Author Archive
E307: Peter Moore on Recall Versus Warranty
Whoops, this wasn’t our justify your warranty piece at all. Instead it’s me asking Peter Moore why they didn’t just jump in with two feet and do a recall instead of an extended warranty. I don’t think he liked the question.
Kotakutalku: Jack Tretton On The Future Of PlayStation Network
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On Tattoos And Angelina Jolie
Update: this video cuts out abruptly, but it’s here in full now.
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On MGS4 For Xbox Rumors
The List: Top 10 Stories Of E3
Here are our top 10 stories of E3, based on traffic since Tuesday:
10. Hands-On With Nyko’s E3 Accessories
9. Soul Calibur Legends Confirms Fears
8. SIXAXIS Rumble Confirmed By SCEA Employee
7. PS3 Still Too Expensive, MGS4 Future Uncertain?
6. PSP Slim and PSP Slim Silver Coming in September
5. Halo 3 Handish-On, Why It’s “Next Gen”
4. Peter Dille Goes Beserk, Bites Microsoft In Face
3. Metal Gear Solid 4 Is PS3 Exclusive - Last In Series
2. 3 Biggest Flops at the 3 Biggest Pressers
E3 Deathwatch: Is E3 Dead? Ask Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo
We asked Sony’s Jack Tretton, Microsoft’s Peter Moore and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto about what’s to become of E3. Here’s what they said…
Jack Tretton, Sony
Choice Quote: “From a personal standpoint I think we need to figure out why we’re doing E3.”
Peter Moore, Microsoft
Choice Quote: “I’d actually be sad to see it just go away.”
Shigeru Miyamoto: Nintendo
Choice Quote: “With the advent of the Internet and providing different opportunities to promote your games a lot of people are wondering whether or not there is the value in spending a great deal of money to put on a great big show like that when you have so many other avenues.
And On Friday The 13th, Nothing Will Save Them: It’s Friday The 13th - Who Had The Worst Luck At E3?
Was it:
- * The Wii Fit glitch during Nintendo’s press conference.
- * Sony’s thunder stolen by rumors of 60GB phase out.
- * Robbie Bach’s black eye.
- * Michael Fahey missing his flight to LA, and then losing his glasses in a cab.
- * Konami, whose press conference was cut short for unknown reasons.
- * Electronic Arts being forced by the ESA to hold its press conference in the Fairmont Hotel (they wanted to host it at a posh Brentwood location).
Who else had bad luck this year?
Kotakutalku: Jack Tretton On The Death Of E3
E307: Wii Zapper Assembly And Hands On
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On The Retirement of Ken Kutaragi
E307: Conan Hands On
It took about thirty seconds for the booth attendant at THQ’s upcoming
Conan action game to mention Sony’s God of War. Another
sixty for him to mention Soul Caliber. And a final thirty for
me to realize: no matter how well-trodden this dusty battlefield might
be, I will never get tired of beheading people with a sword.
In short, Conan looks perfectly fine, but I won’t expect
anything beyond pleasant competence.
E307: Stuntman: Ignition Hands On
Stuntman: Ignition is the first proper sequel to the PS2 title
(there was a GBA game as well). The original had potential, but
piss-poor loading times made it a hassle to play, especially since
much of the gameplay is predicated by rinse-and-repeat attempts to
learn the courses.
The new Stuntman fixes that completely. I was able to restart a
map after going wildly off-course in a matter of seconds. We’re
talking maybe two to three seconds from the time I hit start to the
time I was back at the beginning of the run.
Most of the Stuntman experience is really simple: run into
things, or don’t, when the flashing icons tell you to. And it’s a lot
of fun, if not terribly deep. Later levels—movie sets—will
be covered in ice or rain-slick, so weaving through traffic to hit
ramps or sideswiping cars will get progressively harder. Good thing
restarting is nearly instant, because you’re going to be doing it a
lot.
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On Halo 3 Special Edition Xbox 360
: Tabula Rasa Impressions
Richard Garriot has a brand new bag. Inside it, he keeps a silver-seamed beret and a pair of cowboy boots, complete with spurs. Lord British is dead; General British welcomes you to try Tabula Rasa.
The NCSoft-published MMO has been a long time coming, but it’s in private beta now to prepare for an imminent launch. Unlike the bulk of the NCSoft product line, Tabula Rasa isn’t a fantasy game, but is instead set in the “near future,” albeit a near future with laser guns, spaceships, and interplanetary travel.
The default play mode seems to be third-person. While you might mistake the gameplay for pure action, the reticle actually serves as a sort of aim assist, allowing you to select mobs just by mousing over them, while stats and figures still do the heavy lifting of alien murder behind the scenes. It actually looks like a pretty fun way to play.
The art direction is a mish-mash of influences and lacks any cohesion.
The future warriors look futurey. The alien enemies look insectoid.
For all the freedom a blank slate affords a company, they certainly
are playing the art direction conservatively. It doesn’t help that the
animations seemed jerky, which may be the fault of the engine itself
or simply an underpowered demo machine.
Garriot advised us that Tabula Rasa is one of the titles under
consideration for porting to the Playstation 3 as part of the new
union between NCSoft and Sony, but no promises yet. One of NCSoft’s
executives suggested we should hear about new IP and existing titles
on Sony’s machines by the end of the year.
