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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I got to see an early demo of Playlogic’s Fairytale Fights at E3, and what they had to show me so far was impressive. The basic premise is that the protagonist is a washed-up fairytale character (the only two they showed were Riding Hood and Snow White, but they promised two more playable characters by release, and potentially more through DLC) who must become a hero in fairytale land in order to regain her reputation.

The world is made of books and paper

This game is full of bright colors and dark humor. The world itself is made of books, and the old fairytales that we all know from childhood have been twisted and confused. One of the first missions involves hacking one’s way through a community of lumberjacks to take back what they stole from the friendly town. Every lumberjack must die to accomplish this mission, and they will die in very gruesome ways.
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There is a lot going on at E3, and there is no way anyone could hear about all of it. Between the announcements of a new L4D, three new Mario games, Metroid: Other M, and Final Fantasy XIV, it’s easy to miss the features from the smaller publishers. I made it a point to visit these publishers and developers and I’d like to tell you about a couple of those games.

Divinity II

Divinity II

The first is Divinity II from dtp entertainment AG. You may remember my review of Divine Divinity was less than stellar, perhaps even mocking. This sequel, however, looks amazing.

The isometric birds-eye view of Divine Divinity has been changed to the now-standard over-the-shoulder view. The control scheme seems to have been revamped, and the graphics are on par with its modern counterparts. Lastly, the character can’t turn into a cat, unfortunately, but this has been replaced with the ability to turn into a dragon, which has become this game’s major gimmick.

The player will need to switch between dragon and human modes depending on the environment, enemies or the problem to be solved. As before, the game features a branching storyline with numerous decisions that can be morally grey. What I saw was pre-beta, so I wasn’t able to learn everything about it, but I’m certainly looking forward to getting my hands on the finished product.

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Later this month, Bethesda will release Point Lookout, a new DLC expansion for Fallout 3. Players can take a ferry to a new area of the wasteland, a decimated swamp filled with decrepit buildings and long abandoned people. Point Lookout’s wasteland area will be about 1/6th that of the original Capital wasteland, and will include 20-30 new locations. A dark, swampy motif replaces the dry sandy waste which we are all used to, and everything will seem darker, and more foreboding.

Point Lookout is populated by three new human enemy types, including the backwater hick version of the typical raiders. Familiar monsters will get a make-over to fit them into the new setting, such as the swamp ghouls, a grey and goopy version of the feral ghouls we know and love.

The quests in the expansion are intended for characters at levels 15-20, and will feature lots of scripted events, which are designed to give the adventures a survival-horror feel. Expect lots of crumbling floors, flickering lights, odd noises in the distance, and enemies that sneak up behind you.

Look for Point Lookout to hit the digital shelves on June 23.

Today at E3, we got to play an entire campaign in Left 4 Dead 2, the sequel to Valve’s recent new hit Left 4 Dead.

“A sequel?” you ask. “A mere six months after Left 4 Dead? What happened to Valve time?” you may wonder. And you wouldn’t be remiss. These were very popular questions in the Valve press lounge.

We asked Valve’s Doug Lombardi about the exceptionally short development time and why they even considered a sequel to a game that essentially just came out.

As it turns out, many of Valve’s developers were so into Left 4 Dead that when the whiteboards went up, the L4D2 board filled up with so many ideas that the internal enthusiasm for the project was evident; this game had to get made… now.

The short development time is partly thanks to procedural nature of the AI Director system. It allowed Valve to essentially focus on content rather than tech, and–let’s be fair–there’s not much story to worry about. The benefits of this particular system, unique to this game, all point to one thing–very short development time.

There were a few engine tweaks, such as the physics. The ragdoll and physics systems had to be tweaked to accomodate new melee weapons, such as a hatchet and a frying pan. The damage system had to be enhanced to compensate for hitting zombies with hatchets, for example.

I asked if any of the development refinements made in Left 4 Dead 2 would make their way into any other Valve games, and perhaps even contribute to streamlining the development times. Of course, we made copious mention of Valve Time, and Mr. Lombardi made no promises.

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We’re entirely serious business. We swear.

He didn't look up their skirts. Good boy.

