Thursday at Comic Con has somehow become Scott Pilgrim Day. The awesome individuals responsible for the upcoming Scott Pilgrim Versus the World feature have been kind enough to host a daily party at the Hilton Gaslamp across the street from San Diego Comic Con. The party is all kinds of awesome. You get to make your own custom Scott Pilgrim t-shirt (and we’re talking professional screen printed stuff – not that iron on bullshit), your own flip book starring yourself doing kung fu and play the new Scott Pilgrim UbiSoft video game coming to Playstation Network and XBox Live. The game itself is a wonderful throwback to smash and bash classics such as Streets of Rage, only this is nerds fight hipsters and groupies. It’s basically a geek’s wet dream, going around smashing in the faces of those oh, too cool scenesters and hipsters us comics readers and gamers have to deal with on a day to day basis. To top it off, cast and crew members are making rounds doing signings and taking pictures and giving out free, delicious Garlic Bread to munch on.
This is the 8th Comic Con I’ve attended and have found that this is by far the coolest, most hyped up without being inflated party for a comic movie and for well deserved material. I was able to attend the Scott Pilgrim panel and it rocked. With 13 cast members in attendance, Michael Cera wearing a Captain America costume (in honor of the missing Chris Evans who is currently filming The First Avenger), fans were greeted by a surprise appearance from Nick Frost and Simon Pegg, and Edgar Wright even called out Sly Stallone for an arm wrestling contest. It goes without saying that, Scott Pilgrim Versus the World really has been the perfect way to kick off Comic Con for this decade. The filmmakers and comic creator is tangible, the source material has just wrapped up in the most perfect way and the fans got a taste of what will be a faithful and awesome film with one killer soundtrack.
If you’re at Comic Con this year, the Scott Pilgrim party at the Hilton is a must. It’s going on from noon to 6:00 PM every day, but get in line early, the wait will surely be a bitch (but well worth the wait) and the free shirts are sweet. There’s also some preview screenings at The Balboa Theater tomorrow and Saturday, so if you get the chance to see it, do, Swank said that the movie lives up to it’s epic epicness.
Playdead Studios located in Copenhagen, Denmark created this wonderfully dark dramatic game. In the same vein as 2008’s Braid, the entire game is up for your own interpretation. The only story given to you explains that you’ve lost your sister, and you are trying to find her.
LIMBO‘s color scheme is black and white with shades of grey, creating an eerie atmosphere. Very quickly you realize this world you are in is extraordinarily dangerous, every puzzle having a very gruesome consequence for not completing it correctly.
Depending on your skill set, its about a 5 – 6 hour game with lots of secrets for repeat play throughs. There are also some avatar rewards that seem pretty easy to unlock. I got one for completing the game, and another for a secret white orb to the left at the very start of the game.
The controls are very simple. Jump and action. Action being used for pushing or pulling items. In the options menu, you can turn off the gore if you’d prefer it. To be completely honest, the gruesome nature of the game can be startling. Especially considering the protagonist is a young boy.
I would highly recommend anyone with the ability to do so to check out this game. Anyone that labels themselves as a gamer, even a casual one, needs to experience it. LIMBO will be available for download July 21st.
And please, share your thoughts and interpretations on our forum thread.
Utah’s one and only gaming expo returns tomorrow after a hiatus in 2009, moving their digs to the Southtowne Expo Center and bringing in double the events and vendors. Before you stock up on Mountain Dew and nacho cheese for the 30 hour LAN parties, check out this interview the organizers had with City Weekly blogger Gavin Sheehan.
Gavin: How did the idea to start up GEEX come about?
Kurt: Most of us involved with GEEX are big gamers. We were probably hanging around talking about the latest WoW raid and thought wouldn’t it be cool if there was some sort of gaming event in Utah? We started brainstorming from there and working with the MediaOne event team we made it a reality.
Gavin: On top of this you’ll have events with Cosplay, making a game in a day, stuff for women geeks. Tell us a bit about the added activities you’ll have going on.
Kurt: At the last GEEX, we were surprised (we shouldn’t have been) to have cosplayers show up in costume just for fun. They were ecstatic to be at a local gaming event showing off their hard work. This year we knew we needed to make this a part of the show. The cosplay contest will be taking place on the main stage Saturday afternoon.
Josh: We also wanted to make sure that we had events for everyone interested. Budding developers or people interested in video game development are welcome to participate in the Game In A Day where they’ll have the opportunity to work with video game professionals and others to create a video game from scratch in 24 hours.
