VentureBeat » South Park: The Stick of Truth

GamesBeat weekly roundup: Xbox One restrictions, Zynga in trouble, and Snake’s new face

Jasmine Maleficent Rea — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:12:16 +0000

If you follow VentureBeat but don’t regularly check our GamesBeat site, here’s a list of the best video game stories we ran over the last seven days that you may have missed.

This week, Microsoft revealed more specifics about the Xbox One’s used game and sharing policies — triggering predictable Internet outrage in the process; Andrew Scott Reisse, the cofounder of the Oculus Rift, was killed at a crosswalk during a high-speed police chase; and Konami revealed that actor Kiefer Sutherland (24) is the new voice (and motion-capped) face of Solid Snake in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

You’ll also find reviews for Remember Me, The Last of Us, Animal Crossing: New Leaf, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing, Kingdom Rush: Frontiers, and Dust 514, as well as previews for Murdered: Soul Suspect, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Disney Fantasia, and Halo: Spartan Assault.

E3 looms:

News:

Mobile news:

Microsoft vs. Sony:

Tech:

Trailer hoedown:

All this funding:

Reviews:

Previews:

Interviews:

Pieces of flair:

Filed under: Games

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In South Park: The Stick of Truth, farting is magic (preview)

Rus McLaughlin — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 16:10:50 +0000

Jesus Christ, you’d think somebody in South Park would look back on their community history and say, “Y’know, maybe a town-wide, fantasy live-action role-playing game will spin into a major calamity before I even finish this sentence.”

If someone did, they were right.

Jumping into an early game, hands-off demo of South Park: The Stick of Truth (due this year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC), that friendly LARP had transformed South Park Elementary into a high-fantasy war zone. Players take on the role of “The New Kid,” an agent of destruction sent by Imperial Wizard Eric Cartman — a title fairly appropriate for Cartman and less appropriate for anyone else not affiliated with the Klu Klux Klan — to infiltrate the elves’ stronghold and find the fabled Stick of Truth before its pointy-eared guardians, Stan and Kyle, beat him to it.

And what makes the New Kid special? Why is he the Chosen One? The Dragonborn? Well, he farts. Really, really well. And he’ll need every ounce of gassy PSI he can muster, because the elves are ready for him.

“You’re fighting for a tyrant, but I know there’s good in you,” urges Stan over the school’s PA system. “Stop fighting for your evil lord! Free yourself from his control!”

It doesn’t take long for the New Kid and his wingman, Butters, to run into some opposition carrying wooden swords and baseball bats with nails. “Uh, are you gonna rape us?” asks Butters.

No. But that’s just about the only place The Stick of Truth doesn’t go in just a short, superscatological 15-minute ride. The New Kid nails enemies with big, green clouds of foulness, ignites his own cupped farts to hurl fireballs, and collects his own turds from a urinal to use in a superattack down the road. Burritos are his mana, and more than once, he revives a downed Butters with the Power of Tacos health buff. Butters is back on his feet just in time for Stan’s gay dog, Sparky, to attach with the leg-humping Call of the Wild attack.

OK, fine. Technically, South Park: The Stick of Truth does have a little rape.

It also includes tests of intellect. A desk fan on top of a barricade neutralizes the New Kid’s gas attacks, forcing them to use subterfuge. Their Alien Anal Probe handily teleports them into nearby vents, where they deploy the magical Underwear Gnomes to shrink down and go places they couldn’t otherwise reach.

And going places others can’t reach is pretty much what South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have done for the last 16 years. That’s one quality they definitely brought to The Stick of Truth by both writing and voicing the game for developer Obsidian Entertainment. For its part, Obsidian — the studio founded by the team behind seminal role-playing games such as Fallout and Planescape: Torment — brought the genuine South Park to a video-game format for the first time ever. The most amazing thing about The Stick of Truth, hands-down, is how anyone watching others play will easily mistake it for a normal episode of South Park. The characters and their simple animations look exactly like they do on television. It’s an exact translation.

That includes a nice dose of social commentary. South Park serves as one seriously biting satire, after all, even if it presents the message in a purposely offensive, highly juvenile manner. The New Kid can make friends with other kids to increase his power, and he’s the only one who can bring factions like Girls and Goths together in a common cause. And yes, he does see the light and turn on Cartman, who takes it about as well as you’d expect.

“Oh, you motherf***er!” says Cartman. “I thought what we had together was real, douchebag!”

Their duel culminates in a button-mashing, gas-fueled fight as the New Kid superfarts directly into Cartman’s anal armageddon in a war of high-pressure wills. It’s close, but the evil wizard is defeated … and then they find out they’ve all been duped. Via Skype.

It turns out secondary player Clyde Donovan has already taken the Stick of Truth. Worse, he’s got a barrel of toxic waste, and he’s using it Re-Animator-style to resurrect cats with Nazi armbands and German accents. “I shall raise an entire army of darkness,” Clyde gloats, “and kill the Earth!” The gang, of course, isn’t having that.

