If there was ever a contest for the most popular fighting game of all time, Marvel Vs. Capcom 2 would be the clear cut winner in a lot of fan’s eyes. While it wasn’t particularly balanced (in fact, I think it’s the most poorly balanced fighter of all time), fans ate it up anyway with their devilishly cheap combos of Magneto/Sentinel/Storm/Spiral and Dr. Doom. A lot of those fans were on the show floor these past two days, showing their appreciation for the series.

In the largest MvsCapcom 3 booth at E3, players can compete against their peers for a T-shirt prize if they win five matches in a row. My colleagues ran into one kid who had literally been there all day long, learning the game – make no mistake, there are already dedicated fans out there, so you won’t be looking very far for an online match come release time! Read more… »

I can’t really explain this video – all I’ll say is it is from the Konami Conference held today, and you need to watch it.

VERY VERY EXERCISE!

ONE MILLION TROOPS! TROOOOPS! WOOOOOOOOW!

GAMEPLAY – IT HAS IT!

MILLIONS OF NEW FEATURES!

THIS IS AN EXTREEEEEEEME! EXTREEEEEME!

PRESS X X X Y Y X X X Y Y Y Y YOU’LL BE SUCKED!

When I heard Lord of the Rings: War in the North would be developed by SnowBlind Studios, creators of the iconic isometric hack and slash games Champions of Norrath, and Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance, I was stoked, because I can never have too many Diablo II clones in my library.

It wasn’t until I actually walked into the live demonstration that I found out I was completely wrong – read on to find out why. Read more… »

I have never really liked the idea of dance video games.  Until now they have only tracked the movement of your feet, or a Wiimote, and hence I’ve never really found them to be realistic in any way. When I stepped onto the show floor today, I can assure you that I in no way intended to try any of the many new dance games being shown.

That all changed however when I found out that one of my favorite developers, Harmonix, was making a new one called Dance Central, exclusively for the Kinect on Xbox 360.  I’ve now gotten on stage in front of a bunch of people and made a complete full of myself trying out this game, and I’m here to tell you all about it. Read more… »

If you asked me what my top ten favorite games of all time were, two of them would be Donkey Kong Country 1 and 2. I just can’t get enough of Donkey and Diddy’s charm: there’s something interesting about gameplay that features both a strong respectable powerhouse, and a small dexterous troublemaker – plus the level designs were pretty amazing.

So what do I think of Donkey Kong Returns? Well, it’s Donkey Kong! Read more… »

Announced yesterday, when the Xbox Slim was debuted on the show floor, was that Microsoft have finally fixed the Red Ring of Death. Yes, that’s right… After 5 years of plaguing the community, they have solved the issue behind the red lights.

Read on after the jump, for Microsoft ingenious solution.

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The Kingdom Hearts portable iterations and I don’t really get along too well. I wasn’t really a fan of Chain of Memories, and 358/2 was really just fan-service, and the fact that it didn’t have any new worlds really ticked me off.

All of that changed when I picked up Birth By Sleep for the first time. Read more… »

After last week’s earth shattering reveal, the first trailer for Evolution Studios’ MotorStorm: Apocalypse has been posted, and believe me, if you thought the inclusion of an everlasting earthquake sounded good, then wait until you see it in video form. From the footage shown here, it could very well have the muscle to stand up to the competition, but unfortunately we won’t find out until 2011.

As is traditional in MotorStorm trailers, the video ends with a stranded motorcyclist retrieving his bike ready to get back into the action, only to be wiped out by an imposing hazard. First it was a rally car in the midst of a high speed rollover from the first MotorStorm trailer, then a vaulting monster truck in Pacific Rift, but can you guess what it is this time?

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When Hunted: The Demon’s Forge was first announced, it very nearly flew straight under my radar, due to the uber-generic fantasy title. Just as I was getting ready to click away from the post, a name caught my eye: Brian Fargo. Most long time gamers (at least the smart ones) give mad respect to Fargo, the one time co-founder of Interplay, who was instrumental in bringing PC classics like The Bard’s Tale and Wasteland to gamers.

Fargo’s new company, inXile, is the dev team behind Hunted, and I was very curious to find out if the brilliance behind such landmark titles could translate into success in the modern games market. After raiding the Bethesda booth for a nice sized chunk of hands-on time with the game, I’m extremely optimistic that it can.

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I boot up Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, and start a new game with five other E3 attendees – the object of the game is to kill a specific player without them knowing it. My first contract is a very vicious looking courtesan- my radar says head North, so I start walking slowly into that general direction. As I was striding the streets, I noticed my target had ducked into a corner, attempting to blend in with the crowd. As I went after her, I noticed someone behind me was acting a bit strangely; so I did the most sensible thing I could – run like hell!

I realized that I couldn’t shake my pursuer, so I threw down a smoke bomb, quickly turned the corner, climbed up a building, and breathed a sigh of relief – that is, until my throat was cut open by another player three seconds later. Yes, that’s right, as I was chasing my target, someone else was chasing me, and unbeknownst to all of us, someone had been watching and waiting patiently the whole time.

Amazing! Read more… »

When the makers of Wolfenstein, Doom, and Quake bring a new title to the market, it’s easy to think that you already know what to expect: great-looking, fast, furious, circle-strafing, BFGing goodness with little else on the table. Fans of the developer would probably be content with another title in the same vein, and who can blame them? The formula has served the dev and gamers alike very well.

When I sat down to see the demonstration of Rage, I was hoping for a refinement of the FPS formula that brought the genre forward. What I got was a jump that appears to take that formula and add a whole lot more.

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I don’t envy the position of any online FPS. The competition that any game faces, whether it is MAG or the Call of Duty series, is stiff. So when you’re no longer the hot IP, how do you survive?

In EA’s case, the answer is to make the old new with a completely new approach to a beloved series, Medal of Honor. And while a lot of questions about the single player remain unanswered, I got some answers for myself today about the DICE-developed multiplayer at the 24-player team assault (deathmatch) Medal of Honor setup here at E3. They weren’t quite the ones I was hoping to find.

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