Forges
January 18th, 2010 / No Comments » / by Chocomelt
Shortly after we went back to LOTRO, we did a successful forges run 
Gone back old school
January 2nd, 2010 / No Comments » / by Chocomelt
After playing so many MMOs, all of us agree that LOTRO has best classes & skills (with proper aggro systems too!)
We are going back to LOTRO for good. Let’s hope this works out for us!
P/S: we are looking for alliance for instances and raids! PM anyone of us!
He is famous!
December 22nd, 2009 / No Comments » / by Chocomelt
We were hunting for key at Kyola Temple and POP here it goes!
Then, we had a FT run…
And we found something ridiculously wrong at FT…
Why are asmo drops even applicable for ely? They need to get the instance fixed and patched to drop correctly for specific race! Grrr..
Aion
October 5th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Varancar
After hitting a roadblock in the Lord of the Rings Online (i.e. unable to progress end game content) due to the lack of the 6th member, we decided to take a break and grow some wings in Aion!
Let’s go 3-man!
July 5th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Chocomelt
You come into my new home? I smash you into pebbles!
Miserably equipped, our first attempt for 3-man instance – Waterwheels. We have a proud 8 wipes LOL! Feeling unsatisfied, we thought batman cave was gonna be easy.
34976391473974 bats
Conclusion? Is often deadly. We got tons of love bites from the sexy bats 
On the side note, I want to further discuss about Waterwheels. So far we were able to down him until 39k hp before we got wiped. Our equipments are really crap, and I didn’t think we could survive for long. Let aside defeating it, there were a few things we noticed about Caerlug. He does AOE damage when he raised both of his hands and charged in green color (above pic). We found that it was fastest for melee to dodge that attack would be a 180 degree turn and run away, rather than running through him. There is also a gitch when the pillars switched it spots after the first recovery. Look at the picture below, the 3 spots I highlighted for positioning (if you want to stay clear of the pillars). We often encountered ‘target not in line of sight’ at these spots. So we try to tank the boss in the middle to avoid this bug.
3 spots with high possibility of target not in line of sight
We really need to get our asses moving to finish up Vol 1 & 2 – currently on Vol 1 book 14.1 and Vol 2 book 3.2 duh!!! (nagging to myself)
The Forgotten Treasury: Loremaster’s Perspective
June 15th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Edyrin
The Journal of Edyrin Leralonde
18th February 3019, Silvertine Lodes, Lower Moria
Today, the fellowship reached the Silvertine Lodes in the Mines of Moria. After assisting the Iron Garrison dwarves with several tasks, we were informed of a lost treasury, aptly named the Forgotten Treasury. The dwarves seek to reclaim any treasure in it, and we’re off to another adventure.
With the hunters as pathfinders, we trekked down corridors with torches in hand, making our way carefully towards the mining tracks that lie towards the middle of the Silvertine Lodes. Eventually, we located a spiralling pathway down into the endless darkness. At the end of the pathway, we found an ancient dwarven door, leading into the Forgotten Treasury.
I was awed by what lies within. A circular corridor led both ways from the entrance. Along the corridors stood 6 dwarven statues, holding giant stone hammers which reflected light towards the centre of the chamber. There, a gigantic yellow crystal illuminated the entire chamber with a warm yellow light. Piles of treasure laid strewn all over the corridoor, much to our leader’s delight.
Straight ahead, stairs lead to a bottom level where a magnificant dwarven status stood. Our excitement was cut short, however, when we heard guttural noises and saw some orcs and shades patrolling the corridors. “Shades?! Blasted shades!” I muttered as I begun sifting through my bag for bane flare orbs as well as blinding flash powders, organising them into pouches around my belt. Once done, I summoned my eagle friend and quickly weaved a sign of protection upon him with my staff. Unsheathing my trusted sword, I stood ready behind Varancar, as the fellowship took up position at the end of the hallway.
Even in the darkness, I could see a faint reflection of myself in his shield. It really makes one wonder how many times a day does he polish that heavy shield of his. I shook my head.
A quick signal from Varancar and the battle commenced. Arrows flew through the air and into the unsuspecting orcs, and almost immediately, the guardian crashed into the orcs, parrying and blocking off blow after blow.
From the centre of the chamber, a gruff voice called out: “Who goes there? Who dares claim the great treasure of the orcs! Lock the doors, maggots!” and almost immediately, it was as if the chamber sprung to life with sounds of grinding stone and the great statues started turning outwards. As the statues turned, the reflection of light off the hammers were lost to darkness and the central crystal dimmed gradually, until finally, darkness creeped over the chamber. Our only source of light was from torches lining the walls, and sounds of steel clashing and battle cries echoed throughout the chamber.
I ignited and tossed a bane flare orb into the air, dazing the fell spirits. And almost immediately, slinged a pouch of crackling blinding flash powder at the nearest orc. Through the brief illumination of the flare and powder, I noticed an orc with a crystal embedded in its chest. The crystal pulsed as if with a life of its own, and shifted between two colours, purple and yellow. Curious about the strange crystal, I observed the crystaled orcs carefully.
When the crystals glowed purple, sword and arrows bounced off the orcs harmlessly, but they wirthed in pain from songs of power and swirling embers. However, when the crystals glowed yellow, the effects were reversed. The burning embers were shrugged off by the orcs as if it were ash, but sword bit deep and arrows bore their way into orc flesh easily.
Then, it dawned upon me, as I shouted: “When the crystals are yellow, they are are vulnerable to physical strikes! Strike hard at that moment!”
The strategy worked well, and soon, the first of the crystaled orcs fell. My curiosity got the better of me as I ran towards the fallen orc. Tugging at the crystal a few times, I managed to work it loose and began examining it. A cry from the minstrel alerted me to impending danger, as I spun around, losing my balance, while pointing the yellow crystal at an incoming orc. To my amazement, the charging orc’s purple crystal gave off a sickly hue and turned yellow, just as arrows went flying into his chest.
