IGN loves Shatter. When it came to PlayStation Network in 2009, we gave it a 9.0, and we’ve since named it the very best game on PlayStation Network. And now, after a three year wait, developer Sidhe has alluded to the fact that more Shatter could be coming soon.
IGN reader Patrick Shannon sent us a link to a presentation given by Sidhe’s Managing Director Mario Wynands. The presentation is called “15 Years, 9 Lessons” and was given at the 2012 New Zealand Game Developers Association. In it, Wynands talks about Shatter, noting that it was “very successful for [Sidhe] on PSN and PC.”
However, he later goes on to note that “there will be more Shatter news hopefully in the very near future.” You can see his brief talk on Shatter at about the six minute mark in the video shown above.
Wynand’s comments fall in line with Shatter-related news that broke last summer, when Wynands told IGN that he hoped to be talking more about Shatter by the end of the year. Regrettably, that timeframe came and went, but it seems that Sidhe hasn’t forgotten about Shatter after all, and we should be hearing more about it soon, hopefully in the form of a sequel.
Do you want a Shatter sequel? What platform or platforms would you want it on? Let us know in the comments below.
The RPG Tales of Xillia came to PlayStation 3 back in late 2011, and although it sold exceptionally well in Japan, it hasn’t yet been translated and localized for release in the west (though there have been some passing hints that it would be).
Regardless, that hasn’t stopped Namco Bandai from announcing a direct sequel to Tales of Xillia -- aptly titled Tales of Xillia 2 -- which will be coming to PlayStation 3 in Japan in “Winter 2012” according to a report on Andriasang. A more specific release date (as well as a price) is set to be revealed on June 27th.
Tales of Xillia 2 will join a series populated by over a dozen entries beginning with Tales of Phantasia, which originally came to the Super Famicom in 1995. Tales of Xillia 2 also marks only the second game in the franchise that’s named as a direct sequel. Tales of Destiny, which came to PlayStation in 1997, received a Japanese-only sequel on PlayStation 2 in 2002 (Tales of Destiny II in the west was actually known as Tales of Eternia in Japan).
E3 2012 is finally upon us. This year's show should prove an exciting time for gamers - and especially for Nintendo fans. Nintendo's new home console, Wii U, is set to be fully unveiled, and we'll likely get an idea of what 3DS games we'll have to look forward to in the foreseeable future. Needless to say, you're not going to want to miss a thing. As such, we here at IGN Nintendo wanted to make sure you have all the information you need so you don't miss a single juicy detail.
What's Going On At The Show
Nintendo has four (yes, FOUR) conferences and/or events happening at the show. Read on to short out which is which.
The first event is actually a pre-E3 online 'Nintendo Direct' broadcast that Nintendo literally announced just hours ago. This happens tomorrow, Sunday, June 6, around 3pm PT (that's 11pm in the UK). We'll bring you all the latest details, but the company has already given us an indication as to what's coming - a discussion about Wii U's hardware. What precisely the company will discuss is anyone's guess. Will Satoru Iwata just focus on the controller's changes? Will we get specs? Will we hear about the Nintendo Network? We'll find out very, very soon.
The main event is Nintendo's official press conference, which starts Tuesday, June 5 at 9:00 AM PT. (That's 5pm in the UK!) The show will be streamed live (click HERE for our E3 live video page), and we'll be updating the site with news stories as it happens (and no doubt making comments and such via our various social feeds - see below for more details).
What will Nintendo reveal? We'll find out soon...
That evening the company will be hosting a behind closed doors Wii U developer roundtable. That takes place Tuesday, June 5 at 6:00 PM PT. (So... 2am in the UK. Good luck with that one!) Unlike the main conference, the Wii U showcase will not be live streamed - but we'll try to bring live updates via our Twitter accounts (see below for details) as the event unfolds.
The following day Nintendo will have one final event, this time a software showcase.The possibility of a new game or two being announced at this event are pretty high, so you'll definitely want to stay close to IGN Wednesday evening. This one will take place Wednesday, June 6 at 6:00 PM PT (again, 2am for most of you in Europe) - and again, we'll be bringing live updates via our Twitter accounts during the showcase.
What To Listen To
For all you Koopalings out there, the Nintendo Voice Chat crew will try to produce special E3 editions of our podcast Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. No telling how late these will go up (or how tired and possibly belligerent we'll sound), but it's a top priority for us to keep bringing you our thoughts and commentary as we wade through the craziness that is E3.
Your humble Nintendo editors are here to bring you all the big E3 news!
How to Follow Rich and Audrey
(Live Updates, Photos, Commentary and More!!)
