E3 | The VidZone Network Blog

July 13, 2009

E309: Shadow Complex impressions

In a nutshell:
It’s Metroid-vania in a secret underground base/cave system.

What I played:
About five minutes of an already-started, time-limited demo. I wandered the cave system and made my initial infiltration into the base. I didn’t shoot at anything.

Like:
Map: The game uses a grid-based map system both as a HUD element and as the actual navigational guide on the base’s computers. This allows you to quickly connect what you’ve seen in the game world to your immediate goals and location.

Sticky: Your character is a natural spelunker, and you always feel confident he’ll make a jump or at least grab on to a hand-hold. Because of the heavy platforming elements, this gives you a lot of confidence to maintain forward momentum.

Carl @ 8:56 pm
Filed under: Games — Tags: , , , , —

E309: Forza Motorsport III impressions

In a nutshell:
Take one of the most exciting sim-style racers, fix what few problems it had, and add in even more goodies.

What I played:
A short two-lap race around a mountain track in a Lotus Evora. I also played it in the super-deluxe cockpit with triple-screen panorama, new Fanatec Porsche force feedback wheel, 5.1 audio, and motion base. The motion base is custom and does not utilize the already consumer-adopted D-Box motion code. It is uncertain if it will be an option in the final game, but it obviously received a lot of interest and attention.

Like:
Graphics overhaul: FM2 was very disappointing to me because it looks like an up-res’d Xbox 1 game. It ran smooth, but the textures and lighting were a bit muddy. Now everything is absolutely crisp and easily rivals the high bar Sony has set with its photo-realistic Gran Turismo series.

Aggression: Despite being a sim, the other AI racers don’t necessarily act like gentlemen all the time. They’re just as hungry to win as you and aren’t afraid of a little bump ‘n grind.

Unlimited rewind: At any point in the game, you’re able to hold down the Back button to rewind your race up to five seconds at a time. And unlike Grid with its tokens system, you’re allowed to use this feature as many times as you want. Considering that some later races last upwards of six minutes, this allows you to strive for a perfect run without throwing away half of your play time. However, I think this “instant gratification” system could hinder the less-dedicated drivers’ abilities to learn the track.

Dislike:
Loading: Again, this is an early build, and maybe there were some additional complications introduced by running on a triple-console/triple-screen, motion-base setup, but I was twiddling my thumbs for what felt like a quarter to half the time I actually spent on the racetrack. The results were well worth it, though, and the new rewind feature will drastically cut down on any need to completely reload the current race.

Carl @ 8:03 pm
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E309: Tony Hawk Ride impressions

In a nutshell:
Remember Sega’s arcade Top Skater and AirTrix? Imagine you no longer have the safety bar to hold on to and sometimes you need to bend down and “grab” the board, too.

What I played:
Two passes through an introductory street course and a 1-minute session on the vert ramp.

Like:
Responsive: I didn’t sense any delay between my inputs and action being executed on screen.

Range of movement: The board is a large enough approximation of a full-size skateboard, and the curved bottom is shaped just right so that you’re able to carve without too much effort.

Dislike:
Visuals: I know there are still months until shipping, but the graphics look like a step back from previous versions, or at least not on par with modern AAA titles. Everything is fairly brightly and evenly lit, and textures are painted broadly. In other words, it’s lacking in fine detail. I’d say it’s lit like something from last generation.

Carl @ 7:56 pm
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E309: Split/Second impressions


In a nutshell:
It’s Burnout where you can blow up the environment.

What I played:
Three laps around an airport.

Like:
Action indicators: The game tells you when a rival car is near a triggerable trap and informs you what button to press to activate it. The window in which you can activate the trap is generally of a fair length, so you won’t ever feel cheated.

Traps: What the team says is true, there will be plenty of traps to activate throughout the duration of the race, keeping the playing experience fresh. Also, as the race goes on, larger traps will become available for activation.

Tight, arcade control: Just like Burnout, it feels like you more or less have full control over your careening two-ton machine. This is especially important for maneuvering your way through the tracks as the debris piles up.

Frame-rate: Even at this early stage, everything moves along at a brisk rate and all the post-processing blur effects were turned on.

Dislike:
Not much really: Hopefully the amount of traps available per trap aren’t so limited that each progressive playthrough results in the same sequence of events.

Carl @ 7:33 pm
Filed under: Games, Uncategorized — Tags: , , , , —

June 11, 2009

Back from E3: Quickie wrap-up

Highlights:

Zephyr attention: Tremendous turnout to check out our project. Met and chatted with a lot of people, from studio devs wandering the show, other indie devs, media outlets large and small, digital distribution portals, and senior/executive staff from mega-publishers.  Interestingly, we received a notable amount of interest from composers.  I’m sure most of them were just looking for a project to work on, but I asked a few of the more exciteable ones what drew them to our project in particular.  Our aesthetic had a lot of fans.  People love steam-punk and/or pirates.  They also noticed our Skies of Arcadia influences.  Unfortunately while we were out at lunch on the third day, a trio of Japanese SEGA folk demoed our game, each taking one of my cards.  Boy, that would have been a stellar group to talk with.

