As the last day of E3 draws to a close, Justin gives us his last round of hands-on impressions, and I’ve got one more news round-up for you:
OCULUS RIFT? I LOVE IT! I SAID, I LOVE IT!
Speaking to Engadget, Shuhei Yoshida, Sony Computer Entertainment’s head of Worldwide Studios, expressed his admiration for the Oculus Rift, saying “We’ve got a couple of the development kits, and I tried it out and I love it.” For those of you without an appreciation for gadgets inspire by bad 90’s movies, the Oculus Rift is a VR headset reminiscent of the old Virtual Boy, though with a slightly reduced chance of blindness. It’s actually a pretty amazing piece of tech, with the most recently revealed version capable of rendering HD graphics in simulated true 3D. PC gamers have been salivating over the chance to strap one on for some time, and while Yoshida say that the PS4 is not currently setup to support the device, you have to think that one + one = yet another chance to flip Microsoft a fat bird. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of people getting fake guillotined:
MORE DETAILS EMERGE REGARDING XBONE ACHIEVEMENTS, NAME REMAINS IRONIC
In a post over on Major Nelson’s blog, Program Manager for Xbox Live Achievements Cierra McDonald dropped some details about the new achievement system launching with the Xbox One. It’s a bit of a laborious read, but here’s some of the details. First, regarding achievements, McDonald said “consumers can now unlock digital artwork, new maps, unlockable characters, and temporary stat boosts via achievements. And this is not limited to games! Other Xbox One applications such as video and music apps can now use Achievements to bring you awesome sneak peek content, early access, or subscription extensions.” McDonald confirmed however that only games will affect a player’s Gamerscore.
Here’s where things get confusing. Now instead of just having achievements, there will also be additional challenges called…wait for it…challenges. These will basically be time sensitive achievements that don’t improve Gamerscore. In addition, unlike regular achievements, challenges can be both cross-title and communal. Finally, developers now have the ability to add additional achievements and challenges after a game’s launch without additional content, though whether there will be any sort of cap on this system is unknown. If that sounds like a lot of energy to devote to a fictional trophy system, then congratulations Mr. Productive Pants, you’ve got stuff going on. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have headshots to grind.
NINTENDO CRACKS USED GAME PROBLEM: ONLY BUY NINTENDO GAMES
Speaking to Polygon, Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime had some interesting comments regarding Nintendo’s policies towards used game sales. Said Fils-Aime, “We have been very clear, we understand that used games are a way for some consumers to monetize their games. They will buy a game, play it, bring it back to their retailer to get credit for their next purchase. Certainly, that impacts games that are annualized and candidly also impacts games that are maybe undifferentiated much more than [it] impacts Nintendo content. Why is that? Because the replayability of our content is super strong.” Of the three console manufacturers, Nintendo is the only one maintaining a completely open used game policy; Microsoft is leaving it to publishers to decide whether to allow used game sales, while Sony is allowing publishers to decide if the online portion of games will be restricted. When asked whether Nintendo might alter its policies based on publisher demand, Fils-Aime said “The fact of the matter is, we will see what happens with publishers, but it seems to me that every major publisher has come and said we don’t mind used games.” Uh-huh. Considering Nintendo’s historic “meh” policy towards third party games this isn’t really a shocking stance. We’ll take the high-road and avoid the easy jokes about how WiiU games have to exist before you can trade them in.
NEXT-GEN METAL GEAR 5 TO LOOK SO FINE IT MAY INDEED BLOW YOUR MIND
If you like your games lookin’ real purty, Hideo Kojima has some good news for you. In an interview with Polygon, Kojima said that next-gen versions of the upcoming Metal Gear Solid 5 will look significantly better than what was shown during the E3 demo. According to Kojima, “We’re using the current-generation as a [guideline]. While we were developing on current-gen, next-gen came long. We’re really trying to reach the peak of the current generation right now — 360, PS3 — and then see how much we can take it up for the next-generation.” He added, “Once we start going into development for next-generation we’re definitely looking for something better than [what] we have shown today.” That’s a pretty bold claim for an already impressive looking title, but say what you will about the Metal Gear games, looking good is usually one of their strong suits. In addition to higher resolutions, Kojima and his team will be aiming for a steady 60 frames per second.
Finally, two quick items to wrap things up:
While general multiplayer gaming on the PS4 will be behind the Playstation Plus paywall, according to Polygon Sony is leaving it up to publishers to decide whether free-to-play titles will face the same restriction. As of now it is confirmed that neither DC Universe Online nor Planetside 2 will require a subscription.
IGN has confirmed that Rainbow 6: Patriots will be heading to next-gen consoles, with no additional details offered at this time. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess terrorists and shooting will be involved.
Credit to Sam Howzit for the header image.
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