And Destructoid's E3 'Game of the Show' is...

And Destructoid's E3 'Game of the Show' is...: "

Valve's Portal 2 for PC, Mac, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360!

With so many quality games at E3, I'd like to say that it was a close race, but I'd be lying. Despite going head-to-head with some amazing choices, Portal 2 was chosen for top honors, coming in far ahead of its competition. Taking a little bit of the old (in one blue hole, out the orange hole technology!) with the new (co-op, a whole new set of tricks and puzzle variables), Valve looks to have a winner with its sequel when it hits next year.

A note about how this was decided: staff was asked to choose their top five games (in order of preference) from our nominees. The number-one game was weighted heavier than the number-five title, with the final score tallied to decide our winner.

But the choice didn't come easy, as many staff members felt that certain games -- their personal favorites, even -- weren't properly represented among our nominees. With that in mind, hit the jump to see our individual picks for 'E3 Game of the Show.'

Hamza Aziz



Halo: Reach (Bungie - Xbox 360)

Yeah, big surprise, right? Truthfully, I can see past the fanboy-ism with this game when needed, and from what I have seen so far, it looks like it's making up for a lot of letdowns from the previous Halo games. The graphics are stunning, your team's AI actually looks competent and the new Firefight is going to be even more addictive than before. The hype for Reach will actually be worth it this time.

Nick Chester

Bulletstorm (People Can Fly/Epic Games - PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

What, did you expect me to pick Rock Band 3? Don't get me wrong, I was tempted; as a fan of the series, I'm head-over-heels thinking about all of the stuff Harmonix is cramming into the latest edition to the music title.

But when it comes down to it, thanks to my love of twitch action shooters (and over-the-top, comic violence), the brief time with People Can Fly's and Epic Games' Bulletstorm had me absolutely hooked. It's like Burnout meets Painkiller meets The Club, with a fast-paced skill-shot point system that has you using your head (and twisted wit) to pull of some of the most out-of-control kills seen in a shooter.

And yeah, you can (and I did) kick a motherfucker into a cactus; I simply can't wait to do it again. 

Chad Concelmo

Three-way Tie: Donkey Kong Country Returns (Retro Studios/Nintendo - Wii) / Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo - Wii) / PixelJunk Shooter 2 (Q-Games - PlayStation Network)

I know, I know. Declaring a three-way tie is a cop-out ... but I really couldn't decide. At first I was going to pick PixelJunk Shooter 2. I fell in love with that game at E3 and love everything about it.

On the other hand, Donkey Kong Country Returns feels just about perfect, and Kirby's Epic Yarn is one of the most gorgeous, creative 2D platformers I have ever seen.

So, there. They are all my three children and I love them equally. EQUALLY, I SAY!

Jordan Devore

Donkey Kong Country Returns (Retro Studios/Nintendo - Wii)

I have been hopelessly waiting nearly 15 years for a new installment in the Donkey Kong Country series, and I'm finally getting it in Donkey Kong Country Returns. Not only do I feel like Retro Studios is one of the better candidates to tackle this project, they seem to be going for slight (but impactful!) tweaks to the formula while preserving everything we know and love. Basically, my dreams are coming true and I'm flipping the eff out. SO GOOD!

Rey Gutierrez

Child of Eden (Q-Entertainment - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3)

With absolutely nothing new or fresh among the line-up of first-person shooters, 3D gaming, and other recycled franchises at E3 2010, Tetsuya Mizuguchi's spiritual successor to Rez was the only title that made me jump out of my seat when I got my first glimpse of the trailer.

Being a such a big fan of music, unique games and traditional shooters on rails (e.g., classic SNES Star Fox), Child of Eden got my heart racing. With possibilities of it coming to the PlayStation Move, I can only imagine how great it would be to play Child of Eden in 3D with a magical color-changing orb sticking out at the end of my PlayStation Move wand, guiding me through the game's epic journey. Mizuguchi, take me in your arms, I am yours.

