Scribblenauts, the surprise hit of E3 2009, and Uncharted 2 were the big winners of this year’s Best of E3 2009 Awards. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves won Best of Show, Best Action/Adventure Game and Best console game while the DS game from 5TH Cell won Best Original Game and Best Handheld Game. BioWare and LucasArts’ promising MMO game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, rounded out the platform specific awards, taking home Best PC Game. A full list of winners chosen by the panel of game journalists that made up this year’s Game Critics judging panel, can be found after the break.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
The Best of E3 2009 nominees announced
The nominees for The Best of E3 2009 have been announced by the judges for the Game Critics Awards, a panel made up of video game journalists from various organizations. The winners will be announced on Tuesday, June 23. Leading this year’s nominations is Double Fine’s rock and roll adventure Brutal Legend and Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 2: Among Thieves with four nods each. Tying with three and in no particular order are Left 4 Dead 2, Mass Effect 2, Modern Warfare 2, Scribblenauts, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. Finally games with two nods this year include Bayonetta, DJ Hero, Dragon Age: Origins, Halo 3 ODST, Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, Splinter Cell Conviction and Tony Hawk Ride.
By publisher, EA has 18 nominations; Sony Computer Entertainment grabbed 13 nominations; Activision has 10; Nintendo and Microsoft had 5 nominations each; Sega, Square Enix, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, LucasArts and Ubisoft each had 3; and Capcom and Namco Bandai Games each scored 2 nods.
By platform Xbox 360 had 42 nominations, PlayStation 3 has 39 nominations, PC had 24 nominations, Wii had 8, DS grabbed a meager 6 and PSP managed to get 5 nods.
A full accounting of all this year’s nominations can be found after the break.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Need for Speed SHIFT driver profile details
Electronic Arts revealed first details on the new driver profile system in Need for Speed SHIFT. Extending through the single player career and online multiplayer modes, driver profile gives each player a unique game experience based on the way each player drives on the track.
Driver profile is a tailor-made career mode based on four key game play components: personality (driving style dictates whether you are and aggressive or precise driver), success (whether you finish races and land at the top of the pile at the finish line), profile points (earned for just about every maneuver you perform on the track) and badges (icons that represent various in-game achievements). As a player’s driver profile develops through the course of the game, it creates rivalries, triggers specific challenges and unlocks vehicles and customization options.
During this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, EA invited attendees to participate in a Need for Speed SHIFT Hero Car Competition that showcased the driver profile. Competitors raced around the Autopolis track in the BMW M3 GT2 hero car generating the highest number of driver profile points. The winner of the Need for Speed SHIFT Hero Car Competition, Mitchell Francis, from Los Angeles won a brand new 2009 BMW M3 Coupe.
EA is making a big deal about driver profiles, but is it a gimmick or will it truly impact the overall gameplay? We’ll have to wait and see.
Need for Speed SHIFT is being developed by Slightly Mad Studios in collaboration with Black Box and Patrick Soderlund. Slightly Mad Studios includes developers and designers that worked on GT Legends and GTR 2. The PSP version is being developed by EA’s Bright Light studio.
The game is scheduled to ship in Europe on September 17 and in North America on September 22 on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC and PSP.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
STRIDE gives Steve Wiebe some honor, gum and quarters
STRIDE Gum will honor Steve Wiebe’s valiant effort to conquer Donkey Kong at E3 2009, despite the fact that he failed to beat Billy Mitchell’s highscore. As the old folks say “close is only good enough for horsehoes and hand grenades.” While he was unable to break the Donkey Kong world record at E3, the makers of Stride Gum, want to reward Wiebe for his valiant efforts. Stride gum had originally offered to give Steve Wiebe 40,004 quarters ($10,001) and a year’s supply of their newest flavor Uber Bubble if he broke the Donkey Kong world record at E3 2009.
To honor his latest attempt and dedication to a classic tradition of arcade gaming, Stride gum will give Wiebe $2,500.25 (10,001 quarters in total) and a year’s supply of Uber Bubble gum, more than enough to see him through to his next attempt. Stride will also keep the offer open through E3 2010, so whenever Wiebe makes a public attempt at the Donkey Kong world record, Stride gum will be ready to reward him with $10,001 in quarters if and when he breaks it (at a public-facing, Twin Galaxies-approved event from now until E3 2010).
While the world record of 1,050,200 points remains intact, Wiebe still impressed everyone that watched with a kill screen at 989,400, and other impressive scores of 923,400 and 653,700 at E3.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Dante’s Inferno site goes live
EA has launched the official site for Dante’s Inferno, the upcoming game based on Dante Alighieri’s classic poem, The Divine Comedy. Besides offering all the latest news, screens, blog posts, and more, the new site will serve as place for EA speak directly to players through interviews and developer diaries.
EA says that, in the coming months, it will be unveiling a new Circle of Hell at the web site on the 9th of every month. This means a new site theme, all new content, new videos, new downloads and a new interactive feature, debuting on July 9th, called “Explore Hell.”
We’ve embedded the first Video Developer Diary below. It focuses on the beginning of Dante’s Journey and his Entry in to Hell, as well as The Divine Comedy’s inspiration for the game and the core themes that drive the story, design and gameplay of Dante’s Inferno.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Lost Planet 2 Notes
If you haven’t had a chance to see a high definition demonstration of Lost Planet 2, then you’re missing out. That doesn’t mean i’m giving the game a ringing endorsement, but it looks extra spiffy. According to what i’ve read and heard, the game is using a modified or newer version fo the same engine used for Resident Evil 5.
The game is set 10 years after the events of the first game and the entire planet has unthawed revealing a bunch of new environments. One of those is a lush jungle plagued by giant monsters that will take some serious firepower to take down. Luckily the game supports four player coop, which means that you and your friends can work together to cut the giant bad asses down to size.
One of the things I really liked was that you can actually fight monsters from the inside, though there are other smaller enemies in there you’ll have to wade through to get to those tender and vital organs. You’ll be fighting some humans too, but details on that have not been released.
One other tidbit before I send you on a search for an HD video - the game features a character customization system that allows you to grow your character. All that you gain and learn from single-player can transfer over to multiplayer. A nice hands-on video from G4 can be found after the jump.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Rare working on secret Project Natal stuff
Microsoft’s Shane Kim told Kotaku that Rare is working on a myriad of projects besides its established franchises s - specifically relating to Project Natal, Microsoft’s motion sensing technology.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it is probably Avatar and interface related. If you were paying attention to Microsoft’s Project Natal presentation during its E3 press conference there was a bit about how you can manipulate menus and avatars using the tech. Since Rare created those avatars my sense is that some of their work efforts are going towards those features.
Submit your chicken avatars for a chance to win $500, plus learn how to enter for daily prizes of a bucket of chicken or a Crispy Gamer T-shirt Check It Out.
Microsoft’s Shane Kim told 