Day 2 of the Denver Comic Con saw more disgustingly long registration lines, more costumes, more awesome stuff for sale, more interesting educational panels, and more nerdy excitement. The convention had at least matched, probably outdid, the attendance numbers of the very first New York Comic Con. Hopefully this bodes well for the continued growth of the DCC. Day 2 brought more indications of serious logistical failings on the part of the DCC management, but luckily nothing approaching catastrophic. By the end of the weekend they had run out of printed programs, and had nearly run out of day-pass wristbands. Actual attendance at least tripled, and possibly quadrupled the expected numbers. Geeks from all over the midwest traveled in for the Con, I heard reports of people traveling from Wyoming and Texas to attend.

It’s probably safe to assume there will be a Denver Comic Con 2013 next year—assuming the world doesn’t end in December, of course—and that many of these logistical hiccups will be smoothed out by then. Read on for a brief take on a few panels I attended.

New Horror and Urban-Fantasy Literature

Being the artsy-fartsy creative-type nerd that I am, the genre writers panels grabbed my interest. The first was a panel on the future of Horror & Urban Fantasy Literature with a variety of authors for panelists including: Carrie Vaughan, “Kitty Norville” series; David Boop, “She Murdered Me With Science”; Betsy Dornbusch, editor at ElectricSpec; Stephen Graham Jones, horror author and creative writing professor; and Jeanne Stein, “Anna Strong” series. (Keep an eye out for a full panel report soon.)

The panelists discussed a range of topics. They started by mentioning some of their favorite authors and books in the genres. Next they discussed genre as a marketing tool, as an author’s toolbox, and spoke on the need for genre cross-pollination. Boop even claimed, “Genre is dead,” and we are “Living in the age of the Tag.” There was a hesitant consensus that a lot of innovation is first done in the world of short fiction. Jones phrased it well, saying, “If a short story fails, I’ve only wasted an afternoon and I can move on, but if a novel fails I’ve wasted months of my life.”

They had a lot of advice for aspiring writers, and spoke about what trends they see coming up in the worlds of horror and urban-fantasy. Most of them agreed that angels and demons seem to be the new up-and-coming theme, and Boop predicted that our current state of heightened political and economic awareness will probably find its way into upcoming fiction, and science-fiction in particular. Vaughn said she had seen a post online that most agents are no longer interested in urban-fantasy, or at least in what urban-fantasy has come to mean—read: modern romance with supernatural elements—and encouraged everyone in the room to spread their wings and try weird, new things.

Eisner Award Creators: Comics’ Best in One Room

Further compounding Denver Comic Con’s logistical issues, at the next panel I attended, called “Eisner Award Creators: Comics’ Best in One Room,” the four panelists were only told that they were taking part in the panel about an hour before it was supposed to happen. They had no time to prepare so it was a bit of a rudderless, meandering affair. Panelists included: Ben Templesmith, “30 Days of Night”; Matt Kindt, “Super Spy”; Peter Gross, “The Unwritten”; and Mike Baron, “Nexus.”

As it turned out, Mike Baron was the only panelist who had won an Eisner (in fact, he’s won two), but each of the others have been nominated for Eisners, and various other awards as well. They agreed that being nominated was a good feeling, it was like a stamp of quality. Or in the words of the ever-cheeky Templesmith, “I like being nominated, it means you’re not total crap, you know?” They discussed the actual Eisner awarding process for a while, including who gets to vote, and how the smaller publisher guys tend to be at a disadvantage because the bigger companies might be encouraging their employees to vote a certain way.

When an audience member asked if being nominated for an Eisner opened doors in the industry, Templesmith replied, “It means you can switch from the chicken-flavored Ramen to the beef-flavor.” Jokes aside, publishers love to plaster “Eisner Nominated/Winner” on the covers of everything. They all seemed to agree that everyone should be reading the graphic novel series “Prophet” which is a reinvention of an old 90’s character in name only. They also encouraged people to check out Scott Snyder’s “Batman” books.

They shared their origin stories in the comics industry, and just like every time someone asks the old, “How did you get into the industry?” question, everyone’s route was completely different. The overall message seemed to be: if you want to be making comics, start making comics. (This sentiment would echoed again in the “Writing for Comics with the Pros” panel on Day 3.)

An audience member asked about digital distribution and the panelists discussed the pros and cons. Baron was particularly insightful, “I’m torn about it. A comic book is a thing you hold in your hands. Comic people are often collectors as well as fans. It’s not just the story, they want to have that artifact in their collection. If they’re fine with having a file on their iPad, then power to them, but I imagine print comics will never go away. Both because of collectors, and because of the physicality of holding a comic book in your hands.”

In an interesting analysis, Kindt commented on a change in the writing of comics. Specifically the move away from writing for a satisfying, 24-page monthly. “Everyone seems to be writing for the trades now, and the old monthlies kind of feel like an outmoded form of storytelling. I’ve been trying to think about what a 24 page monthly can do that a graphic novel cant, and that’s hard. There’s a big difference between sitting down and reading 300 pages of a series compared to reading a little bit each month. I kind of wish comics were like that again, when I was a kid you’d pore over an issue for thirty days until the next one came out.” They all seemed wary of the motion comics thing, Gross said, “I think our art has evolved beyond cheap animation, that’s another thing altogether. But hopefully with the new, digital format we’ll bring in new readers.”

I Am Geek, Hear Me Roar

This was a panel on the role of gender in the increasingly gender-neutral nerd and geek cultures. Panelists included: Lisa Manglass, a Health Physicist and Environmental Consultant; Kylee Lane, found and CEO for Luxury Lane Soaps, a very successful company; Laura Keeney, a nerdy journalist; Melinda Catherine Gross, an actress, stunt woman, and fight choreographer; Kimie (no last name given), a teacher at a school for gifted students; and moderated by Tara Quick an owner of two businesses. Each panelists—with the exception of Kylee Lane—readily self identified as geeks, and spoke about their love of things from sci-fi to home car repair, science to comic books, and video games to horror movies. (Keep an eye out for a full panel report coming soon.)

