Realm Media Networks - E3 2005

Link is back with a new look and a new quest...

Josh Lacey — Thu, 26 May 2005 21:52:36 -0700

Link is back again with another Gamecube adventure titled The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, though the cute child-like character we saw in his previous Wind Waker excursion is gone. We are left with a significantly more adult and life-like version of the character that should assauge the complaints fans had with the outgoing art style of Wind Waker. On an interesting side note, Nintendo has revealed that this incarnation of Link is not the one found in Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker, but how this Link relates to the others has been left rather inscrutable up to this point.

What do you call more than one Colossus?

Josh Lacey — Wed, 25 May 2005 18:11:32 -0700

In their new game Shadow of the Colossus, developer SCEI has taken the time-honored formula of saving a damsel in distress, and crafted a very innovative game based around the search for a lost love. Finding your lost love won't be an easy task, as the nameless hero will be required to match wits against sixteen of the eponymous creatures of the title.

Kingdom Hearts II Emerges from the Cloaked Shadows

Josh Lacey — Tue, 24 May 2005 22:23:03 -0700

To date, Square Enix has been more tight-lipped about Kingdom Hearts II than government agents are with nuclear armament codes. Finally though, at E3 we got our first taste of what to expect from the highly anticipated sequel to the game that successfully blended Square and Disney characters.

The first thing that everyone will immediately notice is the maturation of Sora, the main protaganist from the first game. He now is sporting some fancy black duds, and doesn't appear quite as child-like as in Kingdom Hearts. The tone of the game has certainly darkened to some degree, as enigmatic cloaked figures were in abundance during movies shown for the game.

SEGA Wrecks All Combat Racers with 360's Full Auto

Jeff Greeson — Tue, 24 May 2005 20:46:25 -0700

If there was one game that I would say that epitomizes what next-gen games from Xbox 360 are going to be like, that one game so far would have to be SEGA's Full Auto. Imagine a cross between EA's Burnout, Need for Speed series, Ubisoft's Prince of Persia and Atari's classic RoadBlasters and you've got the idea of what Full Auto brings to the table. The game was on display at E3 in Microsoft's booth running on Xbox 360 alpha hardware (read: PowerMac G5s). This one game truly overshadowed everything else being demoed publicly for Microsoft's next console. Full Auto is a delicious blend of jaw-dropping destruction and high-speed racing that shows off the promise of what next-generation games have to offer graphically.

We Love Katamari Rolls Over Worthless Co-op Mode

Luke Wallace — Mon, 23 May 2005 11:27:43 -0700

Katamari Damacy was one of those games I heard about, but never got around to playing. The basic premise is that you roll a ball around picking up anything in the world smaller than you, and try to reach a certain size in a certain time. The bigger you get, the more items in the world you can pick up, and this leads to a very interesting type of gameplay.

At E3 Namco had the latest incarnation, We Love Katamari, which now includes a two-player cooperative mode. In theory, you should be working together to build a bigger ball, but in actuality you end up spending most of the time trying to compromise and decide which direction to go. The two-player mode requires that both players perform the same action, or at least two similar actions. If you want to go left, the other person has to want to go left. Want to turn around quickly by pushing both analog sticks at the same time? Well, just convince your partner to do it too, and do it at the same time, and it will work great.

Odama crushes classic pinball with a microphone

Luke Wallace — Mon, 23 May 2005 08:18:28 -0700

Upon walking past the Odama booth, the initial impression you get is that it's just another pinball game. A ball is bouncing around the level, creating sounds and animations as key points are hit. Then you notice more movement, and you see that the level is actually a battlefield, with men fighting each other, and all sides being crushed by the Odama ball. Then you stop and take a longer look, to see what else this game has to offer.

Hands On the Game Boy Micro, Where'd It Go?

Jeff Greeson — Thu, 19 May 2005 06:07:12 -0700

Boy is that Game Boy Micro tiny. It literally is no larger than a standard PC Card wireless card. Making the unit so small required a trade off in the size of the screen, which really doesn't make sense. The Game Boy Micro's screen is way too small to make out several details on games that you should no problems seeing on a Game Boy Advance SP. I'm thinking that the Game Boy Micro is a way for Nintendo to expand their market share over the PSP to the opposite end of the spectrum, people with the dexterity of a 4 year old. Nintendo may be harping on the screen being the best the Game Boy has ever seen; however, I'm thinking that they're trying to stay on the offensive on the screen to keep people from discussing it. Well, tell you what, the Game Boy Micro is definately not going to replace my Game Boy Advance SP any time soon. No matter how much smaller it is.

Nintendo Responds to PSP's Form Factor, Releases Game Boy Micro

Jeff Greeson — Wed, 18 May 2005 06:15:30 -0700

Your clamshell Game Boy Advance SP just became a lot less cooler with Nintendo's announcement of the new Game Boy Micro. This new Game Boy is the exact same hardware as the Game Boy Advanced/SP but features a new PSP-killer form factor. Supposedly the only upgraded feature of the new Micro aside from the new form factor is the unit's dimmable screen, dubbed the best Game Boy screen ever! No new features or capabilities on this one, just a new sexy 4" x 2" package. We will definately have some hands-on impressions of the new Micro later on.

Nintendo E3 Game Boy Micro Media Section [Nintendo Japan]

USA Today Prints First Nintendo 'Revolution' Shot

Jeff Greeson — Tue, 17 May 2005 07:37:54 -0700

Bleary-eyed game journos, still fighting off the after-effects of the Xbox 360 party, awakened to their free continental breakfast and complementary USA Today with more work to do as right smack dab at the top of the front page of the USA Today is the first published picture of the still code-named Nintendo 'Revolution'. Here are the worthy bits from the story:

With its front-loading slot for discs, it will play games on full-size DVDs as well as older GameCube games on mini-DVDs. Like Xbox and PlayStation 2, it will play DVD movies.

Nintendo, which mostly ignored the Net with GameCube, also is catching up with the online wave. Revolution will offer broadband access to a free Internet-based player matching service, similar to Xbox Live, that also will have downloadable versions of nearly every Nintendo game — from arcade classic Donkey Kong through current titles such as Mario Sunshine. (Nintendo hasn't decided whether downloading will be free.)

Revolution Joins the Gaming Wars [USA Today]

Bach: Xbox 360 Will be Backwards Compatible With Select Games

Jeff Greeson — Mon, 16 May 2005 20:04:11 -0700

For whatever reason, Microsoft made a bunch of people think that the Xbox 360 could have some how overlooked the ability to play current generation Xbox games. However, Robbie Bach, Microsoft's Cheif Xbox Officer, just put that impression to bed and just announced at the Microsoft E3 keynote presentation at the Shrine Auditorium that the Xbox 360 will infact be backwards compatible with the Xbox, but only with at least 200 of the Xbox's best-selling games. At some consolation, we can put the rest the idea that Microsoft is doomed out of the gate in this generation. The momentum looks to be back into Microsoft's court. Lets see if they can execute this holiday season.