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Silver Fox's SpacePlease follow me @ http://twitter.com/silverfox863 June 07 Will Forza Motorsport 3 Be “The Definitive” Racing Game?
"My ultimate goal is to connect people, turn gamers into car lovers but car lovers into gamers," says Dan Greenawalt, the lead producer of Forza Motorsport 3.
From E3 2009, I witnessed particular games to become excited about. One of these video games is Forza Motorsport 3, scheduled to be released worldwide on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in October 2009. Although the cliché “definitive” was overused at the Microsoft Xbox 360 presentation, I thoroughly enjoyed and was impressed by what I saw and heard about Forza 3 at E3 on G4TV and on the Web simply because the game is fun. In case you slept though the E3 2009 media coverage, Forza Motorsport 3 is an upcoming racing simulator video game currently in development by Turn 10 Studio. It is the sequel to Forza Motorsport 3 and the third installment in the Forza Motorsport series. New additions to the game include an in-car driving view, one button assisted driving, and vehicle rollover. Also included will be the ability to create in game videos and upload them to the Forza Motorsport website. Forza Motorsport 3 emphasizes cars and therefore, is for car lovers. The vehicle list includes over 400 cars/trucks (you can race SUVs) from 50 different manufacturers. This includes Audi, Honda, Nissan, Ferrari, BMW, and several others. How many? Let’s try a recount because these are big numbers. Forza 3 packs in more than 400 "fully customizable and tunable" cars from 50 manufacturers and 100-plus real world tracks. New locations include the Montserrat region in Spain, the rugged Amalfi Coast in Italy, and the American Southwest. Forza Motorsport 3 now sports an in-cockpit view.
User-generated content was a big feature of Forza 2 and it's going to have a larger role in the sequel. Of course, it wouldn't be Forza without an extensive customization tool. You get added ability to capture video, which can be posted on the Internet for other gamers to see, you can set up a home video arena with up to four screens: three for the track view and one for the rearview mirror, and you can control up to 9,000 variables in setting up your car, everything from gear ratios to tire sidewall flex. The game's paint editor will return. It allows you to decorate your cars using your own designs and put them up for auction online. There's also a video editor that grants you the opportunity to create these elaborate and choreographed clips. It will be easier to find awesome custom jobs for downloading. If art's not your thing, however, you can crawl underneath the hood and tweak and fine tune your ride. From reading articles on the Internet, I learn that the career mode is ridiculously large and thus, very improved. The new career mode features calendar-based seasons. These seasons are controlled by their own AI and are fully dynamic. A new single-player season mode will put you through a completely personalized racing calendar that includes more than 200 different events, including Circuit, Oval, Drag, Drift, and Timed Events. No two calendars will be the same. The game analyzes the types of cars you enjoy racing, the car classes you dig, your skill, and more to determine which races you'd like. It will take hundreds of hours to exhaust the dynamic scheduling. As for the season mode, it's timed to get you fully immersed with all cars, tracks, etc., after about 50 hours of driving time. I expect Forza 3 to “push the envelope” (speaking of clichés) regarding the Xbox 360’s technology and capabilities, particularly the graphics engine. Did you notice the beautiful, detailed backgrounds? A new graphics engine allowed the designers to create models that have ten times the polygons of the ones in Forza 2. You can expect fully functioning cockpits with working dials and other assorted features. Beautiful environments, like the mountain range and lakes that surround the Camino Viejo track, whiz by at a smooth 60 frames per second, and a variety of driving options ensure that practically anyone can have a good time behind the wheel. Forza 3 will be an easier ride. Turn all of the auto-assists on, and you can drive doing little more than hitting the accelerator and turning left and right. Auto braking makes a big difference. There is automatic suspension-setup tuning, an auto-brake can slow your car around the track so all you have to do is steer, and if all else fails, there is a five-second button that allows you to replay the five seconds before you crashed. One of the biggest additions, is Rewind. You will be able to rewind the action after you make a mistake or simply decide to tackle the game a different way. Rewind serves really well as a teaching tool. I remember holding a lead throughout an entire race, when I hit a car I was overtaking near the end, spinning out, and having my car damaged, which loses credits, and even losing the race. Rewind solves this. Of course, these assists can be turned off and gamers earn more money if they race without the aid of assists. However, the game doesn't penalize you for using them either, as players can still gain Achievements and experience everything Forza 3 has to offer even if they need some help. Turn them off and you'll find that Forza 3 offers a challenging and realistic driving experience that, if you're not as skilled behind the wheel as you think you are, might give you a great opportunity to roll your car and check out the impressive damage modeling. Each of Forza 3's vehicles takes realistic damage. Hit something hard enough and you'll scrape the paint, dent the body, shatter windows and even flip the car. The online multiplayer mode gains an all-new game rules editor. New Xbox Live scoreboards will display not only the greatest racers but also the most prolific car tuners and painters in the community. Forza Motorsport 3 will push the disc capacity beyond its limit, with the game to ship on two discs. Disc one is the full experience (and even disc one is bigger than any other racing game out there) and disc two includes a lot of extra cars, even a handful of tracks (i.e., cars and tracks that can be downloaded onto the Xbox 360's hard drive). Look a price of $59.95 or $79.95 for the collector’s edition.