Not a Power Glove

Not being a fan of the NES Power Glove, I really wasn’t too excited when I saw the Peregrine booth here at E3. At first glance I didn’t think much of it, but after listening to them explain the product, I was pretty impressed. The Peregrine Glove is a gaming glove with proprietary TouchPoint technology. Each finger on the glove has programmable touch points that allows you to program them to any game or any windows program. The glove also offers you over 30 programmable touch points as well as customizable faceplates. The glove is form-fitting, washable, and offers fast response times. Peregrine functions with standard keyboard drivers on all operating systems. Gamers can plug the glove in and start playing immediately, or use the software for further customization.

The Peregrine is scheduled for release in fall 2009. Pricing has not been announced. When we can get our hands in one, we’ll publish a full review.

Rob and CB play The Beatles with a couple of random pubs

Rock Band is a tradition at ICHQ, starting with a legendary midnight run during IC Oktoberfest, and carrying on through every event since. Therefore, it was a no-brainer for us to have an interest in MTV Games’ new title The Beatles: Rock Band. We scheduled a spot in the first showfloor demonstration of the game at noon on the opening day of E3.

Due to a timing overlap of the show opening at the same time as our appointment, we hoofed it across the convention center at opening to the MTV Games booth, to discover a stage replica of the Beatles’ Abbey Road Studio. This was our first sign that the development team spent a lot of effort in capturing the history of the band to incorporate into The Beatles: Rock Band.

An eager crowd awaits our demo of The Beatles: Rock Band.

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We were on the scene at Nintendo’s E3 press conference, hoping beyond hope that they would announce an actual online service, or a Wii with an upgraded GPU for actual hi-def gaming.

We came away disappointed on both fronts, but at least we got to see some of their new game announcements. Lost in the sea of Even More Wii Sports and Fitness, we despaired of hearing of anything worthwhile.

Then, they showed Super Mario Galaxy 2. When the trailer began, an egg popped up, Mario jumped on it, and none other than Yoshi appeared. The crowd gasped in delight and a few ragged cheers arose from the tired journalists. Finally, hope.

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Icrontic reporter Bobby Miller has begun updating his blog with his personal experiences about Icrontic’s first year at E3.

Things were off to a rocky Monday start here in Los Angeles. Due to a long string of unfortunate events, I was on a separate plane from Scotty and Brian. I arrived in LA well over an hour after them, so we got off to a late start. We were all starving, and needed food (I hadn’t eaten anything since 6 PM, SUNDAY). Trying to find In-n-Out burger, we drove through a particularly rough part of town, and at this point we realized we were going to be late for Ubisoft’s press conference.

Ready to get your fill of what goes on in the life of a journo on the scene of a huge convention? Check it out!

Fresh out of the Nintendo Press event here at E3, I feel good about the things that Nintendo is working on, but I don’t feel like it’s as new a direction as they seemed to think it was. Their slogan this year is “Everyone’s Game,” which is apt for their new programs. What they want to do is create experiences which appeal to both the casual and experienced gamers. They are focusing on creating games that require skill, but with controls and objectives that are easy enough to understand that even the most novice gamer can jump right in.

One of their best examples of this Everyone’s Game model is the Archery segment of the new Wii Sports game, Wii Sports Resort. With the new Wii Motion Plus, players will need “real skill” in archery to be able to accurately hit the target, instead of skill in learning the controls. This, I think, is the right direction. Simplifying the controls and bringing the play of the games into the “real space” will make the games more skill-intensive and more accessible at the same time.

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With E3 just beginning to unfold, every gamer wonders what the future will bring. I would classify 2009 as a fairly slow year thus far. The three major consoles and two major handhelds are starting to age and, despite some renewed interest in PC gaming, we have yet to see a truly groundbreaking exclusive PC title. I fear that video gaming may have reached its peak popularity in the past couple of years.

The two major gaming stories in 2009 have been the industry’s resilience in a bad economy, and iPhone’s growth in the gaming sector. These are nice stories, but with the exception of the iPhone, all major gaming platforms seem to have reached their peak, and are starting to head slowly downhill. I think this trend all started with a disappointing E3 2008. We saw some interesting titles, but it was not exactly a year that gamers will look back on with wild fondness.
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