E3: Day Two
With the main press conferences all said and done, gamers were out at full force hitting the floors across the Los Angeles Convention Center. The line for Nintendo’s 3DS wrapped several times around the Nintendo booth; hundreds waited on line for other games as well, including Assassin’s Creed, Mortal Kombat, Killzone 3, Marvel vs Capcom 3 and Microsoft’s Kinect.
Mortal Kombat, slated for 2011 was definitely a surprise hit; the game returns to its roots, with all the blood and gore you come to expect from a franchise that led the controversy in video game violence. The demo only listed a few characters, including Scorpion, Reptile, Kung Lao, Mileena, Johnny Cage, Sub-Zero and Stryker. A few of the stages available were beautiful re-imaginations of classic Mortal Kombat stages included the Pit and the Living Forest. The gameplay was great. The moves and character switching (for tag team matches) were smooth. Responding to feedback from fans, the game brings back the violence and gore. One nice detail was the deterioration of characters as they fought; by the time the match ends, your character is bruised and bloodied up. The game is slated for release from NetherRealm Studios / WBIE for the Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2011.
Sony’s new motion control, the Playstation Move, required far more effort than the Wii. Whereas one was able to get away with wrist flicks in Wii Sports Tennis, the Move requires actual full swings and moves, as the camera tracks movement 1:1. It’s not just the motion that’s need too however, for the fighting game, full powered, full speed swings are required as well. Swinging your arm lightly will just make your character flail his arms. Within two rounds, I was definitely working up a sweat. It was fun, though, as tiring as it was. The Move is slated for release in the U.S. on September 19th.
Here’s a few more pics from Day 2 at E3:
