Monthly Archives: June 2015
E3 2015: Rise of the Tomb Raider Is Old School, and That’s Good
While hurtling Lara Croft into the slick, action-heavy world of the modern blockbuster made for a great new Tomb Raider experience back in 2013, fans of the original series certainly had some feedback for developer Crystal Dynamics. Tomb Raider, many argued, should be less about combat and more about the solo exploration of tombs; guns are fun, but so is clambering up an ancient aztec statue to reach a lever with a river rushing beneath you.
The developer has taken this feedback on board for Tomb Raider’s sequel, Rise of The Tomb Raider. In an extended behind-closed-doors demo, I saw a game that gave players the option to move away from bloodshed, as well as one that had more of a focus on its namesake.
The Last Guardian Left Me Feeling Conflicted
When Sony took to the stage yesterday as part of its E3 2015, it had a clear game plan. Confident in the quality of so many of its titles, it decided to open the show with the game we've all heard about, yet weren't certain we'd see. By kicking off proceedings with The Last Guardian, Sony showed the audience it wasn't about to forget the promise it made when it revealed the game back in 2009. Even if we came away from the trailer not much clearer about plot or gameplay, it didn't matter. The Last Guardian is back. Trouble is, a day later and having seen more behind closed doors, the only thing that's crystalising about this reveal is it may not have been good enough.
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Beyond Good & Evil 2 Director Leaves Project
Michel Ancel, creator of Beyond Good & Evil, is no longer involved with Beyond Good & Evil 2, Ubisoft's Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Ubisoft Tony Key told IGN.
When asked about the status of Beyond Good & Evil 2, which was once again absent from E3 this year, Key told IGN, "It's just a beloved franchise that gotten even more beloved over time. People ask me about it every year. So... We would love to do another one." That in mind, Key said, "There's just nothing to talk about right now. We don't really have anything to say. We appreciate how much people really want it."
When asked if Ancel was still working on BG&E2, Key said, "So he's a busy guy right now. But no.... He's got things going on and I can't really comment on his bandwidth. I know he's very busy. We still work with him on things." As of August 2014, Ancel was leading the sequel's development.
Sony Exclusive Disney Infinity Boba Fett Works on All Platforms
The exclusive PS4/PS3 Disney Infinity: 3.0 Edition Boba Fett figure will only be bundled with Sony's PS3 and PS4 at release, but that doesn't mean the figure will only work on PlayStation consoles.
Disney Interactive clarified to IGN that the figures are platform agnostic, meaning if you really need that Boba Fett figure when the set becomes available, you can snatch up a PlayStation bundle and play on your console of choice.
Disney offered the exclusivity deal to all first-parties, but Sony jumped on the deal, because Sony wants PlayStation "to own Star Wars this year."
You will need a console-specific copy of the game to play, of course, but if you're lamenting the lack of Boba Fett on other platforms, there's still hope. You won't need to learn a new meaning of pain as you slowly digest for a thousand years waiting to get your hands on the stand-alone figure. You can just wait until January, when the figure and playset start showing up for sale in retailers.
Skip Cut Scenes in Destiny: The Taken King
Anyone who's played a game with a ton of replay value will tell you skipping a cut scene can be a lifesaver. Yet for all of Destiny's strengths, it doesn't have a skip-cut-scene option.
Until now.
Destiny: The Taken King will let you skip its cut scenes, according to Justin Truman, development lead on The Taken King.
"You can skip all the cut scenes if you want to," Truman told IGN today.
Destiny: The Taken King is Destiny's third expansion, coming September 15th. As IGN learned during yesterday's Sony E3 briefing, PlayStation 4 players will get access to one exclusive strike mission and some exclusive gear as well.
Disney Says Star Wars Will Never Come to LEGO Dimensions
Star Wars intellectual property will never make its way to Warner Bros. toy-to-life title LEGO Dimensions, Disney vice president of production John Vignocchi told IGN in an interview at E3 2015.
“Don’t count on it,” Vignocchi responded when asked if it was likely. “It would cannibalize the Infinity business, good for everyone except Infinity.”
“Infinity is truer to the filmmakers’ vision (at least in the playsets), the licensees don’t want franchises mixing together, which is the whole point of LEGO Dimensions (and the toy box mode in Disney Infinity).”
LEGO Dimensions will offer a number of sets based on well-known franchises when it launches in September, such as The Simpsons, Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, Portal, Jurassic World, Midway Arcade, Scooby-Doo, DC Comics, The Lord of the Rings, The LEGO Movie, The Wizard of Oz, LEGO Ninjago and Back to the Future.
Ghost Recon: Wildlands Breaks Ubisoft’s Open-World Mold
Ubisoft says Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands is the biggest, most reactive open-world game it’s ever made, which is saying something given the scale and interactivity of its Far Cry games – and I’m happy to report there wasn’t a single capturable tower in sight during the impressive co-op demo shown at E3 2015. The premise of ultra-elite military dudes going into enemy territory for off-the-books third-person shooter action couldn’t be much less imaginative, but when it comes to the actual open-world gameplay, Wildlands looks like it intends to break Ubisoft’s mold.
Watch the announcement trailer above.
Co-op shooters have emerged as a trend over the past year or two, but Ghost Recon: Wildlands (which has been in development for three years) takes a much different approach than the near-future military Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 or the sci-fi Halo 5: Guardians. Here, your team (or just you) are dropped into the wide-open Bolivian countryside, given a list of objectives that will weaken the alliance between the drug cartels and the corrupt government, and cut loose to do as much damage as possible by taking them on in any order you choose.
Disney Wants to See Mickey Mouse Meet Mario
With two Nintendo characters joining the ranks of the wildly successful Skylanders' line, are toys-to-life crossovers going to become a regular occurrence?
If Disney has its way, Mario, Link, Pikachu, or any one of Nintendo's recognizable characters could join the equally recognizable roster of Disney characters for a crossover that would be a dream come true for many.
"Hopefully, the day Mario meets Mickey Mouse is not that far away," Disney Interactive vice president of production John Vignocchi said in an interview.
John Blackburn, Disney Interactive's Avalanche Software vice president and general manager, joked that the dream team will happen whenever Disney CEO Bob Iger "buys Nintendo."
Uncharted 4’s Extended E3 Demo Is Incredible
The Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End demo that Sony showcased at the end of its E3 2015 Press Conference was an absolute stunner. But that’s not all that Naughty Dog had to show from one of 2016’s most-anticipated games. During a behind closed doors demo, Uncharted’s creative director Neil Druckmann once again played through the demo, but continued on with another 10 minutes of incredible action, stunning visuals, impeccable details, and story mysteries.
Where the Press Conference ended with Drake grappling onto a truck and preparing himself for an impact with scaffolding, the demo I saw kept going. Nate crashed through the wood, and continued to be dragged through the water underneath him. He climbed up the rope just in time to begun being dragged through a stretch of mud. The attention to detail as Drake got increasingly messy as he tried to regain control was incredible.