Back from E3.

[SackAttack]

...and my brain is a jumbled mess right now. Hands-on previews will be going up today and tomorrow.

Initial thoughts of interest for the crew here: Guitar Hero II and Civ 4: Warlords look very, very good.

Plenty of other stuff does, too, but those are for the games I see talked about most around here. :)

[sabotai]

Did you get to see anything about Spore?

[duckman]

Did you get to see anything about Spore?

Yes, we need to know about this son of a bitch!

[SackAttack]

Did you get to see anything about Spore?

They had that in a theater with a massive line and wouldn't expedite folks with media passes without an appointment, which I didn't have.

Spore was maybe my most anticipated title of the show, and it pained me to have to miss that, but it came down to either going hands-on with Wii, or seeing Spore, but not getting to actually play it.

I went with Wii.

[Blade6119]

Wii?

[SackAttack]

Wii?

Oui.

(You might know it better as Revolution.)

[IwasHere]

Oui.
I thought Oui was a porn mag?

[SackAttack]

I thought Oui was a porn mag?

I'm wondering how long it takes before some third-party publisher makes a pornographic Wii game. Considering what they could use that controller for, it's actually kind of a creepy thought.

[Ragone]

i've seen posted stuff about wow expansion sack.. anything else i should know? :)

[SackAttack]

Ragone,

Didn't go near the WOW expansion. I've never played the original, so I wouldn't be qualified to comment appropriately. Jason may have checked it out; I would wait to see if he does a preview.

[Eaglesfan27]

Did you get a chance to check out NFL Head Coach?

[Philliesfan980]

I'm starting to get more and more portable, and generally getting things cleaner (ie. LCD tv instead of the tube tv, laptop replacing my desktop). Can anyone here justify getting a PSP instead of a next gen console? I used to have a PSP (about a year ago), but the software was pretty poor. I'm hearing good things about NCAA (10 year dynasty is plenty). Will Madden PSP have any interaction with NCAA PSP this year (ie. draft classes). What about other non sports titles?

I'd love for someone to make the arguement that I would be reasonably well served getting a PSP instead of a next gen console. I already have a DS, which is awesome for nintendo first party titles, but lacks the muscle for the other stuff.

[SackAttack]

Did you get a chance to check out NFL Head Coach?

Eagles, I couldn't find it on the show floor anywhere. I asked a couple of EA reps if they were demonstrating it anywhere, and they both shook their heads no.

Either they were woefully uninformed of their own company's products, or it was another one of those "You gotta have an appointment" deals, like Spore expedition.

[SackAttack]

Having some technical issues getting my previews to display on the front page. I don't know if that's related to our attempt to monkey with things so that previews can be placed in the prominent spot on Gamenikki, or if we've just had so few previews in the past that we've never noticed it.

Anyhow, I will keep a post in this thread updated with direct links to the previews if we can't somehow get them to display on the front page.

[SackAttack]

Problem is solved, and our first preview - Madden Wii - is now live.

[Izulde]

So you played with some guy's Wii? :D

And I'll check out the page a little later on. I'm glad you're putting up the previews, though.

[SackAttack]

So you played with some guy's Wii? :D

Don't knock it 'less you've tried it! :D

And I'll check out the page a little later on. I'm glad you're putting up the previews, though.

It's going to be slow going for a couple of days since the other guys who went with us are in the process of heading back to their native states - which means it'll be me writing and uploading for a couple of days - but yeah, we're in the process of getting everything up.

My Zelda preview is on deck, as soon as I get these screenshots uploaded.

[astrosfan64]

Don't knock it 'less you've tried it! :D



It's going to be slow going for a couple of days since the other guys who went with us are in the process of heading back to their native states - which means it'll be me writing and uploading for a couple of days - but yeah, we're in the process of getting everything up.

My Zelda preview is on deck, as soon as I get these screenshots uploaded.

I've always liked your content on your site, but the overall look and feel of the site is distracting. The layout is hard to follow and the different areas are hard to identify with. Just my 2 cents.

BTW nice write up on Wii Madden.

[SackAttack]

Previews that should be up before the end of the night:

Guitar Hero II (PS2)
Phantasy Star Universe (360)
Disgaea 2: Cursed Memories (PS2)

If I have time or the muse is cooking:

Sonic the Hedgehog (PS3/360)
Too Human (360)
Mass Effect (360)
Neverwinter Nights 2 (PC)

[Eaglesfan27]

Eagles, I couldn't find it on the show floor anywhere. I asked a couple of EA reps if they were demonstrating it anywhere, and they both shook their heads no.

Either they were woefully uninformed of their own company's products, or it was another one of those "You gotta have an appointment" deals, like Spore expedition.

Thanks for looking.

[SackAttack]

Disgaea 2 is up. Guitar Hero II will follow shortly, but PSU may have to slip to tomorrow morning'ish.

[Ragone]

phantasy star universe? is that like the online mmorpg.. or a single player rpg..

[sterlingice]

phantasy star universe? is that like the online mmorpg.. or a single player rpg..

In both PSO 1 and 2, there was both an offline RPG mode but also an online MMORPG component. Not sure about this one, tho.

SI

[SackAttack]

phantasy star universe? is that like the online mmorpg.. or a single player rpg..

It's not an MMO. It's more like PSO1+2.

[SackAttack]

Guitar Hero 2 is up. The train keeps rolling.

[kingnebwsu]

Something I did read on PSU is that the characters you play for the single-player and the multiplayer will have to be different. They're trying to flesh out the single-player some more in this one...but if it's different characters for them then I'll probably just play online.

Hopefully they add enough levels to keep it entertaining for a long while. PSO was one of the coolest games ever :)

[SackAttack]

Ben, it seemed like the characters for single player were specific characters, whereas online are characters you create and customize and all of that.

[Mota]

NFL Head Coach was being demo'ed at the Xbox booth, of all places.

I spent about 30 minutes with the developer going over some stuff (and no it wasn't Joe Stallings). From looking at the gameplay, it does look as though shorter passes are much more prevalent than in Madden / NCAA. It looked much more realistic. There's a lot of input into the game as well. You call audibles, line shifts, motion, etc. You still have lots of control into the game, you don't just let it play. But once you hike the ball it's in the AI's hands. You are either calling the plays or talking to your players, so if you take too long talking to your DL about how to play the next series, or if you're trying to motivate your QB, the co-ordinators will take over the playcalling for you and the game will keep playing.

Also according to the dev the game is tuned to 5-6 minute quarters to get the most accurate results (which is a little bit strange). It's mostly because you can get to the line rather quickly if you're a fast play caller.

Draft looked interesting as well, each player's skills are measured in a range in each category ... 52-87 let's say for a QB's arm strengh rating. If he's been scouted, the range will shrink depending on how much you've watched him and the quality of your scout, it might be 65-82 instead. So there's still volatility in the scouting (as there should be), and if you did your homework on the right people it's a little bit less of a crapshoot.

[SackAttack]

If it was at the Games for Windows booth, that's probably why I didn't see it. EA seemed to believe it wasn't at the show at all.