Most of the conversation, including plenty of audience questions, revolved around the utility or obsolescence of the term “geek girl.” The argument regarded the needless addition of the word “girl” to a term that should, by all rights, be gender-neutral by now. “We don’t call you ‘geek guys’ but we do use the term ‘geek girls,’” said Quick. Lane obviously disapproved of its use, saying “As long as we keep saying this, we’re going to perpetuate it, and keep separating ourselves.” Some of the other panelists gave soft counters. Keeney replied, “I agree, but since it was odd for so many years for girls to be into these kinds of things, we had to learn that it was okay to be a geek and a girl. … I refer to myself as a geek girl at times because I’m proud of it. Both my femininity, and what I’m into.”

A female audience member commented on the strange duality of the geek girl issue. Especially how geek girls online are either treated horribly, or fetishized and fawned over. Because of these, she said that she calls herself a “geek” and refuses to add the “girl” on the end. A male audience member spoke up, giving a lighter take on the usefulness of the “geek girl” term, saying, “Growing up as a male nerd, we still get this sense that a lot of girls won’t be interested in us because girls aren’t into these kinds of things. So it’s nice to know that it’s not just me and my nerdy male friends and that there’s this larger world of geekdom complete with women.” Everyone laughed.

Some folks complained about the hyper-sexualization of women in comics, video games, and movies. It was refreshing to hear Lane reply, “Well, that goes both ways. Have you seen what Superman wears?” The conversation then turned to the fact that you don’t need to strip away people’s sexuality entirely in order to find gender equality.

Quick brought the question to the table: is there even a point in having a panel like this? Most seemed to agree that it was still a conversation worth having, but maybe we should be talking about the next step, rather than the current state of the culture.

What the panel was called:

You may have heard that Wil Wheaton cancelled his appearance at the DCC at the last minute. Aaron Douglas (Chief, Battlestar Galactica) was slated to fill in for the time slot originally assigned to Wheaton. There was some confusion and the panel started late, so it was a short one, but it started off hilarious and didn’t stop delivering until we were ushered back into the hall. Paul and Storm started with a Powerpoint slide show about Wil Wheaton’s life and most famous roles, but with Aaron Douglas’ adult face Photoshopped onto every picture of Weaton from “Stand by Me” to “Star Trek” to “The Big Bang Theory” to “Eureka.”

The banter between Douglas and the comedy duo was priceless, but unfortunately it wouldn’t do justice to repeat it in prose. You had to be there—and if you live in the area, you should have been there. Suffice it to say, Aaron Douglas is a hell of a funny guy, and charming to boot—albeit a little pandering. In one notable moment, Aaron Douglas asked everyone in the room to text an ASCII picture of a penis to Wil Wheaton.

Then Douglas told a series of hilarious stories from the set of Battlestar Galactica, including numerous impersonations of Edward James Olmos, which Douglas does quite well. The best story was about the boxing episode of Battlestar Galactica, which if you don’t remember, involved a variety of crew members boxing each other. Olmos’ Adama, and Douglas’ Chief duked it out in the episode as well, but it turns out things got surprisingly physical on set as well. After Douglas accidentally socked Olmos square in the face—which he claims was Olmos’ fault for leaning in when he should have juked, as per the choreographer’s instructions—Olmos stepped back and said, “So that’s what we’re gonna do, eh?” and proceeded to beat the hell out of Douglas, even when the camera was rolling. Douglas had no choice and started fighting back, and at one point in the scene, Chief has Adama up on the ropes and is going to town on his midsection. According to Douglas, he wasn’t holding back, “I’m not kidding. I wailed on that old man.”

Coming out of that panel, my cheeks hurt from laughing for thirty minutes straight. It was a great way to close out the day. Keep watching the feed, Day 3 coverage and in-depth panel reviews are just around the corner.

[Connor Cleary is an author, video game columnist and critic, and a freelance web-slash-graphic designer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]

Oh, the smell of nerdy excitement, it’s unmistakable once you’ve known it. And the excited nerds were on parade in force last night. The inception of our very own midwest comic con is a pretty exciting moment for those of us who never had the time or money to go to any of the big, coastal comic cons. The lines for badge pickup were enormous, many of the costumes bordered on PG-13, and the creatives came down in droves to hawk their wares in the Artist Alley. There’s a lot of talent on display here, much of it for sale at prices ranging from reasonable to obscene.

I’ve been to cons in the past, but I’m a little ashamed to say this is my first Comic Con. So go ahead and tally me among the excited geeky horde.

The first evening of the DCC was pretty low-key. There were a handful of panels going on, but nothing too incredibly exciting. So it was mostly people looking around, checking out the exhibitors and artists, and showing off their costumes—keep an eye out for some cosplay pictures in the near future. There’s no people-watching quite like people-watching at a con, and DCC doesn’t disappoint. The combination of nerdy social ineptitude and the comfort level that comes from being around a ton of people who share your interests always makes for entertaining scenes.

As you might expect from a brand new con, the DCC suffers from some logistical issues. For instance, the panelists at a panel I went to this morning (Saturday) had no idea they were doing it until about an hour before hand. They had nothing prepared, and it was a bit of a meandering affair. The program guide is less than intuitive, and there is a serious lack of panel descriptions and programming explanations. Going to any given event was a little hit or miss.

Again, these hiccups are to be expected, and it’s probably safe to say that the next Denver Comic Con will be a lot more organized. Despite the few shortcomings, it’s a blast to be here. Keep an eye out for more coverage soon.

[Connor Cleary is an author, video game columnist and critic, and a freelance web-slash-graphic designer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]

Before we get to the news today, I’d like to point something out for everyone about the PlayStation Vita. Yes, a white version is coming with the Assassin’s Creed: Liberation bundle in October. The bundle also comes with a 4GB memory card. The price is identical to the current MSRP of the wi-fi Vita that doesn’t come with a game. (Does the standard version even have a memory card?) Taking that at face value it’s no wonder people are freaking about it being such a great deal. But, wait! Have these people also failed to notice the $50 gift card promotion coming iwth new Vita purchases at Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop. If you haven’t been following gaming news for very long you might not know what this means. I have, so let me explain. These gift card deals start popping up at retailers when a price drop is imminent. So, I’m not telling you the Vita isn’t worth the current price, and I’m not telling you the white bundle won’t be an awesome deal in October. What I am saying is that the standard model will have a price drop, or possibly a different SKU bundle, prior to October 30th. I wouldn’t even be surprised to see it in mid-July. So if you want a Vita but were waiting for the bundle, and you don’t care about getting a white one, go ahead and get it now. Use that extra $50 gift card to get yourself a nice memory card and maybe preorder Liberation. Or you could dither like me. I have the cash now and want it, but it’s probably more prudent to save and buy it in October as summer is going to be expensive anyway. I also really want that white one to match my Vader PSP.

