Events

We've said it before and the warning remains: don't sleep on Warner Brothers as a future power in videogames. The last year or so the entertainment giant has increasingly explored its options. It was at the heart of a well documented bid for Eidos before Square Enix made an offer the beleaguered developer couldn't refuse. It's currently bidding for key chunks of bankrupt Midway, and in the meantime it's putting out a slate that's not trivial in terms of sales potential at all.

What Warners (full title: Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment) showed at E3 was mainly family fun stuff, at least for 2009. And while 2010 could be a bigger year for hardcore gamers, we get the feeling they will be making some cash this year as well. Lego Rock Band and the very Zelda-esque Aragorn's Quest - a Lord of the Rings license aimed at younger gamers both looked like the kind of titles that rake in cash and inexplicably end up topping sales charts. But what really caught our eye was a game on the humble DS: Scribblenauts...

In today's hectic world, it's uncommon to see people stick to one thing for more than a few years. In the videogame industry, even moreso. The girl doing the enemy AI at developer (x) three years ago most likely came there from dev (y) but has since moved onto company (x).

Part of the reason is the project-based nature of game studios. Another is the tendency of licensed properties or key franchises being shuffled amongst publishers and development houses. Rebellion Developments, the developer making Aliens vs Predator for Sega are a little different. When project lead Tim Jones says the team "hasn't stopped obsessing about it" (AvP) he has some firm ground to stand on. Rebellion did the original version on the ill-fated Atari Jaguar in 1995, following up with the PC version in 1999. And while Rebellion has worked on a pile of games before, during and after these projects, Jones states both versions were hugely important to Rebellion.

If you wanted hardcore, these guys personify it. The team lives and breathes the AvP mythos, and this is one E3 developer nobody was going to accuse of being indifferent when we were ushered in for a behind closed doors look at the game in action...

Just because E3 is done doesn't mean we are. There's still quite a few things we're looking to get out in the "sllow" week following the big games convention.

Take Assassin's Creed 2. People are pumped for a sequel, yet most wouldn't say no to beefed up gameplay to go with super sweet visuals and that sensational free running. Here's what we saw at our one-on-one Assassin's Creed 2 session behind closed doors...

E3 2009 is over. With over 41,000 punters through the door, it's already apparent that most have regarded the show's return to its larger format as a big success. We're no exception in that regard.

While the next few days will see us continuing to drop in the odd writeup (including for some games you may see featured below), it seems appropriate at this point to list some of the highlights from our perspective from a show that desperately needed to show some vision - and for once delivered...

Splinter Cell Conviction enjoyed a good E3. People enjoyed the the idea of a faster Sam Fisher, and there was obviously a little nostalgia floating about for the series' heyday. We scored a behind closed doors session with Maxime Mercier from the team to discuss how Sam has changed.

Mercier tells me Conviction sets itself apart in three ways. First, the story revolves around Sam Fisher. He's on the warpath trying to find who killed his daughter. Because it's so personal, Sam is more brutal and fired up. Second, the game is a lot faster - even in the shadows. Mercier likens Sam to a panther - fast and deadly. The final difference in Conviction is how the team wanted to break away from convention and find a new way to tell the story. More on this in detail below...

The final booth stop on our Microsoft behind closed doors was a bittersweet occasion for the Aussie press attending. On one hand, we were finally getting a chance to be up close and personal with Alan Wake, the horror game that seems to have vanished off the radar a couple of years ago. But balancing that out was the realisation that no, we were not going to be checking out Natal - the star of the show for those who saw it, basically.

After we get crammed into a room, Remedy precedes dimming the lights with a disclaimer. They're expanding on the Xbox keynote for their demo, so inittially at least, they will be covering familiar gound...

Things tend to look better when you use the best hardware, it's an unavoidable fact. But in the case of James Cameron's Avatar, it's the whole story. If you are willing to judge Avatar in the way its meant to be played - it's our pick for best game of E3.

Here's the catch: we're having the game demoed to us on a 103 (or is it 130?) inch Plasma HD TV with stereoscopic 3D output. We're wearing 3D glasses. And it looks staggeringly good. But it's hardly the standard gaming rig for the punter at home, is it?

It's 4.30PM at the LA Convention Centre, and as Activision AU exec Jeff Wong jokes, I might just have saved the best for last. About 20 minutes ago, I joined a small group of people in a very comfortable (but small) room to check out Modern Warfare 2 from infinity Ward.

On the board is a Guinness Book of Records certificate for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, just in case you didn't realise the new world order of FPS: where DICE and Valve lag behind Infinity Ward in terms of mainstream recognition...

God of War III seems to be carving a bloody, high def path into gamers hearts as we see what Kratos can do with more pixels at his disposal. We grabbed God of War III art chap Sean Cunningham for a quickfire Q&A.


BigPond Games: So why end the series on III?

Sean Cunningham, Sony Santa Monica Studios: It's [pauses] a trilogy. We always said it was a trilogy,..three in terms of the story, that's where we want to end it. It feels right to end at three...

Part of Microsoft's behind closed doors tour was a session with Turn 10's content director, John Wendl. Wendl repeatedly emphasised that cars - not tracks, not drivers - are the stars of the Forza series.

Wendl, who races actual cars in his spare time said Turn 10's mission is to convert car lovers into gamers, and gamers into car lovers. He thinks people of all kinds have a passion for vehicles, whether it's understated or worn on their sleeve. Forza Motorsport 3, he says, is trying to tap into that passion...