Despite what’s been a rough holiday season for Electronic Arts both in terms of sales and company layoffs, EA reassured us today that it remains commited to keeping its two new intellectual properties, Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space, moving ahead. Speaking in a conference call, EA CEO John Riticiello remarked on the future of these two new franchises:

Dead Space looks like a long-term big winner for us. Mirror’s Edge is one that was very strongly reviewed. That one’s gonna go forward – we’ll be looking at some issues around the design to make sure strong IP is married with strong business.

When he says look at some “issues around the design”, is Riticiello referring to the some of the more maligned aspects of Mirror’s Edge’s gameplay (ie, the combat, obtuse levels, etc)? Let’s hope so – if EA is really listening to us consumers and taking our complaints to heart in the way they’re building their IP, then maybe they deserve some credit (and some sales) for doing so.

Source: Shacknews

Destructoid reports that EA and DICE have announced downloadable content for Mirror’s Edge, set to be released January 16. The DLC, entitled the “Pure Time Trial Pack”, will cost 800 MS points on Xbox Live, and $10 on the PSN. Hit the jump for the video and more info, and be warned: it’s pretty strange.

If the game didn’t make you sick already, this is bound to. This is one of those videos that makes you feel just a little sensation of “this isn’t right”, and going by that, playing the game is going to feel incredibly strange.

In other Mirror’s Edge news, DICE also confirmed today that the PC version of the game will ship to retailers in North America on January 13th and worldwide on January 16th, 2009. In even more Mirror’s Edge news, the following press release reveals that the PS3 version of the game will recieve a free tenth downloadable ‘race’. It really is a good news day for fans of the game.

Award-winning Action Adventure Game Delivers Fresh Content to Challenge Even the Best Runner
Guildford, UK. – Dec 4, 2008 – Leave the city behind! DICE, an Electronic Arts Inc. studio (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that the highly acclaimed first-person action adventure title, Mirror’s Edge™ will release downloadable content (DLC) for the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, the Xbox 360® videogame and entertainment system and the PC in late January. DICE also confirmed today that the PC version of the game will ship to retailers in North America on January 13th and worldwide on January 16th, 2009.

Players will be challenged to achieve the fastest times possible on nine races across seven all-new and totally redesigned Time Trial maps. No guns, no cops, and no city: this is true aesthetics, agility and flow that will challenge any runner. This special DLC pack will be available for $10 USD or 800 Microsoft points. As an added bonus, all PLAYSTATION 3 Mirror’s Edge fans will be able to download an additional map for free.

“The freedom of movement and control in first person has been the most popular aspect of Mirror’s Edge so we decided to distil these down to their purest form for this map pack,” says Owen O’Brien, Senior Producer, DICE. “We deliberately chose a more abstract aesthetic that is still within our distinctive art style and then focused on flow and gameplay to create an experience and challenge very different from the main game.”

Time Trial is a popular mode in Mirror’s Edge that challenges players to find the fastest route across various maps. Players can upload their best time to the Mirror’s Edge leaderboards for their friends to download and compete against. Players can see their friend’s ‘ghost’ run as they race their way through the course to the top of the leaderboards.

Mirror’s Edge has been one of the most highly anticipated games this season. It takes the tried and true elements of the first-person perspective, mixed with an artistic style and frantic gameplay to make a unique type of game. But is this game worth shelling out the $60?

[Note: The version I'm referencing for this review is the Xbox 360]

Anyone who has played the demo knows that the controls are pretty simple on this one: left button to jump, left trigger to duck or slide, right button to turn 180 degrees, right trigger to attack. The face buttons are Y to disarm, A to activate, B to direct you to where you’re supposed to be going, and X for slow-motion mode.

The game begins with the training and Prologue chapter that were included in the game demo. Having played the demo myself, I got through these levels fairly easily and quickly. I was pretty excited to start the real game and get running.

My excitement, however, was quickly extinguished after trying to plow through the first level. The game’s “runner vision,” which turns key objects red as you approach them, was not quite as helpful as it should be. Often times objects wouldn’t turn red unless you were right next to them, or sometimes the objects that were red were well out of your reach and it was a matter of trial and error trying to reach them.

In fact, that’s a pretty good term for my entire first playthrough of the game. Trial and error.

