Well ladies and gentlemen its almost upon us, yes starting this Monday the biggest gaming conference of the year begins, E3. That means a lot of announcements and not a lot of sleep for me, but it’s nothing that a lot of coffee won’t sort. While all the big huge announcements are going to be coming in on Monday, we do have quite a bit of pre E3 news piling in, so that’s exactly what we will be going over today. Lets start with the headlines.
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/announcement-trailer-for-mortal-kombat-x-released/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/fable-anniversary-coming-to-pc/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/awsomenauts-assemble-comes-to-xbox-one/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/smash-bros-stage-based-on-new-super-mario-bros-u-revealed/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/ultra-street-fighter-iv-upgrade-launches-today-on-ps3-and-xbox-360/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/bitsmith-kickstarts-franknjohn/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/new-batman-arkham-knight-trailer-shows-off-the-batmobile-delayed-until-2015/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/sonic-boom-will-release-this-year-and-will-use-cryengine/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/terraria-comes-to-ps4-and-xbox-one/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/crytek-announce-hunt-horrors-of-the-gilded-age/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/bandai-namco-announces-the-dark-souls-ii-trilogy/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/night-in-the-woods-comes-to-ps4/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/phoenix-wright-ace-attorney-trilogy-coming-to-3ds-eshop/
http://www.the-arcade.ie/2014/06/tales-strategy-rpg-tales-of-the-world-reve-unitia-announced/
Crystal Dynamics and Criterion will reveal new games at E3
So to start off I’ll get all the pre-E3 news out of the way first , beginning with that both Criterion Games (creators of Need For Speed and Burnout) and Crystal Dynamics (Tomb Raider 2013) will be showing games at E3. This news comes from GameTrailers listings for next weeks coverage, as they state that Crystal Dynamics will be with Microsoft with Phil Spencer for an announcement. Criterion will also reveal an announcement as part of EA’s conference. While I can’t comment on whats happening with Criterion Games, it’s pretty obvious that Crystal Dynamics will be showing off the next Tomb Raider title… I hope so anyway.
You can visit GameTrailers for their listing here.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt gets a release date and new E3 trailer
If I remember back to last years E3, one trailer certainly stuck out in my mind and that was The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. It was one of the most impressive displays at the show and definitely was the most “Next gen” looking title there. Well, this time CD Projekt Red has opted for releasing a trailer before E3 instead of during, and my god does it look beautiful. The trailer shows off the game’s plot, but also quite a bit of gameplay. No, I am not joking, that was actually all in engine gameplay. I know, it’s insane.
You can visit the official site for more info.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt will release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC on February 24, 2015.
Oddworld: New N’ Tasty remake gets an E3 trailer
Keeping with the pre-E3 trailer rush now, developer Just Add Water has released a new trailer for the remake of Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee. In the trailer we see the new remastered versions of the classic cut-scenes all played to the song “Born to Love You” by singer Elodie Adams.
For more info on the title you can visit the official site.
Oddworld: New N’Tasty will release on PS4,PS3,PS Vita, Wii U and PC, but no release date has been given as of yet.
Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts 3 will be skipping E3 2014
Sadly not everyone is going to be at E3 this year I am afraid, as in a Famitsu interview with producer Shinji Hashimoto,we learned that fans will have to wait until after E3 for any info on these titles sadly as neither are going to be present at E3 this year. Now, as a massive fan of the Kingdom Hearts series, this is a bit of a sting to the heart, but really I am still just glad both titles are still in development, its’ just a little annoying to hear that neither will show up, especially seeing just how long we have been waiting for both. We did actually get a little Kingdom Hearts 3 news however, just check out the news story below.
Here is the translated version of the official Famitsu story.
New trailer for Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix shows off the past and the future of the series
With the sad news that neither FF XV or Kingdom Hearts 3 will be present at E3 this year, it was a surprising turn of events this week when a normal trailer for the upcoming Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix not only showed off the HD versions of Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep and cut-scenes of Kingdom Hearts: Recoded, it also contained a teaser for Kingdom Hearts 3. The trailer features the usual run down of the plot so far, being exactly what these remixes are, but the teaser pointed directly to KH3 being more about the fabled “Keyblade Wars” first introduced in Birth by Sleep. As a fan of the series, obviously I am ecstatic we got least at something to do with plot this year.
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix will release on December 2 for PS3.
Assassin’s Creed Revelations director will return for Unity
So this news may be either really bad news or good news depending on your feelings towards the title, but from a tweet, we learned that Alexandre Amancio (Assassin’s Creed Revelations creative director) will be taking control of the project. The tweet came from Ubisoft Toronto’s Jade Raymond, which is now deleted. This news does work in with Amanico’s LinkedIn profile, as it confirmed he indeed working on a Assassins Creed title. Amanico did leave Ubisoft back in January 2012 but eventually returned six months later. While some people did enjoy Revelations, it’s certainly one of the stranger titles in the series, what with the tower defense mission and whatnot. Let just hope Amanico leaves out the strategy elements this time, eh?