LeGrande: The stereotype for gamers is the nerdy male sitting in his parents basement playing WoW until 4AM. But we know that there are plenty of normal people including women that are into video games just as much. We wanted to showcase some of the topics and women developers in panels and forums focused towards this very important audience.
Do you have a PS3? Do you have Little Big Planet? Well if you do you’ll soon be able to dress your sackboy up like your favorite Marvel superheroes! Starting on July 7th costume packs will be available on the Playstation Store. Marvel has released the first image of the Iron Man costume which I will post below. First, this is what Playstation had to say about it on their blog.
Hey, True Believers! Coming soon to the PlayStation Store will be a whole series of official Marvel comic Super Hero and Super Villain costumes for your Sackboys and Sackgirls. Starting July 7th and every other week following, we’ll introduce four different Marvel Costume Packs, each with five different costumes depicting Marvel’s mightiest Super Heroes and most dreaded Super Villains. Starting Monday, Marvel.com will unveil the glorious details for each costume. But for now, here’s the full list to let your imagination run wild…
Captain America
Daredevil
Doctor Octopus
Elektra
Ghost Rider
Green Goblin
Hulk
Invisible Woman
Iron Man
The Human Torch
Magneto
Mystique
The Punisher
Rogue
Spider-Man
Storm
The Thing
Thor
Venom
Wolverine
Plus, we’re also unveiling a spectacular Marvel Level Kit, which includes a four levels of adventure against the evil plans of Magneto. And of course, while you play through the levels, you’ll collect a huge assortment of Marvel-themed music , objects , materials , stickers , and a special “Rooftop” background to help you CREATE your own dastardly levels. Stay tuned to more details on the Marvel Level Kit next week. Till then…
Here are the announcements that Sony made today at their press conference at E3 this year:
The conference started off with Sony talking about games that will start to use 3D technology. These aren’t games that are converted to 3D but will be programmed for use with 3D television sets. Now you would have the option, in-game, of 3D or regular graphics. Current games that received patches and are already 3D capable are Super Stardust HD, Pain, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, and Wipeout HD. By March of 2011 we will have a mixture of 20 first and third party games in this format. Among those we will get in the next year are Killzone 3, Gran Turismo 5, Motorstorm: Apocalypse, The Sly Collection, Crysis 2, Mortal Kombat, Shawn White Skateboarding, Disney’s Tron Evolution and NBA 2K11.
I think this is very exciting news for Sony. The unfortunate downside though is that 3D tvs are a bit on the pricey side. However if you do have one these games are going to look great!
Next up Sony showed us the Playstaion Move. Move is the new motion controller for the PS3. While similar in nature to the Wii controllers this technology seems to be a lot more precise.They showed off a game called Sorcery where you are a wizard and you run around using spells to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. The impressive thing about this is that Move sports a 1:1 movement ratio. Meaning whatever movements you make, your character makes the exact movements. They announced Move support for a lot of upcoming games, although it will not be required to play them. Some of the games with Move functionality are Socom 4, Time Crisis, Killzone 3, Singstar Dance, Echochrome 2, Eyepet, Resident Evil 5: Gold, Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest. Also announced is an action adventure game that lets you play as different characters from a variety of Sony exclusive games. Characters include Ratchet, Clank, Jak, Daxter, Sly Cooper, and Bentley.
Move will release in Europe on Sept 15th, North America on Sept 19th, and Japan on Oct 21st. Pricing will be as follows: Motion Controller $49.99, Navagation controller $29.99, Motion Bundle (Includes Eyecamera, Motion Controller, Navagation Controller, and Sports Champions) $99.99, and a PS3 Bundle (Includes PS3 System + Motion Bundle) $399.99.
When Move releases there will be 15-20 titles at launch. Launch titles include The Fight: Lights Out, Sports Champions, Brunswick Bowling, Tumble, and Start the Party. Move titles will be priced at $39.99.
Yeah there will be some people that say that this is a Wii rip off. And you know what? It may be. I think Sony took something that was just ok and made it so much better. I also think that unless you have a Wii for Nintendo characters like Mario or any of their branded characters that the Move and Microsofts Kinect have officially made Wii obsolete.
After their Move presentation Sony ann0unced that they are partnering with Coke to help promote the Move’s release. Later this year Coke will be shipping off 100 million units of product with Sony, PS3, and Move branded on it along with having promotions to win .
