Seamless transition on Wasabi skins

During our visit to E3, we saw a variety of exhibitors whose sole business is to help you customize your portable devices.

With so many people buying handheld systems, the urge to customize and stand out from the crowd is trending upward. People want to skin their devices as a mark of pride, personal expression, or to make a statement.

We saw three standout customization exhibitors on the showfloor, and I’ll highlight all three here. In the interest of full disclosure, I will say that we have affiliate programs for both GelaSkins and MusicSkins; if you purchase through our affiliate links, you will be helping support Icrontic. We don’t engage in affiliate programs for products we don’t personally recommend, and we believe that these products are pretty damned cool.

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It’s like they’re not even trying to be original. The demo has one eye, the little girl brings out a bat and double jumps, there are sniper, soldier, and heavy classes…

Egads, even the music and the cinematography are eerily similar blatantly duplicated.

See for yourself and laugh the night away.

via Kotaku

Lynx couldn't wipe that goofy grin off his face

Primesuspect told me before we got out to E3 that we had an interview with Valve Software set for Wednesday.  As a huge fan of Valve, I was naturally excited.  What that sneaky little editor-in-chief failed to tell me was exactly whom the interview was with.

On June 3rd, we got to interview Valve’s VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi.

We had much to talk about, as the Icrontic community is deeply involved with Valve games.  The first topic was focused on Valve’s most recent announcement, Left 4 Dead 2. We had some hands-on time with the game prior to our interview.  While fun and definitely a worthy addition to my game library, we couldn’t help but wonder why this was being called a sequel.

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Made with Silo

It’s been a busy couple of weeks of news for 3D guys and game modders and I’ve got some of the highlights.

One of the things just about every 3D project requires is modeling; creating the surface and shapes that make up the worlds we see in renders and that we interact with in games.  Without models we wouldn’t have things to apply textures to, objects for dynamics to simulate against and things to bounce light off of.  We feel like there are two really strong polygon modelers on the market right now; Nevercenter’s Silo and Luxology’s Modo.  While most 3D packages have modeling tools built in and you can certainly get great results with them, Silo and Modo offer very streamlined modeling tool sets.

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Xbox Live recently released a ‘do not do’ list for indie developers who would like to include Live avatars in their games. Some might call these restrictions stifling or censoring, but this doesn’t seem to be the case. Live avatars are Xbox IP, and they do not belong to the players or the community. I’m surprised that Xbox Live even allows this type of partially moderated use of their IP as it is. Also note that this is not “here are the few things that you are allowed to do”, it is instead “here are the few things that you cannot do”. With that in mind, all of the rules really boil down to three basic tenets of avatar use. I’ve categorized the rules below. You can check out the original post to the developers community here. Continue reading »

Mega Man Star Force 3

If you’re into the RPG-action hybrid games in the Mega Man Star Force series, then you’ll be happy to see Mega Man Star Force 3 hit the DS shelves this week. Master dozens of Mega Man transformations, and battle lots of new enemies, but the real gimmick here is that the entry comes in two flavors, Black Ace and Red Joker. Each flavor will provide the player with a few different items and transformations for Mega Man, encouraging everyone to find a friend who has the other version and link up for some WiFi play and trade items around.

Fight Night: Round 4

Fight Night: Round 3 was one of the best selling titles around the launch of the current generation of consoles. Fight Night: Round 4 for PS3 and Xbox360 will build on that success, bringing boxing fans a brand new game engine, and an extensive roster of boxers to choose from, including Tyson and Ali. The new graphics are slick and realistic, including features like real-time muscle flexing, and distinct styles for each of the 45 playable boxers.

C.O.R.E.

To date, it has been difficult to create a FPS for a hand-held Nintendo platform which sells to more than the most dedicated FPS fans. It’s a difficult enough proposition that it is attempted only very infrequently. C.O.R.E. is an example of a strong attempt. It boasts smooth graphics, interactive environments (including destructible elements and vehicles), and easy 4-player games from a single card. I know you’ve been burned before, but if you love the idea of mobile FPS, then you’ll want to at least take a look at this one.

King Arthur

The Lady in the Lake hands this week’s Icrontic Spotlight to King Arthur for the PC. On the surface, the game looks like it has a lot of mechanics in common with the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise: The player controls a series of heroes, who each command an army in the name of conquest. However, in this game the heroes are the legendary knights of the round table, and the land is mythical Britannia. The battles are large-scale strategic combat fought over beautiful and various landscapes with hundreds of units. In addition the player, who takes on the role of Arthur himself, must make story-centered decisions along the way. Cast magic spells, and send your knights on quests for great and powerful artifacts. Send your wizards against the evil spell casters of the enemy. Ally with your fallen foes or finish them off. Will your Arthur be like the ruthless, immature, and heavy-handed ruler depicted in “Le Morte D’Artur” or the kind, wisdom-guided ruler from “The Once and Future King”? Either way, your goal is to unite all of Albion under one great banner.

