General gaming

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• The Wii U Port Report
• Poor E3 Showing or Not, Wii U Remains Full of Potential
• Nintendo Needs to Get Behind Project P-100
• 1UP Goes Hands-On With Nintendo Land and Wii U's Revised Controller
• Do Violent Games Speak to a Lack of Creativity or Lack of Conviction?
• Nintendo's E3 Press Briefing Game Lineup Failed to Sell the Wii U
• E3 Monday Wrap Up: Halo 4, Far Cry 3, and Watch Dogs
• The Curious Convergence of Dead Space and Lost Planet
• Sequel, Remake, or Reboot? Keeping Classic Franchises Alive
• Resident Evil 6 Seems More Concerned with the Past Than the Future

The Wii U Port Report Posted: 05 Jun 2012 09:22 PM PDT The Wii U has plenty of new software on display at E3 2012, but Nintendo's new system also has its share of ports as well. Today at E3, I played Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition and Ninja Gaiden III: Razor's Edge, a pair of action games that presently exist on platforms you probably already own. But how do they play on Wii U? What benefits does Nintendo's new game pad bring to their experiences? And, more importantly, do they really work? Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition

Poor E3 Showing or Not, Wii U Remains Full of Potential Posted: 05 Jun 2012 08:53 PM PDT The perfect time for Nintendo to convince us all to buy a Wii U at launch, its E3 press briefing, has come and gone, and the consensus seems to be the company failed to sell core gamers on it. There was a lot missing from today's showing, and much of what was there did not do the greatest job of demonstrating how the Wii U will provide markedly different gaming experiences over the consoles on the market today. And while I was certainly down on today's briefing, I think it's too soon to condemn the platform itself. Today's briefing did bring with it demonstrations of a new game from Shigeru Miyamoto (Pikmin 3), a new side-scrolling Mario game (New Super Mario Bros. U), and what Nintendo sees as Wii U's Wii Sports (Nintendo Land). Third parties had games to show that will sell well no matter what innovation they provide (Just Dance 4) and ports of quality games that may not have a compelling reason to play them on Wii U (Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, Mass Effect 3, Trine 2).

Nintendo Needs to Get Behind Project P-100 Posted: 05 Jun 2012 06:25 PM PDT Minutes after Nintendo's press conference ended, tweets started popping up online about a mystery Wii U launch title developed by Platinum that was completely neglected during the media briefing. Project P-100 is a whimsical throwback to colorful action games like Zombies Ate My Neighbors with the Japanese quirk of Katamari Damacy. It's being helmed by Hideki Kamiya, director of Okami, which is pretty much the most exciting news of my life. The playable demo placed you to command a ground of superheroes as they protected a suburban sprawl from a robot invasion. You could manipulate the formation of your squad to create various means of disposing enemies. After saving a group of civilians from their cyborg captors, you could round them up and deputize them as honorary superheroes who add to your roving posse of crimefighters. Just playing the game for a few minutes made me realize how starved I've been at this E3 for something that doesn't involve realistic murder. Charm and whimsy seem to be a rare commodity in 2012, so I was more than thankful to see it on display in this Wii U launch title. The visual style definitely called back to Pixar's The Incredibles mixed with the inane humor of Mystery Men.

1UP Goes Hands-On With Nintendo Land and Wii U's Revised Controller Posted: 05 Jun 2012 04:14 PM PDT Wii U revised GamePad Animal Crossing: Sweet Day Donkey Kong's Crash Course

Do Violent Games Speak to a Lack of Creativity or Lack of Conviction? Posted: 05 Jun 2012 03:17 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012 Do Violent Games Speak to a Lack of Creativity or Lack of Conviction? Cover Story: Were this year's bloodiest announcements inspired by a failure to innovate? S everal developers may be aiming to add meaning and context to the violence the dominates gaming's most popular titles, but fans of senseless virtual slaughter needn't worry: This year's E3 offers plenty of opportunities for savage, imaginary brutality. In fact, Monday's press conferences pounded the concept of violence into our eyes, ears, and minds with relentless persistence. Why were this year's E3 press briefings -- Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts, and Ubisoft -- so laser-focused on visual savagery? Is the idea of gaming as a virtual charnel house the best way these developers and publishers know to cover their failure to come up with more nuanced approaches to game design? Or do the bloody shootings, stabbings, and dismemberments speak instead to publishers' lack of confidence in gamers' willingness to support a game that doesn't pander to their most vicious instincts?

