It's the most wonderful time of the year to for fans of video games. Every year at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, developers and publishers from around the globe gather in Los Angeles to show what the future holds for video games. For Microsoft, it's a focus on hands-free motion control for several hardcore and casual games via the Kinect. For Sony, it's a focus on 3D and a new high-powered handheld, the PlayStation Vita. Nintendo revealed a brand new console, the awkwardly titled Wii U, complete with a tablet-based controller that has the potential to open up new gameplay possibilities. And for the comic book-game fan, the upcoming year holds quite a few gems.
Spider-Man: Edge of Time
Activision's follow up to last year's suprisingly fun Shattered Dimensions, Spider-Man: Edge of Time narrows down the field of Spider-Men from four to two. The Amazing Spider-Man of the modern era and the Spider-Man of 2099 must team up for a battle across time to stop a plot that threatens to wreak havoc on both of their time periods. Decisions made by one Spider-Man will affect the other over the course of the game, creating some time-twisting puzzles that would set Doc Brown's head spinning. Check out the latest trailer released this week highlighting a new menace to the wall-crawlers, Anti-Venom.
I'll leave it up to y'all to debate how the Spider-Man of Earth-616 can affect the future of a Spider-Man on Earth-928, but if I had to guess I'd say mystic forces or Bleed Ships are involved.
X-Men: Destiny
Activison also released a trailer for their upcoming Marvel title, X-Men: Destiny. In this action-RPG, players can choose from three brand-new mutants to guide through the rough life of a mutant. Not much information has been released on the gameplay for the title, but judging from the trailer we can at least expect several familiar faces to show up during your adventures. Mike Carey is handling writing duties on this, too!
Batman: Arkham City
The big E3 reveal for Arkham City was released days before the show, but another juicy tidbit slipped out during the Nintendo play press conference. Batman: Arkham City will be coming to the Wii U, and while no details other than it exists have been revealed yet, the new touchscreen controller opens up some interesting possibilities for the Caped Crusader. Ideally, the tablet could be used as a Brother Eye-style device, giving Batman information on his surroundings… or it could just be used as a gimick to throw ninja stars at the screen. Time will tell, since the Wii U isn't expected to drop until late 2012.
Gotham City Imposters
Strap on your hockey pads and get ready to shoot it out with some of Gotham City's most insane residents. This team-based shooter is dropping on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network sometime in 2012, but until then you can take a taste with this trailer.
Star Wars
Any hot-blooded geek at some point in their lives has waved around an invisible lightsaber, or waved their hand in front of an automatic door pretending to will it open with the Force. LucasArts hopes to give gamers a healthy outlet to fullfill these urges with the upcoming Star Wars Kinect, demonstrated at Microsoft's press conference earlier this week. I'm going to warn you, the gameplay looks really rough and it's all Clone Wars stuff, but you have to admit that kids are going to LOVE this one.
For the more… adult crowd, BioWare released a new CG trailer for their upcoming MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. Forget the game, just give me a movie based on this hot action and I'm all over it.
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead adventure game from Telltale is still a ways off from being shown in playable form, but GamePro was able to grab a tasty tidbit from one of the producers. Instead of stepping into the shoes of Rick Grimes, the Walking Dead game will introduce a new cast of survivors. This is an awesome move on Kirkman and TellTale's part, allowing them to expand the Walking Dead universe and avoid the problem of retreading ground so many fans have already covered in the comics and TV show.
The Adventures of Tintin
[Resident Tintin fanatic Paul here.] Amidst all the very sensible comic book/video game synergy news, we got word of Ubisoft's upcoming Tintin game, an action title with platforming elements. Look for this one in the Fall (UK) or Winter (North America), timed with Steven Spielberg's feature film. I never, ever expected to see something like this on major consoles. This is all very surreal. I'm also a little amazed that it looks like an absolute blast. Play as Snowy as he crawls through an air shaft! Shoot at enemies from the sidecar of a speeding motorcycle! It looks like we'll even get to fly a plane. If you're not terribly familiar with Tintin now, you will be later this year. Until then, just imagine Jimmy Olsen crossed with Indiana Jones. Check out the official trailer:
Notably missing from the show floor this year was an kind of anouncment regarding furture downloadable content for Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Rumor has been buzzing for awhile about a new update, additional characters and costume packs being revealed soon. Capom had a lot of games to show this year, including two new fighting games, so I imagine they've saved any kind of MvC3 announcement for Comic Con next month.
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That Star Wars Kinect stuff is awful. I don’t understand why/how they’ve taken such a fascinating story and turned it into mush.
I’d watch an Old Republic film, but I have no interest in the game.
The only game here that I find even remotely interesting is Arkham City.
Star Wars Kinect looks awful. Not going down the rabbithole with another MMO so SW:Old Republic is out too. That Tintin game looks awesome though…
X-Men: Destiny
I do not know about the others but I personally do not have any interest in playing any of the new characters I just want to play as one of the x-men that I know and love
I’ve really gone off gaming in the last few years, but the exception to the rule is Bioware’s masterful Mass Effect games – if The Old Republic is of that level of quality I’m there.
Why does nightcrawler look like he’s dressed like one of the hung-over indie hipsters that i see on the bus?
@fx434 Amen to that
@Smutty His image inducer is on the fritz.
If X-Men Destiny is like the previous ‘X-Men Legends’ games then I’ll play it. Those games pretty much inspired Marvel Ultimate Alliance and it’s like crack to me.
The more I see on Arkham City, the more I’m excited to play it. You can actually fly in the game! Or at least the equvolent to how Batman can fly.
Why can’t they make a SW movie that is as good as the Old Republic trailers? Sheesh!
I don’t think the Kinect stuff looked that terrible.
umm in gotham city imposters, where is batman in the game? i know the game doesn’t focus on him but i kind of want an explanation in the game why he isn’t stopping them or something.
The details on X-men Destiny are pretty disappointing. The original announcement made it seem like you could create your own mutant. Something similar to DCU Online but more focused and not tied down by typical MMO tropes. I would have greatly preferred they went that route or just made X-Men Legends 3 (and I always thought X-Men Legends 2 in particular was way better than the Ultimate Alliance games). Instead you have three generic new characters with no defined power sets. If they wanted to go the rookie mutant route there are a bunch of existing younger X-Men characters to pull from. Oh well.