June 06 Which Console Dominated E3 2009?Project Natal and the motion sensing controls will be my lasting impressions of E3 2009. But exactly how soon will this new generation of game controls become commonplace? It appears that the Wii will soon have the advanced motion sensing capabilities and that the PS3 motion sensing controls and Xbox 360’s Project Natal will be emerging in 2010. We’ll see. I’m not the most accurate prognosticator of upcoming technologies. No single console or platform dominated E3 2009. For me, Microsoft had the best press conference, emphasizing game play. Both Nintendo and Sony talked too much and became too philosophical at times. For me, the Xbox 360 still offers the best games and especially with Xbox Live, the highest quality gaming experiences. I also like a good number of the Games for Wii and DS but only a few for PS3/PSP. With Wi-Fi connectivity, at least Nintendo is making some effort in improving socially with their gameplay, especially with the Nintendo DSi. While Sony's PSN is free, the overall quality of PS3 online gaming remains inferior and the Home Beta experiment has been a failure because it has not largely engaged gamers.
Following E3 2009 Coverage Via Twitter
Approximately 40,000 people are expected at The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, in Los Angeles, on June 2-4. There will be plenty of media coverage at the show. In previous years, I visited websites, read blogs, and conducted E3 search requests at Google (for websites, news, and blogs). In recent years, I’ve caught the televised coverage by G4TV (on channel 191 on my Dish Network) and Xbox Live’s coverage with my Xbox 360 console. During recent E3 conferences, I’ve also interacted online at G4TV’s website (including chat) and at forums (primarily the Xbox.com forums). And I have surfed at social media sites, mainly MySpace and Facebook, for E3 and video gaming information. And of course, E3 is all over the place at YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=e3+2009. E3 websites which I visit include:
Besides following E3 coverage on G4TV, at websites, and via Xbox Live (channel 191 on my Dish Network), on online blogs, articles, and podcasts at sites such as 1UP, GameSpot, IGN, Xbox.com,and on my Xbox 360 console via Xbox Live, I plan to follow E3 via Twitter. And there are websites hosting Twitter coverage of E3. For example:
If you are unfamiliar with Twitter (www.twitter.com), Twitter is a free social messaging utility for staying connected in real-time. Twittering may be accessed with a PC or a cell phone that is Internet-enabled. Twitter has become a phenomenon in the Web 2.0 universe. Twitter is a social messaging and microblogging site for staying connected to people in near-real time. Users send “tweets”, text-formatted posts of 140 characters in length, to “followers”. Followers subscribe to these Twitter feeds, getting regular updates on their computers and smart phones. The social networking site has experienced a recent explosion of new subscribers with diverse backgrounds and using the service for a variety of different purposes. I enjoy using Twitter because it is a practical and useful way for me to keep informed.
Basically, there are two ways which I will follow E3 updates on Twitter: (1) I will follow tweets from http://twitter.com/e3expo, http://twitter.com/majornelson, and from others:
(2) I will follow updated Twitter search results, such as http://search.twitter.com/search?q=E3. At only one click away, “E3” is a saved search topic on my own Twitter “home” page. You are invited to follow by tweets at http://twitter.com/silverfox863. Clicking on my E3 search results is practicable me because it provides instant access to E3 comments and updates from everyone on Twitter who tweets about E3. Mixing an exciting E3 (back with 40,000 + people) and the Twitter craze will provided us with a most entertaining and very interesting week of E3 coverage. Quote of the Day:
May 29 What Is Expected at Next Week’s E3?
The Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, kicks off in Los Angeles next week. E3 runs from June 2-4 and there will be plenty of announcements and products to show. The annual event is used by game publishers and makers of consoles and related equipment to show off new products for the coming year. Annually, E3 marks a big moment for the video game industry and its fans. The Electronic Entertainment Expo may be back on the upswing after two years of downsizing but that doesn't mean the gaming industry's once showy spectacle known as E3 is returning to its heyday of a few years ago. Although the video game industry is surviving the current economic downturn, expect them to adapt with price cuts of consoles and other “deals.” About 70,000 people flocked to the Los Angeles Convention Center to see the latest in video games back in 2005. While only 40,000 are expected next week, that's still far more than the 5,000-person guest list of recent years. One of the most exciting parts of the expo is the three first-party conferences held by Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony each year. You can expect some major announcements from each company about its game lineup and hardware plans for the rest of 2009 and 2010. Much of the talk leading up to this year's event have centered on new hardware, such as 3D motion-sensor controls and innovative handhelds, as well as possible price reductions for existing consoles. Returning are the splashy booths, where more than 200 exhibitors will attempt to build buzz for games. Among the most anticipated that are likely to be on display: a new "Rock Band" featuring The Beatles; a Tony Hawk game that utilizes a skateboard-shaped controller; the psychological thriller "Alan Wake" and the first follow-ups to such popular games as "Mass Effect," "Army of Two," "Assassin's Creed," "Modern Warfare," "Red Steel," and "BioShock." A wave of fitness games, an expanded lineup for Nintendo's popular Wii console and, possibly, hardware price cuts, are all expected to be major themes at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. It is expected that the new PSP to be more iPod-like, ditching the UMD, and could potentially have tilt/motion input. After showing off the redesigned PSP, Sony will up the ante and show a slimmer, redesigned PlayStation 3. Sony should significantly reduce the price of the PS3. Microsoft is expected to reveal it’s 3D-motion sensing camera for the Xbox 360. As always, all three console makers will showcase games and more games. Yes, Nintendo will gloat with sales charts for it’s Wii and DS. But will Nintendo unveil new Mario and Zelda games? Now that Apple has a successful gaming platform with the iPhone and iPod touch, software designed to run on it will take center stage at next week's E3. The iPhone and iPod touch have both been phenomenal successes, especially since the debut of the App Store less than a year ago.
Technorati Tags: E3,video games
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