Brandon Boyer

E309: the true debut of Ico/Shadow of the Colossus followup The Last Guardian

Though the impact will have been undercut just slightly by seeing the pre-E3 leaked video of 'Project Trico', watching the first official video of The Last Guardian -- the PS3 debut of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus creator Fumito Ueda -- is honestly no less heartbreaking.

The reason? In its full, updated glory, details emerge that either weren't present or as prominent in the years-old Trico video: most notably, the spears and arrows still cruelly jutting out of the gryphon's thinning plumage -- evidence of abuse endured during his time chained up before breaking free.

The updated trailer also shows the first sequences of the game's protagonist without the companionship of his new-found friend, looking much more vulnerable to his surroundings than either Ico or Shadow of the Colossus's Wander, and, at the very end, some of the same now-signature sun-drenched washed out courtyards that'll take you straight back to some of Ico's most beautiful scenes.

Brandon Boyer

E309: first footage of Lionhead's Natal-enabled virtual friend Milo

In case you still haven't made it through archive video of Microsoft's E3 conference, meet Milo, the virtual playmate from Black and White and Fable producer Peter Molyneux and his cohorts at Lionhead.

In the works for some time now and originally known as Project Dimitri, Milo will use Microsoft's just-announced motion/voice/facial recognizing hardware Natal, allowing you -- as the video above only slightly unbelievably promises -- full, fluid back and forth conversations with Milo, and other fourth-wall breaking tricks like "handing" Milo a drawing via instant Natal scanning, a drawing he will be able to recognize as well.

Watch the 'real magic' in the video above, and see Joystiq's live demo impressions for some early real-world interaction, who also note that, yes, there will be a 'Millie' for those that are more in need of female companionship.

Brandon Boyer

E309: the gorgeous intergalactic emptiness of WiiWare puzzler You, Me and the Cubes

Of all the under-sung games of E3 that popped up over the past week, the one that I was happiest to see make a stateside appearance was fyto's WiiWare puzzler You, Me and the Cubes.

As I mentioned back in March, the game is the console comeback of Kenji Eno, the director behind Dreamcast horror adventure D2, and the co-creator -- with Chibi-Robo producer Kenishi Nishi -- of the aesthetically similar early iPhone game Newtonica.

The goal? As above, dropping the hapless 'Fallos' on to a series of ever-more-complex interconnected cubes, while attempting to maintain some semblance of balance and harmony, to keep them from falling into precisely the same terrifying void as One More Go's just-mentioned Intelligent Qube.

Nintendo lists the game for a summer 2009 release, which, considering it also did so for the just-released DSiWare game Mighty Flip Champs, could mean it's due to make its appearance in just a few short weeks.

Brandon Boyer

E309 one shot: Nintendo teases the next Wii Zelda

At a post-E3 press conference meeting, Nintendo quietly let slip a ridiculously large print-ready concept art teaser of the next Legend of Zelda game, currently in development. [via BitMob]

Tom Armitage

Something For The Weekend: Finish Those Games!

E3 is over, and my feedreader, Twitter-stream and pub conversations have, at long last, all calmed down from their temporary frenetic haze of hype and speculation. As usual with the industry's tentpole conferences, there's always far too much to take in, far too big a glut of announcements, and at least as many announcements of returning franchises as new IP.

Yes, I dropped the F-bomb. Franchise is such an unpleasant word; it signals the point where a game becomes a business, where annual or biannual updates are guaranteed until the title is unpopular, and where the return on your investment is likely to decrease between each successive installment.

Or does it? Much as the F-word makes me nauseous, many of my favourite games end in a number. There's nothing wrong with a good sequel, just as long as it is a genuinely good sequel. And lots of the suffixed titles shown off this year looked jolly good.

The footage we've seen of Modern Warfare 2 (above) once again proves that, when it comes to pacing and technical perfection, Infinity Ward really know their stuff. I'm quite excited by what's been shown of Bioware's Mass Effect 2, both in terms of where they're taking the narrative tone and the tweaks and enhancements being applied throughout the game's mechanics.

I'm trusting Valve in their decision to make the already high-up-my-list Left 4 Dead 2 a stand-alone title in its own right. I'm even, dare I say foolishly, somewhat interested in the spectacular (yet potentially dull) Assassin's Creed 2 (above). And I don't think there's anyone that won't relish the chance to return to all those beautiful planetoids in Super Mario Galaxy 2, especially now there's a dinosaur companion to enjoy them with.

Looking down that list serves a purpose other than tiding me over the quiet summer months and starting to write my Christmas list, though. It also reminds me of how many games on my shelves aren't finished.

And so that's my plan for the weekend, and indeed the coming weeks: triaging the stack, and Finishing Some Games. I've returned to Mass Effect, having cleared the horrible difficulty spike that is Matriarch Benezia, and am looking forward to wrapping the adventure up, my savegame ready to be imported into the sequel come next year. I'm slowly pushing on with my plan to get my regular cohorts into Advanced campaigns on Left 4 Dead, and maybe - just maybe - survive one without dropping the difficulty level.

And, having just acquired a Wii, I'm stepping into the majesty of Super Mario Galaxy for the first time. What a game! It charms and thrills in equal measure, and whilst I may be collecting stars for the first time, I'm sure many of you still haven't collected all 120. If not, now's the time to fire it up again and remember what that wonderful world feels like.

And then, when all my games are wrapped up (as if that will ever happen), I'll be ready - dare I say it, even deserving - of the treats to come in the Autumn and beyond. What's on your unfinished stack, Offworlders, and what are you going to be finishing up this weekend?

