E3 Wrap-up

I'll get this out at the beginning: Game of the Show? Vanquish. I did some further research about the game because I'd been largely ignoring it up until I played it, and I'm excited to say that it's the latest game by Shinji Mikami. If that name sounds familiar, it's because he's the genius behind the Resident Evil series, specifically Resident Evil 4. If that name doesn't sound familiar, well, it's the dude who made Resident Evil 4. Now, for a little history...

Third-Person Shooters (TPS) were always kind of wonky. The camera was always way out from and centered on the character because that's how Super Mario 64 (a 3D platformer) had the camera. Just look at the early Resident Evil games, Jet Force Gemini, Splinter Cell, or Grand Theft Auto III and you'll notice how inferior TPS gunplay had always been to FPS gunplay. Then came Resident Evil 4, which pioneered the Over-the-Shoulder Third-Person Shooter (OtSTPS). Unlike a typical TPS, Resident Evil 4 had the camera directly over the right shoulder of the main character. By placing the player character on the left side of the screen, players could play the game like an FPS, but still have the benefit of seeing their character. Fast forward almost a couple years later and we get the next major evolution in OtSTPSes, Gears of War. Gears took the OtSTPS formula and made it more action oriented and made going into the cover work better than in any game before it. Turns out that using a cover mechanic in an OtSTPS worked beautifully. Vanquish is the next step.

Next to Gears of War, Resident Evil 4 & 5 feel very deliberate and slow-paced. Next to Vanquish, Gears of War feels downright sluggish. Vanquish also ups the complexity of the controls. Where Gears maps cover, run, and dive all to the 'A' button, Vanquish gives each of those functions their own mapping. Dive is 'A', cover is 'X', and roadie-running is replaced by rocket sliding, which is mapped to 'LB.' The game is fast, throws all sorts of ballistics your way at all times, and just kicks all around ass. There's only one thing that downgrades this game from "Must buy" to "Must play": no multiplayer. It's a shame because outside of the bullet-time aspect, the game seems perfectly suited for multiplayer and could easily garner a sizable online community. Here's to hoping they change their mind.

Vision by Proxy has gotten a little bit of attention, which is really flattering. It was really such a treat to be showcased by the booth that got The Misadventures of PB Winterbottom off the ground. So, thank you, IndieCade, for by Vision by Proxy a chance.

Did I mention I met Bear Grylls?

I watched a demo of F.3.A.R., and I gotta wonder what they were thinking. The game is all co-op now (like Resident Evil 5), and one person plays as a dude with a gun, and the other person is a mother fucking ghost. The ghost is able to levitate people, shoot them with ectoplasmic goo, and fly across the screen to possess them. The poor sap playing the other guy gets to use bullet time, but it isn't all that much of a bonus when both players get to have it when he activates it. If that's not enough, the ghost gets to solve all the puzzles, and in large firefights the other guy usually just gets shot at while the ghost possesses someone behind enemy lines and then kills everyone from behind. Seriously, what the hell was thinking process behind this? Who the hell wants to be the useless asshole who isn't a damned ghost? I mean, the ghost can't use guns unless he's possessing someone, but who cares? You get to use guns in every other game. I don't see the point unless you have a friend who loves laying down cover fire while you do all the cool stuff.

--Chilly P

E3 Day 3

Well, it's over. I think I might cry.

I did manage to get into the Portal 2 showing. In a word? Delightful. I was just in awe the entire time I was watching it. You really can't appreciate the complex puzzle possibilities of the new environment elements until you see them in action. This is particularly true for the excursion funnel. This apparently asbestos-based device (pictured above) creates a tunnel in space that moves people and objects through it. It also travels through portals. One puzzle they showed us (which is the one pictured above) had them using the tunnels to move a block around. They'd move the block horizontally for a while, and then shoot a portal beneath it to quickly move it upward. It was pretty cool to watch. On top of the new puzzle elements, it was also delightful to hear the new dialog from GLADoS. I had very high hopes for this game before, and now they're even higher. I just hope I'm not setting myself up for disappointment.
[Update] If you'd like to see some of the exact footage that I saw behind closed doors with Valve, you can watch it here.

I played some Marvel vs. Capcom 3. If you liked Marvel vs. Capcom 2, you'll like 3. If you didn't like 2, then you won't like 3. That's really all there is to it. Personally, although it was a lot of fun, I'm probably going to skip it. I already have Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and the new one feels a whole lot like the first one but with shinier graphics. Plus, I'm tired of getting my ass kicked online when I play fighting games.

I got my full ten minutes with The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. Since I had an exhibitor pass I was able to get in line before any of the media or 'Exhibits Only' people could, and I chose Zelda over the 3DS. Why? Zelda was giving out free t-shirts, and they weren't giving out bupkis for the 3DS. Anyway, Zelda: SS (Link's a fascist now) looks like someone took Twilight Princess and painted over it with Wind Waker's palette. I guess the idea is to make it immediately distinguishable from the past two console Zeldas. Anyway, the game feels pretty good with the motion plus controls. The side effect that I find unfortunate is that you really have to get into your sword slicing now. A friend was telling me how much he liked and he then posed like he was clutching an imaginary sword and shield. I found it hard to get into it that much with some Nintendo rep constantly trying to help me. Sure, I might not have figured out that Link can sprint now without him, but it was still annoying.

