This fall will see two music games going head to head for your monies worth with DJ Hero 2 and Def Jam Rapstar.
I think I said this earlier when DJ Hero 2 is announced before E3 that I'm liking the new additions to this game making it more complete than the first one with more modes. We'll see if the song selection of mixes will also hold up as there will be some hits and some stinkers, but I can see why DJ Hero 2 is becoming better for the party atmosphere in your living room with more multiplayer options like vocals and two player turntable duels. Considering the first one bombed in terms of sales and now cheap to get, will the sequel have better success? Who knows with the rhythm genre in general these days even though DJ Hero has proven to be a great game to have around. Every time I play DJ Hero at my cousin's house on Hard, I have gotten pretty good at it even though I barely touched Expert, so if I get DJ Hero 2, I'll be likely making the jump this October.
Def Jam Rapstar, as you probably know already, is pretty much Singstar with obviously rapping. Likely the game will come out with radio edits of all the songs that will appear in the game from "Ain't Nothin But A G Thang," by Dr. Dre feat. Snoop, "Juicy" by Notorious B.I.G. (I know someone that would go crazy with that lol), "Push It" by Salt 'n Pepa, and many more. The social elements of this game will be interesting stuff with the 30 second quick clips like Singstar and the customization as well. I'm pretty sure people will find something that would rap, or in other words there's something for everyone in this game whether or not they like rap music. I still wished they would have dirty versions of the songs, but it ain't happening which is expected. Def Jam Rapstar is also coming out in October for the PS3, 360, and the Wii. (Giant Bomb has a clip of the E3 demo with Method Man and Redman's shenanigans too below)
Both DJ Hero 2 and Def Jam Rapstar do focus on hip-hop music as it is a sub-genre that feels untapped until now will those Guitar Hero/Rock Band games around. DJ Hero 2 does have more genres of music at its disposal besides hip-hop with the house/clubby stuff, but for those that just want to rap in their own living room, there's Def Jam Rapstar for that. You can probably throw in Harmonix's Dance Central to the mix too even though it is more of a dancing game than something with a hip-hop focus. I am indeed looking forward to both games and hope they do well this holiday season as they have the catered audiences ready to enjoy them. Then again, why not just get both to have around in your house parties especially after some drinks perhaps for more hilarity.
If there was a honorable winner of this week's E3 show, it has to be once again Lady Gaga for her crazy influences across the whole gaming sphere. Last year, her influence has led to what is now the Playstation Move controller, or from some of us including me, I would still personally call it a disco stick because of the fact it change colors in certain cases. This year, Gaga has made games more popular again like Rock Band 2 with that DLC package that came out in March. Now, she is in DJ Hero 2 and Harmonix's Dance Central along with being downloadable in the current European versions of SingStar on PS3. However, now that the Playstation Move received positive buzz this week, the FPS Bodycount developers referring to her to how to deliver craziness, and Dance Central being arguably the killer app for Microsoft's Kinect, Gaga has put her stamp in the gaming world. I'm only focusing on Dance Central for this post because "Poker Face" is now stuck in my mind once again since that song is in the game as you dance away with your full body (okay usually fist pumps for now). I also blame the Giant Bomb guys for making that song relevant this week as well in their E3 coverage from podcasts to their amazing videos. Like I said earlier, I would buy a Slim 360 with Kinect ready along with this game hopefully in the future. In the meantime, more videos of people dancing to "Poker Face" at E3 2010!
Okay, skip to halfway in the video above for Dance Central craziness even though the Just Dance 2 part is just as nuts too with all those people dancing (also featuring G4's Patrick Klepek!). For the video below, it is pretty much throughout the video about four minutes in (also if you like E3 coverage of other games, but it is definitely Gaga-ified).
The rebooted Mortal Kombat had a great showing at this week's E3 bringing back the glory days of what MK made great from M-rated goodness of the fatalities, remastered stages from the original games, and the iconic characters you loved through the years. I gotta give Ed Boon, the creative director, props for sticking with the franchise from the beginning and still believing in a strong future for it as well. Details have ranged from a character roster of 20+ from the first three games, secret characters, and DLC down the road after its release, three meters (EX-like special move uses one, combo breaker for two, and the x-ray super move for all three dealing massive damage). Each character will get two fatalities as some of them will be your signature ones you have known over the years to even variations of them that lived on in spirit. There are still possibilities for friendships and bababilites too if the Netherrealm Studios guys are up to do it. The E3 build had the guys from the trailer playable (Sub-Zero, Scorpion, Sektor, Johnny Cage, Kung Lao, Reptile, Nightwolf, and Milleena) as there is potential for juggle combo madness being a combination of the old school and even MK vs. DC. From what I seen and read so far, it is definitely a return to form for the franchise as the mature rating pretty much gives the guys no limits to go crazy with fatalities. From the first trailer that came out next week, I already excited as hell for the glorious return of Mortal Kombat even we have to wait till Spring 2011 to play the final version, but I think it is in good hands that the franchise will bring back the rivalry against Street Fighter just like in the 90s. Here's the Giant Bomb interview with Ed Boon below... (aka I think their game of the show because they are big fans of MK). Also below is more gameplay footage demonstrating the potential of how awesome the fighting will be... in the meantime, blast that theme song!
