IGN.com out until the end of the week because I just might ruin myself. The primary thing that I had in my mind then was a probable teaser trailer for the next Zelda on the Wii, complete with MotionPlus controls. I was ashamed at myself for even expecting that much. In any case, the minute I logged in that morning, it was apparent that Zelda was nowhere to be found. My immediate impression was that of something Mario and Metroid which was good news nonetheless. The problem I had at that moment was how to go about all the news of the past night. There so much coverage on different games that the only logical way for me to get everything right was to start with the show where it all began, Nintendo’s press conference. It was quite a while before they were able to upload the whole replay of the conference but I persevered. I watched that one whole hour with all the surprises at the right moments. I still had that Zelda thing in my head but I can say I’m not disappointed on Nintendo’s new first-party line-up: New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M.

New Super Mario Bros. Wii is basically New Super Mario Bros. ported up to the Wii and added with 4-player mode. They said this is Mr. Miyamoto’s new masterpiece and undoubtedly it is. This is one more game where what really matters is having fun with everyone. This is supposedly Nintendo’s hardcore game for 2009. I’ll be getting it definitely but this does not appease my hunger entirely. The other two games though bring a better stand in my opinion. Super Mario Galaxy 2 is something I’ll definitely want. SMG2, for me, embodies the sequel to SMG’s story, provides newer, more intense gameplay and the same stunning graphics the first game brought to the console. Metroid: Other M was an unexpecting surprise, as I’m sure everyone around the world could say. Nintendo has teamed up with another third-party developer to recreate the Metroid franchise. This developer, Team Ninja, has a track record for mature games most recently of which is Ninja Gaiden 2. The new Metroid game entitled Metroid: Other M can be said to be action-packed, more so  than the Prime series co-developed with Retro Studios. During the conference, the trailer boasted a seriously action-based third-person perspective gameplay which includes some first-person action at some points. It’s still unknown how everything works but I am definitely confident in this new game. They also emphasized that Metroid history will be more prominent in this game, venturing on Samus’ past. The two latter games are slated for 2010 releases, a pretty long time for more development. The good thing after this whole conference though was that Miyamoto had his own roundtable with the press. It was there he assured the existence of the new Zelda Wii. WiiMotionPlus control is the main deal in this game according to the the Nintedo director. His words were “Imagine WiiSportsResort archery and fencing with this game”. That alone lifted my shattered hopes a lot.

This is probably the jist of my whole E3 experience. After that, I was left with nothing else to do since Sony’s conference didn’t interest me as much. The following days called me to just check out the whole of IGN.com every now and then. I got the feed on Hideo Kojima’s new Metal Gear plans for both XBox360 and PS3. I also had eyed a bit on the new PSP Go!, something I actually considered if I was going to buy or not. There were also feed here and there of certain game demos namely, Assassin’s Creed 2, Prototype, Uncharted 2, Splinter Cell: Conviction, and MAG. Not to mention I’m totally hyped up for WiiMotionPlus coming out this month and also the long-awaited hardcore/casual game of Wii Sports Resort.

After this show, I’ll probably list my 2009 waiting list accordingly. In no particular order:

• Wii Sports Resort
• Tiger Woods PGA ‘10 (along with WiiMotionPlus’ release)
• Overlord: Dark Legend (after seeing Pikmin in my hands, I’m quite doubtful with this game)
• Muramasa: Demon Blade (2D game so it’s pending)
• Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon (pending because it’s a “drama” game)
• Red Steel 2
• Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
• New Super Mario Bros. Wii
• The Conduit
• Dead Space Extraction
• Rabbids Go Home (depends on the final  reviews)

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E3 aside, a lots been happening at home. I’ll be back to school in a week so I’m experiencing all the gaming time I can get. My sister’s back on her feet with Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess which is pretty awesome. I myself am back to playing Mario Galaxy, a product of hearing SMG2 in the making. I have 20 more stars left to go before I get Luigi. After that, I’ll be content. Besides school and gaming, it’s an important deal that I’ll finally be getting my braces this week. I’m brimmed with apprehesion but I’ve long succumbed to this deal already. Anime is on an all-time low but it’ll rise again this coming week. I might go into more of it in addition to the FMA addiction I have now. 

All these can be called breaking news, gaming or not.

~ by JP on June 7, 2009.