It's that time of the year again when the wave of sports titles begin to come into our world yet again.  Starting things off is NCAA Football 14, which doesn't launch until July 9, but the demo is now available for free download on Xbox Live and PSN.  Available to try out are matchups involving Alabama/Virginia Tech, Oregon/Texas A&M, or Ohio State/Michigan.  With just a few weeks to go until launch, this will give football fans the fix that they need temporarily until the final product becomes available. [READ MORE]

Snail Games showcased two new MMOs at E3: Black Gold and Age of Wushu. Although both run on the same engine and have Snail Games' trademark underlying wit, they have very distinctive feels.

Black Gold breaks the steampunk genre i half, literally. Players choose to play with one of two factions: a steam-powered group complete with gears, pipes and mechanical weapons, and a mage faction that uses fantasy elements in combat. Each faction is divided into three sub-races, lending even more customization to the fray.

In our hand-on demo, we played as a mage during a boss fight on a foreign beach. Attacks consisted of dark magic area attacks, direct magic attacks and a healing spell. The world is detailed, and the boss, a large demon, has fluid character animations before, during and after attacks. 

These attacks come quickly and, if they're not dodged, can be devastating. This necessitates evasion in every fight, a major focus for both the mage and steam factions. As the boss winds up to bring his fist down on the beach sand near us, a quick back step frees up more space for a counterattack. There are thick layers of strategy involved when figuring out a boss' attacks and maneuvers,and dodging allows us more time to figure them out.

The mobility present in Black Gold is a welcome "action-oriented" addition to a genre largely focused on RPG meta-mechanics, and adds to the character customization and immersive world in more ways than one. Jumping into mechs, casting spells or firing bullets into enemy ranks are all viable options for combat in Black Gold, but the fast-paced action ties them all together.

Age of Wushu has a slightly more comical take on the classic MMO. Players take control of a martial arts fighter and learn new styles of fighting, which they will, in turn, practice on enemy combatants. Age of Wushu is a PvP-focused MMO, but developer Snail is promising a large focus on single player instances as well. 

When we enter the demo, our character is skilled in a martial arts style based around slapping. When we enter combat with another character, our repertoire is a combination of backhands, enemy face palms and a spinning charge attack only usable once we've filled a combat meter. 

The style is mainly aimed at levity, but the rest of the world is serious. The PvP combat feels fluid and crisp, and the small area we saw of Age of Wushu's world was enticing enough to warrant more exploration. Snail Games is promising a slew of additional martial arts styles through expansions and add-ons, to play alone or with friends.

We stopped by the Nyko booth at E3 last week and got an overview of the new products being developed by the popular accessory maker. Michael Quiroz of Nyko gave us a personal walk through of a variety of next generation products for both the console and portable / mobile markets. highlighted products include the new power charging sleds for XBOX One and PS4 controllers, smart clips for Xbox Glass, and carrying cases for NVIDIA’s Project Shield.

Check it out:
   

Microsoft held short instructional sessions during E3 this year to walk them through some of the new capabilities of the Xbox One.  They showed off some of what cloud computing could provide as well as a deeper dive into some of the new TV features but what interested me most was showing off how the new Kinect sensor could be used to supplement a traditional Xbox One controller.
 
Let's be honest, the Kinect doesn't have the best reputation within the core gaming community as the first sensor wasn't a great core gaming device.  From sensor lag  to strict the lighting  and room size requirements, the Kinect never found a place within the core community.  While it did well in the exercise and children's genres it never gained any real momentum with core gamers.
 
The new Kinect sensor is a significant upgrade in almost every way and Micorosoft had some of their engineers research some new ways that designers could use the new Kinect controller with some core gamers.  Here's a run down of what they came up with:

• Raise their controller to raise a shield up
• Touch the side of their head to toggle between different vision modes (like night/thermal vision)
• Lean left or right to dodge incoming fire
• Point on screen to direct fire from a secondary weapon

Keep in mind that these were tech demos in a controlled room but what I saw was fairly responsive and might not be too difficult to implement but even if they did work in a real environment I'm not sure any of these will gain any traction with core gamers.  Most gamers I know are loathe to take their hands off their controller and have enough movement ticks when they play that might be misinterpreted by the Kinect unit. 
 
That said I do think that the touching your head thing could be a cool and somewhat immersive use of the Kinect device.   We'll see if anyone takes these tech demos and embeds them into a game and if they do, hopefully they'll allow folks to disable them or Microsoft will see yet another wave of angry folks on social media.

