Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Cartoon Mech Visionary Debuts First Real Robot
The Humanoid Robotics Project in Japan is an organization working towards designing machines that can provide human-like labor for jobs which are unsafe for the living to preform. Shown is an example of their latest work: an android designed to help in the cleaning and repair of hazardous areas during post-disaster scenarios.
This particular cyborg is made unique by the fact that its designer, Yutaka Izubuchi, had only previously designed such machines as an artist. He is famous for his creation of the mechs in the Patlabor and Gundam anime series'. Pretty neat to see this kind of crossover.
Super Mario Galaxy demo videos
Oh my sweet heavens.
And more:
And of course, the new bee suit:
This really is going to be my favorite game ever. HOORAY!
And more:
And of course, the new bee suit:
This really is going to be my favorite game ever. HOORAY!
Labels: games
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
echochrome
The only thing that really impressed me during Sony's E3 press conference was a game called echochrome. Although it has a terrible name that isn't the least bit representative of what the game is, this PSP and PS3 download game looks to be a very unique and interesting puzzle game. Phil Harrison presented the game by saying it would be the game with "the least graphics and the most gameplay you will see during the show." Which is probably true, considering the game's graphics were simple black line drawings on a white background.
The game is played by manipulating your perspective on a series of impossible M. C. Esher style platforms and stairs. There is a little person, drawn to look like a wooden figure drawing model who wanders around the environment like a lemming, and you must help it navigate by moving the camera to connect and align platforms. I look forward to seeing more on this title in the future.
UPDATE: here is the video from the press conference:
The game is played by manipulating your perspective on a series of impossible M. C. Esher style platforms and stairs. There is a little person, drawn to look like a wooden figure drawing model who wanders around the environment like a lemming, and you must help it navigate by moving the camera to connect and align platforms. I look forward to seeing more on this title in the future.
UPDATE: here is the video from the press conference:
Super Quick Nintendo E3 Press Conference Recap
- Nintendo is releasing the zapper that you insert the wiimote and nunchuck in this year for $19.99.
- Super Mario Galaxy will be released on November 12th.
- Smash Bros. Brawl will be released on December 3rd.
- Mario Kart for the Wii comes out early next year with online multiplayer racing and battle modes. It comes packed with a racing wheel that you stick your wiimote in.
- The DS vision training game is coming to the US under the name Flash Focus.
- A new Wii channel called "Check Mii Out" was announced in which people can upload, compare, and vote for their favorite Miis.
- Wii Fit is played with a new peripheral called the Wii Balance Board, that measures your weight and your center of gravity. The game will calculate your BMI to measure your performance, and you can compare your stats with your friends and family. They showed aerobics and yoga style exercises, a stepping mini game that looked sort of inspired by DDR, and a soccer game where you use your balance to try to hit a soccer ball with your virtual head and avoid things like flying cleats.
Info for today...
Hopefully this will help everyone out with searching the web today.
1up currently is the only site with impressions of the private showing of Halo 3 journalists got after Microsoft's show. From the sounds of it, the graphics are a lot better than what was shown in the trailer. Also, they say it plays like Halo.
You can read it here.
IGN has a very in depth hands on with Assassin's Creed, which confirms it is a real game. It sounds like the controls are pretty convoluted at first, but I'm still very excited about this game. I hope enemy AI isn't as stupid as it was in the press conference last night.
Read it!
Gamespot has another silly live show this E3 and along with them being annoying and having a remarkably different take on games than I do, they also have demos of Mass Effect and Burnout Paradise at 9pm!
Watch here.
And lastly, the Japanese love penises.
1up currently is the only site with impressions of the private showing of Halo 3 journalists got after Microsoft's show. From the sounds of it, the graphics are a lot better than what was shown in the trailer. Also, they say it plays like Halo.
You can read it here.