Forza Motorsport III: There were a trio of cockpit setups with three-screen panorama, 5.1 audio, and force-feedback wheel. One of them even had a full motion base that MS custom-rigged.  I spoke with one representative and he said he wasn’t familiar with the consumer-standard D-Box that’s already being used for Blu-Ray and PC; I directed him toward their booth.  One of my biggest peeves with FM2 was the sort of lackluster graphics.  That is no longer a concern, and I’m sure everything else will be great as always.

Great eats: The show allowed for a sort of FIEAn mini-reunion, and we were escorted to a slew of great dining spots.  There was heavenly Italian at C&O’s Trattoria, melt-in-your-mouth lamb french dips and spicy garlic fries at Cole’s, and a table-filling assortment of dim sum at Empress Pavilion.  Lastly, we made a pit stop at In & Out burger before catching our flights out.

Disappointments:

Being clueless: We spent the vast majority of our time demonstrating our game at the IndieCade booth, and we’re absolutely flattered and grateful for the attention.  However, that duty and the lack of a fast, reliable internet connection meant I couldn’t really read/watch what was announced, and we couldn’t spend too much time going hands-on with what was on display.  People at home knew a lot more about E3 goings-on than I did.

Activision booth: Where were all the games?  It was an impressive booth thanks to the massive screens running a loop of trailers plus the stage for celebrity appearances and DJs, but the only noticable play stations were Tony Hawk: Ride and Blur at the front.  I was really looking forward to getting hands-on with DJ Hero.  Most stuff was being show behind closed doors.  However, it was funny to see the Ghostbusters standing in line to meet Stan Lee.

God of War 3: It wasn’t that it sucked, it’s that I didn’t see anything new or noteworthy after spending a combined hour or so of my limited “goof-off” time budget standing in line and playing the demo.  The presentation continues to be fantastic, now using a lot more depth-related effects.  However, it failed to showcase any of the sense of scale that was teased by the early trailers.  (For that, Bayonetta’s bridge battle helped make it Best of Show for me.)

Carl @ 1:21 am
Filed under: Games, Personal — Tags: , , , , , , , , , —

June 2, 2009

E3: Zephyr ready for sail

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After an annoying Direct X issue, I’ve got Zephyr up and running at the IndieCade booth (#652, South Hall).  You can find us in the rear left of the hall.  Just look for Natsume’s cute stuffed baby giraffe at the Afrika kiosk.

Ing picked me up from the convention center after work, and took me over to Culver City, where I met up w/ Chuck and Corey. After picking up Jeff from the airport, we headed over to C&O’s Trattoria on Venice Beach for the best Italian food I’ve ever had.  I had them toss on some fried calamari onto some angel hair past w/ a simple olive oil, tomato, basil sauce.  Matched with indulgent, flavorful garlic knots, it was all perfect.  Unfortunately Victor gets into town Tues. morning, so he missed out.  However, plans have been made to keep up the FIEA mini-reunion each night, particularly on Chuck’s birthday.

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Carl @ 2:17 am
Filed under: Games, Personal — Tags: , , , , , , —

May 26, 2009

Bundles vs. price-drop: value is in the eye of the beholder

Joystiq posted a leak that Sony’s sending out a new 80GB PS3 bundle exclusively to Best Buy, priced at the same $399.99 and scheduled for availability on June 9, the week following E3. Two years ago, the news of a $100 price drop made waves, but–assuming two relatively recent, non-Greatest Hits games–this bundle effectively the same savings: $100 or so.

The problem why this isn’t gaining any excitement (at least from the snarky, jaded gaming forum-goers) is that, while adding value to the current box, the actual out of pocket cost isn’t decreasing.

Is a penny saved, in this case, a penny earned?

The obvious argument against a bundle strategy is that it won’t be universally appealing because not everyone likes the same kinds of games.

It makes sense for Sony.  Though they’ve been able to streamline manufacturing and drive down costs, they’re still losing money on every box of hardware that leaves the factory.  However, software (especially if it’s Sony-published) is more or less “free.  They’ll “not make” money instead of “lose more” by using the software bundle strategy.

However, all Joe Consumer wants is that leading digit of the price to tick down to a 2. The first digit of an item’s price is a very powerful psychological force and why $299.99 is irrationally more attractive than $300.00, despite a penny’s difference.  Say it out loud. Two-hundred, ninety-nine dollars and ninety-nine cents. Three-hundred dollars.  All you can hear is “two-hundred” versus “three-hundred.”

However, the existence of this new bundle doesn’t preclude the announcement of a price-drop of a non-bundle package.  But if that existed, wouldn’t it have been uploaded to Best Buy’s computers at the same time?  Was it held back to prevent the same leaks that happened at Circuit City? If that’s the case, again, why wasn’t this listing held back as well?

