Things will be kicking off at 9am but I am already here to make sure I didn’t get stuck in foot traffic. Here is a pretty picture of a banner just incase you missed the title.
Click past the break for the spelling/grammar error ridden live blog.
11:55 That’s it for Quantum of Solace and the presentation for the morning. More later on this afternoon.
11:52 With the facial scanning tech the guy demoing the game just managed to kill himself (he was a security guard) there is then a glitch in the debug build and the game stops, coincidence? I think not.
11:51 Your mission is to go find and download a virus from the Airport security network. He disables a few camera’s from the power source.
11:48 They are showing the (Miami) Airport level for the first time.
11:43 More game play, he shoots down a chandelier and kills some people.
11:40 Fire Extinguishers don’t explode and kill people but they do rupture violently stunning people in a certain radius
11:38 There are some simple puzzle elements such as moving a laundry trolley to climb up into a vent.
11:35 If you choose the silent route you can take down guards from behind by pushing down the right thumb stick, there is then a single button prompt which changes to sucessfully pacify the guard, there are also different take-down animations.
11:33 There will be a choice in sections of the game to decide wether you want to go in “guns blazing” or using a more subtle and cunning approach.
11:29 The cover mechanics look good and there is a decent amount of destructable cover.
11:28 The exploding watermelons from CoD4 are in there (using the same engine) but they do explode moar realistically.
11:25 Some close combat quicktime action very similar to Bourne Conspiracy. He shoots a yellow box that explodes throwing near by enemies in the air.
11:23 Bond is chasing some guy (that they cannot name) he is not allowed to kill the person he is chasing but there are henchmen along the way to shoot. Acheivement unlocked: License to Kill
11:20 They are showing some content that ties in with the movie that hasn’t been seen and some stuff that was already shown at E3
11:19 The game is set during both the first and before/during the second movie.
11:17 Bond, James Bond. Quantum Solice, booked to release the 19th of November.
11:13 Looks like quick time events will be playing a part in the boss battles.
11:10 Time for a boss battle, Cinder and Spryo are chained down by a collar which they must break, now that they are free they can combat the boss that has just appeared, it is a large lava monster. Beating the monster’s hand after it comes down trying to smash Spyro gives and achievement called Unattainable.
11:08 Loading screen……..
11:06 If you are playing by yourself you can toggle between Spyro or his companion Cinder (a female dragon from the past game) or you can play co-op.
11:03 The game looks really impressive (surprisingly so) and has a lot of colours. Spyro goes underground into a cave system and battles a troll like creature.
11:01 Now for Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon, Spyro can now fly at any point instead of just gliding.
10:59 Some technical problems are preventing more from being shown, they have a trailer showing the jacking abilities with Crash controlling different monsters.
10:58 There is a strong emphasis on platforming, the visuals look good and has a rounded colorful appearance as is typical of the franchise.
10:56 The cutscenes will be in different styles.
10:54 Now that Spiderman is all done they are going to show us the new Chrash game.
10:52 They just showed us a trailer which featured a Wolverine as a hero fighting against the symbiotes, while in battle he is infected and turns into a symbiot version of Wolverine, he looks like a combination of Carnage/Venom and Wolverine.
10:49 The defeat of the Vulture gives you the choice to choose a path which will affect the end result of the story.
10:45 Spider Man is fighting Vulture in the air by attaching his web to him and pulling up and kicking off the Vulture. After he beats up the Vulture a little he calls in some hench men and moves away from the building out of web range. Spiderman can now use the glider riding hench men to travel leap frog accross to reach him.
10:43 Now he is going to show us the air combat.
10:43 There is a upgrade tree that will let you customise your progression as a character as you collect upgrade tokens from defeated enemies.
10:41 Graham is showing us some of the wall running/combat. There aer symbiots climbing a building to attack some guys on the roof that are evacuating civilians. There are some good web attacks, one where he slingshots them around to slam them into the wall/roof/ground.
10:39 The story has the Symbiots attacking the city and there is a gathering of Heroes/Villians to battle or profit from the invasion.
