Hey there y'all. It's Chet, a.k.a. Ninja101, here to tell you guys about some gaming at NYCC. Although there wasn't a game room like many other cons that I have been to, there was a heavy gaming atmosphere on the show floor and in the NYCC artist alley. This atmosphere was caused by the exclusive hands on demos that were available. I will discuss a few that I was actually able to play.
I'll tell you guys about the main maverick show stopper first: Marvel vs Capcom 3. MvC3 for short, was by far, the most popular game on the show floor. Even during professional hours, I had to wait on quite the long line to get a hands on. So, you can only imagine how horrid the line got during the day. The booth itself had about six small game stations and one big screen station that allowed players to compete for an exclusive MvC3 shirt. This was the thing that generated the line. You would have to win 5 games in a row to get the shirt. I got 4 wins...profound sadness (muneng). Any who...let's get on to my impressions. As some one who has only played the previous MvC games casually and then grown to hate it because of playing other games (ahem 3rd Strike), I was pleasantly surprised by MvC3. When I watched the videos, I hated the graphics. However, when you actually get to stand in front of a gorgeous screen and play, the game looks great. The characters look awesome and the crazy attacks that it pulls off are just as awesome. I was able to play the game on the MvC3 MadCatz tournament edition stick, so the game was very responsive. The button lay out was very comfortable. The combos were very easy to pull off since there was an actual launch button. I also sensed some balance issues. It seemed that the people who won often had either or both Super Skrull and Deadpool on their roster. I don't know if that will be fixed when people actually start getting better at the game. Oh, representatives of MvC3 also announced four characters at a panel. You will be able to play as Sir Arthur (Ghosts n' Goblins), Nathan Spencer (Bionic Commando), Magneto (X-Men), and MODOK (I'm not exactly sure what Marvel series he is from...sorry). Well I think that’s all I have to say about MvC3, even though it seems like a nice game, I don’t think I will be buying it...especially if it's sixty bucks. This game will be released on March 2nd 2011.
Another game I had the pleasure of playing is Dead Space 2. Isaac is back to cut limbs off of crazy aliens again. I loved the first Dead Space. Its a classic space scifi thriller in video game format. I didn't ask the booth handlers much about the story because I want zero spoilers, nor do I want to spoil you guys as well. The game stations, that the booth provided, had a decent sized flat screen hooked up to very nice gaming head sets. The headphones canceled out the noise of the con and allowed you to focus on the game. It also showed you how important the sound was in the game, because it set the mood perfectly. The stage I was in seemed like a frozen laboratory that was surprisingly well lit. So the developers found more ways to scare you other than using the darkness. All I heard through out my play through was the little mechanical noises that the lab was generating. Random gas valves would burst and make you (well me) jump. The weapons available to me were the same ones from the first game. So I didn't have much trouble dispatching the similar enemies that I saw through out the demo. One awesome thing I wanted to point out was that there is an obvious homage to Event Horizon, the movie. I would love to read a developer's journal to see if they really wanted to make an homage to this movie. One thing that is important to point out is that Isaac now talks. He didn't talk in the first game but to progress the story, developer's gave Isaac a voice. There will also be a multi-player mode. Now your friends (or complete strangers) can join you in the horror. This game will be released on the 25th of January 2011, and it will be available on Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. There will also be a limited edition version that comes with a bunch of extras. I will be getting this, because I can not resist a good scifi.
The last thing that I only tried briefly, was the Kinect for Xbox 360. If you didn't know already, you could have played with the Kinect at Macy's. Yes...Macy's...don't ask me why...but for a while now, Macy's has the demo of the Kinect. However, at the time, I did not play it. The Kinect is basically a camera that tracks your movements and relates those movements to something in the game. The game I played was a river raft game. You had to hold your hands in the air (and wave them like you just don't care...) and tilt your body in the direction that you wanted to go. You also had to jump to make the raft hop out of the water. It's very gimmicky but kind of fun. I'm sure that further down the line, game developer's will figure out many interesting ways to implement the Kinect into more full games ( ie Halo). But for now, I will pass on this device. Maybe I should get one so I can sell it to some one around Christmas...because those things are gonna be as scarce as the Wii when it first came out.
There were a lot more games available that I was not able to play due to extreme lines and panels that I needed to attend. Nintendo had a booth that allowed you to play Kirby's Epic Yarn and Donkey Kong Country. Square Enix had Final Fantasy XIV (14), Front Mission Evolved and many trailers of games coming soon (Dissidia 2 and 3rd Birthday). Rock Star was also showing their zombie expansion to Red Dead Redemption. There was also this HUGE Intel booth. They were just showing off their computing power by allowing you to play some demanding games (Lost Planet 2, Star Craft 2, Formula 1 racing games).
I think that's about it for gaming. I probably missed some thing here and there. The convention was so big! Any who, I will talk to you guys later. Stay Frosty!
© 2010 Linda Thai
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