At E3 last week Trio rolled out a much smaller presence than they had in previous years.  Instead of a large on the floor booth they had a quiet meeting room upstairs up and away from all of the E3 hullabaloo.  Honestly it was a little depressing in that the company had rolled out very large booths at the last few shows.
 
Inside the room they had stations setup for ArcheAge their new MMO (Travis will have more on this later) and the upcoming DLC for Defiance, the action online game they released earlier this year.    There's not an official name for the DLC but it will be out later this month for the reasonable price of $9.99.
 
For your money you'll get one new race, the uber pale Castithans as well as their signature weapon, the Castithan Blade.  Which if you watch the show it's the blue blade that Datak Tarr menacingly wields  in most of the episodes.  Folks who don't have the DLC will be able to randomly pick it up in drops but those that purchase the DLC will have the ability to bypass the loot grind and buy it directly from a merchant.  The blade does have a nice area of attack mode but you'll still want a gun handy as a backup. 
 
The new DLC also adds the Volge, the big hulking things from the show's pilot.  Not only do you get the Volge but you'll also get some of their weapons as well. 
 
From a gameplay mode the DLC adds a Capture and Hold mode where you and a gang of other people who have purchased the DLC will try and capture points on the map against increasingly stronger and stronger hordes of enemies.  The game does dynamically increase the difficulty based on the number of people playing the mode but it also ratchets up the loot to maintain a good risk/reward balance for players.
 
Other additions include a new four person vehicle, an arena mode, and a new Monolith Arkfall events that will allow more players to experience the joy of trying to take down one of the games harder bosses.
 
I spent about 20 minutes playing it and it does seem like a decent deal for the money.  I'm not sure it's sold me on buying a copy of the game but if you already own Defiance then this is probably going to be worth the $9.99 investment.       
 

We got a chance to check out a tech demo for SOE’s DC Universe Online running on the PlayStation 4 at E3. The brief glimpse of the game showed improved visuals and the finer details of the game’s action-based combat system as demonstrated by DCUO systems designer Justin Scott.

Having spent some time with both the PS3 and PC versions of the game in the past, the PS4 version definitely looks more akin to the PC version of the game running on high-end hardware. The PS4 version of the game will join the PS3 and PC versions as being completely free to play and will be available at the console’s launch later this year.
   

We stopped by the Sony Online Entertainment booth at E3 to get a first-hands look at PlanetSide 2 running on the PC. Taylor Dell of SOE gave us a walkthrough of the game, showing off the finer details of the game including the various character classes and setup of the PlanetSide world.

The action in this world is incredibly fast-paced, keeping the action running at full speed through most of the experience. While the PC version is already available, the PlayStation 4 version which launches later this year will mark the first time that the game has left the PC and made its way to home consoles.
   

     There was an awful lot of beat-em-up action games present at this year's E3. You've got Dragon's Crown from Atlus, Capcom is releasing the Dungeons and Dragons arcade titles to XBLA and PSN, Konami's got Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 cooking in its infernal oven. The only person really missing out on this is Ryu Hayabusa from the Ninja Gaiden series. Well he's back, sort of, as the water to new anti-hero Yaiba's oil. For the newest Ninja Gaiden, players assume control of Yaiba, recently back from the dead after a battle with Hayabusa. He's sporting some cybernetic technology that keeps him alive, with a design that kind of reminds me of Cyber Akuma from Marvel vs. Street Fighter and a bad-ass attitude to match. He's  mowing down hordes of the undead on his quest for revenge in this team-up between Tecmo Koei and Keiji Inafune, which might also explain the wild visuals of this game.

