E3 07 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

This latest Super Mario Galaxy video doesn't introduce any new outfits like the last developer walkthrough, but it does demonstrate star-hopping, gravity tricks, and other essential skills for traveling in this 3D platformer. The latter half of this two-minute movie even features that curious portion of the E3 trailer in which the level builds itself as Mario moves around.

How will we make it to November 12th without our heads exploding from all this exciting media? Collect five star shards and fly past the post break for the embedded video.

We got looks at Halo 3 (more on that soon) today, and during a walk through of the multiplayer "Save Film" feature a weapon was noted, and Sketch even went so far as to point it out specifically just to say that he couldn't comment on it, twice. The first time players saw this weapon was in Halo 2, in the hands of Tartarus. Of course, we're talking about the Gravity Hammer. We only saw it in a character's hands when the camera was panning across the battle field, and again attached to a character's back. We can't wait to see it on hte battlefield.

[Image Via Halopedia]

During Disney Interactive's Press Conference this afternoon General Manager of Propaganda Games, Josh Holmes cames on stage to show off Turok's facelift and how Propaganda has plans to reinvent the series. The video they showed included stealth kills by stabbing someone in the face, and using the bow and arrows. It's rather unfortunate the main character got eaten by a T-rex. They also anneaournced that Turok will be released on February 5th, 2008. Let us know if this this game coming in Q1 2008 piques your interest, you must.

The E3 videos are up, but that's not all. We got a full fledged update today - and a day early, too. We're sure you're itchy to hear everything that's available, so check below for the full list.

• The Simpsons Movie trailer [SD/720p/1080p] (free)
• Transformers trailer [SD/1080p] (free)
• 8 minute excerpt from Die Hard 4 [SD/720p/1080p] (free)
• Die Hard 4 trailer [SD/720p/1080p] (free)
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune trailer (free)
• PSN Event Trailer (free)
• E3 2007 footage:
• Feel Ski trailer (free)
• Folklore trailer (free)
• High Velocity Bowling trailer (free)
• Killzone 2 trailer (free)
• LittleBigPlanet trailer (free)
• Pain trailer (free)
• Uncharted: Drake's Fortune trailer (free)
• WipEout HD trailer (free)
• Metal Gear Solid 4 trailer (free)
• Nucleus starter pack (free)
• Nucleus full game (£4.99)

So there you have it. A true mother-load of content dropped directly onto our PSN store front. We love you Sony. We're curious to see what happens to the US PSN store today too. It's usually that which updates on Thursdays, not the EU store. We'll let you know if/when it gets updated. In the meantime, enjoy your videos. And Nucleus. If it plays better than the Japanese demo did, that is.

Earlier today we got a chance to sit down with Ubisoft and get shown Assassin's Creed up close and personal, while at the same giving us a chance to actually control Altair ourselves. The demonstration was the of the same mission shown at Microsoft's Press Briefing from Tuesday night. Fortunately, we got to see the objective through to its completion, whereas Jade Raymond's cut off as soon as the slaver was assassinated. After our Ubi rep went through the mission, he handed us the controller and let us have a go at the streets and rooftops of Jerusalem, which is 15 times larger than the previously demoed city at E3 06. Did it play as good as it looked?

Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos announced that Rock Band has some serious plans for delivering content to players. First off, Harmonix plans to release new music tracks every week. They can be released in singles, multi track bundles, or more deliciously, full albums. As an example Alex announced that The Who's Who's Next would be available for download following the game's release.

As icing on the proverbial cake, selections spanning Metallica's musical career will be made available, with "Enter Sandman" playable on the retail disc. All in all, Harmonix is pushing Rock Band more as a platform than just a game, and we couldn't agree with the prospect more. We'll be back with hands on impressions and a proper tribute to Weezer as soon as we can.

A cute little email hit our inbox from Konami in regards to their press briefing taking place this evening, and should be interesting. Here's the poem:

"What better way
to end your day
at Konami's media briefing collecting...
News for a major announcement
you were not expecting."

Curiouser and curiouser, upon being confronted with this new information, our intrepid lead gave his best raised eyebrow akin to a well renowned Vulcan. The sign in for the briefing is in just over an hour, and we'll be there to bring you this unexpected announcement. Until then, rampant speculation ... GO!

The title is technically inFAMOUS, but that'd be silly to type every time, so we'll type it like a normal word. Anyway, Infamous is a brand new title that came out of left field at Sony's E3 conference. Watch the trailer above if you missed it. It looks like someone took the idea behind City of Heroes/Villains and KOTOR and slapped the two together into a fantastic looking experience. We especially like the short scene near the end with the bridge and the lightning and the destruction. Check it out, leave your thoughts!