Anyway, NEWS:

Marvel’s second issue (of three) of the Max Payne 3 comic is out now. It’s written by the game’s creators and drawn by Jorge Molina. It’s also free. The game released last month to generally good reviews. The only complaint seems to be the intense difficulty.

Might and Delight (made up of vets from Grin Studios, the team that brought Rad Spencer back to the spotlight with Bionic Commando: Rearmed) has found a publishing partner for its puzzle platformer, Pid. I’m not sure about naming your game after an acronym for pelvic inflammatory disease, but with the pedigree of the team and a publishing deal with D3, you should be watching for this one. It looks like it will be coming to PSN and XBLA later this year.

Crytek’s Founder and CEO, Cevat Yevli, doesn’t understand the shit storm he’s just unleashed. Sure, it’s great that he’s using Twitter to communicate with fans. But using it to evaluate the fan demand for Time Splitters 4 is going to give him headaches he doesn’t even understand. No good can come of this Mr Yevli. Internet fanboys are going to create fake Twitter IDs just to boost the numbers in their favor, so if you’re looking for an accurate count, too bad. Then, if you don’t release the game sometime in the next three months, something we all know is impossible, those same “legions” of Twittards will barrage you with demands about the status, when it’s coming out, why you hate your fans, and then demand it be released for free because of the delay. Congratulations Mr. Yevli, your ploy to gain more followers will work. And congratulations to the Time Splitters community. You’ve now gained an outlet to vent your demands.

A rating by the Australian classification board seems to confirm that Ubisoft is releasing a licensed game to accompany The Expendables 2 in August. Really, if any movie deserves a video game it’s got to be this one. Unfortunately, a rating doesn’t give us any important information, like game style (shooter, duh), platforms, voice actors, etc. According to the rumor mill last month, knife kills and shooting are included, as well as a chopper mini-game. “Get to da choppa!” Expect this to release the same week as the film, August 17th. The movie features Jet Li, Jason Statham, the lesser Hemsworth, and a bunch of guys that really are “too old for this shit.”

Playdead took the world by storm with the artistic and creepy Limbo. The first image from their follow-up, currently called Project 2, has been released through the Danish Film Insitute (who are supporting the project with a $1million grant). Though the image doesn’t show much of it, this game will be in color. It’s also being described as 2D platformer in a 3D environment. I make no claims as to hwo accurate the translation is, but the game’s description appears to be: “Through unique puzzles and changing scenarios narrated the story of one boy’s struggle against evil forces through questionable experiments on human bodies, trying to take over the world.” Hopefully the game makes a little more sense than that translation into defective English. Then again, this is Playdead, so it might not make any sense at all.

Some of the voice cast for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron has been revealed, and it’s completely top-shelf. One of the biggest names in voice-acting, Nolan North, is on the list. But he’s not the only top talent. Greg Berger, Fred Tatasciore, Steve Blum, and Isaac Singleton are also included. It’s also important to note that Optimus Prime will sound just like you know he should, because Peter Cullen, who has voiced Optimus for over twenty years has gone back to the booth for the game. You’ll be hearing them all when the game releases August 28th.

Despite their heavy presence at E3, Microsoft has decided they are done with the major shows this year. According to Microsoft’s Major Nelson, “As you saw at E3, we have a solid line-up of games launching this holiday, along with other entertainment experiences. We’ve changed our approach a little, though. This year, Xbox will be focusing on smaller, more localized promotions and experiences for press, partners, retailers and customers around the world.” That means they won’t be at Gamescom in Germany or the Tokyo Game Show. Along with E3, those two make up the holy trinity of games journalism. It’s a bit of an odd strategy, but XBox’s power base has always been in the United States, so it’s understandable for them to look at this as a way of saving on travel expenses. Focusing on smaller shows could also mean the journalists at those events will get more in depth with creators and a deeper hands-on experience. With software, as opposed to hardware, being the keystone this year, a more intimate strategy could give them an edge.

Beta for the Dawnguard expansion of Skyrim is going on now. Don’t be upset if you didn’t get the invite. Less than one half of one percent of applications were selected. Those beta testers aren’t being shy about breaking any embargo though, if they even agreed to one. Details about content are already hitting the web. Harkon, a vampire lord who has watched too many episodes of The Simpson’s is looking to use an Elder Scroll to blot out the sun, a la Mr. Burns. You are picking sides. If you choose to aid Harkon and become a Vampire Lord you’ll gain the ability to turn into a flock of bats (inFamous: Festival of Blood, anyone?), as well as the Vampiric Grip ability. Joining the vampire slaying Dawnguard gets you new weapons (including the slow but powerful crossbow) and the ability to hire troll thugs. The expansion also includes the new Soul Tear dragon shout, allowing you to tear out a person’s soul, then revive them to be your undead companion. You can also summon a skeleton horse. Bethesda has said you can expect 10-20 hours for the addition, not as long as Shivering Isles but longer than anything added to Fallout 3. I want to fault the concept for being so derivative (Simpson’s plot, inFamous ability, Red Dead skeleton horse, etc) but it all sounds so good together, and the game has such a great following, that I’m actually going to give it a pass for now. The DLC should be available to all later this month.

Neversoft has been rumored to be working on a Call of Duty title for Activision as long ago as September when they started advertising for FPS developers. It’s noww been confirmed on their website with further career advertising. They’re looking for level designers (SP and MP), concept artists, and animators “in support of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise.” It’s unknown what part of the franchise they’re developing, but references to a future setting indicate it could be Black Ops, which is moving to 2025 with its next game.

As expected, thatgamecompany is breaking away from Sony now that Journey has completed their three game “incubation” deal. The announcement comes after the developer was able to $5.5million and become independent. A large portion of that funding comes from Benchmark Capital, and will see their Mitch Lasky on thatgamecompany’s board. This deal will bring their future games to wider release, though nothing has been formally announced.

And that looks to be it for the week. I already ranted in the opening, so I don’t have anything left for the closing. Check back Tuesday for next week’s early edition.