     It looks like the guys at Tecmo Koei got a little Kill Bill in their Ninja Gaiden with Yaiba. Its comic book inspired visuals and over the top blood look like a loving homage to one of the bloodiest pieces of mainstream cinema. The urban setting with the cel-shading kind of gave off a vibe of 'don't take this game too seriously, because we certainly aren't.' I certainly got that impression as I was cutting down hordes of zombie enemies, either by hooking one on to a sickle and chain and swinging him around, or by using a pair of fists from a zombie to produce a set of nunchucks, it's clear that this game is rooted in a very different reality than the recent Ninja Gaiden releases. And maybe that's the shake-up that the franchise needed?

     Dispatching enemies was simply a matter of using Yaiba's rocket-arm, yeah, a rocket-arm (that can actually backfire), or his trusty blade, or a myriad of off-hand weapons that can be gained by defeating certain zombies. He's also got the requisite rage meter that when unleashed makes him pretty much an unstoppable killing machine. It was an early Alpha build, but the groundwork has been laid for a pretty hectic adventure with a bit of comedy thrown in, like when Yaiba has to take down a seedy prostitution joint, which is accomplished by flinging a zombie into a big-rig that's got a giant gas container on it. The zombie is obviously ready to get his Gran Turismo on as he floors it straight for the building. This lead to a boss fight with the businesses proprietor and on defeating him I was greeted by a giant... zombie... baby? This is most definitely not the Ninja Gaiden I grew up with.

    With it's distinctive attitude and visuals, Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z was looking like on of the better beat-em-ups to come out of the show. It's slated for a release sometime next year for the Xbox 360 and PS3, and it looks like Team Ninja and Keiji Inafune have a solid proof of concept on their hands. Hopefully the dramatic shift in tone and visuals comes together well in the final product.

     It's hard to talk about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 without getting in to spoiler territory. The whole game predicates on the events of the first Lords of Shadow game, and you really need to know the story to even understand the how or why of Gabriel's tragic tale. The cliffhanger ending to the first game set up for some amazing potential in a sequel, and after getting a chance to play it on the show floor, I can only hope that Mercury Steam can deliver on the precarious concept they laid before them. I apologize for being vague, but the original Lords of Shadow contains some of the best storytelling in gaming and I'd hate to be the one to ruin it for you, dear reader.

     Castlevania: Lords of Shadow felt very similar to the God of War games when it was released, and Lords of Shadow 2 doesn't stray too far from the gameplay set forth in the original game. The combat in the E3 demo felt like it had been adjusted to close some of the gaps that the original title seemed to encourage a little too often. Ranged attacks don't seem to reach as far as before, and the weapons present in the demo were more suited for close quarters brawling. Gabriel has access to a weapon of light, the void sword, that drains life from enemies, and powerful gauntlets that smash enemy defenses. Combat felt tight and satisfying, especially when I supped the blood of my enemies after weakening them.

    The demo also contained plenty of platforming elements that were present in the first Lords of Shadow. Gabriel is tasked with climbing in many situations, and I don't know if it is because the TV brightness settings were really low or not, but the areas where I could climb and the objects that could potentially stop me were really poorly highlighted, so I was constantly falling. Thankfully the game is somewhat forgiving and contains a number of checkpoints for these climbing areas. What I was climbing in this instance was a giant mechanical golem that I was smashing the castle that Gabriel resides in. Along with the golem I had to contend with a knight, dressed in golden armor, taking pot shots at me during my climb. But his explosive bolts served to be his undoing, as I was able to use his weapon to destroy portions of the giant golem. 

    Visually this game is looking gorgeous, my only request to the guys at Mercury Steam, fixed your framerate. Please get it to at least a solid thirty frames per second, that was my biggest complaint about the original Lords of Shadow. The demo certainly felt like it had the framerate locked in, but there was still the occasional stutter. Considering how good this game looks though, I am incredibly surprised the game runs as well as it does. The audio featured the voice of one Sir Patrick Stewart who reprises his role as Zobek from the original Lords of Shadow.

