Miyamoto: Zelda for Wii U is in R&D stage

Posted on June 8, 2012 by John Scalzo

Last year’s Wii U reveal included a tech demo of Link battling a giant spider in jawdropping high definition. This year, the plucky elf in the green tunic was no where to be seen.

So where was he? Entertainment Weekly pried the answer out of Shigeru Miyamoto yesterday during the closing moments of E3 2012:

EW: So you’re sort of in the R&D stage [for the next Legend of Zelda game]?

Miyamoto: Yeah. With the last game, Skyward Sword, that was a game where you had motion control to use your weapons and a lot of different items, and I thought that was a lot of fun, but there were some people who weren’t able to do that or didn’t like it as much and stopped playing partway through it. So we’re in the phase where we’re looking back at what’s worked very well and what has been missing and how can we evolve it further.

According to Miyamoto, this “research and development stage” involves a lot of experiments at Nintendo including “What is the most important element of Zelda if we were to try to make a Zelda game that a lot of people can play?”

When they figure that out, Miyamoto said, is when Nintendo will announce the next Legend of Zelda game.

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Nintendo: “People are going to be pleasantly surprised” at Wii U launch price

Posted on June 8, 2012 by John Scalzo

Reggie Fils-Aime, the President of Nintendo of America, sat down with IGN during this year’s E3 Expo to talk about where the company plans to go in 2012. One of the major themes of this talk was the Wii U launch price. While Fils-Aime wouldn’t commit to a specific dollar amount, he does believe that gamers will be “pleasantly surprised” when they hear the final number:

Nintendo believes in being a mass market product. So unlike our competitors, when they’ve launched historical systems, to maybe start at a really high price and work their way down. We don’t believe in that. We want to launch at a price that’s going to represent an ongoing, great value.

You look at the Wii, we stayed at $250 for a really long time. So we’re going to give that same thought to the Wii U. How do we launch at a value that we’re going to be able to sustain for a long time? And I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised, if you will, at how we’re managing the value equation.

So it’s going to be low, but not too low. Gotcha.

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Resident Evil 6 special editions to include classic game downloads

Posted on June 8, 2012 by John Scalzo

A week ago, id Software announced their excellent Doom 3 package for the PS3 and Xbox 360. Not only would the game include an updated version of the third Doom game, but it would also include the first two games in the series as well. But I think Capcom just trumped them.

The publisher has just announced the Resident Evil 6: Anthology Edition and the Resident Evil 6: Archives Edition. What do these special editions include? Just digital downloads of nearly every other Resident Evil game.

The Anthology Edition is exclusive to the PS3 and will include downloadable copies of Resident Evil: Director’s Cut, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil 4 HD, and Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition.

The Archives Edition is, you guessed it, exclusive to the Xbox 360 and it’ll include a slightly different collection of downloads: Resident Evil: Code Veronica X HD, Resident Evil 4 HD, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, and the Resident Evil: Degeneration movie.

Resident Evil 6: Anthology Edition and Resident Evil 6: Archives Edition will be available in stores on October 2 for $89.99 each.

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Activision working on Angry Birds for consoles

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Andrew Rainnie

For the few people who have not played Angry Birds in one of its many iterations on their phone, PC or tablet, never fear, Activision will be bringing an HD version of the game to “consoles” (which consoles, or when, went unmentioned).

For some reason, this irks me. Despite loving the Angry Birds franchise, especially the Super Mario Galaxy-inspired Angry Birds Space, I like it fine on my phone. It is perfect for a touch screen, and would perhaps work well on the Wii U GamePad, but I cannot see anyone who owns a smartphone opting to pay more money for a console version that has a poorer control interface than the one originally designed for that type of game.

Perhaps my cynicism is ill-founded, and this is a brand new game that will make full use of a standard game controller. The company best known for the Call of Duty franchise will be revealing more details in the coming weeks.

[Source: Game Informer]

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Halo 4 live-action trailer introduces an ancient enemy

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Andrew Rainnie

While perhaps not as artistic as previous Halo trailers, Microsoft and 343 Industries revealed their live-action trailer for Halo 4, “The Commissioning,” at this year’s E3 Expo. Featuring a combat deck that looks identical to the one from Battlestar Galactica, as well as a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her sexy bald chick, it ultimately shows what a live action Halo movie could be.

The trailer shows the commissioning of the UNSC Infinity, which we are told during a less-than-rousing speech has been retooled for exploration after the war, coming under attack by what the trailer dubs an ancient enemy.

The E3 gameplay demo showed Master Chief and Cortana battling The Covenant as well as this new enemy, a synthetic race believed to be older than the Forerunners themselves. And it appears 343 Industries is living up to their promise of moving the Halo franchise away from being a straight shooter to something that involves more mystery and exploration elements.