IGN has a very in depth hands on with Assassin's Creed, which confirms it is a real game. It sounds like the controls are pretty convoluted at first, but I'm still very excited about this game. I hope enemy AI isn't as stupid as it was in the press conference last night.
Read it!
Gamespot has another silly live show this E3 and along with them being annoying and having a remarkably different take on games than I do, they also have demos of Mass Effect and Burnout Paradise at 9pm!
Watch here.
And lastly, the Japanese love penises.
Microsoft's showing...
That was almost as bad as when Nintendo revealed Pac-Man Versus.
I can't believe I stayed up for that!
I can't believe I stayed up for that!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Intimate Controllers
A girl at NYU made a set of "Intimate Controllers" for her PhD thesis. Under garments (a bra and a pair of boxers) are fitted with sensors to control a video game. Couples must match the screen, hand to sensor, in order to progress in the game.
This, of course, is in response to poor girl friends losing their other halves to the likes of WOW, Civ III, Guild Wars, StarCraft, etc. She reportedly discovered the existence of the "Gamer Widow" and had to respond!
Mind you this is after she designed a Pong controller, also built into a bra.
Grant's Nintendo E3 hopes
I'm torn on what to think for Nintendo at this E3. Nintendo has been dominating the sales charts with casual games and has become a household name again with the Wii and DS. It is possible that we could see more casual games than most Nintendo fans feel comfortable with and some of the more serious games may take the turn of say, Donkey Kong JET. I wouldn't be surprised if even Mario Kart Wii turned out simplified. On the other hand, Nintendo has sold so many copies of Mario Kart DS and New Super Mario Bros because they are great games, not because they are just simple. Nintendo also just had a hit in japan with Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, which is catered to both newcomers and long time fans. I'm hoping Nintendo's future will be filled with both Wii Fitness and Fire Emblem, Face Training and a new 2D Metroid. I honestly don't know much of what to expect from Nintendo, so I'll write what I want to see.
-Animal Crossing Wii has cell shaded graphics. Uses Wii Connect 24 and internal storage to allow other users to access your town without your console being on.
-Face Training, Vision Training and Cooking Navi all coming to the US.
-A storage device for Wii.
-More Wii and DS connectivity. More features like game sharing between Geometry Wars Galaxies for Wii and DS.
-Pikmin Wii.
-Nintendogs Wii.
-SOMETHING NEW BY MIYAMOTO.
-Stage Debut!
-Release dates for Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Brothers.
-News on the Snatcher game by Suda 51 and Kojima.
-News on the 2D Metroid that was shown behind closed doors last year.
-Pilotwings for the Wii or DS.
-DS gains access to some of the virtual console.
-New controller colors (we should definitely see this)
-New DS colors for America.
-Pricing and dates for Neo Geo games on Virtual Console.
-Revised pricing for Genesis games on Virtual Console in the US.
-Some stuff
-Animal Crossing Wii has cell shaded graphics. Uses Wii Connect 24 and internal storage to allow other users to access your town without your console being on.
-Face Training, Vision Training and Cooking Navi all coming to the US.
-A storage device for Wii.
-More Wii and DS connectivity. More features like game sharing between Geometry Wars Galaxies for Wii and DS.
-Pikmin Wii.
-Nintendogs Wii.
-SOMETHING NEW BY MIYAMOTO.
-Stage Debut!
-Release dates for Super Mario Galaxy and Smash Brothers.
-News on the Snatcher game by Suda 51 and Kojima.
-News on the 2D Metroid that was shown behind closed doors last year.
-Pilotwings for the Wii or DS.
-DS gains access to some of the virtual console.
-New controller colors (we should definitely see this)
-New DS colors for America.
-Pricing and dates for Neo Geo games on Virtual Console.
-Revised pricing for Genesis games on Virtual Console in the US.
-Some stuff
Zelda documentary IN ENGLISH!
I've read about this documentary for a few years now. I heard it featured lots of info on Aonuma and Miyamoto's working relationship and things left out of the series.
