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E310: Ripten’s Nintendo Keynote Impressions

Rangebar Merani — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:15:21 +0000

The E310 Nintendo Keynote took place earlier today at the Nokia Plaza in Los Angeles and was hosted by President Reggie Fils-Aime. The presentation featured huge announcements such at the Nintendo 3DS, their new 3D handheld, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii, amongst other highlights from the show.

The Nintendo 3DS had to be the biggest announcement from the keynote. I mean a 3D handheld gaming platform, that’s pretty tight. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my hands on to one today to play, but I’ll for sure get to play tomorrow. The 3DS features new autostereoscopic technology that doesn’t need the use of 3D glasses to work. The new handheld also features a 3.5″ widescreen display, a touch panel and, finally, an slide (analog) pad. It also has 2 cameras, which can view photos in 3D and it was said it would be able to view 3D movies as well. Look out for the 3DS Spring 2011.

Shigeru Miyamoto made the announcement for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, the new Zelda title for the Wii. Miyamoto also performed a demonstration of the game using the Wii Motion Plus to strike down enemies with his sword through a forest level and the Nunchuk was used to control the his shield. Miyamoto also presented some of Links new weapons and items including a bow, a slingshot, a whip, bombs and even a flying beetle that you can control. Watch out for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword sometime 2011.

A short trailer showing gamplay from Mario Sports Mix for the Wii was shown featuring the Mario, Luigi and the rest of the Nintendo gang playing a number of sports including basketball, hockey, volleyball and more. That should be out sometime next year.

Wii Party was also announced featuring a number of party games using your Mii avatars to play with and against friends.

Gameplay footage of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn for the Nintendo DS was shown, stunning fans boys throughout the auditorium with battles in dungeons and spell castings.

The presentation went on to unveil a new GoldenEye game with a gameplay trailer. The game will be exclusively for the Wii and features 8 classic bond characters, including Odd Job and Jaws, along with 16 various game modes.

Warren Spector then made his way out to stage and gave us a gander of Epic Mickey, which will also be exclusive to the Wii. He showed us levels called adventureland and wasteland, as well as gameplay mechanics including painting your environment to alter the world within the game.

A new Kirby game was announced dubbed Kirby: Epic Yarn was revealed and features side-scrolling gameplay in which Kirby and his environments look like they’re cut from different types of cloth. Kirby’s Epic Yarn is scheduled to come out this Fall.

Their was a brief mentioning about Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies coming out for the DS that features an infinite nubmer of randomly generated treasure maps.

Nintendo went on to show a new trailer for Metroid: Other M showing Samus fighting a lava-dwelling monster while exploring a jungle. Look out for it soon on August 31 for the Wii.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is the new side-scrolling comeback title for Donkey and Diddy, which featured them shooting out of barrels and riding in mine carts. The game is totally reminiscent of the titles back on Super Nintendo that I loved so much.

A huge surprise was most definitely the new Kid Icarus game for the 3Ds, Kid Icarus Uprising. A trailer was shown of Pit flying around and a few action scenes. I can’t wait for this title as I was a huge fan of the original on the NES.

They also mentioned a slew of titles that are currently in development for the 3Ds including Assassins Creed, Metal Gear Solid, Kingdom Hearts, Dead or Alive, Resident Evil Street Fighter, Saints Row and , of course, Nintendogs and Cats.

E310: Day One Live Blogging Highlights

Chad Lakkis — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:20:55 +0000

Live blogging is something we’ve previously done as a simple one man show since the site’s inception back in 2007, but this year we here at Ripten decided to kick things up a notch with polls, reader question responses, live photography, and a more team oriented approach. More like a group therapy session for gamers and less like a stale PowerPoint presentation you have to fight to stay awake through.

Well, I’m so proud of the way the day one live blogs for the Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft keynotes turned out that I decided to share a few of my favorite quotes with you. I hope they make you laugh as much as they did me, and I hope you join us for our second day of live blogging scheduled to resume tomorrow with the Nintendo keynote at 9am PST and Sony keynote at 11:30am PST. Enjoy.

Microsoft Keynote Live Blog Highlights

Gavin Bard: First mention of Kinect, everybody do a shot.

Demi A.: Cliff Blezisnki takes the stage for GOW3 footage, stage goes red.
Gavin Bard: Is that Chewbacca wrestling a unicorn?

SamNaylor: I wonder if Ice-T did the voice for that monster.

SamNaylor: Kojima-san is on stage.
Demi A.: Hideooooo!
Gavin Bard: Kojiiiiimmaaaaaaaaa

Gavin Bard: Look at those physics, I have a technology boner.

Demi A.: Uh, the new Unreal Engine looks absolutely awesome. I can actually see MORE COLORS THAN BROWN!
SamNaylor: Yeah! Black is there, and darkish green!

SamNaylor: There he is! Pride of the UK!
Demi A.: Peter Molyneux takes the stage. Possibly about Fable III.
Demi A.: Yep, Fable III.
Gavin Bard: Can we cut down trees and watch them grow yet Peter?

SamNaylor: Yup, looks like a Halo game.
Demi A.: Nothing really new. Just Halo.
SamNaylor: Shooting is happening.
Demi A.: Now would be a great time to go to the bathroom, guys. (I’m kidding, don’t leave.)
Demi A.: Oh, shit! Covenant ships hitting buildings. Aren’t you glad you didn’t go pee?

Demi A.: Corporate VP Marc Whitten is on stage.
Demi A.: 25 Million members on Xbox Live.
Gavin Bard: His microphone must have red ringed.