Oftentimes, the game would direct you (through the use of the B button) into a room where there seemed to be no immediate way out. If the game gave you time to explore the level and find your way, this wouldn’t be an issue. However, most of the times when the route was unclear, there were five or six hostiles shooting at you. This caused me to run around frantically, jumping and trying to grab walls for a minute or so, before Faith became riddled with bullets and fell down dead. Frustrating at the first occurrence, it became almost unbearable the third or fourth time. I frequently found myself being shot dead or jumping aimlessly off of buildings while trying to find the correct direction to go.

Most of the level design is pretty good. My one pet peeve with this game was the number of levels that had the mechanic of “press a button on this side of the room, then quickly run to the other side to get through a door.” It wasn’t fun in the Legend of Zelda dungeons, and it’s not fun in this game either.

Another poor level design choice has to do with the range of places Faith can access. Sometimes a place that looks close enough to reach will be completely inaccessible, and you’ll end up falling to your death several times before realizing that it’s not the way you’re supposed to go. Other times, the most obvious route seems like an impossible length to jump, but you still make it across somehow. Hooray physics!

The plot of the game is almost good. It’s relayed to the player in a series of cutscenes between each level, and sometimes in small bits during the gameplay. There is not enough depth in the somewhat predictable plot for you to really care too much about the characters — when I faced some of the enemies in the game, I wasn’t quite sure I was fighting them. This game frustrated me so much that I didn’t even blame one of the evil characters for repeatedly throwing me off a building.

Part of this frustration also comes from the controls. They’re not terribly broken, but they sometimes felt inconsistent. For many of the moves in the game, you need extremely precise timing, making the whole “falling to your death” scenario all the more frequent. Many times when attempting to do a wall run, I ended up simply jumping next to the wall. Some of the bad guys were next to impossible to disarm, even with the use of the slow motion function. One of the “boss battles” requires you to disarm an enemy, and after dying about six or seven times after failed disarming attempts, I simply mashed Y repeatedly. This method worked on the first try.

All in all, my first playthrough of the game was slow and almost torturous. I had to put down the game several times out of sheer frustration. I actually went to YouTube and searched for videos of people going through some of the levels because I was so completely lost.

After everything I’ve said, you might be thinking that this game is a big pile of crap and not worth buying. Yet this isn’t entirely true. The game becomes enjoyable after the first playthrough, since this unlocks the speed run mode of the game.

Once you’ve played a level thoroughly, speed running through it is a lot of fun. Getting the familiarity of the level in order to successfully speed run a level is tough but ultimately rewarding. Knowing exactly where to go enables you to keep up the flow of movement that was originally intended. Pulling off some of the moves in the game feels satisfying instead of frustrating and reminds you of the reason you bought the game in the first place. And in this case, it really saves the game from being bad.

Another element that adds to the replay value of the game is the three runner bags scattered around each level. I know I died several times in pursuit of these bags, but I didn’t mind as much because once I get them, I keep them (even if I died immediately afterward).

The bottom line here is that if you can suffer through six to ten hours of fumbling your way through story mode, you’ll end up with a decent game on your hands. However, my personal advice would be to either rent this one or wait until the price drops a little.

Electronic Arts has apparently teamed up with Brad Borne (of Borne Games) to create a flash version of the just-released Mirror’s Edge. The beta is playable now online, and even though it’s essentially just a repeating level, it’s a nice taste of what the full release may be when it lauches in “a week or two”.

This beta/demo actually reminds me of some old-school Prince of Persia, and that is definitely a good thing. I’m not entirely sure if the full game will remain a simple flash application available for free on the interwebs (Brad claims it will be, but we never know how EA will want to market it on PSN/Xbox Live), but it’s certainly worth checking out. In all honesty, I think this version looks better than the actual console Mirror’s Edge, but maybe that’s because I like being able to see Faith in all her hotness instead of “being” her.

Head over to the Borne Games website right the fudge now and play the demo.

If you weren’t convinced that Mirror’s Edge is a worthy GOTY contender before, perhaps the newest trailer from EA and DICE will convince you otherwise.

The video you see above is EA’s official Mirror’s Edge launch trailer, with smoother transitions and more cop butt-kicking than before. After playing the demo and the consequent time-trial, I’m thoroughly convinced that this game has serious GOTY potential, even with it’s lack of a multiplayer mode. My favorite part of this trailer is probably a tie between the rope-to-rope transfer and the cop crotch kick. What can I say, I’m a sucker for crotch kicks.

