Games

Vince Zampella is a name awfully familiar to “Call of Duty” players. As one of the principal designers on “Call of Duty,” the video game executive/developer helped define the modern first-person shooter. This week, Zampella found himself back at Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) with a new game in “Titanfall.” Building “Titanfall” wasn’t always an easy process. After splitting acrimoniously from Activision in 2010 – a divorce that resulted in a two-year legal dispute – Zampella and his team found themselves wondering what to do for an encore. First, Zampella said, you spend a year debating. “It was a process — in some ways painful,” he said, speaking at E3, the largest video game trade show in the world. “It was a matter of relearning how you do things when the restrictions are off and you can do anything. There were a lot […]

On the first full day of the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, those releasing games on next-gen consoles over and over again touted the little details. The realistic paint on a car, the blurred reflections on a puddle, the shifting camera angles as a character soars through the air, the shading in a human eyeball and so on and so forth. But few put forth an argument that games, as a medium, could evolve into something wholly different. The creative team behind Remedy Entertainment’s “Quantum Break” was an exception. Confirmed for a 2014 release for Microsoft’s Xbox One, the game was shown briefly when Microsoft unveiled its successor to the Xbox 360 in late May. Then, viewers were given a glimpse of what appeared to be a filmed, scripted television episode that quickly switched into the graphical world […]

There are anxious, control-rattling moments in “The Last of Us,” Sony’s survival horror nail-biter for the PS3. Set in a post-apocalyptic terrain that’s familiar to anyone who plays games or watches television in 2013, “The Last of Us” visits near-deserted cities where former upright citizens now hunger for human flesh. There’s cringe-inducing violence and plenty of detail about the fungus that’s infected the remaining population’s soon-to-be-eaten brains. Don’t stop reading. “The Last of Us” is not your typical doomsday narrative. Zombie-like attacks aside, tension here comes from an underutilized game-play tactic: conversation. Dialogue is almost as plentiful as weapons in this patiently cinematic tale of a smuggler and the reluctant bond he forms with the 14-year-old girl he’s hired to protect. Developed by Sony-owned Naughty Dog, responsible for the hit “Indiana Jones”-inspired “Uncharted” series, “The Last of Us” acknowledges gaming […]

If the console wars between PlayStation and Xbox had been languishing the last few weeks, the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) media presentations by Sony and Microsoft launched gamers back into the brawl. On Monday, Microsoft revealed more details and new games for its upcoming Xbox One console, unveiled last month, and Sony finally gave gamers a glimpse of its next-generation PlayStation 4 console, announced in February. The companies traded barbs during the press presentations, game enthusiasts argued online, and the battle continues as critics and industry professionals converge on the Los Angeles Convention Center this week for E3 — the largest video game trade show in the world. The war’s outcome will likely be decided at the cash register; both consoles are slated for release in time for the holiday shopping season. PHOTOS: Scenes from E3 2013 In the meantime, […]

To set the stage for the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Microsoft and Sony on Monday showed off their new hardware and games at large-scale news conferences in basketball arenas near USC. Nintendo, in contrast, is relying on the names of some of its most trusted brands, unveiling details Tuesday morning on a 3D Mario title for the Wii U, an HD Zelda remake and the eighth edition of its venerable “Mario Kart” series. In lieu of a large-scale press event, Nintendo presented its wares Tuesday with an episode of Nintendo Direct, its online-direct-to fans news conference. The 40-minute live-stream initially seemed unable to meet demand and was fraught with glitches for much of the first half. But here are the highlights: “Super Mario 3D World” will be released by the end of this year; “Mario Kart 8″ is coming in […]

At a presentation Monday night in Los Angeles, Sony unveiled the look of its next-generation PlayStation 4 console, showcased a slew of new mainstream and indie titles and threw down the gauntlet before Microsoft, one of its two main competitors in the console space. The PS4, an upright standing box with two shades of black and diagonal edges, is due to be released this holiday season and retail for $399. It will not enforce digital rights management restrictions on those playing offline, single-player games — a stance in direct opposition to the one taken by Microsoft for the release of its Xbox One. The Xbox One is set to hit retailers in November and carry a price of $499. From a consumer perspective, the key differentiating point between the consoles appears to be Xbox One’s inclusion of motion- and voice-detecting Kinect […]

Spread throughout the cavernous Los Angeles Convention Center, the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) rewards the loud. It’s the largest video game trade show in the world, and when E3 begins Tuesday it is poised even more than in years past to emphasize the games that go big. The new “Call of Duty: Ghosts” is so detailed players can see the scars on the snout of a dog. “Quantum Break” promises to merge live action with the latest video-game graphics to further blur the lines between game and cinema narratives. The talk of E3 will be Microsoft’s Xbox One and Sony’s PS4, newly unveiled home consoles that are designed to control your living room. The Xbox One can communicate with your cable box, act as a TV remote or become a home base for subscription content such as Hulu. Microsoft […]

The annual Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) doesn’t officially begin until Tuesday, but by Monday afternoon big news from Ubisoft and Microsoft already had gamers buzzing online — expect to see lots more voices join Twitter soon when Sony holds forth on the PS4. Here’s an early roundup of what some of the most outspoken had to say about the new products so far: #E32013 so far. Not SUPER impressed but I’m glad Mirror’s Edge 2 is announced after so long. — Jak (@Djjak90) June 10, 2013 Mirrors Edge 2. Just shut up and take my money. #e32013 — Marcus B (@M_Blessington) June 10, 2013 I should really continue working on my finals, but instead i am just on @ign watching all the #E32013 press conferences #gamerproblems — Joel Villegas (@joelvill) June 10, 2013 I’m just waiting for the PS4 to […]

The “Star Wars” series is getting another shooter. On Monday, Electronic Arts revealed that it is at work on “Star Wars: Battlefront” for next-gen consoles, teasing the title with a brief 34-second trailer that had the gaming press erupting in cheers. The clip, which debuted at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles as part of the Electronic Entertainment Expo, features an AT-AT, the four-legged armored vehicle made famous in “Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back,” crushing a ship it had been pursuing. The game is the first announced as part of a recent multi-year, multi-title licensing agreement between Electronic Arts and Disney. PHOTOS: Scenes from E3 2013 Shortly after Disney acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in October. the latter said it would no longer develop games in-house under the LucasArts banner. “After evaluating our position in the games […]

Gamers can get a first look at the upcoming PlayStation 4 video game console during Sony’s media briefing this evening at 6 p.m. PDT. Sony is also expected to discuss the future of the PlayStation 3 and the PS Vita handheld console at the event, which comes before the annual Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3, the largest video game trade show in the world. Hero Complex readers can watch the media event, streamed live from the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, in the video above. Although E3′s doors at the Los Angeles Convention Center won’t open until early Tuesday, heavy hitters such as Microsoft, Sony, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft were holding arena-sized conferences Monday to get ahead of – and control — the media cycle. FULL COVERAGE: E3 2013 For Sony, the stakes are high after the company avoided showing […]