As mentioned, throughout all of E3 we'll be trying to keep you guys in the loop as much as possible via our social accounts. You can follow me on IGN here, and on Twitter here (@gameonaminka). You can follow Rich on IGN here and on Twitter here (@RichIGN). Both Rich and I will be labeling our E3 tweets with this hashtag - #E3NVC - so keep a lookout for those posts as they pop up.
How to Ask Us Questions
Rich and I will be working our butts off to bring you guys all the breaking Nintendo news as it happens, as well as to bring you insight as to what it's like on the show floor. Feel free to hit us up on our social feeds with questions, requests or comments, and we'll do our best to appease as many of you as we can. You can also e-mail us at NVC@ign.com.
That about wraps up what you need to know to stay informed during the most exciting week in the gaming industry. Until next time, Koopalings - Game on!
Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her zany exploits on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!
From where I'm sitting, looking out over the downtown Los Angeles skyline from my loft apartment, everything is peaceful. Serene. Quiet. On the weekend, downtown L.A. is a virtual ghost town, absent of all the suits and professionals that occupy it during the week. This city isn't as compact as many others. Thousands commute for hours to get here, leaving shells of buildings with very few occupants when the vast majority of businesses aren’t open. Except this weekend.
Slowly but surely, Los Angeles is springing to life. Thousands are coming into town this weekend, preparing for an onslaught of activity that actually starts tomorrow, not Monday, as it normally would. And at the heart of much of this activity is Nintendo.
(L to R) Nintendo's Shigeru Miyamoto, Satoru Iwata and Reggie Fils-Aime have arrived at E3 2012. (Source: Nintendo)
Led by Satoru Iwata, Reggie Fils-Aime and Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo is seemingly preparing one of the biggest video game showcases we’ve ever seen. Not just from the publisher itself, but in the grand scheme of E3 as a whole. It’s tradition for first party publishers to hold a keynote press conference that lasts an hour or two. Through various means, Nintendo is effectively holding four of these. Four. That’s over four hours of announcements, details and discussion about its current portable platform, the 3DS, and its upcoming console - Wii U. And that’s not counting the various interviews, videos and hands-on impressions that will follow on sites like IGN.
By sheer volume, this seems like it is Nintendo’s E3 to lose. True, the company has much to prove, but it clearly has a lot to say. Tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon, it will discuss Wii U’s hardware through an online presentation. It claims Tuesday will be about software, presumably with a strong emphasis on Wii U. That evening it plans to have a developer roundtable - once again focused on Wii U. The next night, it’s hosting a software showcase. By process of elimination, that one is likely locked on 3DS. Despite the need to bring its home console to the show in full force, the publisher can’t forget its portable audience, less it stumble once more with system.
An older version of Wii U's controller, as shown at E3 2011.
Covering a first party publisher like Nintendo is a busy affair at any E3. There are plenty of games to see, even when one platform is struggling, as Wii did at last year’s show. There are plenty of interviews to conduct. Plenty of opinion and perspective to give. This year is poised to be one of the busiest years in recent memory. Even if third parties aren’t quite ready to showcase all of their software - or hold back titles from being playable - Nintendo is ready to share its vision, with the exception of formalizing its precise launch plans.
From a bird’s eye view, Los Angeles is quiet. Only a few isolated cars travel down streets designed for hundreds more. But Nintendo is already here, finalizing its plans for the week. It’s preparing to unleash a storm, to bring a flurry of announcements the likes of which it hasn’t done in several years. It’s dedicating presentations to distinct hardware and software elements, adding more events to its E3 agenda than ever before.
Nintendo is ready.
Are you?
Rich is an Executive Editor of IGN.com, the leader of the IGN Nintendo team and watches over all things Resident Evil, Assassin's Creed and WWE. Follow his E3 2012 coverage and commentary on Twitter, Tumblr and IGN.
Star Trek is headed to theaters! And no, we're not talking about the sequel to J. J. Abram's Trek franchise. Star Trek: The Next Generation is headed to the big screen!
In anticipation for TNG's 25th Anniversary, and the highly anticipated July 24, 2012 release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The First Season Blu-ray, Fathom Events will host a one night only screening of two episodes from the series.
The event will be held on Monday, July 23, 2012 at 7 PM in select theaters nationwide. Some theaters will also host late night screenings. Tickets for this event will be available starting Friday, June 8. You can head over to Fathom Events for more ordering info. The episodes being screened are "Where No One Has Gone Before" and "Datalore."