The very first ever, most inaugural Denver Comic Con kicks off tomorrow at six o’clock! (DCC runs June 15th – 17th check the DCC website for show hours.) There is a ton of stuff going on and you can find events on anything your nerdy little heart could desire. The DCC features panels on all kinds of comics and manga—obviously—but also topics as varied as Eureka, The Walking Dead, Cartoon Voices, Star Wars, Horror Literature, Battlestar Galactica, Video Games, Independent Films, and on and on. You’ve got the obligatory cosplay contests, video game tournaments (including handful of FPS and fighting games), and a whole slew of kid-friendly events for those of you with younglings. Beside the classic nerdy topics and fandom, the DCC has an emphasis on education as well. There are a bunch of career-oriented panels on comics art and writing, animation art and writing, cross-media adaptations, and video game development.

Obviously this is more than a single intrepid reporter can hope to cover, especially since a rock decided to play Whack-a-Mole with my foot the other day and I sprained my ankle. I’m suffering from a decreased move-speed debuff at the moment, does anyone have some Boots of Speed I can borrow? Despite all that, I’ll report back to you on everything I get a chance to see this weekend. If you’re coming down yourself and you see me walking around, don’t hesitate to say hello! I’ll be the guy rocking a cane and a BigShinyRobot press badge.

If you haven’t checked the DCC guest list in a while, take a gander. It’s grown like crazy in the last couple weeks and you’ve got big names from every corner of geekdom. It’s just impractical to list every guest and every respective project, so check out the full list, it’s pretty impressive.

Quick shout-out: our very own editor Mr. Bryan “Swank-mo-tron” Young will be selling books in Artist Alley booth 104, so make sure you track him down, say “Hi,” and buy one of his awesome books! I also want to give a shout out for my friends at Needleforge in Artist Alley booth 43, they create great nerdy crafts that make great gifts or simply things to adore because they’re adorable.

It’s hard to know where to start with the comics guest list, but some notable examples include Neal Adams (Batman, X-Men) and James O’Barr (Creator, The Crow), as well as multiple Eisner Award winners and nominees including Georges Jeanty (Gambit, Deadpool, Weapon X), Mike Baron (Flash, Batman, Punisher, Nexus), Peter Gross (The Unwritten), and Amy Reeder (Fool’s Gold, Supergirl, Batwoman).

Guests from other nerdy media include Billy West (Futurama, Ren & Stimpy, Doug), Wil Wheaton (Star Trek: TNG, the internet), James Marsters (Spike, Buffy), Colin Ferguson (Carter, Eureka), Aaron Douglas (Chief, Battlestar Galactica); father and son Michael Uslan and David Uslan (Dark Knight movies); from Tron, Bruce Boxleitner (Tron) and Cindy Morgan (Yori); from The Walking Dead TV series Steven Yuen (Glenn), Lauren Cohan (Maggie), and Chandler Riggs (Carl).

In addition, there’s an Artist Alley with tons of famous and local artists and craftspeople, the exhibitor list is pretty huge, and there are a handful of special events going on as well like the Rock Comic Con event at the Hard Rock Cafe with nerdy musical guests including Paul and Storm.

It’s shaping up to be a great weekend, and everyone nearby who can afford the time and money should make the trip and support the DCC. For those of you already planning on going: What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Last week was an amazing deluge of great content from E3. Unfortunately, we can’t get such great stuff in plentitude every week. So it’s a little more low-key, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t interesting. If you’ve missed some of the highlights of E3, I’d suggest you catch up with our E3 special podcast, Miss Mecha’s photo round-up, and Wrath-o-Tron’s special edition of Quick Hits along with his and Zombietron’s other coverage:

• Far Cry
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Konami Round-Up
• Injustice: Gods Among Us
• Sleeping Dogs
• WiiU Hands-On
• Dead Space 3
• The Last of Us
• Nintendo Press Conference Live Blog
• Assassin’s Creed III Hands-On
• Nintendo Trailers
• Castlevania – Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate
• Devil May Cry preview

Now that’s over, allow me to apologize for spreading a rumor last week that has turned out not to be true. Despite the report, Overkill is not working on a Left 4 Dead prequel. Chet Faliszek of Valve has confirmed that they are working with Overkill on a project, but that is not it. According to Faliszek, “I want to make sure that people don’t think the prequel is coming. “Those guys [Overkill] are still making Payday: The Heist, we’re still making Left 4 Dead. We’re trying to be a little coy and a little fun because we want the communities to discover the collaboration for themselves.” That means we get another L4D, another Payday, and a collaboration. That sounds even better than the prequel rumor.

In light of that error in the rumor mill, take this latest leak with a grain of salt. Reportedly, Bioware’s Earth multiplayer DLC add-on for Mass Effect 3 has been leaked prior to an official announcement. Then again, the leak’s source is the same one that accurately released the Rebellion pack ahead of time. According to the leak: “The fighting is fiercest when it’s your home at stake! Mass Effect: Earth adds mods, gear, and new maps for Rio, Vancouver, and London. It features 3 new weapons: Piranha assault shotgun, Acolyte pistol, and Typhoon light machine gun. Six new human N7 classes are also available: Destroyer, Paladin, Demolisher, Slayer, Shadow, and Fury!” That looks like one new human variant per character class. Though three new locations all on Earth seems a little odd, but it would be nice if the maps have significant landmarks we’d recognize. No date was included, but leaks like this usually mean soon.

Capcom has confirmed two ridiculously complete packages for Resident Evil 6. They’re now available for pre-order on Amazon with different names depending on console. For PS3 it’s the Resident Evil 6 Anthology. On XBox 360 it’s the Resident Evil 6 Archives. They’re both $90 and have slightly different content. For PS3, you’re basically getting every numbered game in the series: RE: Director’s Cut, RE2, RE3: Nemesis, RE4 HD, RE5 Gold Edition, and RE6. XBox 360 is a little less comprehensive, with RE Code: Veronica X, RE4 HD, RE5 Gold Edition, RE6, and the movie RE Degeneration. The product descriptions are a little spotty on details, but it’s a safe bet you aren’t getting physical copies of everything. It will be mostly downloads. If you have both systems, I’d recommend the PS3 version as I believe Code: Veronica X is available for download there and that’s the only edge. Degeneration wasn’t very good. Both versions are launching alongside the standalone game on October 2nd.

