E3 Game Line-Ups - Part Three

As part of our continuing E3 round-up, ahead of its May 14th start in Los Angeles, the biggest new announcement has been from Activision, which released info on its product line-up (press release via Yahoo) this morning. Highlights include the inevitable Doom 3, Peter Molyneux's latest public speaking project, The Movies, and licenses from Spiderman and X-Men to Shrek, plus Disney Skateboarding (which may actually be good, thanks to cult developers Toys For Bob, of Star Control fame.) Otherwise, it seems Tecmo may be showing a new Dead Or Alive at E3, alongside a DoA fashion show, and Ubisoft will show a more promising new 3D Prince Of Persia and the ever-mysterious Uru: Ages Beyond Myst MMOG from Cyan. Here's links to previous E3 coverage at Slashdot Games.

Comments

Prince of Persia

[CausticWindow]

Revamping Prince of Persia is a good idea. Nice game that one.

Kinda timely, with the liberation of Iraq and all. There's a new prince of persia, y'know.

Btw, frist psot.

Re:Prince of Persia

[alphaseven]

Prince of Persia was already revamped as a 3d game, but it sucked. Maybe this time around will be better.

Re:Prince of Persia

[Sylver Dragon]

I just hope the sword battles are as cool as they were in the first couple of PoP games.
The one thing I have found to be a huge disappointment in most recent games that involve sword fighting, no skill. In the original PoP games it took a lot of careful timing of blocking and striking to actually score a hit. If you just ran around jumping and mashing buttons you died, fast. This was actually pulled off quite well in the PoP 3D which came out a while ago. You had to be careful during a fight. The opposite is the reason I really didn't like Jedi Knight 2, you whipped out your light saber and started running and jumping and swinging franticly. No skill, hell you couldn't even control the block. I realize this is what Yoda did in the second movie (which I just found sad), but couldn't we at least pretend that we realize that this sort of style would get you hacked to pieces in a real sword fight?
For me, this is the one thing Ubisoft has to get right for me to buy this game, the swordplay. If it just degenerates into frantic button mashing, then I'll won't bother with the game at all. We've got enough platform fighting games out there already, lets not ruin the PoP name by making it into another one.

Re:Prince of Persia

[andrew_dupont]

"Sucked" is an understatement. Several publications called Prince of Persia 3D one of the biggest flops ever in computer gaming. It was plagued by way-too-ambitious (albeit pretty) graphics, absurdly and disappointingly linear level design, and perhaps the slowest gameplay in the history of interactive entertainment. Considering its predecessor, it was such a let-down that I'm still pissed off they suckered me into playing it.

Honestly, they could give the new one out for free and it wouldn't make things better.

More of the same old.

[Crockerboy]

A new prince of persia, DOA 4 Doom 3 Myst Online The Sims 2 Half-Life 2

Am I the only person getting the feeling that the Entertainment industry needs a kick in the creative pants for something original? They are almost as bad as hollywood now.

Re:More of the same old.

[First_In_Hell]

Videogames will never be this bad;

Terminator 3, X-Men 2, Matrix 2 & 3, Fast and Furious 2, James Bond #3000, Spy Kids 5, Fairy Potter 3,4 . . .

I mean Hollywood is even making a second Agent Cody Banks a movie that grossed a little over 40 million dollars!

Re:More of the same old.

[grahamwest]

The economics of the business don't help this. It costs a good $5 million to make a console game and that kind of money makes senior management cautious in approving original titles. Sequels don't have quite the same breakout sales potential as original things but they tend to be less risky from a project management perspective.

My personal opinion is that a standard $50 retail pricepoint has been terrible for the industry. Gamers are really gunshy about spending that much money on a game unless they have a real feeling that they'll not only enjoy the game but get their money's worth in play time. As a result the middle ground of sales for games has been basically eliminated. A few games do monster sales numbers and almost everything else completely stiffs. PSX games were often $35 and that made people much more willing to take a chance on a game and as such decreased the overall risk for a given title. An increase in one risk factor means extra pressure to limit other risk factors.

I would also say that sequels aren't inherently bad. The point of the game is to have fun. Seeing new things does have some fun factor associated with it but it's not the only way to entertain the player.

Re:More of the same old.

[n_jed]

Who cares what the game is called. Isn't it all about the gameplay?

The Movies

[Skynet]

Molyneaux should call it what it really is:

Sim Porno Generator!

For those that cammot attend...

[tino_sup]

there will be a site for the "virtual" E3 experience.

No need to wait.

[scot4875]

Well, the 'Cube already meets your $150 price tag, and it will come with Zelda, Metroid, or one of several other top-shelf games. It's money well-spent, IMHO.

--Jeremy

Why does Yahoo list...

[The Analog Kid]

SOFII:Double Helix, its been out for quite awhile, like last year. Secondly, why is it at E3, did it miss it last year?