Warp Zoned Presents
All Articles: E3 2013
Watch Quantic Dream’s PS4 tech demo The Dark Sorcerer
You’ve got to hand it to Quantic Dream, their short film-style tech demos are awesome. Last year, they treated us to Kara, a haunting mini-movie that showed what happens to robots who are a bit too free-thinking.
David Cage’s company wanted to create another tech demo for Sony’s E3 Press Conference, but this time using PlayStation 4 technology. The result is The Dark Sorcerer, an amusing comedy showing what happens when video game development gets a bit too real. David Gant plays the titular sorcerer, and he’s joined by Maurice the Troll Goblin (played by Martin‘s Carl Payne), a very dedicated devil (played by Christian Eriksen), and the world’s most patient director (voiced by David Gasman). Eagle-eyed viewers will note that Gant’s head appeared during Quantic Dream’s portion of the PS4 reveal back in February.
You should definitely check out The Dark Sorcerer, and we should all shed a tear that this isn’t Quantic Dream’s first PS4 project. I think a video game mocap session that’s actually putting the actors in danger (and stars a real goblin) has real potential as a real game. I’m sure Willem Dafoe (star of Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls and the similarly themed film Shadow of the Vampire) has plenty of insight into how it could work.
Pac-Man Battle Royale finally comes home in Pac-Man Museum collection
Namco Bandai created Pac-Man Battle Royale specifically for arcades in 2010. The (up to) four-player Pac-Man title made each player compete for a limited supply of Super Power Pellets that would increase Pac-Man’s size and allow the player to eat the other Pac-Men. Using the graphics engine from the excellent Pac-Man Championship Edition, it was an interesting new take on the Pac-Man formula that was only available in arcades.
Until now. Battle Royale will come home this Winter as part of the Pac-Man Museum collection.
The game will be released for the PC, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, Wii U eShop, and 3DS eShop. In addition to Battle Royale and Championship Edition, the collection will also include the 1980 arcade original and several other Pac-Man games from the character’s 33-year history. Sadly, the PS3/Xbox 360 version of Pac-Man Museum won’t include Championship Edition, as that game is already available as a separate download on the PSN and XBLA.
I’m not sure I like that, Namco Bandai. However, I’m thrilled that Battle Royale is finally coming home and I’m willing to overlook it (especially since any obsessive Pac-Man fan already owns Championship Edition).
Atlus delivering 3DS title Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl to US this Fall
Japanese Developer Atlus, best known for the Persona series, is bringing the next title in the Etrian Odyssey RPG series to the US this Fall for the 3DS. The new game, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl, will be the second title in the series on Nintendo’s newest handheld, following on from the success of Etrian Odyssey IV: Legends of the Titan. It is being touted as a reimaging of the original Etrian Odyssey that debuted on the DS in 2007.
Atlus will once again be employing Japanese animation company Madhouse, who they worked with on Persona 4: Golden and Persona 4: Arena, to provide story cutscenes and voice acting, marking a first for the RPG franchise. The game is also shedding the limitations on class skills found in previous titles, replacing it with a new system, dubbed “Grimoire Stone,” that will allow players to assign skills wherever they choose.
In addition to the game’s Story Mode, there will also be a Classic Mode for the nostalgic gamer, featuring the original game with an extra dash of 3D and three difficulty settings: Picnic, Standard, and Expert.
Posted in 3DS, News
Tagged E3 2013, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl
The Order: 1886’s E3 trailer brings steampunk knights to the PS4
One of the surprises from Sony’s E3 event was Ready At Dawn’s The Order: 1886. Coming across as a fusion of London-based period detective drama Whitechapel and Dishonored, it seems to take most of its inspiration from the latter, with the trailer showcasing technological weapons in the Victorian era. With one of the characters referred to as “Galahad,” it looks like Ready At Dawn (and their development partner, Sony Santa Monica) has decided to update the old Arthurian legend and cast the Knights of the Round Table as steampunk warriors battling hordes of demons. A quote from Mallory’s Le Morte D’Arthur even opens the trailer.
While no release date has been announced, we will be keeping a close eye on this one.
Posted in News, PS4
Tagged E3 2013, The Order: 1886
Wii U version of Call of Duty: Ghosts confirmed by Infinity Ward
After a month of hemming and hawing, Activision (or rather, Infinity Ward’s Mark Rubin) has confirmed that Call of Duty: Ghosts will be available on the Wii U.
In an interview with GameSpot, Rubin said: “[The Wii U version] is probably in the next-gen bin. We’re not actually talking about Wii U yet because we want to keep it mysterious.”
So what mysterious secrets does Activision and Infinity Ward have planned for the Wii U version of Ghosts? I don’t know, but I bet it has something to do with Riley the Dog. Everything else connected to Ghosts does.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged Call of Duty: Ghosts, E3 2013
Earth Defense Force 2025 release shooed away to February 2014
Bad news out of this year’s E3 Expo… D3 Publisher has delayed Earth Defense Force 2025. Instead of getting a chance to squish the Ravagers this year, fans of the insane alien invasion series will have to wait until February 2014.
To make up for this delay, D3 has released a new “E3 2013 trailer” starring the Air Raider, but it’s more-or-less an English translation of this trailer, which has been available since December.
Posted in News, PS3, Xbox 360
Tagged E3 2013, Earth Defense Force 2025
Take the first Mario Kart 8 trailer for a spin
Do you get car sick? If so, you might want to skip the topsy-turvy shenanigans of Mario Kart 8‘s E3 2013 trailer. But if you’re cool with driving up walls and flinging red shells while hanging upside down, this one is definitely for you.
Mario Kart 8 will be released for the Wii U in Spring 2014.
Posted in News, Wii U
Tagged E3 2013, Mario Kart 8
Transistor will be available on PS4, PC… and beyond
Transistor will make its console debut on the PS4 in 2014, but Supergiant has confirmed it will also be released simultaneously for the PC through Steam. After that, the developer plans to bring the game to Linux and Mac. And after that? According to Creative Director Greg Kasavin, Supergiant “[hasn’t] ruled anything out beyond that.”
Bastion, Supergiant’s first game, originally appeared on the Xbox Live Arcade and over the course of a year was eventually released on several additional platforms including PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, and a version playable in Google Chrome.
Kasavin has similar plans for Transistor, saying: “The main reason Bastion ended up in so many places, of course, is because a lot of people liked the game. And the main reason a lot of people liked it is because we were able to create the game we wanted to make in the first place, by not spreading our focus too thin and making sure Bastion ran great on XBLA, then on Steam, and so on. So, in short: Our strategy of focusing on a console/PC launch worked well on Bastion so we’re doing it again on Transistor.”
We definitely liked Transistor when we played it at this year’s PAX East show.
Posted in News, PC, PS4
Tagged E3 2013, Transistor