"Beginning Friday, July 25, every major exhibitor in the country will donate time to play daily trailers on all screens in more than 5,000 theaters across the United States."
Am I reading that right? Are you showing anti-piracy commercials to people who ALREADY PAID TO SEE YOUR MOVIE?
Isn't there already a class-action lawsuit against Loews for showing commercials before movies?
Hey, since we already have your money, lets needlessly lecture you on how bad a person you are. Then you won't enjoy the movie you're about to see because of a poorly constructed viewing environment. COME BACK SOON! ALSO DRINK MORE POWERADE.
There were far better things on the expo floor, but I'll go over what I thought of these controllers. First off I found the idea very cool. I've got nine consoles at home and would love to be able to control even just three of them from the same controller. Unfortunately, the controller had some serious shortcomings. First off, you can see from their site that they are entirely missing the black and white buttons from the XBox controller that are crucial to most games. Second, there's really no way to set up a system by which all three systems are equally represented in the controller. The controller is clearly designed directly from the PS2 Dual Shock and hence misses out on a lot of the features of the GameCube and XBox. It seems like more development is needed on the concept, but I unfortunately don't see a happy medium for me between the GameCube, Playstation 2, and XBox controllers that wouldn't sacrifice anything.
Far be it from me to deny the rules of journalistic integrity by saying that I am in fact mistaken. According to Sega's E3 press release, the full title of the game will be "Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II", just as Yosho says. Apparently Sega has gone ahead and called it an online title regardless of what Nintendo says on their site. Apologies if my previous post misled you.
We've known about Tekki for several months now. In fact, we asked whether they were displaying "Tekki" at the expo, but were told by the guy showing "Mech Assault" that they had changed the name to "Steel Battalion." It's obvious that the title was originally developed in the Asian market, but its transition to state-side comes with a name change as well.
The gaming industry has grown with us just as we've grown with them. As the gamer becomes older and gains more distinctive tastes, niche games like Steel Battalion will seek to fill the craving for mech gamers. I think the focus here really is on gameplay in that it tries to immerse the player entirely in the feeling of controlling a giant robotic arsenal. Games like Zelda and Final Fantasy never tried to be as immersive as they were fun. I still play all my old games, but I look forward to titles like this because they aren't designed for 12 year olds, they're designed for hardcore older gamers.
Phantasy Star Online is being released in two separate games for the GameCube. Episode I, according to Nintendo, will be the combination of PSO v1 and 2 on the Dreamcast. Episode II will be an entirely new adventure. For more info check Nintendo
Your hands stay on the joysticks most of the time except when you want to switch weapons. The joy on the right side aims your guns, the joy on the left side controls your turning and the hat on top controls your view. Most of the buttons on the right are used for starting the mech up as are the toggle switches on the left. Really most of the buttons that you use in-game are located in the middle part of the controller, which allows for freedom of movement whether you're left-handed or right-handed.
Actually it's called the Microsoft Controller S, you can get it at any game store. I played a few games with it at E3 and it's really a lot better as far as button placement goes.
http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=8 01404
This game kind of overshadowed most of the other mech games due to the unique controller. If you're really into mech games, antigames is running some other stories on Mech Assualt (XBox)and RAD (Robot Alchemic Drive, PS2) by the end of the week. Mech Assault was a great third person mech game and it's worth taking a look at as a second place to Steel Battalion on the XBox. RAD was extremely unique and let you control a robot as a person outside of the cockpit. The idea was to find a vantage point where you could see your mech and control it from there. Look for updates on antigames.com throughout the week for more info.
I wanted SO badly to press the eject button, but both times I sat down to play it I was so engaged in the action I forgot the thing was even there. Can't wait for this to come out so I can flip back that plastic lid and fire myself out of my mech a few times.
The exhibitors on hand verified that at least one sequel was in the works for the game. While it's true that the controller and game are both very niche, I don't see that as a deterrent for sales.
We really can't verify the cost of the controller, the game itself will obviously cost the normal $50. The exhibitors were very tight-lipped about any kind of price for the controller. Gamespy estimates the cost between $150 and $300, but that's entirely unverified as well. Hopefully a verifiable estimate will come around closer to its release in November.
The controller is layed out in a manner that allows maximum efficiency. There are several buttons that are only used for starting up your mech and the rest of them (i.e. weapon changes, boosts, etc.) are layed out perfectly for keeping great control over the mech. I was a honestly a bit overwhelmed when I sat down at the controller but after a few minutes you can get all the buttons down to a science.
The gear shift is actually a nice feature. When I was playing it it didn't seem to have much bearing on my speed but I'm sure that the environments will be much more expansive in the full version of the game. I assume it's really just there to add to the realism of the experience. I didn't really think to ask them if there would be a fully automatic mode for the mechs but it doesn't seem too far-fetched an idea.