Mirror’s Edge, one of the most highly anticipated titles from EA this year, has officially gone gold. If you haven’t already, I recommend giving the demo a spin. It has some tough competition this season with all the triple-A titles being put out, but I think it offers enough of a new, unique experience to hold its own in sales. Mirror’s Edge will be hitting shelves next week, so prepare yourself for some fast-paced, freerunning action.

For the press release, hit the jump.

DICE announced today that the highly acclaimed and award-winning first-person action adventure title, Mirror’s Edge™, has gone gold. Mirror’s Edge has been praised by top industry media saying it is ‘the most exciting first-person adventure of the year’ (EGM) and ‘poetry in motion’ (Official Xbox Magazine). The game also won this year’s Game Critics Award for “Best Original Game” at E3.

Gamers can experience first-hand what life is like as a runner with the recently released Mirror’s Edge demo that is available via PlayStation® Store and Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace. Players who pre-order the game* will also receive an unlock code for exclusive access to the Time Trial mode. Time Trial is an addictive mode that challenges players to use their speed and best moves to find the fastest routes throughout the city. Gamers can upload their best time to the Mirror’s Edge online leaderboards for their friends to download and compete against. Players can see their friend’s ‘ghost’ run as they race to the top of the leaderboards.

For those unfamiliar with the game, Mirror’s Edge is a unique first-person action adventure where players are introduced to Faith, a ‘runner’ in a world where communication channels are highly monitored and the movement of information is closely watched. When Faith’s sister gets framed for murder, Faith finds herself on the edge of the city, on the wrong side of the law.

Shipping to retail outlets worldwide on November 11th for the PLAYSTATION®3 and the Xbox 360®, Mirror’s Edge was developed at EA Digital Illusions CE AB (DICE) in Stockholm, Sweden. The game is rated “T” by the ESRB and “16+” by PEGI. For more information on Mirror’s Edge please visit www.mirrorsedge.com.

Yes, I know the demo was released on PSN yesterday. However I have a 360 and I had to feverishly wait for the demo to go up today. Ever since I saw the first videos for this, I’ve been excited to get my hands on it. I didn’t have a chance to at PAX since the crowd was so large, but being able to watch someone else play the demo on an HD screen was a pretty cool experience.

So after months of anticipation, the moment of truth: Does the demo live up to the high-flying hype of this game?

The demo begins (as most demos do) with a tutorial that explains all of the controls: Left button for jumping, left trigger for sliding, right button for turning 180 degrees, right trigger for punching, and so on. What surprised me a bit was the amount of ways you could use this simple controls for some pretty neat combos–like jumping off a building, landing into a roll then taking out a cop with a sliding kick.

I think the only part I had a bit of difficulty with was using the red highlighted objects as springboards. For some reason, either because of my own bad timing or the game, I just couldn’t seem to consistently use this mechanic properly. Then again, it took me a few tries to also get the wallrun-turn-jump combo down, so I’ll chalk it up to my own inexperience on the controls. It seems like one of those games where it is easy to pick up the basics, but it takes time to really master the controls and have some good flow. Some of the controls, like using X to slow time, seemed a little bit misplaced and somewhat unnecessary, however they do add to the game’s cinematic aesthetic.

Speaking of the flow, the way the camera moves in this game is nothing short of amazing. I know there were some concerns about having a freerunning game in a first person perspective, but overall I feel like it was executed very well. You have a very good hold on your view, and the game also tends to be a little forgiving if you’re not exactly on your mark. I think my one complaint might be that it doesn’t feel like you’re going terribly fast when you’re running through the level.

However the rest of the gameplay is so good that this is fairly negligible; you’ll be so distracted by jumping and swinging all over the place that you probably won’t even notice. It was probably also done so that people wouldn’t get terribly motion sick while playing. The view corresponds so well with the movements that sometimes it’s hard to believe you’re actually playing and not just watching a cut scene.

Also, if you’re doing anything wrong the game will let you know right away. Taking a wrong turn or trying to jump to the wrong building leads to instant death, however you regenerate pretty quickly so it doesn’t take away from the fast pace of the gameplay. Even though directions on where to go in the game aren’t terribly explicit, you learn fast from your mistakes. Plus, part of the fun in the game is finding your own way around obstacles.

Gameplay mechanics aside, I was pleased to see what a piece of art this game really is. You can tell that there was a lot of thought and love put into the game’s creation. I was worried that the white-blue-red would start to irritate the eyes after a while, however clips provided after the demo show a number of different environments with equally beautiful color schemes of their own. The game stands out like a shining gem amid the gritty gray and brown toned next gen games the market has been seeing. Even the music provides the proper tone for the game.