OddWorld definitely seems to be making a heavy comeback. We’ve known for some time OddWorld: Abe’s Odyssee has been getting the HD polish, but Stewart Gilray of Just Add Water has now confirmed they “are starting from scratch on this one, using the original as the blueprint for the game. So technically it’s not a new game, but a from-the-ground-up remake.” Is that a good thing? Probably, as it means any legacy control or AI issues will also be getting a remastering. Not that there was necessarily something wrong with any of those issues in the original, but it was a PSOne game. Is it necessary? Maybe not, considering how badly many people want to play this one. A total remake may just take too long. Though, according to Gilray, it should be coming in Summer 2013.

This wraps up this week’s early edition. I know it’s short, but we are just getting out of an E3 that was insane with news. Check back Friday for the news from the rest of the week.

Zombietron and I had a chance to play a four player Far Cry 3 co-op mission with a couple random other guys on the show floor, and it was an absolute blast. You have a choice of a handful of different loadouts, these were preset for the demo, but will be fully customizable in the final game. You’ve got your standard fare assault rifles, shotguns, heavy machine guns, whatever. But there are also a set of special co-op skills you can choose between: battle-cries with different effects like damage boost, defense boost, and area of effect heals. These encourage the team to stick together and work as a group instead of everyone running off on their own. The co-op really forces you to stay together and work together; positioning becomes really important when heavy armored enemies show up, because someone needs to get around behind them. Far Cry 3 will rock a a six-hour co-op campaign completely separate from the single-player story.

The first section of the demo was pretty straight-forward: storm a compound with gun-wielding “bad guys” dug in all over the place, repair a train with a magic welder to get it out of a tunnel you need to pass through, and shoot everything everywhere. If you take too much damage and fall to the ground bleeding out, an ally can revive you Borderlands-style by walking over and picking you up—don’t think about it too much, just accept the mechanic and move on. The second section was a sniping competition to see which player could get the most sniper kills in a handful of minutes—bonus points for headshots. The third and final part was most interesting (and the one we got a look at during the pre-E3 press conference). the team has to work together to haul three heavy bombs to key points on a bridge then demolish it. The bomb-carrier can’t sprint, can’t crouch, and can’t shoot, so the team needs to work together to defend the carrier from waves of enemies swarming in from both sides of the bridge. Far Cry 3‘s co-op mode isn’t exactly breaking new ground, but it’s a damn fun co-op experience which is always good in my book, they’re too few these days.

As you’d expect from a Far Cry game, it looks gorgeous. The lighting and atmospherics look great, animations are just a tad wooden, but the textures are gritty and impressive. The enemy AI was pretty good, the enemies were good at tactically positioning themselves, and often popped out unexpectedly waving a machete at you—this was a beta build, so the AI is probably still being tinkered with. Far Cry 3 is set to hit shelves September 4th for PC, PS3, and X360.

Screenshot gallery for your viewing pleasure:

[Connor Cleary is an author, video game columnist and critic, and a freelance web-slash-graphic designer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]

Based on what I’ve seen so far, they got it right. They got it very, very right. Sadly, only Gearbox employees were allowed to play as the Aliens at the Colonial Marines set-up, but I did get a chance to play as a marine alongside five other E3 attendees. First let me say that the atmosphere of the level we were playing was Aliens to the core. The atmosphere, the tech, the structures, it all fit perfectly into the Aliens universe.

There were four loadout options (severely limited for demo purposes), two assault-rifle based and two shotgun-based, and every weapon felt exactly as it should. There were a few different Alien types swarming over us and the Xenomorphs could climb up walls and along ceilings like in previous games. The smallest Xenos felt like the perfect mix of easy to kill but impossible to hit; lose track of one of these guys there’s no telling where they’ll be in half a second. The mediums were a little slower and a little tougher. The heavies were sporting big, armored skulls and took a lot of punishment before going down. A lone marine will always get wrecked, but if the marines can manage to stick together and work as a squad they have a solid fighting chance. When your teammates turn and start firing directly behind you, it is a legitimately scary experience. You spin around, knowing what you’re going to find, hoping, praying that you’ll have time to get a shotgun round off—but you don’t. And the Xenos tear you to pieces.

The final product, on top of the excellent multiplayer mode we got a chance to play, will also feature a full campaign with drop-in / drop-out co-op up to four players. Your friends can jump in whenever they happen to be around, a great move by Gearbox. I think the makers of Borderlands know a little something about getting co-op right, so you can count on a quality experience there. Aliens: Colonial Marines is set to release Feb 12, 2013 on PC, PS3, X360, and WiiU.

[Connor Cleary is an author, video game columnist and critic, and a freelance web-slash-graphic designer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]

After an hour or so with Konami we here at BigShinyRobot.com think you should be given a run down of what they have coming for you this year. It’s definitely a blend of hardcore and casual, leaning a bit to the casual side. Without further adieu the Konami lineup!
 
 
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
 
 
Without nerding all over the place again, let’s just say that my biggest disappointment was a lack of playable game on the floor. Without a playable demo I still had the opportunity to watch the trailer four times. If you notice at the end there are some striking features on the gentleman confronting Gabriel. Never you fear internet peoples, the polite young lady at the booth who was tagged as a “brand master” did confirm that the person fighting Gabriel at the end is in fact Alucard! Very excite?!? Yes I am! Was…Still am….

 
 
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow MIrror of Fate

I cover most of the awesome in my hands on, but it’s well worth the time and money you’ll be investing. The combat and weapons system is unique enough that I believe it could refresh the handheld Castlevania franchise.
 
 
Zone of Enders: HD
 
 

 
 
Remixing a cult classic from the Playstation 2, ZOE HD will feature completley redrawn models, animations, and will run at 60 fps. Launching for XB360 and PS3 in the coming weeks, it’s a great option for a nostalgia trip.
 
 
Metal Gear Solid HD

 
 
Releasing for Vita this Tuesday, the handheld remake of the Metal Gear series looks perfect for those looking to relive the adventure, or like me play it for the first time. WIth an MSRP of $39.99 and 2 games I’ll be giving it a quick gander for sure.
 
