Gamernode: Latest E3 2008 News

E3 Preview: FaceBreaker

My next preview covers EA Freestyle's upcoming arcade boxing title, FaceBreaker. Announced a short while ago, many were looking forward to hearing more about the game and seeing if it would live up to the already enormous amount of hype it's receiving. Short answer? Yes. It does.

Long answer? Read the preview, which you can find by clicking the full story and then clicking over to the preview HERE.

This is the first of many more previews tonight from our hotel here in Los Angeles. Keep your reading orbs peeled, and your pants ready people, because some of these games will blow your mind. (And, admittedly, some won't.)

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E3 Preview: Resistance PSP

Rather than wait until getting back to the hotel tonight, I took some of my free time here at the Los Angeles Convention Center to write a preview on one of the few surprise announcements thus far: Resistance: Retribution. With a demonstration by the Sony Bend guys followed by some time playing the game, you can learn all about Sony's upcoming handheld blockbuster in my E3 preview.

If you're one of those Wikipedia nuts, go ahead and feel free to use it to source all kinds of information on its new Wikipedia page. You have both my--and Sony's--blessings.

Find the preview HERE.

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E3: Bungie's announcement killed by publisher

There has been a good amount of buzz during the year about what Bungie's plans were regarding its next game. Some people speculated that it would be another Halo game, but without Master Chief. E3 was seen as the natural venue for Bungie to reveal the game.

But yesterday, Bungie sent out a cryptic statement saying that they were sorry and couldn't say anything at E3 because their publisher changed their plans and put the breaks on the planned announcement.

The letter, from Harold Ryan, president of Bungie, stated:

"For the last several months, we've been building toward a reveal of something exciting that Bungie is working on, we were looking forward to sharing that with out fan community during the week of E3. However, those plans were just changed by our publisher.

We realize that many of f...

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E3: Mirror's Edge brings unique gameplay

One of the more interesting games to come out of E3 this year is a title called Mirror's Edge by EA. It puts you in the shoes of a "courier" who must run, slide and jump from building to building to complete your goal. The view is always in first-person, making it a very smooth. fluid and somewhat surreal experience. Check out some of the gameplay footage with commentary below.

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E3: Video rental service now available on PS3

As mentioned yesterday at Sony's press conference, Sony teamed up with Warner, Fox, Lion's Gate, Disney, MGM and others to bring video rental to the PS3. Jack Tretton then reminded us that video will be fully integrated into the PlayStation Store. The interface is setup for smooth and quick access to all of your favorite movies and TV shows by seperating the them by genre, studio, etc.

Many new movies are available through the PlayStation Store at the moment, approximately 85 are currently ready for download in standard definition. There will be more movies and TV shows giving you a choice between standard definition or high definition viewing, downloaded straight to your PS3 and becoming viewable within one minute of downloading. 

According to PSN's Eric Lempel, it takes about an hour to do...

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E3: PS3 exclusive promises 256 man multiplayer

People get excited when they hear about 64 person multiplayer capability. But how about 256 online players in a game? Sony's PS3 exclusive, MAG (Massive Action Game) promises to do just that.

MAG will feature squads of eight players each, which will allow up to 256 players at one time for combat missions.

A short video was presented during the Sony presser, which showed the game off in a modern day combat zone. The troops were on foot and were hit by an air strike.

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E3: Another price cut for PS3. 360 now more expens...

In an ironic turn of events, Sony has announced that it is shaving $100 off of its 80GB PS3, making Sony's game console cheaper than Microsoft's top of the line Elite Xbox 360, which clocks in at a hefty $449 while the 80GB PS3 comes in at a relatively light $399.

Sony also plans to cut the 40GB PS3 from production, which will help clear the air of the numerous iterations of the PS3, which has evolved in various flavors of 20GB, 40GB, 60GB, and now finally, the 80GB model.

The drop in price squarely contradicts Nobuyuki Oneda, Sony's CFO, when he stated only days before that Sony's "plan is not to reduce the price." Either he was left out of the loop or he was trying to deflect the speculations that many have held about another price break with the PS3.

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E3: Animal Crossing is coming to the Wii

If you have been lamenting the fact that there hasn't been a new Animal Crossing game for quite a while, you can put those concerns to rest because Animal Crossing: City Folk is coming to the Wii.

