Blizzcon 2011 – October 21-22, 2011
Anaheim Convention Center

Opening Announcements:

There were some big announcements at this year’s Blizzcon!  Diablo 3 is still on track for a Q3 2012 release with Beta testing wrapping up final details of the game.  During a Q&A session, JAy Wilson, Diablo 3 Game Director, announced that a new wave of Beta keys will be made available after the next patch.

In addition, a surprise announcement was made for all you World of Warcraft (WoW) fans:  if you sign up for an annual WoW account, Blizzard will give you Diablo 3 for free, in addition to a new in-game mount.  So come midnight of the Diablo 3 release, you will have access to download the game for FREE!  You must keep that account active for a year but WoW fans shouldn’t have a problem with that.

Also, a new expansion is being released for Starcraft 2 called Heart of the Swarm.  The expansion features new and changed units with some new abilities as well as retiring ones.

The first expansion for WoW Cataclysm, Mists of Panderia, was announced and features a new class – Monk – and a level cap increase to 90. The expansion also features a new playable race called the Pandaren and a new continent called Pandaria.  It will also feature challenge mode dungeons, new PVE scenarios, pet battle system, and a new talent system.

Convention Floor:

The layout of the convention was really well done.  There was one hall was dedicated to Diablo 3, another hall dedicated to Starcraft 2, and another to World of Warcraft.  Playable demos of all three games were available in each hall.

There were several vendors representing their products as well. LG had a great display setup showing off some amazing 3D monitors.  Steelseries had a display with some cool gaming mice including the new Diablo 3 mouse.  Big screens were draped all over the place so no matter where you were there was a screen to watch interviews or matches in WoW and Starcraft 2.  The costume contest and dance contest were great!  People got down this year and came up with some ornate costumes!

The Diablo 3 demo was awesome!  The graphics were amazing with great lighting effects.  The controls were easy to get accustomed to – right and left click.  The sound effects were great!  The old school feel of Diablo 1 and 2 is still there with the red life blood bowl on one side and the blue mana bowl on the other.  I played the Demon Hunter and really liked the strong beefy sound of the crossbow.  My girlfriend had a blast with the barbarian!

Amidst all the announcements and the excitement of Blizzcon, my girlfriend and I are really excited for what’s coming up in the next year or so.

Normally, I would wander around and check out the world. I may not even talk to anyone before I kill someone or something. When I played Oblivion, I wandered into some random dungeon through what probably was a back door. I killed a bunch of guys I didn’t even know (they attacked me first, by the way), and ended up with some pretty cool equipment. Then I discovered there was a story.

With only three hours to play, I wanted to explore the story. If you have played Oblivion, wandering around the landscape is largely the same, except the graphics are pretty stunning…and oh, you can collect bugs along with the normal foraging for herbs and spices. However, it’s the story that sometimes gets lost in the mix of wandering around taking on side-quests in such a huge, open world.

It would seem that the first 45 minutes of the game is where you will be learning the ropes and building up your character a bit before you are turned loose into the open world. There is a story there, something about a dragon, but it was hard to catch on in such a limited time. I know there are dragons in the game, so nothing new there. After wandering around for a while running from wolves, seemingly weaponless, I bumped into some NPCs at a little cottage. Apparently I know one of the guys there, and he tells me to go to Riverwood to meet the Jarl.

So without a thought to check for a menu system (with a card in front of me that shows me what all the buttons do), I wandered around until I found Riverwood. In Riverwood, I bought a sword and found the Jarl; pretty easily actually. He tells me that one of his wizards is looking for a Dragon Stone, whatever that is. They need me to get it, and that’s good enough for me. So I set off on my way to retrieve the stone, which wasn’t far away. My sword didn’t auto-equip, so I opened the menu for the first time, and lo and behold, I already had a sword…and armor…and magick. So, I wasted my money, but at least I got to see how purchasing an item worked.