    My time with the demo was unfortunately cut short due to me being the last person to check out the booth that day, but what I played certainly felt great. My biggest concerns are mostly laid to rest already after the short demo, with the only lingering concern I have being the story. I was incredibly surprised by the direction of the ending of the first game, so I can only hope that Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 has an equally amazing story. I guess we'll find out when the game is released this coming Winter.

The latest edition to the Plants vs. Zombies franchise might confuse and even startle fans as the series isn't usually associated with the shooter genre. With Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, the series typical gameplay has been transformed into a third-person shooter with some remaining tower defense elements in which players assume the roles of various plants in battling waves of relentless zombies and other mischievous creatures. Each of the plants that players control contain specific traits and abilities following close in line with character classes from multiplayer shooters, not surprisingly similar to Battlefield 3.

During the E3 presentation of Garden Warfare, I was immediately drawn to the visual style that's powered by EA's Frostbite engine, which is able to provide stunning graphics while still maintaining the quirky and charming world of Plants vs. Zombies. All of the plants and zombies return with new additions, but more importantly the ability to switch between the direct control of plants on the actual battlefield. Plants ranging from the sniper-like cactus to the unit-healing sunflower were showcased during the presentation, each containing special abilities such as a precision corn missile strike and even a sun beam blast. I particularly enjoyed the variety between each of the plant's roles on the battlefield. The player also has the power to spawn new plants at specific points in the level.

The demo ended with the plants defending the base against a zombie disco boss that literally danced through the battlefield, which then was followed by a brief clip of the returning Gargantuar. Players will have to utilize the powers of all the plants to defeat the towering Gargantuar. While the game is a major contrast from previous games in the series, it seems as it will be a refreshing addition to the franchise as players can experience the world of Plants vs. Zombies from a new perspective.

Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare will be available exclusively first for Xbox One and Xbox 360 and then followed for release on PC and other systems.
 

Not Pony tails Remastered or Cotton tails Remastered, but Ducktales Remastered! Out front and center of the Capcom booth was Wayforward Technologies' newest opus, drawing me in with its siren song of amazing gameplay and fantastic music. The recently revealed Amazon level was present for play along with the Transylvania level, and unsurprisingly the both played as well as they did all those years ago on the NES. 

There are the obvious visual updates, but this is more than just a simple HD upgrade, this is a full on reinvention of the NES classic. With new art for every stage, and updated tunes provided by Jake "Virt" Kaufman, the only the only really 'new' things are the increase in storyline elements, and voice acting, and they both felt really solid in the two levels I was able to play. Hearing the classic voice actors return for reprise their roles was somewhat jarring, Ducktales hasn't been relevant for over twenty years now, but Alan Young still sounds as up for the role of Scrooge McDuck as ever.

The gameplay is still as simple and fun as ever, Scrooge is able to bounce around on his cane, and use it to defeat enemies through some rather challenging platforming that still feels as good as it did back in the original game. Also being an accomplished golfer he can use the cane to send boulders and other objects flying. The Amazon stage really hasn't changed all that much outside of the changes to make the boss a little bit more challenging than he was before, but the layout through the spiky vines section still requires skilled use of the pogo jump.

With a rough date of Summer 2013 penned in for the release date, it's looking like Ducktales Remastered will be one of the best transitions to HD any gamer could ever hope for. The gameplay was on point and honestly I could not ask for a better experience, well except maybe to enjoy this in my home with a nice sound system. Get on that quickly won't you Capcom?
 

Power A revealed the MOGA line of mobile phone controllers at last year's E3 and this year they unveiled updated versions of the controllers.  Power A took a lot of customer feedback into the new controllers which has resulted ina substantial upgrade over the controllers that were released last year. 
 
Both of the MOGA devices (the smaller pocket controller and the larger Pro controller) now feature full buttons and thumbsticks.  The slider controllers from the last version have been banished in favor of good old fashioned thumbsticks.  This should help ease some of the wrist and thumb fatigue that some users (including myself) had when playing with the controllers.  Both devices now have real triggers and a full complement of console buttons now as well.
 