Following is a list of all announced releases for the week: Continue reading »

Fallout 3 meet id Software

It’s difficult to think of any studio more influential and controversial in the history of first person shooters then id Software.  In fact, id Software states that they “created the original first-person shooter, Wolfenstein 3D” and id Software co-founders have been the stuff of legends with John Romero’s rock star lifestyle before leaving id and John Carmack continuing to earn respect at id from gamers and developers alike.  Today, id Software, the creators of Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake announced that they’ve been acquired by ZeniMax Media, the parent company of another game studio legend, Bethesda Softworks of the Elder Scrolls series and Fallout 3.

At first glance, id, an almost exclusively first-person shooter dominated studio; and RPG powerhouse Bethesda may not seem to have that much in common, but this may be the thing that makes them the best fit.  With no directly overlapping internal competition this deal serves to expand ZeniMax Media’s portfolio without creating conflict between their respective subsidiaries.

In the joint press release from all three companies they have committed that id will continue with business as usual and that all of the principles at id have signed long term contracts with ZeniMax Media.  The major changes for id will be having access to more funding, business resources, and stronger marketing under their permanent new publisher. Continue reading »

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DECEPTICONS

Coming  in three distinct flavors is Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The non-subtitled release is a crossplatform FPS which plays very much like a dark TF2 with robots. Players choose one of 13 morphing robots, each with their own weapons, special abilities, and clearly defined teamwork roles. It also has a single player campaign, but frankly it just doesn’t look as appealing or replayable as the multiplayer combat. Then, we have Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen DECEPTICONS and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen AUTOBOTS, both for the DS. These single player games each run the player through a story-based campaign, with the former allowing the player to choose from among the evil, destructive robots, while the latter allows players to choose one of the nice, protective robots. All three of these movie tie-ins looks interesting, and represent a good argument that movie tie-ins cannot simply be dismissed out of hand.

The Conduit

For the Wii this week, we’ll get to see The Conduit, another game which is supposedly going to restore the ‘hardcore’ gamer’s faith in Nintendo. Why? It’s a sci-fi FPS with lots of cool futuristic weapons a la Perfect Dark. It will have single player campaign, and online multiplayer… wait, let me double check that…  yes online multi-player on the Wii. That means calling your friend, and getting his 16 digit Wii friend code, and giving him yours, then both of you entering the code, and waiting two or three days to appear on each other’s list (if you ever do), then doing the same thing with the 12-digit The Conduit friend code, then wishing that you had more friends who were willing to go through the whole rigamarole with you because you have 30 friends with Wiis and 28 of them tell you to sod off when you ask to be their Wii friend. It’s not because they don’t like you. I mean: You have 45 LIVE friends, 22 PSN friends, and 2 Wii friends. In all honesty, I’m pretty sure that everyone really has given up on Wii Online by now, and I don’t think that this game is going to revitalize the service.

Overlord II

Overlord: Minions

Commanding this week’s Icrontic Spotlight is Overlord II. If you haven’t played Overlord yet, you have to. Drop whatever game you’re playing now, and go get Overlord. Here: I’ll even link you to the Steam store page. It’s only $20. You have no excuse. Overlord represents the pinnicle of “be the bad guy” video game stroytelling, with an engaging anti-hero, and several fun and intuitive mechanics. The only issue with the first game was the lack of a reverse mouse y-axis for free look (no word yet if this has been fixed in the new title). Overlord II represents more minion-guiding action with lots of new features, and changes in response to fan requests. New stuff includes improved minions, who have many new abilities, including mounting and riding various wild animals; more destructable, burnable environments; additional ‘people’ species (elves and dwarves and the like) to be subjugated; and some mention of “enslavement”, andthough how literal that will be in the game is unclear. In addition, the established formulae of ravaging the lands, destroying foes who are more evil than you, and upgrading your residence along the way, seem to be intact. This game, like Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, will come in two additional tie-in flavors. Overlord: Minions for the DS will serve as a mobile, more puzzle oriented version of the destructive tale, while Overlord: Dark Legend for the Wii provides us with a twisted prequel to the Overlord franchise, where we get to see that the games take place in a world much like the land of fairytales, complete with the characters we know from those stories.

Following is a list of all announced releases for this week: Continue reading »

Nerd RAGE

E3 2009: famed game developer Valve announces Left 4 Dead 2. Fans of the original rejoice, right? A bigger, better, and more refined sequel that is going to be a surefire hit and a joy to play. Good for us, right?

Well, it appears that as of this writing at least twenty six thousand gamers on Steam are up in arms because they feel that Left 4 Dead 2 being released only a year or so after the original title somehow undervalues the experience they had with the original title. They have gone so far as to promote a group threatening to boycott Left 4 Dead 2. Their demands, as quoted–For Valve to offer “free, continual updates to Left 4 Dead in order to build and sustain the community.”

In fact, to be fair, let me copy the boycott group’s manifesto in its entirety:

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There are some interesting things to be seen in this trailer for the recently announced Metal Gear Solid game due for the PSP in 2010, not least of which is the classic MGS humor. What do we do with four Solid Snakes? Is this co-op MGS? The details are still sketchy, and the best info we have is in the video:

Dry Dry Desert rendered in 2D

For fan service, this 2D treatment of the classic Super Mario 64 is pretty damned good. It’s not stunningly high quality, but if you loved Super Mario 64, you’ll definitely get a kick out of this.