No, it’s not James Joyce, but one of life’s truths is that you never really outgrow a really good fart joke. The Stick of Truth has a lot of ‘em. I can’t vouch for the gameplay, but speaking purely as an observer, I went on down to South Park and had myself a time.

Filed under: Games

Ubisoft plans to show Watch Dogs, Splinter Cell, and more during its E3 presentation

Jeffrey Grubb — Wed, 29 May 2013 20:21:59 +0000

In 12 days, the preshow publisher-specific media presentations that precede the Electronic Entertainment Expo trade event begin. That’s a very small number, so it means that we all need to start getting serious about this.

Ubisoft is leading us on that front. It just confirmed its presentation for 3 p.m. Pacific on June 10. At that event, the company plans to detail its lineup. That includes Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Rayman Legends, South Park: The Stick of Truth, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and Watch Dogs.

“This is a pivotal moment for the video game industry, and E3 is the opportunity for us to share our vision for the future,” Ubisoft chief Yves Guillemot said in a statement. “We have many incredible games in development, and we’re especially excited to share more on our next-gen titles, which will deliver more connected, immersive, and interactive experiences to our fans.”

In addition to the previously announced games, Ubisoft said it has “more” titles in the works. We’ll see if it lifts the veil on those at next E3. Maybe it put some hints in this E3 teaser trailer that confirms comedian Aisha Tyler is hosting Ubisoft’s presentation for the second year in a row:

GamesBeat will is attending Ubisoft’s event, and we’ll have full coverage of E3 beginning the week of June 9. If you want to play the home game, you can watch Ubisoft’s event streamed live on YouTube.

Filed under: Games

South Park: The Stick of Truth still coming this year

Jeffrey Grubb — Fri, 03 May 2013 15:02:53 +0000

It’s OK. You can stop worrying. The truth shall reign in 2013. Well, the truth of fourth-grader Eric Cartman.

South Park: The Stick of Truth is still on track to debut later this year on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, according to VideoGamer.com. Publisher Ubisoft doesn’t have any new details about the title, but it still plans to release the Obsidian-developed role-playing game before the calendar flips over to 2014.

Earlier this week, Ubisoft started dating its major releases for the remainder of 2013. That includes new open-world franchise Watch Dogs, which is due out in November. The fact that the company was making concrete plans for everything except for South Park, which was originally due out on in March, had some fans concerned.

The Stick of Truth is a recent acquisition for Ubisoft. The French company picked up the publishing rights in January from collapsed gaming corporation THQ. That transition forced a delay in production.

For the unaware, South Park: The Stick of Truth is a turn-based role-playing game set in the world of Comedy Central’s long-running cartoon. It has players creating their own character to join up with Cartman, Stan, Kyle, and Kenny in a suburban-fantasy adventure.

Filed under: Games

South Park Digital Studios objects to THQ trying to sell the license agreement for Stick of Truth RPG

Jeffrey Grubb — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 18:37:32 +0000

THQ’s continuing financial troubles has led to lots of legal maneuvering by the publisher, the creditors it owes money to, and the companies it has development agreements with. Thankfully, I’ve seen every episode of Night Court, so I think I know how to break down all these lawyerin’ documents.

One objection came from South Park Digital Studios, who has a “deal memo” (contract) with THQ to publish the South Park: The Stick of Truth role-playing game from developer Obsidian Entertainment. The objection that the company filed with the Bankruptcy Court of the District of Delaware claims that THQ is attempting to auction off the contract it has with South Park Digital Studios as part of the court-ordered sale of its assets.

South Park Digital Studios claims that THQ does not have the right to auction off the agreement. The company listed the following reasons (we’ve put the legalese into plainer language):

The contract cannot be assumed or assigned without South Park Digital Studios’ consent according to certain California laws and clauses within the contract itself.
Even if THQ could auction off the contract, the publisher would first have to pay, or prove it will quickly pay, the $2.275 million it owes South Park Digital Studios.
If THQ sold the deal agreement to another publisher, that publisher would have to provide adequate assurance that it will do right by the contract.
The contract provides South Park Digital Studios the opportunity to purchase everything THQ did for the game as long as the South Park company pays the publisher the actual costs of that work.

THQ filed a response with the court. The publisher first states that it will continue to work toward an amicable solution to this objection, but it claims it does have the right to assign the deal memo to another company.

THQ replied to each South Park Digital Studios assertion with the following arguments:

Bankruptcy law does allow THQ to auction off the contract as long no other law excuses the agreement.
South Park Digital Studios only cited a 1936 case that does not fully apply in this case.
THQ does not owe South Park Digital Studios $2.275 million. The publisher is evaluating any debts to the South Park company and will resolve any outstanding payment.
THQ fully intends to auction off the agreement to a company that will provide an assurance that it will honor the contract.
South Park Digital Studios may exercise its right to acquire all elements of the game if THQ breaches the agreement. THQ doesn’t believe it has violated the agreement.