Assassins Creed: Unity will release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata skips E3 due to health reasons
In some slightly worrying news now, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata will be missing out on E3 this year due to health issues. No exact details have been given about the severity of his illness, but he is listing to his doctors orders by not traveling overseas. Nintendo has offered a statement on the matter,
“He’s been instructed by his physician not to travel overseas in the immediate future, and so he will not be making the trip to Los Angeles,” said Nintendo vice president of corporate affairs Cindy Gordon. “Please understand that it is business as usual for Mr. Iwata, and he continues his normal duties as president of Nintendo Co., Ltd. while he remains in Japan. As always, he will be actively involved in all of Nintendo’s activities at the show.”
While Nintendo wont be having a life press conference this year, its still worrying to hear that Iwata is suffering from health issues. While his presence at E3 will certainly be missed from interviews and meetings, I just hope he gets better soon, we can’t lose that Banana holding CEO just yet.
Rumors point to Nintendo revealing a new title, Mario Maker, at E3
Speaking of Nintendo at E3 this year, recent rumors have all pointed towards a new Mario title, Mario Maker. This leaked photo cam from Nintendo Enthusiast, who seems to have taken a snap shot of the Nintendo booth whilst setting up. The graphic clearly says Mario Maker, with a hand dragging piece of Mario 1 style pixels. It all points towards a title which allows you to create your own Mario levels, but of course this news has not been confirmed by Nintendo and could still be a fake. Its still very convincing, and certainly a high possibility, and why not? Nintendo has been using their older titles in weird ways recently, what with NES Remix. While we don’t know it this is a Wii U or 3DS title yet or even if its real, we don’t have much longer to wait.
New E3 trailer for Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor shows off the enemies
Back to the E3 trailer rush now, with Monolith and Warner Bros releasing a brand new trailer for Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. This time the trailer is more narrative focused seeing Talion going after a more powerful evil troll. Also in case you didn’t already know this about the game, Troy Baker voices Talion, so fan girls/boys assemble.
Middle- Earth: Shadow of Mordor releases on October 7th for Xbox One, Xbox 360,PS4,PS3 and PC.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel gets a dance party trailer
Time to mix these trailers up a bit, and who else better to do that then Borderlands. Yes that’s right folks, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel not only got a new Harmonix based trailer this week, but also a release date. In the new trailer Gearbox and 2K Australia teamed up with Dance Central studio Harmonix to bring us a choreographed dance break to celebrate their release date and E3 presence, and it is glorious. Of course the trailer shows off the usual new vehicles, guns and characters, but lets face it you’re here for the dance party.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel releases for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC on October 14th.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate gets a new E3 trailer
Monster Hunter fans rejoice, as Capcom has released a bran new trailer for Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate along with a confirmed Western release (meaning we will probably get it soon as well). The trailer shows off some amazing CG footage of hunters taking down monsters, and goes over crafting, the vast environments and online play. As someone who was always curious about the Monster Hunter franchise, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate is doing all the right things to get me interested.
Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate will release on 3DS in early 2015
GoG announces GoG Galaxy
Some non E3 news now, as GoG has announced a new game distribution service to rival Steam, GoG Galaxy. The service will be optional and will function with offline play included. The video presentation featured GoG’s Guillaume Rambourg pointing out the problems with DRM services like Steam and promises that single player titles will never have a online requirement to play on GoG Galaxy. The client will optionally allow you to keep in touch with friends, patch games and will even include cross play services, though no exact details have been given as of yet. If GoG can successfully pull this off, we will finally have competition for Steam, which lord knows has had the monopoly over PC gaming for too long now. It will be interesting to see if this service will be enough for Steam users to abandon their precious hats and trading cards.
You can read the full story over at GoG.com.
Dead Rising 3 comes to PC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1SDYR0l21o
Well us PC gamers certainly have waited long enough, Dead Rising 3 is coming to PC. Capcom has stated that the new release will feature upgraded textures and will have higher resolutions. Lets just hope they fix the damn frame rate, because 30 frames in a zombie horde game just isn’t okay on PC anymore.
Dead Rising 3 will release this Summer for PC.
Official trailer for Battlefield: Hardline appears online
After last weeks big leak of info on Battlefield: Hardline, Visceral Games finally released the official trailer for the upcoming crime shooter. The trailer shows off the cop based crime thriller shooter in action, set in LA. This change in direction is definitely a welcome addition, as we have definitely seen enough realistic war zones already. The website states that we will indeed be seeing more of Hardline at E3 this Monday.
You can visit the official site here.
Battlefield:Hardline releases October 21st for PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC.
Bit.Trip series creators Gaijin Games rebrands to Choice Provisions
The Indie developer formerly known as Gaijin Games have re-branded to “Choice Provisions” this week. The reason for the change was Gaijin means “foreigner” in Japan, and has a negative connotation associated with it. The team provided a statement on the matter.
“The name made sense, but it also carried somewhat of a negative connotation to it. No matter how you may feel about the word “gaijin” personally, I think it’s fair to say that some people out there view it as a negative term. Being the upbeat, positive folks we are, the last thing we wanted was for people to be offended by our name. We are but humble purveyors of video games, and the end goal of all the work we do is to make people happy.
Ergo, we’re changing our name to Choice Provisions.”
To read the full story, you can visit the official blog.