     I've got to admit it was surprising to see Marvelous XSeed on the main show floor of the South Hall during E3. Normally these guys keep things low profile. But I guess when you've got a Suda 51 title like Killer is Dead you want to make sure you get it to as many people as possible. It looks like the gambit paid off, as the game always had a line, and plenty of people seemed to be enjoying it, myself included. Killer 7 and No More Heroes were my jam back in the Wii and GameCube eras, so I was extremely eager to get my hands on the latest Suda trip, and now, the nebulous summer release date seems so close, yet so far away.

    Stepping into the shoes of the assassin, Mondo Zappa, the demo tasked me with taking out Victor, atop a building he owns. The story wasn't too clear on why he needed to die, but Mondo seems like he's all business and not in the mood for the particulars of a mission. The climb up the tower was nothing short of challenging, as this game is most certainly difficult, but in a way that makes all your successes feel incredibly satisfying. As I hacked and slashed my way through enemies, cutting them down to pieces (it looks like Mondo learned a thing or two from Raiden from the Metal Gear Solid franchise), I fell many times, but was quickly revived in a quirky mini-game that involved one of Mondo's supporters beating on his chest to get his heart going again. Good to see that Suda hasn't left that sense of humor on the cutting room floor like so many body parts.

     Visually this game is downright stunning. If you thought Killer 7 was a wild looking game, you haven't seen anything yet. Killer is Dead has an incredibly unique art style that features cel-shaded characters, with heavy accents on their shadows, giving the game a distinctly comic book feel, not unlike Tecmo-Koei's Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z, but with a lot more focus on the darkness, matching the game's tone perfectly. Also this game isn't for the squeamish, as there is blood everywhere, hell, Mondo uses blood to fire the gun that is mounted in that mechanical left arm of his. His other hand holds the katana that you'll be using for the majority of the adventure, and using it feels nice and fluid, but that fluidity means that timing is important in everything you do, from dodges to combos this didn't feel like a game where you'd want to mash attack to win. 

     I didn't get to try out the 'Gigolo Mode' due to the game crashing (on account of me being so awesome), but what I played was most definitely solid and satisfying to play. If there is one thing I was I had been able to better experience, it's the soundtrack. I was hoping to hear some new Akira Yamaoka, but I suppose I'll get an earful of that when the game is released later this summer on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

One of the games that Sony Online Entertainment was showing off at E3 is a new free-to-play title called Dragon’s Prophet. In this world, you can ride, capture and train hundreds of dragons in a mythical world. Think of it as an action and more adult-oriented version of “How to Train Your Dragon”. Players will have to not only deal with hordes of enemies and fight againsta great evil, but also spend time capturing and “recruiting” dragons to serve them.

Dragons that you capture and train can be used for a variety of things including help in combat and to do the more menial tasks associated with most MMO’s such as resource gathering and simple crafting. It is also worth noting that even though there are distinct character classes in the game (four to be exact), character powers are drawn from the different dragons that you associate yourself with. Therefore, your sword-swinging tank can get himself some magical, Paladin-like abilities by simply hunting down the right enchanted creature(s) to accompany you on your journey.

Dragon’s Prophet is currently in open beta and available at DragonsProphetTheGame.com.
   

     Dead or Alive 5 didn't really set the world on fire when it was released last year, but it was definitely a solid fighter. The addition of Virtua Fighter characters to the roster helped to bolster the gameplay and the in-depth story mode tried to make sense of this crazy DOA universe. It was definitely a great game, but it wasn't without its flaws, and it looks like the team has taken measures to improve upon the base game greatly with Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate. I got my hands on a fairly far along build on the show floor and it looks like I might be picking this game up again for a second time.

    First up the Team Ninja guys have expanded the roster even further, adding Rachel and Momiji from the Ninja Gaiden franchise, Jacky from Virtua Fighter, and have even gone back to older games in the franchise to bring back Leon and Ein. This is now the largest roster in the Dead or Alive franchise, and they didn't stop there, they even went and added a few more levels for good measure. Now players can return to the Lost World stage perched high up in a canyon, or in the forest stage from DOA3. The new levels include the Tokyo metropolis from the Ninja Gaiden games, an aircraft carrier that features a really large arena, which felt way out of place, and a desert wasteland that had a number of elevation changes, kind of like the snow stage from DOA2.

     Dead or Alive 5 introduced the Power Blow, Ultimate brings out the Power Launcher, which is exactly what it sounds like, these attacks send your opponents skyward to get them ready for a huge juggle combo. Much like Power Blows they require certain conditions to be met before they can be used to their full potential, and can easily turn a fight in your favor. The game also features a number of additions to the Training mode and even has taken a page from the Street Fighter school of training, bringing in a Combo Challenge mode, with some of the best players in the DOA community contributing some of the game's high end combos. 