So, with my weapon in hand and donning my armor, I used the map to try to find the area the stone was hidden. It seemed I couldn’t find my way up there head on, so I wandered around the mountain where it seemed to be located. Along the way, I bumped into a giant. It killed me with one swing of his hammer, but he looked good doing it. My second attempt at finding the stone took me up a mountain trail. Soon I was in an amazing snow storm. I could see individual snowflakes! Truly stunning. Good thing I picked a Nord, because Nords have resistance to cold, and it was cold! Before I knew it, I arrived at my destination and facing off with some bandits. I dispatched them quickly and headed indoors.

Inside, I made my way through dungeon corridors. Bumping into some more bandits, I snuck up on one and laid an amazing shot on him. There was a cut-scene that showed me slicing the guy in half! Very cool stuff. I continued forward and at one turn, I saw a guy with his back to me. I tried to sneak up on him too, but as I did, he walked up to a lever on the floor and pulled it. Arrows shot out of the walls at him, killing him instantly. Poor sucker set off a trap! I figured out the puzzle that would keep me from getting pelted by the arrow trap and forged ahead. A deadly spider forced me to to use my magick.

The magick system is a little different from previous titles. For example, healing is not a one-shot casting. You cast it and you heal over time while casting it. You can heal more by continuing to hold down the magick button. After fishing around the menu a bit, I found that I not only had a healing spell, but a destructive spell too. I could cast fire, which should work great against a spider and his webs. Sadly, he killed me as I was setting to blast him away. On my second try, I realized that I was ready to level up! OK, so I missed that initially, but I was happy to get more powerful.

To level up, it asked me if I wanted more health, stamina or magick. After I chose stamina, I was taken to this screen with a circle of constellations, each one representing a perk I could upgrade. My flame magick was one of the choices, so I bumped that up a notch. My second try with the spider proved more fruitful, as I set the bad boy on fire and slashed at him with a sword I picked up off one of the bandits.

An NPC that was trapped by the spider forced me to make a moral decision. I won’t go into detail about that, but soon after, I was ambushed by some skeletal warriors. These weren’t random skeletal warriors, I had wandered into their crypt! Oops, sorry guys! Oh well, they didn’t accept my apology, and after several tries I finally destroyed them. One of them had a very nice axe that I procured. Another had a pretty sweet bow and some arrows. Soon, I was a walking armory and I leveled up again. I chose more stamina and more fire. Now I could cast fire with two hands if I wanted, and I did.

A little deeper into the dungeon I faced off with a skeletal mage. He was sucking my life force away, so I sent a fireball at him. I must say that the fireball spell kicks butt! It was simple and small ball of flame that flew to its target and exposed. Awesome. I pressed forward until I found the stone I was looking for. I went up to it and it said that I learned some strange word and it seemed like I had completed my task. After another no-so-surprising ambush, I pushed on.

It seemed I was now moving upwards towards the surface. After a few more battles, all of them pretty fun and tense, I found a large door with a puzzle. The puzzle was fairly easy and I had solved it as a Bethesda representative tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I needed help, and that there was a clue in my inventory. He realized I had just solved the puzzle and let me continue on my journey.

Soon I was on the surface again, and I quick-traveled back to Riverwood. After finding the Jarl again, and receiving some praise in the process, I was asked to defend the west tower from a dragon. Apparently my character has some limited experience in this sort of thing. Well, this sounded pretty intriguing, so I went off in search of the west tower. I didn’t actually have to search at all, as I was led there by a humble little unit of soldiers that seemed ready to fight a dragon.

Good thing they were ready, because as soon as we found the tower, we were attacked. The dragon was big, beautiful, and powerful. However, with my new bow and arrow that I had snagged from the newly re-dead skeleton in the dungeon, I plucked at it from above as my companions sniped and stabbed it from below. Soon it was slain and I leveled up again. After snagging some body parts from the dragon, the representative returned and said that I should just wander around some more as my time was running out.

