Archive for the ‘Video Games’ Category

E3 2010: Best Upcoming Game Releases

The Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, recently took place on June 14th through the 17th.  E3 is an event for the computer and video game industry in which developers present their upcoming games and game-related hardware.  There were quite a few exciting game announcements this year along with new hardware from both Microsoft and Nintendo.  Here are some of the best games that were featured at E3 2010.

Halo: Reach

The latest, and potentially the last, Halo release from Bungie is Halo: Reach.  This game’s storyline is a prequel to all of the previous Halo games.  The UNSC is waging war against the Covenant, and almost all of humanity’s colonies have fallen except Reach.  Players will control Noble 6, a member of a team of Spartans, during the battle for Reach.

We’ve already seen the multiplayer from the beta preview this spring, which was already very polished and exciting.  New features include single use equipment being replaced by reusable and persistent armor abilities such as active camo, a jetpack, sprinting, and armor lock.  From the E3 trailer it was shown that there will be at least some spaceship battles during the campaign, which is a surprising change from Bungie.

As seen in ODST, Reach will feature the latest Firefight version, which has been announced to have matchmaking support.  There will be more customization of what types of enemies and waves can be seen, and a new weapon called the target locator, which allows airstrikes to be called in by the UNSC.  Halo: Reach is set to debut on September 14th, 2010.

Rock Band 3

The latest Rock Band game may be the most advanced music game created thus far.  Harmonix is trying to bridge the gap between video games and real music instruments by creating a new playable keyboard and also a stringed guitar to mimic real instruments and teach players real music skills.  Rock Band 3 will feature a new “Pro” mode, which players will use when playing with the realistic instruments.  The Squier Stratocaster six string guitar will be the featured Rock Band 3 controller.  Players can connect the new controller to PCs and create music on their own, and also it will come with audio outputs that allow users to connect the guitar up to an amplifier and play music.

As for the other details, there will be 83 songs released with Rock Band 3, and all previous content from the first two games and DLC will still be playable.  Somewhat as expected, there are updated graphics and players have more customization over their characters and the game.  As of now exact dates are not set, but look for this game to come out sometime this winter.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Since the release of Modern Warfare, any following Call of Duty game has and will be receiving a lot of press.  The new installment is being developed by Treyarch, which is the less successful of the two CoD development teams (the other is Infinity Ward).  Black Ops is a sequel to World at War which is set during the Cold War.  Players will be involved with missions behind enemy lines in locations such as Vietnam.

Black Ops will feature some new equipment, such as a scoped cross bow weapon similar to the Gears of War torque bow.  The soldiers will also be able to fight with choppers and other types of aircraft.  Treyarch has announced that along with the usual game modes, there will be a four player online co-op mode available.  Black Ops releases November 9th, 2010.

Gears of War 3

The third installment of Gears of War picks up eighteen months after the previous game.  One of the main new features will be a 4 player story based co-op mode.  There will also be new playable female gears.  Anya Stroud, who was the team’s control officer in the first two games, is now joining the battle along with Jace Stratton.  The picture on the right is concept art of Anya.  It’s an awesome picture so you should click it to view full size.  Combat will feature mutating enemies and new equipment such as a double-barreled shotgun, Lancer with a bayonet instead of a chainsaw, and incendiary grenades.

There will be a new mode called Beast, which is the opposite of Horde Mode from Gears 2.  Players are now the fighting on the Locust side, combating the COG.  Killing enemies earns you tokens, which can be used to upgrade your class.  Gears 3 isn’t set to release until April 5th, 2011.

Honorable Mentions

The list of games featured at E3 is way too many than I can discuss in this post.  Here are some other games that were featured and will probably be worth playing once they are released:

• Portal 2
• The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
• Goldeneye 007
• Fable III
• Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood

New Xbox 360 Slim Revealed

As of now the uses of Kinect and games to accompany it are limited, but its easy to imagine what is launching with it.  There is a Kinect Sports game that looks very much like Wii Sports, but with a few added games and interaction.  A few dancing based games already exist, with the group being led by a game called Dance Central.  After seeing the trailer for it, it looks like a Rock Band style dancing game.  This will probably cause the Dance Dance Revolution games to be quickly phased out of the market.  There’s also a fitness “game” (moreover fitness software) that looks appealing.  Its trailer showed various exercise activities, a personal trainer system, and abilities to detect your height, waist size, and other attributes about yourself.  Lastly, which may be one of the most interesting Kinect features, is “Video Kinect”.  You can now make video calls on your TV using voice and gesture commands for control.

Comic-Con 2009: Top 10 Costumes

Now that Comic-Con 2009 from San Diego is over, the pictures that everyone took while there are starting to hit the web.  This event has evolved into more of a large costume display party rather than somewhere to go to get information about comics, games, upcoming movies, or anything else you can find there.  However, this isn’t always a bad thing, since it provides some great pictures with people in them ranging from those who spent way too many hours designing their costume, to the ones who will look sexy impersonating any superhero or character out there.

Instead of displaying hundreds of pictures I’ve gone through many sources and have filtered out what I believe to be the top 10 costumes from this summer’s Comic-Con.  I’ve tried to get a decent variety and (mostly) avoid the common costumes such as stormtroopers, trekkies, princess leia, etc.

#10 – Killzone Guys

#9 – Tomb Raider

#8 – Zombie Girls – Looks like they are promoting the movie Zombieland, but that’s not too important…these girls are just hot.

#7 – Wonder Woman – one of probably many, but she pulls it off well.

#6 – Anakin Skywalker and Aayla Secura

#5 – Sephiroth

#4 – Nick Fury, Ms. Marvel, and Black Widow

#3 – The Baroness from G.I. Joe

#2 – Rikku from Final Fantasy X. Fairly simple costume but this girl looks exactly like the game character.

#1 – Big Sister from Bioshock 2. The high detail put into this costume makes it my top choice from this year’s costumes.