Jonathan Holmes

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game (Ubisoft - Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network)

 
If a game can make you laugh out loud, squeal, and grit your teeth, as well as feel like a victim, a bad ass, and a true romantic all in the course of 30 seconds, it gets my full approval. That's what the Scott Pilgrim game did for me, and that was just watching other people play it. I didn't get very much time with the game myself, but I didn't need much time to know that it's got the makings of a true classic.

Dale North

Gran Turismo 5 (Polyphony Digital - PlayStation 3)

Wait, where are you going? I'm serious! No, I know it's been a million years that we've been expecting a release. Delay on top of delay. And I know we've played a ton of demos and half game releases and such, but I'm telling you now that it looks like it was worth the wait. Polyphony Digital's Kazunori Yamauchi told us that what I we saw at E3 was the closest thing to final that they could muster, and that the look and control is mostly there.

I'm here to tell you that I couldn't get enough. I couldn't play it enough. While things don't look that different in its current form, the level of polish -- on every corner and every turn -- is apparent. The game is a beautifully executed racing experience that puts you in this imaginary place where nothing else but the next turn matters. It's that trance-like state that the previous series games put me in, but now in glorious high definition.

What kills me is that I know my playtime hasn't scratched the surface. There's 1,000 cars, online features galore, and some crazy display tech that is just begging to be explored. I did get to try the game with a racing wheel, 3D display and a PlayStation Eye doing headtracking. That short experience was transcendent. When I think of E3, my mind always goes back to that. I want that. So bad.

Benjamin PerLee

Dance Central (Harmonix - Xbox 360)

Look, as a dumpy white guy, I'm not exactly the right demographic for breaking it down on the dance floor. It hasn't exactly stopped me in the game sphere, as I've spent many a quarter at Japanese titles like Dance Dance Revolution and Para Para Paradise. Unfortunately, those games don't ever replicate real dancing.

Harmonix's latest title, Dance Central, at least for me, looks like it might change that. Using Kinect in a way that actually sells the device, Dance Central was fun and dynamic, the dancing equivalent of rocking out on a plastic guitar. I must have spent an hour on the game between various parties and demos, and let's be clear, the game is quite fun. Sure, it probably won't teach me how to dance for real, but it certain replicates the feeling of being a dancer, and that, my friends, is when videogames are at their best. Dance Central is much more interesting than anything else Harmonix announced at this E3.

Matthew Razak

 

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Nintendo - Wii)

I'm a Zelda nerd and despite the technical glitches at the show, this looks like a fantastic addition to the series. From what I've heard from those who played it, it seems to work well and be in the fine tradition of Zelda games. The art style is pure win as well.

Samit Sarkar

 

Rage (id Software - Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC)

I saw footage from a live demo of id's upcoming first-person, post-apocalyptic, open-world RPG last week, and boy, was it impressive. The comparisons to Fallout 3 remain, but imagine if that game were running at 60 fps on a console, and then you've got an idea of how good Rage looks. Plus, there's car combat, and id has promised environmental variety beyond the arid desert landscapes that we've seen from the game so far. This one's definitely high on my radar for next year.

Jim Sterling

Kirby's Epic Yarn (Nintendo - Wii)

Honestly, do I need to really say anything else? Kirby. Made out of string. Nintendo's press conference was already kicking ass, but when this was announced, it had won everything that there ever was to win. It's Kirby and he's made out of string. It's like God decided to piss jellybeans directly into my mouth. That's what a winning idea this is. Seriously, Kirby made out of string. How many times do I have to say it? HE IS MADE OUT OF STRING! PINK STRING! OH YEAH, I DIDN'T MENTION THE STRING WAS PINK, DID I? IT'S PINK! IT'S PINK AS FUCK, SON! That is why Kirby's Epic Yarn is my game of E3.

Conrad Zimmerman

Shank (Klei Entertainment - Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network)

While it was certainly a big year filled with big games, the title that impressed me the most is this modest 2D brawler. Shank is highly accessible, with a simple control scheme that manages to offer a surprising range of attacks that can all fluidly chain together. Leaping through the air to pin an enemy, then turning to shoot his buddies that you jumped past before slicing your prone victim in half with a chainsaw never felt so easy. Featuring a beautiful and unapologetically violent visual design, Shank is the only game I walked away from feeling a physical need to experience more of.