(image credit: AP)

Carl @ 10:03 pm
Filed under: Games, Techniques — Tags: , , , , , —

May 25, 2009

Zephyr@E3: Steering traffic

 

MyMiniCards size comparison

 

For my trip to GDC earlier this year, I needed some business cards. And fast.  I found plenty of places that would provide generic fill-in-your-info cards and others that let you upload your own designs, usually for an additional fee.  Now, I could live with that, but the processing and shipping times totally killed my hopes of receiving them in time without paying out some extraordinary rush shipping fees.

Scavenging the internet, I found MyMiniCards.com, who advertises a turnaround time of 24hrs and free basic shipping, all for less than $20 (for 100).  They let you upload up to 25 different images to put on the backs of the cards.  And provide a little case to hold 25 at a time.  Unfortunately, they were the now-popular half-size cards, but the customization and quick processing seemed a more-than-fair trade-off.  Since I was scrambling, I just went with the one design show above, a riff on my website design.

I ordered a set on a Thursday afternoon, and they arrived to me on the Monday following that weekend.  Fast! Free! (The shipping, that is.)  Print quality was sharp, the ink doesn’t run, and it’s a good, stiff cardstock. Certainly doesn’t look or feel cheap.

I have about half of that last order leftover, ready for my E3 trip, but I figured that I should probably make some event-specific cards to drive traffic toward the booth, or at least to associate myself with a project that was being shown.  After all, if the game was worth being exposed here, then maybe I’m worth being hired.

I’m similarly in a last minute situation, so I’m going with MyMiniCards.com again.  The designs I made are after the break.  (And like the cards say, come visit us at the IndieCade booth, #652 in the South Hall.)

(more…)

Carl @ 4:56 pm
Filed under: Personal — Tags: , , , , , —

May 22, 2009

PrE-3

After getting the news from IndieCade late last week, I’ve spent most of my time since sorting out travel plans to get to E3.  Travel and lodging have been finalized with just a few other bits to consider.

Of course the primary reason I’m attending the expo this year is to be on hand to speak about Zephyr: Tides of War, but it’d be a disservice to the video game fanatic inside me to not take part in the rest of the mania and play some new games.  I imagine that both of these things will involve a lot of standing around with a lot of dead time.  That’s why I’ve considered picking up a netbook computer to help fill the time with some blog writing and blog reading. After that my GDC trip, I also curse the inconvenient size, weight, and short battery life of a 17″ laptop.

I’m not quite sure of my plan of attack and how I intend to divide my time between duty and leisure.  Anyone have insight on the prime times when people feel like checking out indie games versus the big blockbusters?  Morning? After lunch?…  This is one thing I really want to get right because it’s a fantastic networking/job interview opportunity, and I want to meet people who can help me get back in.  That’s certainly a selfish on reasons for networking, but a guy’s gotta eat.  (And buy Punch-Out!!.)  I realize this is a retail-centric conference, rather than something for developers’ enrichment.  However, I’m pretty sure that if anyone’s going to have interest in exploring the outer fringes, it’ll be other developers.  I have about 50 business cards leftover from GDC, and I hope that’s enough.  If not, boy, that’s a fantastic problem to have.

I’m flying in on the 1st and back home late on the 4th. If anybody would like to meet up and chat or whatever, I’d like that, too. Please let me know; it currently seems I may be the only one from the team who’ll make it out to LA.

Carl @ 1:18 am
Filed under: Games, Personal — Tags: , , , , , —

May 15, 2009

Zephyr soars into IndieCade@E3

Yesterday I received the news that Zephyr: Tides of War was selected to be part of IndieCade’s showcase at E3.  In the past IndieCade showcased such independant classics as Braid, Everyday Shooter, N, (to name a few you may be familiar with) and numerous others.  Judging for finalists in the main competition is still in progress, but to even be selected to be highlighted to a world-audience at E3…it’s enormous!  I’m sure I can speak for all my fellow teammates when I say it’s a tremendous honor to receive this recognition.  Plus, it’s another nice feather in the cap for FIEA.

The fine folks at IndieCade are offering us passes to the expo if we can make it out LA to personally curate our project. I’m trying hard to sort out arrangements for myself and sent out the invitation to the rest of the team. I’m hoping at least a couple of us will be able to fly out there.

I also figure it’d be another good networking opportunity to try to land a job. This time, I need to remember to actively ask for business cards.

I keep asking myself if this was an accident; it seems too good to be true.  But we poured a lot of passion into the project, and though there was plenty more we wish we could have tweaked before our ship date, I guess it still resulted in an exciting product.  There’s no time to keep trying to wake myself from this dream.  The show’s only three weeks away, and I’ve got some travel arrangements to make!

 

If you’d like to learn more about Zephyr: Tides of War, please visit the website at http://www.fiea.ucf.edu/~cohort4games/zephyr.

Carl @ 1:58 am
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