Katsuya Eguchi, creator of the game, announced the new title at E3 via video and said, "I wanted to create a software where players could feel like they are playing together [even] if they are playing at different times"

By this we take it to mean that even if players around the world are in different time zones, they'll still be able to join together in doing errands or visiting with each other.

The Animal Crossing games have a feature that has gameplay locked to the real-time clock of the game machine. So if it is nighttime while you are playing in the real world, the game mimics the time in the ...

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E3: GTA: Chinatown Wars coming to the DS

There is going to be a new Grand Theft Auto game coming out and this time around, it's going on the DS. Nintendo says that GTA: Chinatown Wars is slated for release for winter.

GTA: CW will have an entirely new storyline and will utilize the unique touch screen interface of the DS to navigate through the huge virtual world.

Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar games said, "This is a game that will deliver a rich, fast-paced and intense 'Grand Theft Auto' experience that will be truly unique to Nintendo's handheld platform. Rockstar Leeds, along with the team at Rockstar North, has built upon a decade of progressive design on Grand Theft Auto, and has created something fundamentally fresh and immerse."

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E3: Wii Music announced by Nintendo

Guitar Hero and Rock Band define what music games are all about. But let's face it, not everyone has rhythm or an ear for music. To counteract this dismal state of affairs for some, Nintendo has announced the next in music games named Wii Music for, what else, the Wii.

This game will differ quite a bit from the competition. There won't be the typical rhythm and timing that is so crucial in playing the other music games. In Wii Music there won't be any timing at all.

The idea behind this game is to allow anyone to jam to music without the worry of trying to be on beat. How this is accomplished is still a mystery but Nintendo is hoping that wannabe musicians will take to this game like ducks to water.

Shigeru Miyamoto said, "This game is one of the titles we started designing around Wii Sports,...

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E3 trailer: Ghostbusters: The Video Game

A few hours ago, the first official trailer (ie not teaser) was released for the upcoming Ghostbusters game. Starring the four main actors from the Ghostbusters movies, but not Rick Moranis, the developers obviously want you to recognize that it is tied in with the movies. If that weren't enough of a hint, the constant splicing of real life and game footage in the trailer should be a dead giveaway.

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See the gorgeous new Final Fantasy XIII trailer

Along with the industry quaking announcement that Final Fantasy XIII would no longer be exlclusive to the Playstation 3 comes a brand new video trailer.

It never ceases to amaze me how Square Enix is constantly reinventing themselves with the Final Fantasy series. Every single game is fully unique and utterly different. From the combat systems to the graphical style, with every new installment you can expect to be completely surprised.

Take Final Fantasy XIII for example; consider how far of a departure this game is from Final Fantasy XII. XII was bathed in brown medieval styled surroundings. It was anything but flashy. XIII is the epitome of the flashy, colorful style one would come to expect out of an anime.

In the newest trailer we get a better look at that style. See for yourself:

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Follow GN on twitter at E3

Want to know what's going on in the minds of the GamerNode staff at E3? If so, and if you don't want to wait until the evening for the previews and columns and features (oh my) to go up, you can follow them on twitter.

Here are their twitter pages:

Brendon - http://twitter.com/ahnonamis

Eddie - http://twitter.com/italianbreadman

Kyle - http://twitter.com/coyotegrey

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Into The Pixel photojournal

GamerNode's first day in the clear-skied city of Los Angeles for the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit was rather uneventful, but Dave, Brendon, and I did manage to get ourselves registered for the event and attend the General E3 Reception and Into The Pixel Art Exhibition at the LA Convention Center.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the Entertainment Software Association, and the Prints & Drawings Council of LACMA hosted the event, and we were more than happy to eat all their food and take a few pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Click through to see the full gallery of artwork:

Into The Pixel

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The Lindsey Chronicles 08: #1: The first day of E3...

*Welcome to The Lindsey Chronicles 08! Last E3, I kept a running journal of the events of each day on GamerNode. People seemed to enjoy it, so I'm taking the time to do it again. I could be relaxing right now, eating dinner, or even watching a movie--but no. I'm writing this so you people there can see what we people here are up to.*

The sun is setting on the first day of E3, allowing many of the attendees to come out from beneath their rocks and move free from fear of the harmful UV rays' effects on their pasty white skin. So far, it's been a day of wins and failures, but to be fair most of it has been pretty failtacular when all things are considered.