The folks at Power A have also tucked 1800 mAh batteries into each of the controllers.  This means that as long as you charge the battery in the MOGA before you play, you should come out of your gaming sessions with as much battery life as you had when you went into them.  You can also use them as a backup battery which also increases the usefulness of the MOGA exponentially.
 
The locking mechanism has also received some  attention and now features Power A's Smart Mobile Retention Technology (SMRT) which will now support devices with larger cases and battery packs attached.  This means no more pulling your phone out of your case when you want to play a game with the MOGA.
 
The final bit of fun is that you can now connect up to four MOGA's to a single device (which device is indicated by a LED just to the right of the lock).  This means that you and some friends can hook an android phone or tablet to your TV and all four of you can play at once (supposing you find a game that does so). 
 
I did futz around with some of the rough prototypes that Power A had on site and they were a bit better than last year's versions.  I wasn't a big fan of the sliders for controls and these thumbsticks felt a bit more comfortable to play with.  It is hard to read what a final device will look like from a production prototype but this does feel like a big next step for the system.  Look for the devices in stores sometime in the fall of 2013.

The fourth DLC character for Injustice: Gods Among Us has been revealed and will be General Zod, most likely to coincide with Man Of Steel which is out in theaters today. 

Zod was playable at E3 and Ed Boon, on his Twitter, says that a gameplay video for him will be released next week. 
Yes, General Zod is the 4th DLC character in INJUSTICE !! Next week we are releasing a game-play video that demonstrates his unique moves!

No price or any other DLC has been revealed yet but I think it's safe to say that Zod will be $5 like the other three DLC characters were and will be free if you have the seasons pass. 

If I don't hear this during Zod's intro or outro then I refuse to buy this haha. 

The Walking Dead: 400 Days will serve as "connective tissue" between the first season of the game and the second.  The DLC will be about the same size as a normal episode of the game but will be broken down into five different stories which occur at various points during the first 400 days of the zombie outbreak.
 
Each story will focus on a new character but all of them will somehow connect to the Atlanta truck stop from the first game.  As you would expect the decisions you make in the DLC will impact what happens in Season 2 of the series but what you might not expect is that the decisions from the first season will impact what happens in the DLC. The TellTale team was mum on what those could be so we'll have to wait for the game to be released next month to find out.
 
The short presentation we saw at E3 featured Vince, a man who apparently kills someone at the start of the episode and  is captured, convicted, and sentenced to jail time.  I use the word apparently because this is The Walking Dead and things are never as they seem.  Vince's story occurs on the second day of the outbreak and we find him on a prison bus with several other prisoners.  
 
As Vince chats with some of his fellow guests we learn more about them and the crimes they were accused of.  One prisoner is a white collar criminal who swindled $180M before being caught while the other was convicted of illegally touching a minor.  We also learn that the prisoners have been stuck in the hot Georgia sun conflict in a bus with windows that don't open.  As the conversation between Vince and his companions continues, the heat gets to two prisoners and as you would from a Walking Dead property people start dying and then coming back to life.
 
The tension of being confined to a prison bus with a flesh eating zombie is amplified significantly by the fact that Vince and his companions are chained to the floor.  The game immediately forces you to make difficult decisions about who lives and who dies and it's all classic Walking Dead drama. 
 
From what I saw it looks like 400 Days is going to be a great transition between the two seasons.  The writing is spot on and it leverages all of the familiar tropes of the Walking Dead universe.  It's also a subtle reminder for people like me that I need to go back and finish the first season of the game.  
 

I admit, I'm not very well versed in the Assassin's Creed series. Having not played any, I was going into the demo of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag with an open mind. Coming out, I was so thoroughly impressed that I became one who was indifferent to the series to wanting to purchase the game on day one.