I think my real concern is for the game’s depth. From the trailers we see bits and piece of the story, but in the demo I felt like the story wasn’t in the forefront of the game. Even if it is “just a demo,” it would have given off a better impression overall if there had been some sort of connection to the story’s plot–just enough to keep the player intrigued.

This game has the potential to push the game industry further into the realm of art, and I hope that this game can really step up and deliver. I don’t want to get my hopes up too high on the fumes of the hype machine, but this is still a game I am greatly looking forward too. The demo is very promising, and if you haven’t already I highly recommend giving it a try.

EA has got a little something for your Halloween goody bag — when you’ll get it depends on which console you own.

PlayStation 3 owners will get a head start on their Halloween treat fest with an opportunity to download Mirror’s Edge on October 30th, while the Xbox 360 “Faith”ful will get their shot at the first person rooftop runner October 31st. Time Trial mode will also be available on both versions of the demo for those who pre-ordered the game.

A bag full of chocolate sounds and a screen full of virtual acrobatics — sounds good to me. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Take A Leap Of Faith Before Mirror’s Edge Hits Retail Stores In November With Downloadable Demo!

This week gamers can ‘take a leap of Faith’ with a special demo for Mirror’s Edge™, available at the PlayStation® Store on October 30th and on Xbox LIVE™ Marketplace on October 31st. The demo will feature the prologue of the game, a tutorial and a segment of the single-player story mode. Now is your chance to experience the action that has GameSpot saying “Unlike anything we’d ever played before.”

Players who pre-order the game* will also receive an unlock code for exclusive access to the Time Trial mode. Time Trial is an addictive mode that challenges players to use their speed and best moves to find the fastest routes throughout the city. Gamers can upload their best time to the Mirror’s Edge online leaderboards for their friends to download and compete against. Players can see their friend’s ‘ghost’ run as they race to the top of the leaderboards.

In a recent interview with Ausgamers, Owen O’Brien, Senior Producer of Mirror’s Edge, has revealed that the game is the first in a trilogy of titles. “The story we’re telling at the moment is kind of a trilogy, a three-story arc,” O’Brien stated. He also hinted at a series beyond these first three games: “I think there’s a lot of scope to take the story in different directions, or maybe tell someone else’s story.”

Not content with more of the same, O’Brien also showed interest in supplying gamers with a level editor for Mirror’s Edge 2- saying one would be “something we’re probably going to look out for the sequel.”

So, what do you say? EA milking a franchise, or just a genuine attempt at pleasing gamers? Let us know in the comments.

Fall is fast approaching, and your bank balance will soon be dropping faster than the leaves on the tree outside your window. Naturally, you may not be able to decide for yourself which of the plethora of games to splurge your life’s savings on, and that’s where I come in.

Think of me as your personal assistant — ready to passively (and aggressively) project my thoughts and opinions onto you. Thank me later.

Dead Space (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360) 10/14 – It’s the future. We’ve made significant progressions in the space program. You’re Isaac Clarke, a space engineer, who’s answered a distress call from a ship that is, as far as he knows, only suffering from minor mechanical issue. Since we need antagonists to kill, the ship has been overrun by Necromorphs, a hostile polymorphic alien species dependant on necrotic flesh.

As lame as that sounds, all it does is confirm my suspicions that it is execution rather than conception that makes something intriguing.

EA Redwood has taken what I perceive and now know as the “Resident Evil 4 effect”: over-the-shoulder camera, controls that don’t make you want to burn a puppy, and something freak you out when you turn the corner. Comparisons to other great games continue; much like BioShock’s Rapture, a large portion, if not all, of Dead Space will be taking place in a self-contained location. What BioShock did right was make locations distinct enough to create a feeling of progression and keep things fresh with distinct differentiations in aesthetics.

Gameplay mechanics appear solid enough, and rightfully so, since they’re borrowing from the best. And let me be clear, that’s not a knock against it, I like that it borrows from games that I already know I love. Provided that they nail the gameplay, atmosphere has to be top notch, especially since they’re in the survival-horror genre, a genre that lives and dies by its ability to give you the screaming heebie-jeebies.

LittleBigPlanet (Playstation 3) 10/21 – “Play. Create. Share.” is the mantra that Media Molecule, developers of LittleBigPlanet, has lived by since they announced the title two years ago.