Demi A.: Okay, I like this menu navigation. Wave to sign in, wave to go to Kinect login.
Gavin Bard: I really don’t want to have to wave at my Xbox.
Gavin Bard: I use my hands to access my entertainment all the time.
Gavin Bard: If you know what I mean.

Demi A.: Exclusive partnership with ESPN for games. This is actually really big for Microsoft. Holy shit.
SamNaylor: I think you just discovered the whole point of E3, Demi.

Gavin Bard: You know what my favorite experience with my Xbox is? Games.
Gavin Bard: It would be nice if they talked about one.

SamNaylor: They gave them all new 360s.
SamNaylor: All the audience.
SamNaylor: Chad’ll be kicking himself for not being there.
Gavin Bard: They should ship them to anybody who had to watch this nonsense just to get here.

Demi A.: We’re seeing the first (?) actual gameplay footage of the game, as the soldiers walk through a cave.
Demi A.: And they have flashlights. Whee! Russian accents.
SamNaylor: Oooh! A cave. How innovative!
Gavin Bard: The person playing the game is a bit trigger happy.
Dylan Duarte: They’ve found a cave hobo!
SamNaylor: Awkward silence.
Demi A.: GUNSHOTS! Blood spatter!
SamNaylor: Bit rubbish at avoiding fire.
Gavin Bard: Why isn’t he shooting the rats for XP?

Demi A.: Senior VP of interactive entertainment, Don Mattrick takes the stage.
Demi A.: “Entertainment phenomenon.”
Demi A.: Oh, shit.
Dylan Duarte: Someone’s been drinking.

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EA Keynote Live Blog Highlights

Gavin Bard: Uh oh, EA MMA has leagues. A whole lot of college dudes with muscles just lost a lot of their free time.

Gavin Bard: Madden NFL discuzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Gavin Bard: Apparently Madden has evolved. Again.
Gavin Bard: Maybe Madden should evolve every year.

Gavin Bard: Oh don’t make me watch Sims 3 machinima.
Gavin Bard: I’m going to mute whatever music is playing during this and put on Agoraphobic Nosebleed instead.
Gavin Bard: Seriously EA, 90% of the people watching this have wangs. This is not how you market this game to wangs.
Gavin Bard: Live like we’re dying? What the hell does that even mean?
Dylan Duarte: I think there are people at EA who honestly can’t tell the difference between a sim and a real person.
Gavin Bard: They just see us all with needs bars, and our needs bars are all just for how much we want Madden.

Dylan Duarte: Crysis 2 is a “full freedom experience.”

Gavin Bard: Yeah, looks pretty crazy.

Gavin Bard: Wow, look at the glass breaking effects.

Dylan Duarte: I just smashed my own window to compare.

Gavin Bard: “You do cool shit, so you can unlock cool shit, and do even more cool shit.”

Gavin Bard: You speak my language, blonde girl.

Dylan Duarte: I’m in love with this woman.

Gavin Bard: Old Republic time.

Dylan Duarte: I want to walk out on stage sometime to Star Wars music

——————————

Ubisoft Keynote Live Blog Highlights

Dylan Duarte: Is he wearing white gloves? That’s ridiculous.
Demi A.: Yeah, he’s rocking the single white glove.
Demi A.: Getting heavy & action packed now.
Gavin Bard: Oonce oonce oonce oonce.
Demi A.: Looks like something you would play if you were heavily under the influence

Gavin Bard: This is what it looked like inside my head during my first year of college.

Gavin Bard: Assassin’s Creed time.
Gavin Bard: I was wondering where Carmen Sandiego was, apparently there are a lot of hers right there.

Demi A.: New moves, and new fight mechanics.
Gavin Bard: Stab a guy in the stomach, shoot him in the back of the head while he doubles over.

Gavin Bard: And here comes Shaun White.
Gavin Bard: And here comes awkward interaction between Shaun White and Joel McHale

Dylan Duarte: He just gave birth to a tree by skateboarding.

Gavin Bard: Lazertag: Sport of kings.
Gavin Bard: The crowd goes mild.

Demi A.: Uh.. alright. Breathe In, Breathe Out the game.
Gavin Bard: They should make “Smoke Mad Weed: The Game.” I think that is much better for stress.

Demi A.: Beat It? Oh god. I’m crying. I’m really crying.
Demi A.: Michael Jackson breakdancing game? What?
Gavin Bard: Ubisoft, people dancing on stage isn’t gameplay.

BlizzCon 08: Diablo 3 Wizard Talent Overview

Chad Lakkis — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 00:37:12 +0000

The Ripten BlizzCon 08 team got their hands on Diablo 3 not long ago, and spent a decent chunk of time checking out the new Wizard class.

One of the first things that they dove into was the talent tree. It should probably be noted that video cameras and photographs were strictly prohibited for both Diablo 3 and Starcraft 2. Just like WOW, there are 3 areas to spec into.

Hit the jump for a brief overview of the Wizard tree.

1:Storm Tree

Tornado and Blizzard are a few of the end talents for this tree, both are AOE type spells.

2:Arcane Tree

Magic Missile is similar to a Mages Arcane Missiles in WOW
Slow Time and Warp Space allow you to bend the space/time continuum, slowing mobs down substantially.
Arcane Orb is an AOE nuke type talent.

3:Conjuring:

Mirror Image creates exactly what you would expect it to create — a mirror image of the wizard
Meteor Storm is an AOE similar to meteor in Diablo 2.
Acid Cloud is a nature based AOE
Health and Mana can also be conjured up here

Feel free to post in the comments section if you have questions. We will be reporting back later tonight with more detailed information as well as responding to any questions you may have.