E3 2011 - Day One recap

Trailer bonanza

This year I have mostly been following excellent GameTrailers stream - all the information from E3, with only slight delay (and they use remixed jingle from Lumines, don't think I didn't catch that!). Let's start chronologically, with Microsoft conference. I don't have Xbox360 and I don't really care about the games on the system, but I watched the stream nevertheless and here are my thoughts:

Mass Effect 3

I got bored by Mass Effect 1 (despite having made my mirror image in it), so I was rather indifferent - until I saw the video which showcases how Kincet can be used to catch voice commands. What's so impressive about it? Well, for one, player can actually choose Sheppard's responses by reading the lines from the screen and secondly, they can give squad orders by shouting in front of their console. Seriously: advance, fall back, fire! Immersion level goes throught the roof, it is like physically being there. I didn't expect myself to say that about Kinect - but it was incredible.

Tomb Rider

A very stylish debut trailer that was shown a few days back did restore my faith into the reboot, but E3 video showing actual gameplay solidified this. I am now officially looking forward to this game.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Skyrim got me sold on it the moment I watched the trailer that contained the music that had tones and melody from both Oblivion and Morrowind. Tear of nostalgia, feeling of coming back to fantasy reality I have known and long forgotten. Now, having watched some gameplay, I think it is going to be better than Oblivion and might even be on par with Morrowind. I love the trick with assiging two hands to shoulder buttons, allowing for dual swords wielding or powerful two-handed spells - it is a simple patent, but noone thought about it earlier.

Sony Conference

I have already written that I want PSVita aka Next Generation Portable. After seeing Sony show, I stand by that opinion. Price point seems reasonable: 250EEUR for Wi-Fi version is okay, especially when compared to Nintendo 3DS. There are mentions of crossplay with PS3 (Wipeout), continuing PS3 game on PSV (Ruin), backwards PSP compatibility (wonder how GoW looks on this?). Frankly, how can you not love it?

Announced games:
Wipeout 2048 - selling point for me, love Wipeout series (trailer).
Uncharted: Golden Abyss - I am not that much of Uncharted fan, but it looks great.
Little Big Planet - as happiness-inducing as always.
Oddworld Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath - I still didn't have time to buy Oddbox.
Super Stardust Delta - brilliant shooter, loved PS3 and PSP versions.
Little Big Planet - hapiness-inducing as always.
Blaz Blue - neat beat'em up.
Ruin - Diablo-like dungeon crawler that looks rather pretty.
Bioshock Vita - not sure what it is exactly, but come on, Bioshock Portable!
Dragon Crown - Golden Axe / Dungeons & Dragons beat'em up clone with sweet 2D graphics.

Other various news

Not strictly E3, but somewhat Xbox360 related, apparently there are signs that Limbo is coming to Steam. Would love to see that happen!

Ubisoft announced that there will be no Beyond Good & Evil 2 before next generation of consoles - but maybe they mean PSVita? It is next-gen after all, right?

Desktop Dungeons gets a proper standalone version for Mac and PC, as our ever-vigilant Gnome swiftly informed us (and IndieGames blog, too). You can play the E3 demo online for next three days, too.

Not bad for one day, eh? I don't know if other days can top this first one.

I want NGP

me want nao

A whole slew of Sony's newest child, NGP aka. Next Generation Portable aka. PS Vita, has hit the street. You can read previews of games: Uncharted, Wipeout, more Wipeout, Sound Shapes, more Sound Shapes, Super Stardust Delta and much more. You can listen to Sony boasting (and rightly so) or read hands-on impressions from Eurogamer or Ars Technica (two best gaming websites out there). But for me it was enough to see this movie:

...and now I want NGP. I know it's silly, I know that it's too large and too expensive (probably), that I don't even have time to play my current games on PC and PS3, that I am turning into Sony fanboy and general no-life, that I am an adult and should be more rational about my spending choices. I know all that. But I can't help it. I want one.

It would be amazing how one neat trailer can turn me into a drooling fanboy, if it wasn't scary. And I thought my gadgeteering days were behind me.

Status update - May

April, May, decay

May has been an extremely busy period in my life, especially on the professional plane, which meant having even less time than usual for gaming and writing. There are a few things to share, though.


The fourth Film Music Festival in Krakow was a highlight of this month. Beautiful music, famous artists (yes, I consider Hironobu Sakaguchi to be an artist), Distant Worlds and Joe Hisaishi - it could hardly get better than that. I congratulated myself for buying tickets early and paying for good seats (11th row, very close to the scene, two rows behind Sakaguchi-san). Read more of my impressions here.


Mirror's Edge - let me repeat myself: this is a brilliant game. I have beat it again, on hard this time, something that I don't do often. The thing is, Mirror's Edge is more of an experience than a story and the whole running-and-evading-bad-guys thing chills me out and provides fun. I also love visuals and music. I think this game deserves a special note, maybe a retrospective here on Barts News, maybe an article somewhere else. I really feel sad that such an original thing didn't get praise it deserved.


Persona 3 Portable - I finally received my collector's edition via mail. Persona 3 is another brilliant game and if you remember my review here on Barts News, I was totally charmed by it. I have played a few hours as a girl (you can chose female main character), but only a few, due to time constraints. I have to say, though, that coming back to the imaginary world of Gekoukan High and Tartar was a pleasure comparable to revisiting classic games of old times - which means P3P has officially become one of my favourite games ever.

PSN failure - spectacular and epic fail. Not only I could not buy Outland, I also had to invalidate my credit card (just in case) and suffer snide remarks from Xbox360 fanboys and morons who only use prepaid cards, instead of embracing XXI century. I've heard that there will be free games from Sony to make up for that (I'll probably get LBP and that zombie shooter), but really, the whole thing was ridiculous and left me with bad taste in my mouth.

Witcher 2 - now with all the love and admiration I have for this title and its authors, this was the embodiment of why I have grown to hate PC gaming. Hours spent on struggling with patches, updates, drivers, papadongs and shit - instead of playing. I will write more about the game itself when I finally get to play it.

I still need to finish Castlevania and Dragon Age: Origins. The first one has become a little too difficult for casual gaming, the other one has become a grindfest and since I need to go back a few hours due to particularly bad choice I made along the road, I have hard time motivating myself to do it. The story calls me, though, and I really would like to finish this game. Well, both of them actually.

To wrap this post up with a teaser of news to come that you won't find anywhere else, I have become involved with a certain indie game event - but I will write more about it as the whole story unfolds. 'till next time, folks!