LBP is a 2D side-scrolling platformer that combines the Super Mario Bros paradigm of simply getting from one end of the screen to another and takes it to the next level with real-to-life physics calculations. Thow in an endearing star like Sackboy, and a pre-bundled level creator expansive enough to recreate just about anything your mind can think up, and you may begin to understand why people are clammering to reserve their copy.

If creating isn’t really your thing, you can expect a fully featured online catalog of levels created by others. Assuming that its release is met by a highly motivated and creative community focused on providing a constant stream of mind-blowing content, LBP will be surefire success.

Fable 2 (Xbox 360) 10/21 - Over promising and under delivering has very much been the theme of Peter Molyneux, the design mastermind behind Fable. I haven’t followed his hyperbolic propagand much throughout Fable II’s development, but I’m sure he’s spewed his fair share of it. The one thing I did hear is about the Han Solo factor.

The factor that has a player not being equally generous and forthcoming to everyone met, but a greedy, look-out-for-self, inward thinker that’s not exactly pure evil:

“With Han Solo, how good is good? Can you get as good as Luke Skywalker? Even he wasn’t truly good.” Molyneux said. Speaking with MTV Multiplayer blog.

He then went on t o hypothesize a potential situation in Fable II:

“If you saw a family there and had to kill these bandits to save the family, you’d kill the bandits to save the family. If I said to you, ‘okay, to save this family, you give up half your gold.’ Would you give up half your gold to save the family? Maybe you would, don’t know. The most interesting one is if I said ‘to save that family, you must be horribly, grotesquely scarred and there’s no way of ever removing the scar or the aging.’ What we found is that far, far fewer people were willing to sacrifice that.”

Would you sacrifice superficial features in a game to accomplish your good deed for the day? What about in the meatspace; fight or flight? Could an in-game situation make you stop for a second to contemplate the repercussions of your actions? Would you second guess your decision making? That seems to be the goal they are striving for here.

Fallout 3 (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360) 10/28 – Post-apocalyptic wastelands haven’t been done right since 1998, or so they say. Having only become a PC gamer recently, I missed out on both Fallout’s, and I’ve neglected to watch any of the Mad Max movies. As such, I’ve never been set in a Mad Max-esque setting – and I’m not quite sure what to expect. In other words, I have little insight into this cultural phenomenon.

I know about the barren stretches of land, the different factions, your dog, the vaults, the open-ended consequence-filled nature of the world, the VAT combat system and the Pip-Boy. All that knowledge taking up real-estate in my head, but even so, I can’t begin to understand the hype machine surrounding this games pending release. Despite my not having any comprehension as to how the game will actually “work”, it’s piqued enough of my interest that I will definitely be playing it on day one.

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360) 11/4 - “Bigger, better, and more badass.” Was the phrase Lead Designer Cliff Bleszenski chose to introduce the world to Gears of War 2, although it was scrapped shortly thereafter. Setting aside the idiotic catch phrase, my initial fears were that little to no advancement had happened in the two year gap between the first and the second Gears of War’s.

Epic could’ve released what would ostensibly be the original Gears with a new single-player campaign and, by and large, be met with success, both critically and commercially. Marginally upgraded graphics, new enemy types, and new weapons would have likely been sold as more than enough reason to come back for round two.

Thankfully though, they didn’t phone Gears of War 2 in. A new campaign, 5 player co-op, and what seems like a vastly improved multiplayer mode have me at attention and ready for battle. The 5 player co-op has a bit of a twist, as it pits you and your friends in something more analogous to Geometry Wars: Waves. You fight through waves of Locusts with each subsequent wave being more difficult than the previous. It’s chances of being Game of the Forever are slim to none, but what it does have is a great foundation to work from, if taken in the right directions it will prove to be a success in most aspects.

Resistance 2 (Playstation 3) 11/7 – Ever since its announcement, you’ve heard about Resistance 2 and it’s scale. In fact, Insomniac Games made sure that one was never mentioned without the other. A prime example being the skyscraping 300 ft. tall Leviathan shown off at the Sony E3 Press Conference months ago. It ravaged through a 1950’s war-torn Chicago and smashed buildings with little remorse.

For those that missed the original, it’s an alternate historical take on World War II, where instead of the war progressing as it should with the Allies vs. Axis, it’s become Humans on Chimeras, a mysterious alien species life form that’s decided to invade Earth.

