E3 Aftermath, and Halo 4: Master Chief Rides Again

Another year, another E3 come and gone.  I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the show this year, I was expecting the Wii U to have a stronger presence.  It would have been awesome if Nintendo came along with a new Mario game (New Super Mario Bros doesn't count!), Zelda game, and Donkey Kong game, and really showed us how the gameplay can be fresh and exciting with the new tablet controller.

Doomed to be a gimmick? Let's hope not.

Also I'm a bit angry with Valve for not making any announcements.  A couple months back, Gabe Newell (the co-founder of Valve) said that Valve would be announcing "all our favorite things" at E3, including a game with a '3' in it.  Those of us who have been waiting for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (or just Half-Life 3) were pretty much jumping for joy at this point.  A couple weeks after this exciting statement, Newell followed up by saying he was pretty much lying through his teeth: Valve would not be making any announcements at E3.  Even after hearing this, I still held onto some hope, but alas, no announcements.

What surprised me the most at this year's E3 was the trailer and gameplay demo of Halo 4.  It did something I never thought possible: it got me interested in the Halo series again.  After playing the disappointing Halo 3: ODST, I vowed never to buy another Halo game again.  However, the trailer for Halo 4 appeals to my inner sci-fi geek; it looks like the game might actually have a strong story!  I'm very interested in learning about the world the Master Chief is stranded on, which appears to be populated by Forerunner-created AI.  Also I'm wondering why the Elites are an enemy again (make up your mind guys!).


What were your favorite moments of E3 2012?  Is there anything you're especially excited about?

Another year, another E3 come and gone.  I have to say I'm a bit disappointed with the show this year, I was expecting the Wii U to have a stronger presence.  It would have been awesome if Nintendo came along with a new Mario game (New Super Mario Bros doesn't count!), Zelda game, and Donkey Kong game, and really showed us how the gameplay can be fresh and exciting with the new tablet controller.

Doomed to be a gimmick? Let's hope not.

Also I'm a bit angry with Valve for not making any announcements.  A couple months back, Gabe Newell (the co-founder of Valve) said that Valve would be announcing "all our favorite things" at E3, including a game with a '3' in it.  Those of us who have been waiting for Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (or just Half-Life 3) were pretty much jumping for joy at this point.  A couple weeks after this exciting statement, Newell followed up by saying he was pretty much lying through his teeth: Valve would not be making any announcements at E3.  Even after hearing this, I still held onto some hope, but alas, no announcements.

What surprised me the most at this year's E3 was the trailer and gameplay demo of Halo 4.  It did something I never thought possible: it got me interested in the Halo series again.  After playing the disappointing Halo 3: ODST, I vowed never to buy another Halo game again.  However, the trailer for Halo 4 appeals to my inner sci-fi geek; it looks like the game might actually have a strong story!  I'm very interested in learning about the world the Master Chief is stranded on, which appears to be populated by Forerunner-created AI.  Also I'm wondering why the Elites are an enemy again (make up your mind guys!).


What were your favorite moments of E3 2012?  Is there anything you're especially excited about?

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Crazy Controllers: Steel Battalion

Recently I came across a preview for a game I never thought would exist.  The game is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor for the Xbox 360.  We all remember the first game in the series, Steel Battalion for the original Xbox.  Well ok, we don't remember the game itself so much, but it's hard to forget the incredibly crazy/awesome/expensive controller that came bundled with the game.

And to think, so many people were complaining about how huge the standard Xbox gamepad was.

It's obvious that Capcom was very serious about creating a proper mech simulator.  This incredibly complex controller had 40 buttons, which performed in-game actions such as starting the mech's engine, firing the weapons, and even washing the windshield.   Let's not forget the almighty eject button; if your mech was on the brink of destruction, you had a limited amount of time to hit the eject button, or else your saved game would be automatically erased.  Brutal.

This controller was required to play Steel Battalion, so those of us who couldn't afford the $200 price tag were left out of the party.  Out of curiosity I did a quick Ebay search to see what these controllers were going for these days, and the price range seems to be $70-$100.  Not bad if you want to see what you missed back in the days of the original Xbox (I for one have always wanted to try this game out).

For the newest installment in the Steel Battalion series it looks like Capcom is doing away with monstrously complicated controllers.  The game will use Kinect to allow you to interact with all the controls in the mech's cockpit.  The Kinect is still a bit pricey at $150, but on the bright side it can be used with multiple games, as opposed to paying $200 for the original Steel Battalion setup where the controller was only good for Steel Battalion.

This concludes an installment of Crazy Controllers, hope this brought up some nostalgia!

Recently I came across a preview for a game I never thought would exist.  The game is Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor for the Xbox 360.  We all remember the first game in the series, Steel Battalion for the original Xbox.  Well ok, we don't remember the game itself so much, but it's hard to forget the incredibly crazy/awesome/expensive controller that came bundled with the game.

And to think, so many people were complaining about how huge the standard Xbox gamepad was.

It's obvious that Capcom was very serious about creating a proper mech simulator.  This incredibly complex controller had 40 buttons, which performed in-game actions such as starting the mech's engine, firing the weapons, and even washing the windshield.   Let's not forget the almighty eject button; if your mech was on the brink of destruction, you had a limited amount of time to hit the eject button, or else your saved game would be automatically erased.  Brutal.

This controller was required to play Steel Battalion, so those of us who couldn't afford the $200 price tag were left out of the party.  Out of curiosity I did a quick Ebay search to see what these controllers were going for these days, and the price range seems to be $70-$100.  Not bad if you want to see what you missed back in the days of the original Xbox (I for one have always wanted to try this game out).

For the newest installment in the Steel Battalion series it looks like Capcom is doing away with monstrously complicated controllers.  The game will use Kinect to allow you to interact with all the controls in the mech's cockpit.  The Kinect is still a bit pricey at $150, but on the bright side it can be used with multiple games, as opposed to paying $200 for the original Steel Battalion setup where the controller was only good for Steel Battalion.

This concludes an installment of Crazy Controllers, hope this brought up some nostalgia!

reade more... Résuméabuiyad