    Dead or Alive 5 Ultimate will also launch with a Free to Play option that will give players a small handful of fighters when the game launches this September. There will also be a full retail release for those who like their games to be on disc based media. My short hands-on time with the demo certainly has me interested in picking this one up again. Maybe this will finally be the fighter I adopt as my full time gig?

Travis and I stopped by NVIDIA”s booth at E3 on the last day and took a look at two things. The one thing I can discuss today is the NVIDIA Shield,  their portable Android gaming system. 

Picking up the Shield, I was surprised at how nice it felt. Balance with the 5” screen was solid and it felt pretty comfortable being held in the hand. All the sticks, buttons, and triggers felt really, really good. I like the tension that the sticks provide and the springs on the triggers were firm and responsive. The D-Pad, as well, felt good in use and that’s a hard aspect to get right on controllers.

The 5” touchscreen display provided a nice bright and clear picture, but as a user of a Galaxy Note II, it seemed a little small. That’s me, of course, since I’m used to a bigger screen, but it should hold up to most others who use more “normal” sized phones. The touchscreen was responsive and I didn’t have issues navigating the menus using it.

Inside it will be powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 4 which features a Quad-Core ARM Cortex A15s at 1.9GHz with another single low power core for tasks that won’t require the other ones being on and to help improve battery life. There are 72 custom GPU cores in the Tegra 4 to deliver some awesome graphics in a small package. 

Android 4.2.1 was on the units I tried out, but NVIDIA”s going to be pushing 4.2.2 soon. You can also expect quick updates to the latest version of Android because they don’t have to jump nearly as many hoops as say carriers to update their hardware. It, of course, remains to be seen if they do provide timely updates, but we’ll have to wait and see on this.

What was on display was the final production unit, so those that have already pre-ordered, this is what you’ll be getting, The overall package felt really good and the hinge for the display seemed strong. Also, there an HDMI output on the back so you can pair this thing up with a Bluetooth controller, plug it into a TV, and have a micro-console on your hands.

One of the Shield’s big features it the ability to stream Steam games to it, thus making it a powerful, portable gaming solution for your PC games. Unfortunately, this is limited to an internal network. Even if you have a solid connection from either LTE or a solid wired connection outside of your home, the PC streaming will not work. This is disappointing as I’ve been able to stream some of my PC games via Splashtop THD and my Transformer Infinity tablet with some success. You’re also getting things like remote play via a PlayStation 4 and a PS Vita, so I hope this is something that NVIDIA relaxes on a little bit so that maybe those that can do it will be allowed to do it.

NVIDIA’s Shield is certainly an interesting product and one that I’m going to follow closely to see how well it sells. Up close, I think the product has a solid feel to it and I think it has potential. Time will tell, but there’s no denying that the Shield looks and feels like one very high quality product.
 

At my appointment with Bohemia at E3 I was shown a preview of new content and updates that will be included in the beta release of Arma 3. The major additions include four new showcase missions that feature the beta's expanded content with additional armored ground and air vehicles, artillery support, and the new independent faction. As well, a wealth of updates to the base game including in-game support for the Steam Workshop, improved stability and optimizations, and added graphics effects such as localized fog.

The artillery support mission showcased the added commands for issuing air strikes and other bombardments from actual units on the map. I'm excited to see what mission creators will eventually use with the added ability. Another mission showcased a night infiltration into an enemy base in which the player utilized the newly-added long range sniper scopes. The game's interface has also received an upgrade that displays useful information such as ammo left in the clip and the player's stance. The developer did note that the on-screen information can be toggled in the settings.

The editor will receive a major upgrade in the beta version that allows users to upload their custom missions in-game to the Steam Workshop, in addition to downloading new missions from other community members also inside the game's interface. As with previous Arma games, the modding community has created a wealth of varied and polished content. Later Steam Workshop support will include custom mods, but for now only missions are supported.

The beta also includes a new challenge mode that allows players to test their shooting skills at a competition gun range. Each of the included challenges provide ratings and medals for players based upon their performance. Players will also be able to create new challenges through the in-game editor. Multiplayer isn't being left out as a horde-type map will be added that pits each of the game's three factions against an onslaught of enemies and possibly each other. Players have the option of helping each other or breaking alliances and attempting to survive against everyone on the map.

Arma 3 will upgrade to the beta version on June 25 and will be free for current owners. The game's price will increase once it's been upgraded to the beta version.

