Well, E3 2011 is officially over. Sony has cheap 3D monitors coming your way, Microsoft really wants you to buy a Kinect, and Nintendo has a new system on the way. But E3 isn’t just about fancy press conferences, it’s about developers being able to demo their latest creations to a bunch of gamers and journalists. With that being said, this week’s Gamer Pulse is a repository of the hottest games and all the new info we learned about them during this year’s Electronics Entertainment Expo.
- Following up on something I teased in my coverage of the Microsoft’s press event, I was able to find an awesome video showing off the voice command feature for Mass Effect 3. Using a Kinect (and possibly any other microphone device, a claim which I’ll need to further investigate), players can interact with the dialogue in the game in a new way. Rather than using the wheel to select dialogue options, players can actually speak the dialogue options. Another new voice command option includes the ability to issue commands while in combat, which looks awesome. Bioware’s presentation of these new features (as well as some crisp, in-game visuals) can be found here. Mass Effect 3 also received an official release date of March 6, 2012.
- Battlefield 3 was officially street-dated for October 25 this week, which will give it a nice head start on Modern Warfare 3, which doesn’t drop until November 8th. We’ve already seen some incredibly beautiful gameplay footage from DICE’s upcoming product, but, during EA’s press event, we got our first tease of some of the vehicle combat. I cannot contain my enthusiasm over this game. As an avid Bad Company 2 player, I’ve been anticipating this release since its announcement. The visuals are astounding and the gameplay looks incredibly fun and smooth. A beta is expected by late-summer/early-fall.
- Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception got a lot of love from Sony this week (as well it should). The sequel to 2009′s critically-adored action title seems every bit as fun, exciting, and pristine as its predecessor. Sony gave us a nice taste of one of the game’s earlier levels during their press event, which finds Nathan Drake fighting his way through a cruise ship. Warning: the video is most definitely not recommended for those who are prone to sea-sickness or motion-sickness. Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception is due out November 2, 2011.
- Batman: Arkham City, the wildly-anticipated follow up to the beloved Batman: Arkham Asylum, was out in full-force during this year’s convention. Aside from learning that Catwoman will be a playable character, gamers were finally able to get their hands on the product and take it out for a ride. IGN has a lengthy video showing off combat and gadgets. The core game play doesn’t seem like much of a departure from Arkham Asylum’s, which is most definitely not a bad thing. The new gadgets and their accompanying mechanics will definitely add to the overall experience of being Batman, something that I feel the first game accomplished with resounding success. You’ll be able to take control of Batman once again on October 18, 2011.
- Assassin’s Creed: Revelations was officially debuted during Ubisoft’s press conference with a stunning, cinematic trailer. The game was also playable on the show floor, with a heavy emphasis being placed upon showing the improvements to the multiplayer introduced in Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood. The team behind Assassin’s Creed has shown, with each new iteration, that they’re able to expand upon and refine the core experience while advancing the story and integrating intuitive, new features. Ezio’s final chapter will hit stores November 15, 2011.
- Bethesda’s upcoming Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim also had a major presence at this year’s conference. G4TV was lucky enough to get extensive hands-on time with the upcoming sequel to Oblivion. From the looks of it, fans of the Elder Scrolls franchise will not be disappointed by the newest offering from Bethesda. The developer has already promised a horde of new features and enemies, as well as a more expansive single player campaign (a daunting promise considering the length and depth of Oblivion’s campaign). Skyrim will be available on November 11, 2011.
- Finally, Gamespot was fortunate enough to get some one-on-one time with the new WiiU and its impressive tablet-controller hybrid. The video also shows off a new HD Zelda title (in a non-interactive demo mode though). Other journalists who had hands-on time with the WiiU reported that no real software was available for demo, just small, prototype titles designed to show off one feature or another. Expect more about this impressive-looking new console in the coming months, including (hopefully) a release date and price-point.
That’s it for us at Gamer Pulse this week. We’ll be trickling out more specific title information as the weeks go by, but rest assured, the titles above were most definitely the show-stealers at this year’s conference. As always, thanks for reading, and we’ll see you next week!
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Tags: Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, battlefield 3, E3 2011, mass effect 3, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony, UNcharted 3, wiiu
About the Author
Written by Kyle Black
Nice wrap up Kyle.
Damn fine time to be a gamer!
Who is excited for Elder Scrolls V : Skyrim?! I know I am!
If you’re looking for Mass Effect 3 tricks, I just uploaded a free Infiltrator guide.