Day Two of E3 has come and gone and things picked up quite a bit in the crowd department. There seemed to be many more people streaming through the halls and packed round the consoles and keyboards compared to yesterday.
MMO-wise: I grabbed additional hands-on time with Runic’s TORCHLIGHT and it only solidified my enthusiasm for the game. To be clear though, TORCHLIGHT will launch this September as a single-player title with the MMO version to follow in the distant future - aprox. 18 months later.
Perfect Worlds’ Andrew Brown gave me a demo of one of their upcoming free-to-play MMOs, JADE DYNASTY. This is another in a long line of localized, Asian-produced games, but it does seem to offer up a number of time-saving features. Click on an NPC’s name in your quest text and you’ll auto-path right to where that NPC can be found. There’s also time-limited skills which allow you to auto-battle the quest mobs you need while you wander afk for a sandwich or to use the loo. Now that’s ease-of-use!
Jörg Koonen and Philipp Senkbeil, friendly German devs from Frogster, gave me the demo run of RUNES OF MAGIC. The game definitely seems a worthy option for those looking for a fantasy MMO without a monthly fee. A big expansion is set to be announced tomorrow, so, I guess you heard it here first!? More RoM news? A new, upcoming instance dungeon called “Heart of the Ocean” takes place entirely underwater. Glub glub!
Mike Donatelli, a Senior Game Designer for Vogster’s CRIMECRAFT, gave me a deep run-down of this urban warfare action’er. Donatelli was quick to point out that the game, due this August, isn’t really an MMO. There are many persistent aspects, such as character levels, clans, and unlocked items - but CRIMECRAFT is primarily a twitched-based shooter where cappin’ foos in instances and collecting loot rewards afterward (doled out according to your contribution to the fight) is the order of the day.
I watched the hot new STAR WARS: THE OLD REPUBLIC CG trailer along with BioWare captains, Ray and Greg and a large crowd in the EA booth. Seeing this amazing piece of Star Wars media on a giant Hi-Def screen with absolutely mind-blowing volume and rumble was impressive. No, the game won’t look and feel like the trailer, no game could, but hot damn! Lucas, do you have a copy of this thing?
In other news;
I watched more LEFT 4 DEAD 2 being played and I can’t wait to have this one spinning in my home console. Will Valve actually release this sequel barely a year after the original? It’s rather hard to believe - but I’m hopeful. What’s on display sure looks finished.
Games missing from the open show floor (or, at least, not seen by me after 2 days of roaming): MASS EFFECT 2, RED DEAD REDEMPTION (Rockstar, show up next year damnit), FINAL FANTASY XIV, SW:TOR, APB, BORDERLANDS, etc.