Crimson Dragon was on display at the Microsoft booth and I decided to check out the game just to get some experience with the new Xbox One  controller and to see how the game's coming along. Originally slated to be an Xbox 360 title, this spiritual successor to Panzer Dragoon seems to be coming along nicely.

The demo wasn't too long but showed off some of the rail shooting mechanics. You're piloting a dragon, of course, and you'll be able to aim and shoot various targets and areas on larger targets to take down the enemies. I've read the game requires a Kinect, but the demo at the booth had you aiming with a controller. I can see where Kinect would come into play better here as you can more quickly mark targets with your hand rather than a controller for your dragon to fire at. But, I know people want their controller support and Crimson Dragon has that now and is not just made for Kinect. You'll be able to go between both though if you choose to use a controller one day and the Kinect another. 

Piloting the dragon was very easy, well easy for most. It seems in in the minority when controlling everything inverted and they didn't have the ability to switch to that control scheme on this build of Crimson Dragon. Fear not as that's in the works and that will be in the final version, as told to me by one of the representatives there. Without inverted controls, I spent an abnormal amount of time trying to keep control of where I want to place my dragon. But, it's simple and at least they made it so you can't crash into the ground as I tend to do when I was playing with the non-inverted style that I wasn't used to.
 
Aiming took place using a target reticule being moved by the right stick and pressing the button to attack that spot. I had no trouble picking the controller up and playing the demo from the get go, so it seems it will be easy to get into. I had fun moving my dragon around, dodging stalactites and enemies, and unleashing my dragon's attacks against them.

The demo had you flying around in these vast caverns with lava everywhere and it does look pretty cool. Being powered by the Unreal Engine, the environment looked bright and highly detailed. I'm sure with the move to the Xbox One, the development team can go forward to add much more detail than previously allowed on the Xbox 360.

You'll be able to fly multiple types of dragons and upgrade the ones you have as well. I have to say, the designs of the dragons and enemies were very intricate and unique. I stood there a few times and just marveled at the creations the artists came up with and I interested to see what else they have in store besides what was shown in the brief demo.

The game's also being built with some social aspects in mind, something that Microsoft seems to be pushing with the Xbox One. You'll be able to get up to date scores on your friends who play and in turn, try to beat them as well. I'm sure other things will be in there, but that was a brief summary that was told to me when I was playing the game.

Crimson Dragon does have that epic feeling at times when you go up against those large and immense creatures. It's a game that's been a long time in development and hopefully, it will satisfy the fans waiting for this game for a while now. It will be a download title only, but no release date was given and no word on if an Xbox 360 version will still show up.

I'm not saying that Magrunner is borrowing a lot from the Portal games but both games features people being tested in an overly elaborate testing facility.  Both feature physics based puzzles based on something the user holds.  And both games have a third act that differs dramatically from the first. 
 
That said the premise of the games are very different.  In Magrunner you play Dax, one of seven "magrunners" who are competing to join MagTech's space training program.  The game has a weird Hunger Games/Running Man vibe to it as you are interviewed by media  between each puzzle and there's talk of corporate sponsorship and what not.  The sound on my headset was a bit intermittent but that's what I caught from the bits of dialogue I could make out.
 
The key puzzle solving mechanism for Magrunner is that you can flip the polarity of items between two states (positive  and negative).  Things that are both positive or both negative attract each other while items of opposite polarities will repel each other.  There's a neutral state as well but it didn't seem to come into play into the first few puzzles I played through.
 
To see how it works, here's one of the early puzzles which requires you to get to a platform that you can't reach by jumping.  To get there you stack two cubes in front of it and then charge both of them to the same polarity and then jump on the top cube.  Once you're up on the cubes you flip the polarity of the top cube and you're pushed up to a place where you can easily get where you want to go.  As you would expect the puzzles get more complex the puzzles get more complex.
 
What you might not expect is that the game goes Lovecraftian with a science fiction twist in the later levels.  I didn't get that far but looking at the screenshots below you can see that that games tone shifts from the sanitary white world of the tests to something darker later on in the game.
 
I did enjoy what I played although I wish they had skipped the obnoxious elevator segments that transport you between levels and hide the fact that the game is loading stuff in the background.  They do cover it with the press interviews and what not but I'm wondering why the entire game can't be streamed a bit better.  Either way the game is coming out later this month and we should have our review of the full game shortly after it's available.  

Six of our staff members have fallen into a fitful post-E3 hibernation. Medical staff are on standby. The rest of us can get punch drunk on Zeno Clash 2, or see how Juno has apparently made The Last of Us one of the best games of the year--and perhaps of this console generation. But if you're saving your lunch money for a new console, you might be tackling that mean old backlog instead. 