10:37 The game is based off the Comic, not the movies. There is a extreme sport ideaology for the game in combining moves. Players will have control over the red suit/black suit changes.
10:35 Time for Spider-Man, due Oct 22nd Graham Fuchs will be presenting.
10:31 Break is pretty much over and everyone is filing back in, I had a Chocolate Muffin, it was ok but I am now thinking about the Berry Muffins that they had there……….
09:55 Looks fantastic overall. Now for a small break.
09:55 Small AI issue with enemies and team members standing either side of a set of boxes.
09:54 He clears out the bunker and moves on to the next one. Again there is lots of action and a chatter from squad members.
09:52 The enemies are camoflauged in the mangroves, the level opens up as they reach dry ground. There is a trench like fire fight against some charlies held up in a bunker.
09:50 Keifer is talking, his name is Roebuck, this is the swamp/mangrove level, there is an ambush.
09:49 They are showing us a mission called Hard Landing, it starts again with a cinematic of maps and arrows giving a brief grounding the situation.
09:48 They just showed us a new trailer, it showed someone climbing a tree, with a sniper rifle, that is pretty cool.
09:46 They are in the street battle I played at E3, the action is pretty overwhelming in a good way. You need to follow the tanks up the street, lots of explosions, and crossfire.
09:43 There is a room full of Germans and they are hiding behind sand bags. He takes out the guy on a turrent with a shotgun to the back. The fire and blood effect are nice, there is more blood and grit than I remember in the earlier build, it looks nice. One of your comrades called Reznov is giving you orders and telling you what to do.
09:42 Uses the molotov on someon but then gets takes a bit too much damage dies. The iron sites look great and there is a guy on the ground bleeding out splutteringsomething out of his mouth. There goes anouther molotov. The game is a lot faster than CoD 3, the rate of fire and the amount of action is very similair to CoD 4.
09:40 The opening cinematic shows actual footage in Black and White of the war. Eviction is the name of the mission and it is set in berlin April of 1945. Some Soldiers are fighting/dissagreeing about something, ths city is being bombed.
09:39 Vince is giving a brief overview of the game and he is going to show us some game play of a mession based in Berlin.
09:37 Vince Fennel from the US Activision team is going to show off CoD World at War
09:36 Looks like the business side of things is wrapped up, now for some games.
09:34 The evolution of the supply chain, big box products such as Guitar Hero makes for some interesting supply challanges.
09:31 High growth will slow, the maturation of the gaming market will happen.
09:29 Some challenges of building growth in the future are outlined. Communication with customers, strong point of sale presence.
09:26 Philip is outlying a internal philosophy of the “Engine Room” a risk/market grid where established IP’s are lower risk as are games for Core gamers. There were no IP’s listed under the casual market or high risk section.
09:25 Activision – “We’re #1″
09:24 More stats and figures of the last few years, lots of growth, based primarily off the Guitar Hero and call of Duty brands
09:21 From today, the Activision Blizzard brand in NZ/OZ will be sold under a single presence but in the other regions of Asia Pacific will operate separately
09:20 Activision Blizzard holds a 23 Billion US$ Marketshare.
09:18 Console games grew last year in NZ and Australia (less so in NZ).
09:17 Asia Pacific area is the fastest growing video game region in the world as well as the biggest, as listed by PWC, all segments of the market are growing, Console, PC and Wireless
09:14 Phillip believes there will be some great games coming out, the games, and brands are important to Activision Blizzard.
09:13 Brief description of the upcoming presentation, looks like there will be a bit of business talk regarding the new Activision Blizzard company.
09:12 Australian Activision Blizzard Boss Phillip Earl welcomes us.
09:10 Te Haka
09:09 Everyone is sitting down and the event is starting, being that this is the first Activate Asia to be held in NZ there is a Maori Greeting Song and Dance. Apparently the Maori arrived via Whale.
8:10 There is a pretty sweet little pool of water with rocks at the bottom.
8:09 – Drastically over estimated the time it would take to walk from the hotel to the event venue, sucks to be me for the next hour.
Tags: E3 2008