The hands off demo focused on the exploration aspect of the game. We were shown the map of the entire gaming world, which is a large portion of the Caribbean. There's a three large cities to explore and a vast amount of seas to sail so you should have plenty to do in the game. The studio wanted to truly model the locale that would be hanging around and you could see that in the detail presented in simulating the population of the town.

The demo had Edward picking up an assassination contract, which is a side quest. Tasked with taking down twins, Edward proceeds to the area where the marker dictates where the two are. He quickly dispatches with one while the other target runs off. There are several ways you can dispatch your targets and the demo showed what happens when someone jumps on their boat and takes off. Edward proceeded to his boat and I got a taste of ship to ship combat.

Ship to ship combat is quite frantic in Assassin's Creed IV. The boats move relatively quickly and are quite maneuverable. The first part involves damaging the opposing ship enough so that you can board it. There are visual cannon path lines that you can adjust to see how the cannonballs will fire. You may sometimes opt for a straight shot, or you can lob cannonballs into the middle of the ship. Once enough damage has been done, the two ships link up for a boarding scenario.

Before Edward jumps over to the other ship, he can take a small cannon and pick off some soldiers on the other boat. Now, the amount of crew you have is important here as with more crew, there's less fights you need to do so it's prudent to keep a large group on your ship. The person playing the demo displayed Edward's effortless movement vertically and horizontally as Edward traversed the masts and sails to get to the other boat. Once the other target has been dispatched, and in the demo there was an incredible dive from the sail posts down to the target, you're given a few choices. Beforehand, you could use a spyglass to look at a boat and see what salvaging possibilities there here. With that knowledge, you can then decide what you would like to do. One possibility is to use the boat to repair the damage on your own boat. You could also capture this boat into your fleet and set it to work for you. It's really up to you and the ship combat before the final siege is truly exciting to watch.

The weather in Assassin's Creed IV is dynamic and can play a part in helping or hindering you. The demo showed off the quick and sudden change to a hard rain and off in the distance was a hurricane. If you're savvy enough, you can use the hurricane to your advantage, but it's a dangerous proposition. 

Some islands can contain alive or dead NPC. With those that are alive, you can recruit them and loot them. Dead ones can also hold valuable information. For the demo, a dead person on a remote island had a treasure map on him. Now viewing the map only showed a few clues, and it's up to you to figure out what it means. Edward was then lead to the place where the map was referring to and some of the new items were shown. Edward has a dart gun that he can use with various poison darts. The one used caused the enemy to go crazy and attack his friends, causing a good distraction for Edward to walk by. After fighting some enemies and finding he area designated by the map, Edward was able to dig up the treasure containing a large amount of gold and blueprints for a more powerful weapon. 

I should mention while sailing to the island with the treasure, I saw a whale jump out of the water near the boat, which was a pretty impressive sight. You can than relay information about the whale back to your base to get them to hunt the beast if you so desire.

The game looked absolutely gorgeous though. The lush Caribbean landscape combined with the incredibly rendered seas made for a beautiful game to watch. Also, the way Edward almost glides between areas as he traverses the terrain is almost hypnotic. Assassin's Creed IV is a visually impressive game to behold.

They were also demonstrating the second screen option for Black Flag as well, which seems to be a hot trend this year. You can use a tablet to see where your ship is on the map as well as direct some orders to your base. Also, any treasure map hints can be shown on the tablet so you can easily reference it without having to do it in game as you are playing. I was pretty impressed by what you can do and see with the second screen option and I think I'd use it a lot while playing Assassin's Creed IV.

As Calvin Candie would say, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, you had my curiosity. Now you have my attention. I was pleasantly blown away by what I saw with the demo and I'm now anxious to pick up the game. I guess I should play the first few to get a handle on the series, but I'll definitely be seeing the full game on my PC once it's released.?

Where do you go after such an incredible experience with Batman: Arkham City? Why you go back to the beginning. And that's what Warner Bros Montreal has done with Batman: Arkham Origins. 

Taking place Christmas Eve in the early years of Batman's existence, Black Mask is offering a rather large bounty to anyone that can kill the Batman. The amount of money draws all sorts of criminals to Gotham and Batman has to survive them all hunting him down trying to collect the reward.

I was able to sit down and play through about a 30 minute demo of the game. The graphics look about the same, but I was told there were some minor improvements that might not jump out to anyone. It still looks really, really nice to me and I've become quite fond of the art style that this series uses to portray the Dark Knight. 

The first half of the demo feels very familiar as you are introduced to the combat system. That free-flowing style that makes Batman such a joy to watch when he's fighting is all here and nothing's change. Warner Bros Montreal specifically stated they didn't want to change anything that's worked so well in two games so they pretty much left that alone with some minor improvements. Having not played Arkham City in so long, it didn't take much time for me to feel comfortable in fighting a group of thugs and taking them down with extreme prejudice.

Two new enemies were on display in the demo. The first one is a big brute with armor, that can't be taken down until the armor has been removed. You need to do three cape stuns to bring the brute down and then a multitude of quick hits to finally be able to pull the armor off. Only then can you finish the brute off, and of course you have to deal with the multiple foot soldiers that surround him at the same time.

Another new enemy is a karate expert and in the demo there were two I had to deal with. When alone, they were a handful as they did many quick hits as well as countering your hits. When the two are near you, you can almost expect a pounding as they work together well in punishing you with quick hits. 

Now, what got me a little excited is an improved detective dynamic. Walking around, I witnessed a helicopter go down in front of me. Using improved detective vision, I scanned an area near the site of the crash to get a clue. With that evidence in the computer, the crime scene gets recreated in front of you, but only in small parts. You're able to fast forward and rewind the bit that's recreated to show you even more clues of what happened. The crash site had the helicopter tail missing so I did a search to see that it hit a sign before it went down. Examining an area in the crime produced more data points, thus recreating more of the crime scene to view. Rewinding again, I found the tail section missing in the other area. Scanning the tail section revealed a bullet hole which led to the recreation at the point of the bullet striking the helicopter. Seeing the laser from the sniper scope, I swung over to the origin of the laser to find a dead SWAT sniper. Scanning the sniper, I found that it wasn't him that shot the bullet, but it was a bullet that ricocheted from another area that took out the SWAT member and then the helicopter. Only a select few can do this and this lead me to the conclusion it was Deadshot who was behind this all along. So, this was a simple example of piecing together clues to solve what happened at the crime scene and tapping into the detective element of the world's greatest detective.

New gadgets, of course, will be making its way into Arkham Origins. The one thing I played with during the demo was a batarang with a line attached to it. You can use this a few different ways. For one, you can shoot it between two gargoyles and create a line where Batman can walk on. You can use this to drop down on unsuspecting criminals and take them out. Another effective way is to shoot it at an enemy and latch it to an exploding barrel making for an easy takedown. That's just one example of a new gadget that's going to be available in the game.

The final part of the demo revealed the Joker as he toys with Batman and blows up a large, uninhabited building. The Joker's design seems more sinister than the last few games with a more jagged look on parts of his face. That infectious Joker laugh and humor ends the demo and my time with the game until its released date.

It's maybe a new studio, but my quick time with Batman: Arkham origins is one of my most memorable from the show. As a big fan of the first two games, I have very high hopes for this one and playing the demo hasn't dashed any of that. Let's hope that it lives up to the others upon release in October 25.

Also I have to make a quick mention of Blackgate, the Sony VITA game that's also coming out taking place in the same universe. While I didn't get a chance to play much, I thought the game looked fabulous on the hand held. It takes place three months after Blackgate and features some minor spoilers if you haven't finished Origins. The quick scene I saw had Batman meeting Catwoman for the first time. Like I said, it looked pretty good with the short amount of time I had with it, but I definitely need to play more to really know how well it holds up.