In a state of both amazement and shock, I begun examining the crystal in greater detail, as our guardian jumped in to shield the semi-dazed loremaster whom had found a new toy. The crystals from the orcs seem to affect each other, influencing each other’s shades of colour.
Taking advantage of this unique property of the crystal, the fellowship easily dispatched the rest of the crystaled orcs. The chamber grew silent once more.
I paced around the chamber, examining each dwarven statue in greater detail. Through trial and error, costing half a cloak (Sigh… and that was my favourite cloak.) and, thankfully, no limbs, I deduced that each statue had a stone wheel that must be turned in the correct order, in order to re-align all the statues to reflect light onto the giant central crystal.
Once all the statues were aligned, a giant stone door swung open at the lower level of the chamber. The fellowship made preparations and entered. Upon entering, the giant doors slammed shut, blocking our only means of escape. In the middle of the room stood Morhun, the self-declared warden of the treasury.
Morhun bellowed, “You dare seek my treasure?! These treasures are all mine! And now, you shall perish!” Our guardian began the battle with a taunt: “Dumb Orc! You swing your sword like an elf!” How rude! A distasteful taunt, but it worked well nonetheless, as Morhun charged, blinded by rage, towards the guardian.
Taking lead from the hunters, I deliberately tossed a burning acorn dangerously close to our guardian’s noggin. Guardians and their silly taunts… sigh. The next time he comes up with a lousy taunt, I just might tar his favourite armour when he’s sleeping. Our dearest minstrel let out a chuckle, and decided to join in the “revenge” of the elves.
Morhun seemed offended that we weren’t taking this battle seriously, and gave out a thunderous bellow: “You WILL fear me!”
A wave of terror hit the fellowship, and Morhun tossed the distracted Varancar across the room like a rag doll. Hastily, I tapped upon the lore of nature to seek the aid of the slumbering roots, deep inside the earth. Roots erupted from the earth, entangling Morhun and halted his advance. Albeit momentarily, as he quickly broke free, treating then no more then a minor annoyance.
A battle anthem sounded out, restoring the fellowships morale, and drawing Morhun’s ire at the same time. As Morhun turned his sights upon our minstrel, our guardian recovered from the earlier blow, and charged towards Morhun’s unprotected back.
That got Morhun’s attention, and he once again rained blows of fury upon the valiant guardian.
Attacks after attacks from the fellowship connected with Morhun’s green flesh, and the wounded Morhun roared: “Suffer my wrath!”
Acid began pouring from the ceiling, and the fellowship scattered to avoid the deadly rain. Alas, my damaged cloak took the final blow for its master and disintegrated into nothingness, as a spray of acid hit it.
While the fellowship was in disarray, our guardian leap forward and kept Morhun’s attacks at bay. It was at this moment, that I spotted a giant pulsing purple crystal on Morhun’s chest and recalled the effect of the yellow crystals on the crystaled orcs earlier.
“Fools! The Crystals! Focus their lights on Morhun’s chest!”. A concert of lights danced forth from the fellowship, and struck Morhun, bathing him in a sickly yellow glow.
Morhun was momentarily blinded, and the fellowship threw out their best attacks, staggering the weakened orc, until finally, our guardian’s axe found its way into the giant crystal on Morhun’s chest, and the battle was over.
Morhun dropped lifeless onto the dusty floor of the stone chamber, and all was silent… Well, except for the sounds of splattering orc flesh as our guardian wanted to “make sure” that he is indeed dead.
Having just recovered our wits from the last encounter, the ground shook, and the giant stone doors swung open once again. The fellowship took up defensive formations and approached the door cautiously.
Reaching the door, we spotted two massive trolls running down the stairs towards our location. These must be Skum and Urauth that the dwarves warned us about.
The trolls were highly coordinated, as if connected by a mental link, sharing each other’s thoughts. They coordinated strikes, flanking and scattering our fellowship easily.
A giant club swung in my direction, and I dived to the floor, eatting sand and dust as I went.
“Hee hee! Funny elf with no cloak! Skum crush! Urauth come too!”. Skum called out, as he proceeded to chase the poor loremaster around.
In the midst of scampering around, I heard our guardian shouting out commands to the hunters. A hail of arrows bore their way into skum’s flesh, and he was enraged. He turned around immediately and stormed towards the hunters.
As I regained my composure, I saw Urauth smashing at the grounds, with our guardian dodging desperately for his life. I called out to the minstrel, and together, roots, blinding flash and anthem hit the unsuspecting troll, sending the troll into a stupor. Our guardian took advantage of this and leap onto the troll’s chest, swinging on its necklace and cleaving the troll’s head off.
One down, one to go!
I peered in the direction of the hunters, just in time to see the hunters let off a volley of heartseeking shots into the unfortunate troll. Skum toppled and became motionless.
The battle was finally over. The fellowship made camp outside the forgotten treasury and rested for hours. This encounter has shown us how dangerous the mines of moria are, and one can only wonder, how much more danger will we be facing in the future?
We will make for the dwarven camp in another hours time. I really need to get some rest… and pipeweed.
The Forgotten Treasury
June 9th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Varancar
[Note: Spoilers Ahead]
The Journal of Varancar Amrodath of Gondor
18th February 3019, Silvertine Lodes, Lower Moria
The Forgotten Treasury is located somewhere in the centre of the Silvertine Lodes in lower Moria. We had to navigate confusing pathways, traverse down into a huge whole by the circular pathways spiralling downwards. We could see no bottom and all we ever see was blackness. Hugging the wall we carefully made out way to the forgotten treasury.
At the end of the narrow pathway, we found a door of dwarven construction. After opening the old, heavy, creaking doors, we carefully stepped into Treasury into a narrow hallway. It was dark and dusty. The walls are draped in wafting webs and rubble crowds the floor. A eerie sense of evil tinged the air. Cautiously, we slowly thread the hallway.
