XboxSold.com BLOG

After only two short months since Respawn Entertainment was formed, it sounds like we’re already going to be getting news coming out of the company. The new development studio created by former Infinity Ward bigwigs Jason West and Vince Zampella will be making what they refer to as a, “big time announcement” at next week’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, according to a post from the pair on Facebook. 

It’s really hard to imagine that they’ll have anything to show at this point. Two months seems barely enough time to buy office furniture, let alone have something tangible to release to the world. Besides, wouldn’t having something significant to say this early lend credence to Activision’s claims that the former executives had long-planned to jump ship?

My guess is that they’ll announce that they’re working on a game of some kind and that will be all the information delivered. A working title or perhaps a concept logo might be in the cards too, but I wouldn’t want to raise high expectations here.

Respawn to Make “Big Time Announcement” at E3 [1up]

This past weekend, Team Meat showed us C.H.A.D., the boss of Super Meat Boy’s second world. As it turns out, that reveal was just a tease. The Super Meat Boy blog’s latest post gives us the first screenshot of C.H.A.D., plus his origin story, a look at his cut scene, and more revelations on the game’s design.

Sounds like Team Meat is working extra hard to fill Super Meat Boy with secrets and random elements, in order evoke the feeling of “the unknown” that was so prevalent in gaming back in the 80’s and 90’s. Remember the first time you saw an idle animation, or discovered a warp zone? Sounds like that’s what they’re going for here. Team Meat is also working hard to streamline the game so that little gameplay annoyances don’t build into deeply irritating problems over time. Thanks, Team Meat!

They’ve also revealed the game’s latest indie cameo, the lover-boy from the free and easy art game I wish I were the Moon, seen above doing his best Toad impression. Wonder if he’ll get a name of his own, or if he’ll remain nameless like those other Toads? I’ll get to ask one half of Team Meat soon enough, as Edmund McMillen has agreed to show up on Bit Transmission. Hooray!

Who’s the Boss? (Get it!??!LOLZ!)- [Supermeatboy.com]

Remember that amazing Modern Warfare fan film that was made for about $200? Well part two is now out and it blows away the original. Part two cost the team just over $600, which is still pretty cheap considering how well put this film looks.

There’s a ton more action in this new one and the little Achievement Easter Egg near the end is pretty funny. The only thing I’m confused about in this new one is just what the hell happens to Liam? They just kind of leave him behind.

Make sure you visit the YouTube page and leave a comment saying you want a part three to happen!

Visceral has just opened up an online store for all things Dead Space. The store currently has a hoodie with the Ishimura logo and a number of T-shirts for sale. The store also had some signed litographs on sale based on the final area from the first Dead Space, but it’s already sold it. There will be more on sale in the future, such as this Dead Space vintage comic t-shirt.

Glad to see companies promote their stuff like this more and more. Some of the designs are pretty great too, such as the glow in the dark Rorschach t-shirt. Too bad the hoodie is a little overpriced.

Vietnam is the new go to war for videogames to cash in on real life wars! 1C Company is well aware of that and that’s where one of their next RTS games, Men of War: Vietnam, will take place. Players will be in control of multiple elite special ops soldiers as they take on missions ranging from rescue ops to full on battles.

The developers are going for an authentic feel and the environments, buildings and the like are all created as realistically as possible. On top of playing as US soldiers, you’ll also take control of the Russians who were aiding the Vietcong during the war.

Men of War: Vietnam will be out later this year for the PC.

Bodycount creative director Stuart Black is a self-professed “big fan” of co-op, and he badly wanted to have the game’s entire campaign playable cooperatively. But the story had other ideas:

It became really obvious — and it pained me — that there were key moments, two or three key moments, where it was absolutely vital that you were by yourself to feel that sense of isolation. [...] And I was really like, ‘Oh no, I can’t believe this!’ and I tried to think, ‘How can I get around this?’ and it was like, story-wise…I can’t. I have to have [those moments] that were too important to drop. So that was a bit of a bastard.

Still, Black was determined to include co-op in Bodycount, and his solution was to have distinct full-scale co-op missions, like the scenarios in Uncharted 2 or the Spec Ops mode in Modern Warfare 2. And the story provided an opportunity to use co-op as a way to expand on the narrative:

…there’s a lot of story about what the Network and the Target are doing that we can’t tell — because he [the game's protagonist, Jackson Delgado] doesn’t know it. So we thought [that] it would be quite nice in co-op mode, then, if we can’t do it in part of the main campaign, to set [the co-op] in the parts of the world where Jack goes, but set it before and after he’s been there.

In the single-player campaign, Jack might not have a lot of information about a location that he’s visiting. But the co-op missions — which you play through as a generic Network or Target (enemy) agent — can provide backstory to fill in the details.

There’s still more to be seen from my interview with back, so keep checking back in.

I find this one hard to believe for several reasons. For one, Street Fighter and Tekken play nothing alike, so combining them would surely necessitate the alienation of one or both of the series’s fan-bases. Secondly, Capcom doesn’t generally announce a new Vs. game until the last one they’ve announced has been released. Why should they compete against themselves by announcing Marvel Vs. Capcom 3 and Tekken Vs. Street Fighter in the same time-frame?