So I did, and that concluded my three hours of play. Now to back-track a touch, I wanted to talk about the character creation process. As it turns out, you do not pick a class. This is not a bad thing, as you are going to shape your character by the way you play anyway. You can pick your race, and if you have played Oblivion, you will notice that there is nothing new here except how detailed each of the races are now. It’s hard to believe that this is the same system that released Oblivion. You will get to tweak your character’s facial features a bunch, so you can basically make your character look just about anyway you want. It’s slick, easy, a beautiful.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is every bit a sequel to Oblivion as it is a spiritual successor to Fallout 3. The combination is astounding and if my very limited time with the game is any indication, this is going to be one hell of a game.  The two greatest games this year are fixing to come out in November and they both have Sky in the title. Can you guess the other title? I thought so.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is due out on November 11, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Our demo began about 45 minutes into the game, akin to leaving the sewers in The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or Vault 101 in Fallout 3.  You are able to create and customize your character during this time but we were able to create our character right at the beginning of our demo.  Not much has changed in the character creation – you can choose your race, gender, and name – and from there, you can customize the look of your character as you could in previous games.  There are ten races to choose from – all the same races from Oblivion – and they look a lot more realistic than before.  One of the biggest differences in the character creation is that you will not have to choose a character class as you did in Oblivion.  In Skyrim, you can choose to mold and shape your character depending on how you want to play your game.  As you level up, you can focus on skills that you want to build up and ignore the ones you don’t. The choice is ultimately up to you.  I didn’t spend too much time on creating my character as I only had three hours to play the demo and I wanted to try and experience as much of the game as I possibly could during that timeframe.  I chose to be a female Nord (I played a Nord in Oblivion as well) and I started from there.

As soon as I entered the world of Skyrim, I was just completely sucked in.  I paused for a moment to just take a look around at my surroundings.  The graphics are amazing and the detail in the world makes it pop with life.  I immediately began collecting herbs and flowers – you can even collect bugs – as I knew I wanted to try out the alchemy system as soon as possible.    I had no active quests yet so I went to the world map and found the town of Riverwood nearby and set my destination marker.  I made my way, on foot, to the town and got there relatively unscathed.  I ran into a small pack of wolves and realized I didn’t have any weapons (I actually did, I just assumed that I didn’t have any).  I tried to fight them off with my fists but quickly took off running.  The town was pretty close by so I was safe from any danger at that point.

As in the previous Elder Scrolls games, you can interact with just about everything and you can take what you want.  Of course, be careful not to take what’s not yours or you could get yourself into a spot of trouble with the law.  Lock picking is a lot more like it is in Fallout 3, which is not the first time you will make the comparison between the two games.  Even though I picked a few locks and got threatened by the home owners, I refrained from stealing any items.  I did however, take almost everything else that I could get my grubby little hands on.  Upon finding an alchemy set, I tried out my potion making skills.  Each item has four properties which will be discovered as you alchemize things.  I created a few potions via trail and error – I also failed at making some potions as well.

Talking to the NPCs in the area will get you more familiar with the world and what is going on in it.  Some will offer you quests so it is beneficial to talk to pretty much everyone.  I was in search of weapons and armor (since I was too lame to realize that I actually had some already) so I found the blacksmith and immediately started talking to him.  He offered a few small tasks that basically introduce you to the blacksmithing processes in the game.  At a Blacksmith, you are able to forge your own weapons, armor, and jewelry (providing you have the right materials and the appropriate skill level) as well as improve your items.  As you go on, you will level up in smithing which will allow you to craft and improve more items as you achieve more experience.  After that, I roamed around some more – picking locks and talking to more people until I took on a quest that led me to another town called Whiterun.

Fully equipped with armor and weapons that I crafted and improved, I headed to the town of Whiterun.  On my way, I continued to collect more items for alchemy but now I was on the lookout for things to kill.  It wasn’t long until I was found by a small pack of wolves so I fought them off rather skillfully.  New to combat in Skyrim are finishing moves similar to those in Fallout 3.  I’m not sure what triggers these offhand as it didn’t happen every time I killed something (or someone) but nonetheless, they looked awesome.  Combat is relatively simple and you can pretty much customize the way your character will fight.  Use a shield and sword, use a two-handed weapon, dual wield swords, use a spell in one hand with a sword in the other, and once you gain the skill (or perk as they are called), you can even dual wield spells.  The combinations are almost endless.  Ranged combat seems to have gotten better as well.  I remember not really using the bows and arrows in Oblivion as often as it felt very clunky to me.  However, this is not the case in Skyrim.  I was able to kill a few enemies using ranged weapons and just in the few hours of playing, it will be something that you will need to learn to use effectively.  You can still choose to play the game in first-person or third- person with the click of a button and the game will allow you to customize your controls.  You can even hot-key your weapons for faster access.  During combat, I kept pressing down on the left thumbstick, which puts your character into stealth mode.   This is where the ability to customize the controls will come in most handy.