Thankfully, Zentendo translated the video and now has both high and low definition versions available. The download speeds are terrible, but that could be due to all the blogs discovering it today.
GET IT!
Thankfully, Zentendo translated the video and now has both high and low definition versions available. The download speeds are terrible, but that could be due to all the blogs discovering it today.
GET IT!
Backwards compatability gimped in new PS3s, blog pissed
It happened first in Europe and it finally has made its way to PS3s in America.
The new 80 gig SKU of the PS3 DOES NOT include the "emotion engine" chip and therefore will only play software supported PS2 games. Most of the worthwhile PS2 games cannot play on these new machines so if backwards compatibility is important to you, get a 60 gig unit while you can. Circuit City is having a sale now that includes a second PS3 controller and Sony is having a deal where you can get 5 bad movies on Blu-Ray if you buy a PS3 in July. The fact they are charging more for a unit without such a widely advertised feature is amazing.
Bastards.
The new 80 gig SKU of the PS3 DOES NOT include the "emotion engine" chip and therefore will only play software supported PS2 games. Most of the worthwhile PS2 games cannot play on these new machines so if backwards compatibility is important to you, get a 60 gig unit while you can. Circuit City is having a sale now that includes a second PS3 controller and Sony is having a deal where you can get 5 bad movies on Blu-Ray if you buy a PS3 in July. The fact they are charging more for a unit without such a widely advertised feature is amazing.
Bastards.
First Killzone 2 screen released, better than GDC, worse than teaser
So early this morning the first screenshot of Killzone 2 was released and I'm partially impressed. The lighting is nice and the detail on the model is great, but the shadow on the wall looks pretty crummy from what I can see. Then again, this is all based on a scan from a page in USA today, so who knows what the game really looks like. However, this already looks better than what was described from their GDC showing so perhaps things are looking up
Labels: games, gdc, killzone 2, sony
Monday, July 9, 2007
Rock Band timed Xbox 360 exclusive?
On his blog Game/Life Chris Kohler has been speculating for the past few days that Rock Band could become a timed Xbox 360 exclusive. At first, he had no evidence but relied on the fact that the PS2 timed exclusive of Guitar Hero 2 didn't impact the sales of the Xbox 360 version of the game. Next, he had a scan of the invite he was sent for the Rock Band E3 event which had an Xbox 360 logo but lacked one for the PS3. Now, he found in last night's PS3 price drop press sheet there was a list of the major third party releases for the PS3... and Rock Band wasn't on the list. Now this could just be a coincidence, but I think he may be on to something. Sony doesn't have the install base to support such an expensive game and since timed releases haven't hurt Harmonix in the past, why should they be worried now?
I'm very curious to see if he is right on this one.
I'm very curious to see if he is right on this one.
Labels: exclusives, games, harmonix, rock band
Sunday, July 8, 2007
Late and very short review: Club House Games
Most of the games suck and lack essential features but it has a great mahjong game. I love mahjong and we never get mahjong games in America, so that is worth the price for me. However, it's hard to recommend this game to just about anyone unless you really want to play mahjong, chinese checkers or chess on the go. The fact Nintendo tried to charge 30 dollars for this is a bit ridiculous.
OH WELL MORE ORSON, MORE WINE
OH WELL MORE ORSON, MORE WINE
Saturday, July 7, 2007
Friday, July 6, 2007
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Grant's E3 predictions
By platform and probability.
PC:
Starcraft 2 is playable and awesome.
Outlook: Probable
If Blizzard is letting attendees play this at Blizzcon this year, that certainly means it's ready for the press. However, they could just save it for the devoted fans... and press at their own gig.
Team Fortress 2 and Portal are playable. Episode 2 is not.
Outlook: Probable
Valve has only shown TF 2 off to a few gaming magazines, so this is probably the big coming out for the game. We probably won't see anything on Episode 2 until this October however, since the story seems to be a bigger deal than in Episode 1.
