Tomb Raider will sport “ambitious combat”

Tomb Raider will sport “ambitious combat”: "

Crystal Dynamics’ Karl Stewart has explained why gameplay footage of Tomb Raider has so far only shown quick-time event combat.

“If we’re going to re-imagine the franchise, we want to get people to digest why we are doing it and who she is first,” the Tomb Raider global brand director told Kotaku.

“Combat is very, very dear to our hearts. We have built an entirely new combat team at the studio to work on it. It is very competitive.

“Combat is ambitious. It was ambitious when I first saw it and now it just feels natural to the game.”

In all previous Tomb Raider games, combat began with an iconic pair of pistols, but players will have to work with Lara to reach the point where she’s willing, able and equipped to bear them.

“We’re not going to start the game and say, ‘Here are two pistols and lets tie her hair up in a braid’ because that doesn’t stand for anything,” Stewart explained.

“We hope to bring gravity to those items.”

To elevate the pistols to something beyond a nice bit of kit, Crystal Dynamics loads them with emotional meaning; at the beginning of the game, they’re borne by Lara’s mentor, Captain Conrad Roth.

“We use that in a very psychological way. She loves Roth. She’s known him since she was very young. She knows she has to save him,” Stewart said.

The journey of transformation that takes Lara Croft from a frightened teenager to an as-yet unrevealed new heroine, packing those pistols, will set the tone for the sequels that are sure to follow.

“When you start this game you will go off and be the Lara Croft that was defined here. It also defines the future of that franchise,” Stewart said.

Tomb Raider is due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012, having wowed at E3 and even won over our own Nathan Grayson.

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Kitase: FFXIII-2 is a “completely different experience”

Kitase: FFXIII-2 is a “completely different experience”: "

Have a look at these new screens for Final Fantasy XIII-2, and judge for yourself if producer Yoshinori Kitase’s claims of it being a “completely different experience” are true.

“We made Final Fantasy XIII with the concept of a story driven game,” Kitase told Siliconera.

“So much so, some gamers were not very happy with it and criticised XIII and said the game progression was too linear and the world could be more populated.

“With Final Fantasy XIII-2, we wanted to present a completely different experience with this game. There is more exploration and elements in the environment to interact with.”

Final Fantasy XIII-2 features interactive dialogue and branching endings, It’s due on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in early 2012, with a Japanese release set for December.

Admire a few new screens below, courtesy of Andriasang. They shop off New Bodhum, the seaside settlement built after the events of FFXIII.

There’s also a couple more, one showing combat, available on Famistu.

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Ezio is taken outside of his element in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Ezio is taken outside of his element in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations: "

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations presentation director, Brent Ashe, has said that Ezio’s motivation in the game will be much different than it was in Assassin’s Creed 2 and Brotherhood.

Speaking with Shacknews at E3, Ashe said that Ezio will be taken outside of his element, and taken to the city of Masyaf which was a location in the first game.

“Ezio never set out to be a master assassin,” explained Ashe. “His motivation has primarily been revenge: Revenge against the death of his family; against the death of his uncle at the hands of Cesare [Borgia] in Brotherhood. So, in taking him on more of a pilgrimage–a personal journey now–it’s sort of leading him to discover the secrets left behind by Altair.

“There are these five keys that Altair has left behind that unlock the seal in Masyaf at the Assassin temple. And Ezio also discovers in the course of this, that the Templars are also in pursuit of these secrets. So we set up this really nice narrative, kind of a race against time, so it’s a different motivation for him this time. What that’s doing, like I said, is taking him outside of his element.

“You’re in these new cities, these new places, and you’re going to discover that the Assassin Network sort of expands beyond what we’ve seen in the previous games.”

Ashe goes on to explain that the new character Yusef, head of the Assassin’s Guild in Constantinople, will be teaching Ezio about a new weapon called the “hook-blade,” which will also allow Ezio to use the network of zip-lines across the city.

You can read the entire interview through the link.

Revelations is due on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in November.

[pic]

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E3 2011 Awards: Best Overall Game

E3 2011 Awards: Best Overall Game: "The toughest contest of all...


So we've named our favourite shooter, RPG and action title of E3 2011 - as well as our most beloved racer, family title and more besides.



Click here to read the full article"

FFXIII-2 will be 'completely different experience'

FFXIII-2 will be 'completely different experience': "Producer promises more exploration and interactivity elements over first effort.


We adored Final Fantasy XIII but it's undeniably incredibly linear, and Square knows this didn't sit well with some FF fans. The next one, Final Fantasy XIII-2, will fix this.



Click here to read the full article"

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a Grand Adventure That Won't Pull a Lost (They Promise!) [Single-player Preview]

Assassin's Creed: Revelations is a Grand Adventure That Won't Pull a Lost (They Promise!) [Single-player Preview]: "

'If you're a fan of Lost, Assassin's Creed Revelations level design director, Falko Poiker, told me last week, 'then you know that it really sucks to be left with questions.' More »

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Devil May Cry Series Getting HD Re-Releases [Rumor]

Devil May Cry Series Getting HD Re-Releases [Rumor]: "

This year is the 10th anniversary of the Devil May Cry series, and to commemorate the occasion, it looks like Capcom will be releasing a collection of three games, all of them remastered in high definition. More »

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Tomb Raider Hopes to Recreate a Gaming Icon [Tomb Raider]

Tomb Raider Hopes to Recreate a Gaming Icon [Tomb Raider]: "

Don't think of Tomb Raider as an origin story, think of it instead as a sort of metaphorical creation myth, a game that won't redefine just who Lara Croft is, but also the world in which she exists. More »

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Final Fantasy May Come To Wii U

Final Fantasy May Come To Wii U: "

Square Enix, the studio behind the Final Fantasy series have been talking about the possibilities of a Final Fantasy game coming to the newly announced Wii U.

Yoshinori Kitase, the producer behind Final Fantasy XIII-2 has said:

“Three or four years ago we joked around about developing a Final Fantasy game on the Wii Fit balance board. But after seeing Wii U revealed at Nintendo’s conference, we are now considering the possibilities of bringing the Final Fantasy series to the format.”

At the moment though, the focus is on Final Fantasy XIII-2 which is due to be released on Xbox 360 and PS3 in early 2012.

[Source VG247]

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Child Of Eden review

Child Of Eden review: "

Motion control breathes new life into a niche genre.

Child Of Eden is the product of an auteur at 
the height of his powers, with the free rein to realise a supremely ambitious project and the restraint to make it universal rather than self-serving. At its core are the on-rails shooter mechanics of Rez, but the experience is one that escapes further genre categorisation, creating a level of involvement beyond what its 2001 progenitor achieved.

read more

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