The first takes places through European cities. With the second, the war comes stateside and it’s up to hero of the European invasion, Nathan Hale, to play his part. Apart from repeating the word “scale” until it ceases to have meaning, they’ve also been playing the numbers game like it’s nobody’s business, unleashing an 8 player class-based co-op campaign, and 64 player squad-based competitive multiplayer.

In addition to the numbers game, they’ve also been building a new website behind-the-scenes. One that’s meant to foster a community. MyResistance.net is slated to be to Resistance 2, as Bungie.net is to Halo 3. Those are big shoes to fill, but Insomniac readily boasts the “scale” to do it.

Mirror’s Edge (Microsoft Windows, Playstation 3, Xbox 360) 11/11 - We got our first taste of the evolved paradigm of platforming courtesy of last year’s release of Assassin’s Creed. The craze is called Parkour, which is a French developed sport involving running, jumping, and otherwise traversing urban areas with complete grace and shocking fluidity. When directly translated from French to English it means “The art of movement”. The definition and translation of Parkour is easily transferable and a perfectly acceptable for Mirror’s Edge, as it takes Parkour, and translates it into a first-person action game.

Mirror’s Edge takes place in a not-so-distant dystopian future, run by a totalitarian government. I don’t know how much you know about totalitarian governments with Orwellian traits, but they like to control things, and one of their favorite things to control is information. That’s where the “Runners” come in. They take information in various forms and get it from point A to point B.

You play Faith, an extremely agile and graceful runner. As such, she can move through her environment with relative ease and fluidity. Much of Mirror’s Edge involves forward movement, you can expect to, more often than not, be in situations where you’re being shot at, chased, or otherwise incentivized to — you guessed it, move forward.

The only downfall I can think of is the game’s lack of interaction with civilians in the dystopian city. There’s just a picture perfect scene in my mind’s eye, where Faith is going from a rooftop, through a door, down a stairwell, and finally arriving in an office, ultimately interrupting a regular work-day, turning workers into obstacles that become part of the stage.

Those are the games that will keep your wallet (or purse, if you’re into that sort of thing) lighter than it has been all year.

Make sure you come back within the next few days, as I’ll be pushing the games of Fall that may slip under your radar, but shouldn’t. Save your pocket change — you’re going to need it.

Playing a recent demo of Mirror’s Edge, I had been trying to shave a few extra seconds off of my time trial run, and after all the obvious routes were exploited, I passed along the controller. I watched mouth agape as, instead of directing Faith to run up the stairs like a normal person, the journalist next to me sent her careening off a nearby wall and up over the guardrail, all ninja-like. Is this an example of practice-makes-perfect, or a new kind of exploit?

Mirror’s Edge has a unique hook—it’s a game featuring the platforming of Assassin’s Creed meshed with the first person perplexity of Portal. This stylistic choice does have some pitfalls, though: The first person view does make distances hard to judge, and the animations that you desperately want to see all occur off-screen.

Although it takes some time to get used to the unusual controls, which use L2 for sliding and L1 for leaping plus the X button for grabbing onto handholds, they’re not your biggest hurdle. Instead, the trick is figuring out the limitations of your moves without actually seeing your character interact in the world.

To wall jump, for example, you can run up to a wall, hit L1, and then hit the R1 button to spin around to see the other side. While third-person games like Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell show your character interacting with their environment, here all you have to go on is a bouncy, jarring perspective.

This leads us to the astonishing shortcuts I discovered in Time Trial mode. I never would have guessed that you could circumvent those stairs by wall-jumping up and over the guardrail. Since Time Trial is all about repetition and speed, it’s easy to miss those not-so-obvious routes.

Time Trial mode is also missing the combat and cutscenes of the main game, but from what we saw it is otherwise the exact same level design. However, you do get to see a red silhouette “ghost” racing just ahead of you, suggesting the ideal routes and helping you plot out a course. Since this is the only way you’ll actually get to see your character in action from an outside perspective, it’s a pretty weak substitution for an actual player character model.

The single “wow” moment from the demo of Mirror’s Edge comes at the end, when you make a huge leap and grab onto a helicopter, as it pans around giving you a view of your reflection in a skyscraper’s windows. Other than that, though, it was a whole lot of misjudged leaps and clanging over catwalks. The demo will be available soon enough, and if you preorder the game you can demo the time trial mode as well, but so far we’re not very impressed with the gimmicks in this first-person platformer.

But only on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. DICE announced today that Mirror’s Edge will ship for consoles on November 11, with the PC version to appear later this winter.

