TGS: How Far Has Kinect Come in One Year?

Reflections after a year of Kinect demos.

 

It was at E3, mid-year of 2009, that Microsoft formally unveiled Kinect. It wasn't until the Tokyo Game Show a few months later that I got my first opportunity to try out Kinect. A year has passed since that event and I'm now back in Tokyo for the 2010 version of that show, once again stepping up to the camera for more controller-free gaming. A lot has happened since then with major announcements coming at every press show. Perhaps more importantly, it appears the game designers have learned a lot and improved a lot in that time. What started as a promise is now very close to being a reality...


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TGS: Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Takes You to Vietnam

A sneak peek of the upcoming downloadable expansion.

 

 Battlefield is going back to Vietnam, this time for a downloadable expansion to the well-received first-person shooter Bad Company 2. The add-on, due out this Winter for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC, delivers four new maps, a rematch of sorts between the North Vietnamese army and the United States, and a change in the weapon and vehicle options to match the setting. I got my first taste of this huge expansion at an EA press event on the eve of the Tokyo Game Show.

If you've played Battlefield: Bad Company 2 before, then you know exactly what to expect out of the Vietnam expansion. The base game remains unchanged. Sure, you get different tools of destruction and new achievements or trophies to unlock, but the modes and basic approach to a shooter follow the guidebook laid out by Bad Company 2's multiplayer. That means a focus on team play, some objective based gaming, and wide open maps filled with destructible buildings and plenty of vehicles. Squint your eyes a bit while playing the Vietnam expansion and you can imagine you're still playing the original base game.

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PSN Store UK Update: Get Your Move On

FIFA and PES demos battle it out whilst the Store goes Move mental.

This week's pilgrimage to the PSN Store is a heady experience - like a fat kid going into a sweet shop with a pocket full of loose change.

Want something to try out you newly bought Move controller? You're in luck because the Store has gone Move crazy with Heavy Rain, Start The Party!, and Sports Champions demos to name but a few.

This week a couple of football heavyweights will be going head to head in living rooms across the land – no we're not talking about Man United v Liverpool – we're talking FIFA v PES, which are both available to download as playable demos right now, so give them a go and pick your side.

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Dead Rising 2: Inafune Speaks

The undead rise again, but where does Inafune see the series going? 

 

If there's anyone that knows zombies it's Capcom, and through association it means that head of R&D Keiji Inafune knows them pretty well too. While he's best known for his creating Mega Man, he's also overlooked much of the Osaka-based companies output, and most recently is on production duties for Dead Rising 2, a game that sees the undead hordes swaggering onto the Xbox 360 and, for the first time, PlayStation 3.

It's already impressed us with its ever-inventive ways to decapitate, eviscerate or just plain duff up entire crowds of zombies. Here's Inafune's take on Dead Rising 2, and where he sees the series going next.

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Borderlands Claptrap DLC Dated, Level Cap Increases

Players can now level grind to 69.

 

During the Gearbox panel at the Penny Arcade Expo in Seattle this weekend, studio president Randy Pitchford announced Borderlands: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, the fourth downloadable add-on pack for the game, will be released on Sept. 28, 2010.

Pitchford also had another surprise up his sleeve for fans by saying a new patch for Borderlands will be released that increases players' level cap by eight. The patch will be available to everyone for free, even if you did not purchase the The Secret Armory of General Knoxx DLC, which increased the level cap from 50 to 61. The new cap limit is now level 69.

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Halo: Reach PAX Panel Report

Bungie shares the origins of Reach, and reveals a few bits from the cutting room floor. 

PAX: This morning Bungie had what is likely to be their final public discussion of a Halo title prior to its release, as we're now just 10 day away from the release of their Microsoft exclusive swan-song, Halo: Reach. With that in mind, their panel this morning at this year's PAX started off with the bittersweet reminded that the music the audience was hearing was a taste of the last music composer Marty O'Donnell would be contributing to a series to which he contributed quite a bit of identity. After these reminders though, Bungie dove headfirst into discussing the development and pre-production of Reach, and they hit on a few important points in particular.