Fallout 3 footage is shown.
Outlook: Unlikely
Bethesda has said a lot about the game in the past week but seeing as how far off this is (and how they may be trying to prepare fans for the horror of the franchise going first person) we probably won't see much on it until late this year or even next E3.
Microsoft announces real features for Games for Windows Live.
Outlook: Possible
This is almost the last chance for Microsoft to sell people on GFW live and they realize this. However, they'll probably just show off how fancy DX 10 is instead.
Id shows off new game, has fancy graphics and is shiny.
Outlook: Probable
Press were shown a demonstration of the engine at the recent Mac conference, so Id looks ready to share. Here's hoping it is better than Doom 3 and Quake 4.
Romero shows off new game, proves he can make games better than Daikatana.
Outlook: Unlikely
He said it was a world-changing MMO, so that means he hasn't milked all the money out of unwitting investors yet. Just kidding! Maybe we'll something out of it someday.
Real Time Worlds shows trailers for games that aren't Duke Nukem Forever.
Outlook: Probable
They have to be working on something over there, right?
Real Time Worlds shows off Duke Nukem Forever in a trailer that shows how the game has changed from being in the Quake 2 engine, Half Life engine, Quake 3 engine, Doom 3 engine and finally Unreal Engine 3. They show the game in playable form and announce it's coming out at the end of 2008.
Outlook: Impossible.
Xbox 360:
Halo 3 single player is playable. Demo on Xbox live.
Outlook: Possible
I mean, it comes out in just a few months right?
Assassin's Creed playable. Demo on Xbox live.
Outlook: Possible
Same.
Blue Dragon demo on Xbox Live.
Outlook: Probable
Again, it comes out in August.
Eternal Sonata demo on Xbox Live.
Outlook: Probable
It's out in Japan, in English!
Microsoft announces a price drop for Xbox Live.
Outlook: Probable
I know most people will not agree with me on this and I may be wrong, but that 50 dollars a year will be a lot harder to justify to an average consumer when Home comes out.
Microsoft announces a price drop for the 360.
Outlook: Possible
If Microsoft is smart, then we'll have the core go down to 200, the Premium to 300 and the Elite to 400 at the event. However, this may not happen as they'll still be cheaper than the PS3 and they have better games.
Microsoft announces that Konami will bring MGS4 to the Xbox 360 on the same day as the PS3.
Outlook: Possible
It's abundantly clear that a version of the game exists and if the PS3 continues to sell as poorly as it is in the US, Konami may accept a Microsoft deal to get the game out the same day.
Microsoft announces Final Fantasy 13 is coming to the Xbox 360.
Outlook: Unlikely
No way sadly, even though I would love for it to happen. HOWEVER, I think we'll see this next year since the PS3 will be trailing the Xbox 360 so dramatically in US sales by that point.
More classic console games are announced for Xbox Live arcade. Specifically, Sega titles.
Outlook: Probable
There is a blade for them in the 360's dashboard and I'm sure Castlevania sold well so we will see Genesis games and maybe even bigger downloadable Sega games?
Microsoft announces full size downloadable games.
Outlook: Probable
Now, this doesn't mean you can download Halo 3. What it does mean however is that you can download games that will be priced higher and are larger than Arcade games. I think we will hear an announcement of this and perhaps nothing mentioned, but I wouldn't be shocked if older console games that were bigger than 100 megs showed up on this by next year.
No mention of Gears of War 2. If anything, a teaser trailer with no footage.
With all the games coming out on the 360, there is no need to tease something so far off.
Shenmue 3 announced.
Outlook: Impossible
I want this game so badly damnit.
PS3 and PSP
Sony announces and shows a PSP redesign that will be out later this year and be the same price as the current PSP. It has a large battery, a few gigs of internal memory and a smaller screen. The unit looks hot and everyone wants one.
Outlook: Probable
I think this one doesn't need explanation.
