E3 2012: Microsoft Press Conference -- 5 Biggest Winners & Losers

With another Microsoft E3 press briefing in the books, who are the biggest winners and losers? We were live in the audience at the Galen Center and we're ready to pick the top -- and bottom -- five. First, let's meet the conference's biggest winners. Click over to page 2 for the losers.

5. Xbox SmartGlass

Let's be honest: the concept of a Wii U-like tablet application meant to interact with your games and entertainment apps could flame out in spectacular fashion in an Xbox Live Vision type of way. We're going to take the SmartGlass-half-full approach here, however (sorry). Though we could not possibly care less about having our tablet tell us where we are in Westeros while we're watching Game of Thrones, the gaming possibilities here could bear tasty fruit. Drawing up a play (or even just sorting through your playbook quickly) in Madden NFL 13? Love it. Having a Halo Bible-esque information database that interacts with what we're seeing on Halo 4's mysterious new planet of Requiem? We're in. Naturally, Microsoft only mentioned a Windows 8 version of this, but they're going to have to swallow their pride and put out an iOS version of SmartGlass if they want to have any hope whatsoever of this catching on.

4. South Park: The Stick of Truth

To paraphrase from one of the greatest comedies of our generation, that was frickin' sweet. Trey Parker and Matt Stone themselves came out on stage to introduce the game, eschewing the teleprompter and mocking the SmartGlass demo that preceded it to boot. Better, their game looks amazing...not literally, of course, as the duo were quick to mock the "sh*tty" look of their own show. But to that end, the game does, in fact, look exactly like the show, and is fantastically structured in such a way that they're able to incorporate nearly everything and everyone in the South Park universe, from Mr. Slave to Jesus to a fully rendered and navigable town. And even in the trailer, Parker and Stone's humor brightly shone through in the game. Screw you guys, we're going home...to watch this trailer over and over again.

3. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist

What do you get when you take some of the best elements from every Splinter Cell game so far? You get knifed in the face by Blacklist. Yes, the Tri-Goggled One is back, and he's got a knife to cut through cloth, Sticky Shockers to zap enemies dumb enough to stand in pools of water, the Mark and Execute gameplay introduced in Splinter Cell: Conviction, and -- oh yeah -- Spies vs. Mercenaries multiplayer mode. You'll also get a healthy dose of painful interrogations that always end up with enemies having their bones snapped like twigs and/or their eyeballs gouged out by Sam's knife. One potentially giant problem: longtime Sam Fisher voice actor Michael Ironside was noticeably absent. If he doesn't end up lending his signature pipes to Sam in the final game, we're going to (seriously consider but not actually) cancel our pre-order.

2. Halo 4

A lot is riding on Halo 4 for Microsoft. It's a new development team at 343 Industries and the start of a new trilogy aimed at carrying the franchise into the next generation of consoles. It's also the long-awaited return of Master Chief after the previous pair of Halo titles were clearly lacking in the badass hero department. The good news is that 343 came out smelling like a rose after debuting the first campaign footage of their debut project. A dark, mysterious new Forerunner enemy was revealed as Master Chief trudged through the jungles of Requiem in pursuit of a fallen UNSC ship. The sharp new graphics engine (particularly the lighting) clearly separated Halo 4 from its predecessors, while the from-scratch sound effects rocked the entire arena. More importantly, the new Forerunner weapon we got to see -- it literally pieced itself together in Chief's hands -- proved to be a badass railgun-y boomstick.

1. Tomb Raider

Sorry, Master Chief, but the lovely Lara stole the Microsoft Press Briefing...and our hearts. We first saw a promising "vertical slice" of the Tomb Raider reboot a full year ago, and it appears developer Crystal Dynamics has spent the 365 days since wringing every last bit of potential out of Croft's re-imagining. Visually, the game looks almost next-gen -- you probably wouldn't believe us if we told you that this game is built off of the same engine used to power Deus Ex: Human Revolution. Gorgeous vistas, incredibly detailed character models, and stunning art direction highlight the graphics, while gameplay is simply off the charts. Everything was on display, from bow-and-arrow combat to platforming to free-roaming elements. And to think that this game has another 7-8 months of development time and polish left. Tomb Raider was unquestionably the highlight of the Microsoft Press Conference.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/05/e3-2012-microsoft-press-conference-5-biggest-winners-losers

Reconsidering Mindjack, Or Why Playing Smaller Multiplayer Games Is Awesome, Even If You Suck Ads By Google » Blog Tags Today's Most Popular Videos »

While the great masses of other gamers may be into Call of Duty or Halo, I’ve been happily rocking Mindjack with a small, but dedicated collection of online scrubs, losers, and miscreants. I love it, and I’m not ashamed to admit it.

