The 360 snags Tekken 6 and Final Fantasy 13 and the gaming world turns upsidedown. After those two games go multi-platform everyone says the PS3 has no exclusives. Oh on the contrary.
Featured at E3 2009:
The Agency
Agent
DC Universe Online
Final Fantasy XIV
Free Realms
Gran Turismo 5
God of War 3
Heavy Rain
The Last Guardian
Massive Action Game (MAG)
Mod Nation Racers
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Quantum Theory
Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time
Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll
Uncharted 2: Amongst Thieves
White Knight Chronicles
E3 2009 is buzzing about Final Fantasy XIV as an MMO. Have they learned from their mistakes? I’m trepidatious at the prospect after getting burned so badly by Final Fantasy 11. For a series so well known for unforgettable casts and unique character designs, FF11 had the most visually homogenized avatar customization I’ve ever seen, not to mention grind heavy gameplay. But the genre has raised the bar on several fronts since the reign of EverQuest and Lineage so let’s hope they come to play this time.
The good news? PS3 Exclusivity. And in 2010? Almost too good to be true! If Square delivers a Final Fantasy mmo worthy of its namesake we are going to be in for one hell of a treat.
Joystiq’s got a new Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Trailer up. It features fan-favorite, Rachel, the blond bombshell with an affinity for blunt objects and clothes 3 sizes too small. Much to her fans dismay. The following video has the viewer deduce that Rachel is, in fact, a healthy gal.
In the past couple years we saw Soul Calibur IV, MKvsDC, Street Fighter 4, Guilty Gear XX and soon we’re to see a new King of Fighters and Tekken 6. Arc System Works, creators of Guity Gear, seem to be taking the steps along other fighters to bring in a cinematic experience to the forefront with BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger. Technological limitations have prevented former fighters from really emulating that extreme anime experience, but current generation games are breaking that barrier.
Soul Calibur brought in Critical Finishers which were elaborate effects-heavy beat downs, Street Fighter now has Ultra Combo Finishes that swing the camera around for some dramatic demoralization. BlazBlue has integrated hi-def anime quality “Astral Finishes” that look to be some furious over-the-top insanity. Expect to see BlazBlue hit North America later this year.
So EA made this demo before the Ricky Hatton/Manny Pacquiao fight to promote Fight Night Round 4 coming out this summer. Smart marketing tying in this fight considering YouTube alone is going to be serving some major exposure for people looking for the vegas brawl. The boxers look insanely realistic and the animation looks to be the best the series has had to offer. Only thing they didnt get right is that they didn’t predict that Hatton was going get annihilated in the 2nd round and have his brain rattled by a massive left hook from the Filipino madman. This match was the follow up fight after Manny Pacquiao pummeled The Golden Boy, Oscar de la Hoya into retirement.
It’s easy to join the hate train when it comes to Saw. Yes they come out with one every year, but I’ll watch anything Charlie Clouser does the score to. And when it comes to the hatred of Saw, does anyone that dislike the movies actually keep watching them? You either like to watch people get ripped part or not.
At any rate, if you had no idea the movies existed and saw this as a stand alone game, you might actually be intrigued. There’s all this Resident Evil 5 hype that’s more of an action game than anything. The Saw game seems to take the genre back to roots in at least the aspect of creating an atmosphere or sense of tension like early RE, Clock Tower and Silent Hill. I could be wrong, but to hastily smash these developers for what might have potential is irrational when compared to some of the sins esteemed publishers commit, not to mention are forgiven for.
But not in the way you’re thinkin’, bub. But maybe so. I can appreciate AM2’s use of the double entendre, but its title definitely leans towards the wetwork connotation. I say this because of the righteous amounts of violence and bloodletting its lead character, Rubi, displays.
The Tomb Traider games have been trying to recreate Lara Croft’s image to recover her waning appeal. AM2 may have beaten them to the punch because Rubi seems to have all the action Tomb Raider wishes it could have as well as Lara’s sex appeal without becoming a caricature of herself. She’s 007 cool and Ninja Gaiden deadly with a little Prince of Persia style.
But to say that WET is 100% derivative would be unfair. Its visuals seem to be very unique in itself. With grunge and dust-scratched film filters alongside high contrast killing blows, it looks to be a visual feast. While easy to compare it to Max Payne, the game takes the best of all worlds much like the heroine herself. Combine acrobatics with hyper-stylized gun and swordplay and you may just have a product greater than the titles it’s influenced by. For instance, Rubi can trigger her slow-mo, wallrun while pegging unfortunates, walljump then penetrate the neck of an even more unfortunate with her sword. But don’t just take my word for it, check out the gameplay video below and her website here.
WET is looking at a TBA release date somewhere in 2009.
Power Man, (Luke Cage) and and Iron Fist (Danny Rand) were a 70’s super-hero duo, The Heroes for Hire. While a bit hokey for today’s standards, Cage and Iron Fist have been updated for modern comics and they’re the real deal. Nick Cage actually chose his stage name from Power Man for a little funfact. The current Iron Fist comic run is heavily entrenched in Far East mythology and magic-based power paced like a wushu martial arts movie with a Western superhero twist.
Kotaku’s posted a video showing some in-game action of Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. While not the original developers of M:UA, Vicarious Visions have been responsible for porting the the original to the DS and PSP. And no stranger to comic book action, they’ve had their fingerprints on Ultimate Spider-Man, X-Men :Legends 2 and Batman Begins for the portable systems.
Looks like they’re in the big leagues now and have a tough act follow because the original Ultimate Alliance had some out of the park fun-factor. If this video is any indication, it appears they might actually have that covered.
And that’s wear blue jeans and a t-shirt. I think I have more interesting superhero costumes than this. Ah well it is an origin story that’s a video game based on a movie based on a comic book. That mouthful said, the game actually looks better than the movie. So far, it looks to be God of War violent which any solo Wolverine property should be. when X-Men aren’t around to keep him in check he’s usually running around dicing fools. Like blood-buckets spilling from a frenzied maniac killer violent. The trailer here shows more of the stylish action to be expected but the game might be the first adaptation to actually be the bloodbath it should be.
But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Time will tell whether or not the gameplay is solid. And for a movie adaptation, that’s a tall order. But from the looks of things we can at least be optimistic.