"

The Bloodiest Game Of E3? [E3]

The Bloodiest Game Of E3? [E3]: "

I didn't play the original 1990s arcade game Splatterhouse. I told Crecente last week that the new one I played at E3 felt like a more violent God of War. Be careful, he warned me. More »

   

"

How Shank saved my E3

How Shank saved my E3: "

It was the end of E3. My body ached and my mind had gone numb from three days of sensory overload. All I could think about was being home, sleeping in my own bed. All I had left was one final appointment and it would all be over. By this point, the last thing I wanted to see was another videogame. But that's the job.

I steeled myself and met with the fine folks at Klei Entertainment. I wasn't prepared. I'd heard the title, Shank, in passing and it was vaguely on my radar as being a downloadable beat-em-up. I had no idea that, in spite of my physical and mental state, I was about to have an experience that would completely change my perspective on the last week of my life.

I met with Klei CEO Jamie Cheng and Creative Director Jeff Agala and had a seat. I explained that I wasn't familiar with their game and a controller was thrust into my hand. 'The easiest way to explain is to just play it,' said Jamie. He went over the controls; Three attacks on the face buttons, two grapples on the right shoulder, block and grenades on the left. Easy.

A brief animated cutscene and I was suddenly playing. At least, that was my intent. First, I spent a good bit of time unable to do anything but make the character run and jump around the screen because I was so stunned by the animation quality. Shank looks good no matter what he's doing. Every action he takes flows seamlessly together and gives him a physicality that's very enticing.

The stage in which I had landed was a atop moving train and it wasn't long before I was beset by enemies intent on making sure I didn't make it to the lead car. I leapt into the air to close distance, firing pistols on the way down. As soon as Shank hit the ground I had him moving into a slash with his namesake weapons followed by a chainsaw thrust forward ending in a kick which sent my last victim flying.

Suddenly, there was nobody left. It had all transpired in seconds yet it was so perfectly clear what had happened that I could remember every frame of the action. I felt empowered, invincible even, and that's what's so compelling about Shank.

It's all down to the simplicity of the game's controls, which allow for even inexperienced players to easily chain together combos. One button each for shank, chainsaw and gun attacks, each with high, medium and low profile actions determined by your position on the left thumbstick. By experimenting with the combinations, there's a huge range of possible ways to decimate all in Shank's path, and all are satisfying.

Grapples are especially joyous. There are two ways Shank can reach out and hold someone, either by getting in close for a grab or lunging across the screen at a more distant enemy and pinning them to the ground. While grappling with a foe, Shank can perform attacks on his victim with any of his weapons (or, in the case of his guns, anyone around him as well). Much to my delight, this includes grenades which finds Shank shoving one of the incendiary delights into the mouth of the enemy before booting him across the screen to detonate.

About halfway through the level lay a Shotgun, which I gleefully picked up. As one would hope, the gun is devastating at close range. While it might not kill everyone in a group, it will push back a crowd of enemies to give Shank a little breathing room.

The level design in the demo was simple and straightforward, but it's also a little hard to imagine how creative you can really get when mapping out a moving train stage. There were a few very simple sections of swinging, which feels more automated than anything else as Shank pretty much just honed in on the next place he had to grab coming out of a jump.

I wouldn't mind seeing more complex levels but I'll be perfectly satisfied if the full game keeps to the same level of simplicity. Shank is very nimble and easy to move about, even going so far as to provide considerable control over him while airborne. Platforming sections won't be a problem with this game, but the combat gameplay is compelling enough that they don't seem necessary.

Eventually the demo jumped ahead in the level to a boss encounter. Now at the front of the train, Shank was faced with an enemy vehicle that seemed a combination tank and troop carrier. Foes began leaping off the vehicle and on to the train as a series of missiles fired into the air to rain death from the skies. And, to add insult to injury, there are still guys standing on the tank firing guns backwards.

Fueled by bloodlust, I sent Shank in to do what he does best: Make me feel good about myself. The fight with the tank was far from simple, as there was plenty to dodge all the time. And, since Shank can't get into close combat with the tank as it rides in front of the train, combat options for taking down the boss were reduced to pistols and grenades. It was a long battle but, at its conclusion, Shank stood victorious and I sat in awe.

