MTV Multiplayer › e3 2009

by John Constantine

Konami knows which side its bread is buttered on. The Hideo Kojima side! Kojima Productions fourth project announced at Konami’s press conference is “Metal Gear Arcade”, a brand new cabinet amusement based on “Metal Gear Online”. The game is currently only set to release in Japan but Konami hopes to release the game worldwide.

The cabinets were only shown in an incredibly small picture, but Kojima said that they would be networked across the country and feature specialized controls to reproduce the “Metal Gear Online” experience. Not only that, but the cabinets will be equipped with specialized goggles because the game will be 3D. 3D like sci-fi movies in the 1950s, not like polygons. Neat!

Tags e3 2009, hideo kojima, konami, metal gear arcade

by John Constantine

Sony Online Entertainment treated me to a short demo of their massively multiplayer online shooter “The Agency” today and while they’ve certainly made themselves a multiplayer online shooter, it’s unclear just how massive it’s going to be.

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Tags e3 2009, soe, sony, the agency

by John Constantine

Sorry “Wii Fit” fans. While the upgrades in “Wii Fit Plus” may not seem worth spending fifty more dollars on another disc, current balance board enthusiasts will not be able to download the new package’s upgrades. During a Nintendo booth tour at E3, Nintendo PR rep Kit Ellis confirmed that the new yoga and strength exercises, as well as the workout planner, in “Wii Fit Plus” will not be offered via WiiWare. He also confirmed that the current “Wii Fit” software will be completely phased out, so anyone buying a “Wii Fit” and balance board package in the few months before “Plus”’s fall release will be out of luck.

Tags e3 2009, nintendo, wii fit plus

by John Constantine

The “Ratchet & Clank” series is the Volkswagon Golf of video games, an unassuming, funny, reliable little machine that gets a new model every twelve months, quietly improving with each passing year. When project lead Brian Alger fired up a demo of this fall’s “Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time”, I was expecting the usual: more weapons, new jokes, etc. “A Crack in Time” turned out to be a lot more than this year’s model.

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Tags e3 2009, insomniac, playstation 3, ratchet & clank, sony

by John Constantine

When Hideo Kojima walked on stage at Konami’s E3 press conference this afternoon, announcing that he was going to be showing off four games that Kojima Productions is working on, you could literally hear the crowd start holding their breath. They let out that breath as screams when the fourth game turned out to be ‘Castlevania: Lords of Shadow’.

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Tags castlevania, e3 2009, konami

by John Constantine

When you’re brought in to make an original game based on one of the most popular film franchises in history, your hands are usually tied to all kinds of characters, story elements and setting. Propaganda is taking the road less traveled with their action role-playing game “Pirates of the Caribbean: Armada of the Damned”. No Jack Sparrow, no Orland Bloom Keira Knightley make-out sessions here. The game is all about you and you are the baddest ass pirate n the high seas.

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Tags disney, e3 2009, pirates of the caribbean

by John Constantine

Shigeru Miyamoto picked up a controller to demonstrate some of the fun you can have in “New Super Mario Bros Wii” during the Developer’s Rountable. He was then killed by a penguin. It just goes to show, just because you’re a creative genius doesn’t mean that you have the play skills to pay the bills. While chatting about “NSMBWii”’s four-player platforming, Miyamoto played up the Wii’s horsepower, saying that the multiplayer was only possible thanks to the Wii’s processing power. Nintendo is knocked often for the Wii’s diminutive tech, but “New Super Mario Bros Wii” seems to making the very most of it. Still can’t play it online though.

Tags e3 2009, new super mario bros wii, nintendo

by John Constantine

This game is in the running for “Biggest E3 Surprise of All Time”. Just look at the facts. With Nintendo re-releasing the “Metroid Prime” trilogy on a single disk, you’d think they were winding down the series, trying to placate fans with one last package. Nintendo R&D 1 hasn’t worked on the “Metroid” series in five years and their last all new franchise entry was “Metroid Fusion” in 2002. And Team Ninja, well, “Dead or Alive” and “Ninja Gaiden” aren’t exactly games that jive with Nintendo’s family friendly, “Everyone’s Game” ethos. Yet here is “Metroid: Other M” in all its glory, co-developed by Team Ninja and R&D 1.

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Tags e3 2009, metroid: other m, nintendo, team ninja, Wii

by John Constantine

Shigeru Miyamoto, Eiji Aonuma and the “Legend of Zelda” team have been talking. They’ve been talking about what “Zelda” is and what a new “Zelda” can be. Sadly, they’re still in the discussion process. Miyamoto explained that as much as he wanted to have a new “Zelda” for Wii to show at E3 2009, they’re still in an experimental phase with the game. Not wanting to leave everyone at the Developer’s Roundtable empty handed, he shared a piece of concept art for the game with us. The image featured a very “Twilight Princess”-looking Link standing behind a shrouded, childlike blue figure. Not a whole lot to go on, but still a sip of cool water in a “Zelda”-less desert. Miyamoto hopes to have a WiiMotion Plus enabled “Zelda” to show at E3 2010.

Tags e3 2009, nintendo, shigeru miyamoto, Wii, zelda

John Constantine

Mario and Luigi are not unfamiliar with multiplayer gaming. The original “Mario Bros” had simultaneous two-player action that was equal parts cooperation and competition and “New Super Mario Bros” had its own devoted one-on-one competitive mode that saw the brothers battling it out for stars in endlessly scrolling levels. There has, however, never been anything quite like “New Super Mario Bros Wii”. It’s a traditional, old school Mario platformer with sidescrolling levels full of secret paths, hidden rooms, and littered with Goombas, Koopas, and edible, body-morphing mushrooms. Four people can play through these levels at the same time. Sweet.

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Tags e3 2009, new super mario bros wii, nintendo, Wii