Read South Park Digital Studios’ complaint here and THQ’s reply here.

THQ is set to auction off its assets today. GamesBeat will update with any development on this and related stories.

[via @thekevindent]

Filed under: Games

My mom previews Tomb Raider, Dark Souls II, and other big games of 2013

Mike Minotti — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 18:18:27 +0000

My mother (pictured with me above) doesn’t know much of anything about video games. However, I discovered that making her watch trailers for upcoming releases and recording her reactions can lead to comedic gold.

This time, I exposed her to a few of the trailers played during this year’s Video Game Awards, which showcased some of the most anticipated games coming out in 2013.

Below each video is the dialogue that took place between my mother and me while we watched. Her words are in red. I know some people accused me of making this all up last time. Again, I swear that this is all 100 percent real.

Dark Souls II

This one’s called Dark Souls II.

Oh, jeez. Why are they all so dark? Why aren’t some happy? No wonder the world’s going to pot.

You said that last time.

‘Cause that’s how I feel. There’s blood. There’s a sword. Oh, he looks like a mad knight. What’s this called?

Dark Souls II.

Is this in medieval times?

I think it’s more of a made-up fantasy world.

But there’s no electricity.

No, there’s no electricity.

Oh, my lord. Are they in the clouds?

I think it’s just misty.

Is he a good guy or a bad guy?

I think that’s the good guy.

What’s he searching for?

Probably things to kill.

Things to kill?!

Like, bad things. Like monsters.

Why does he want to kill them?

Because they’re monsters!

Why doesn’t he just leave them be and get the heck out of there? Oh, he looks like Freddy Krueger. Who’s the guy who wore the mask?

Oh, that’s Jason.

Jason! That’s what he looks like. Oh, there’s a dragon. Is the dragon his friend?

Probably not.

Wow, look at all the arrows in him. How was Dark Souls 1? Was it the same thing?

Yeah. It was really hard.

Well, they must have liked it because they made a Dark Souls II.

Yeah, well, Dark Souls was a sequel to a game called Demon’s Souls, so this is kind of like the third one.

God save your souls.

What did you think of that?

Nah.

Filed under: Games

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The biggest gaming disappointments of 2012

Evan Killham — Mon, 24 Dec 2012 21:00:42 +0000

Remember all the way back in January, when we looked at all the games that were coming out in 2012 and thought, “Holy crap! This is going to be the Best Year Ever (for gaming)™!” Well, this is December, and some of us are looking back to those wide-eyed, optimistic past versions of ourselves and wondering why they ever looked forward to some of the stuff we got in 2012. Sure, some of those anticipated titles lived up to our expectations, but in a lot of cases, that optimism was just the first step on a journey of regret and nonstop head shaking.

Here are some of our picks for the most disappointing games and events of 2012.

Assassin’s Creed III

Contributor Rus McLaughlin

Occasionally, a little time and distance softens the heart, and you remember things more fondly than what you actually felt at the time. I, on the other hand, despise Assassin’s Creed III more now than when I gave it a midrange score back in October. Oh, my man-love for its naval missions continues unabated, but I indulge in those behind the back of the main game and its sloppy mechanics, frustrating chases, and worthless side missions. I’m gratified that it doesn’t whitewash our nation’s origins as some altruistic crusade for peace and freedom (often spoken of in earshot of working slaves), but Creed “concludes” its overarching, modern-day plot with a firm middle finger to its most loyal fans. At least it finally settled one lingering question: Desmond is indeed as pointless and useless a diversion as we always suspected.

The delays

Contributing editor Stephanie Carmichael

Most of the games I was looking forward to all year are now coming out in 2013. Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Tomb Raider, Bioshock Infinite, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (or whatever we’re calling it now) are the handful I’ve been most itching to play. Other titles like South Park: The Stick of Truth, Devil May Cry, and Aliens: Colonial Marines have experienced delays as well. I guess I can’t complain too much. More time in development means a better chance of getting these games right, but it also means I’ll be burning a big hole in my wallet come spring.

Capcom continues to lock content in game discs

Contributor Samir Torres

F*** you, Capcom!

Twisted Metal’s online multiplayer

Intern Giancarlo Valdes

As a huge fan of the Twisted Metal games since the original PlayStation days, I was ecstatic when I finally got my hands on the PS3 reboot earlier this year. The folks at developer Eat Sleep Play did a fantastic job of bringing its unique brand of vehicular combat to a new generation of consoles with its campaign mode, and playing these levels with a friend in local multiplayer was fun, too. But going online was a different story: Starting from launch day and lasting for weeks, a host of problems made it almost impossible (for me at least) to stay connected to a match. The developers deployed various updates to fix these problems, but I had already moved on.

Disney Epic Mickey 2

Contributor Rob LeFebvre

After hearing, yet again, legendary designer Warren Spector’s “big picture” idea of games needing to be open-ended, with multiple paths, as well as not judging players for their “playstyle,” I really think this game was a huge disappointment. It changed very little from the first installment and was just another mess of control, camera, and barely comprehensible storyline. As with most things disappointing in life, the real problem was going into it with such a high set of expectations.