I began my journey (like usual) driving to PDX to fly down to LA for E3. No traffic; sweet. Got to my flight on time, it wasn't delayed, ...

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E3: MS boasts PlayStation games have a new home

With the blockbuster announcement that Final Fantasy XIII will be appearing on the Xbox 360 as well as the PS3, Microsoft took a few minutes to crow about their newfound conquered territory...namely PlayStation games.

At the packed LA Convention Center this morning, Don Mattrick, head of Microsoft's interactive entertainment business division, said: "[Final Fantasy XIII] is another astonishing addition to our array of RPG titles. "It shows that a long list of former PlayStation franchises are now finding a new home on 360. It's happened with Guitar Hero, it's happened with Madden and now it's happening with Resident Evil and Final Fantasy. "Xbox 360 is now feeding the experience of fierce gaming loyalists whilst walking everyone into interactive entertainment. What do today's announcemen...

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E3: Full Rock Band 2 list released

Microsoft has just announced that Rock Band 2 will be released as a timed exclusive this September for the Xbox 360. Among the artists adorning this new iteration of Rock Band will be the likes of axel rose, ACDC and rock legend, Bob Dylan.

The full list of 84 tracks for Rock Band 2 are:

1.AC/DC "Let There Be Rock" 1970s, 2. AFI "Girl's Gone Grey" 2000's, 3. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know" 1990's, 4. Alice in Chains "Man in the Box" 1990's, 5. Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man" 1970's, 6. Avenged Sevenfold "Almost Easy" 2000's, 7. Bad Company "Shooting Star" 1970's,  8. Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want" 1990's, 9. Beck "E-Pro" 2000's, 10. Bikini Kill "Rebel Girl" 1990's, 11. Billy Idol "White Wedding Pt. I" 1980's, 12. Blondie "One Way or Another" 1970's, 13. Bob Dylan "Tangled Up ...

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E3: XBLA continues to outpace competitors

Microsoft marched out more than a couple of their major blockbusters onto the stage today, but it wasn't just the big names that were catching eyes. Xbox Live Arcade also held it's own with an impressive showing.

The first change was the new implementation of avatars into the Live environment. These will, in practice, be exactly like a mish-mashing of all the best ideas from Sony's Home avatars and Nintendo's Miis.

Apparently, the new avatars will be playable in upcoming games like a Mii, but players will also be able to customize them and buy it clothes and whatnot, like a Home avatar.

Also on the announcement list was the first true sequel to Galaga in twenty years, coming to Xbox Live soon. Geometry Wars 2: Retro Evolved will also be coming to Xbox Live Arcade soon, and was revealed to be ...

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E3: Natsume shows off lineup of games

Natsume announced its E3 lineup of games and by the looks of it there are lots of RPG titles coming our way in addition to casual gaming and educational titles.

Hiro Maekawa, president and CEO at Natsume said:

"From all-new games that expand on the Harvest Moon series to an original-IP, Princess Debut, a dance and adventure game for girls, we will have plenty of family-friendly interactive entertainment for everyone in the household."

Natsume's list shows the following titles:

Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness - RPG (DS)

Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility - RPG (Wii)

Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon - RPG (DS)

Princess Debut - Dancing game (DS)

Hamtaro - Kid's educational game (DS)

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E3: Fallout 3 gameplay details

Besides the fact that Fallout 3 still looks as amazing as ever, we were treated with a video that shows its unique gameplay mechanics. It looks as if you can switch between first and third person view, the latter being the default.

The physics and lighting look amazing as our character shoots off an enemy's arm in a shower of blood and gore.

We saw the PIP BOY 3000, and its skills, stats and perks that are associated with it. Also the player had the bloody mess perk activated, which makes people explode in gobs of blood. He turned on the radio in the PipBoy to listen while walking.

The game will feature over 100 hours of gameplay and the ability to go and explore almost every building you cross. The VAT system is a mechanic where you are allowed to pause the game and choose which body part ...

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