It was over. I was literally struck dumb by what I had just played. After struggling to find words, Jamie and I spoke a bit about the game's development. He told me about how the first three months were spent on little except getting Shank's running animations to look just right. I also learned that the game is completed and has already been sent off for certification in anticipation of its late summer release, first on PS3 followed by Xbox 360 at a later date.

As we spoke, my eyes kept going back to the screen. I thought about how I had felt as I walked in the door, exhausted, fifteen minutes prior. It's easy to fall into the trap of becoming jaded towards an event like E3, where it can feel like a constant dick-measuring contest and everybody claims they have the next big thing you need. But part of the power of games is that it only takes one brilliant experience to wash all of that away and remind us of why we got into this in the first place.

For me, this year, that game was Shank. As I sat in that room, still processing what had just happened, I grasped in my mind for the perfect question to ask the developers. But there was only one question I had left to ask.

'Can I play it again?'

"

Preview: NBA 2K11

Preview: NBA 2K11: "

There's a lot riding on NBA 2K11. Not only did 2K Games secure Michael Jordan -- a huge get -- but with EA looking to revitalize its basketball game with NBA Elite 11, there's more pressure on the NBA2K franchise than ever before. Being the top-selling basketball game across all platforms last year doesn't mean that NBA 2K11 can secure Jordan and then 'rest on its laurels and call it a day,' a 2K rep told me.

Gallery: NBA 2K11

Continue reading Preview: NBA 2K11

Preview: NBA 2K11 originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia N9 (or something) in the wild: 8 megapixel camera, American 3G?

Nokia N9 (or something) in the wild: 8 megapixel camera, American 3G?: "

We told you, didn't we? Whether you want to call this the N98, the N900's successor, or the N8 plus QWERTY, what you're looking at above is potentially the visage of Nokia's next smartphone. It's being dubbed the N9 by the folks at Negri Electronics, who also inform us it has an 8 megapixel imager on the back, 850 / 1900 3G bands (good for AT&T, Rogers, Telus, and Bell), and "ridiculous screen clarity." This sort of throws us for a loop, since we're looking at some straight Symbian action up there, whereas Nokia has told us directly that there'll be no more Symbian on the N Series after the N8. A clue to what might be going on is provided by the 'C0' label at the upper left corner of this device, suggesting that it could be a future C Series member. All we know is that the thing seems pretty real and it's headed to a full video review in the next few days. Yay!



[Thanks, Jason]

Nokia N9 (or something) in the wild: 8 megapixel camera, American 3G? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Square Enix To Allow Free Trading: Is This The Reason That 360 Has Had Its Final Fantasy?

Square Enix To Allow Free Trading: Is This The Reason That 360 Has Had Its Final Fantasy?: "


It came as something of a surprise to hear that the next installment in the Final Fantasy series will not be appearing on Xbox 360, only months after Square Enix’s phenomenally successful RPG made its debut on Microsoft’s console. As reported by Platform Nation’s own D Demitrius Smith, Final Fantasy XIV Online is heading to PS3 and PC only and the game’s director, Hiromichi Tanaka, gave an interesting reason for snubbing the 360 when talking to Eurogamer at E3: the limitations of Xbox Live. “The main reason why we couldn’t go with Xbox 360 was the Xbox Live system” he explained, citing the closed nature of XBL as an insurmountable obstacle to his team’s plans for the game.

The sticking point in negotiations with Microsoft would appear to be the fact that Microsoft’s network does not allow third party publishers much flexibility in designing their own business models. It’s difficult to see quite why this is such a problem to Square Enix, since the same is true of PSN in almost every respect. However, could it be that they plan to allow free trading of items between players in the upcoming MMO makeover of Final Fantasy? Allowing players to set their own prices for items or characters is something that’s difficult to imagine being possible on Microsoft’s console, whilst Sony’s eschewal of a proprietary currency like Microsoft Points means that such a bartering system could be far more easily implemented on PSN.

If this turns out to be the case (and you – possibly – read it here first!) then it’s bad news for Microsoft but great news for anyone who fancies adding a bit of haggle to their JRPG stew.