Endless Space

Copy editor Jason Wilson

We saw a couple of space-themed 4X (eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, eXterminate) strategy titles this year (Genesis Wars, Legacy of Pegasus, the final “all clear” for Sword of the Stars II). But the one that many space strategy fans were looking forward to was Endless Space, a game that turned out to be style over substance. Endless Space sports a good-looking user interface and some kick-ass ship designs, but it commits one of the biggest errors that any single-player strategy game can make: The A.I. isn’t good at its game. Your foes don’t do a good job of using its systems — like combat — against you, ultimately providing a limited challenged against a skilled player. And for the demanding fans of strategy games, this is a tactic that just doesn’t work.

Mass Effect 3′s ending

Intern Jason Lomberg

From an artistic standpoint, my biggest disappointment was that developer BioWare pulled a George Lucas and “fixed” the ending. That’s not how it should work — you don’t “fix” art.

A piece of art represents the succinct vision of its creator. It’s also a product of its time and, therefore, a cultural artifact. The best films – like Star Wars – engender a certain timeless quality, but even so, it’s not hard to discern that Lucas’s masterpiece reflects the norms and attitudes of the ’70s. By mucking with his own creations to “update” the special effects or modify story elements, Lucas is destroying a piece of history. This is why fans reacted so negatively to Star Wars: Special Edition (and the innumerable “updates” before and since), and it’s why BioWare should not have changed the Mass Effect 3 ending. For gaming to take its rightful place among other artistic media, it shouldn’t be so malleable and subject to “revision.” Numerous gamers took issue with the game’s ending – and I’d be hard-pressed to disagree – but we should criticize ME3 as a piece of art, not a software program that its makers can patch. We should analyze the creator’s vision and not treat it like a technical glitch.

Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation

Intern Mike Minotti

I was excited to have a real Assassin’s Creed experience on a portable system, and I was hoping that such a game could be a great showcase for the PlayStation Vita. Sadly, Liberation was a boring, uninspired slog through the bog hampered by technical problems and an empty open world.

Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask

Intern Evan Killham

Developer Level-5′s series of puzzle-driven adventure games sold me both a Nintendo DS and a 3DS. I love everything about them: the full-on animated cutscenes, the stories, and even the bizarre idea of a universe in which brain-teasers work as a sort of social currency. But I’m not sure what happened with the franchise’s fifth installment. The plot and style are as good as ever, but the riddles in this one are inexplicably obtuse at times (I’m convinced that one challenge’s “clever” solution is not a valid answer to the setup) and blatantly not puzzles at others. A maze, for example, is not a puzzle by my definition, and this Professor Layton contains several of them.

Miracle Mask is the first Layton game that has felt like a chore.

XCOM’s lack of longevity

Contributing editor Rob Savillo

A game about saving the world from an alien invasion is probably beyond cliché at this point. You’d think that such a premise would doom the entire experience to a single playthrough, never to be touched again. But this wasn’t the case with the original X-Com strategy games, where I felt like anything could happen at any time. My first encounter could be the extraterrestrial menace terrorizing an urban populace or a dogfight with high-flying UFO that segues into a ground assault or even a struggle for survival within the supposedly safe confines of my only operational headquarters! Add in a healthy dose of pseudo-randomization, and X-Com felt fresh over and over no matter how many campaigns I played.

But Developer Firaxis’ recent reboot, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, unfortunately starts to feel all too similar all too quickly. Even during your first game, you’ll see the same premade maps again and again. Some missions feel scripted (even featuring monster closets!) and like long, narrow hallways (I don’t ever want to play the final stage again because it’s such a boring slog). I’m convinced that Firaxis doesn’t really want me to play another campaign, which is crystal clear because the game forces me to listen to the same unskippable explanatory voiceovers with every new start.

After well over 100 hours, I’m just about done with XCOM. And it shouldn’t have been this way.

Zynga’s belly-flop

Editor-in-chief Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Zynga was supposed to be the next big thing in gaming, but then it flopped … hard. Its stock became the joke of the industry (currently: $2.39, down from $9.50 at the initial public offering and a peak of $14.69 back in March, and rather than make a bunch of new Silicon Valley millionaires, it had to lay people off. Not many people are rooting for the company that regularly spams Facebook walls. But when the guys leading the charge for social gaming fails that badly, it’s a very bad sign for the health of the business as a whole.

Nearly everything Resident Evil

Intern Jasmine Rea

This year, I found myself sympathizing with legions of Sonic the Hedgehog fans because at our core, we are far too loyal for our own good. Like them, I go into every Resident Evil game with the same naive hope that the series isn’t spiraling the drain. Operation Raccoon City and Resident Evil 6 were nearly enough to make me give up on playing any console-based entries in the series. Poor execution, tedious gameplay, and wretched quick-time events have finally broken me. I’ll go into 2013 with a dull ache for another Resident Evil: Revelations, but I doubt I’ll get that.