Kevin Butler then came out. For those of you who haven’t seen Playstations commercials lately Kevin Butler is usually listed as VP of (insert title here) and is a pretty funny guy. He came out and gave a “motivational” speech about Sony and gaming.
Next was a brief PSP presentation. Notable games shown were God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Invisimals, and Eyepet PSP. The last two will use a camera device that attaches to the PSP.
Playstation Network was next on the agenda. One really cool thing is that if you are a PS3 owner and are not able to attend E3 then you can visit a compete replica of Sony’s booth if you log in to Playstation Home. I did this myself and got to walk around and see all the kiosks and videos they had playing along with earning items for my avatar in Home.
The rumored PSN premium service was announced. Now before I get into specifics this does not change the way the PSN is now. It will still be free to play games and chat with friends online. However if you choose to pay $49.99 a year or $17.99 for three months then you can become a member of Playstation Plus. This premium service will give you access to all kinds of free stuff like advance demos or beta tests, avatars, themes, and full PSN games. This lasts for the duration of your subscription, that means if you choose to end your subscription then the content becomes locked on your PS3 and you can’t access it. Playstation Plus members will also be able to use the cross game voice chat function. So if you are playing Modnation Racers and you’re friend is playing God of War III, but you guys wanna voice chat you will be able to. That service starts later this month and for a limited time you will be able to get 3 months free.
I will be trying out the three months for sure. Unless I really really don’t like it I will be subscribing for sure!
Little Big Planet 2 was shown and is more impressive than the first. The level creation in the 2nd installment is so much more detailed than the first letting you make mini-games in addition to the levels. Also All levels created from LBP1 will carry over to their new servers.
EA came out with a few announcements next. First was about the new Medal of Honor. In the past this series has always been set in WWII. That is no longer the case as the next MoH game will be set present day in Afghanistan. PS3 will get the exclusive limited edition of the game that will include a remastered version of the PS2 hit Medal of Honor: Frontline. You will also be able to unlock awesome beards in the game. Yeah I said it… BEARDS! After Medal of Honor we got the first look at Dead Space 2 which looks even creepier and scarier than the first!
The next bit of news is one of my favorites from this press conference. Valve will be bringing Portal 2 to the PS3. It will have full integration with Steam including Steam Cloud and auto updates. We were also told that the best console version of this game will be the PS3.
We got to see a variety of upcoming games and videos shown for the next little bit. Games shown were Final Fantasy XIV, Mafia 2, Metal Gear Solid: Rising, Assassins Creed: Brotherhood, Marvel vs Capcom 3, True Crime, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, Dead Nation, and probably the next game I’m looking forward to the most DC Universe Online.
Getting down to the home stretch we were shown a video of Gran Turismo 5. I’m got really excited when they showed that the Test Track from Top Gear was going to be on it. What? I like my british car shows!
Infamous 2 was shown next with a newly remodeled Cole. And yeah, he has hair now! I loved the first one so much so I hope this one doesn’t disappoint.
The last announcement was probably one of the best kept E3 secrets I’ve seen. Its about the return of a franchise we haven’t seen for quite sometime. Even though they’ve denied its existence we are getting a brand new Twisted Metal! This one will include destructible environments, helicopeters and one kick ass of a multiplayer system! And accompanying David Jaffe to the stage was a real life replica of Sweet Tooth’s Ice Cream Van complete with a freaky looking Sweet Tooth inside!
Well there you go. I won’t try to hide it, I love Sony and the PS3! And this press conference just made me wet… with perspiration over what is coming in the next year! Tell me what you think about these announcements why don’cha???
A new Golden Eye by Activision, with Daniel Craig doing the voice acting.. but keeping the classic graphics….
They showed gameplay of Epic Mickey
Kirby Yarn World.. Or world of yarn… Kirby anyway is coming!!!
New Metroid Trailer.. yay
NEW DONKEY KONG COUNTRY!!! — I don’t think I can type that with any more excitement.. sadly this may be my favorite part of Nintendo’s show.
They finally revealed the 3ds!!
The top screen is a 3.5″ wide screen 3d display. the bottom screen looks like a standard touch screen from a DSI. the D pad is the same, and above that is an analog thumb stick, and to the right your usual buttons. The system will have a slider that allows you to adjust the amount of 3d applied to each title.. Which makes me worry the 3d may not be awesome for everybody.
Kid Icarus will be releasing as a 3Ds title, which is what project Sora that they discussed last year is.