In Whiterun, I followed a side questline that led me to a group called the Companions and after completing a few quests, I was allowed to join their group.  Joining groups is a great help to your character as members of the group will offer to train you for a small price allowing you to level up certain skills a little faster than by traditionally leveling up.

The leveling up system has gotten quite an overhaul.  Since you no longer choose a character class, you are able to level up according to your play style.  You can choose your perks based on what kinds of weapons and armor you use down to the spells or schools of magic you want to use.  You will eventually cap out at level 50 but in Skyrim, you will level up faster in the beginning and slower as you gain higher levels.  Bethesda has been doing a lot to balance out the game so that while enemies will level up with you, facing a pack of rats at level 32 won’t mean certain death as it may have felt in previous games.  During the three hour demo, I managed to almost hit level 7 so you can see how fast your character will level up in a short amount of time.

The talent tree-styled level system is represented by a series of constellations.  Each proficiency within a perk is a star within the constellation shaded by ability for quicker identification.  They all require a certain amount of points to open up so you will want to explore the options in the tree if you want to plan out your character’s path.  I wanted to get the ability to dual cast (cast a spell from each hand at the same time) a destruction spell but I had to take the Destruction perk first, then take on the spell – Burning Touch.  I had to use that spell enough to level up my skill in Destruction Spells and then I would be able to take on the dual casting skill.

My three hour demo pretty much ended there and it left me hungry for more.  I didn’t touch on the main quest at all but I was able to do a little dungeon crawling in my Companion quests.  If you are at all familiar with the Elder Scrolls series, you will see that a lot of care has gone into the making of this game.  Bethesda took a lot of elements from Fallout 3 and Oblivion to create what is going to be a fantastic game that will keep you quite busy throughout this holiday season and for quite sometime after that.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will be out on November 11, 2011 for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Two Tales Titles Being Updated and Re-Released

Since the release of Tales of Phantasia in 1995, the Tales series has spanned over 12 titles. From the Super Famicom to all the current gen consoles, Tales has seen them all, the classic Japanese RPG continues to thrive by giving the player the freedom to make the gameplay as deep or as simple as they would like. You can micro-manage each little detail, or play straight through the story. And now two of the stories, Tales of Graces F and Tales of the Abyss, are receiving a touch-up and are being released on new systems.

Tales of Graces has really been overhauled. So much so it is being called Tales of Graces F. Moving from the Wii to the PS3 has allowed the developer to really upgrade the graphics and include some new content as well. Most of what we saw in the demo was content from the original game, however we got to see a new cut-scene, which shows that they are including some new story development. There will also be some new Blast Calibers and character outfits. Another awesome addition is an epilogue called Lineage & Legacies that will add around 10 hours of gameplay and fill in some of the stories from the main game. There will also be drop-in/drop-out co-op multiplayer.

Tales of the Abyss is also receiving a port, this time from the PS2 to the Nintendo 3DS. Tales featured the Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System that was used in Tales of Symphonia (play this one if you have a Gamecube!). This version is more of a port than a remake. They have added a 3D effect that doesn’t do anything but spruce up the visuals a little. However, if you missed it the first time around and you own a 3DS, you may want to give this game a try as it is a great JRPG.

Inversion
Namco Bandai is working on the upcoming third person shooter, Inversion, due out in February of 2012.  We got a hands on preview of the game last week.  What makes this game stand out from other shooters is the ability to manipulate gravity.  You can use a device called a gravlink to command and manipulate gravity to your advantage.  You can use it to provide cover, to kill your enemies, and you can eevn use it to retrieve items like ammo.  The trick is that the enemies have this device as well and they can use it to do the same things to you.