Will I buy the inevitable Resident Evil 7? Of course I will, and that’s why gin exists.

Filed under: Games

Here are just the trailers from Spike’s Video Game Awards (you’re welcome)

Evan Killham — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 15:26:52 +0000

Spike aired the 10th installment of its annual Video Game Awards last night, and if you’re like us, you were more interested in the world premiere trailers than you were in watching host Samuel L. Jackson work the word “motherfucker” into as many sentences as possible. We’re here for you, readers, so we’ve gathered all of the show’s cool new trailers without all that extra fat. You know, like the awards.

South Park: The Stick of Truth

The Phantom Pain

The Last of Us

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2

Dark Souls II

Gears of War: Judgment

Tomb Raider

BioShock Infinite

Filed under: Games

GamesBeat’s gigantic E3 2012 roundup

Omri Petitte — Thu, 14 Jun 2012 23:48:59 +0000

The sensory smorgasbord of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) heaved itself upon the video game industry for three straight days, and GamesBeat’s intrepid crew enthusiastically hit showfloors, conference halls, and meeting rooms to offer our readers piles of previews, interviews, and news.

What follows below is our collected coverage during the show. You’ll find everything here sorted into categories for easy navigability.

Awards

Who needs stickers? We analyzed, judged, and sorted our top picks for the show’s offerings directly for you. Take a look — the results might surprise you.

GamesBeat’s E3 2012 Game of the Show…plus staff picks – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

The GamesBeat E3 non-award awards: The least prestigious awards in the industry – by GamesBeat staff

The coolest technologies we saw at E3 2012 – by Dean Takahashi

The best family games of E3 – by GamesBeat staff

The top 8 trends of E3, from bows to brutality – by Mike Minotti

The top 15 swag shirts of E3 2012 – by Rus McLaughlin

Previews

You’ve found the beating heart of E3′s overwhelming magic. Whether from observatory impressions or direct, hands-on experiences, GamesBeat discussed and dissected a sizable stable of upcoming games and hardware.

Hands-on

Hitman Absolution lets you perform hits in giant crowds – by Dean Takahashi

Metro Last Light fights shooter fatigue with deeper single player – by Dean Takahashi

Crysis 3 brings the jungle, gun hacking, and silent stealth kills to Manhattan – by Dean Takahashi

EA reveals Dead Space 3, coming with drop-in cooperative play – by Dean Takahashi

Sleeping Dogs turns Hong Kong crime movies into a video game – by Dean Takahashi

From the creator of Portal, Quantum Conundrum caters to physics-based puzzle gamers – by Dean Takahashi

Capcom remakes hack-slash-shoot-grapple formula with upcoming DmC: Devil May Cry – by Dean Takahashi

Capcom shows three playable characters for Resident Evil 6 – by Dean Takahashi

Neverwinter’s user-generated content could elevate it above the competition – by Stefanie Fogel

DmC: Devil May Cry is full of swagger…and F-bombs – by Eduardo Moutinho

Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed leaves Mario Kart in its dust…and wake…and vapor trail – by Mike Minotti

Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is an anime you can actually play – by Eduardo Moutinho

Sony Online Entertainment’s PlanetSide 2 – by Rob LeFebvre

Slice, dice, and julienne enemies in Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – by Eduardo Moutinho

Medal of Honor: Warfighter deploys fire teams to the front lines – by Eduardo Moutinho

Hell Yeah! is like Metroid with a chainsaw jetpack-riding demon bunny – by Mike Minotti

Dead or Alive 5 wants to deliver a power blow to the competition – by Eduardo Moutinho

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive’s simplicity is just what consoles need – by Omri Petitte

Hands-off

Just what kind of game is Star Wars 1313? – by Dean Takahashi

Warner Bros. confirms LEGO: Lord of the Rings video game – by Dean Takahashi

EA’s cute The Act romance game exploits iPad’s touchscreen for unique gameplay – by Dean Takahashi

Turn the snow crimson with redcoat blood in Assassin’s Creed III – by Dean Takahashi

Far Cry 3 demo leads you deeper into drug-induced insanity – by Dean Takahashi

Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls is one of the best games of E3 – by Dean Takahashi

The 5 different games you’ll be playing in Dishonored – by Sebastian Haley

Final Fantasy XIV brings new gameplay and western sensibilities to venerable franchise – by Rob LeFebvre

Windows 8 works hard to meet the needs of all gamers – by Rob LeFebvre

A trio of Mario games strengthen Nintendo’s 3DS lineup – by Mike Minotti

OnLive’s MultiView spectating entices multiplayer and co-op gamers – by Omri Petitte

Player choice matters in The Walking Dead: Episode 2 – by Stefanie Fogel

The Last of Us is even smarter than you think – by Rus McLaughlin

Star Wars 1313 is a game of firsts for the sci-fi franchise – by Eduardo Moutinho

The adventure-game renaissance continues with The Cave – by Eduardo Moutinho

Heroes and villains join forces in Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion – by Mike Minotti

007 Legends proves personality makes or breaks a game – by Omri Petitte

Breaking down what’s exactly new in God of War: Ascension – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Turning technology against your friends in Watch Dogs – by Omri Petitte

Interviews

Chasing after the wayward developer or evasive executive amid a sea of journalists and industry luminaries didn’t slake our interview appetite, and we nabbed a slew of thoughtful talks with members across various gaming companies. Take a look.