The game’s prologue – a tutorial and early chunk of the single-player story – will be released as a demo through Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store at some point before the game’s release. And if you’re keen enough to pre-order Mirror’s Edge, from the 26th September you’ll be given a code to unlock a time trial mode in the demo too.

Source: DICE

PS3 finally gets some exclusive DLC TLC.  Sony has entered into an “exclusive marketing agreement” with Mirror’s Edge publisher and evil overlords Electronic Arts to bring downloadable content to the title via PSN.  How’d they manage that without the exorbitantly deep pockets of Microsoft?

Sony has also gone on record to squelch rumors that Mirror’s Edge would be a timed exclusive, stating that the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions would all release on the same day.

This is one of the things that amuses me about the console wars.  People are quick to point the finger at Microsoft’s wallet every time they get something exclusive (mainly because they publicly stated how much they paid for GTA4 content), but they also argue that Sony is above paying for exclusives “because they don’t have to”.

So that begs the question: What did Sony do get exclusive content in Mirror’s Edge?  Obviously, they didn’t pay for it, so it must just be that EA loves the PS3 so much that they decided to give them something special.  Apparently Microsoft didn’t see Mirror’s Edge as worth the cost to buy the DLC away from Sony… or maybe Microsoft is finally running out of money (not likely).

In actuality, Sony getting exclusive content does not rule out the 360 or PC from getting their own exclusive content, much like the exclusive characters in SoulCalibur IV.  I’m still curious what the point of exclusive DLC is anyway, as it doesn’t seem to have made that big of an impact so far.

Sony used to agree with that, but apparently exclusive DLC now has a purpose and is way cool… or maybe they just couldn’t afford GTA4 and Fallout 3. What do you think? Are Sony and Microsoft bidding on exclusives, or do you think perhaps there are some console fans in the development houses themselves putting out content for the system they prefer?

Source: Eurogamer

We don’t believe you David Reeves. It would be kind of us to say that much of what you spout is exagerated, but now you, Mr SCEE boss, have more “news” for us. DICE’s promising first person adventure game, Mirror’s Edge, will be a timed PS3 exclusive.

A Turn Up for Sony?

That would certainly be good news for Sony, especially considering our impressions of the game at E3 and the seductive footage revealed at Leipzig GC 08. Moreover, it’d be a better move than Sony’s Hazey chapter with Ubisoft. According to Heise.de, David Reeves has informed them that Mirror’s Edge will “initially be PS3 exclusive this year”, with the “PC and Xbox 360 versions to follow much later”, further stating:

We are continuously, month after month publishing new titles that bring something unique and target different groups. In a month it’s Gran Turismo, in the next SingStar, and Third-Party Title’s such as EA’s Mirror’s Edge are all part of the strategy.

Developer Confusion

DICE were bemused when asked, either by David Reeve’s incompetence, or by EA’s reluctance to inform them of the exclusivity deal; “We know nothing of that so far. But it is possible that there is collusion at the highest level, of which we are still uninformed.”

So DICE certainly don’t rule out the possibility and it’s not uncommon for a publisher to collude with console giants without developer input, as was the case with Ubisoft choosing the PS3 for Free Radical’s Haze. Remember, money rules the roost in software development.

PlayStation 3 Lead Platform

We can stir the rumour a tad more by remembering that DICE’s lead platform is the PS3 and any public showing of Mirror’s Edge has been on Sony’s platform.

If the rumour is false, David Reeve’s has further diminished our view of him. If the rumour is true, David Reeve’s can’t keep a secret, has a bigger mouth than Denis Dyack, and risks Microsoft cottoning on.

Source: Heise.de via Blorge.com

[UPDATE] – Sony has gone on record to squelch rumors that Mirror’s Edge would be a timed exclusive, stating that the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions would all release on the same day. Read more…

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Straight out of Games Convention 2008 in Leipzig comes three minutes of Mirror’s Edge in-game footage. All the previous video has been above ground, featuring a bright cityscape, as you jump from building to building.

The new footage takes us inside of what appears to be an underground plant of some sort, and offers a stark contrast to the sunny rooftop footage shown at E3. Have at the video after the jump.

Remember the rooftop stage from Mirror’s Edge? It was first shown in the initial gameplay trailer as well as being prominently featured in the E3 08 trailer and demonstrations to the press. Well, Portal modder EvilWeevil has taken it upon himself to bring that stage to life in Portal.