Nintendo's E3 Press Briefing Game Lineup Failed to Sell the Wii U Posted: 05 Jun 2012 02:11 PM PDT At the beginning of Nintendo's E3 press briefing, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime said we would be seeing 23 games on-stage today, a number far greater than what either Sony or Microsoft had at their respective showcases. With the company needing to sell gamers on Wii U, the more games it had to show, the better. As it turned out, a number of these games were multiplatform titles, some of which will have already been out for quite some time when Wii U is finally released this holiday. That was a common gripe for many gamers, but with a single new game console coming out this year, it's not unprecedented; what concerned me was the overall lack of interesting usage of the Wii U GamePad -- the system's big selling point -- in many of these games. Mass Effect 3, Darksiders II, Trine 2: Director's Cut, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor's Edge, and Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition were five of the third-party games shown during the briefing, and all of them will have already been available on other platforms for varying amounts of time when Wii U comes out. Of these games, Arkham City was the one to receive attention outside of a sizzle reel. Its demonstration showed off some of the Wii U-specific features: armored suits for Batman and Catwoman, the ability to scan for clues with the touchscreen, accelerometer-controlled batarangs, and a new B.A.T. mode that allows you to do additional damage after building up a meter. None of that was particularly mind-blowing, and while the other games might do a better job of offering something new on Wii U, their lack of a significant presence during the presentation suggests that is not the case. Of course, there is nothing wrong with filling out the catalog with quality games (we know Arkham City, ME3, and Trine are all excellent; Ninja Gaiden, not so much).

E3 Monday Wrap Up: Halo 4, Far Cry 3, and Watch Dogs Posted: 05 Jun 2012 01:08 PM PDT

The Curious Convergence of Dead Space and Lost Planet Posted: 05 Jun 2012 12:30 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012 The Curious Convergence of Dead Space and Lost Planet Cover Story: With their third chapters, EA's and Capcom's sci-fi shooters could be mistaken for twins. T he sound of bitingly cold wind echoes in your speakers as you lead your hero into an ice-encrusted open space. Sprays of snow gust around your heavily suited protagonist. A harsh alien sun glares, blinding you in the whiteout conditions. Suddenly, the ambient music spikes to a sharp crescendo to announce the presence of danger: A deadly creature has appeared, a wild beast defending its turf from the otherworldly incursion that you represent, or maybe just a roaming predator that sees in your hero a tasty foil-wrapped snack. Your on-screen avatar whips out his weapon and you take aim, shakily lining up the reticle with the glowing vulnerable points on the monster's body to the best of your ability as you dodge and juke through the snow. Suddenly, the creature leaps and you're forced to fend it off with desperate melee strikes aimed carefully at the creature's exposed maw. Finally, after a fierce struggle, it goes down. You relax slightly -- but not too much -- and pause to recover before making a break for a nearby pneumatic door that leads you into an enclosed space where countless other creatures are bound to lay in wait within the claustrophobic corridors ahead.

Sequel, Remake, or Reboot? Keeping Classic Franchises Alive Posted: 05 Jun 2012 12:27 PM PDT Feature Share it: Tweet 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012 Sequel, Remake, or Reboot? Keeping Classic Franchises Alive Cover Story: How can aging series remain vital? XCOM, Tomb Raider, Castlevania, and other demonstrate how publishers are tackling the challenge. F inal Fantasy. Mega Man. Doom. Pitfall! What do these series have in common? They've fallen upon hard times, that's what. Either publishers have abandoned them, or else their fans have. But an old franchise name can be an asset, not just an albatross. Even as some of our most beloved classics fall into disrepair or disgrace, others have found new life, either through sequels, with fresh remakes, or even complete back-to-the-roots remakes. Here's a look at how seven established franchises are demonstrating their plans to stay vital this week at E3 2012. Call of Duty

Resident Evil 6 Seems More Concerned with the Past Than the Future Posted: 05 Jun 2012 12:00 PM PDT 1UP COVER STORY 1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012 Resident Evil 6 Seems More Concerned with the Past Than the Future Cover Story: In its attempt to capture the essence of the series, RE6 wanders into familiar pitfalls. R esident Evil 6 made a strong first impression two months ago at its Captivate unveiling. Even to someone with no particular affection for the series (namely, myself), the hands-off demo its creators shared resonated profoundly. As Resident Evil 4 reinvented the franchise, RE6 seemed poised to take the next step and thoroughly modernize Resident Evil. From major features (like its triptych scenario structure) to minor details (like Leon Kennedy's humanizing animated interactions with the environment in realistic ways), RE6 looked nothing short of incredible. Disappointingly, that first impression wasn't entirely on the mark. RE6 looks great from a visual perspective, that much remains true; and its three-way story may well offer the most engrossing and intricate RE narrative ever seen. But rather than catapulting the series into the future, RE6's hands-on E3 demo paints a picture of a game mired in the past.

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