Why Ubisoft is pouring a lot of resources into Wii U games – by Dean Takahashi

Harvest Moon creator wants to spread happiness with his new game – by Jacob Lopez

How Shenmue’s lead programmer rescued a bad game – by Jacob Lopez

The Last Story developer talks Operation Rainfall, reason for cover system, and Wii U – by Jacob Lopez

With 1.3B tanks obliterated and 30M players, Wargaming.net plans to conquer the online gaming world – by Dean Takahashi

Even Scribblenauts’ creator is surprised by the things people make in his new game – by Jacob Lopez

The Witcher developer CD Projekt RED wants to set new standards with Cyberpunk – by Stefanie Fogel

Japan’s Gree moves mobile gaming into the spotlight at E3 – by Dean Takahashi

THQ’s Brian Farrell talks about looking for a bottom and staging a comeback – by Dean Takahashi

Crytek says CryEngine 3 already does awesome graphics as good as Unreal Engine 4 – by Dean Takahashi

Our opinions

During the craze-filled days of E3, our minds typically busied themselves with ensuring our legs avoided snapping off our torsos and running away with yelping noises. But sometimes, a cohesive thought miraculously coalesced within our overloaded brainpans. Our hands shakily reached for the keyboard, keys started tapping, and well…these are the results.

The DeanBeat: What to expect at E3 – by Dean Takahashi

4 ways developers will use SmartGlass to enhance Xbox 360 experiences – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Nintendo’s Wii U: Safe on first, weak on third-party – by Rus McLaughlin

Why Nintendo will have a tough time adding a second GamePad tablet controller to the Wii U – by Dean Takahashi

Tomb Raider is not torture porn – by Rus McLaughlin

Would it be a mistake for E3 to move out of LA? – by Dean Takahashi

Bored, impressed, and giddy: Our final thoughts on E3 2012 – by Dan “Shoe” Hsu

Move over, consoles – mobile is the future – by Rob LeFebvre

Microsoft’s E3 2012: Analysis of 16,000+ comments shows Halo 4, South Park impressed, rest did not – by Andrew Hiscock

Sony’s E3 2012: Analysis shows “shotgun blast” won big, Wonderbook lost – by Andrew Hiscock

Nintendo’s E3 2012: Reactions show hardcore gamers lost faith in Wii U – by Andrew Hiscock

Memes

All it takes is one memorable quote, one Freudian slip, or some facepalm-worthy banter to prompt the Internet community’s creative and unrestrained hand at animated gifs, a worshipful use of Impact font, and hastily jangled Photoshop edits. Here’s what we’ve found.

The best memes of E3 – by Jeff Grubb

Remember these crazy memes from past E3s? – by Jeff Grubb

The wildest memes from the Microsoft E3 press conference – by Jeff Grubb

Silly memes inspired by Sony’s E3 press event – by Jeff Grubb

Aisha Tyler: Ubisoft’s meme machine – by Rus McLaughlin

The oddest Nintendo E3 gifs and Photoshops from the Internet – by Jeff Grubb

Galleries

We snapped plenty of pictures while attending parties, pressers, and meandering the showfloor. Direct your eyeballs upon these galleries, and enjoy the view!

The big gallery of E3′s huge banners – by Mike Minotti

E3 2012 will get your hands up – by Evan Killham

Our editor-in-chief’s E3 adventure – by Evan Killham

The many costumes of E3 2012 – by Jacob Lopez

Retro games have a place at E3, too – by Jasmine Rea

Videos

Dubstep. A beleaguered Lara Croft. Ham-handed hosts. No, this isn’t the latest entry in Alex Trebek’s dream diary — it’s some of our E3 video and trailer content below. Enjoy!

Tomb Raider trailer shows how Lara Croft feels sorry for shooting you – by Dean Takahashi

Konami pre-E3 2012 event: More Castlevania and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance – by Jasmine Rea

Ubisoft shows strong commitment to the Wii U – by Mike Minotti

6 awkward moments from the E3 press briefings – by Evan Killham

Why we wub wub wub E3 2012: The dubstep of E3 – by Jacob Lopez

Press conferences

Surprises and snooze-fests alike emanated from E3′s five major press briefings held by Microsoft, Electronic Arts (EA), Ubisoft, Sony, and Nintendo. Check out all the announcements and debuts here.

