Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Street Fighter X Tekken E3 2011 Blowout

The fighting game to beat at E3 this week is arguably Street Fighter X Tekken. Here's some gameplay videos featuring recently revealed characters Cammy, Sagat, Julia, and Hworang.





UPDATE - Maxmillian put up a nice and informative video about his impressions of the game along with some footage as it seems like most of the tourney players are enjoying it so far.

Nintendo E3 2011 Press Conference Recap

Nintendo was the big of the last three to have their press conference this week ate E3 and the opportunity to steal the show once again, which I think did enough to do so. The excitement of a new console reveal is always good and of course the diehard fanboys would be out there in full force.



Even though this trailer wasn't shown at the presser, Nintendo started off talking about the 25th Anniversary of the Legend of Zelda franchise. An orchestra was there playing all the hits as they announced a live concert around the world sometime later this year. There's definitely a lot of Zelda out this year to celebrate that feat with Link's Awakening DX out now on the 3DS eShop, Four Swords will be on DSiWare, Ocarina of Time 3D out next weekend, and Skyward Sword (out this holiday season on Wii). I'm still not that hyped up for Skyward Sword and the fact it is out on the crowded holiday stretch, I'm not sure if I would get it. Yeah, its Zelda, but cmon, release it earlier than November Nintendo! Even with all those games celebrating the franchise's 25th anniversary, I'm actually a little disappointed they didn't announce some collection or even a new 2D game in the vein of New Super Mario Bros., but oh well with that.



Reggie came on to talk about the upcoming lineup for 3DS games, which they are desperate for now considering the launch was sort of a flop. Mario Kart 3DS, Star Fox 64 3D, the new 3D Mario game, Kid Icarus, and newly announced Luigi's Mansion 2 were what Nintendo has for the upcoming months. Luigi's Mansion 2 is probably the sequel no one expected at all to happen and especially on 3DS, but I'm actually glad it exists now since it was definitely an underrated game during the Gamecube's launch. As expected Mario Kart looks great, which now features hang gliding and driving on water, so it is going to sell gangbusters along with some more 3DS units. Star Fox 64 3D (the better remake I've been waiting for) is out on September and their versus mode seems better with camera support as people can see your reaction with your Arwing gets blown up by someone else. They have a solid 3DS lineup, so we'll see sales rise for that thing despite no early price drop announcement as some assumed they would drop price in response to the Playstation Vita.



The main event of the conference was the new console announcement, which is now called WiiU. As rumored for months, it is Nintendo's entry to HD even though the power for the thing is more equal to the 360 and the PS3. The big story is the controller which is a second screen that can be touched along with buttons seen in a Wii Classic Controller Pro. The use of the controller is pretty amazing as it can be a little hard to describe what the thing actually does (I'll let the video above demonstrate that). Its also one of those you have to play it to truly know what's up deals as people had some shaky first impressions when seen at the presser. Then again, Nintendo has been in this position before with the original DS, Wii, and the 3DS, so I'm pretty sure magic will strike again for the house that built Mario. More third-party games are coming to the WiiU at its launch next year and even if they get those big names, who knows how long they'll stick around trying to figure out innovative ways that 360 and PS3 versions won't have controls-wise. The WiiU is definitely an evolution of the Wii and it definitely has potential as I'm sure I'll buy it at its launch. Like the Wii though, I'll still only get it for the Nintendo games only (u know the Marios, Zeldas, Smash Bros., which got a mention and fanboys got hype, etc.), but so far I'm sold of how unique it is.

That's pretty much Nintendo's conference this year in a nutshell as I liked what I saw of the WiiU. It is definitely going to be the talk of the show since it is a new home console and lines will be filled up in just seconds just to try it out. They definitely had the best presser out of the big three for a second year in a row, which is good for them even though all three had their own flaws of what was shown and not.

Anyway, more E3 stuff throughout the week folks!!!

Rock Band Catches Grenades...



Yup, Rock Band 3 is still around pumping out DLC every week and one of the featured artists is another mainstream pop superstar, which is Bruno Mars. I never thought I would see Bruno songs appear in Rock Band (then again, same thing with Gaga), but it makes sense to a degree even though they're easy songs. "Grenade," "Just the Way Are," and "Marry You" are the three songs that are downloadable as if making YouTube videos of yourself singing this nonsense was enough. Keyboard players will have a good time with this, but I'm not sure with guitar players (well there's new Rise Against stuff out too).