 
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
 
 

 
 
If you haven’t seen the trailer, then you’re missing out. The latest iteration of Metal Gear from Konami is fast-paced, stealthy, and beautiful. The hack-and-slash combat system rivaled that of the greats including Devil May Cry, mixing that with the additional touch of the Metal Gear series gave it a distinct look. After a hands on session I found the controls to be fluid, and the game to be enthralling. If you’re a fan of the series, don’t miss this opportunity to take Raiden on his bloody trail of vengeance.
 
 
Pro Evolution Soccer 2013
 
 
It wasn’t playable on the floor, and there was no video footage for it, there was however a giant sign, and they assured me it would hit shelves this Holiday season.
 
 
Silent Hill: Book of Memories
 
 

 
 
Bringing us a twist on the Silent Hill series, this re-imagining puts you in a top down hack-and-slash style game. The game play is fun, combat was pretty fluid, and yet something was missing. I’m not sure what it was, or how to describe it. It could be something as simple as branding it differently, maybe if I wasn’t in a Silent Hill mindset while playing. Whatever it is I couldn’t put my finger on it exactly, I just know that I didn’t get it.
 
 
Karaoke: JoySound
 
 

 
 
Yeah, you thought that another Karaoke game would never hit shelves didn’t you?! Well you’re wrong, double wrong really. Aiming for a holiday 2012 release Karaoke Joy Sound brings together a few things you’d never expect from Konami. 8 player multiplayer is the beginning, as well as a huge music library placed to a psychedelic video for you to sing over. As you play you earn coins that you can spend on costumes for your characters and, you can purchase rental tickets with real cash money, and stream additional songs to keep the party going all night. I wasn’t ready to embarrass myself in public, but those of you with singing talent, or who are full of alcohol are sure to be ready to give this one a go.
 
 
The Mobile Roundup:
 
 

Konami is making a huge push into the mobile realm with facebook gaming and a few app releases. Notably Frogger Pinball and Puzzle Hunters. For a casual game they look great, and there was a line for pretty much the entire convention. If you need something to do on your iPad or Facebook I recommend you look into these.

Some of the games I got my hands on at E3 are worth mentioning, but don’t necessarily warrant an entire article by themselves—or I just didn’t have time to get too in depth with them. Instead, here’s a brief run-down of a few rapid, drive-by gaming experiences from my E3 trip this year, these might be games you haven’t heard quite as much about yet because they’re hardly at the forefront of the E3 media blitz.

Keep reading for first impressions with:

• Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
• Twisted Metal 2
• Coolboarders 2
• Final Fantasy VII
• Zone of the Enders HD Collection
• Ni no Kuni
• Hitman: Absolution
• and PlayStation Battle All-Stars

Let’s start with a look at a couple of the “PSOne Classics” the PS Vita supports, because for my money that’s one of the most enticing things about the Vita. The PSP was supposed to be the portable PSOne of our dreams, but its awkward control scheme made most games a chore to play. Sorry to say it, but even with a significantly improved control scheme the Vita doesn’t solve this problem for most titles.

That backside touch-pad is particularly problematic; it severely limits your options for holding the Vita comfortably. If you have big hands you’re going to have to wring them up into a pretty uncomfortable position in order to maintain leverage on the front-side controls without accidentally triggering the backside pad, that could become a problem for any kind of extended Vita play session.

Twisted Metal 2, PS Vita “PSOne Classics”

This was an extraordinarily disappointing experience. Twisted Metal 2 was one of my favorite games back in the day, so I was excited to see how it played. Obviously the game is showing its age, but the real reason it was such a letdown was how it handled: like crap. Using the back-side touch-pad as a replacement for L2/R2 buttons wasn’t a good move. It feels incredibly awkward, and launching weapons involves adjusting your grip on the device which will probably throw off your aim.

Coolboarders 2, PS Vita “PSOne Classics”

Another disappointing port here, for most of the same reasons as Twisted Metal 2 above. The controls are a pain to get a hang of, the touch-pad as L2/R2 is a pain in the backside. (Sorry for the pun, it was begging to be made.) Playing these ports, you get the feeling that the Vita just isn’t the system you’re looking for if you’re looking to play any actiony games that require quick, precise controls. However… read on.

Final Fantasy VII, PS Vita “PSOne Classics”

To the surprise of precisely nobody, FF7 is on the Vita. And seeing as there are no twitch-reflex moments, the Vita works perfectly for this one. There’s probably not much that needs to be said here, it’s another high-fidelity FF7 port that looks lovely and plays exactly as you remember it.

(Note for those wondering about PSP titles like Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions: The Vita offers PSP game support through software emulation. But if you bought a physical, UMD copy of a game then you’re out of luck. You’ll have to repurchase a digital copy through the PlayStation Store.)

Metal Gear Solid HD Collection, PS Vita

Even though the Vita didn’t seem to handle the actiony PSOne ports very well, the Metal Gear Solid HD Collection feels surprisingly good. Probably because Konami specifically remapped the controls to the Vita, as opposed to the PSOne ports that seem to just slap the game onto the Vita and hope the controls work out.

In fact, this might just be the game that finally makes me shell out for a PS Vita. You’ve got Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, and Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater in the same package here with a $40 price tag. They both look crisp and gorgeous on the Vita’s nice big screen. Controls feel natural and easy to get the hang of—well, mostly: some of the controls have been updated “to take full advantage of the Vita’s touch-screen capabilities,” so that might take some getting used to. It’s a shame they couldn’t sneak the original Metal Gear Solid on here, but it’s still a solid addition to the Vita library.

Zone of the Enders HD Collection, PS3 / X360

Lightning-quick flying-robot battles are back, baby. If you played the originals you probably remember them fondly, and this collection brings both the original Zone of the Enders and, according to the product descriptions “a never-before-released-in-the-US version of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner.” They’re excellent ports. Responsive, crisp, beautiful, and just as fun as you remember. The nostalgia factor will probably drive most of the sales here, but at the same time there aren’t too many games that offer this kind of experience. Many mecha-based games do well in making you feel like you’re piloting a gigantic, heavy machine, but ZoE takes the opposite approach by putting you in highly advanced, quick moving and rapid firing bots. The collection release is set for December 12th of this year for $40. Since you’ll only have nine days to play the ZoE collection before the world ends, you might want to consider pre-ordering. /snark

Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, PS3

This game looks beautiful visually—because the visuals were designed with Studio Ghibli (Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, et al)—but the gameplay feels a little stale. If you’re still a diehard fan of JRPGs this is one you’ll want to keep an eye on. It boasts a mix of turn-based and real-time combat utilizing little Pokemon-like creatures and their various skills. The story revolves around a boy who gets transported to another, fantastical world and has to fight to save his parents and the world. The story sounds Ghibli-esque, but unfortunately they weren’t involved with any of the writing. This is probably going to be a great game for a younger audience, so parents of young RPG-fans take note.