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"Beginning Friday, July 25, every major exhibitor in the country will donate time to play daily trailers on all screens in more than 5,000 theaters across the United States."
Am I reading that right? Are you showing anti-piracy commercials to people who ALREADY PAID TO SEE YOUR MOVIE?
Isn't there already a class-action lawsuit against Loews for showing commercials before movies?
Hey, since we already have your money, lets needlessly lecture you on how bad a person you are. Then you won't enjoy the movie you're about to see because of a poorly constructed viewing environment. COME BACK SOON! ALSO DRINK MORE POWERADE.
There were far better things on the expo floor, but I'll go over what I thought of these controllers. First off I found the idea very cool. I've got nine consoles at home and would love to be able to control even just three of them from the same controller. Unfortunately, the controller had some serious shortcomings. First off, you can see from their site that they are entirely missing the black and white buttons from the XBox controller that are crucial to most games. Second, there's really no way to set up a system by which all three systems are equally represented in the controller. The controller is clearly designed directly from the PS2 Dual Shock and hence misses out on a lot of the features of the GameCube and XBox. It seems like more development is needed on the concept, but I unfortunately don't see a happy medium for me between the GameCube, Playstation 2, and XBox controllers that wouldn't sacrifice anything.
Far be it from me to deny the rules of journalistic integrity by saying that I am in fact mistaken. According to Sega's E3 press release, the full title of the game will be "Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II", just as Yosho says. Apparently Sega has gone ahead and called it an online title regardless of what Nintendo says on their site. Apologies if my previous post misled you.
We've known about Tekki for several months now. In fact, we asked whether they were displaying "Tekki" at the expo, but were told by the guy showing "Mech Assault" that they had changed the name to "Steel Battalion." It's obvious that the title was originally developed in the Asian market, but its transition to state-side comes with a name change as well.
The gaming industry has grown with us just as we've grown with them. As the gamer becomes older and gains more distinctive tastes, niche games like Steel Battalion will seek to fill the craving for mech gamers. I think the focus here really is on gameplay in that it tries to immerse the player entirely in the feeling of controlling a giant robotic arsenal. Games like Zelda and Final Fantasy never tried to be as immersive as they were fun. I still play all my old games, but I look forward to titles like this because they aren't designed for 12 year olds, they're designed for hardcore older gamers.
Phantasy Star Online is being released in two separate games for the GameCube. Episode I, according to Nintendo, will be the combination of PSO v1 and 2 on the Dreamcast. Episode II will be an entirely new adventure. For more info check Nintendo
Your hands stay on the joysticks most of the time except when you want to switch weapons. The joy on the right side aims your guns, the joy on the left side controls your turning and the hat on top controls your view. Most of the buttons on the right are used for starting the mech up as are the toggle switches on the left. Really most of the buttons that you use in-game are located in the middle part of the controller, which allows for freedom of movement whether you're left-handed or right-handed.
Actually it's called the Microsoft Controller S, you can get it at any game store. I played a few games with it at E3 and it's really a lot better as far as button placement goes. http://www.gamestop.com/product.asp?product%5Fid=8 01404
This game kind of overshadowed most of the other mech games due to the unique controller. If you're really into mech games, antigames is running some other stories on Mech Assualt (XBox)and RAD (Robot Alchemic Drive, PS2) by the end of the week. Mech Assault was a great third person mech game and it's worth taking a look at as a second place to Steel Battalion on the XBox. RAD was extremely unique and let you control a robot as a person outside of the cockpit. The idea was to find a vantage point where you could see your mech and control it from there. Look for updates on antigames.com throughout the week for more info.
I wanted SO badly to press the eject button, but both times I sat down to play it I was so engaged in the action I forgot the thing was even there. Can't wait for this to come out so I can flip back that plastic lid and fire myself out of my mech a few times.
The exhibitors on hand verified that at least one sequel was in the works for the game. While it's true that the controller and game are both very niche, I don't see that as a deterrent for sales.
We really can't verify the cost of the controller, the game itself will obviously cost the normal $50. The exhibitors were very tight-lipped about any kind of price for the controller. Gamespy estimates the cost between $150 and $300, but that's entirely unverified as well. Hopefully a verifiable estimate will come around closer to its release in November.
The controller is layed out in a manner that allows maximum efficiency. There are several buttons that are only used for starting up your mech and the rest of them (i.e. weapon changes, boosts, etc.) are layed out perfectly for keeping great control over the mech. I was a honestly a bit overwhelmed when I sat down at the controller but after a few minutes you can get all the buttons down to a science.
The gear shift is actually a nice feature. When I was playing it it didn't seem to have much bearing on my speed but I'm sure that the environments will be much more expansive in the full version of the game. I assume it's really just there to add to the realism of the experience. I didn't really think to ask them if there would be a fully automatic mode for the mechs but it doesn't seem too far-fetched an idea.