The hallway leads into a large, circular, arena-like room. From the end of the hallway, we could see a huge dwarven statue in the centre. On the ledges surrounding the centre of the room, we saw about 6 dwarven statues facing towards the central statue holding a hammer which reflects the lights into the central crystal on top of the central statue.
We heard guttural noises and saw some orcs and shades patrolling the circular corridors. The dwarves that sent us here warned us of the very dangers we now faced. Our hunters began preparing and laying traps while remaining out of sight. Our lore-master began sifting through his bag of tricks, something which still baffles me after so long. Our minstrel started tuning her instruments for combat and I checked my armour, shield and weapons.
We took up positions at the end of the hallway, hunters facing both sides of the circular corridor, our minstrel and lore-master behind with me in front of them on guard. Once we were ready, our hunters let fly arrows into the orcs while I weave in between them shielding them from blows and retaliation.
“Why are you here? The treasure is ours! Lock the doors, maggots!” I managed to have a quick glance towards the source of the noise and noticed a large orc in front of the central statue yelling and making his was towards the door at the back. The six statues lining the circular ledges started turning in a seemingly random order until they all face outwards.
The chamber was thrown into darkness as the hammers stopped reflecting the lights. The torches lining the walls being the only source of light, the shadows danced and flickered around, and the battle was joined in earnest.
Amidst the swarm of orcs, we noticed six larger orcs with crystals embedded in their chest. The crystal shift between yellow and purple in colour. We shouted to each other communicating our frustrations and success with these crystal-ed orcs. Our lore-master immediately picked up on this strange behaviour and realised that the shifting crystals meant that they are susceptible to different kinds of damage depending on the colour.
Directing our attacks on these orcs depending on the colour we quickly brought down one. Our lore-master then quickly ran towards that orc and yanked the crystal out and studied it. At this moment, one of the crystal-ed orc jumped towards him with his weapon up high readying to cleave him in two.
Our lore-master turned around, fell on his back and pointed the crystal at the orc as we turned around and charge to his aid. The crystal turned yellow as arrows went flying into his chest. The orc was also stunned by the minstrels sharp tune, giving me time to leap in front of the lore-master shielding him from the blow.
The orc was quickly dispatched after that. Discovering the weakness, we quickly finished off the rest and the chamber was silent once again. We dressed our wounds and scavenged the room for items requested by the dwarves of Deep Descent while the lore-master paced around figuring out the mechanism for the rotating statues.
The statues was rotated using a wheel. Each time a statue was turned in the wrong order, acid poured from above ensuring certain death. Our lore master was lucky to be able to dodge the acid and he was cautious after that. Each time a statue was turned in the wrong order, all statues were reset-ed and turned facing outwards again. Many swearings in between mutterings could be heard from our lore-master notifying us that he has made a mistake yet again. Thank goodness he gets the boring bits and I get to good bits, looting!
We managed to collect some depleted crystals for the dwarf Garthar. According to him, these crystals have very little value outside of this place, but their qualities were never fully researched, and history states that none who touched the things ever felt that they would be used for good purposes. We also recovered a few relics and coins that were already taken out of the treasury itself which is to be returned to Hafberg at Deep Descent.
After some trial and error, our lore-master finally made all six statues faced inwards and reflecting the light back onto the central crystal. The door behind the central statue then opened beckoning us to enter. We knew that the orc we saw earlier (Morhun as we would find out later) was waiting inside. We made our final preparations and entered the chamber.
Once we stepped into the chamber, the huge stone doors slammed closed behind us, ruling out any hope of retreat should things go awry. In front of us, we saw Morhun standing, ready for battle.
“The treasure is mine! All Mine! Die!”, yelled Morhun. Or something to that effect. My orcish can be questionable at times. I’m not going clarify that with our lore-master for fear of a long boring lecture. I taunted Morhun that he swings his sword like an elf and he charged at me pissed. I also sensed cold stares from our lore-master and two hunters. Maybe I should have used a different taunt.
Adrenaline pumping I met his charge head on and we exchanged blows. The hunters took positions on the left and right flank and released a rain of arrows at Morhun though a few stray arrows got stuck on my shield and an arrow nicked my cheek. Curse those hunters and their lousy aiming. A few flaming acorns whizzed past my head into Morhun.
I suddenly sensed that those pansy elves were trying to get some revenge on me. I quickly weaved behind Morhun trying to use him as buffer between me and the elves. “Oi, hit him not me you idiots!”. Our dearest minstrel burst into a laughing fit and wanted to join in on the fun. As our dearest minstrel can’t multitask, she has forgotten to play our battle anthem which threw our flow of battle off course.
Sensing that we were treating this battle as a joke, Morhun’s anger went through the roof. “You will fear me!”, yelled Morhun. At this moment, we felt a moment of terror sapping our morale and shadows draining all hope from us. Distracted by the sudden change in flow, Morhun struck me and I flew across the room hitting the wall. I was momentarily dazed and could see through my hazy visions me fellowship running around yelling. At one point, I think I saw Morhun tangled in some roots.
When I recovered from my daze a few moments later, our minstrel has resumed our battle anthem and wearing Morhun down with her songs of power. I saw Morhun switching his gaze towards our minstrel and started walking to her. With his backed turned towards me I charged across the room leaping with my sword above my head and swung downwards upon reaching my target. Morhun managed to dodge the brunt of the attack and taking only a gash across his left arm. And with that, the battle returned to some sort of order, but not for long.
Annoyed with the many attacks being laid on him, Morhun roared “The pain will destroy you!” and acid began pouring down from above. Shocked by the sudden change in the battle conditions, We all scattered frantically trying to shield ourselves. Although I was unharmed since I was covered head to toe in heavy plated armour, the rest did not fared well. My shield saved me from the brunt of the attack but it needs major repairs after this.
Trying to buy time for the fellowship to recover, I frantically leaped back into the fray retaliating with thrusts, shield smashing, sweeping cuts, whirling attacks, everything I had to pressure Morhun was used.
Our lore-master suddenly remembered about the crystals we had earlier and shouted “Fools! The Crystals!” or something to that effect. Only when he shouted did we realised that Morhun had a similar pulsing crystal embedded in his chest. Yellow lights shone from various directions as he swung his sword across where my head was a few milliseconds ago.
I dodged under the blade by crouching with my shield close to me and immediately stood up and extended the shield against Morhun’s chest with as much force as I’m able to muster taking out some wind from him at the same moment when our minstrel unleashed a great song of power stunning him.
Morhun staggered backwards and arrows started piercing him. Swirling winds kicking up dust and debris blinding him and red-hot embers swirled around Morhun causing him immense pain as I drove my axe deep into his chest severing the crystal from him.
Foul blood splattered over me as Morhun dropped down. I chopped him a few more times for good measure to ensure that he stays dead. Having just moments to catch our breath and dress some major wounds. The ground shaked and the doors threw open. We looked at each other, formed up defensive formation and walked slowly towards the door.
Upon reaching the door, we saw to massive trolls running down the steps into the circular room. This must be the twin trolls Skûm and Urauth that Hafberg warned us about. They’re very alike in every way and have been terrorizing the dwarves in the area.
The twin trolls immediately set upon us cleaving and trashing with coordination never seen before in trolls. Battered and exhausted from the previous fight. We were no match for them. We scattered, dodged, dove and ran all over the circular room trying to survive. The twins were too formidable together.
Hiding behind one of the six statues, I frantically tried to remember tactics discussed with the other dwarves that survived Skûm and Urauth before we entered The Forgotten Treasury. A massive object came crashing down the spot I was crouching just moments ago. Having dodged that attack I yelled for my fellowship to separate the trolls.
The hunters were already perching atop the pillars on opposing sides raining arrows on the trolls and started focusing on one of them. The troll that was being fired upon was furious and started trying to get the hunters. That leaves one more troll busy smashing away at the grounds I was occupying as I desperately tried to dodge certain death.
Roots started sprouting from the ground entangling the troll giving me a moment to regain my balance. The familiar Anthem of the Valar could be heard and the troll was in pain. The ground cracked beneath the troll causing it to struggle to maintain balance. A blinding flash accompanied by a loud crack and the smell of blasting powder causes the troll to go into stupor.
Seeing the opening made by the lore-master and minstrel, I quickly seize the chance leaped and ran up the trolls chest and sliced it’s head off as the troll stumbles backwards into the ground. Looking down to the central area, we could the the two hunters weaving around, under and above the troll alternating between slicing and dicing and letting fly arrows. The troll was quickly brought down under the ferocity of the attacks.
Battered, bloodied and exhausted, we made camp and rested before braving the dangers of the Mines of Moria to return to the main dwarven camp in Silvertine Lodes to report our success and get my equipment fixed. That is of course going to cost my a lot of silver pieces. I just hope that the dwarves will compensate me heftily or I will be a very angry Guardian.
E3 2009 – Sony Press Conference
June 5th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Varancar
And here we are, the final of the big 3 E3 Press Conference. After Microsoft’s impressive showbiz like “Show not tell” Press Conference, displaying many games (although I was really put off by the fact that they claimed they’re only available on the Xbox when the games are actually multiplatforms), Sony has a lot to catchup. I’m not going to even mention Nintendo’s disastrous press conference.
There were many leaks before Sony’s press conference and many wondered if there were anything more to show. Many thought Microsoft’s Natal was mind blowing especially Peter Molyneux’s presentation of Milo, with some claiming it to be the start of Skynet. With Natal vastly overshadowing Nintendo’s presentation of the Motion Plus, would Sony have something hidden up their sleeves to trump Natal? Sony has to impress.
Sony kick started its Press Conference with a montage of the various games coming soon with Jack Tretton appearing after that. He joked about worrying no one would turn up as the leaks meant that nothing new could be seen. He then goes on to talk about numbers and statistics before introducing Evan Wells of Naughty Dog to show off Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. Check out the developer walkthrough below.
The transition between game play and cinematic is seamless. The line is blurred. You just have to see it to believe it. The action packed scene is an excellent contender to compete with Microsoft in the action genre. Next, to compete with Microsoft in the online FPS scene, they introduced MAG (Massively Action Game).
They showed the first public display of live game play with 256 players! They first showed the command interface where you can zoom out to survey the entire map, blue dots shows friend, red dots shows enemy, of course most of the red dots won’t be revealed until you scouted their positions. Pretty standard stuff. Basically you work together with your team and take out objectives. Good to see that it works, but it is still fairly simple. Not that impressed, but it has potential. FPS is not really my thing anyway.
After that, they shifted the focus back to the PSP. Announcing new bundles, like the Hannah Montana bundle which is greeted by loud cheers (the heck?!). Then, global president Kaz Hirai came out to introduce the PSP Go. He introduced it as “the worst kept secret of E3″. It is more than 50% smaller and 40% lighter than the original PSP 1000. It has 16gb internal memory, integrated Bluetooth and no UMD drive.
It will not replaced the PSP 3000 or kill UMD, as they both cater to different market. The old PSP caters for those who prefer tangible goods like the UMD and PSP GO for those who just wants the convenience of digital distribution. Kaz Hirai said that all future titles will be available as both download and UMD. The PSP Go will retail at $249USD and €249 on October 1st in North America and Europe/Pal Territories.
If it goes according to trend where Australia will follow European prices then, €249 = $440AUD. Shit that thing is expensive. Converting straight from USD to AUD = $310AUD. I think after factoring import costs, it will still be cheaper =/ I think the retail price is a tad too high for a console which has identical specs to the PSP 3000 if i’m not wrong. Also, I’m not too sure about the smaller screen.
Kaz also announced a lot of TV partners like E! and G4 that will be natively available on the PSP via PSN. At this point, Kazunouri Yamauchi came out to demo Gran Turismo PSP. He states that it will be a full game content wise. It will run at 60fps with 800 cars and 35 tracks with 60 layout variations of those tracks. It also has a trading feature to to help you collect all 800 cars with friends. He then showed a trailer of it.
