Ukrainian developer 4A Games took advantage of E3 to pre-pimp their work in Metro: Exodus, the third interactive installment and member of the growing cross-media phenomenon that began with Dmitry Glukhovksy’s brilliant novel Metro 2033. Let’s recap before the news.
This column is doubtless more ironic given my far tamer thoughts on the Xbox One – and console wars in general – I shared with Ben Hoyt just a few days ago. But then E3 happened, and E3 changes everything. Sony is ascendant in the court of public opinion, though by the time I hit “Publish” that could have changed. In a way, though, this Culture Clash column is about a different, subtler clash of cultures than the usual gaming world/nongaming world: gamers who watch and gamers who don’t. All the major companies in this business depend on the majority being gamers who don’t – consumers who don’t follow the industry, don’t study trends, and don’t make decisions based on complex topics like DRM and licensing. Those are the ones who line up in their thousands outside of Best Buy each new console release; those are the ones who move the product, and because they don’t watch, because they don’t care, those are the ones on which Microsoft and Sony alike depend to move their products. Gamers who watch are suspicious. Gamers who don’t may not realize what they’ve put their foot in until all the GameStops shut down. Enjoy!
I have no news, previews, or other soundbytes for Tap today, since I’m not at That Noisy Convention. I am returning instead with a short contemplation about my weekend at Origins in Columbus. My first day at the convention turned out to be slightly unsavory (in retrospect). So here, I’ll concentrate only on the last day.
Some screenshots of thatgamecompany’s follow-up to the tree hugging-floaty-petal fest Flower have leaked on to the net and after the amount of leaks I’ve had to fix over the last few weeks I can honestly say, this is my sort of leak. The game is called Journey and involves exploring a mysterious and desolate land not too dissimilar in appearance to… oh why bother, judging from the screenshot above, you should know the answer to …
Two beloved semi-indie developers made a return today at E3. Éric Chahi, best known for his obscure but adored adventure Another World, has announced Project Dust as a PSN/XBLA download for 2011. Kotaku described it as “a little bit Populous, a little bit Black & White,” which doesn’t sound too bad to me, except the Black & White part. Meanwhile Rez creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi promised an even better experience with Child of Eden, a new …
Suddenly no more amusing notes from Aperture Sciences or assurances that Surprises are coming, no more tantalizing videos or you-need-to-invert-it-in-Photoshop graphics leaks. Valve announced this morning, via a curt email to journo/analysts, that its press event for E3 has been canceled. The beloved developer will have a booth on the expo floor and that’s it. Technical problems before a big reveal? Or an internal decision that said reveal wasn’t kickass enough? Half Life 2 also …
I take back what I said about Steam being evil because it made me buy Alpha Protocol. How can you hate Valve? Those guys crack me up. Big outlets (read: not us) got an announcement today, regretfully informing them that the Portal 2 event at E3 was canceled. But as is always the case with Valve, there’s more to it than that.
If you aren’t aware, and as I haven’t seen much coverage on XCOM since Steerpikes last post on its development, alongside the revelation that 2K Marin were the developers leading the charge, I thought it would be nice to give those of you who don’t buy PC Gamer (before press coverage at E3 goes wild) the opportunity to feast your eyes on a couple of screen shots (7 in total) I managed to get my hands on. …
Jeez, people. They call this “E3 Day Zero” for a reason, you know. Nothing’s supposed to happen. Half the exhibitors are still setting up. And instead we get Valve announcing Left 4 Dead 2, to ship scarcely a year after the first? We get Remedy’s promise that Alan Wake is really really real, and will see a 2010 release? We get Microsoft’s Minority Report-inspired Natal Project, allowing us to poke our fingers at the air …
The Electronic Entertainment Expo officially kicks off tomorrow, but the press has already descended on Los Angeles and secret behind the scenes goings-on are have begun. While ESA Prez Michael Gallagher has insisted that this year is not a return to the huge and wild E3s of old, there’s definitely a sense that compared to the disappointments of the last two years, this show will at least try to recapture some of the event’s former …