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Portal 2 Multiplayer Preview

Robotic love and cooperation. 

 

Leave it to Valve to give us a pair of robots with more personality than most human characters you'll see in games. The Seattle based developer finally gave the public a view of the cooperative mode for Portal 2 this week at PAX, and I was one of the first to have a sit down and see what Valve has in store for co-op hungry first-person-puzzle-platform-humor fans when the game releases next February.


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Dragon Age Origins: Witch Hunt Preview

The witch of the wilds returns for a last romp in Ferelden. 

 

After getting my hands on Dragon Age 2, there was really only one thing BioWare could've done to get me back into Dragon Age: Origins – make a DLC pack focused on Morrigan. Luckily for me and anybody else who was a fan of the witch, that's exactly what BioWare has planned as the very last piece of downloadable content for Origins.

Occurring around a year after the ending of Dragon Age: Origins, Witch Hunt will give players some perspective on why Morrigan left the party on such a mysterious note. You can either import your hero from Origins or start up a completely new character, but in this case importing a character that had any kind of relationship (friendly, antagonistic or romantic) with her makes the most sense. Dalish Elf Grey Wardens will also experience a slightly unique segment as this story fills in some of the lore surrounding that race.

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Walking Up Fable III's Road to Rule

Five hours in Albion ain't enough.

After playing Fable III for five hours, I get one distinct impression: this is not a role-playing game for folks that dislike them, but is instead for gamers that truly want to like them but are turned off or overwhelmed by the minutiae. This is precisely why my lengthy demo session was so favorable. After multiple attempts over the last two or three years to dive deep into so-called hardcore RPGs and being put off by incessant battles for incremental character improvements, Fable III's urgent narrative and multiple accessible systems – combat, item management, and questing – seemingly cut through the weeds.

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What does Move Bring to Traditional Games?

 Ubisoft's Ruse shows what Move can do.

The key difference between Move and Kinect – at the moment at least – is that Move is far more obviously suited to existing game genres; it's got buttons and an analogue stick. Create a Kinect game and you've got to design it from the ground up for body-control, but Move can be used as an optional accompaniment to a DualShock rather than a forced alternative.

As Move inventors and evangelists Dr Richard Marks and Beautiful Anton have demonstrated it's perfect for the RTS – a genre that traditionally doesn't do so well on consoles without the speed and precision of mouse control. Ubisoft's Ruse is the first game to try it out, offering a Move-aided point-and-click control option as well as plain old pad control. But does it work?

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Medal of Honor Pulled From Military Stores

Army and Air Force Exchange Service won't sell the game this fall.

In order to honor military families, Electronic Arts' upcoming shooter Medal of Honor reboot will not be sold or advertised at military-based Gamestop stores, the Army and Air Force Exchange Service confirmed to IGN.

"Out of respect to those we serve, we will not be stocking this game," said AAFES Commander Maj. Gen. Bruce Casella in a statement.

"We regret any inconvenience this may cause authorized shoppers, but are optimistic that they will understand the sensitivity to the life and death scenarios this product presents as entertainment. As a military command with a retail mission, we serve a very unique customer base that has, or possibly will, witness combat in real life."

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Sony Packs Tokyo Game Show Booth with Move and 3D

Over 50 titles to feature in Sony's booth at upcoming game event.

3D and Move were Sony's big focuses at E3 this year. Not much has changed in three months. Based off a preliminary list of titles for the company's Tokyo Game Show booth, Move and 3D will be big in Tokyo later this month as well.

Sony shared today the lineup of of games that will appear in playable form in its sizable Tokyo Game Show booth. The lineup includes the usual mix of first party and third party offerings.

Sony is splitting its booth into a bunch of zones this year. There will be five software zones covering all the variations: PS3, PS3 with Move support, PS3 with 3D support, PS3 with Move and 3D support (is such a thing possible!?) and PSP. A hardware zone will have Sony's mascot green onion character (he's like Kevin Butler, only a vegetable -- see some commercials here) introduce the latest PS3 and PSP hardware.

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