"

Review: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Review: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: "




The Metal Gear Solid series means something different to everybody. To some, the series symbolizes the full maturation of videogames as a narrative art form. For others, the series is a symbol of the revolting excess that has grasped the hearts of so many of today's game developers. Where you stand on the Metal Gear Solid franchise likely depends on how well you tolerate hour-long cut scenes, extremely complicated back-stories, and gravel-tongued voice acting.

For me, the Metal Gear Solid series represents the ultimate fusion of Hollywood logic, comic book logic, videogame logic, and real-life history. It's the place where all forms of modern visual storytelling come together. Whether you enjoy the games or not, you have to admit that synthesizing that many narrative languages into one style is something to be respected.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is technically the sixth entry in the Metal Gear Solid storyline, and the second for the PSP. It's a direct sequel to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops, but in many ways, it glosses over that underappreciated title, and instead takes its cues from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. It's also a lot like Monster Hunter Tri and Pokémon, with a little dash of Pooyan thrown in for good measure.

This is a weird game, even by Metal Gear Solid standards. Hit the jump to find out if it's any good.


Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (PlayStation Portable)
Developer: Kojima Productions
Publisher: Konami
Released: June 8, 2010
MSRP: $39.99

Within the first half hour of Peace Walker, you'll be using unexplained X-ray vision to look through a girl's clothes to check out her underwear while in the midst of a serious discussion regarding potential nuclear warfare. My first thought was, 'Yep, this is a Metal Gear game, alright.' After that, things get even weirder. The game manages to screw up the Metal Gear Solid gameplay formula something fierce, while simultaneously expanding on it in incredible ways. A lot of my favorite aspects of Peace Walker's direct predecessors, Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops and Metal Gear Solid 3, are notably absent from Peace Walker, but plenty of awesome additions have taken their place. It's a game that's pissed me off many times due to its shabby design, but for every moment of frustration, it offers two of absolute brilliance.

There's a lot to say here. Let's start with where the game goes wrong.

You know how in Metal Gear Solid games, it's exciting and fun to run away from enemy soldiers after you've been spotted? You're forced to go run and hide, usually by crawling on your belly under a truck or some shack, maybe a random piece of scaffolding. That's gone from Peace Walker. Sure, you can still get spotted by enemy soldiers, which sends them after you in droves, but the ability to crawl into hiding spots on your belly is gone. Now the thing to do is crouch near a wall, and shoot anyone who gets close to you in the face. You'll either get killed, or eventually kill more soldiers than the enemy is able to send after you. The danger is still there, but hiding doesn't really factor into the equation anymore. Metal Gear Solid 4's promise of 'No place to Hide(o)' has finally come to fruition, and it sort of sucks.



The game also combines archaic bits of design with modern action game conventions in a generally frustrating way. Its camera is pretty awful, particularly when you're on the run. No matter which control scheme you choose, there is no way to run, adjust the camera, and have full access to your various abilities at the same time. If you're trying to run and attack at the same time, you won't be able to adjust the camera. If the game utilized the classic Metal Gear Solid 1-3 overhead camera, that wouldn't be a problem, but instead, the camera is usually in tight, making anything to the left or right, or behind you, nearly impossible to see. Maybe to compensate for that, Snake now has regenerating health.

Lie on your stomach for long enough, and you'll start to get your health back. This greatly decreases your need for health items. In fact, I ran out of ammo in the game much more often than I ran out of rations of corn chips. That caused me to waste at least an hour or two fighting against bosses, surviving due to my healing factor, but in the end, being forced to lose because I eventually ran out of ammo. That made the game less fun, and the only reason for it comes down to Kojima Productions' attempt to copy the modern, Western-style shooter. It's sad to see Metal Gear chasing after the design choices of newer (and in my opinion, lesser) games, and it's irritating to see them fail in the process.



Those are all the things that initially bugged me about the game. Over time, probably near the halfway mark of the game, none of them really bothered me anymore. It's not that they didn't impact my enjoyment of the game; it's just that my standards had changed. They didn't call this game Metal Gear Solid 5 for a reason: it's just not quite up to the standards of the numbered games in the series.