What are you playing this weekend?

Russell Archey | staff writer | Twitter @neoscyther
I'll be playing a couple of classics this weekend that allow me to travel through time as well as alter the seasons how I wish--yeah, I'm playing through Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages on the 3DS eShop.  Since I'm reviewing both of these games, I'm playing through Seasons first as I've beaten that several times before (with and without a linked password from Ages), then playing through Ages with the password from the end of Seasons, though as far as I know the "linked ending" is the same regardless of which one you go through first.

Nathaniel Cohen | staff writer | Twitter @seven_hells
Let's see, I'll be playing End of Ten-Year Relationship Simulator 13, then some Moving Out of State. In between, I'll probably play a lot of FIFA 13, and if all goes perfectly, The Last of Us.

Jeremy Duff | senior staff writer | Twitter @duff3c
This weekend I am going to continue adventuring as my favorite superheroes in Marvel Heroes. I don't care what anyone says, it isn't that bad and has actually been a lot of fun thus far. Hopefully I will also get some time to head out on a few D&D quests with the Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara. All of this depends on whether or not I can resist the urge to spend more time with Mojang's Scrolls, which is a deadly addiction that I am currently nursing.

Charles Husemann | editor-in-chief | Twitter @chusemann
This weekend will be all about recapping the amazing stuff we saw at E3 this week as well as playing some of The Last of Us and trying to get caught up on sleep and food. The intensely frustrating thing about E3 every year is seeing some amazing games and then having to wait to play them. I'm somewhat tempted to buy some of the Borderlands 2 DLC as I really liked what I saw out of Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep this week and I really need to reacquaint myself with the game and my character.

Randy Kalista | staff writer | Twitter @randykalista
Tutorials: done. Now, essentially, I'm free to pursue any personal or corporate objective I can think up in EVE Online. Just listening to chatroom chatter, though, tells me there's no money in scavenging for salvage. Still there's something about scanning down hidden sites around solar systems, poking my ship into darkened space ruins, and hitting occasional paydirt that appeals to my inner archaeologist. 

At first blush Battlefield 4 looks like a lot like Battlefield 3.  The user interface and graphics are almost identical and from about 10 feet away you would be hard pressed to notice a difference between the two games.  However once you get closer and dive in you start to notice all of the improvements that DICE has made to the game.
 
The already spectacular graphics of Battlefield 3 have gotten a touching up as bit as there's a lot more detail in the textures and the complexity of the maps has been upped significantly.  If you saw the demo footage from the EA press conference you know what I'm talking about. 
 
DICE hasn't touched the four classes for this iteration of the game although the customization screen has been tweaked to flow a bit better.  The unlockable class abilities have been tweaked a bit and grouped into offensive and defensive skills with various levels for each.  Again, it's nothing new but a refinement of how the system worked. 
 
The level EA had us playing was the city level featured in the footage above.  It's one thing to see the footage but it's another to actually play through it.  The number of nooks and crannies in the map was almost overwhelming.  It seemed like everywhere I went there were a dozen places to explore and hide.  The level also contained a shocking amount of vertical space to play with.  Most of the capture points on the maps had spaces either above or below, forcing you to think intelligently about where to find cover while capturing a point.  DICE has also added small tick marks inside the capture indicator which gives you a much better feel for how long you have to wait to capture a point. 
 
I'm still a bit iffy on the commander mode right now but it's more of a gameplay thing as there are times where you are killed out of nowhere from an artillery strike.  My audio was constantly drowned out by the giant video board behind the stations so I'm hoping there's an audio cue when a strike is inbound in the final game. 
 
The implementation of the commander mode is kind of cool though as you can either command from within the game or by downloading an app to your Android or iOS device and using a touchscreen.  You do have to buy a copy of the game and associate it with your Battlelog account but once you do you'll be able to command troops while you are at work, on the bus, or sitting on the porcelain throne.  
 
The big moment from the EA video was the destruction of the big building at the center of the map.  In talking to one of the reps in the game it's something that is determined by damage done to the building in the game.  It's not a scripted even but rather something that can happen in the game if users decide to do so.  The rest of the buildings in the game can take damage but the big one in the middle is the only one that will collapse. 
 
As a Battlefield 3 fan I was pleasantly surprised with what I played at the show and I'm looking forward to playing the game a bit more.  It's more than just a graphical update as you've got a significant increase in the complexity of the maps and new gameplay tactics that are added by the ability to blow up the world around you.