Another cool thing about this game is that there are these patches of gravitational forces that manipulate particular areas allowing you and your foes to walk on walls and ceilings affording you a better vantage point to defeat your enemies.  There are even portions of the game where you will engage in weightless gameplay in zero gravity.

The game focuses around two police officers, the main character, David, and his partner, Leo.  The game can be played in single player mode with an AI partner as well as in co-op.  Multiplayer modes are also available however the specific modes have yet to be announced.  The game will support up to 16 players online.

I played through the short demo and it controls like Gears of War and, in fact, it uses a similar cover system.  There are no health packs to pick up, you regenerate it over time.  The weapons are pretty standard for a shooter but it is the gravity manipulation that really sets this game apart from some of the games on the market right now and I can see a lot of potential in the multiplayer.

Inversion is due out on February 7, 2012 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Ridge Racer Unbounded

Ridge Racer has been a popular arcade racing game since its debut in arcades in 1993 and made it’s first home console appearace shortly thereafter.  Namco Bandai is currently working on Ridge Racer Unbounded a new experience for the Xbox 360 and PS3 and marks its first appearance on the PC.  This is also the first time that Ridge Racer has not been released as a launch title.  Ridge Racer Unbounded stays true to the series and features no licensed vehicles and keeps the cars clean and damage free during races regardless of how many times you crash into a wall or building.  However, Ridge Racer Unbounded is just that…now you can destroy building and other obstacles on the course.  Destroying buildings will create shortcuts within the race so you will want to keep an eye out for them.

The game plays like a normal racing game and gives you indicators when a building can be crashed into and destroyed.  I suspect that many players will crash into anything and everything because they can.

Another cool feature of the game is the City and Track creator, which will allow you to create your own custom cities and tracks ready for racing and destruction.

Ridge Racer Unbounded is slated for a March 2012 release and will be available on the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi is the newest installment of DBZ fighting games that follows the story of the anime.  The 3D fighter allows players to control characters from the Dragon Ball Z franchise and introduces Hero Mode which will allow you to create your very own custom DBZ character using new and existing attributes to customize your character’s hair, clothing, voice, and attack moves.

The game features a story mode and boss battles to fight agains AI or other players locally or online.  The game looks like it ripped right out of the anime and features chaotic fighting sequences.  Since this was my first time sitting down with the game (or any Dragon Ball Z title for that matter), there was a slight learning curve in terms of what to do and when but overall, the game is aimed towards a younger audience so it should be easy for most players to pick up and play.  I won the battle against one of the other previewers but I couldn’t honestly tell you how!

Dragon Ball Z Ultimate Tenkaichi should be another fun fighter for fans of the series.  The game drops on October 25th, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja Impact

Coming to the PSP on October 18th, 2011, is the latest Naruto game, NARUTO SHIPPUDEN Ultimate Ninja Impact.  Built on the Dynasty Warriors engine, the game strays from its usual fighting game style to an action adventure fighter where you take on multiple waves of multiple enemies.

The control scheme is the same as other Naruto games so fans of the series will have no problems making the transtion to the new game style.

The game will be available via the PlayStation Network as a download as well as a UMD disc available at game retailers on October 18th, 2011.

No Capcom event is complete without my pals, Jessica Villarreal (@JesV on Twitter) as Chun Li and Mandie Bettencourt as Dark Phoenix!

Big thanks to Tommy Lawler for covering the event and to Anson Cu for takings some spectacular photos!

Be sure to check out Tommy’s coverage of the event here.

The event held up Capcom’s reputation for huge parties about video games. Seas of players scrambled to get a shot at one of the 15 or so jam-packed consoles showing off the game, free food was served, screens showed off some fancy promo art , a DJ blasted beats and even worked in tracks from the game (even “Take You For a Ride” from MvC2 which really set the crowd off), cosplayers eager to stop for a photo, and even a face paint corner to get some token fake bruises. That’s not to mention some live music shows and guest appearances from the game’s U.S. producer and voice actors. Overall, a pretty packed three hours. It’s possible not everyone got to play the game just because of the insane crowds, but hopefully most of them did.