Microsoft (video)

Halo 4 trailer video shows Forerunners, new tech – by Rob LeFebvre

New Splinter Cell: Blacklist borrows from Uncharted – by Jeff Grubb

Gears of War: Judgment sets Sera on fire (again) – by Rus McLaughlin

Microsoft previews Xbox Music at E3 press conference – by Rob LeFebvre

Forza Horizon brings street racing to the franchise – by Jasmine Rea

Microsoft introduces Xbox SmartGlass to integrate smartphones and tablets with Xbox 360 – by Dean Takahashi

Nike+ Kinect Training brings in-depth fitness measuring to Xbox 360 – by Jeff Grubb

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer coming to Xbox 360 this fall – by Jacob Lopez

Usher hits the stage to announce Dance Central 3 – by Rob LeFebvre

Xbox Live is getting Nickelodeon, Machinima, and tons of live sports – by Tom Cheredar

Kinect voice commands hit EA Sports flagship titles – by Eduardo Moutinho

South Park creators introduce their game and playfully mock Microsoft – by Jeff Grubb

New Xbox 360 games coming from Signal Studios, Twisted Pixel, and…Gore Verbinski? – by Stefanie Fogel

Microsoft E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Electronic Arts (video)

SimCity Social: If this free-to-play game is too good, will you pay $60 for the full PC version? – by Dean Takahashi

EA reveals Battlefield 3 Premium and fields “15 million players worldwide” – by Omri Petitte

Star Wars: The Old Republic gets new planet, new species, and free trial – by Jacob Lopez

EA nabs UFC from THQ – by Jeff Grubb

Medal of Honor: Warfighter’s beautiful carnage – by Rus McLaughlin

EA shows off Need for Speed: Most Wanted at E3 – by Rob LeFebvre

Ubisoft (video)

Rayman Legends rhythmically runs to the Wii U – by Eduardo Moutinho

You are the network in Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs – by Rus McLaughlin

Here’s where that Watch Dogs cube-head QR code goes – by Jeff Grubb

Sony (video)

Experimental developer Quantic Dream reveals the haunted life of Jody Holmes in Beyond – by Jasmine Rea

Nathan Drake and the Big Daddy Bouncer join PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale – by Mike Minotti

J.K. Rowling is writing PlayStation’s Wonderbook – by Rus McLaughlin

Sony announces Assassin’s Creed III Vita and PS3 bundles with exclusive content – by Jeff Grubb

Sony brings down the house with The Last of Us demo – by Dean Takahashi

Sony E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Nintendo (video)

Social networking comes to Wii U, Miiverse will interface with PCs and phones – by Jasmine Rea

First look at action-strategy game Pikmin 3 – by Jeff Grubb

Nintendo confirms 23 games at E3, video streaming, and more for Wii U – by Mike Minotti

Wii Fit U will make you sweatier, livelier, and happier – by Rob LeFebvre

Brag to the Miiverse and take on new modes in New Super Mario Bros. U – by Eduardo Moutinho

Zombify your face with ZombiU for the Wii U – by Mike Minotti

Nintendo bets big on “asymmetric” tablet-based gameplay – one player against several – by Dean Takahashi

Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition utilizes Wii U’s GamePad screen – by Omri Petitte

Nintendo details 3DS Mario titles, Luigi’s Mansion, and third-party games – by Jeff Grubb

Nintendo Land brings asymmetrical multiplayer to Wii U – by Jasmine Rea

Nintendo’s E3 2012 press conference recap…in limerick form – by Andrew Hiscock

Filed under: Business, Games

Microsoft’s E3 2012: Analysis of 16,000+ comments shows Halo 4, South Park impressed, rest did not (graph)

Andrew Hiscock — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:27:18 +0000

Gamers are passionate people, and none more so than the members of one of the Internet’s most popular video game message boards, NeoGAF. The forums are often vilified, sometimes celebrated, but one cannot argue their dedication to the medium. Each year during the game industry’s largest trade show, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), NeoGAF members congregate to comment in real-time on the press conferences hosted by first-party publishers Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo.

And they posted…a lot. During the four hours taken by the three conferences, NeoGAF members submitted 16,214 posts — the equivalent of two full novels. You’ll find no better source of information detailing how hardcore gamers felt. Now that E3 is over, one can take the time to mine this valuable data. After analyzing every single response to the three stage shows, we have a powerful set of conclusions.

What did they think of the Big Three’s announcements this year? Here, you can see the number of positive and negative responses to the Microsoft press conference as the news poured out:

Source: Andrew Hiscock

Click for a full-size version. For a more detailed explanation of how we analyzed this data, please see the explanation at the end of this article.

What NeoGAF liked about the Microsoft press conference

The press conference started strong with Halo 4. After this, the response was largely negative, with positive reactions occurring when Tomb Raider and Resident Evil appeared. (For more stories on any of these games or products, click on the tags below.)

NeoGAF also liked South Park: The Stick of Truth. The high point of the conference followed its trailer when South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone appeared on stage. This was largely due to Parker’s joke about modern consumer electronics, reflecting the frustrations of the NeoGAF community, which we’ll explore below.

