General gaming

General gaming

Quantum Conundrum Bridges Dimensions, Generations

Posted: 07 Jun 2012 06:56 AM PDT

Quantum Header

Kim Swift's latest first-person puzzler proves that the biggest ideas sprout from the most mundane moments. The concept for Quantum Conundrum came to Swift on a morning walk for coffee. Best known for her work on Portal, her latest project looks to turn the genre she helped create on its head.

Where Portal has you navigating chambers by manipulating space, Quantum Conundrum asks the same of you by toying with the very laws of nature themselves. The player is allowed to change the dimension of a given chamber to completely alter how you interact with the environment. The Fluffy Dimension makes heavy safes as light as a feather and allows you to bounce high into the air, while the Heavy Dimension does the opposite and turns the lightest of objects into destructive projectiles. Using these two in conjunction is your means of overcoming the game's very Portal-esque challenges.

A Eulogy for The Last Guardian

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 04:42 PM PDT

The Last Guardian

A lot of us here at 1UP had a bad feeling in the pit of our stomachs leading up to this year's E3. We tried to ignore it, even going as far as to convince ourselves that our long-gestating fears would be alleviated when Sony took the stage at their press conference. At some point when the lights were dim, we'd finally see another glimpse of The Last Guardian, the final installment in Team ICO's thematic trilogy. After a half- decade wait, we'd finally get some concrete details on the Shadow of the Colossus follow-up, possibly even a timeframe as to when we'll be able to get our hands on it.

And so the lights dimmed on Sony's press conference, two hours passed, and the house lights came back on. We were left with a whole mess of thoughts regarding what Sony had shown, but more importantly, we were left reflecting on what was absent. Without even the slightest mention of The Last Guardian, our greatest fears inched ever-closer to becoming a truth; the game will never be released.

Interview: Taking Stealth a Step Further With Assassin's Creed III

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 03:06 PM PDT

1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012

Interview: Taking Stealth a Step Further With Assassin's Creed III

Cover Story: What does ACIII bring to the table? Can it avoid the pitfalls that snared Revelations? We ask the developers.

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bisoft has begun taking the wraps off the next Assassin's Creed title. While most attention has focused around the game's setting (the American Revolutionary War) and its new ship-to-ship combat, I've personally been most impressed by the seamless integration of stealth and navigation with the game's new primary environment, the forests of New England. Shortly before E3, I spoke with Creative Director Alex Hutchison and Senior Producer Francois Pelland to gain further insight into the new features of Assassin's Creed III, their responses to criticism of the past few AC titles, and Ubisoft Montreal's grand scheme for the series' direction.

1UP: So let me go ahead and ask the obnoxious questions right up front. A lot of the criticisms people have expressed about the most recent couple of Assassin's Creed games have concerned the things that have felt sort of grafted on to the core mechanics. Things like the set-pieces, the tower defense, things like that.

Interview: Reinventing Lara Croft

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 02:49 PM PDT

1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012

Interview: Reinventing Lara Croft

Cover Story: We speak with the head of Crystal Dynamics about the direction they're taking Lara's legacy.

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feel like I've written a lot about Square Enix's upcoming Tomb Raider reboot, but I suppose I've had a lot to say about it. Developer Crystal Dynamics' has chosen a bold approach for the game, following Lara Croft's transformation from innocent young woman to ruthless adventurer, and the game's demos have consistently walked a thin line between brilliant and exploitative. I spoke at E3 this week with studio director Darrell Gallagher about the concerns that I and many other long-time series fans have expressed about the game, and what he sees for Lara's future.

1UP: I've seen all the demos of Tomb Raider to date, so I think I have a pretty good sense of where the game is going. I think. But to start, I was wondering if you could talk a bit about the direction of the game and what you're doing with it in your own terms.

E3 Tuesday Wrap Up: Resident Evil 6, Pikmin 3, Wii U, and Quantum Conundrum

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:55 PM PDT

Even After an Insignificant Showing, Vita's Price Not Budging Anytime Soon

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 01:17 PM PDT

Of the many things considered a certainty going into Sony's E3 media briefing on Monday night, "lots of Vita games" was fairly high up many people's lists. Instead, Vita ended up feeling like an afterthought. However you may want to interpret that, and Sony does have an explanation it's been offering for the rationale behind the insignificant showing, the one thing it is definitely not leading to is a price cut on the hardware.

Aside from providing a name of the Call of Duty game coming later this year (Black Ops Declassified), the only attention Vita received during the showcase was in the form of demonstrations of Assassin's Creed III: Liberation and PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (which is also for PS3). No other new games were announced and no word on new system features were revealed. Afterward, SCEA president Jack Tretton tried to play up the number of games already available on Vita and the number of games coming this year.

Origin Uninterested in Offering Steam-Like "Going Out of Business" Sales

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 11:57 AM PDT

Origin Steam sales

It was roughly a year ago that Electronic Arts unveiled Origin, the relaunch of its existing EA Store intended to sell PC games and connect gamers across platforms. Its lack of an appearance at EA's E3 press briefing was not what one would expect considering it is meant to be a pillar of the company's presence on PC. That doesn't mean the subject of Origin was not broached at all by EA this week, with senior VP of global ecommerce David DeMartini making it clear one thing about Steam we should not expect to see replicated is the steep discounts Steam sales regularly provide.

To be fair, PC wasn't ignored during EA's press briefing -- the company devoted time to Star Wars: The Old Republic and SimCity, which are both PC-only games, and several of the other games shown will be released on PC. Origin, though, was not given the time of day, despite this being an ideal time to tout what EA has managed to do with it in only a year and to reveal some of the features we'll see in the year to come.

We Talk to Shigeru Miyamoto About the Future

Posted: 06 Jun 2012 10:52 AM PDT

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1UP COVER STORY

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1UP COVER STORY | WEEK OF JUNE 4 | E3 2012

We Talk to Shigeru Miyamoto About the Future

Cover Story: Nintendo's most famous designer muses on connected devices, online safeguards, and the future of video games.

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e spoke to Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto yesterday after the company's press briefing to get his take on our cover story topic for the week. How does his work inform the future? And is the direction the medium is growing necessarily represent the best possible future for gaming?

1UP: This year, 1UP is really interested in looking to the future of the medium and asking how the games we see this year speak to where video games are going in the future, where the industry and the medium both are traveling. Let me put the question to you: Where do you personally see games going? In what direction do you think the medium should go?
Posted by Shri Krishna

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