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The Avengers: Battle For Earth trailer hulks its way online

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Andrew Rainnie

With the 2012 E3 Expo over, the arguments over which of the Big Three “won” E3 have just begun. But no one can deny that from all the developers, it was Ubisoft who stole the show with the likes of Assassin’s Creed III and the surprising ZombiU for Nintendo’s new console. However, the company also showed a trailer for its upcoming Marvel Comics title, The Avengers: Battle For Earth.

The ambitious title is a beat ‘em up utilizing motion controls, and is being designed to be played with either the Wii U or the Xbox 360’s Kinect sensor. There will be initially be twenty playable characters, which will not be limited to those who appear in the film, as the game is instead based on Marvel’s 2008 comic book event Secret Invasion, which saw the shape-shifting Skrulls infiltrating superhero teams from the entire Marvel universe. While Brian Michael Bendis, the writer of that story arc, is not involved, the great and often hilarious Peter David, writer of the Multiple-Man led “X-Factor” comic, is working with Ubisoft on the storyline.

Since it is not attached to the movie, fan favourites such as Spider-Man and Wolverine will be involved in the action. My fingers are crossed that Wade Wilson, the Merc with a Mouth known as Deadpool, will make a wise-cracking appearance. While the full roster has still to be revealed, the E3 demo showed off the ability to tag up to two other players in, allowing the initial character to regenerate some health.

It is not known how the Wii U version will differ from the Xbox 360 game, or how it will utilize the new Wii U GamePad, but it’ll be available this Fall.

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Film actors join Star Trek game, battle lizard aliens The Gorn

Posted on June 8, 2012 by Andrew Rainnie

Paramount Pictures, along with video game publisher Namco Bandai and developer Digital Extremes have revealed the enemy of their much anticipated game based on the rebooted universe of the new Star Trek films: the lethal, lizard-like species known as The Gorn. The alien race, originally designed by artist and prop designer Wah Chang, first appeared in the famous “Arena” episode of The Original Series. Although they have made subsequent appearances, including a laughable CGI version in the last TV iteration, Star Trek: Enterprise, they are seen as an iconic villain, especially for Captain Kirk, by those working on the game.

While perhaps not as famous as the Klingons, who J.J. Abrams has confirmed will be the antagonists of the sequel film, The Gorn are every bit as battle-thirsty. The game will see several distinct types of Gorn, from infantry Rushers to hardened Brutes, while the females of the species will be more cunning, able to climb walls with stealth.Carlson Choi, VP of Marketing at Namco Bandai Games America, sees The Gorn as the perfect villain for this new title:

“Great villains give our favorite characters a chance to become heroes in the process of attempting to eliminate a powerful threat, and Star Trek fans have been eagerly anticipating the moment when the antagonists of the game would be revealed. This is one of those moments and we couldn’t be more excited to give gamers a glimpse at the challenges that lie ahead for Kirk and Spock.”

Speaking of the infamous Starfleet Captain and his pointy-eared second-in-command, it had previously been revealed that the likenesses of actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto would be incorporated into the game, but now it has been confirmed that the actors will also lend their voices as well. Pine and Quinto will be joined in the game by the entire crew of the Enterprise: Zoe Saldana (Lieutenant Uhura), Simon Pegg (Scotty), Karl Urban (Dr. Bones McCoy), John Cho (Mr. Sulu) and Anton Yelchin (Chekov). They will all be bringing their vocal talents to the game’s script, which was written by Marianne Krawczyk (God of War), with input from the films’ writers and producers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

Set your phasers to stun and be prepared to beam me up in early 2013 on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360!

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First details, gameplay footage of Star Wars 1313

Posted on June 7, 2012 by John Scalzo

Even after its E3 2012 “reveal,” LucasArts is still keeping a pretty tight lid on Star Wars 1313. At this point, we don’t even know what platforms it’s in development for or if it’s even the “future generation” game the publisher announced a few weeks back.

What we do know is that Star Wars 1313 takes place deep within the bowels of Crouscant, on a level reserved for the scum and villainy of the capital planet. The game, which is set between the trilogies, will star an unnamed bounty hunter as he explores a “criminal conspiracy” on the titular level.

According to an IGN preview, this will involve a lot of Gears of War-like cover fire and some Uncharted-like platforming mechanics that make regular use of the bounty hunter’s arsenal of gadgets.

Hit the jump for more video gameplay footage of Star Wars 1313’s shooting and platforming. And remember, you’ll have to do all of it (there is no try) without the aid of The Force.

Press Start to Continue →

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