I stumbled into Square Enix’s third-person action game while researching a column about dead multiplayer arenas. The one-star game has become sort of a joke around G4’s offices, and I was hoping to find an occasional straggler still logging in to this backwoods of the multiplayer world and ask: “Why the hell are you playing this terrible game?” But when I actually gave Mindjack a fair look, I ended up liking it a lot.

Instead of strolling into a virtual ghost town or an unplayable crap-fest, I chanced into a small, but relatively dedicated community of players and a game that is quirky, weird and sort of great.

I don’t disagree with much of G4’s review of the game. There are huge problems with Mindjack– rough edges, inexplicable design decisions, terrible single-player campaign, and uncomfortably amateurish moments – but overall, it’s a little like punk rock. The musical form is really basic, and it’s played inexpertly, so at first, all you notice are the mistakes, but after you develop a taste for the style, you start to love the rough edges themselves.

The main hook/gimmick of Mindjack is the ability to change into a cyber-ghost (or something) at will and “hack” into other character’s bodies. In single-player, you can switch to a nearby pawn and flank enemies or even take over turrets and monkeys. This mechanic quickly becomes repetitive in the single-player campaign, but the option of jumping into someone else’s campaign is awesome in multiplayer. Think of it like Demon Souls if it were a sci-fi shooter designed by gifted amateurs and enthusiastic 12 year-olds.

Crappiness aside, the joy of jumping into someone else’s campaign and either helping them by jumping into a co-op game, or bedeviling them by taking on the enemies’ AI and shooting them in the face can’t be denied.

Other than floating around like a ghost, Mindjack is a very basic third-person shooter, like a gimped-out version of Gears of War. The controls and response is a little clunky, but serviceable, the cover system usually works, and you can take a lot of damage without dying (or, rather, being forced to vacate your body and take over another one – there’s no real death in the game). All of which makes it perfect for a beginner or someone who isn’t “serious” about multiplayer. Mindjack even offers a rudimentary perk system, so you can earn extra damage, armor or other help through the game.

The game’s very lack of perfect tuning and polish make it great for people who just want to have a little stupid fun and run around shooting people -- no “serious” multiplayer fan will be caught dead playing this instead of Gears 3. Because there aren’t many “veteran” players online, you’re generally only pitted against people who, frankly, kind of suck. But, I suck too, so we’re like one big sucky family.

The steady stream of low-rent newcomers means that you can basically have fun, get a little better, and not get totally owned every five seconds by someone who has devoted his entire life to playing a video game. And if you lose, who cares? It’s Mindjack for god’s sake. It’s impossible to embarrass yourself further. You’ve already surrendered any gamer cred by being there in the first place, what difference is being a bullet-sponge for a few minutes going to make?

Plus entering someone else’s single player campaign feels like griefing, even though it’s officially sanctioned and part of the game. There’s nothing sweeter than changing upon someone else involved in a boss battle and having the ability to take over the AI on the NPC and make things even more difficult [Insert Evil Laugh Here]. The single-player AI sucks so bad, you can justify your pseudo-griefing by imagining you’re actually making the game more fun for the campaigner.

I like to think some of my opponents forgot to turn off the option that lets other people enter their game, and the lower population means it’s truly a surprise when I show up and start shooting them. Like they’re wondering why the AI just changed so significantly and game went from annoying-but-easy to very difficult in seconds. I’ve even received a profanity-laden message from a gamer who warned me to stay out of his game unless I wanted to play co-op. I consider that a victory.

Mindjack is also cheap. You can pick it up used on Amazon for like 6 bucks. So hopefully, I’ll see some of your guys soon. I’m usually Mindjackin’ it after 9 PST on weeknights. There are not many people online, so I’m sure we’ll run across each other. I’m the guy with the high level and extra perks – a medium size fish in a very, very small pond.


Source : http://www.g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/723592/reconsidering-mindjack-or-why-playing-smaller-multiplayer-games-is-awesome-even-if-you-suck/