What NeoGAF didn’t like

They disliked just about everything else. It is no surprise that a community of hardcore gamers didn’t enjoy anything that wasn’t a game, including Nike+, Xbox Music, and Internet Explorer. Interestingly enough, while responses remained largely negative, an upswing occurred when Microsoft introduced SmartGlass. Another drop to low scores followed.

Many games also received negative reactions, particularly titles for casual audiences or those that would use the Kinect sensor. These included FIFA 13, Madden 13, Wreckateer, and Dance Central 3.

Two games for the hardcore audience also received largely negative reactions: Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Call of Duty: Black Ops II. In the case of the former, members cited a departure from stealth gameplay and the Middle Eastern environment as reasons for displeasure. In the case of the latter, many cited that it wasn’t enough of a departure from previous games in the Call of Duty franchise and that its developer had already announced and presented the game to journalists at an earlier event.

NeoGAF also strongly disliked long demos. This pattern presented itself in the reactions that became steadily more negative the longer a game stayed on stage. You can easily see this in the cases of Splinter Cell: Black List, Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil 6.

What wasn’t recorded

Unfortunately, due to NeoGAF’s popularity during press conferences, its servers went down for an extended period. During this time, data was unavailable for Fable: The Journey, Gears of War: Judgment, Forza Horizon, and for a significant part of non-game services.

Two other down periods occurred; although, they were much shorter, which resulted in some posts. These happened during the South Park: The Stick of Truth trailer and Usher’s live performance.

For more on how NeoGAF reacted to the E3 press conferences, check out the Sony and Nintendo studies.

How the scoring works

NeoGAF hosts a single message board thread for each press conference, where dozens of members comment throughout each show. I graded each comment as positive or negative, giving them scores of 1 or -1 respectively. Then I totaled the sum of these reactions for each discrete minute and plotted in the above chart. A high score means that the NeoGAF community liked what they saw; a score close to zero represents mixed reactions; and a low score means that they were not enjoying the show at that moment.

Some notes on how I scored each response:

I made no distinction between really positive or somewhat positive comments — likewise for negative comments. Each was given either a score of 1 or -1.
While I made every effort to understand the various memes and inside jokes that make up a large part of the responses, if I could not understand a response, I would not score it.
In the event that a comment employed obvious sarcasm, I scored it to reflect the original intent of the commentator. If the sarcasm was not clear, I relied on the literal meaning of the comment. Fortunately, the very expressive NeoGAF community rarely employed subtle sarcasm.
When comments included positive and negative observations, I accounted for the more immediate reaction to preserve a more real-time response. An example: “I liked the game that was shown at the beginning of the show, but this game now is bad” would have a negative score.
Many comments weren’t scored as they offered no opinion. These included clarifications, questions, discussions between members unrelated to the press conference, and inquiries into whether one game or another would be shown at a later time.

GamesBeat 2012 is VentureBeat’s fourth annual conference on disruption in the video game market. This year we’re calling on speakers from the hottest mobile, social, PC, and console companies to debate new ways to stay on pace with changing consumer tastes and platforms. Join 500+ execs, investors, analysts, entrepreneurs, and press as we explore the gaming industry’s latest trends and newest monetization opportunities. The event takes place July 10-11 in San Francisco, and you can get your early-bird tickets here.

Filed under: Games

South Park creators introduce their game and playfully mock Microsoft

Jeffrey Grubb — Mon, 04 Jun 2012 18:06:14 +0000

Developer Obsidian Entertainment has worked closely with South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker to fully realize the world of the show in a new role-playing game dubbed “South Park: The Stick of Truth.” Players control the new kid in town, who is attempting to become the fifth member of the South Park crew. You’ll get to play along with Kyle, Stan, Kenny, and Cartman with your own created character.

“How many times have you been watching an episode of South Park and thought, ‘I’d like to watch this on my television, while hooked into my mobile device, which is being controlled by my tablet device, which is hooked into my oven, all while sitting in the refrigerator,” Parker said in an obvious jab at Microsoft’s SmartGlass. “Well, we’re not doing that. We’re just doing this game. It’s an RPG.”

Microsoft showed off the game at its Electronic Entertainment Expo press briefing today in Los Angeles. The role-playing game looked nearly identical to the show.

“To make the game feel like [you are in an episode of South Park], it has to look right,” Stone said when talking about The Stick of Truth from the stage of Microsoft’s presentation. “It has to look like an episode of South Park … which is pretty crappy.” Stone gave Obsidian a lot of props for getting the visuals up to Stone and Parker’s standards.

Parker and Stone also revealed that for the first time ever, they’ve mapped out the fictional town of South Park because of this title. “The funny part is, we were writing it, and saying, ‘Maybe you’re here and you go to Stan’s house to Kyle’s house,” Parker said. “And after fifteen years of doing the show, it was the first time that Matt and I were, like, ‘Where is Kyle’s house?’”

South Park: The Stick of Truth will be available on Xbox 360 on March 5, 2013.

Filed under: Games