Sony announces a PS3 price drop.
Outlook: Possible
Most would say this is a definite yes, but I'm unsure as to whether Sony wants the PS3 to look so weak that it already needs a price drop. I think they may drop it this fall when there are at least a few games people care about.
Sony shows off a bunch of unannounced games. People want to buy PS3s.
Outlook: Probable
Sadly these won't include the creative games that went to PS2. We won't see the PS3's answer to Gitaroo-Man or Rez. Hell, we probably won't even see Fumito Ueda's games (the designer of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus), but we'll see a bunch of big budget games for the westerners. We may see some games for the Japanese as well, but these will probably just be at TGS and may be very few. Nintendo is outselling them 6 to 1.
PSP gets a ton of good games.
Outlook: Probable
It's still selling really well in both America and Japan. We'll see lots of good games.
PS3 gets lots of fun downloadable games.
Outlook: Probable
This will become one of the biggest selling points of the PS3 this E3.
Sony announces SIXAXIS with rumble. Finds palindrome name for device.
Outlook: Possible
It's bound to happen sometime this year, E3 seems as good a place as any.
Sony announces PS3 was a big joke, tells consumers that they are sorry for the misunderstanding and releases a non blu-ray version of the console at $299. Also scraps cell in favor of something practical to develop for. Announces new versions of Jumping Flash!, Jet Moto, Twisted Metal and says Fumito Ueda's game is a Zelda clone.
Outlook: Impossible
Oh how nice that would be...
Wii and DS
coming tomorrow...
PC:
Starcraft 2 is playable and awesome.
Outlook: Probable
If Blizzard is letting attendees play this at Blizzcon this year, that certainly means it's ready for the press. However, they could just save it for the devoted fans... and press at their own gig.
Team Fortress 2 and Portal are playable. Episode 2 is not.
Outlook: Probable
Valve has only shown TF 2 off to a few gaming magazines, so this is probably the big coming out for the game. We probably won't see anything on Episode 2 until this October however, since the story seems to be a bigger deal than in Episode 1.
Fallout 3 footage is shown.
Outlook: Unlikely
Bethesda has said a lot about the game in the past week but seeing as how far off this is (and how they may be trying to prepare fans for the horror of the franchise going first person) we probably won't see much on it until late this year or even next E3.
Microsoft announces real features for Games for Windows Live.
Outlook: Possible
This is almost the last chance for Microsoft to sell people on GFW live and they realize this. However, they'll probably just show off how fancy DX 10 is instead.
Id shows off new game, has fancy graphics and is shiny.
Outlook: Probable
Press were shown a demonstration of the engine at the recent Mac conference, so Id looks ready to share. Here's hoping it is better than Doom 3 and Quake 4.
Romero shows off new game, proves he can make games better than Daikatana.
Outlook: Unlikely
He said it was a world-changing MMO, so that means he hasn't milked all the money out of unwitting investors yet. Just kidding! Maybe we'll something out of it someday.
Real Time Worlds shows trailers for games that aren't Duke Nukem Forever.
Outlook: Probable
They have to be working on something over there, right?
Real Time Worlds shows off Duke Nukem Forever in a trailer that shows how the game has changed from being in the Quake 2 engine, Half Life engine, Quake 3 engine, Doom 3 engine and finally Unreal Engine 3. They show the game in playable form and announce it's coming out at the end of 2008.
Outlook: Impossible.
Xbox 360:
Halo 3 single player is playable. Demo on Xbox live.
Outlook: Possible
I mean, it comes out in just a few months right?
Assassin's Creed playable. Demo on Xbox live.
Outlook: Possible
Same.
Blue Dragon demo on Xbox Live.
Outlook: Probable
Again, it comes out in August.
Eternal Sonata demo on Xbox Live.
Outlook: Probable
It's out in Japan, in English!
Microsoft announces a price drop for Xbox Live.
