BitSnark

One nice little surprise which popped up from Ubisoft’s E3 media briefing was Project DUST.

A strange, yet captivatingly beautiful title, it appears to revolve around primitive tribes utilising the power of the earth to varying effect. But to what end? Nobody knows.

More than anything, it reminds me of what an updated version of Peter Molyneux’s Populous title would look like if it was made nowadays. Apart from that, there is very little else which is known about this visually staggering and conceptually mysterious downloadable title.

I’ll be very eager to see more of this one.

Take a look at the trailer below and see if you can understand:

Have you ever wondered what Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi has been up to lately? Well, now we know. Child of Eden is the name of his latest psychedelic work and in it players must use either Kinect or Move motion controls depending on their system of choice, to move and shoot different objects and shapes in line with the rhythm of the music.

Dependably surreal as you might be expect, but still likely pretty damn playable and enjoyable.

Take a peek at the trailer below for your fix of alternative J-music infused insanity.

Go nuts:

Due this Holiday season on Wii, PC, 360 & PS3, Ubisoft has unveiled the next entry in the Driver series of games; Driver: San-Francisco.

Story-wise the game takes place some twelve months after the events seen in Driv3r (are we still admitting that piece of shit exists?), with the Detective Tanner taking on arch-enemy Jericho.

Gameplay-wise it’s business as usual really, you chase down perps using any means available to you and you can still get out of your car and interact as you could do in the previous two titles in the series. Even though the game is supposedly new, it already looks tired, boasting very little you can’t do as a side mission in the much more grandiose GTA IV.

The one (somewhat implausible) ace it does have up it’s sleeve is the ‘Shift’ mechanic, which basically allows you to ‘jump’ from one car to the next, kinda like motor possession or something. If that sounds retarded, just wait until you hear the narrative justification for it.

After having a crash which put him into a coma he didn’t realise(!), Tanner apparently gains a new kind of power which allows him to shift (wink) his spirit from one car to the next. So for example, if you find yourself spinning out uncontrollably after a crash, you can use shift to switch to an overhead view and pick the nearest car for you to shift into.

In desperately trying to make itself stand out somehow, anyhow, from the GTA IV crowd, it seems all that has been achieved, at least on the evidence of Ubisoft’s presentation is that the fundamentals have once again been so cruelly undercooked and neglected.

There are under six months until the game gets it’s release, I don’t see much changing between now and then.

For you curious folk, there is a link below to the Driver: SF demonstration that Ubisoft put on last night:

With the exception of the Michael Jackson dancing game (i’m going to pretend that didn’t happen from this point on), Ubisoft had a good start keeping asses firmly in seats with a demonstration of their previously unknown 2D rayman title; Rayman Origins.

Debuting on XBLA and PSN, this game looked every bit the arty, humourous and characterful 2D platform title that makes you happy to realise that occasionally, just occasionally, developers can tell that third dimension to fuck right off at no detriment to the game.

The art style is simply superb. Boasting a look that is equal parts Henry Sellick and Nickoloden cartoon, Rayman Origins looks simply sublime with its crazy forests, thirty-eyed monsters and dark, silhouetted stages which are all brought to lush, virbrant life.

Gameplay-wise, our hero appears to have retained much of his original head-twirling and foe smacking arsenal. This time however, additional comic relief and co-op abilities come in the form of his strange new blue friend (apologies, I wouldn’t have a clue where to start classifying him) who can help Rayman by hitting an enemy or being used as a trampoline to reach previously inaccessible ledges.

No date has been given for this most pleasant surprise, but we can only hope it is soon.

Real soon.

Oh yeah, you’ll be wanting a trailer to go with that won’t you?

Perhaps the showstealer in EA’s whole briefing, few can deny that People Can Fly’s/Epic Games’ Bulletstorm is a true shot in the arm for what has been a stagnating FPS genre.

So, just how do you go about making FPS’s fresh again?

The on-screen demonstration looked like a wet dream of violence, style and colourful language. Starting off, the player would swing down to a platform, kick a steel door across a room, squashing the enemy that was stood behind it against the far wall and then proceed to obliterate everybody else in the room with electro-whips and by kicking them into electrical generators.

Each time an action is made by the player that wounds, maims or outright kills one of the bad guys they get points for it as indicated on the HUD. Kill more people in as many new and exciting ways as possible and watch those points rack up.

