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Three Words I Said To The Man I Defeated In Gears Of War That I'll Never Say Again 
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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better With the game being in development for so very long, I wasn’t sure what to expect when the nice gentlemen from Spellborn NV sat me down to give me a first hand look at their MMORPG The Chronicles of Spellborn. The game was being shown in publisher Frogster’s booth, the very same booth where I got my first look at Runes of Magic. In stark contrast to that game, which endeavours to combine elements of many successful RPGs into one game, The Chronicles of Spellborn team’s goal is to create an MMORPG like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
At least one Ubisoft staffer out there thinks I have a nice arse. (It’s not Jade… as far as I know.) That commendation was handed out during my cheeks-on time with the forthcoming Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, as I virtually surfed a dead cow via the Wii Balance Board.
After suffering through the rather mundane Wii-mote waggling “party” game pictured — it involved four Rabbids in a whack-duel to the death armed with toilet plungers — we plopped down on the balance board, controllers in hand.
The butt steering mechanics worked pretty well, as we slalomed down a slight grade, leaning left and right to steer our livestock, occasionally jumping off ramps to pull off cattle tricks. These were simply two-handed jerks of the remote and nunchuk. It was good for a laugh.
And if that’s all you need from your Wii software, the next Rayman Raving Rabbids entry will probably fit the bill. The balance board isn’t required, but will probably help make the fifty-ish mini-games feel that much more varied.
The concept of yet another mini-game collection being hastily brought to the Wii may not light a fire under you, but at least Ubisoft is putting some effort into Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party‘s presentation. The television theme is well implemented via micro-games within mini-games based on commercial breaks. Wii waggling in short bursts with friends and family, should that be up your alley, looks to be well represented here.
And we’ll leave it at that.
Microsoft’s Games Convention floor space was dominated by music games. It was, after all, the “Xbox 360 Summer of Music” according to the vinyl banner that loomed overhead. But tucked away next to Disney’s Sing It! was Lode Runner, the remake of the classic puzzle platformer, announced for Xbox Live Arcade earlier this year. Having played every other Xbox 360-bound offering on hand at events prior, we decided to dig into it.
The rules haven’t changed for the hi-def remake of Lode Runner. Collect gold nuggets, using your platforming wits and your rock-crushing gun to negotiate each maze. Avoid getting killed. That’s it. It’s still a 2D puzzle platformer with a digging mechanic that will probably seem archaic to those ignorant to Lode Runner‘s classic gameplay, just in higher resolution.
And that’s really the only problem. Lode Runner looks and plays just fine, a serviceable 3D coat of paint applied to the exact same game play you might just go mental for. It doesn’t do anything fancy with the formula, a la Galaga Legions.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get to take the multiplayer modes for a test drive, as the Games Conventioneers were far too interested in easy access to Guitar Hero World Tour.
It really comes down to this — if you adore Lode Runner, here’s some more. If you don’t know what a Lode Runner is — or you’re wisely concerned about how well the Xbox 360′s D-pad will suffice — just wait for the demo.
Blizzard’s set up at Games Convention this year was identical to the last — one half dedicated to World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King, the other to StarCraft II. What had changed, rather dramatically, was how StarCraft II played, with massively rebalanced Terran and Protoss forces, as well as the inclusion of a playable Zerg.
Having spent considerable time with the Terran and Protoss at BlizzCon last year — and no access to the Zerg at Blizzard’s Worldwide Invitational — I thought it might be fun to take out my old favourite class for a spin.
As you might expect, there was a wait, one that gave me ample opportunity to watch the Zerg in action. Most noticeable was the lovely look of the Creep, the purplish goo that the hivemind race builds upon. It has a constant visual pulse to it, not something that distracts when one actually gets one’s hands on the keyboard and mouse.
It’s been a year since we first went hands on with Wipeout HD, the (eventual) PlayStation Network release that acts as a sort of remastered greatest hits comp from the series’ past decade. The SCEE developed racer may have looked pretty sharp the last time we saw it, but it looks light years beyond that now.
So, happy anniversary Wipeout HD! We got you the traditional gift — hands-on impressions!
By the time I got done playing Star Wars: Clone Wars for the Nintendo Wii against an obnoxious, spikey-haired little German kid I was ready to cut out the middle man, knock him unconscious with the Wii remote and be done with it. Luckily my sense of decorum along with an overabundance of witnesses staid my hand, but I am telling you that little punk had it coming, spending the entire round making suggestive gestures with his controller and still winning.
Clone Wars is of course the new lightsaber fighting game for the Nintendo Wii, heading our way this holiday season. It follows the story and adapts the art style of the major motion picture and television series, with a plethora of animated Jedi ready to smack each other with glowy sticks. It’s what they do.
What would a games show be without awards? We wouldn’t know. Haven’t really seen one without awards. Don’t think the back-of-the-box art bullet point teams would stand for a show without them. So without further ado, here are the Best In Show winners from the Leipzig GC last week! Sure, none of them are new games, but they’re still the best games the show had, so give them all a round of applause.
Best PC Game: Spore
Best 360 Game: Mirror’s Edge
Best PSP Game: Resistance: Retribution
Best PS3 Game: LittleBigPlanet
Best Wii Game: Skate It
Best DS Game: Sonic Chronicles (or, its more awesome German name, SONIC CHRONICLES: Die Dunkle Bruderschaft)
Best Mobile Game: Pro Evo 2009
Best Online Game: Warhammer Online
Best Hardware: PlayTV
Best PS2 Game: “As there were too few entrants, no award was made in this category”.
While the food was certainly better than E3′s, there’s one other thing about Leipzig that trumps LA’s resident trade show: it’s open to the public. And the public, they come in droves. Indeed, this year’s Games Convention set a new record for attendance, 203,000 people passing through the Leipziger Messe’s doors over the course of the show. That’s a lot of people. More than TGS, even.
The magical Games Convention adventure has come to a close, and the Kotaku Mike Brigade have gone their separate ways, McWhertor travelling deeper into the wilds of Germany while I myself am only 13 hours worth of layover and a 9 hour plane ride away from U.S. Customs, which means I might get home by Friday if they don’t open my luggage and discover I’ve replaced most of my clothes with gummi candy and beer.
I am desperately fighting the urge to queue up Semisonic’s “Closing Time” in my Zune here.
Just because our journey is over doesn’t mean the coverage is over, so check out our Leipzig round up to see what you missed, and stay tuned tomorrow for more posts from the GC!