But the real star, of course, was Marvel vs. Capcom 3. I somehow managed to get in three matches. Not being well-versed in the Vs. line of Capcom fighters, I wasn’t completely sure what to expect. All the footage I’d seen up to that point, though, looked like a game I’d want to play. It was. The build on display showed off 30 of the 35 characters, and I wish I could check them all out. You get a bit overwhelmed when you think of the combos of each character, and the assist moves of team mates you choose, and how you can potentially come up with a team that can make obscenely long-lasting combos that get topped off with super moves that look consistently epic.  I managed to piece together a pretty cool looking Dante combo from an equal mix of mashing and guess work before realizing what the launch button was to knock a guy into the air and keep a combo going even longer. The Hulk was just so huge you had fun knocking them around. I’ll boast a bit that amid the three fellow scrubs I played with, I beat them all. Woo! Three matches in and while I don’t have a solid opinion on the game, I have a safe guess that I’m going to love it.

I didn’t get as much time on the 3DS, but I did play one solo match of Street Fighter on it. I’ll be honest, it was my first time on a 3DS, so checking out the 3D effect was my main goal in checking it out. Yeah… what everyone else has been saying. It looks pretty damned cool. The pop of fighters just looks cool. There’s a dynamic camera mode to really show it off, but you’ll probably want to go to the regular  camera if you’re playing to win. The touch screen is just a shortcut button for Super and Ultra moves, which is reasonable on a portable system. Overall I liked what I saw, and someday I’ll very likely own it.

A good evening overall. If there’s one thing to take away, it’s that Capcom has a very cool game coming out next week. While I didn’t get any of the free food (I won’t wait THAT long and not play video games!), I got what I came for, and I can’t wait for more.

Pictures from the event coming soon!

Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds comes out February 15, 2011 for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
• Splatterhouse
• Time Crisis: Razing Storm
• Active Life Explorer
• Body and Brain Connection
• Knight’s Contract
• Pac-Man Party

Overall, Namco Bandai has an exciting line up games so keep an eye out for them in the coming months.  For more details, click on the game titles to read our full preview write ups!

We had heard that they were adding a keyboard to the band. We even knew what it would look like and that it had 25 keys. What we learned was that you could get a peripheral that would allow you to use ANY USB keyboard with the game.

On the easier levels, you will just use a few keys to get through each song, but as you progress in difficulty and branch into the new Pro Mode, you will find that you are pretty much playing the keyboard part from the song. Neat.

There is a Pro Mode for all instruments, not just the keyboard. This goes to show the commitment that Harmonix has to push people towards real instruments. I’m sure we will soon be seeing a generation of musicians who learned the basics straight from the game, but to learn proper technique and musicianship, you are still going to have to go through the proper channels of study and practice, sorry kids. Still, I can’t think of a better way to get people past the “I can’t play an instrument” mentality, or worse yet, “I wish I had learned to play the piano”. Where here is a fun first step towards that goal.

For the drums, Pro Mode offers a greater level of reality to the parts you are playing. If you have already played on Expert in Rock Band 2, you are getting close, but Pro Mode offers more. ION, the creator of Drum rocker, has created an amazing little drum kit that not only works for Rock Band, but it also can double as an electronic drum kit. This cool kit comes with two bass pedals, both reinforced with metal, three cymbals, and the normal snare/three tom setup from the original game. Of course, the kit comes at a premium price, but you are also buying a real instrument, so that’s something to chew on for parents looking to get there kids into drumming but don’t want the loud noise from a typical drum set.

Then there is the new Fender Mustang Pro-Guitar Controller. While this is not a real guitar or bass, it is pretty close. Instead of strings on the neck, you will find 17 frets with 6 buttons on each fret. These buttons are the size of the fret so it feels pretty close to the real thing. there are six strings below the neck for you to strum in tandem with the 102 possible note positions. the controller also features an advanced muting sensor for palm muting, and the normal tilt sensor to activate overdrive.