With a constant, frenetic pace of relentless violence, coupled with an innovative and addictive points system and a firmly tongue-in-cheek storyline, Bulletstorm is the perfect alternative to folks who are bored and saturated with stuff old modern day *realistic* shooters. I was giggling like a little (contented) psycho all the way through the whole retina-searing presentation. I don’t ever remember any game that has made me do that.

THAT is how you make FPS’s fresh again.

Bulletstorm is due to tear its way into our lives on February 25th 2011 on PS3, PC and 360 systems.

Take a look at the batshit insane demonstration below:

An important part of the EA E3 media briefing was their forthcoming mixed martial arts title; EA MMA. Peter Moore said he was very proud of the game that they had created, touting the title’s accessibility, strategy and timing over the complex button combination of ‘other’ titles (Well, there is only one other really).

The best news to come out of all of that EA MMA love was that the release date for the game has been confirmed as October 19th for 360 and PS3 consoles.

Russian Sambo submission machine Fedor Emelianenko and American Greco-Roman wrestling legend Randy Couture were also confirmed as the cover guys for the title.

It looks accomplished enough, but dammit, where is my demo EA?

The 360 version of Crysis 2 was demonstrated to the crowd at EA’s media briefing and whilst very impressive to look at, didn’t appear to offer much in the way of the ‘multiple choices’ and sandbox stylings that Crytek were keen to emphasise.

Still Crysis 2 was quite a spectacle to watch, with the game looking every bit the epic shooter that has been promised, with huge amounts of destructable scenery, explosions, firefights and some of the best texturing yet seen on next-gen consoles. It really was a treat for the eyes.

Speaking of eyes, Crytek also confirmed that Crysis 2 will boast stereoscopic 3D on all three platforms when it launches this Autumn on PS3, PC and 360.

The Crysis 2 demonstration can be seen below. Make sure your sat leaning on a pillow so that your jaw doesn’t strike anything hard when it hits the floor:

During their E3 presser last night, EA revealed a new kind of reward scheme called the ‘Gun Club’, which rewards players who buy EA published shooter titles.

The idea is that the more of their shooters you buy, the points you earn and as we all know points mean prizes and the prizes in question here are early beta access and of course, special edition weaponry.

An example of this is Battlefield: Bad Company 2 VIP owners and the forthcoming Medal of Honor beta that was mentioned previously. Bad Company 2 VIP owners who pre-order Medal of Honor get a shot at the beta four days before anyone else, as well as access to the M24 sniper rifle contained within the game.

I personally think it’s a good idea, being rewarded for games that you otherwise would buy or pre-order seems like a no-brainer to me. Especially as it costs you nothing to do so.

You can sign up for EA’s Gun Club at the link below:

http://www.gunclub.ea.com/

Dead Space 2 was shown to the captivated crowds at this years E3 to much fanfare. The series’ visceral stylings return with our hero able to decapitate mutant babies (don’t ask) with new and interesting mining tools and nail the more traditional Necromorph foe to the wall with a lovely new nail gun which can literally split one of them in half. Ouch.

Gameplay-wise very little appeared to have changed, with the usual mix of opening doors, collecting key cards and carving up Necromorphs present and accounted for in this sequel.

Visually however the game looks quite extraordinary, with the game no longer set in a claustrophobic spaceship but rather an abandoned city, the game appears to be a lot more epic than its predecessor with our hero Issac taking the fight to the monsters in a church, a basement, a high-rise tower and many other locations too.

Cryptically, at the end of the demo it was said ‘If you thought this was a cliff-hanger, it is. Watch the Sony conference tomorrow to the see how it ends’. Indicating that some sort of Sony-centric exclusivity may be afoot.

Dead Space 2 is due to arrive on European 360 and PS3 platforms on January 28th 2011.

The live demonstration of the title can be seen at the link below:

Sick of all those drones, those snowy levels and of course those piss-annoying gun turrets?

Well get ready for the first expansion pack announced for EA’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Bad Company 2 – Vietnam. No doubt bringing back memories of Battlefield: Vietnam on the PC, this first expansion pack for Bad Company 2 whisks players back in time to dirty jungle combat, napalm, Agent Orange and of course, Ride of the Valkyries.

Not much was shown in the nearly one minute teaser trailer, but the announcement of such a pack is certainly welcome, especially in the light of concerns of just how well DICE would be supporting Bad Company 2 post launch.

Bad Company 2 – Vietnam is due sometime this Winter on 360, PS3 and PC platforms.

The teaser trailer can be seen below: