E3 Coverage One-Stop-Shop: I Don't Know What Day It Is

Day 3. It's Day 3, I'm just joking.

...half-joking.

With the Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft and EA Conferences over and done with, what else is there to do at E3 when you're not actually there?

I assume we spend countless hours glued to our screens refreshing any kind of video services we have open waiting for a new trailer to pop up on something we were hyped up about at the beginning. Or we just lose interest.

But, there have been lots of NEW ANNOUNCEMENTS over the past few days, I think worth sharing because it marginally interests me while I wait for Guild Wars 2 and The Secret World to come out because I am way too stoked for digging my hands into those story worlds, like omg.

• Wii U will support two separate gamepads, possible 5 player games
• New Super Mario Brothers U 
• Mass Effect 3, Assassin's Creed Spin-off, Zombi U -- all on launch
• Nintendo has a lot of games

•  Beyond: Two Souls is NOT a rehashed Heavy Rain
• If you're offended by the notion that Quantic Dream makes "interactive movies" and David Cage is a "frustrated film director" then you're an idiot and have no place making opinions about anything ever. Let me elaborate.

Video gaming is an incredible medium of entertainment. Its constraints are almost non-existent, it's engagement is what radio and television have striven for for more than five decades. Its speed of development and technological direction is unpassed. There is so much potential in this medium.

And your shitty head can't wrap around the fact that gaming can be more than top-down dungeon crawlers, or achievement-based shitfests where people yell at each other through headsets and kill each other aimlessly in a military simulation. Well, you're narrow-minded. You're a goof. Quantic Dream pushes the envelope on what gaming can be, and should be. Same with Ubisoft Montreal's Watch_Dogs. The fact that they're even making a new, A-Title property out of nothing and putting their cards on the table is a testament to their ambition and loyalty to the industry. They realize something is stale. They want to give it a jump.

Trade exhibitions like this are for developers and businesses hype up consumers and introduce new things they're doing to engage their peers and colleagues in the field. Because we're shitty consumers, not to mention the most demanding, needy, ungrateful and unreasonable consumer base in any form of entertainment, the developers have listened. To the sales, mostly. And sales call for repetitions of established franchises. Your Madden 26's and Call of Extreme Duty: Modern Black Ops Warefare 7 will saturate this market until it can't even breathe out of its mouth.

I'm angry, yeah, but I'm optimistic. At least the current franchises, for the most part, have a respectable developer that we can trust with delivering new, exciting, innovative content. But if you chastise an indie developer, our a non-"mainstream" developer for innovating in their own way, for truly trying something new, then you're a terrible gamer. You don't get the video game industry.

Casual gaming has risen in the ranks to be a powerhouse for the industry. Social gaming you can't even escape whether you're in public, in private, or in outer space. And those developers are ones that understand the nature of the industry, the beast that is this thriving new technology that will drive the global market for interactive entertainment, probably entertainment as a whole.

It's not the games and the creators that need to catch up with you, it's you that needs to catch up with the developer that are winning the race. And I'll tell you, no matter how much Blops II sells, or if there's a Dead Space 5 down the road--the bigger number doesn't mean the better game. We seem to forget that often. Moving on,

• Speaking of sequels and the like...
• So far, not just today -- footage for Dead Space 3, Borderlands 2, Assassin's Creed III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Resident Evil 6, Halo 4,  Lost Planet 3, and more..
• HAWKEN.

Just gonna stop the bullet lists now, nothing else interests me. I've never been into MechWarrior, or any kind of mech-shooter game, but Gundam is an awesome series, and most of its spin-offs. Hawken's a game made from the ground-up by a handful of devs with a lot of heart and passion and a solid idea to build up from.

What more could you ask for? Glad they're finally to unleash onto the world the fruits of their labor. I hear its free-to-play too, which is too much to ask, but we're getting it. I guess they'll make ample fanboy money from that ridiculous exclusive controller you can get with it?
 

Try me.

And a kickass live-action-y trailer:

So there's that.

I'm trying my hand at responsible blogging here, so give me a break. Also, if you don't like my opinions, please share my blog with people who will. Much appreciated.

Games, everybody!

I have all the E3 Coverage you need!

I really don't though.

It's that time of the year again, kiddies. Where the basement dwellers come out of their man-caves and half the world readies themselves for another Call of Duty title (when will it die?), it's the Electronic Entertainment Expo! Cue confetti.

THE RUNDOWN - E3 DAY 1 (In no particular order)

1. We're gonna talk about gaemz n' shit.
2. So much Ubi in my Soft, it's ridiculous.
3. Activision/Treyarch/Infinity Ward/whoever the fuck is working on another COD spin-off pocket-money-grabber.
4. Dead Space 3! Buuuuuuuutt....
5. Wii U is still important. IT'S STILL IMPORTANT. 

Since my journalistic resources are limited to what major blogs to follow, my coverage of E3 this week will be limited to whatever things I find cool from day to day, and if I have time or am not too lazy to actually share with you my thoughts on the new titles/games/tech/anything else.

With the--OH HOLY FUCKING SHIT WHAT IS THIS

holycrapisthatchicagoandhecanhackintoallcommunicationssystemsandinfrasturctureomgthatfacialmocaplooksinsaneisthisUbisoft--

Ffffffnnnngggfhhhhfhghhhhhh---

Yuuuuuuuuuppp.

SO. It looks like Ubisoft's conference had a few gems to showcase. Ubisoft Montreal announces their never-before-seen footage of a near-future, open-world, third-person, computer hacker action-adventure title that they've been working on, Watch Dogs. The demo looks great, the concept sounds even better, and the footage was amazing detailed and sleek. The UI in its current phase I'll be happy with--without a doubt they'll keep changing it until the release date is announced though.

Watch Dogs sounds like the kind of fresh air that the gaming industry needs to breathe in order to rejuvenate a lot of what's being going on. Last year it was sequels and threequels and prequels, this year it's the same, except Nintendo has new toys moms get to play with (Wii U looks pretty slick however).

A new IP with the current technology the industry is capable of utilizing is reassuring to me. The facial mo-cap alone on these characters seems like it's worth a shot. Knowing Quantic Dream's next project is going to be announced soon (the guys who did Heavy Rain and that amazing tech demo at GDC earlier), can't see what's in store for gaming technology come the next year.

Microsoft's announcements with Smartglass, Nike endorsements, and Blops II, including whatever I didn't pick up, we're pretty good too. I guess. Fuck Microsoft actually, why would anybody want IE AND Bing on their TV?

The other big videos/demos released today (minus Blops II, which did not enthuse me at all):

Risky move from Visceral to try an action-adventure co-op game, rather than the traditional Dead Space roots in isolation, horror, and tension. Getting some Lost Planet vibes, maybes some Resident Evil in there. The latter already having turned into a shooter-based action adventure, I'm a bit weary.

But (and there should be a lot of buts here), having not played Dead Space 2 yet, I'll have to check the scare factors in that game, and correlate them with dismembering space-gun action, and see if this genre adaptation/total switch-up is acceptable. The biggest risk here? Co-op gameplay for what seems to be the story mode. Introducing a second player (hopefully optional?) is a strange move that really could go both ways. Definite change in the tone and direction for the franchise as a whole.

What I get from Visceral Games is a bigger focus on story potential for Isaac and the game universe. Having already exhausted the resources in creating one of the best survival horror games of our generation, and having a decent follow-up to that (by horror game standards), it's really more of a blank slate than Visceral probably hoped for. If they have to sacrifice a few scary-ass scripted events to get something fresh for the fans, so be it. Big giant alien mutant monsters never hurt anyone. Still looking forward to this one.


Gonna give the Wii U some love too. Saw an internet comment talking about the "Pro Controller" and how it's ironic payback at other console companies stealing all of Nintendo's ideas and flipping them off. Which I like. Fuckin' Microsoft. Seriously, it looks like a 360 controller.

But with the apparent universal remote capabilities and the "reader/writer" thing I'm still trying to wrap my head around, the applications for the Wii U device open a lot of doors for how gaming can grow as a social activity, which really has been Nintendo's thing. With their conference tomorrow, I expect a lot of surprise announcements? Probably some plumbers involved.


Sony's conference is underway -- expecting Quantic Dream's Beyond to make a showcase, and show how much the tech the PS3 is capable of has come along. Then it's 4 more days of gaming awesome.

Coverage will be consistently sporadic and unreliable, just the way you like it.

Other than that I'll just rant about how much I hate the Call of Dooty series and its fans and bitch and moan about games I want but will never have.

But I have Arkham City: GOTY Edition so fuck y'all.

FUCK YEAH GAMES. Stay tuned.

SOPA Blackout Day: Don’t stop just yet!

If you have your own Tumblr, Blogspot, website or any other presence on the Internet, go to www.sopastrike.com for some instructions on how to represent the Internet community and protest against the asinine U.S pieces of legislation that are the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect-IP Act.

The fight against a corporate-controlled Internet is not over.

After today, there’s still a lot to be done, a lot of voices to reach, and a lot of action to be taken against these pieces of legislation before they’re fully KILLED. PIPA’s vote will take place on January 24th, and even if you’re not an American citizen, the internet does not have borders. Tell friends, family, American cousins, The U.S State Department, anyone who will listen.

Hollywood versus Silicon Valley – Be on the right side.

Ah, but there is no taking sides with this issue. Everyone has been exposed to online piracy and copyright infringement. Most of us have probably done it. Yes, it hurts the entertainment industry, but the the executives and lobbyists and politicians in Washington do not know the extent to which they are screwing with us—these are people of a past generation, angry at the fact that things are progressing out of their realm of understanding.

They’d rather kill technological innovation, the possibility of new start-ups, the next YouTube or Facebook, social networking, and the communication between me and you over the net, in favour of maximizing the profits that their multi-billion dollar industries make already.

In fighting against SOPA, we are PEOPLE rather than STATISTICS.

This is one fight where you can’t protest with your wallet, you must protest with your voice, because it’s what the Internet is based upon.

I like memes, you like memes, we all scream for more memes.

In the past five or so years I’ve seen Internet culture grow alongside myself and I’ve grown incredibly attached to it. It’s unique, it’s self-sufficient, and it addresses both serious issues and trivial aspects of our lives collectively, through crudely drawn faces and snapshots of silly looking people with text under them.

And yet, they’ve come to represent what it is to be on the Internet. Much of it relies on taking what’s already out there and making it our own. SOPA/PIPA would destroy that identity, and those behind it consciously seek to.

The U.S Congress will not stop, nor should you. 

Just because a bill’s been shelved, doesn’t mean its gone forever. Further proposed legislation could sneak in amendments that do the same thing, only shrouded more from the public. Supporters could come out and try to work around public opinion. The high paying lobbyists from Hollywood have money to spare—and their spending it all on trying to shut us up.

My message? Don’t.

These are powerful people thinking they can abuse their power freely without consequence. A lot of the time, they can, and they do.

Make this the one time they face those consequences.

Call your representatives. Reach out through social networking. Spread word about the damage SOPA and PIPA can do to the Internet as we know it.

Join Wikipedia, Reddit, Wordpress, Google, Cheezburger Network, Minecraft, Mark Zuckerberg, BoingBoing, Craigslist, deviantart, Techdirt, Flikr, Scribd, Yahoo, StumbleUpon and the countless others in this fight. We all need you.

It’s not over yet.

http://www.blackoutsopa.org/

www.sopastrike.com (participants)

http://americancensorship.org/

Protect your online rights and freedoms.

---The Fanboy Subconscious

Save the Internet; Watch & Listen to this Video.

Thirty minutes of your time to educate yourself about a potentially destructive piece of American legislation that will cripple and destroy everything about the Internet. This guy is a UK Law graduate. He’s smart. Listen to him.

Everyone will suffer. Corporations, Internet platforms, social networking, digital content creators, consumers, producers, regular people, you, me, your children, your ability to enjoy creativity, cultivation of ideas, Tim Berners-Lee, Mark Zuckerberg, Shaun Parker, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs’ idea of technology progressing society and culture, independent artists/filmmakers/producers/musicians, YouTube videos, Facebook accounts, memes, internet entrepreneurs, free speech, access and freedom to information, and the future of the digital age and new media.

You censor information, you censor people. You censor people, you censor freedom.

Fuck you, Congress. Everyone suffers. Globally. AROUND THE WORLD.

SPREAD THE WORD.

http://www.americancensorship.org has been, fittingly, taken down.

This cannot happen. If this happens, it’s another step to a world in the near future that no one wants to see. Please. Don’t let stubborn 50-year olds tell our generation what’s right and what’s wrong about an innovation that we grew up with.

Send this video out to everyone you know, tell them to watch it. Tell your American friends, tell your parents.

Tell the Internet, before its voice is gone for good.

iam8bit – The new age of artistic expression

One thing I am, aside from a geek, gamer, and sometime gnome enthusiast, is a student of media production and theory. So I see a video like the one above that I really do hope you watched, especially if you’re into one of the following:

• gaming culture
• artistic cultivation
• cultural relevancy
• the application of design in multiple media platforms
• Donkey Kong/Super Mario/Atari/Capcom/Zelda/Pac-Man/Pong
• new artistic endeavours
• the electronic entertainment industry
• entrepreneurial possibilities
• cool shit

So yeah, I just heard about Iam9Bit today, but what I’ve learned from Machinima’s coverage of the art initiative/independent collective/grassroots start-up is that the limits of artistic expression can be continually pushed into regions that our traditional understanding may not be able to grasp yet.

Throughout history, artistic movements have pushed past scrutiny and criticism to bring upon new ages of creative expression, and therefore affect the entire culture that it draws from and vice-versa. I get good vibes from this collective. Will it achieve such iconic status? Probably not. But I can agree with that they’re pitching in that video; there is no other group doing something like this.

It’s an amalgamation of art and culture, in that it brings two worlds that are incredibly similar on principle, though worlds apart in perception and cultural significance and combining them how they should be seen: awesomsely.

What do they exactly do? Well watch the video if you haven’t already. But if it’s not clear, they make/collect/share art inspired by video game culture. If you check their site, linked here, you can see their most recent stuff includes commissions by top game developers to promote/market their products.

Shit like recreating Newt’s doll from Aliens to celebrate the release of Aliens: Colonial Marines, and also a kick ass NERF-replica pulse rifle, customized and detailed to resemble the movie props. Badass? I think so.

Their earlier stuff includes and underground community event promoting the then-upcoming Street Fighter 4 with what better than a fight club?

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 FIGHT CLUB (LA) from iam8bit Productions on Vimeo.

Their site has tons more in their portfolio and gallery, and just looking at all this awesome stuff blows my mind, as a student and as a appreciator for gaming and art.

These guys combine the two and really transcend preconceptions and assumptions about both. They throw those in the bin and cut off the binds that tie them down. The result is amazing art pieces and attention from major industry players from both the gaming and artistic communities locally and abroad. They are how you do entrepreneurship, and it all starts with the grand idea and the passion required to pull it off.

New role models? Hell yes. Thanks, iam8bit.

Come to Toronto to show us how it’s all done!

They’re based in Los Angeles. Reach if you’re near. You won’t be disappointed.

How to become a knowledgeable person:

Watch the Sagan Series, right here, right now.

“Imagination will often carry us to worlds that never were. But without it we go nowhere.” – Carl Sagan

God is Life. Life is God. We are its saviour. And we’re not doing a fucking good job right now.

More on Net Neutrality.

I’m serious about this issue, it’s bad. Very bad.

Here’s an article by Lifehacker getting into the depth of the stuff, only making it a lot more understandable.

Basically, everything I said in my post, said way better. Hurrah.

Check it out.

[via lifehacker. (obvs)]

Net Neutrality vs. The Biggest Douche In History

(aka. America)

A few days ago, the FCC released that they were going to allow corporate sponsorship online. What that basically means, is that if you use more, buy more, play more, or anything more, you pay more. Not you or me directly, maybe, but the content providers and distributors—YouTube, Google, Yahoo—and that’s not even going into the smaller digital content websites who rely on having efficient access to their content in order for them to profit from it.

This means that Internet Service Providers now have the power to limit, censor or block any content that they feel isn’t what they want being sent down their lines, so they can allocate their bandwidth allowances the highest payers, so they (the content guys) can get their shit sent faster down the line to the front end; the consumer.

Huffington Post—I know, it’s not the best source, but I’m gonna go ahead and jump on this bandwagon, if only for the moment—stated the three reasons why this is pretty much bullshit, and you can get the link right here to read more up on it, cause my voice is reason is probably not the best to follow, but don’t let that stop you from hearing me out.

Huff Post is really adamant about the ‘we demand free, equal internet you capitalist bastards’ and I’m not really opposed to that kind of mindset. To me, breaking it down into its bare bones reveals one thing—the big guys are taking advantage of the little guys, and leaving them in the dust. Where have we seen that before?

Oh yeah. All the fucking time.

But it’s different here, at least I think so. I’m not Internet economics expert, or a guru on Net Neutrality, hell the term is confusing as it is, but I know for a fact that the Internet is one big fucking thing, and the adverse effects of this move, while not apparent now, will be apparent later.

Very, very apparent.

My guess is a lot of lag, a lot of unavailable websites, and hell, we’ll probably end up paying even more for a set amount of bandwidth space we’re allowed to have per month. These are just wild guesses, but I use the Internet a lot, so I’m gonna assume these are realistic scenarios, and ones that will piss me off.

Net Neutrality, as I understand it (not very well), is the concept of data that is sent through the net—text, video, image, anything—should be charged, like a tollbooth, the same rate. The whole debate is a debate on discrimination of data, in that those content providers and distributors that are the main creators and handlers of that data are now going to have big giant painful things stuck up them by the carriers, who handle how that data gets to you and I.

Let this help your simple mind grasp the concept of ‘Net Neutrality.’

At first, when we get the ‘message’ it really appears that we shouldn’t care, but the carriers like a cab service they’re at the control room, sending out cabs. Some of those cabs are shitty fucking '86 Daewoos, and other ones, that the carrier can afford getting to you because someone else is paying them a shitton, is a Bugatti Veyron and arrives in style.

Fuck that, give everybody an Accord to get them. Shit.

Politically, this is not right wing, but it’s not left wing either, I mean, government control and all, but it’s the wrong type—this isn’t social aid funding or welfare development, this is corporate sector involvement, not to limit big business getting in the way, but freeing it up so they can fuck with our lives.

So, anybody fancy a cup of tea?

All in all, I blame Obama.

No, I’m joking, but it is kind of his fault. The dude hasn’t really done much except be black and talk about shit that he’s gonna do.

And then not do it.

Fuck you, man.

It’s his Christmas present to the digital world, and it’s a day late. Typical.

Nah, he’s a cool guy, but still, I have to put my hands up in the air sometimes, and say:

Like seriously man, the Internet’s gonna die.

It’s gonna die, man!

I don’t want it to die. =(

[via 4chan’s /v/ board originally, but the thread’s gone now, losers.]

LOOK.

[via CrunchGear & Gizmodo.]

They're square and black and cool and I want one and yeah.

Reppin’ Sauga (and Milton).

Milton whiz kid's iPhone app downloaded 2 million times
April 10th, 2010 – Nicole Baute, The Toronto Star 

AH. MAH. GAWD. 

Well, it seems to me that certain people I know are getting famous. And surprisingly, I’m not a jealous chump who gets all defensive about my deserving talent and ability being overshadowed by opportunistic and advantageous peers, because I’m such a nice guy.

No. Instead when I found out about my friend at PixelCUBE Studios has gotten on Page 2 of the Toronto Star on Saturday, I was quite the opposite. I mean, that’s pretty damn cool. I know a guy at my school who’s a ‘savvy businessman’ as stated in that article, and he makes games! The profile photo they took for the article was in the very same room I played Halo with him in! It’s quite exciting the more you think about it.

To think of the prospect of knowing a future software programmer for Apple, creating the next sixty iPod Jumbos or iPad Minis is sweet. What if he goes on to make the next entire game genre, start his own game development company? The possibilities are endless with the imagination of a bright and rich future. So I congratulate that man for his accomplishments at such a young age. He really is a savvy businessman and pro-level game programmer when it comes to making games at 18. And the best part is…

He can represent our school, our community and even myself! Being sponsored by the famed PixelCUBE Studios? Amazing! Just think of the money to be made. The fame, the fortune! The endless cigars and women and cars and fame! Did I mention fame? It’s going to be big, wild even! It’s gonna be the best time of our lives!

I tried to be like a 60’s movie producer trying to convince you, the director or actor, why you should be a part of my production. Only I’m not even the producer for this thing—in fact I think he’s less excited than I am. But I digress.

I do wish for the day I can say, ‘I knew that guy. We had Grade 11 Physics together and I sat beside him. Our teacher was terrible and an idiot, and I’d cheat off his test when it came time, and the rest of the time he’d wake me up after I napped in class just before the bell. What a pal. Now he’s rich and famous. Funny how things turn out!"

We just have to hope things keep turning out, and not around.

Check out his iPhone and iPod Touch game at the iTunes store, and his YouTube channel, with tutorials and commentary on the making of game apps for iPhones and other techno mumbo jumbo.

Introducing the next era of iConformity

Today, Apple released its biggest iPhone yet!

Wait, never mind. It’s a pad. Not a phone.

When I first found out about this, I thought it was a hoax, because most of the time they are. But when it was on the Apple website, I still thought it was a hoax. Like, come on. An iPhone for your lap? In 3 years, maybe even 2 years, maybe even in the next few months after it comes out, are people going to be taking public transit and wiping their dirty, oily hands over something that looks like a detached computer monitor?

Yeah, we will. But from the looks of the demo video (which stops buffering a quarter way through), its basically a bigger iPhone, without the phone part. Is that a bad thing? Not at all. Imagine gaming on this thing, without the use for a real keyboard and a mouse. Imagine racing games! Have you ever driven a car with a quadrilateral steering wheel? Well, now you can—or at least I think you will be able to. I don’t think Apple would pass up that opportunity.

And imagine first-person shooters. Maybe if you slap the screen with your palm, you throw a grenade or something. I don’t really know how that would work, but it seems more awesome the more I think about it.

But apart from that, the guy with the slightly lazy eye in the demo video on the Apple homepage says its fun. I’m going to take his word for it, cause it does look like fun. If you like high resolutions, I bet you’ll like this. Just a giant iPhone (without the phone).

Still, it’s a bit surreal that Apple came out with this weird piece of tech. There was actually a Samsung or Sony information-viewer thingy of similar function at the recent CES convention, but I doubt it’d fly as much as the iPad. Not as fruity.

Do expect a massive, overwhelming influx of richer-than-you-should-be yuppies and privileged teenagers gnawing for a taste of this new tech. Will we look like the stupidest people ever, poking our fingers endlessly against a screen? Or will this yet again be another media technology revolution?

I give it a month; by that time it should be in everyone’s lives, like everything else Apple. It’s almost scary how much we rely on this company. Silicon-plated, staintless-steel statue of Steve Jobs erected in 2020? I can see it now. With some iHovercraft, or some iFood.

Ah, the gag’s not even funny anymore. Just enjoy your screen-poking, once it becomes available. Until then, play your leeeetle racing games on your leeetle tiny iPhone screen.

This is a pretty big event, because I just had to create a new label just to compensate for this news! Get poking (April 2010)!