Fathom states that, "This special event will include exclusive looks at the massive restoration of season one, never-before-seen interviews with the original cast members and behind-the-scenes looks at the artists who created the original FX elements and photography during the making of the show. Audiences will also be privy to an unseen sneak-peak of "Measure of a Man.'"
Be on the lookout for a review of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The First Season on Blu-ray in July. If you haven't already, you can pre-order the Blu-ray on Amazon. Also, check out our review of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Next Level, the first TNG Blu-ray -- a sampling of great things to come. You can also watch the trailer for the upcoming set below:
R.L. Shaffer wants you to "make sure that history never forgets the name...Enterprise." Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and MyIGN for quotes, rants, reviews, news and more!
So all the really interesting stuff is supposed to be uttered in the seven days or so, but, wouldn't-ya-know-it, even in the so-called dead week before E3 there's plenty going on. Lawsuits, gaffes, hyperbole, ignorance and passion are all on offer, as we deliver up the best quotes in gaming from the past week.
How They Are
“That’s just how they are sent. They are trained assassins, just like Agent 47.”
Hitman Absolution producer Luke Valentine on a trailer featuring sexy-killer-nuns who, apparently, are pretty easy to kill.
"The latest Hitman Absolution trailer pairs gratuitous violence with sexualised imagery to create the most troubling piece of marketing material I think I’ve ever seen."
“I have this little neighbor next door. He comes over and tells me about playing Call of Duty, and he's talking about, ‘Aw yeah, I slit this guy in the throat and then I stuck a grenade up this guy's ass.’ He's describing it in all this detail, and that makes me uncomfortable. I don't think that's good for him.”
Jonathan Gottschall, author of The Story-Telling Animal, describes a manoeuvre previously unexplored in shooting games.
"We want playing our games to entertain people on many different levels. Deeper down, I want to make a connection with the player, and it’s the way, to me, of saying to the person playing the game that they’re not alone in the world."
"Games suck, frankly. Compared to where they could be, all games suck. It's going to be exciting to be part of a $100 million development team, or a $500 million, or a $1 billion dollar team.”
Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford embracing the big-budget future.
“What we’re talking about are those unexpected moments that get you out of your seat cheering. I’m not talking about random stuff – in video games that’s just irritating. I mean that, in FIFA 13, when things go off script, it happens for a reason. They make sense after the fact – after that moment when you just weren’t expecting them.”
FIFA 13 executive producer David Rutter understands the beautiful game.
"We had a good base to work from, and it was going to be all about improving everything. We listened carefully to fans and critics and we were going to implement everything we possibly could."
A former 38 Studios employee on the next Kingdoms of Amalur, now likely dead following the developer laying off all its staff.
"BBC News makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all images broadcast, however very occasionally mistakes do happen. Unfortunately an incorrect logo was used during a segment on last week's News at One bulletin and we apologize to viewers for the mistake.”
The BBC seemed to be suggesting that Master Chief would be involved in the Syrian crisis.
“Gaming has kind of evolved a bit. More people play on portable devices. Where we might go in the future, we'll see. Customers love games. I'm not interested in being in the console business in what is thought of as traditional gaming. But Apple is a big player today and things in the future will only make that bigger.”
Apple’s Tim Cook offers up a sliver of the company’s thinking about games.
“We want monsters to be a challenge to the player every single time you fight them, not a speedbump for the player. We don’t want fighting monsters to be boring or you can eat a sandwich or do five other things while fighting a monster.”
Elder Scrolls Online gameplay designer Maria Aliprando knows how we play MMOs.
“Obviously the game was originally True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision. I can’t speak to why they let that go. I’m not going to speculate on their behalf. All I know is, they’ve gotta be crazy.”
Square Enix U.S boss Mike Fischer won’t let Sleeping Dogs lie.
"Activision's refusal to pay their talent and attempt to blame EA were absurd. This settlement is a vindication of Vince and Jason, and the right of creative artists to collect the rewards due for their hard work."
An Electronic Arts statement following Activision's settlement of a lawsuit against Infinity Ward founders Jason West and Vince Zampella.
Looks like some secrets just won't keep until E3 -- if NeoGaf is to be believed. Over on the videogame forum, a poster claims to have the July issue of Game Informer, and inside are the first details on Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation for the PlayStation Vita.
Set between 1765 and 1780, which is anchored around the end of the French and Indian War, Assassin's Creed 3: Liberation will supposedly cast players as a French black female assassin named Aveline. The details point to Ubisoft Sofia developing the game, it not being related to Desmond, and "multiplayer specifically tailored to the Vita experience." The poster said Liberation will launch alongside the console version of Assassin's Creed III on October 30th.
Ubisoft offered a "no comment" when approached for this article.
