Will MAG have the last laugh?

What was the the biggest joke in Sony's E3 press conference last year? MAG. An FPS with 256 players and a terrible name. Game journalists scoffed at it as "another Sony fail." I'll admit that I thought that Zipper would have changed the name by now to SOCOM something. But at this point, if the game turns out the be a success, they can rub it in everyone's face. But I'm getting off track......

Jump ahead to this year's Sony press con and MAG isn't looking like a joke. It's looking and sounding really cool. It's like some of the best parts of COD4 and (of all games) Warhawk, competitive/Co-Op gameplay with a huge amount of players. Now, I'll admit that the player count does worry me. While in some cases, (like the smaller Headquarters maps on COD4) chaos can be really fun. But a whole game based around possibly hundreds of people shooting at each other could run very thin quickly. But, in an interview with IGN via Podcast Beyond, (interview starts at 28:00) lead designer Andy Bodwin talked about how the action would ramp up. Starting you out in a smaller group of 4 to 8 to let you get the feel of the tactical side of the game and working as a team, battles and objectives soon escalate to larger and larger scale until you end up in a 128 vs. 128, 300-style showdown. If pulled off correctly, the tension and feel of being in a full scale war should be as real as you could get on a console.

The real test is going to be that feeling that at anytime, a group from the other team could show up and the fight would be on. Maybe your support will be able to help you and maybe you'll have to go it alone and hope for the best. It's a difficult feeling to convey in a game. The most resent attempt would be the final battle in Killzone 2. (link contains spollers)

In an interview with Gamespot @ E3, Andy and CJ from Zipper talk about the "Dangling the Carrot" gameplay that is going to play into your progression in the game and how the world will continue whether or not you are playing. Sounds like the near perfect COD4 Perk system will be used here as well. Also sounds very MMO inspired. DLC and expanded locations and scenarios are very interesting if done correctly.

After watching the latest MAG Monday video via Gametrailers.com, I'm thinking that this is game is going to be a bigger deal than people might be giving it credit for. Granted that it's still early, but I trying to keep an open mind about things. It's a flaw. Check the all the MAG Monday vids below.

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive Shadow War Dev Diary

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive 256 Dev Diary

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Video Games | MAG | Exclusive PMCS Dev Diary

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

J.

Max Gives Brief E3 Thoughs, Excuses Why He's Not Posting...

E3 nearly passed me by. Almost. I only found out it was E3 last week when I saw a news story about Nintendo’s press conference on Newsarama (which goes to show how I’m way more into comics than games these days). Since then, I’ve been playing catch up. I caught a little bit of Sony’s press conference, and thanks to the Nintendo Channel, have been able to get a dose of Nintendo’s videos. This week, they’ve even put the press conference up this week, so I’ll be digging into that soon. And I gotta say, I was pretty (pleasantly) surprised that Nintendo is actually utilizing the Nintendo Channel for this stuff. I'm just used to them not doing anything like this, while Sony & Microsoft have done it for awhile!

Unfortunately, this is final’s week at my University, and I have a ton of stuff to do to wrap up the quarter this week. No tests, but lots of papers to write and short stories to revise. Therefore, I can’t delve into blogging just yet. After Thursday though, expect a ton of reactions from me, which will (of course) be a Nintendo-centric response. I will say now (without trying to be a fanboy) that it seems pretty funny both Sony & Microsoft are trying to cash in on the motion control introduced by Wii. Granted, each do it their own way, but too bad Microsoft’s super-de-duper motion/voice controlled “controller” NATAL costs about $200. I don’t see legions of non-gamers signing on for that.

I’ll post a couple quick things though before delving study time!

Max

The best E3 trailers: Uncharted 2

Holy shit again!!! I don't think anyone thinks this game is going to be anything but awesome. This demo had me ducking and dodging like a really good action movie. Which is what they were going for. The collapsing building was the capper for me. I'm going to get this one day one. And the online stuff could be cool as well. More about this later today. (maybe)


J.