Outlook: Probable
I know most people will not agree with me on this and I may be wrong, but that 50 dollars a year will be a lot harder to justify to an average consumer when Home comes out.
Microsoft announces a price drop for the 360.
Outlook: Possible
If Microsoft is smart, then we'll have the core go down to 200, the Premium to 300 and the Elite to 400 at the event. However, this may not happen as they'll still be cheaper than the PS3 and they have better games.
Microsoft announces that Konami will bring MGS4 to the Xbox 360 on the same day as the PS3.
Outlook: Possible
It's abundantly clear that a version of the game exists and if the PS3 continues to sell as poorly as it is in the US, Konami may accept a Microsoft deal to get the game out the same day.
Microsoft announces Final Fantasy 13 is coming to the Xbox 360.
Outlook: Unlikely
No way sadly, even though I would love for it to happen. HOWEVER, I think we'll see this next year since the PS3 will be trailing the Xbox 360 so dramatically in US sales by that point.
More classic console games are announced for Xbox Live arcade. Specifically, Sega titles.
Outlook: Probable
There is a blade for them in the 360's dashboard and I'm sure Castlevania sold well so we will see Genesis games and maybe even bigger downloadable Sega games?
Microsoft announces full size downloadable games.
Outlook: Probable
Now, this doesn't mean you can download Halo 3. What it does mean however is that you can download games that will be priced higher and are larger than Arcade games. I think we will hear an announcement of this and perhaps nothing mentioned, but I wouldn't be shocked if older console games that were bigger than 100 megs showed up on this by next year.
No mention of Gears of War 2. If anything, a teaser trailer with no footage.
With all the games coming out on the 360, there is no need to tease something so far off.
Shenmue 3 announced.
Outlook: Impossible
I want this game so badly damnit.
PS3 and PSP
Sony announces and shows a PSP redesign that will be out later this year and be the same price as the current PSP. It has a large battery, a few gigs of internal memory and a smaller screen. The unit looks hot and everyone wants one.
Outlook: Probable
I think this one doesn't need explanation.
Sony announces a PS3 price drop.
Outlook: Possible
Most would say this is a definite yes, but I'm unsure as to whether Sony wants the PS3 to look so weak that it already needs a price drop. I think they may drop it this fall when there are at least a few games people care about.
Sony shows off a bunch of unannounced games. People want to buy PS3s.
Outlook: Probable
Sadly these won't include the creative games that went to PS2. We won't see the PS3's answer to Gitaroo-Man or Rez. Hell, we probably won't even see Fumito Ueda's games (the designer of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus), but we'll see a bunch of big budget games for the westerners. We may see some games for the Japanese as well, but these will probably just be at TGS and may be very few. Nintendo is outselling them 6 to 1.
PSP gets a ton of good games.
Outlook: Probable
It's still selling really well in both America and Japan. We'll see lots of good games.
PS3 gets lots of fun downloadable games.
Outlook: Probable
This will become one of the biggest selling points of the PS3 this E3.
Sony announces SIXAXIS with rumble. Finds palindrome name for device.
Outlook: Possible
It's bound to happen sometime this year, E3 seems as good a place as any.
Sony announces PS3 was a big joke, tells consumers that they are sorry for the misunderstanding and releases a non blu-ray version of the console at $299. Also scraps cell in favor of something practical to develop for. Announces new versions of Jumping Flash!, Jet Moto, Twisted Metal and says Fumito Ueda's game is a Zelda clone.
Outlook: Impossible
Oh how nice that would be...
Wii and DS
coming tomorrow...
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
First Rock Band footage!
I'm really impressed with the notation. It looks a lot more fun and creative than what Neversoft has shown for Guitar Hero 3. Also, the way they display the drums is perfect.
Guitar Hero 3 doesn't stand a chance this fall. I honestly feel bad for Activision. They thought they had picked up this sure-fire IP and now they will never get to cash in on it.
By the way, we're starting a verynerdy.com rock band.