Did you hear the news? NCsoft (along with Epic Games) signed a new agreement with Sony to develop some exclusive titles on the PS3. NCsoft, as you may know, brought us the titles Lineage, Guild Wars, and City of Heroes/Villains. Whether the exclusive new content will be these games transplanted onto the PS3 or something completely original, we're not sure, but this quote from NCsoft officials does give us ideas that it may be both: "created from both existing intellectual properties owned by NCsoft, as well as new IP." We're excited about this, since MMOs on the PS3 would be a fantastic addition. Stay tuned as we keep you updated on all the E3 news you'd ever want to hear!

Ubisoft shed some more light on Assassin's Creed with a demonstration, where plenty of tidbits could be gleaned. The level demonstrated was Jerusalem, using ancient texts as a source for creating the environment. Speaking of the locale, every building visible in the city can be climbed by you, and all are accessible, which definitely is good news.

The combat system is allegedly advanced, where your performance is dependent on well timed button combos, and countering your opponent's attacks, based on their animation. When hunting down a target, you may end up chasing them through the city streets. The "Chase AI" is advanced and will make each chase a different experience, especially since your target's mannerisms are dependent on their personality.

Also, through the demonstration, characters and the immediate area around your character would see flickering and feedback, giving it a psuedo "Matrix Code" feel. All in all, Assassin's Creed is looking like a solid winter release, though we'll have to see how it compares to the big guns.

This week's Xbox Live Arcade titles are Golden Axe and, finally, Sonic the Hedgehog. Both cost a mere 400 Microsoft Points, with Golden Axe allowing for co-operative play on Live and locally. The Achievements for both titles were made available yesterday, and led us to believe that at the very least, GA was coming today. Fortunately, we were only half right, as Sonic finally made its debut under the Sega Vintage Collection line of titles. With any luck, we'll see Ecco and Sonic 2 follow suit.

Infinity Ward's Jason West demoed Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, showing off the game's visceral visuals and gameplay. The mission seen takes place 15 years prior to the present in the game, with you and your sniping partner infilitrating a base. The graphics are crisp, and the lighting, explosions and smoke look especially realistic. The trailer has some intense firefights and some heavy duty missile blasts.

To show that all good things come in threes, Infinity Ward announced an Xbox Live exclusive Public Beta and gave a URL to watch for developing info. This looks to set new standards in contemporary combat games.

At the Media Briefing, Bizarre Creations' Craig Howard and Brian Woodhouse showed off Project Gotham Racing 4. The game will include manufacturers Honda, Ducati, and Suzuki for motorcycles, which can race alongside cars, of which there are over 120. When riding the motorcycle, you can pull some fancy tricks, wheelies, endos and taunting maneuvers. On the Live side of things, for the first time, gamers will be able to share photos and videos with what's called "PGR On Demand". We can't wait to get some hands on time in the coming days.

At Microsoft's E307 Media Briefing, Peter Moore announced that Xbox Live's Video Marketplace would be going worldwide, or more specifically, to Europe as well as Canada. Apparently, XBLVM will be available in these new locales this fall, a full year since the announcement and launch in November 2006 in the States.

This came hot off of the announcement of Disney partnering with Microsoft to bring HD movies to Video Marketplace tonight. We're very happy to see Video Marketplace have a broader reach, though it will be interesting to see what content discrepancies there are when it launches in the coming months.

The first thing we've heard come out of E3 is the impressions gained from playing the latest build of Assassin's Creed. The impressions are, admittedly, insanely lengthy, but they're definitely worth your time if you've been waiting for some good news on the title. We'll outline some of them below.

• You can climb nearly every building in three gigantic cities
• There's no "movement" grid -- by that we mean if there's a crack in a building, it's not for design. You can grab it. Everything has meaning.
• Still needs a little touching up, as clipping occurs and Altair would get stuck every now and then. We're not worried, though.
• Guards don't come after you because you're just "the player of the game", they actively seek people disturbing the peace. Bump into someone, guards will give you an awkward glance, but do it a lot and you'll get a little more attention than you'd like!
• Good targeting system, smooth and simple controls.

We've got so much to say about this hands-on, but if we really tried to get into it, this post would be incredibly long. We strongly recommend you take the time to check out the full, er, "review" and let us know what you think.