Hitman: Absolution, PC / PS3 / X360

Putting this one on the show floor may have been a bit premature, the available build was still pre-beta and the lack of polish was apparent, especially in the controls and cover mechanics. Besides those issues (which will more than likely be resolved in the coming months), the game looks really nice, there are a ton of actors on screen at any moment, the lighting and atmosphere are technically impressive. The voice-over work is a bit overdone, but if you’re a gamer you’ve most likely developed some level of callous against not-so-great voice work anyway. As you’d expect from a Hitman game, there are a variety of ways to take care of a target. In the demo you can snipe him from a window, you can blow up his car, or you can disguise yourself as a chef and poison his food. Absolution shows promise, but it’s a little early to tell how good the final product will be based on the pre-beta build.

PlayStation Battle All-Stars, PS3

Also known snarkily as Super Smash Bros. Sony. And yes, that’s exactly what it is. As of E3 2012, the character list includes: Fat Princess, Parappa, Sly Cooper, Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal), Kratos (God of War), Nathan Drake (Uncharted), Big Daddy (BioShock), and Colonel Radec (Killzone). It is a lot of fun but it’s also nothing new. This is going to be a fun party game, but it definitely feels like, in trying to rip of Super Smash Bros., the developers of PlayStation Battle missed something really essential and hard to pinpoint about their source material and the result is just lacking somehow. For me, if you put me in a room with three friends and a choice between Smash Bros. and PlayStation Battle I’m still going to pick Smash Bros. every time.

[That’s all for now, folks. Keep an eye out, I’ve got more in-depth looks at a few other games from E3 just around the corner. Was there anything at E3 this year that excited you? Maybe something that flew under a lot of people’s radar? Let us know.]

[Connor Cleary is an author, video game columnist and critic, and a freelance web-slash-graphic designer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]

E3 has been great about providing new screens, trailers, and details about some really great games. The general consensus I’ve seen is that the “Big 3’s” press conferences were all pretty weak, but Ubisoft sort of stole the show, despite not really showing anything new (other than Watch Dogs). The show highlights for me are still Assassin’s Creed III and Liberation, and Beyond from Quantic Dream. The WiiU has impressed me just a little more, but I’m actually even less inclined to call it “next-gen” after seeing their lineup. My concern for Nintendo is that this still is not a core gaming console. The family-friendly grandparents console is a nice market, but it’s still a niche market. The crazy part of E3, even though it ended yesterday, is that we’ll still be seeing the fallout for weeks to come. Because of that, despite this being my round-up for the week, I’m still going to be missing something. I’m sure of it.

As the week moved on a little more information was revealed about Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls. We didn’t know the title going in, but the next game from the folks who made Heavy Rain was definitely one of the most anticipated announcements. Now, not only have we seen the game, starring Ellen Page, we’ve found out it will incorporate Move, just like Heavy Rain‘s updated version. Quantic Dream is a small studio, so leaks are easier to prevent, but they’ve obviously been keeping this one secret for a long time. Normally an announcement at E3 2012 means we’re going to see release in late 2013 at the earliest. Not for this one. Sony’s announced the game will launch in fourth quarter 2012. That’s a little tricky though, as they didn’t specify calendar or fiscal year. The difference being an October-December window or a January-March. Not a big difference, but someone will certainly freak out about the delay if it comes in February.

Another major announcement, one that was “leaked” slightly before the event, is Star Wars 1313. This is a pretty major shift for a 35 year old franchise, with a much more adult theme and grittier tone. Also, it’s not often you get a Star Wars game that doesn’t have you swinging a lightsaber as a Jedi. But, looking at their gaming history, those games are often incredibly fun. Think Shadows of the Empire, Bounty Hunter featuring Jango Fett, and Lethal Alliance. What has been released so far indicates this will be primarily a third-person, cover-based shooter. You’ll play a bounty hunter on scary-low level of Coruscant, level 1313 specifically. In the videos you seem to have a companion, and he’s kind of a jerk. Whether he’s with you throughout the game, or just the intro isn’t clear yet. The gameplay footage we’ve seen from the show is reportedly real-time, in-engine on a high end PC. Unfortunately they haven’t announced which consoles, if any, will get the game. Or when it’s coming out. LucasArts is much larger than Quantic Dream, so I’d expect this is still much further out than Beyond, or it would have been leaked by now. Depending on the planned release, I wouldn’t count on a console release being this generation.

Speaking of cover-based, third-person shooters… Ubisoft’s big surprise of the show wasn’t Assassin’s Creed: Liberation (though that was a surprise). It was actually Watch Dogs. This will be open world, but guns are not your only tools. How and why your character will have control of traffic lights, power grids, trains, and other tech isn’t clear, but you can use all of those elements to take down your enemies. You can actually cause a horrible car accident that sends destroyed vehicles into the group of thugs that have you pinned down in an alley. While the screens we’ve seen look gorgeous, like 1313, platforms and date are unnannounced. So, most likely, what we’ve seen is a high-end PC. If it’s coming to consoles, again like 1313, I wouldn’t be surprised if we’re talking PS4 and neXtBox.

So you want a little information about Halo 4‘s Spartan Ops mode? We’ve got that, but not much more:

“The story of the UNSC Infinity intersects with the Halo 4 campaign, and then continues on in a brand-new, story-driven experience known as Spartan Ops.

“A first-of-its-kind, exciting new addition to the Halo franchise, Spartan Ops is an episodic adventure that blends immersive storytelling, high-quality cinematics and action-packed gameplay to deliver an unprecedented serialized experience.

“Through a weekly series of cinematic episodes, Spartan Ops will tell the continuing story of the UNSC Infinity, following the events of Halo 4. These episodes will center on the UNSC Infinity leaders and crew as well as a new team of Spartans—Majestic Squad.

“These cinematic episodes will provide the backdrop for the weekly Spartan Ops gameplay missions. Playable in single-player or cooperatively with up to four players, Spartan Ops lets you explore the corners of Requiem in objective-based missions and help uncover the secrets of the mysterious Forerunner world.”