Once I accepted that and really got into the game, I learned to love it, and there really is a lot to love here. For starters, the game shows us the final chapter in Naked Snake's story. Despite a few unlikely rendezvous that feel a little forced at times, this is one of the better Metal Gear stories -- it's more economically expressed and direct that most other games in the series.

Peace Walker marks a major turning point for the Metal Gear story as a whole. It's also an interesting standalone character study of Naked Snake. Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops showed the man in transition between being a lone soldier and a leader. By the end of Peace Walker, he is 100% Big Boss, having come to terms with who he is and what he believes in relative to the world around him, and to the memory of his beloved mentor. The Boss's shadow is over Naked Snake for nearly all of the game, which makes for some interesting narrative while closely tying the game to Metal Gear Solid 3.



Speaking of Metal Gear Solid 3, if you ever wanted to see Ashley Wood adapt the game into a comic book (as he did with Metal Gear Solid 1 and 2), this is the closest you're going to get. Mr. Wood is the guest artist for the game, tasked with illustrating most of the game's cut scenes, and his work here is strikingly beautiful. It's also animated much of the time, and though additional frames of animation are few and far between, things are still smooth and convincing, particularly when the game's brutal, creepy machines rear their ugly... heads? CPUs?

The game lacks the kind of one-on-one boss fights between Snake and similarly silly-named soldiers that Metal Gear Solid fans have come to expect, but it makes up for it with a series of man-on-mech battles that are simply astounding. These fights can be extremely tough, and they require a lot of time, patience, risk-taking, and strategy. Many of the game's campaign missions are fairly forgettable (rescue the P.O.W.s, get to the escape route in a limited amount of time), but the game's boss fights will sit with me for a long time. That's not even including the amazing cameos from multiple Monster Hunter bosses, unlocked by hardworking players who are willing to jump through a few hoops. Combining these dino-dragons with traditional Metal Gear action is surprisingly seamless.



Part of that is because of the game's four-player online co-op. It feels like Monster Hunter, and it really works. Like I previously mentioned, the game also has its moments of reverence to Japan's other super-huge portable RPG, Pokémon. Using the ridiculous-but-radical Fulton delivery system, Snake can kidnap and convert any enemy soldier into a member of his Outer Heaven army. By the end of the game, you'll have collected hundreds of soldiers (even one based on Kojima himself) who can be put to work on any number of things. You can even take them out to war in a watered-down, auto-combat, Advance Wars-style tactical mini-game.

This isn't the first time you could convert enemies to Snake's side. Catching 'em all was also a major part of Portable Ops. But Peace Walker takes those ideas and really fleshes them out. Raising the levels of your army and your weapons, as well as using your team and your skills to discover new items and new secrets, are all regular events. You can also capture tanks, helicopters, and other various (ahem) 'gears.' Where Portable Ops gave you the feeling of forming your own guerrilla task force, Peace Walker puts you in charge of creating a full-on army. To quote that lady in that song, 'What a thrill...'



I know I'm forgetting something. Did I mention that the graphics are fantastic? Probably not. Did I mention that instead of an iPod, the game arms you with a Sony Walkman? Probably not. Did I get into the game's deep connection to the ethics of war, the meaning of peace, and the concept of real-world nuclear deterrents? Definitely not, because doing that topic any justice at all would probably take ten paragraphs on its own. In fact, this is a review that could easily go on for days. The game is really that dense with features and extras. I've been at it for more than 20 hours, and I'm sure there's still more I haven't seen.

In closing, I love this game. It's not quite a show-stopper like Metal Gear Solid 4, or the total package like Metal Gear Solid 3, but in many ways, it's the most progressive game in the Metal Gear Solid series since the original. There are some painful flaws to how Peace Walker plays, and a lot of the missions are forgettable though fun, but those issues weren't enough to keep me from having a great time with this game. There is enough greatness to compensate for a crappy camera and the loss of belly crawling. I give the game an...

Score: 8.0 -- Great (8s are impressive efforts with a few noticeable problems holding them back. Won't astound everyone, but is worth your time and cash.)






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