Even though Activision had that expensive E3 party earlier this week with marquee acts like Eminem, it is only right if you promote a hip-hop themed game by getting acts that know what's up with games. That is the case with Method Man and Redman performing a melody of their hits over the years at the show floor promoting Konami's Def Jam Rapstar. Since they are featured in the game with "Da Rockwilder," it is only fitting they were there to make the game relevant to attendees there. As for the game itself, I might write something about that later, but there is deep competition this fall in the genre with this, DJ Hero 2, Rock Band 3, and Dance Central. I'm pretty sure there will be something for someone for which music they like to play to.
Harmonix not only has Rock Band 3 out this fall, but they have their Kinect launch game, Dance Central, out as well. Even though Rock Band 3 is already looking impressive getting closer to the real deal with rocking out by the various instruments, Harmonix steps to the world of dancing now that the Kinect technology enables such full body control. I have a feeling Dance Central could be rhythm game of this year's E3 because it actually works making the Kinect on 360 look good. From Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" to "Hella Good" by No Doubt, and more, the soundtrack should be pretty good to dance to as Harmonix would like to get actual choreography from the music videos of these songs. If you see the clip above, fist pumping to Gaga is not that accurate yet to how her music video went, but its a start to show off to attendees. I do believe Harmonix knows what's up as they have a good track record of setting the bar for rhyhtm games of various styles. Other than Child of Eden, I would buy a Kinect for Dance Central as it is out the same time Kinect comes out on November 4. Then again, you rather do this for real I guess at the clubs (If I was of any indication). UPDATED with an awesome interview by Giant Bomb!
Oh yeah, it would not be a blog post about Dance Central without this clip!
Well, I knew Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds would impress big at E3 this week and damn, it impressed big alright. I'm already digging what I seen from the videos alone with the fighting being a mix of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom and Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Hyper combos, DHCs, Snapbacks, Advancing Guard, Air Dashes, etc... yup its definitely Marvel baybee!!! I still need to read and hear more thoughts from the fighting game community that were at E3 playing the game. Keits from SRK posted his thoughts on his Twitter, so there's a start, but so far Marvel 3 is looking pretty HYPE right now. The playable characters in the E3 build are Captain America, Iron Man, Wolverine, Deadpool, and Hulk for the Marvel side while Ryu, Dante, Chris Redfield, Morrigan, and Felicia are playable for the Capcom side. Characters that were in previous versus games are pretty much the same for the most part retaining their special moves and their supers like Iron Man's Proton Cannon (now also anti-air too), Hulk's Gamma Quake, and Ryu's Shinku Hadouken. Dante and Deadpool so far make the transition to Marvel 3 pretty well as I like their playstyle. Dante can Devil Trigger as a super and has crazy combo setups and Deadpool hilariously has a Shoryuken and his super says "Bang Bang Bang Bang Bang!" Chris from Resident Evil 5 also has some neat stuff on his arsenal as well with his melee and shooting skills. The art style is truly living up to the comic book-y approach Capcom is going with as I do dig it. Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds will be out next year for the 360 and the PS3 as more characters will be revealed in the coming months. In the meantime, gameplay footage below...
Also for more info on Marvel 3, u can listen to the newest Wakeup SRK Podcast here.
Sony was once again the last of the big three press conferences and it was a solid showing of what is to come for the upcoming year for them. Obviously, the big focuses were 3D and Playstation Move, but also the most traditional conference of the three with information and montages. Let's run it down shall we...
They started off with their FPS banger, Killzone 3, also in 3D as you had to have 3D glasses on to see the full experience. As expected, Killzone 3 looks amazing with or without 3D and the shooting seems to be what to expect from the franchise. New this time around is the jetpacks, which seem cool as there is more potential for crazy setpieces. Killzone 3 will be out on February 11, 2011 3D ready and with Move support. A montage of games supporting 3D followed.
Then they moved on with well Playstation Move, their motion controller, with demos like Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, which is pretty much self-explanatory with the Move controller as the golf club, but one of the better demos was next...