Brandon Boyer

E309: Scribblenauts DS settles Kraken vs. God vs. Keyboard Cat debate

It's been far too long since I last mentioned 5th Cell's puzzler/adventure game Scribblenauts, where -- as I mentioned last December -- your goal is to collect 'Starites' by conjuring, well, essentially almost any object to help traverse the landscape, as seen in the game's latest trailer above.

Over the past 7 months, 5th Cell has continued to up the ante on its gimme-an-object-any-object promise (enlisting artists like Pirate Baby Cabana Battle's Paul Robertson to help quick-draw new additions), and how well does it work?

Well, from the show floor video above, pretty stunningly well, only failing out on the Nintendorks' fairly reasonable request for Obama, but managing to pit a jackalope, a stegosaurus, a kraken, God (and, anecdotally, Death [Death killed God!]), and Einstein against each other.

And, just in case you were wondering (I wasn't, but I'm glad to know now), as apparently witnessed by ex-1UP/EGM writer Nick Suttner (who makes a cameo above): yes, Keyboard Cat is in the game.

UPDATE: Tiny Cartridge and Joystiq writer JC Fletcher updates with a picture of not just keyboard cat playing the Scribblenauts level off, but also feline cohort meme Longcat stretching into the sky.

Brandon Boyer

E309: the first look at Over The Top's WiiWare debut Icarian

Icarian: Kindred Spirits -- the WiiWare debut from Madrid based studio Over The Top -- certainly borrows more than a little (however coincidentally) from original WiiWare game LostWinds, but, given the trailer above, extends the idea of solely creating drafts with the WiiMote to more direct control of its broken Greek landscape.

Over The Top say the game concerns the search for the fallen Icarus by main character Nyx, who, like LostWinds' Toku, needs to be protected and guided on her journey, as you slowly gain the "powers that gods such as Zeus or Eolus will grant."

At very least, it should tide over the throngs still holding out desperate hope for Nintendo to revive its Kid Icarus franchise. Find a few sharper screenshots below the jump.

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Brandon Boyer

E309: Nintendo to localize DS puzzler Rittai Picross as Picross 3D

One More Go columnist Margaret Robertson has already done a wonderful job of explaining the sculptural brilliance of HAL's logic puzzler Rittai Picross: a game of "destructive artistry at its finest, with just a hint of witchcraft."

Even though it's still worrying listed as a 'TBD' release, Nintendo has just given us the strongest sign that it intends to bring the game to the U.S. with an appearance as Picross 3D at E3. That's no sure bet: its GBA bit Generations lineup made a strong debut at E3 the year they unveiled the Game Boy Micro, as well, but let's hope this little bit of noise will be proof that the game does have a willing audience.

Rittai Picross [Nintendo]

Brandon Boyer

E309: Broken Rules' turnabout platformer And Yet It Moves coming to WiiWare

Also gone almost entirely noticed over the course of the E3 week: the fact that twisted indie platformer And Yet It Moves, from Vienna studio Broken Rules has been stealthily announced for a WiiWare release in Fall 2009, after only just made its way to Steam and other digital download services in early April. Above: a teaser trailer for its PC release.

Brandon Boyer

E309: the latest look at Nicalis's Cave Story WiiWare remake

As I wrapped up many of the Sony games not mentioned during their E3 press conference on Wednesday, today I'll bring word of a number of DS and Wii games that went unmentioned by Nintendo, starting with the latest look at Nicalis's overhaul of Pixel's oft-mentioned and still gold-standard indie platformer Cave Story.

Despite appearances, and dashing hopes, that bit from 0:18-0:25 that looks like the first appearance of co-op multiplayer is, unfortunately, an AI-controlled plot point. Nintendo lists Cave Story as a summer 2009 game.

Hit the jump for a fantastic portrait of main character Quote.

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Brandon Boyer

E309: Hideo Kojima takes the reins for PS3, Xbox 360 Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

Hideo Kojima's biggest surprise for E3 wasn't the potentially 4-player portable Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker or Raiden's return for Metal Gear Solid Rising, but -- newly unveiled at Konami's late-Wednesday conference -- the fact that he will be assuming production control for Lords of Shadow, the latest attempt at bringing Konami's decades-old Castlevania franchise to life in full 3D.

In development for PS3 and Xbox 360 by Madrid studio Mercury Steam -- the same team behind Clive Barker's Jericho -- Konami says Lords of Shadow is "one of its most ambitious and innovative titles to date", with "a rich, open game world that traverses snowy mountain ranges, Gothic castles, and undead-strewn wastelands in a devastated Southern Europe during the Middle Ages," and a star-studded voice lineup that will include Robert Carlyle, Natasha McElhone, Jason Isaacs, and, yes, as above, Patrick Stewart.

Whether those key words "open game world" are code for a game that will retain the later 2D Castlevanias signature slowly-unfolding back-tracking structure remains to be seen, but Kojima's involvement, however executive and overarching, is surely meant to inspire confidence that this might be the 3D Castlevania done right, after a series of four earlier attempts across Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2 that, by most accounts, were not.

Hit the jump for a collection of high res screenshots.

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Brandon Boyer

E309: United Front demos ModNation Racers paint-brush track editor

In case you still haven't made your way through video of yesterday's Sony conference, video of one of its most pleasant surprises: United Front demoing their "race, create, share" game ModNation Racers, specifically their honestly quite impressive and intuitive paint-brush track editor.

I'll be interested to see how the community really can exploit the system more than just cosmetically and create tracks that truly set themselves apart: Front hasn't fully demonstrated verticality or suspended tracks, and my gut reaction is to wonder how varied they can ultimately otherwise be (though I have, just now, started mentally designing elaborate offroad shortcut side-tracks).

Two additional screenshots showing a bit more of their vinyl-toy-inspired customizable characters are embedded after the jump.

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