Xbox 360 Party
I attended Xbox 360′s 2nd anniversary (in Singapore) party last night (April 3rd). It’s basically a small invite-only event for developers to showcase some of the upcoming titles to local bloggers and an excuse to have cake. I’m not exactly sure why I was invited, but apparently someone from GameAxis recommended me to the Microsoft PR people.
The party itself was basically just a series of presentations by employees from various companies like EA and LucasArts. The entire thing consisted of only about 40 odd people. Everyone kind of knew each other, so I was kind of out of place since I have just about zero involvement in the local gaming scene. I was actually approached by someone who reads my blog which, considering its quality in recent months, was somewhat surprising.
Anyway, I’ll just take a quick run through what was covered during the event:
Ninja Gaiden II
No, no one from Team Ninja was there, but the Microsoft people did have a playable build of this animated bloodfest on-hand. The graphics and animation are all top-notch. It looks like it’s going to be a hit as expected, but it’s not my type of game.
Will be out in midyear. (I think.)
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
You play a previously unmentioned Sith apprentice of Darth Vadar who is charged to eliminating the remnants of the Jedis after the coup. During the game, you will eventually be presented with moral options that will determine whether you break free of the dark side.
The people from LucasArts Singapore were there with a playable build of the game. I have to say that it looks very, very awesome. Everything is super fluid and your force powers can affect just about anything that’s not part of the ground. You can use force push to bend metal doors with the physics engine doing real-time calculation of the metal warping. And you can even bend a door back to seal off the enemies behind you after you pass through.
Of course as with past games you can throw your enemies around like rag dolls with your force powers, but now you can choose to fix your cameras on the options you throw around to get a rocket view of the projectile’s path of destruction. Not to mention that you can actually throw TIE fighters around…
After watching the LucasArts people demo a fight scene with a giant Rancor, I think this may just be the best Star Wars game ever. (Or maybe I’m just easily impressed.)
The Force Unleashed will be released on 16th of September in USA, 17th in Asia and 19th in Europe. (I hope I remembered that right…) Apparently this is some sort of exclusive revelation, but I guess the rest of the bloggers present at the event should’ve blogged about it by now. Heh.
Grand Theft Auto IV
Nothing much. They showed the demo video which is already available online publicly. Interestingly though, the Microsoft people assured us that GTA will finally be available in Singapore, due to a new video game rating system which they managed to convince the MDA to adopt. I guess they don’t want a repeat of Mass Effect.
Dragonball Z: Burst Limit
A playable Japanese demo was shown and the fighting effects are surprisingly good. The camera moves in and reorientates around the 3D plane when you have some combo or power attack going.
It really has to be in motion to work…
Alone in the Dark: Central Park
Frankly, I don’t like horror games. I can’t stand them. Call me a wimp or whatever, but I just don’t find them fun. The environmental interaction looks like it has some potential, but the short gameplay demo didn’t really showcase much of it. I guess some people are probably looking forward to this. Midyear release… I think.
Dead Space
EA’s first foyer into the sci-fi horror genre (or something like that). EA didn’t have any playable demos for this, so I can’t really form any opinions about this in terms of content and gameplay…
… But at the risk of reaching a hasty conclusion, I’d say that this looks uninspired. The game from EA basically admitted it himself when he said that it’s like Doom.
EA also talked about some other games, like UEFA 2008 and Mirror’s Edge, but it’s quite clear that the guy didn’t really have much to show off. The EA guy was also the only one who used Powerpoints… (I mean, seriously…)
I’m actually quite interested in Mirror’s Edge from DICE, the studio responsible for the Battlefield franchise. The game is basically parkour inspired urban running set in an Orwellian future.
Free Stuff
There was a lucky draw at the end of the event and someone walked home with a Halo Xbox 360. The rest of us less-fortunate bloggers got a swag bag instead.
Man, what am I going to do with a wireless controller when I sold off my 360 ages ago?
P.S. The cake is a lie.
April 4th, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I didn’t thought being a blogger would make you get free bread (Yakitate Ja-Pan) and free cake (oh I forgot, it’s a lie).
April 4th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Do you know how well the 360 is doing in Singapore?
April 4th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
And so you continue on your spree of free goods.It’s okay, we have the PS3 over here waiting for you anytime you feel like coming over to play. It won’t be long before Ninja Gaiden 2 appears on PS3 anyway. But hell, I demand Tecmo to release DoA4 on PS3 right now.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
“but it’s not my type of game.”
Ain’t my kind of games neither. 2D bishoujos pwn all.
Except StarCraft, that is.
April 4th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
Really cool man, I’m personally interested in the first 3 games that you posted about.
What shirts do you have in the swag bag? I’m interested in getting a gaming-related shirt, maybe we can arrange a trade or something. XD
April 4th, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Other than learning about what went on at the Party, we learn:
Ninja Gaiden II is not DM’s type of game. (What is?!?)
DM won’t get another Xbox 360.
Swag is kept as long as its wearable.
OMG spoilerz (“you can actually throw TIE fighters around”)
It feels like a commercial in here. ;-)
I am also looking forward to Mirror’s Edge, that parkour game. I hope it injects some novelty into the tired FPS genre. Am I the only one who got goosebumps jumping from building to building and ledge to ledge in Crackdown? That was totally boss.
Anyways, thanks for sharing/blogging.
April 4th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
It’s not my fault that a tiny Singaporean event gets shafted for any real exclusive content. >_>
April 5th, 2008 at 12:02 am
I feel you posted this like you were forced or something. It just does not feel right…. just not you. LOL! I wonder if anyone agrees with me.
April 5th, 2008 at 1:16 am
Were you able to meet Bill Gates and George Lucas in the party? XD
April 5th, 2008 at 8:57 am
O_O Wish things like that would happen to me. Damn you Singaporeans and you’re blogging ways, with your games, and free stuff! D:
Well, at least you didn’t get another 360, or else I’d be jealous. :P Bet ya regret selling your 360 now, eh? :P But, Ninja Gaiden looks orgasmically good.
But to be honest, I never really get jealous, I do pretend to do so just to be funny though, don’t think it works though. >_>
April 5th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I’m really suprsied they invited you considering you had around 2 posts about Xbox360 and i think in both you made fun of it….like Xbox VS ToHearts2 or something^^
And I’m kinda suprised they make such a huge commotion about previewing games and then hey don’t even use Xbox360 only titles. Appart from NG2 i think they’re all alredy announced to PS3.
April 5th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
“It won’t be long before Ninja Gaiden 2 appears on PS3 anyway. But hell, I demand Tecmo to release DoA4 on PS3 right now.”
so /signed mate…
April 6th, 2008 at 12:26 am
Dead Space is just another cheapo System Shock build. I think it sucks.
And what a pity LOL. Sell the controller?
April 6th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
ebay your controller.
April 7th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Lol it’s not really hard… You’re on my RSS, so your posts drop right onto my doorstep. :)
O yeah, he’s right, ebay it. Black controllers I think are in decent demand.
February 28th, 2009 at 6:15 pm
Does someone know when Alpha Protocol for Xbox360 will be released?
March 5th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
thanks !! very helpful post!