SCEA Gamers Day!!

[Snake]

 

Just arrived at the top of The Roosevelt Hotel where Sony has kicked off their Gamer's Day. This time around the company has decided to cut to the chase and just let us dive in to the rooms full of games they have present for hands-on.

 

So far I've seen consoles set up for Buzz! PS3, Killzone 2, LittleBigPlanet, MotorStorm 2: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2 and SOCOM: Confrontation. PSN titles on hand are Linger-In Shadows, PixelJunk Eden and Siren: Blood Curse and Playstation Portable titles playable are BUZZ! PSP, Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee and Secret Agent Clank.

 

Stay tuned for hands-on impressions of all of these games from myself and McWhertor throughout the day.

 

Source:Kotaku.com

[Snake]

 

Tucked away in the back corner of SCEA's Pre-E3 Judges Day suite was a PlayStation 3 demo station featuring Linger In Shadows, an interactive, semi-playable technical demonstration designed by demoscene team Plastic. We showed the Linger In Shadows video back in March—but don't watch it if you want to avoid "spoilers"; it's pretty much the entire demo that will hit the PlayStation Network later this Summer.

 

But Linger In Shadows can't just be watched in full from the get go, it has to be unlocked. At certain moments in the demo, clues will be given to the player, indicating that some unspecified action needs to be performed. Miss it and the demo will rewind. The display then switches to a letterboxed mode and you'll be shown controller prompts that give you an indication about how to move on to the next scene.

 

Some of those prompts are more descriptive than others—and sound subject to change—as one displayed a DualShock controller with arrows pointing outward in four directions. The SCEA producer responsible for Linger In Shadows then violently shook the controller, using a single handed, palms down grip on the thing, until the spiral of metaballs on-screen spawned a few dozen more, unlocking the next scene.

 

The player will have to unlock the demo bit by bit, using all aspects of the SIXAXIS/DualShock. One portion looked to be unlocked by simply rewinding or fast-forwarding through the scene via the L1/R1 buttons, which then kicked off the next segment.

 

Linger In Shadows also has a few Easter Eggs buried within, shout outs (aka greets) to other demoscene teams. At points in the demo, players will have partial control over the camera. That camera control appears to be mostly limited, but will let the player peek around paused scenes, looking for hidden team logos and tags. Players can bring up a greets reference overlay, giving them clues about where to find them and which ones they've already found.

 

Graphically, Linger In Shadows looks spectacular. It may not have the high budget production values of a game like Killzone 2, but it more than makes up for it in cool technical tricks, like custom fur shaders, real-time physics modeling and pretty paint filters.

 

While we didn't get to go hands on with the title, we're certainly curious to check it out in its final form. Pricing wasn't specified— there's a possibility it may be free to download—and it sounds like this is still under discussion internally.

 

We think that the majority of folks who download Linger In Shadows will find it nothing more than a confounding curiosity, but others may look at it as a graphical showcase—SCEA reps referred to it as an interactive digital coffee table book—and some may even consider it truly interactive art. It may not be for everyone, but we're sure everyone will have a fairly strong opinion on it.

[Snake]

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift Hands-On Impressions

 

 

Evolution Studios' tropically themed follow-up to MotorStorm was playable at today's SCEA Pre-E3 Judge's Day, a pre-alpha build that gave us just a taste what the sequel holds in store. Just two levels were on hand in the demo version of MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Beach Comber (for single player) and Rain God Spires (for split-screen multiplayer). The former was comprised of an inland area, thick with vegetation, and a sandy beach, the sun setting brightly in the distance. The latter was a rockier track, one that looked to have been inspired by Rain God Mesa from the original MotorStorm.

 

Evolution may have changed up the setting, but they haven't mucked much with the MotorStorm mechanics, as players of the first will feel right at home. The vehicle line up is almost exactly the same, but handling on the rides felt just a bit looser, making it harder to avoid obstacles than we remember. Unfamiliarity with the new Pacific Rift tracks more than likely accounted for our many, many crashes. It certainly wasn't a skill issue.

 

The newest, most notable changes come in the form of engine cooling by driving through pools of water—watch out though, motorcycles simply can't handle deep water—the new monster truck vehicle class and splitscreen multiplayer.

 

We only tested out the splitscreen mode briefly and only with two players. After our hands-on time with that particular mode, we don't expect to revisit it often when the game is finally released. With such expansive tracks and the option of taking multiple routes, slicing one's horizontal view in half doesn't make for the ideal MotorStorm experience.

 

Taking the monster truck for a spin, however, is certainly something we look forward to revisiting. The vehicle class's pros, cons and quirks weren't immediately apparent in our handful of monster truck races, but its promise—quad crushing and better-than-a-big rig handling—is exciting. As expected, the thing can overturn rather easily, meaning you'll probably do more braking than with other classes.

 

As we mentioned before, the game was still early; only 40% complete, reportedly. That was certainly apparent, as the frame rate wasn't close to consistent and much of the environmental effects seemed to be missing. We didn't seem to notice much in the way of land deformation, nor did explosions and the kicking up of mud impress. What did, though, were the ragdoll physics. Launching a motorcyclist across the finish line from an exploding bike was far more rewarding than in the original. Visually, though, the game looks rather flat at this point.

 

MotorStorm: Pacific Rift certainly has promise. We're definitely concerned about the current lack of "oomph" in the build we played and that the tropical setting may make for more cramped, less nail-biting thrill rides. Given that Evolution says it still has a long way to go—and that we still had fun—we're definitely giving them the benefit of the doubt.