E3 Superpost!

You know if the world we live in had the tiniest scrap of fairness, all gamers would be given this week in the year off and be temporarily granted uncapped 10Mbps broadband connections. Thiswould be so they could actually assimilate the insane amount of cool game related news and info coming out of E3, as well as being able to download and watch all the awesome trailers, gameplay videos and video commentaries from various games journalism sites. I would not be surprised if 'E3 week' is the slowest week of the year in terms of overall productivity in IT companies and in terms of internet performance! Rather than shoot off a post for every little piece of E3 news I come across today that interests me, I've decided to keep TextPad (www.textpad.com, what rock have you been living under!?) open and copy in all the interesting bits and pieces for a couple of bumper posts-and this is the first one, enjoy!

Oh, and in case you haven't noticed, I cleaned up the sidebar a bit and added a Flickr 'badge' and my Gamertag. I thought since the Gamertag and points system will be heading to PC and Mobile games as well, I had better reserve mine-shouldn't you do the same? :)


PS3 versions clarified
Eurogamer is reporting that SCEA president Kaz Hirai has made an attempt to clarify the differences between the $499 and $599 versions of the PS3 that will be sold, as well as defending the price, saying "I think when you look at what we put into the box - Cell, Blu-Ray, backwards compatibility, the ability to go online - I think it's a very compelling package for consumers. The totality of what we bring to the table makes it a good value for consumers." To be honest, I don't see any difference between what is being reported and the original statements. The features missing from the 'low-end' version will include the larger hard drive, card reader ports and HDMI outputs.

Jack Thompson after a new target
This is not quite E3 news, but it's interesting nonetheless. Famed anti-video game activist and sometimes lawyer Jack Thompson has set his sights on a new target: Bethesda's critically acclaimed The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The game was recently rerated by the ESRB from Teen to Mature because of content added to the PC version by modders. This decision has been widely criticised in the industry as a developer cannot reasonably be held accountable for 'hacks' of their games by third parties. Gamesfirst is reporting that thompson's representatives have requested an appearance on their chat show to discuss this rerating. The interesting part is all the inaccuracies to be found in their request. It's worth reading for a laugh.
(This item shamelessly ripped from Justin Paver's blog, thanks jus ;) )

Molyneaux talks Fable 2 - almost
If you had to ask me who my idol in the games industry is, I wouldn't even miss a beat in answering that it's Peter Molyneaux of Bullfrog and Lionhead fame.

I have loved most of his games, and particularly enjoyed Fable, despite it not quite living up to Peter's typically overinflated promises. So naturally I was excited to see that IGN had a chance to speak to him about the sequel. Unfortunately the interview wasn't much more revealing than the seemingly pointless E3 video for the title.

Super Smash Bros Dojo
One of the few games I really, really loved on the GameCube was Super Smash Bros. Melee, an absolutely insane party game that basically involves smashing your opponents to bits with your selected Nintendo character. It's chaotic and great fun! Well, there's now a video available of the next SSB title, Super Smash Bros. Dojo. There are a couple of new characters-most notably Solid Snake from the Metal Gear series! Do yourself a favour and check it out.

Queue to play the Wii
Have a look at this video from YouTube of the queue of people waiting to check out the Nintendo Wii. If the demand for the machine is anywhere near this level when it hits stores, Nintendo will have absolutely nothing to worry about in the next gen!





Why Wii?
Seattle P-I had a Q and A session with Nintendo's Satoru Iwata and he made one or two interesting comments, including the justification behind the renaming of the Revolution to the Wii:
"I knew people who had hoped for a more game machinelike name would think it was an incompatible name. What I wanted to have happen was that people who didn't know that Game Boy Advance and GBA are the same thing would remember Wii right away because it doesn't need to be abbreviated.
Also, we wanted to express that it was something for everyone. So even if people initially oppose it, if they come to accept the name, we thought it would become a big strength. That's why we decided on it. "

Sony's copycat practices criticised
This news piece is a bit older, but since it's pretty much what I was thinking anyway I thought I'd add it. Ubisoft's Clint Hocking has bemoaned Sony's apparent new tactic of copying it's rivals' innovations instead of coming up with it's own. He also expressed unhappiness over the negative effect the focus on graphics fidelity is having on the industry, blaming it for turning game studio employees into 'factory workers'. I have to say I agree with him on both counts. More at Eurogamer.

WWII is in your hands
Activision has announced that they will be bringing the highly acclaimed World War 2 series Call of Duty to the PSP, in the form of Call of Duty 3. Despite the identical naming, this will apparently not be a direct port of the console version, but rather an original title.

The Aliens are coming! Again!
Pandemic is working on a sequel to the incredibly wacky Destroy All Humans which saw you in the role of an invading alien. This time around you're back with bigger weapons and better powers. IGN has some feedback, screenshots and video. I just wonder if Derek will be working on this one too..









We're not copycats.. promise!
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Sony's Phil Harrison has denied that the motion sensing capabilities in the PS3 controller was inspired by/copied from that demonstrated by Nintendo last year for the Wii. He insists it's all a huge coincidence. The interview is reposted on Eurogamer.

Mario Wiining fans
Also on Eurogamer, first impressions of using the Wii controller in Super Mario Galaxy seem to be very positive. This reporter was obviously blown away, and if his comments are anything to go on, we can expect some awesome stuff from the Wii.



WOW, ok I think that's enough for one post. It's lunchtime now so I can format this and send it out into the big ol' interweb! I'll start on another one for this afternoon ;)