Personally, I’m a little sketchy on the whole weekly episodes thing. Is this story-based multiplayer? Are you really going to be watching cut scenes between matches? Do people want that? Altogether, the game looks like a good entry into an established and loved franchise, but anything they tweak is going to fall under serious scrutiny.

If you haven’t checked your PlayStation Store this week, and missed the announcement at E3, PS Plus is getting a whole mess of new value! Starting this past Tuesday with the store update, 12 full games are available for free to Plus subscribers. These games will be rotated through on a regular basis, with plans to give subscribers 45 titles per year. The first set is nothing to sneeze at:

• Choplifter HD
• Hard Corp: Uprising
• Infamous 2
• Just Cause 2
• Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
• LittleBigPlanet 2
• Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One
• Saints Row 2
• Sideway: New York
• Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
• Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
• Zombie Apocalypse: Never Die Alone

PS+ runs about $60/year, and it is a subscription service like Netflix. That means you can access these games only as long as you have a membership. Just like cancelling your Netflix service means you can no longer stream your instant queue, letting your Plus subscription expire means these games will no longer be playable. Some people take exception to this model, but the way I see it, you’re spending that much on 360 per year just to play online. Maybe I’m a Sony shill, but I thoguht Plus was worth it even before they added this kind of value. Something to note is that the North American and EU stores don’t match on titles. I would guess that some of the games on the EU version (Darksiders, Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD) will cycle in as part of the annual 45 games, and vice versa.

When the name Dead World was trademarked recently, speculation was that we’d be seeing the sequel to Dead Island very soon. And we are, but that’s not actually the name. It’s actually being called Dead Island: Riptide. Despite Deep Silver saying it was not in production last month, Techland’s Facebook has a blurb about the game: “The next battle between life and death will be waged in Dead Island Riptide, currently in development for consoles and PC by Techland. An extensive reveal of the thrilling new perils that players can expect from this new entry to the Dead Island franchise is planned for later this summer. Stock up on zombie survival guides, water, ammunition, and watch this space!” A nice logo was also revealed:

The “Dawngaurd” DLC we’ve been anticipating for Skyrim has been given a tentative release date. Todd Howard says it will be available on June 26th for 1600 MSP, assuming everything works according to plan. Due to timed exclusivity, PS3 users can expect “some time” after that.

It seems a little late to the game, but a Move update is coming to Portal 2. This will come through the “In Motion” add-on and includes new levels as well. These will be the same levels that came out for the PC version’s compatibility with Razer’s Hydra motion controller for PC. The motion levels allow players to manipulate objects and rescale for additional puzze solving.

Of all the great stuff coming out of E3, one thing that’s been slightly overlooked is Microsoft’s confirmation of this year’s Summer of Arcade. The titles that have been confirmed for the event are Hybrid, Wreckateer, Deadlight, Tony Hawks Pro Skater HD and Dust: An Elysian Tale (which is obviously not realted to Sony’s Dust 514 in any way). No date has been announced, but Microsoft recently had Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD listed for July 11th before it was taken down. It would make sense to get it started with the Independence Day update.

Proving once again that there is no property in modern media that can’t be milked to death and then done again, especially when Activision gets involved, Angry Birds HD is coming to consoles. More information is expected in about two weeks. What version this will be is unclear, as Angry Birds is already available as a PlayStation mini. Come back in a couple of weeks and I’ll have whatever’s updated about it in VGQH.

Overkill confirmed this week that they have a publisher for Payday: The Heist 2, 505 Games. This sounds to be a very fair deal for both parties, giving Overkill more freedom than most publishers allow. The official line from Overkill is that “This new co-operation lets us be Overkill and lets us develop the Payday franchise in new fantastic directions long term. With the support and skill of 505 Games we are going to pull off heists on a scale never seen before!” While the first game was PC and PS3 exclusive, no consoles have been announced for this sequel. This all comes after the announcement last month that Overkill is working with Valve on a “very cool blend of Payday and Left 4 Dead.” Common speculation is that this may be a prequel detailing how the outbreak started.

A glaring omission from this year’s E3 has been Team ICO’s The Last Guardian. Expectation is that this game should be seeing a fairly imminent release, yet it wasn’t even mentioned at the press conference and didn’t seem to be anywhere on the show floor. Why not? According to Shuhei Yoshida (Sony Worldwide President), “The team back in Tokyo is working hard, and there are some technical difficulties that the team is focused on right now. That’s why we don’t have an update.” Regarding speculation that the game is headed to the next-gen, Yoshida confirmed it “is a PS3 game.” I can’t help but think the delay is directly related to the game’s director, Fumito Ueda, leaving Sony back in December, though he is reportedly still involved on a freelance basis.

Sony isn’t the only one with a conspicuously absent title. Where was Crytek’s “core” title for Kinect, Ryse? Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President, Phil Spencer, seems positive that it’s coming, but not very positive about its current state. According to Spencer, they’re “just not at a point right now to show the game,” but they are “still working with Crytek, [and] still extremely committed to the relationship.” There is a caveat however, as “we want to make sure that we’re putting our best foot forward every time we show the game.” Sounds like he doesn’t think the game is in good enough shape to even run a teaser at gaming’s biggest event. Mysteriously, when asked about the game remaining Kinect-only, his response was that “Kinect will be part of the game, absolutely.” Part of the game? That doesn’t sound good for Ryse, but it also sounds really bad for Kinect. The device sold a lot of units, but has it sold a lot of games?

Speaking of Crytek, CEO Cevat Yerli has declared the company is moving to a strictly free-to-play business model. This shift will occur after their three current projects (Homefront 2, Crysis 3, and Ryse) are completed. According to Yerli, Call of Duty: Elite and other DLC models are “milking customers to death.” Yerli says the company’s future will be “all the new games that we’re working on, as well new projects, new platforms and technologies, are designed around free-to-play and online, with the highest quality development.” Budgets are still expected to be “between $10m to $30m – so no compromise there – but at the price-point of $0 entry.” This seems like a very bold move, especially for a company that pushed the graphical limits of many high end PCs with the first Crysis.

Huge week this week, but that seems to be it for now. E3 is exciting, but also overwhelming. Hopefully next week will be a little more relaxing, but not overly dull. Come on back on Tuesday.