If what I just saw is really in-game graphics then I’m impressed. It looks really good. Grand Turismo is launching on October 1st together with the PSP Go. Kaz came back out with Hideo Kojima. Flanking the big screen in the middle is the picture of Big Boss. Excitement levels shooting through the roof. He introduced Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker on the PSP. The game takes place 10 years of MGS3: Snake Eater and Hideo repeatedly stressed that this is the true sequel of the franchise and he is very deeply involved in this project.
Hideo is probably laughing all the way to the bank now. After being paid by Microsoft to bring the Metal Gear franchise to the Xbox, Hideo created Metal Gear Raiden (as I would like to affectionately call Metal Gear Rising as) which is a multiplatform game, and then to appease the Sony fans, he created Peace Walker on the PSP. Peace Walker looks similar to Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops in terms of graphics as much as I can see. The real shock comes at the end of the trailer though. It is coming in 2010.
Having a sequel on the PSP is great, but like many people, we hoped that it would have been on the PS3 instead. Then again, more titles for my PSP is always good. Next, Kaz Hirai introduced a new Resident Evil game made specifically and exclusively for the PSP. Didn’t show anything about the game except for the logo. Sigh. Next he showed a couple of quality games for the PSP like Little Big Planet and Fat Princess. People are still cheering when Hannah Montana appeared on screen. (Seriously, wtf?!)
Jack Tretton is back on stage announcing 50 PSOne classics are coming to the PSN and Final Fantasy VII is out on the PSN now. OMG.
*runs off to purchase*
That announcement is of course greeted by a huge applause. Ditto. Then he started talking about Home and showing trailers of it. Home has came a long way since open beta first started, though I have yet to spend more than 15 minutes in it. After that, more montages are shown and Jack briefly mentioned a new IP by Rockstar Games, Agent (not to be confused the The Agency) is coming exclusively to the Playstation 3. It will be an espionage game set in the late 1970’s. Nothing else is known about it.
Then he introduced a couple of people from Ubisoft who then demos Assassins Creed 2, a multiplatform game. I was hugely disappointed with the first one as it was so damn repetitive after you left the first place. The free running and climbing is fun, but the missions are monotonous and repetitive. The ending made me want to throw the game out and burn it to ashes.
They claimed that AC2 will have tons more variety and options then the first installment. After watching the demo, I’m willing to give the series a final chance. There will be 6 additional weapons to the 30 or so weapons available in the game that is unlockable if you play Assassin’s Creed Bloodlines on the PSP. There has got to be a better way to have synergy between the PSP to the PS3.
Next, a CG trailer of Final Fantasy XIII was shown. The trailer has English voice over. The voice sounds quite OK, not fantastic just OK, Really hope that they would include the Japanese tracks on the game as well. Like all the other trailers for FFXIII, it looks gorgeous. Then they announced a new Final Fantasy is coming to the PS3. It will be the only console you can play on. Introducing Final Fantasy XIV and it is coming in 2010 as well.
At first I was shocked, then I realized it will be an MMO like FFXI. It has been confirmed that PS3 is the only console but we can play it on the PC as well. Being an MMO fan, I’m pretty interested in FFXIV as I didn’t get to play FFXI when it first came out on the PS2. I didn’t have the funds nor bandwidth to play at that time. I bought FFXI for the PC last year for $10. It is still sitting on the shelf, sealed, as I’m too distracted by the Lord of the Rings Online. So depending on what I see in the future as more details are released, I may hop on to check it out. By then, I would have a hard time deciding between PS3 and PC. As a general rule of thumb, I would usually go for the PC version over the console version.
A couple of people came out to show off Sony’s new motion controller. Motion controller seems to be the talk of E3 this year. Sony’s motion controller is clearly at a prototype stage. Microsoft’s Natal seems to be fairly far in the development phase and seems more polished.
Sony motion controller resembles a remote with a glowing purple ball at the end (I can’t help it but it reminds me of a dildo -__-”) that the PS Eye can track. The live demo they’re showing is only a basic room with a TV with some random bits of prop strewn around the room.
The level of responsiveness looks dead on accurate. The controller works in tandem with the PS Eye to track movement. In can recognize depth and 1:1 pin sharp accuracy tracking. The tech demo is very basic and underwhelming initially especially after watching Microsoft’s impressive Project Natal. On a very basic level, it looks like a super advanced high tech version of the Wii-mote. However, the accuracy displayed was very impressive. It was able to pick up even very small delicate movements.
As the tech demo went on, we began to see the amount of potential it has. Although not the most exciting of tech demos, they managed to write notes with the device showing just how accurate and sharp it is. Sony said at the beginning of the demo that their experience with the EyeToy and PS Eye games is that sometimes, somethings just won’t work without buttons.
They then showed a tech demo using buttons to modify movements and how shooting and sword fighting could work. He first showed a demo with a transparent knight representing the player with a sword and shield. He demonstrated the finesse that could achieve using the sword to tease and fiddle around the skeleton target. The accuracy is simply just amazing. It really has to be seen to believe. The archery demo however, looks very similar to how the Wii MotionPlus works.
The tech demo shown wasn’t quite as jaw-dropping as Microsoft’s Project Natal as it was really basic, but the potential is there. I’m especially impressed with the level of accuracy it has. Sony seems to be trying to win over the hardcore crowd with this motion controller and the potential applications it could have in hardcore type games. It was announced that motion controller has a release window of Spring 2010. Spring in the US is Autumn here in Australia. So we should be seeing it around March – May 2010.
Sony went on to say that they’re going to expand on the “genre” that Little Big Planet created. The tag line “Play, Create, Share” will be a new franchise. This is where Mod Nation Racers come into play. You can customize your racer and their vehicles in a way that is very similar to Little Big Planet. The game play is a like Mario Kart, with weapons and the like and it has physics apparently.
