It is always a privilege to talk to Runic Games, and this time at E3 2012 we were able to sit down and play through Torchlight 2 with them. We checked out the four classes, the pets, and of course the loot and I must say that it is shaping up to be an amazingly fluid action rpg experience.
It’s always a huge deal when a StarCraft expansion is close to release, just like when the original Starcraft got a major facelift when it upgraded to the Brood War expansion. Now, StarCraft 2 will be unleasing the1st of two expansions: Heart of the Swarm with new units to command.
I saw the Ascend: New Gods trailer at the Microsoft press conference and made a mental note to check it out. Dark fantasy games have been trumping twitchy shooters for me, lately. I found the game on display in the Microsoft booth.
Namco Bandai proudly displayed their new cooperative Star Trek game at E3. Once past the booth-babe-bookended Captain's chair I entered the Star Trek theater. The game was presented on two side by side displays in glorious 3D. While we couldn't play the game ourselves, Star Trek was demoed in a playable build, and it looked pretty sharp.
Dragon riding aficionados may have noticed something missing from this week's Co-Op Release Alert. Crimson Dragon was supposed to launch this week but was unceremoniously delayed. According the Xbox.com it has been set to release on December 31st, 2799, which means it's not my problem, or anyone else's for that matter.
Gamers who missed out on the first Epic Mickey due to either lack of or apathy towards the Wii have been looking forward to Epic Mickey 2 ever since it was announced for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 (in addition to the Wii). News of drop-in, drop-out co-op got us even more excited. But the lack of release date kept our enthusiasm slightly in check. Thankfully the game now has an official release date: November 18, plus a snazzy new trailer.
The avalanche of E3 is still echoing in my ears. I've got several previews to write, so let's skip the small talk and get right to the hot n' heavy co-op releases for this week.
Ahh, the MMO expansion. That lovely thing that most MMO-players long for in their current MMO, or the thing that they were waiting for to entice them back to a past favorite MMO. This month we look at recently announced RIFT expansion, Storm Legion, and LOTRO's expansion Riders of Rohan.
Resident Evil 6 had the largest presence in the Capcom booth. After swooning over the new design of Dante in Devil May Cry and checking out the big mech in Lost Planet 3, Locke and I had the opportunity to dig right into some two player co-op. Resident Evil 6 boasts three separate campaigns and we were able to sample two of them.
On Wednesday night the Co-Opticrew headed to the Nokia Theater to relax a bit after 3 solid days of hard work. We were set to see Video Games Live, a concert which features music from various video games played with a full orchestra and mixed with visuals from said game. The show was created by industry veteran Tommy Tallarico, a video game composer himself of over 250 games including Earthworm Jim, Prince of Persia and Advent Rising. Tallarico also used to host a TV Show on the G4 Network, which you would think would make him the perfect host for something like this. You'd think.
One of the games I was really itching to check out at E3 was Ron Gilbert/Double Fine's recently-announced The Cave. As luck would have it, it ended up being the very last thing I was able to get an appointment to see, and I think we're in for a real co-op treat.
Focus Interactive took some to show off their wares this E3 with such titles as Sherlock Holmes, Blood Bowl, Of Orcs and Men, and their featured co-op title Realms of Ancient War by Wizarbox. The fantasy set action RPG contains 2 player local co-op where you and a friend will travel through distinct environments battling hundreds of relentless enemies on screen at once. The best thing about it? Finally being able to do this on a console.