Then there is the Squire Strat guitar controller. This controller IS a guitar. Yup, fully playable using a standard guitar amp and completely usable in Rock Band 3. Using this controller with Pro Mode should elevate your understanding of the instrument quite a bit. I have to stress again, though, this is still no substitution for the proper way to learn to play an instrument and become a real musician.

Now if you were a big fan of Rock Band Beatles because it was the only game to feature three-part harmony, you are in for a treat. Rock Band 3 supports this function as well, although it won’t be backwards compatible to Rock Band 1 & 2 songs. They hinted that maybe they could add the harmonies to those songs as updates, but no plans to do so were officially announced. Here’s to hoping, because having everyone crooning with there own microphone may be painful to the ears, it sure makes for an awesome party. If that weren’t enough love for the vocals, Rock Band 3 is going to feature pitch correction and vocal effects. This should save some of us from the bleeding ears effect that some singers give us.

After seeing each instrument in action and being suitably impressed, it was time to focus on the music and track listings. They have fixed just about everything with the new ways to select, sort, and put together tracks. They have added a filter option which allows you to quickly pare down the types of songs you want to play based on different criteria such as genre or decade. What I didn’t see was a quick way to jump straight to different letters based on your sort method. When looking though hundreds of songs for a specific title, it would be kind of nice to jump straight to the letter of the band or song you are looking for. Maybe the option is in there, but I didn’t see it in our demo. What is cool, though, is that you can use your filtered list as a random setlist, so you can select a genre and let the game choose songs for you. This is great for parties, which is what this game is all about.

To further the “great for parties” notion, they have added the ability to jump in and out at any time with any instrument. You can also select your difficulty on the fly without having to back out of the track listing. It’s so obvious of an upgrade that you will wonder why it took them 3 tries to get that in there. Simply put, if you want to get a beer, go get it! Jump back in when you are ready.

Aside from Career mode, they have added a new feature called Road Challenges. These task you with completing a song with certain requirements, like using overdrive a certain amount of times. With so many songs and modes to choose from, it’s hard not to look at this game with the kind of excitement that we all felt when we first laid eyes on Guitar Hero all those years back.

As soon as we get our hands on the full product and take it through the paces, we will give this game a proper review. Until then, don’t be afraid to pre-order this game before reading a review, because based on the preview we got, this is going to be a must-have game for anyone.

I had an opportunity to play the game at this year’s E3 during my Square Enix booth tour.  I’m not sure where in the game I was but I was in Cinderella’s castle.  I was able to wander around as well as engage in combat.

The game plays as one would expect – an action game with some RPG elements.      There are definitely a lot of elements to the game that cannot be experienced or conveyed in a 10-15 minute playthrough but I can say that the graphics are beautiful, as expected, and the control handled well.

The game also features a fantastic voice cast featuring Mark Hamill, James Woods, and Leonard Nimoy just to name a few.  You will also be able to travel to never seen before Disney worlds like the Enchanted Domain (Sleeping Beauty) and the Castle of Dreams (Cinderella).

I am looking forward to the game and I think that Disney fans and Kingdom Hearts fans are eagerly awaiting its release as well.

KINGDOM HEARTS Birth by Sleep is due out on September 7th, 2010 exclusively for the PSP.

Both Norm and I had a chance to play around with the demo in the Square Enix booth.  One of the first things I noticed was the art style.  The style was more like a watercolor wash with muted colors and it had more of a storybook look to it than any of the previous games.

The battle system uses Action Points and turn-based combat has returned giving the game a more classic RPG feel.  There are over two dozen jobs to choose from that are introduced in the Crown Job System.  You can customize  your player’s abilities and magic skills no matter what crown you have equipped.  You can even play with up to four friends in the multiplayer mode to help friends advance or to conquer tougher dungeons.

Both of us enjoyed the self-aware humor featured in the demo.  It didn’t really matter how you played it as it was only a demo.  So while we did get to play the game we hope that more surprises await us in the full retail release.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light is due for release on October 5, 2010 exclusively for the Nintendo DS.