The demo of the map creator, Track Studio is really slick and simple. You drive your vehicle around to paint the track, modifying elevation as you go and the game generates it for you. You can tweak the track type with a simple paint brush tool. You can add mountains, water, trees and props like buildings by simply dragging the brush on where you want it to be. You can also tweak the lighting and time of day by changing the angle of the sun. They managed to build a full playable track under 5 minutes. Impressive. Looks like it would be a very fun basic racing game where you could fire up and play when you have friends and relative over, just like Little Big Planet. This has potential. It has a release date of 2010.
Next, they unveiled and officially name Team ICO’s next project. It is called The Last Guardian. It was announced that this will be the final part of the trilogy (with Ico being the first and Shadows of the Collosus being the second).
The Last Guardian is a third-person perspective game that combines action-adventure and puzzle elements. The player controls the unnamed boy who can run, jump, climb, and perform other actions similar to the game play in Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. This is augmented by interaction with the eagle creature which the boy can climb upon and ride. Apparently, the eagle creature is driven by natural behavior and animal instincts, and it is up to the player to guide the creature, “taking advantage of his natural behavior”, in order to complete puzzles.
Sony then showed the trailer of its other big gun, Grand Turismo 5 with super realistic graphics. Not sure if it is CG generated or in-game graphics though. If it is in-game, then Holy shit! Again, no release date was announced.
Finally, the guys from Sony’s Santa Monica studio came on stage to demo Sony’s final big gun for the day, God of War III. They restated that this would be the end of the trilogy. The game play looks fantastic. The trailer is broken up into 2 videos and I’ve attached them below. God of War III will be out in March 2010.
And that wraps up Sony’s E3 2009 Press Conference. So far the exclusives they have unveiled are:
PS3
1. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
2. Massive Action Game
3. Final Fantasy XIV Online
4. Grand Turismo 5
5. God of War III
6. The Last Guardian
7. Mod Nation Racers
8. Agent
PSP
1. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
2. Grand Turismo PSP
3. Little Big Planet PSP
4. Resident Evil (Unannounced Title)
5. Assassins Creed Bloodlines
Compared to Microsoft, Sony has many more big Exclusives on show although it was split between the PSP and PS3. Sony’s games appeal to me more than Microsoft’s but I would say both of their press conference are pretty even. Depending on your tastes in games, you might lean towards one or the other. For FPS, Microsoft is the way to go.
That leaves Nintendo. The motion controllers unveiled by Microsoft’s Project Natal and Sony’s version seems far superior to Nintendo’s. As far as demographic appeal goes, I would say it would be something like this:
Nintendo: Casuals
Microsoft: Balance
Sony: Hardcores
It is also interesting to note that Microsoft and Sony seems to have swapped places this year. Sony showed more games and Microsoft showed more new home entertainment features. It seems Sony wanted to move away from the all in one entertainment unit they marketed heavily on earlier on to focus on games.
More analysis to follow in a seperate post.
E3 2009 – Nintendo Press Conference
June 4th, 2009 / No Comments » / by Varancar
Welcome back people. Yesterday’s I posted about Microsoft’s E3 2009 Press Conference and today its Nintendo’s turn. First, we will delve a little bit into the background on the Wii. The Wii is an innovative but low tech console that has sold more than 50 million plus units worldwide. It has been very accessible to gamers old and new because of the motion controls. However, it has sadly been plagued with a tons trashwares.
The hardware is also more accessible for game makers, and therein probably lies the reason for this. The lower barrier for game development compared to the other two high tech consoles, namely the Xbox360 and the PS3 (with the PS3 being the most expensive) allows game studios looking to make a quick buck riding on the back of the Wii’s success bandwagon to quickly and cheaply push out lower quality games to the public.
Even reputable developers have struggled to produce good games for the Wii. From a design perspective, it has been extremely difficult to produce a game that capitalizes on the Wii’s unique motion-sensing feature without being gimmicky. All these factors inadvertently dilutes the quality of the library of Wii games. Why then would the Wii still be hugely successful despite all these factors? The reason really is simple. Most of the demographics for Wii are casuals and new entrants to the market. You would be hard press to find many of them who would read reviews online. So why bother?
I do understand that casual games are a very important part of the new brand image that Nintendo is trying to create. However, simply because a game is developed for the casual market shouldn’t mean that fundamental game mechanics should suffer as a result of poor shoddy control, mechanics and presentation among many other things.
It is a bit disappointing for hardcore gamers like me who was introduced to the world of console gaming by Nintendo on the old NES. By capitalizing on the casual markets, Nintendo has alienated the very fans who supported the company to the giant behemoth it is today. Sure there are some quality hardcore games like Metroid and No More Heroes. But each year, big announcements from Nintendo came in the form of things like the Wii Board really dampens our hope.
With Microsoft starting of the big three E3 Press Conference with a bang, lets see if Nintendo can comes up with more hardcore games rather than more Training/Fitness games to even the playing field with the Xbox and bring us old fans back to the fold. So here goes.
The conference started with a montage showing happy families having fun with with their Wii and DS followed by Cammie Dunaway, EVP of Sales and Marketing on stage with some marketing talk. Then, she talks about how Mario has been constantly reinventing himself, from 2D to 3D, appearing in various genres and how Mr Miyamoto-san has been thinking about new ways to play Mario for the last 15 years.
Enter the 4th Dimension for Mario. His 4th Dimension does not equal 4D gameplay, rather it means 4 players. In the New Super Mario Bros, you can play in single player or co-op with up to 4 players, Mario, Luigi, Yellow Toad and Blue Toad. At the end of the level, all players are ranked. It was labeled by Cammie as “Mr Miyamoto’s new masterpiece”. I think not. Now, 4 players co-op can be a lot of fun. I’ve tried it on Little Big Planet on the PS3 and it rocks. It hilarious. But a new masterpiece? I doubt it. Honestly, I was hoping for more innovations in the series. Then again, a new hardcore-ish game is good news. I hope it is a sign of many to come.
