More SSX footage from E3 2011

The new SSX keeps getting better and better the more I see it especially with all these videos EA Sports has been releasing this week. Kaori is the latest character reveal, so she's back alongside Elise and Mac. We also get to see tunnel levels, which look amazing and the signature SSX gameplay remains intact even with the terrain deformation when you have your tricky meter going at its maximum. I don't care if it is coming out on January, I want to play this now!

DmC Looks Better Now I Guess...

DmC, aka Ninja Theory's Devil May Cry reboot, is at E3 and after all the hate about Dante's new look, I started to get over it after watching the trailer above. Capcom seemed to listen to the complaints and at least we see what to expect out of gameplay this time. Of course, I don't expect it to be as good as past games, but I like the new direction this time around as its own game. Dante's hair goes white when in Devil Trigger mode (whatever its called this time), so there's a response to all the hatred for the character model. Ninja Theory's past action games have been good, but not great, so hopefully DmC is their home run they have been waiting for. Despite all of that, it is still going to be hard to please everyone with this reboot (as if the franchise needed a reboot, but I can see why they want mainstream success), so good luck to Capcom and Ninja Theory trying to prove everyone wrong.

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).

Sony E3 2011 Press Conference Recap

I'll try to keep this one shorter than the Microsoft presser... just the highlights worth mentioning. It was the Playstation Vita's time to shine at Sony's E3 2011 Press Conference and even though it didn't hog all the spotlight along with some dragging moments, Sony will be fine this holiday season after what they showed off tonight. Plus, count on good old Jack Tretton to deliver the goods again (he's a pretty good MC at these things anyway).

Sony started off with the showstopper as Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception gets the demo spotlight. Nathan Drake is in some ship level and the amazing water effects gets shown off here. Its one of many reasons why its my most anticipated game of the year and also contender for game of the show. The new campaign trailer is also pretty nuts as well with the epic locales Drake and Sully travel plus it confirmed Chloe and Elena!

There was a Resistance 3 demo too, but it didn't seem that impressive. Then again, I'm not a Resistance fan, but there are fans out there for that franchise. Even Infamous 2, out tomorrow, got a mention tonight, which I thought was funny talking about a game out the same week as E3. Sony is also continuing the HD collection business with the already announced Ico/Shadow of the Collosus Collection and God of War: Origins Collection, which are the two PSP games remastered and 3D support. Speaking of 3D, Jack announced a Playstation-branded 24-inch 3DTV and 3D glasses at affordable prices (The TV is I think 500 bucks) especially a bundle with Resistance 3.

Playstation Move also had some minutes in the spotlight with a crappy game called Medieval Moves (pretty much Sorcery now). NBA 2K12 is a different story with their new point and play Move control scheme. It seemed sketchy during the demo, but at least Kobe was there to help out even though he felt trolled playing against the Heat (You could of done something about that Kobe if you're in the finals now). LittleBigPlanet2 is also getting a big Move patch soon as well.

Another PS3 exclusive only got the trailer treatment at tonight's press conference which was Starhawk. Looks like a lot of people watched the GameTrailers TV reveal a couple weeks back. However, one returning character is finally getting his fourth game as Sly Cooper returns to the Playstation 3 with Thieves on Time. Besides the trailer above, it is Sly's turn to mess around with time (Ratchet did that already this generation).

One of the other new games announced at Sony's presser was Dust 514 from the Eve Online peeps. Its just another third-person shooter to me, but it apparently has PS3/PC connectivity support and some sharing feature with Eve Online (from what I can remember). Still though, its just another shooter that will be swept up by the competition. The new Star Trek game that is related to the movies, however, (trailer below) could of pretty cool and for once be something good for the franchise.

The big third party dude at Sony's presser was Irrational's Ken Levine as he showed off BioShock Infinite's newest trailer. That game continues to amaze as it is also a top contender for game of the show. Ken had his doubts about motion controls, but he announced Move support for Infinite along with a BioShock game for Playstation Vita. The original game is also exclusively packaged with PS3 versions of Infinite, so that's a win for Sony for me. Sony has their own exclusive deals with third parties such as Move support for Saints Row: The Third, exclusive levels for the new SSX (Yes!), Battlefield 1943 free when you buy the PS3 version of Battlefield 3, and also Need for Speed: The Run.

With the PS3 only stuff out of the way, time for Kaz Hirai to talk PS Vita details!!!

• 250 bucks Wi-Fi! 300 bucks Wi-Fi/3G! (That's a deal folks!)
• Party systems with friends, "Near" social network service, AT&T provider (lol), cloud saves with PS3 versions
• Still the same looking NGP (touch controls, rear/front cameras, gyroscope, etc.)
• Holiday 2011 launch
• First party lineup - Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Modnation Racers, Ruin (also for PS3 - cloud save feature was demoed), LittleBigPlanet Touch, and more to come.

The fighting game fan in me went nuts when a Vita version of Street Fighter X Tekken got announced. The same console game will be there on the handheld along with touch controls for simple commands (like SSFIV 3D Edition on 3DS) and a guest exclusive character only for the Vita version, which is Cole from Infamous. Okay, Cole doesn't seem like a guy that would appear in a Capcom fighting game (I rather see him in Marvel vs. Capcom 3 than this since it probably makes more sense), but Ono and crew can pull it off. I'll have more about the console versions later this week (UPDATE - Cole is also confirmed for the PS3 version too = yay?).

That's pretty much it about Sony's press conference this year. They have a solid lineup for the rest of 2011 and the first half of next year. Uncharted 3 is gonna blow people's minds as their big first-party game of the holiday season. Their Move games are not impressive though, but at least they're trying to be better than Kinect and Wii on the motion control front. Playstation Vita's pricing shows that Sony is willing to compete against Nintendo's 3DS rather than try to be its own thing (Even though it pretty much is since they're two completely different systems now). They knew the PSN outage was very unfortunate, but Sony was able to rebound on the right track and it indeed shows at E3 this week.

3rd Strike y'all...

After nearly a year since its announcement, Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition is finally coming out this summer on Xbox Live and Playstation Network. This ain't some lazy Capcom/Backbone port though as it looked like they have learned their lessons from Super Turbo HD Remix and Marvel 2. This version is arcade perfect, has GGPO-online play (Yes!), and the YouTube sharing feature. The filtering seems okay, but you never know those purists that love the game too much. The tournament scene will love this and I would love to see how the SF4-only crowd handle a game like this too.