How he managed to pull it all together given the tiny morsel of source footage available absolutely blows my mind. Unless of course, he has access to an early build of the game. In which case, EvilWeevil, buddy, we’re friends right?

Although, I have to admit, it is quite interesting seeing how the Portal gameplay gels with the Mirror’s Edge-intended environment. Of course, it’s not a 1:1 conversion; unless he has that early build of the game we mentioned earlier (sharing is caring!) Enjoy the video.

Source: Gamevideos

Several scans (six if you’re counting) of the Mirror’s Edge comic book surfaced on the web today, and it appears I wasn’t too far off when I created the graphic above last week for visual purposes.

I am a little disappointed to be honest. You would think that a game edgy enough to go first person where many would have gone third, would have carried the theme into the comic. Come on guys! A first person comic would have been brilliant marketing! Oh well.

The real cover and 5 inside page scans are available after the jump.

Source: Gamekyo

Mirror’s Edge was easily one of the most highly profiled games by EA at this year’s E3, and it rightly deserved to be.

First-person action that plays like a third-person game, Mirror’s Edge is played through the eyes of Faith, the game’s beautiful heroin and a runner, who’s in charge of relaying important information from one party to another without be caught by the “po-po”, or the law enforcement for those who aren’t familiar with street slang.

The level that was shown at the EA press conference, and in Sony’s demo room, was a massive and brightly lit realistic city setting, in which you were mainly jumping from one rooftop to another (ninja-style), trying to keep your momentum going as best as you could.

Speaking of momentum, the game is all about moving quickly, hence Faith being labeled as a “runner’. The quicker you finish the level, the more rewards you’ll be given, but no details on what type of rewards just yet. There’s also a reaction time button that slows things down in the game for more precise actions and movements, complete with blur effects adding to realism.

There were also some other obstacles like cat-walking a pole using the left analog stick to keep your balance (I actually fell off here and had to start the demo over) and even a time where you had to run against a wall (Prince of Persia style) and jump across to the next platform.

The controls of the game were pretty easy to learn. Since there isn’t a sprint button, you just run with the left analog stick and the longer you hold it, the more momentum and speed you get. There was a button to slide and roll, and another to grab on ledges. The controls were responsive and intuitive, but still it took some time to get use the whole 1st-person view and really know exactly where the ledge was and when to jump off.

Sadly, I didn’t get to actually play any part of the demo in which combat was involved, but I did see some action. I noticed when you use your reaction time to slow things up when in a scuffle with an enemy, the bad guy’s gun turned red, notifying you that you could grab if from them and use it as your own. But be careful, because you’ll only have what ammunition is left in the gun. No bullets or ammo laying around in this game.

One of the neatest features in the game is the Runner Vision, which color codes specific areas of the level as a means of revealing paths to the next area. All levels are said to have multiple routes to advance, but some are faster than others.

The game has no HUD, no health meter, but just a dot in the middle of the screen just for focusing and centering purposes, but which can actually be turned off. And when you’re damaged, the screen will turn red like a lot of other games these days. All you ever see on the screen is the action of the game — mainly your arms moving back and forth while you run or your legs when you take a huge jump.

Mirror’s Edge is really looking to be one of the highlights of the fall, with extremely beautiful visuals, intuitive controls, and just a completely different kind of action game. Gamers should watch out for Mirror’s Edge this October when it hits the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Ripten TV is back and ready to kick you right right in your face-part. I’m here at E3 08 counting down the top 5 crowd pleasing moments of the EA press conference.

Yesterday, at Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe’s Playstation Day Thingy, DICE showed off the first bit of real-time gameplay from Mirror’s Edge.

The best way to describe it I think would be as a first person take on the Prince of Persia and Assassin’s Creed school of platforming, Freerunning/Parkour, if you will.

While playing through Assassin’s Creed, it wasn’t the story or the annoying lack of variety in objectives that kept me playing through until the end. It was the paradigm-shifting evolution in platforming that it introduced. The feeling of freedom by virtue of really being able to go anywhere and climb anything within the set space that was given to me is something that even Grand Theft Auto IV isn’t capable of.

The footage released yesterday, found here in HD, unequivocally put it near the top of my most anticipated games of the year.

As stated in the video, it’s all real-time and all gameplay. It looks so seamless and functional that the wait for a demo or even a solid release date is pretty unbearable. Thus far, all we have is a late ’08 guesstimation for PC, PS3, and 360.

Thanks to Kotaku for the concept art.