Next Cammie started to talk about the Wii fit and how for the past 13 months since it launch, it has become the best selling game around the world. Way to go to burst my hope bubble. She then introduced Wii Fit Plus. Its basically Wii Fit with more options to exercise. Le sigh.
Then, the 300 pound gorrila Reggie Fils-Aimé aka the Regginator (E3 2004 Opening Line:”My name is Reggie. I’m about kickin’ ass.”) came on stage (seriously that guys scares me). He began talking about the importance of interface and how the wii remote helps this. Of course he is about to introduce MotionPlus, a souped up version of the wii-remote.
He then showed a montage of the MotionPlus gameplay like Basketball, Bow and Arrow (cool shit) and dog frisbee. The archery component is the one that caught my eye.
If the tracking could be 1 to 1, and incorporating various sword fighting mechanics etc into RPG, they could have a winner on their hand (if only they could maintain the quality that is). The Regginator then proceeds to demo Wii Sports Resort’s basketball game. He won of course. No one would dare challenge the Regginator.
The Regginator then showed a trailer of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers and Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days. And my God does it look good on the DS. He showed trailers of 2 more RPG, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story and Golden Sun DS. Finally some interesting bit of news. RPG <3. I already have a lot of RPGs on my DS and they’re pumping more? When will I ever get to finish them all. I’m slightly disappointed though that there weren’t many RPGs for the Wii shown.
Cammie came back on stage to show us James Patterson Women’s Murder Club: Game of Passion demo for the DS. It’s played in book form, kinda like Hotel Dusk. Mystery puzzle solving type game. It is definitely not a game for everybody. Next up was a new IP from Ubisoft, “C.O.P. The Recruit”. Having watched the video, it reminds me a lot about Grand Theft Auto. This game puts you in the role of an underground street racer turned cop (……) and have you running around an open world taking down enemies, caracking etc (like GTA).
This trailer was immediately contrasted by the introduction of “Syle Savvy” which have you running your own fasion store. Definitely for the girls although I would be deeply insulted if I were. What a way to teach young girls that all that matter is fashion. Also, showing this kind of game in E3? Casual gamers don’t watch E3. All it only does is to add disappointment and insult.
More montages were shown, followed by sales statistics and a new animation thingy for DSi and some other games I couldn’t care less. *Yawn*. At this point I was getting more pissed with da big N for some reason. Cammie then mentions The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks which raised my eyebrow a little in interest and more montage with people on the Balance Board *snore*. Come on, at least show some footage of Zelda.
Global president Satory Iwata then takes the stage. I sat up a little anticipating an announcement of megaton proportions. More stats and selt pat ensued. *groan*. He then mentions something about creating games that satisfy both hardcore and casuals alike. I was fully awake at this point thinking I would be blasted away by his next announcment.
Introducing Nintendo’s newest groundbreaking product, the Wii Vitality Sensor! It totally trashes Microsoft’s Project Natal. It senses your pulse!
WHAT THE EFF?!
Details on how this piece of shit is going to be used in games are pretty vague. Apparently, the idea is to check stress, help you relax, and just generally chill out.
*insert string of profanities here*
Nintendo. You’re dead to me! Dead I tell you! Dead! Its like after watching Microsoft’s presentation, Nintendo’s execs quickly dig through their pile of R&D desperate for something to show and tell. It is like getting caught on the day you are suppose to bring something to show and tell and totally forgot about it, randomly grab something and spout out as much nonsense as possible. The crowd was eeriely silent throughout the whole presentation and even after. No clap no thing. The Gods of Gamings are weeping.
Thankfully, Nintendo quickly went into damage control mode when Cammie quickly stepped in and broke the silence by quickly showed Super Mario Galaxy 2. Finally something to appease the crowd. It looks as good as the original and better. I’ll grab anything decent after that rubbish insult of an announcement. *Anger levels reduced a little bit*. Rawr.
Regginator then announced an example of some hardcore 3rd party games. The Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles and Dead Space Extraction (exclusive) which is prequel to the original Dead Space. Satiated but not impressed. Not so enthusiastic clap from the audience. Probably still reeling from the shock that is the Wii Vitality Sensor.
The Regginator grinned. “I don’t like that smile reggie, what cha got? will it blow my brains off in excitement?!”. “Absolutely” he says.
Sweet mother of…. That actually looks damn good. Metroid: Other M is officially unveiled. Just watch the trailer I’ve attached above. I don’t think I have enough vocabulary to describe the awesomeness. The new Metroid will be developed by Team Ninja of Ninja Gaiden fame and Nintendo. Lets just hope Samus WON’T have ginourmous boobs of epic proportions like Rachel of Ninja Gaiden.
To be honest, Nintendo’s press conference did not knock my socks off. It actually disappointed me. Just by gauging the crowd reaction and enthusiasm throughout the press conference, you get a feel of how underwhelming it actually is. Perhaps after Microsoft kick started E3 with a bang, I was expecting Nintendo to fight back with a roar. At least it wasn’t a total flop like last year. They did announced some pretty good games but it wasn’t of the ZOMFGWTFBBQPWN!!!1111!! kind. Ok, maybe metroid but I’m not really an FPS kinda guy that it is a must have. The Wii will sadly remain mostly as the console of choice to bring out when I have friends and family over.
Nintendo has drawn plenty of hate from the hardcore crowd this year. They amount of showing they have is skewed heavily towards the casuals whereas Microsoft seems pretty balance. That leaves Sony which I will be writing about it soon. After that I would post my analysis on all 3 followed by some of my most anticipated games of E3. Stay tuned.
E3 2009 – Microsoft Press Conference
June 3rd, 2009 / No Comments » / by Varancar
Last night I was watching the replay of the whole E309 Microsoft Press Conference. Having played Gears of War (even though it took a while to get use to the Xbox’s control scheme) and looking through the online features of the Xbox 360 on my friend’s console, I was slightly tempted to get an Xbox for myself.
So far the only 2 games I really wanted to play on the Xbox is Ninja Gaiden 2 and Fable 2. However, it was already announced that Ninja Gaiden 2 was also coming to the Playstation 3 as Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, which includes extra playable characters. The buxom vixen from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 makes a return. Ayane from Dead of Alive and Momijo from Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword’s joins the fray. So that means its down to one game, Fable 2.
Looking for more reason to justify a purchase, I watched the press conference in anticipation that something will blow me away. The conference started with about 15 minutes of The Beatles Rock Band. At the end of the presentation, they announced that all you need is love will be an Xbox Live exclusive paid download. Proceeds from the purchases are donated to Doctors Without Borders. So they showcased 15 minutes of a multi-platform game in which they have exclusive right to ONE song? Also, I do not see the logic limiting all proceeds being donated to charity to one console? Shouldn’t it be made available to as many people as possible to raise more fund?
Next they showed about ten world premieres and hammering on the fact that it is only available on the Xbox (even though (most of which are multiplatform games). I can’t help but feel a bit disgusted that this could be a deceiving conduct which could con uneducated masses to think that it is only available on the Xbox?
First they premiered Tony Hawk Ride and the new skateboard controller. Interesting. Could this top Skate highly polished experience? We shall see. Modern Warfare 2 was next (2 map packs will be released on Xbox Live first) followed by Final Fantasy XIII running on the Xbox. Because of the highly compressed video I was watching I can’t really tell whether the graphics is comparable to the PS3 version. We have to wait and see for more details. John Schappert, corporate VP for Xbox is still saying every single game and demo and experience will be available only on Xbox 360 (even though its NOT!).
Next, they finally showed an exclusive, Shadow Complex. It is a 2D platforming game inspired by Castlevania and Metroid. Following this is another exclusive go-kart-ish racing game using Xbox avatar (i.e. Nintendo Wii’s Mii equivalent). Lame. Crackdown 2, a third-person shooter was shown next. Not interested. At this point I shoud disclose that I’m NOT an FPS / Shooter fan. I do enjoy the occasional game or too, but my interest rarely stays.
Moving on, they next trailer being shown is for Left 4 Dead 2. Schappert still saying that it is only available on the Xbox. Excuse me? If it is also available on the PC, it is not exclusive. I would ALWAYS pick PC over consoles for FPS / RTS. Following that, is Splinter Cell: Conviction. Again, according to Schappert, it is available ONLY on the Xbox even though it is ALSO available on the PC.
Forza Motorsport 3 trailer is being shown after that. In first person view with the dashboard and all, the mirrors are actually working and looks really good. Apparently there is also a one-button driving to make it easy for beginners to play (the heck o.O?!). Another really cool feature is the car creator. Check out the video below.
They then showed another one of Xbox’s biggest exclusive franchise, Halo. Bungie showcased Halo ODST and a teaser for Halo Reach. Again not interested (told you I’m NOT interested in FPS so please don’t flame me). After Halo, they showed something which interest me. Alan Wake.
Alan Wake is a psychological action thriller similar to Dead Space and Resident Evil. The plot and atmosphere however, is really intriguing. It kind of reminds me of the movie Secret Window which is based on a book of the same name. Trailer attached below. Alan Wake is also available on the PC.
That ends the world premieres. Schappert is back on stage announcing new features coming to Xbox. Music is coming to Xbox 360 says Schappert. Arrogant proud face of Schappert greeted by lukewarm applause. They’ve also announced a partnership with Sky TV to bring TV straight to homes in the UK and Ireland without any extra hardware.
Then they announced that they will be relaunching their video service in 1080p with Zune video. Apparently all you have to do is hit play and you can watch 1080p HD movies. No downloads. I’m a bit skeptical about this especially in regards to Australia. In Australia, we have bandwidth cap. Our speed and bandwidth is simply not enough to cope with it. Perhaps it will work in the US so I will remain skeptical unless proven otherwise.
Next up is Live Party. This allows your avatar and your friends avatar to sit around a virtual TV and watch it. Facebook and Twitter is also coming to Xbox Live. The crowd was pretty bored and silent with all these features. I know I am.
After announcing all these features, Don Mattrick, Senior VP of Xbox came on stage with Hideo Kojima. OMG. Metal Gear Solid on Xbox! Hideo says the the MGS franchise would be coming to the Xbox 360. That would be a blow to Sony. He announced that the next major release will be called Metal Gear Rising aka Metal Gear Raiden (er…). The tagline “Tactical Espionage Action” is being replaced by “Lightning Bolt Action” (the heck?!) to fit the new protagonist, Raiden. It is due for release on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows. Probably not that big of a blow.
Next up, Microsoft showcased their new motion controller, Natal. The more I see the presentation of it, the more it reminds me of what has already been done on the Playstation 2 with the Eye Toy and is successor Playstation Eye on the Playstation 3. I do admit that it looks a tad more responsive, but I will remain skeptical. My experiences with these is that the games tend to be gimmicky.
And that wraps up E3 2009 Microsoft Press Conference. In summary, games that might tempt me over:
Exclusives
1) Forza Motorsport 3
That brings me to a grand total of 2 games, Fable 2 and Forza Motorsport 3.
The other interesting games would be:
1) Alan Wake (Which I will get on the PC)
2) Final Fantasy XIII (which I will get on the PS3)
3) Left 4 Dead 2 (Which I will get on the PC)
Even though Left 3 Dead 2 is an FPS, but I had lots of fun with it, particularly with my friends on LAN.
Addendum:
To be honest, Microsoft really did a good job this year compared to previous years. However, it has not shown me enough to tempt me over yet. I’m not a console fanboy per se, I love games in all its form. Xbox 360 currently does not have enough games that *I* like enough to justify the purchase. Same goes with the Wii.
I’ll be watching the Nintendo Press Conference and Sony Press Conference later and will post back.