The list of 3rd party developers for the 3DS was pretty large. But Capcom has mentioned a Resident Evil for it. A Ridge Racer possibly, a possible Metal Gear title. and more….
It wasn’t a horrible presentation, it was just a presentation. In my unimportant opinion the 3Ds looks really good, and I can’t wait for the Donkey Kong Country, and I’ll be buying the Kirby as well.. Nintendogs + Cats looks ok… But otherwise, in comparison I still think Microsoft is the winner. Check back for more after the Sony Conference
Criterion Games is taking the NFS franchise back to their roots, police vs. Cars, The game was demonstrated on a PS3 and looked gorgeous. It releases November 16, 2010
Dead Space 2
Even more game play was shared, they will share even more tomorrow at Sony’s Conference. Releases Jan 25, 2011
Medal of Honor
Beta goes live Monday June 21, 2010. Members of gunclub.ea.com will get early access if they have it pre-ordered on Thursday.
Battlefield Vietnam Expansion
Releasing this winter
EA MMA:
Releasing Oct 19, 2010
EA Active 2
Releasing on ALL Consoles… Uh oh, Nintendo… Includes Heart Rate Monitor, Online tracking, tension bands, and releases November 16, 2010
E3 SUMMARY: Day 1, we’ll try to cover the stuff, so you won’t have to watch too much..
I played through this game last week, but only after hearing how amazing it was. It has been getting really good reviews across the board, and for this reason I didn’t think it would be worth my time to write a review because I didn’t think I would have anything to contribute that hadn’t already been said… After playing for just a few hours I realized that the reviews were all wrong, and the more I played the more disappointed I was.
For starters, as far as gameplay and graphics go, I don’t think there is any improvement on the first game at all. The game is even easier, and the levels seem to be shorter. Not only that, but there are only six really short worlds… Because of how fast I was running through them, I thought there would at least be eight… but no… six. It literally only took a single day to beat this game, which has never happened to me in all 3D Mario game history… New Super Mario Bros. Wii took longer for a first play through, which is only impressive because it is a typical platformer. And it wasn’t as if the bosses in the first Mario Galaxy were hard, but they weren’t nearly as easy as the ones in this game. (With a single exception.) The final form of Bowser in the last world took me one try to defeat… and believe me, I’m not trying to brag in any way… I’m not that talented a gamer… I was simply disgusted that there was nothing to figure out on the final boss… such a disappointment… (Much worse than New Super Mario Bros. Wii’s Bowser.)
If you can look past the lack of content in this game, then lets look at what they did that was new. One of the things I look for in Mario games is the new power-ups that have pretty consistently varied from game to game. In this one, they added a cloud hat that allowed you to create three clouds that you would land on top of… In a way this move is about as close to flying as the Galaxy games have come, (since the bee’s flight is even more limited), and I think this was a pretty fun and innovative power-up. My problem with it is that it seemed like they never had you use it to its full potential. Any hurdle that they put in place for this power-up would be very remedial… There’s even a boss battle that forces you to use it and it was the easiest boss in the game.
And now we arrive at the biggest selling point of Super Mario Galaxy 2— Yoshi. The first use of Yoshi in a 3D Mario game, and it was completely unimpressive… Yoshi was essentially just another power-up, and he’s barely incorporated into the game. I didn’t know what to expect exactly, but in other Mario games they’ve implemented different colored Yoshis, that had different types of powers… (The red one spit fire, the yellow one had a special stomp, etc.) In this game you can only get a green Yoshi that can eat two different food items that give you two specific types of powers. One that allows you to float for about 6 seconds, and a hot pepper that makes you run fast for about 15 seconds. You literally never get to test these powers anywhere in the entire game except at the limited spots that they are absolutely required. (There’s hardly any puzzle aspect to this type of game play at all.)
The game wasn’t a complete waste of time, but it was majorly disappointing. It had really easy controls, and I think the Galaxy gravity system is pretty impressive. (Even though it isn’t any better or more impressive than the first Mario Galaxy’s system.) The only thing I think this game did better was the Mario ship interface. (Basically, the ship you travel around the galaxy with is much smaller, and doesn’t waste as much of your time running around it.)
All in all, I think this wasn’t as good as the first Mario Galaxy game, and maybe one of the least ambitious Mario projects since Super Nintendo’s “Mario Is Missing”.
SCORE:
Graphics: 6 for lack of improvement.
Sound: 6 because I don’t give a damn.
Replay: 3 because I would rather reply the first one.
