Wednesday 29 May 2013

Expected E3 appearances.

As time goes by, the list of games that are going to premier at E3 continues to grow, especially with the reveals of the Wii U, PS4, and Xbox One. Along with them, games will also be hosted on platforms such as the PS3, PS Vita, 3DS, and Xbox 360 as well. Games include-
1954: Alcatraz, Assassins Creed IV: Black Flag, Arma III
Batman: Arkham Origins, Battlefield 4, Bayonetta 2, Beyond Two Souls, Black Guards, Blood Knights, Bound By Flame
Call Of Duty: Ghosts, Castle Of Illusion, Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2, Civilization 5, Command And Conquer: Generals 2
Dark Souls II, Deadpool, Deep Down, Destiny, Diablo III, Disney Infinity, Dragon Age III: Inquisition, Dynasty Warriors 8, Elder Scrolls online
FIFA 13, Final Fantasy X/X2 HD remaster
Hometown Story, Gran Turismo 6, Infamous: Second Son, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 remix, LEGO Marvel Superheroes
Madden 25, Mario and Luigi: Dream Team, Mario Golf World Tour, Mario Kart Wii U, Mario Party 3DS, Murdered: Soul Suspect
NBA Live 14, Need For Speed: Rivals
Phineas And Ferb: Quest for Cool Stuff, Pikmin 3, Pokemon X/Y, Project X Zone, Quantum Break
Rayman Legends, Rune Factory 4
Sacred 3, Saints Row 4, Scribblenauts Unmasked, Shin Megami Tensei IV, Sonic: Lost World, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Super Smash Bros 4
Tales of Xillia Tearaway, The Last Of Us, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, Total War: Rome 2
Until Dawn, Valhalla Knights 3, Wasteland 2, Watch Dogs, Wii Fit U, Wolfenstein: The New Order
Ninja Gaiden 2, Yoshi's Island 3DS, Zumba Fitness World Party, and lots more.
These games have been noted at E3 Judges Week, and will almost definitely appear at the show.
I'm very excited to see a few of these!

Saturday 25 May 2013

Saruman's Tower of Orthanc LEGO Set

LEGO has just released its latest Lord Of The Rings set, based on Saruman's Tower of Orthanc! It will be a six story tower measuring 28 inches high, featuring an attic, library, alchemy room, Saruman's room, and a dungeon. It will also come with the Great Eagle, ENT figure and Saruman, Gandalf, Grima Wormtongue, and an Uruk-hai and orc pitmaster. It will go on sale this July for $199 in the US and £149 in the UK.

Wednesday 22 May 2013

THE "XBOX 359 STEPS BACKWARDS"

After months of waiting, Microsoft finally revealed the Xbox One. They called it an "all in one system" of games, television, and entertainment. It will include 802.11n Wi-Fi, HDMI in and out ports, a 500GB HDD hard drive, 8GB of RAM, an 8-core CPU (yeah, thats definitely fast) and GPU SoC, a blu-ray drive, USB ports, as well as three operating systems being the standard Xbox OS, the kernel of Windows 8 for web applications, and a third platform that connects the two together. It will also have the kinect sensor now built into the system, hence, the "all in one" reference.
The Xbox One was revealed yesterday and put many of its pre-convieved rumours to rest. For one, we found out the name. Microsoft confirmed its title Xbox One, and not Fusion, Xbox 8, Loop, or Xbox 720, which is what I had believed it to be. We also now know that the Xbox won't require an always-on internet connection. However, you have to log on at least once every 24 hours, or you won't be able to play even your offline games. I'm not sure what they're trying to accomplish with that. Another con I learned was that the Xbox One won't be able to play used games. That's right, you'll have to spend money on them brand new, and if you ever get tired of a game, you might as well just throw it away because once you try to sell it or trade it in to get money for it, it'll become useless.
However, I do have some good news for my Halo-fan readers; during the Xbox One reveal, Microsoft announced that they are coming out with original Xbox TV programming, starting with a TV series based on the Halo franchise, and it will be directed by no other than the legendary Steven Spielberg. I can't wait to see the story of Master Chief put into live action. I have no doubts it will be amazing.
We are being given a built-in kinect, skype, simple voice commands and modern multitasking tricks, which are cool, but I was disappointed that they didn't talk much about gaming on the Xbox One, other than sports games and a new COD. I'm also upset about the whole 24-hour and used-game deals. They probably named it the Xbox One because they took 359 steps backwards. We were promised 15 exclusive games on the Xbox One, 8 of which are new titles, but those haven't been mentioned yet. I hope to see a lot of gaming talk at this year's E3.
The new Xbox is supposed to drop some time around autumn this year.