Also, Tekken? Really? Does anyone play Tekken anymore?

Still, I hope this rumor is true. The more Capcom fighting games that get brought into existence, the better. If this game does come to be, I hope it doesn’t get landlock to Japan like Namco and Capcom’s last collaboration, Namco X Capcom.

How about you? Do you want some Devil Kazuya Vs. Evil Ryu action up in this piece?

Namco and Capcom working on Tekken Vs. Street Fighter- [The Kartel]

Wow. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is looking really good. I had zero interest in this title until the trailer and now I can’t wait for it. Kudos, Eidos.

Jim breaks his Optimus Prime toy, HAWP does The Sims, Dale checked out Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11, Contra gets a spiritual sequel, inFamous 2 was announced and more happened on 06/04/10.

Destructoid Originals:
Bodycount’s Black: Focus on shooting, not bullet points
War for Cybertron toys: Nature’s cruelest mistake?
Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’: The Sims
Friday Night Fights: The neverending game

Community:
The Great Escape: One Foot in Reality
Community blogs of 06/04/10
Forum of the day: BritToid speculation thread

Previews:
Five reasons why War for Cybertron has got the touch
Company of Heroes Online
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 (Wii): Both harder and easier

Contests:
Win two passes to E3 courtesy of Nyko

Events:
Konami’s E3 webpage: Conference stream, character mashups

News:
Rock Band DLC: Deftones, Boys Like Girls, Crown of Thorns
Lord of the Rings Online going free-to-play this fall
Sega considering its own online pass system
Crackdown 2 is ‘finished’ which is nice
Activision reveals Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock
GameStop doing the 50% extra trade-in credit thing again
Free App of the Day: 1112 Episode 1
Bodycount director Black: Killzone 2 was ‘a bit poo’
inFAMOUS 2 announced!
Target: Game sales, gift cards galore for Dad or you
Play the 2010 World Cup for free in FIFA Online
Wii gaming for health also works for old fatties
BioWare: Japanese RPG makers have grown complacent
Contra getting a spiritual sequel in Hard Corps: Uprising
LOLOLOLOL: LittleBigPlanet Heavy Rain costume pack
Demon’s Souls: $29.99 for a limited time
Indie shoot-’em-up Hydorah will put hair on your chest
Lost Planet 2 getting patched
Earthworm Jim HD out next week plus XBL deals and GoD

Offbeat:
Smell like Cloud or Sephiroth

Media:
Trippy PSP Mini music title Vibes hits PSN next week
War for Cybertron: Hot screenshots, hotter trailer
Deus Ex: Human Revolution gets a gorgeous trailer
Video Games Live’s PBS special is going to be amazing
This is what Dead Space 2’s box art looks like
Battle system explained: Hexyz Force walkthrough video
PaRappa creator reveals music game for iPhone, iPod
Ready yourself for more live-action Alan Wake
Chainsaw massacres, anyone? Left 4 Dead 2 has your back

We really dug last year’s Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10. It was one of the first games that used Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus controller addition. It added an increased control sensibility that really made you feel like you had some realistic control over your virtual golf club. In our review we said that this game made it seem like they invented Wii Motion Plus just for golf!

For PGA Tour 11, EA Sports took the whole realism thing and ran with it. For me, it seems like increased realism usually leads to increased difficulty. That’s not to say that PGA Tour 11 is impossible to play, though. Just know that in the game’s most realistic control modes, you can actually miss the ball on your swing. And you will sometimes.

The new control mode they’ve added to PGA Tour 11 is called True View. It’s a first-person view of your club and the ball. Imagine yourself looking down towards your feet and that’s exactly what you’ll see. This makes the experience even more interactive, and it made me a bit more nervous. Along with this view, the swing mechanics have been beefed up to be even more realistic, which means that you’ll need to follow through with something close to what a real golf swing would be like.

In this mode you’ll have to be mindful of the point of contact on the ball, which EA tells me is as close as they could get it to 1:1 motion. It certainly feels like it — it feels authentic, though I’m no golf pro. In the game’s Advanced and Tour Pro modes, you’ll be looking at the ball and lining up your club for a real swing that makes you feel like a pro when it connects nicely, and like an amateur when it barely clips and veers off to the left, into the sand. It really seems to follow the path of your club swing, which makes it feel much more like you’re playing a golf game, and less like you’re triggering an automatic golf swing. And if that’s not hard enough, in the most difficult mode, even the on-screen cues are removed, forcing you to play solely by feel.

So how did PGA Tour 11 get easier? They added minigolf to the game. That’s not to say that the minigolf is too easy, but they did include a completely different physics engine, and it’s more geared toward family fun than it is to realistic golf. There’s four courses in the game, including a racing speedway, an ice land, and the one I tried, called Mini Predator. All of the windmills and waterfalls and fun scenery you’d expect make it into the minigolf, as does all the teeth-gritting and fist shaking from just missing the hole. It’s a lot of fun, and makes for a nice break after some tense holes in the standard game.

As for the rest of the game, there’s a new Ryder Cup Challenge on the Celtic Manor resort in Wales in this version. The fantastic disc golf mode is also back, and now it’s fully online compatible. They’ve beefed this year’s version up quite a bit. We’ll go into further detail next week, when we’ll run our full review of Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 for the Wii.