There is something to be said about the nostalgia kick going on; all the kids who grew up playing Nintendo are now old enough to program, design, and publish their own video games. Is it any wonder they keep throwing back to their happy memories of yesteryear?

I’ve not played through more than the intro of SM63, so I don’t know how much of the game has been copied over from SM64, but there’s definitely enough here for some casual lunchtime gaming.

The Pandemic elevators. They're world famous.

In the middle of the chaos of E3, Brian and I were invited out to Pandemic studios on the West side of LA. It was a nice break from the frantic action of the Expo to relax and enjoy a one hour commute in standstill freeway traffic amongst honking motorists. Living the dream.

At Pandemic I tried my hardest to not act like a child in a candy store… and failed. It was my first time ever setting  foot in an actual game studio, so I couldn’t help it. The Pandemic gas mask logo was plastered everywhere, there were shelves of unique merch and promo material for Star Wars Battlefront, Mercenaries, and their other titles, and they had massive TVs and developer consoles all over. I just giggled to myself and wore a huge goofy grin. If my life was played on Games for Windows Live, I would have seen the message ‘Achievement unlocked!’ and it would have been worth 1,000g.

We got to sit down with the majority of the key leadership on The Saboteur in a casual round table discussion format. With us was Trey Watkins, the director of The Saboteur, art director Christopher Hunt, and lead programmer Fidde Persson. We were able to ask them anything about the game (though they couldn’t answer all of our questions due to PR restrictions), and it was immediately apparent to me that this is a team that is very passionate about their project.  They’re excited about what they have achieved so far, and can’t wait to let the public see more of the game. Continue reading »

It was the biggest surprise of E3 for me.

Disney is Publishing this?

The Disney Interactive booth was not one that I eagerly made tracks to.  Sure, I’m a huge Disney fan, but I can’t say I can muster much excitement for a DS game focused on the hilarious antics of the Jonas Brothers.  I didn’t even set foot in their booth until the final day of E3, and that was to talk to PR, not play games.  Upon my exit, however, I stumbled upon an absolute gem.

What I saw as I looked upon a throng of gamers with controllers in hand was a racing game.  It was obvious to me rather quickly that it was an arcade racer, with the cars wildly powersliding through tight corners laid out on the inside of an airport terminal.  The visuals were compelling and very sharp.  Light birthed from the setting sun was reflecting off the pavement, objects were blurring past the car as it screamed forward, and the fireball coming from the crashing plane was beau–HOLY CRAP THE PLANE IS CRASHING IN FRONT OF ME I’M GOING TO HIT IT.

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If you took Dungeon Keeper, wrapped it in Sim City, sprinkled it with Lord of the Rings, a dash of dark humor and served it on a leafy bed of Rogue, you would get something very close to Dwarf Fortress. Dwarf Fortress is archaic, presented in ASCII, complex, it has a grueling learning curve, and is constantly having issues with bugs, but it is also addicting and by far the most fun I have ever had with a free, independently developed game.

Presenting a state of the art interface (well, in 1993 it was...)

With a day or two of fiddling and at least one horrible failure it is possible to get the basics down and begin to establish a hearty Dwarven settlement. After a few hours of play your Dwarves multiply and migrants pour into your fortress followed swiftly by the first probes of hostile goblins and other dangerous creatures that dwell in the land surrounding your underground home. However, as soon as the fortress is able to stave off attacks from without, it begins to face problems from within. Sanitation, crime, and morale come into play, and adjusting the delicate balance between the need for defense with the need for food and alcohol production can all have disastrous effects on the fortress, not to mention that a group of pushy nobles have moved in and started to demand posh new housing. In addition, your Dwarves regularly become obsessed with their crafting projects where failure can throw them into a murderous rage or a crippling melancholy that sends them tumbling down the nearest mineshaft

It is hard out there for a Dwarf.

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Vertigo

Technically, Vertigo is also being released on the PC, but this is one that you’ll want to play on your Wii. Dust off your WiiFit, and work on your balance. This Marble Madness-esque game uses your whole body to control rolling labyrinths. With lots of levels, and even a multi-player mode with races, deathmatches, and something called “Xorb football”. Just make sure to tell your friends to bring over their WiiFits because there is no online play on the Wii version.

Crazy Machines 2

Fans of the incredible machine genre might want to check out Crazy Machines 2 on the PC. It’s a lot like Crazy Machines, except with slicker graphics, lots of new levels, AGEIA PhysX support, and a distinction between ‘child’ and ‘adult’ puzzle types to ensure that the puzzles are the right level for everyone in the family. With the ability to design and share machines and puzzles, made from the over 200 elements in the game, with other players around the world, this represents quite a bit of Rube Goldberging.

The Munchables

If you haven’t been getting enough vegetables, the The Munchables, for the Wii, could remedy that. In this 3D action platformer, the player takes on the role of… erm…  some kind-of puppy-thing. Well, these fruits and vegetables, I think they’re evil, and you have to eat them…  and then you go into space… Okay, you know what? I have no idea what is going on in this game. Sorry. Moving on…

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