Sorcery seems like a cool game for those who like wizardry with full Move control with the wand. I still feel like the Move controller is still Lady Gaga's disco stick when it lights up in different colors. This is also out next year.
Heroes on the Move stars Ratchet, Clank, Jak, Daxter, Sly Cooper (also the Sly Collection coming in 3D), and Bentley and the footage seems early, which is also out next year.
It would not have been this year's Sony presser without an appearance by Kevin Butler with an inspirational and funny speech being one of the better moments of E3. This guy is pretty much Sony's mascot at this point and man he delivers on the charisma. After Butler's moment was done, they announced launch dates and prices for the Playstation Move, which is out on September 19 with the Move controller being 50 bucks, the secondary controller being 30, a Move bundle with Sports Champions for 100, and a PS3 with the Move bundle for 400. Not that bad of a deal considering Microsoft Kinect's current price alone is 150 bucks. Another montage of games with Move support then followed.
The PSP finally gets mentioned with no PSP2 announcement (oh well), but a new advertising campaign is being pushed starring Marcus. This is a similar approach to Kevin Butler is doing with the PS3 as this is going Genesis-Super NES territory here with the ads. It has worked for the PS3, so we'll see with the PSP in the upcoming months as they got some hardcore games out like Squenix's new games (Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and The 3rd Birthday) and the recently released Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. There's also some camera thingy announced with some game too as well a teaser for God of War: Ghost of Sparta, also out next year.
LittleBigPlanet 2 then gets demoed and this game is filled with creativity being that you can create any game you want to now, which is too crazy for my mind to consume. The Play, Create, and Share formula gets expanded once again and with LBP2, there is like no limits. This is out this fall and I want to see awesome stuff out of the gate.
The Playstation Plus announcement came off a little bit iffy for me being the long awaited subscription plan for online. You still get to play games free for online, but this extended offering seems like just more goodies and first access to games and betas in the future. People will be suckered to getting this, but I don't see myself going Plus for now even though it would nice to have.
EA shows up now as a major third party partner to Sony giving the PS3 exclusive content for the future. Medal of Honor is one start with a limited edition featuring Medal of Honor: Frontline HDed up as a bonus, which is cool. Dead Space 2 then followed with a crazy demo of chaos and then their limited edition announcement of having Dead Space Extraction with Move support as a bonus, also cool! Sony has finally gotten around nailing exclusives from third party games, which has been Microsoft's thing for a while, but now they have Call of Duty timed exclusivity as Sony one-upped them with more support from other third parties.
In another surprising moment of the conference as one of the good moments, Gabe Newell from Valve shows up announcing Portal 2 for the PS3, out next year. Gabe has been a hater of the console scene, but he has seem to come around and good for Sony to make this happen since The Orange Box on PS3 was a disappointment. Portal 2 on the PS3 is the lead version as Gabe premiered the trailer here, craziness abound again as Glados does miss us wishing our return.
A new trailer for Final Fantasy XIV is next as it is still a MMORPG like XI. Nothing else to say for this one as its FF, so yeah.
One of my favorite trailers of this press conference is this multiplayer clip for Assassins Creed: Brotherhood just by the music alone. Ubisoft always nails awesome Euro-like music for their AC trailers as this one is no exception. The PS3 version gets exclusive content like more missions and a multiplayer beta soon. Another montage of PS3 games then follows...
Gran Turismo 5 will be out on November 2nd!!! Finally after this long wait as another amazing trailer with awesome music is above. I love the new additions like the Top Gear test track (because that show is still dope - New Series on June 27!!!) complete with the camera angles from the show and other stuff like Nascar and Rally. This game is just too big and also playable in 3D. Its definitely in my eye for best racing game of the year.
Infamous gets the sequel treatment with Infamous 2. Cole gets a new look and somewhat a new voice along with new ice powers. I enjoyed the first game a lot and expect nothing but good things for this one too.
Sony's last bombshell of their presser is the long awaited of Twisted Metal! This car combat franchise gets rebooted on PS3 as the original team, led by David Jaffe, is behind the project. Sweet Tooth finally makes his return to the gaming world as well as other characters from the franchise. Multiplayer is clearly a big focus with deathmatch modes as well as the new Nuke game. The Twisted Metal reboot is out next year and I'm excited for it glad it has returned since the car combat genre has been on decline.
That's it for the Sony presser as it is solid stuff with the 3D initiative and Playstation Move stuff. They had nothing but games and games for both casual and hardcore audiences, which is a good balance of what is shown compared to Microsoft's approach. It is clear that Sony still matters to the core and it definitely showed at this year's E3. Some things were missing like The Last Guardian, but all in all, a solid show by Sony with a great lineup for the upcoming year for the PS3.
