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Molyneux was having journalists sign this wall at E3, to signify that “It's not on rails.”

In a video captured by OXM UK, Molyneux attributes the misconception to his own “horrendous mistake.” Specifically, a decision made to remove the game’s navigation components for the E3 demo, in order to simplify the demonstration of the title’s gestural controls. So, yes, what you saw at E3 was on-rails, but the real game won’t be.

What, exactly, those navigation components entail we still don’t know, but one has to imagine they weren’t exactly in an overly functional state if Lionhead felt it necessary to straight up strip them out and risk giving people the complete wrong idea about their title during a press conference streamed out to the entire world. Or maybe Peter Molyneux just really likes screwing with people. After all, it’s not like he’s proven himself averse to saying things that don’t turn out to be entirely true.

As for the previously demonstrated magic energy ball rave dancing motions seen in the demo, those seem like they’ll probably still be in the game. Unless, of course, Peter just up and decides those were a horrendous mistake too. I wouldn’t put anything past him, at this point.

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We last saw Lord of the Rings: War in the North back in March, and the mechanics haven’t changed much in the version seen on the floor of E3 earlier this week. It’s still a three-player co-op game, featuring an elf caster, a human rogue and a dwarf fighter beating down some of the familiar baddies from the Lord of the Rings franchise with a nice layer of RPG on top. The game’s not incredible, but it’s a more than serviceable action title, made better with a few good friends to play with.

This latest preview focused on a slightly different objective than last time — in the short part of the demo I played, my cohorts and I had to defend a set of elven brothers that were casting some magic to break open a fortress door, with a few waves of enemies rolling in after us. Fortunately, we weren’t alone — while my companions depended on their weapons, and my axe, we had one other secret weapon up our sleeves: A giant eagle.

Continue reading Lord of the Rings: War in the North preview: Death from above

Lord of the Rings: War in the North preview: Death from above originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 11 Jun 2011 23:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So, again, none of what I’m about to tell you will be surprising. What it may be, however, is enticing. As if the level shown at Sony’s press conference weren’t enticing enough–with its impressive “On a Boat” physics and animation, intense gunplay, and insane water effects, that level more or less sealed the notion that, yes, Uncharted 3 was going to be another big, honking blockbuster action game. Then myself, alongside a theater full of other gobsmacked writers, found ourselves privy to a new, otherwise unseen level. That double-sealed the deal.

Eventually, you’re gonna want to get on that plane, by any means necessary.

Snippets of this level could be seen in Uncharted 3′s E3 trailer–specifically, the moment at the end when you see Nathan Drake hanging off the back of an airborne cargo plane all end of Air Force One style, and on the verge of a horrid crushing death via a massive cargo crate. Now, I can actually give you a little context for how that whole bit of life-threatening absurdity came about.

The scene opens with Nathan and series love interest Elena infiltrating a desert settlement full of gun-toting thugs. This marked a particularly emotional moment for the pair–an interesting juxtaposition to the action-heavy footage we tend to see of these sorts of games at trade shows. Nathan knows he’s about to go do something incredibly dangerous and stupid, and after convincing Elena that he will help her over the fence into the compound after he climbs to the top, he instead opts to drop down and leave her on the other side. Nathan leaves her behind because what he’s about to embark upon is borderline suicidal, and in an act of selflessness, he insists she leave in a nearby jeep, out of fear that he might lose her “again.”

From a technical standpoint, this is actually a pretty neat look at, since it gives an indication of the improved facial animations (especially in the eyes) for each of the major characters. More importantly though, it was honestly one of the more effective attempts at emotional resonance I’ve seen anywhere in this series. Some of the dramatic beats in Uncharted 2 could, at times, feel a little strangely paced and overbearing in nature. Here, the scene delivers on the hoped-for impact. It reflects both in the technology, and the vocal performance.

But enough of that emotional garbage, as you undoubtedly want to hear about Nathan Drake smoking dudes and blowing shit up. Good news: he does a lot of that. Once Elena disembarks the scene, Nathan goes right to work, initially trying to stealth his way toward the plane, but after a short time, he’s in the thick of battle against the nearby thugs.

One of the most impressive things this level specifically demonstrated is Uncharted 3′s fluidity of combat. Let’s face it: this has been the E3 of the quicktime event. And while a few of those are fine, a nonstop deluge of them can make a game’s action feel mechanical and distancing for the player. Admittedly, I am saying this second-hand, as the demo I saw was developer-steered, but the impression I got from watching him play through this section was that quicktime events simply don’t exist here, at least not in the traditional sense.

This is not an easy thing to do!

As Drake runs across rooftops to try and catch up to the plane, he takes down a variety of enemies in multiple ways–one he pulls over the edge of a rooftop via a stealthy move, and another he simply leaps down upon from a higher roof after a running jump–and the whole thing looked, dare I say it, effortless. There weren’t a million button prompts, either. Drake wasn’t running on rails, like the Need for Speed: The Run out-of-car sequences. This kind of fluid action is something that’s always felt good in Uncharted, but here, it just looks incredible.

After a bit of acrobatic vehicular action–of which all I will say is that Nathan Drake has exceptional balance when riding on the hood of a moving vehicle–Drake works his way up into the landing gear of the plane. He begins crawling through a ventilation duct that runs underneath the floor of the plane, only to run smack dab into an area occupied by a rather hefty guard. This launches into one of the most impressive fight scenes I’ve ever seen in a game.