The best E3 trailers: Metal Gear Solid: Rising

Well, 360 owners finally have MGS on their console. But it's not MGS4 like people thought. It's the next MGS game starring our favorite cyber-ninja, Raiden. It didn't show alot, but come on. It's MGS. It'll be great. And in case you were wondering, yes, it IS coming out on PS3 as well. Don't get your hopes up on stealing any Sony's exclusives this year.

J.

The best E3 trailers: The Old Republic

Holy shit! A Star Wars MMO that doesn't look like it sucks. This game makes me want to try and upgrade my computer. I might have to break my self imposed ban on MMOs on myself. Hope it turns out ok. Check it out.


J.

The best E3 trailers: Left 4 Dead 2

Left 4 Dead is doing pretty good for 360/PC zombie killers. So Valve is dropping another one this Fall. It's odd that Valve would make a whole new L4D rather then make more DLC for the game they have out already. Guess we're going to have to wait longer Half-Life 2:Ep 3.......

J.

I'm in the Uncharted 2 beta.....

With me taking the State Medical board test, I missed Nintendo's press conference and almost missed Sony's, but I got done early and caught the whole thing. It was awesome! I'll follow up on the cons later. One of the highlights was Uncharted 2. The demo was really cool and made me hyped to get the game. One of the things that Jack Trentton mentioned was that the Uncharted 2 online beta was starting tonight at midnight. Sweet deal. And guess who's in?

More on the beta when I get home.


J.

PSP GO! seems to be....go.

The rumors of a new PSP has been out there for a while now, but now it seems like the new PSP is actually real. Gaming Console Network's Sean Foster somehow got next months Qore and it revels the new headheld and all it's features. The highlight are that it does have 16gig of flash drive space, you can use it to play your games from PSN and, something that caught my ear at the end of the video, seems that Gran Turismo actually does exist and will play some part on the system. Likely a launch game.

As someone that has the oldest PSP, the 1000, I'm thinking this fall it's time to trade up.

Source: Youtube via Gaming Console Network's Sean Foster


J.

PS3 finally gets Fallout 3 DLC (That rhymed)

Way back in the day, PS3 owners were treated to the news that Mircosoft had paid Bethesda to release the DLC for Fallout 3 "Only of Xbox 360." We groaned alittle, or alot depending. The first two seemed to underwhelm but Broken Steel won people over with the level cap lift and tons of new weapons. Ps3 owners of the game were left with just the ending of the game. It's hard owning a PS3 sometimes....

Well today, in a move that really seems to growing for game developers, Bethesda dropped the news that, yes, all the DLC that was "Only for Xbox 360" is coming to Sony's console starting in June.

"Operation: Anchorage will be released for PS3 in late June, followed by the release of The Pitt and Broken Steel 4-6 weeks apart. Release dates will be forthcoming."


On top of that, they announced that there will be TWO new DLC packs this summer:

"There are also two new DLCs planned for all three platforms:

* Point Lookout – Explore a massive new swampland area filled with new quests and content.

* Mothership Zeta – The aliens have returned, and they're pissed. Experience an alien abduction first hand and find out if you're tough enough to survive."

Sounds cool to me. As someone that really liked Fallout 3, it's cool to see that developers are FINALLY opening their eyes to see that (gasp) people are actually are buying PS3s and people that are buying them are not just watching Blu-Ray on them. If you put content on the system, people will buy it. The new stuff sounds fun as well. Fighting aliens? Oh yeah. I'm in. E3 is going to be very interesting........


Source: Bethesda Softworks


J.

Capcom has two more games coming at E3

Capcom is becoming my heroes as of late. Street Fighter 4, Bionic Commando, Rearmed, Dead Rising 2 and (finally) Marvel vs Capcom 2. But Capcom isn't done.

On the Capcom Unity twitter page, this was posted:

"You think we have great titles now? Wait 'til we announce two more at E3!"

Oh shit! I'm calling Rival Schools. Wait. Power Stone. Yeah. And Strider.

Any guesses out there?


J.