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Examiners at E3 2009, Day One
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Day One: Complete.
Day one of E3 has come and gone and it is safe to say that E3 as we used to know it is back. From the booth babes to the extravagancy of the electronics on display, being on the floor was as exciting as it was intense. There were some huge announcements and some extraordinary surprises.
With the press conferences, demos and interviews from the first day over, lets take a quick look at some of the things that we were able to cover in depth.
The gates opened at twelve to an antsy crowd anxiously awaiting what was beyond the mighty LA Convention Center doors. However, being the adept journalists that we are, instead of scrambling right to the show room floor to take it all in, we had an interview scheduled promptly at, you guessed it, twelve o’ clock.
We are there to work, not to have fun right?
(For the sake of brevity, these are going to be short synopses of the games, at the end of E3, more detailed reviews and specs of the games will be featured in their entirety.)
The first meeting was with a company called Fallen Earth, which, you guessed it, is set to release an MMORPG entitled Fallen Earth.
The game is set in the Grand Canyon Province during the aftermath of the deadly Shiva Virus and your character awakens to try and get to the bottom of what has happened and why.
Fallen Earth appears to have some promise in the world of MMO’s for a couple of reasons.
First, it has a highly driven storyline which separates it from the rest of the your old cookie cutter role playing game. Second, it has a faction system consisting of six different groups with different motives that your character can join ultimately determining who is your friend and who is your enemy. Third, you will be able to craft your own weapons and customize your own vehicle that you use to traverse the gigantic world.
With a giant world to explore, tons of customization and a compelling storyline, from what we saw, Fallen Earth may have carved out its niche in the very competitive MMO market.
Our next meeting was with Mentor InterActive, which was definitely a change of pace from the blood, guts and gore that we all come to expect from games these days.
We were introduced to their flagship product, My Virtual Tutor, which is a game that may become a favorite amongst parents. The game’s purpose is to serve as a tutor to children through word association, quizzes, word scramble and other games that will challenge the intellect of the child while helping them learn at the same time.
With professionally recorded speech, increasing levels of difficulty, a fun and engaging environment, and a stat tracker that keeps note of your child’s progress, My Virtual Tutor is certainly something for parents to look forward to.
While the violent games are enjoyable, it is certainly nice to know that companies are still trying to discover innovative ways to use videogames as more than just stress relievers and online battlefields.
The first version of the game is going to be released on the Nintendo DS in August, with follow-up versions on Nintendo Wii, Mac and PC to follow in the spring of 2010.
The last interview we had was probably the most surprising because going into it we really had no expectations. Afterwards to put it bluntly, we were blown away by one of the titles.
Netherlands based producer, Playlogic, was tucked away in the far depths of the Convention Center and it took some sleuthing and some puzzle solving to find it.
And wow, thankfully we did.
We were given presentations of two games by some of the developers and the only game I am liable to talk about is Obscure 2, a sequel that combines elements from horror, puzzle and survival games. That other one, which was phenomenal, will be featured in a later story.
With tons of weapons, a great selection of characters with their own unique skills, an atmosphere that will make you shiver in your boots and a soundtrack that was composed by a popular American orchestra, Obscure 2 certainly has the makings of a great PSP title.
It is also a co-op game, and who doesn’t love co-op games?
Again, those are just short synopses of the games and once the Expo has concluded, expect more detail-oriented summaries of the games that we covered.
Now, lets take a look at some of the game titles that we either demoed or saw on the first day, so without further adieu, some of the more exciting things at E3 Day One:
(In no particular order.)
Obviously, Square-Enix’s announcement of their Final Fantasy MMORPG: Final Fantasy XIV.
Surprisingly, Valve’s Left 4 Dead 2 had a hands-on demo that unfortunately we did not get to, but will definitely try tomorrow. Surprising because Left 4 Dead just released its first DLC. We saw Zoey and a tank before the frenzied crowd pushed us back.
Agonizingly, a look at Namco’s next Tekken game, Tekken 6. Agonizing because the demo seats did not open up once the entire time we spent at the Namco booth. This is certainly going to be a popular one because it looked spectacular.
Similarly, Capcom also had their newest fighting game being debuted, entitled Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. Much like Tekken, it was almost impossible to find an empty spot to play. The versus style games rarely disappoint fighting game fans.
Randomly, a few other titles that might be of interest to some of you, some of which we will be able to go into more detail about later:
DC Universe Online
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
Lost Planet 2
SEGA’s Bayoneta
South Peak Games’ Section 8
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
(More on Microsoft and Sony’s new motion technologies later.)
We have been Pencasting the entire event and at its conclusion will post audio and video for you guys to enjoy. Again, for people looking for specifics, we will have all sorts of E3 round-ups, best and worst lists, and some more personal accounts of what went on from the floor.
Hopefully this has given you a taste of what is in store for the video game industry in the months and years ahead so be sure to check back in tomorrow for more updates including more game specifics and more surprises.
For more info: Contact Adam: admillios@gmail.com
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