Drake is out-sized and outmatched handily. Recall the fight between Indiana Jones and the massive guard toward the end of Temple of Doom, and you’ll have an idea of how this plays out. It’s not just the size, either. The beats of the fight, the flow of the action, all of it recalls the great adventure movie fights. That’s not something I say lightly, as I often compare fisticuffs in games to the classic robot fight between Rock ‘em and Sock ‘em. Not here. The way the camera captures the action, and the way the characters animate, it feels dynamic, like a properly choreographed battle between a hero and a villain. And no button prompts! None that I saw, anyway. This wasn’t just a pile of canned cutscene animation–I kept looking back at the developer to check the controller and be sure he was actually playing, and unless he’s a master of smoke and mirrors, he was most definitely playing along.

Where things go from there, you can logically guess based on that stinger from the E3 trailer. I’ve omitted a few key details from this recap as some of this stuff really needs to be experienced first-hand to be truly appreciated. Suffice it to say, Naughty Dog’s E3 showing was incredibly impressive, and seems to indicate that come November 1st, we’re all in for a half-tucked treat.

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THE DEMO: Although Sly Cooper made his debut at Sony’s E3 press conference, he wasn’t quite ready for the show floor. Shown behind closed doors, the developers provided a hands-off walkthrough of a level and a boss battle. The platforming sequences look ripped out of the previous Sly games, even including some nostalgic banter between Sly, Bentley and Murray. There’s a new costume gimmick that allows you to gain various time-altering powers. In the demo, Sly was able to slow down time, letting him jump on platforms that would otherwise be too fast.

At the end of the demo, Sly had to face off a flame-throwing tiger, voiced by none other than Nolan North. Following classic 90s game design, you had to learn the pattern of the boss and go through multiple phases before defeating him. Any Sly Cooper vet will know exactly how this process works.

DETAILS: If you’ve played the Sly Cooper Collection, you know what to expect from Sly 4. In fact, when Sanzaru booted the game, I had to do a double-take. I didn’t immediately recognize it as a new game. While Sanzaru’s HD port of the original Sly trilogy was excellent of a previous generation effort, I didn’t expect it to serve as the foundation for a current-gen title; I certainly expected much more out of a game that’s being built from scratch for the current generation. But, at least you have a consistent look across all four games of the Sly franchise, right?

What made the presentation so awkward was the hyperbole used by the developers to explain how “the power of the PS3″ made everything possible. The developers claim to have made Sly more detailed, but he looks more awkward instead. Apparently, the designers wanted to make him look older in this new game, making his previous look seem adolescent by comparison. The transformation isn’t as drastic as Old Snake’s, but I’m not exactly sure how fans will respond to the change.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time

Every other element of the game will feel incredibly familiar. The piano music that plays while you sneak, the sparkling HUD elements that show you what you can jump on, and even the overlay that appears when you speak to Bentley are stolen from the previous games. Some sequels pay homage to their predecessors; Thieves in Time goes a little bit further than that. At least fans can appreciate the fact that Sony has managed to re-hire the same vocal cast as the original games.

Perhaps Sly’s new costume abilities will change things up. Because costumes give him new powers, there’s the possibility for really fresh gameplay ideas to get introduced into the series. Unfortunately, being able to slow down time isn’t a particularly novel one for the raccoon. It’s going to take much more clever puzzles to win this cynic over.

Fans that have been waiting for a “new” Sly Cooper game for so long might appreciate how authentic the experience is. However, I’d like to think that gamers expect much more from their games now. I would’ve loved to see a Sly game that felt as ambitious as series progenitor Sucker Punch’s Infamous 2… because that would’ve been a game that justified the seven year wait.

Watch the Shacknews E3 2011 page to follow all our coverage of this year’s show. You can also subscribe to it with your favorite RSS reader.

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The official site now lists the release date as October 4. The European release date has been bumped to October 7. We don’t know how to react to this news that the game has been delayed. Like, we don’t know what emotion to feel.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Rage delayed until October 4 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You guys, I really want to like Anarchy Reigns. It’s a ridiculous, over-the-top brawler and I really liked MadWorld — like, a lot. So imagine my disappointment when I realized the only thing holding back Anarchy Reigns from being a whole lot of fun is the camera.

Continue reading Anarchy Reigns multiplayer preview: Funstration

Anarchy Reigns multiplayer preview: Funstration originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 10 Jun 2011 00:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LOS ANGELES–Microsoft continued to heavily push Kinect functionality at it’s 2011 Electronic Entertainment Expo media briefing, with the publisher trotting out a number of third parties who had committed to the Xbox 360′s motion-sensing technology. Of course, one of the biggest advocates for Kinect is remains the platform holder itself.

Microsoft’s internal development studios won’t be passing up on Kinect.

In an interview with GameSpot, Microsoft Game Studios head Phil Spencer said that he believes all first-party games going forward will incorporate Kinect functionality.

“It’s not a mandate that everything we do in first-party has to support Kinect right now,” he said. “But I will say, specifically with voice, that there are some things that just seem to make navigating and playing games so much easier, that I would guess the answer will be yes in the end, that you’ll see all first-party games using some form of Kinect functionality.”

“Whether it’s voice in Forza or head-tracking in Forza, which you wouldn’t say is somehow turning the Forza gameplay experience on it’s head,” he continued. “Rather, it’s just using the advantages of what Kinect brings to make the experience better. So I think there’s some specific examples where Kinect makes everything better.”

For more from GameSpot’s interview with Phil Spencer, in which he discusses third-party Kinect support, Halo 4, and Nintendo’s Wii U, check out the video below.

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