An entire pictographic language has been created for Tabula
Rasa, the primatives of which form a key part of the game’s
special skills system. Once you reach a certain level of experience on
Tabula Rasa’s branching career path, new potential combinations
of pictographs will become available to you. You might discover you’ve
learned the ability “Teleport,” which will be unlocked once you
discover the pictographs for “Friends,” “Summon,” and “Here.” Several
dozen pictographs are already in the game, adorning buildings and
signs throughout.
In an effort to encourage players to sample many—or all—of
the professions available in the game, players will be able to make
“clones” of characters at any point, saving their experience and
skills up to a point, making it possible to sample a new career path,
then move back to a “saved” state to try out something else. The
clones can even been renamed and reskinned, so they don’t have to look
exactly the same.
Tabula Rasa may end up being a turd, but they’re trying to do
something different, and to my mind it’ll be worth at least a shot.
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On PS3 Configurations - And All That Storage
E307: Kane and Lynch Impressions
“Hey, that looks just like the firefight from Heat,” I proudly exclaim. One of Eidos’s main PR handshakers leans in to tell me a faux secret.
“That pretty much is Heat,” he smiles. “These guys are big fans of that movie.”
That’s hardly the only Hollywood crime movie that gets a nod in IO
Interactive’s Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (published by Eidos). When
the walking red-headed punchline from Gamezone.com asks about the
bandage over Kane’s nose (he’s one of two anti-heroes that give the
title its name), the producer points out it’s a reference to the
classic Chinatown, but the flighty kid has already Aspergered
his way to his next distraction: “Could I get a picture of these
benches?” he asks, pointing to the glass-topped pulpits in Eidos’
viewing room that have been filled with fake cash, cocaine, and
ammunition. “I’d like to show them to the gamers of the world.”
Kane & Lynch’s calling card is not its gameplay, which is
easily-digested stuff, looking a fair amount like Hitman or any
other third-person shooter. Instead, IO Interactive is trying to tell
a realistic, if hyper-stylish crime story, starring two amoral
sociopaths, evoking the work of Hollywood directors like Michael Mann
and John Frankenheimer. That the player controls two wicked
anti-heroes who gladly slaughter bystanders and punch women in the
face if it serves their needs is only surprising in how legitimately
disturbing their actions feel when so many games before have been
accused of being “murder simulators” or worse. Kane & Lynch
makes Grand Theft Auto look like the cartoon it is.
Which is not to say that it’s all violence for violence’s sake.
(Although I suspect there will be several legitimately gory moments in
the game that are there just to induce cringing.) Instead, it’s clear
IO is trying to tell the story of two men who place their personal
ambition above all else. The characters, devoid of any sympathetic
qualities, have the heft of realism that most games sacrifice when
they try to provide a justification for their criminal protagonist’s
action. I had to nuke that orphanage because twenty years ago my
wife was passed over for promotion.
Of course, Kane may have a sympathetic backstory after all; I only saw
a few minutes of gameplay. I hope not, but even if he ends up being,
you know, human, it becomes clear from the in-game patter between the
main characters that the balding, greasy Lynch is an unrepentant,
selfish cock. He’s great.
Other sections of the game will bring back the gameplay from IO
Interactive’s sadly under-appreciated Freedom Fighters, making
it easy to deploy a small squad of henchman to—say—rappel
down a skyscraper to blow through the plate glass of a boardroom,
punching a dagger into the face of an enemy chairman. I played
Freedom Fighters all the way thought, which is pretty high
praise from me. The combination of its light tactical gameplay and a
mature, harsh backdrop could be a very potent tonic.
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On Who Won The E3 Press Conference Smackdown
Kotakutalku: Peter Moore On The Death Of E3
Hang tight, this one is loading a bit slowly…
Kotakutalku: All The Miyamoto You Missed
Here’s a handy cheat-sheet for viewing our six-part Miyamoto video interview. We covered everything from the death of E3 and his retirement, to the future of the Wii and DS.
In Part 1, Miyamoto answers a question that many people have been wanting to ask: Are you going to retire anytime soon? You hope the answer is no.
Then we asked him about the future of the DS, and whether another iteration of the Lite is in the works. He said there are no concrete plans for it anytime soon.
The follow up in Part 3 was a lot tougher for him to answer: did Nintendo intentionally manipulate the Wii supply? But if you have been holding out for an apology from Miyamoto for that fact that you couldn’t find one this holiday season, then here it is.
The big question on everyone’s mind: is E3 dead? In Part 4, we asked Miyamoto for his thoughts on the future of the triple-e, and whether Nintendo would now participate more fully in the Tokyo Game Show.
A Wii upgrade is inevitable. In Part 5 Miyamoto told us about Nintendo’s plans for the evolution of the console - including support for HD.
In Part 6, we asked Miyamoto about whether Nintendo has given up on the hardcore gamer market in favor of casual. He challenged us to re-think the definition of hardcore gaming. Touche!
Finally, in Part 7, we corned him about the GameBoy Advance - has Nintendo given up on the platform? You may not like his answer…
E307: Please Help
