1
May the 4th be with you, readers!
In this week’s roundup we delve into Rockstar’s cavalier attitude toward E3 and what it means for GTA V , figure out what ex-members of the BioShock team are up to as The Fullbright Company, learn how to use voice commands in Skyrim, celebrate the end of infinite combos in Street Fighter X Tekken , examine what makes Super Meat Boy iOS different, and flex our muscles for Microsoft’s patented EMG game controller.
Let’s round it up!
1. Patcher Predicts Pre-E3 ‘GTA V’ Showing With October 23 Release
In a recent segment of GTTV’s Pach-Attack , Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter looked into his crystal ball and predicted that details onwill be release shortly before this year’s E3.
“They’ve outgrown the show. I think they’re way too cool to go. My read on those guys is they like stealing the thunder from everything else. So if I had to bet, I’d say you’d get an announcement on GTA V the day before E3 starts, that’d be Monday, June 4. They don’t show up and that’s all anybody can do is talk about GTA V at the show.”
Not a bad prediction, actually — those Rockstar guys are nothing if not consistent. The last time the company was at the show was to promote Agent at Sony’s press conference three years ago. Not appearing this year would be a publicity stunt in its own way, attempting to garner attention while taking it away from companies who decided to show up and interact with the fans and press that sustain their business. As for GTA V’s release date, Pachter suspects the game will launch on October 23, shortly before BioShock Infinite. If Rockstar‘s cute stunt pans out as planned, expect to hear more on GTA V soon.
Source: VG 24/7
2. ‘Metal Gear Rising’ Coming To Vita
During a developer presentation at an AT&T event, a slide show revealed a bit more than planned. In one slide, the logo forwas spotted amongst a myriad of “3rd party PS Vitapartners on board.” Oops! Look for an official announcement soon.
Source: CVG
3. Next ‘SFxT’ Update Does Away With Infinite Combos
Hey all you fighting junkies out there, get ready for a real life c-c-c-c-combo breaker. Capcomhas decided to release another update foraround mid-May that will fix infinite combos for Kazuya, Xiaoyu, Pac-Man and Kuro, who was getting wildly out of hand. Condolences go out to all the cheap players out there. Actually, no — you’re awful.
Source: Joystiq
4. ‘Shadowrun Returns’ Kickstarter Hits $1.8 Million
Following in the footsteps of other Kickstarter success stories, the Shadowrun Returns Kickstarter got some fantastic news. Developer Harebrained Schemes finished with $1.8 million in funding, over four times the original $400,000 goal. The 15,502 backers investing the minimum reward donation of $15, combined with thousands in the $125 and three who made $10,000 donations, added up to some mad chedda — averaging out to about $50 per person for each of the 36,000 backers. Kudos to Harebrained Schemes and here’s to putting that extra dough to good use on Shadowrun Returns, which is expected to release on the PC, Mac and Linux in early 2013.
Source: VG 24/7
5. Ex-BioShock Peeps Start The Fullbright Company
Portland, Oregon has a new resident, The Fullbright Company, founded by formerseries team members Johnnemann Nordhagen and and Karla Zimonja. Having quit the corporate game to jump into indie development, the two have decided to continue the work that inspired them — specifically, projects that focus on “personal story in a player-driven way.”
“…our intent in the end is simply to make a great game. A memorable experience that you’ll be drawn into, and keep thinking about after the game’s turned off, and want to come back to again someday. An experience that gets away from the constraints of ossified game genres, while relying on what we’re good at as a team: creating immersive places to inhabit, and a deep, personal story to explore at your own pace.”
Hoping to develop a nonviolent game in an unfantastical locale (a rarity in gaming), and stating the need for a talented team to help with production, Fullbright has a clear vision. Gamers should stay tuned and see what comes out of the fledging company.
Source: The Fullbright Company
6. Full List Of ‘Skyrim’ Kinect Voice Commands
What’s better than Dragon Shouts? Actually shouting them out! Fus Ro DUH. The complete list of voice commandsfor the Kinectenabledhas been released. Everything from quick menus to hotkey equipping, follower commands, magic and, of course, shouts, the list is comprehensive — containing more than 200 commands. This should add a whole other level of immersion to the game that never ends. Expect not to see your significant others again for a while, especially when the new Dawnguard DLCis released. The Kinect update is out now, so those with eidetic memory, take a glance at the list. The rest of us should probably print it out.
Source: Bethesda
7. ‘Portal 2’ Level Editor In-Action
The Perpetual Testing Initiative , Portal 2 ‘s level-editing DLC, will encourage players to channel their inner GLaDOS and create hellish levels for their foesfriends. Level creator TopHATTwaffle uploaded a video that walks gamers through the editor, a video that has since been removed at Valve’s request, but the internet has a way of not caring.
The level editor is surprisingly intuitive and easily flows between edit and play modes, where players can test out the new test chambers. Expect the community not to pull any punches and to dish out some exhaustingly difficult levels because, really, isn’t torture what this is all about? Okay — fun, too.
Source: Joystiq
8. ‘Super Meat Boy’ iOS Is Different
Team Meat, the folks behind the crazy hardhave announced that the iOS version of the game will be unlike its predecessor in many ways. In an interview with Polygon , Edmund McMillen, lead designer at Team Meat, explains.
“[The original] Meat Boy was a twitch-based game about memorizing things. [iOS] Meat Boy is the opposite. That’s the foundation of its design. But it’s also on a touch device, so there’s that as well. We want to make a twitch-based platformer that’s not about memorization.”
Great news for those panicking about controls. In fact, to calm fears, McMillen addressed that issue as well, stating that Meat Boy won’t be “a shitty port of an existing game with non tactile buttons spread all over the screen blocking the player’s view and making for frustrating controls,” and citing Canabalt as the closest comparison. The art will keep with the cartoonishly violent theme, luring unsuspecting gamers with it’s happy-go-lucky exterior before shredding and mutilating its main character. No release date so far, but fans can expect a very different experience when it comes out.
Source: The Verge
9. PlayStation Plus To Offer ‘CoD Elite’ And New Games To Members?
A survey about PlayStation Plussuggests Call of Duty: ELITE and free, new Blu-ray games may be added to the service. The survey, more or less, asks what people would be willing to pay for the program, changing certain aspects or perks to tailor it to an individual’s needs or wants — for a price, that is. For full details, including a screenshot and walkthrough video of what the PlayStation Plus program has to offer, follow the source.
Source: IGN
10. Muscle-based Microsoft Controller
While we certainly aren’t living in the future envisioned in movies, there have been lots of leaps in innovation with interactive entertainment, and the race for ground-breaking gaming peripherals is always at full speed. Microsoftis throwing its hand in again and was just granted a patent for a wearable EMG device. Electromyography (EMG) is used to evaluate and record electrical activity in skeletal muscles and Microsoft thinks it can use this activity to control smartphones, laptops and other devices. We’ll see.
Source: Engadget
–
Video Game Reviews