My team members were telling me that LeVar Burton came by IndieCade and that he really enjoyed Vision by Proxy. This was particularly awesome for one of my team members who said she grew up Star Trek. I just know LeVar Burton as that guy I saw on Reading Rainbow when they forced me to watch it at school. Still, it's pretty cool, though. Several smaller bloggers wanted to write pieces abut us, so I'm going to keep an eye out for that. There were also some other independent devs who want me to try out their game and give them feedback, so it felt pretty nice to be part of this indie community. We may actually have to finish our game now, so stayed tuned for that.

Well, that'll pretty much do it. I'll write a wrap-up for the show when I get back to the ATL and I've had time to mull it over. I'm just so sorry that it's over. Going there and having a game of mine on display was a dream come true.

--Chilly P

E3 Day 1

I'm gonna try to be quick, so please excuse any typos.

First off, the new locomotion system in Madden 11 feels incredible. They've been long overdue in that department, and I think they;ve finally gotten it right. I'm not at the point yet where I can implicitly trust their newfangled Gameflow system, but I did give it a try. They have a nice addition where you can choose a basic fourth down play on the fly, so no more having to search through plays when you want to fake it. Not having a sprint will take getting used to, but I think it's better in the long run.

Crackdown 2 feels a lot like the first one, and that means it feels good. I probably spent more time with that demo than any other today. It just speaks volumes about how fun the basic game mechanics of that series are.

I gave Dead Rising 2 a little bit of playtime today. It, too, feels exactly like its predecessor, but in this case it feels a little clunky. I was also disappointed with the seemingly small number of zombie character models. It's particularly noticeable when you kill identical twin zombies standing next to each other, especially when they're dressed the same. Sonic the Hedgehog 4 felt terrible during my playtime. It takes a full 2 seconds to get up to speed, what's that about? The new Tron game felt surprisingly fresh. I only played cycle racing, but it was pretty intense. I played Medal of Honor a little bit. Felt exactly like Bad Company 2. I'll wait for the beta to make a call on that one.

Metroid: Other M is an interesting game. Metroid Prime is my all-time favorite game, and Other M feels nowhere near as good as that game. That new Zelda game uses Motion Plus for more accurate sword mapping, and I can confirm that they did a pretty good job with it. Unfortunately, the graphical style is disagreeable. It's like a cross between Twilight Princess and Wind Waker. It needs to commit to one.

I saw Cliffy B and Shaun White.

I'm on a personal mission to snag as much swag (stuff. we. all. GET!) as possible. I've kinda been sucking it up on that part so far, but I'm going to work harder at it tomorrow. I missed out on Bulletproof-themed free burgers with T-shirt give-aways. I feel like a real sucker for that. I also feel like a sucker for not getting a business card from the Activision exec who checked out Vision by Proxy. Tomorrow will surely be more successful. I gotta go, it's eatin' timez.

--Chilly P

Tids and Bits for Monday 061410

Well, Clyde is down in South Africa for the World Cup, so I'm sure he'll have some interesting stories about that when he gets back. I tried watching the U.S.A. - England game. Ugh, I just don't like soccer. It's boring, and that's coming from a pretty avid baseball fan. They just kind of slowly trot around a giant field--sorry, pitch--kicking the ball back and forth to each other. Soccer games--sorry, matches--just feel devoid of events. It's unfortunate that Britain's influence spread soccer to all their colonies because had that not happened, maybe they'd like a better sport. I get it though, when you live in a third world country, soccer is accessible because it's cheap. Anyway, I'll let Sweet Clyde handle the rest of the soccer talk.

So, the second best Flash game ever made is getting an update, so I posted the video advertising it above. That's right, a Flash game is getting an update and they're advertising it. That just speaks to its monumental awesomeness.

So, you may ask, if that's only the second best Flash game ever made, what could possibly be the best? Why, it's Vision by Proxy, of course! All kidding aside, that little game I was a part of was apparently good enough to be recognized by IndieCade. In fact, they've decided to showcase it at E3, so that's where I'll be this week. Whether or not I'll be able to update (I'm not using the b-word) from there is to be seen, but you can be sure that I'll be back Friday evening with plenty to write about. Since I'm going as a developer and not as part of the media, I probably won't be able to get into the keynotes. However, I'll be sure to try out some demos and just soak up the nerdy atmosphere.

--Chilly P

Shameless Self-Promotion

I'm going to be lazy today and not do a big post. Instead, I'll suggest you head over to Kongregate and play Vision by Proxy. I made this game with a team of 5 people (2 programmers, 2 artists, and a guy in charge of emailing us and telling us to do work), and I'd say I was the lead programmer and designer. Anyway, enjoy.

Vision by Proxy

A bit of fair warning: get your mute button ready.

--Chilly P