Welcome to Beyond Co-Op, a weekly piece that talks about industry stories that may or may not be related to co-op gaming.
The stories for this week:
- DC Universe Online Coming in November to PS3/PC
- Valve Cancels Portal 2 E3 Event for "Surprise"
- After Scare, Beyond Good and Evil 2 Still in Development and Michael Ancel Still with Ubisoft
- E3 Just Over a Week Away
- Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Green Day: Rock Band and Tiger Woods 11 This Week
DC Universe Online Coming in November to PS3/PC
I’m not a big MMO player and I really only play them when they are in the beta phase (it’s nice to be an online gaming journalist sometimes!). I just have a hard time parting with $X per month with something that could ultimately make me addicted. I’m not saying it would happen, but the possibility is certainly there as I’m sure many of you can attest.
DC Universe Online could be a different beast for me since I am big into comics, but to be honest I’d rather be playing in the Marvel universe than the DC one, but I digress. It sounds as if combat is still somewhat borked at this point in time with those that have had hands-on play with the game recently. There is no doubt this will be at E3 this year for play, so it should be interesting to see what people say about it. Currently it is scheduled to come out sometime in November on PS3 and PC.
Source: Colony of Gamers
Valve Cancels Portal 2 E3 Event for "Surprise"
I am still confused by this because the message really doesn’t explain whether there is still an actual event that now won’t include Portal 2 and instead be based around this “surprise” or if the whole event has been canceled. Really the only thing we can say is that Portal 2 will no longer be the center of the event if it happens or not, but that the game will be playable on the E3 floor.
Speculation is rampant on the “surprise”. If I were a betting man it has something to do with Half-Life, whether the third episode of Half-Life 2 will be shown off or that Half-Life 3 will be shown off. Late on Friday an image was let loose on the net with the Half-Life logo, the word Freeman underneath it and the date of June 14th. The G-Man’s visage could also be seen in the darkness. Microsoft has its presser on that day and it would certainly go far in explaining the rumors of people previously on the guest list for that presser now being told it is overbooked and they won’t be able to attend. Here was the message sent out by Aperture Science:
Dear Subject Name Here,
Aperture Science is pleased to inform you that we have partnered with Valve to announce the gala CANCELLATION of the June 14 Portal 2 event at the Regal Theater. The event will be replaced by a surprise. And even though the cancellation of the event certainly counts as a surprise, we are pleased to further announce that the cancellation of the event is not THE surprise. However, per International treaties regarding the definition of the word "surprise", of which both Aperture Science and Valve are signatories, the time, date and content of the actual surprise will only become available as you experience the surprise.
If you'd like to ask fruitless questions about the E3 Portal 2 surprise or, more fruitfully, schedule an appointment to attend a Portal 2 screening at the Valve booth during E3, please contact Valve's Special Envoy to Surprises, Doug Lombardi.
Thank you for <>
PS: The surprising record scratch is also not the surprise.
Guess we’ll find out at E3 or next week if a new message goes out.
Source: Colony of Gamers
After Scare, Beyond Good and Evil 2 Still in Development and Michael Ancel Still with Ubisoft
A scary rumor was floated earlier this week that Michael Ancel had left Ubisoft and Beyond Good and Evil 2 was essentially canceled. Ubisoft would later come out and say Ancel was still with the company and development on Beyond Good and Evil 2 was continuing on. I loved the first game and I think it has been a couple years since we saw the little bit of CGI at Ubisoft’s Ubidays 2008 event. Maybe this year we’ll see some more of the game at E3. We can only hope.
Source: Colony of Gamers
E3 Just Over a Week Away
Another year of E3 is close at hand. Can I say I’m really not feeling E3 this year? Are there going to be any big surprises other than exactly what the Nintendo 3DS is? I mean, we’ll have Natal (which will be given a final name) and Move there, but these are technically things we saw last year. Microsoft and Sony have had another year to make these things flashier, but honestly I have a feeling both products are going to be epic fails in the long run. With Natal’s rumored $149 price Microsoft has already effectively priced it out of major potential penetration percentage (say that 5 times fast). Same goes for Sony with having to buy multiple wands or orbs (I forget which) outside of the main Move product, pushing it to over a $100 buy-in supposedly.
Will there be any game surprises? Probably. Am I excited about it at all? Well, it depends on what unknown games are unveiled I guess. Games already announced or unveiled at last year’s E3 like Metal Gear Solid Rising, The Last Guardian, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and the forever in development Gran Turismo 5 (will we get a solid release date finally?) are just some of the games I’m interested in, but my level of interest is just not as high as it has been in the past. You will also notice that each of those games are technically sequels, although that term is stretched with The Last Guardian
Outside of seeing the Nintendo 3DS and what Natal and Move can actually do now that they are closer to release, I’d be shocked if there was a surprise announcement or showing that blows my mind this year. Maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised, but I honestly don’t hold out much hope. A big surprise would be if one of the Big Three announce that they are working on a new system. I’m not sure that’s going to happen, I think all three are pretty content with their current systems even though that itch to present something new has to be coming soon (generally there is a 4-6 year separation with systems in this era, the 360 turns 5 this year and there is no word of a successor). If one of the three were to make such a move, it would most likely be Nintendo. Then again, they are the clear #1 from a hardware perspective still, so they may not want to bring a new console out. Then you look at their handheld line and they’ve constantly been updating that with the new 3DS about to be unveiled.
E3 will be interesting, I’m just not as excited as I usually am for some reason.
Source: me
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Green Day: Rock Band and Tiger Woods 11 This Week
Wallet threat level may be at red this week depending on whether you’re a fan of Metal Gear Solid or not. Peace Walker is sounding like a continuation of the greatness of the series, but why the hell did you make it for the PSP Kojima? My PSP is easily the biggest dust collector of my systems, I play my DS more than I play the PSP. This is a reason to blow the cobwebs off, but I hope I’m not cursing about the lack of a second analog nub like I usually do.
Green Day: Rock Band sales should be a good indicator of how sustainable music rhythm games are at this time. I personally say they’ve seen their high day around the time Rock Band 2 came out and maybe Beatles: Rock Band. These genre is becoming highly derivative and it may be time to stop attempting to milk the cow. Of course with Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock and Rock Band 3 obviously on the horizon, maybe the genre will see a resurgence. Then again, maybe not.
Finally, our favorite adulterer’s new iteration comes out. I do want to say last year’s Wii game was fantastic with the Wii MotionPlus and I would expect this year’s Wii version to be the same. It is also interesting that the PS3 version will support the Playstation Move when it comes out, but it will not support Natal on the 360. So, if you’re interested in some full-range motion sometime in the future with Tiger Woods 11 you’ll probably want to pick up the PS3 version or if you want it right away, pick up the Wii version.
Source: me