Franchise revivals are a becoming more and more relevant, with recent successes Devil May Cry and Tomb Raider, and developer Machine Games took note. With Wolfenstein: The New Order, the developer, under publisher Bethesda, is hoping to revive the franchise in a way relevant to 2013. 

In my hands-on time with The New Order, I duel-wielded shotguns, destroyed hulking Nazi mechanized tanks and fought my way through a solar observatory. Wolfenstein is still as offbeat as ever.

The demo takes place in a Nazi base, as I fight my way through underground caverns, hidden arsenals and exposed catwalks. Throughout the demo, I'm taught game mechanics through diary entries, such as how to lean from behind cover or how to hot-wire safe mechanisms, allowing me access to the upgrades or ammunition inside.

This hacking technique is done by pushing the analog sticks toward one another, then pulling the triggers simultaneously. The first safe I find nets me a permanent health upgrade; this upgrade shortly comes in handy.

As I exit a room with my newly acquired health increase and dual pistols, a mech fires on me, followed by a rush of Nazi officers and armored soldiers. Even on the normal difficulty, called "Bring 'Em On," The New Order is difficult. Cover is scarce in corridors and rooms, and the enemy soldiers are eager to flank me any chance they get.

As I progress through the level provided at E3, I notice a few differences between The New Order and other shooters. For one, you have to manually loot bodies for health, as well as weapons for ammo, rather than pick it all up automatically. This looting system is at odds with most modern shooters, so it takes a while to get accustomed to it.

With the revival of a new franchise comes challenges. What is sacrificed? What remains? Machine Games has been staring down the barrel of that question for some time now. Whether they mounted that hurdle remains to be seen when Wolfenstein releases later this year for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Playstation 3 and Playstation 4.
 

The Millenium Falcon has almost escaped. Han Solo, realizing his ship can't outrun the pursuing Imperial TIE Fighters, decides to take a stand. He, along with new acquaintance Luke Skywalker, mans the ship's turrets to fight off the imperial pests. 

It's this moment that struck developer Asteroid Base more than any other Star Wars scene. Jamie Tucker, Matt Hammill and Adam Winkels remember Han and Luke climbing and descending the Millenium Falcon's ladders every time the developers work on Lovers In a Dangerous Spacetime.

"We're huge fans of Star Wars," Tucker said during a cooperative play session of his game at the E3 Indiecade exhibit. "Well, the original ones that is." Tucker smiled as he manned the turrets of his own digital Millenium Falcon.

Lovers In a Dangerous Spacetime –– an Independent Games Festival finalist –– is an upcoming cooperative shooter with vibrant, neon colors, electronic music and a slew of aliens that want to destroy it all. Releasing for PC and Mac, players take control of their own pilots in Lovers, as they steer and defend the ship –– a spherical fortress of turrets, a shield and a giant laser cannon –– through a solar system rife with obstacles.

The ship is filled with ladders, a steering wheel and control panels, all of which players must run between to defend the circular ship on all sides. Only two buttons are needed: a jump and action button. Tucker mans the wheel while I dart between turrets, defending our Millennium Falcon from the onslaught of enemies.

"You can move between the wheel, the turrets, the laser whenever you want," Tucker tells me. "We're looking for planets that will help us upgrade, and just trying to survive. " Although a campaign mode with a barebones story is in the works, Tucker said the Arcade Mode –– which we're playing now –– is the best way to play if you want shorter sessions.

We come across one of the planets Tucker mentioned, and after blasting a trio of robots off of it with the uppermost turret, hearts flow from the rock mass into our ship, refilling the health we lost en route to the location.

The next few planets are all a desperate bid for survival, as I'm rarely at one turret before I leap up ladders and jump over gaps to destroy enemies on the other side of the ship, or man the shield to defend against a powerful array of enemy laser blasts. In our most desperate moments, I can use a tube of green energy to fire a rotating laser that destroys most of which it touches. Although it has unlimited uses, the cooldown time necessitates strategic use.

With a healthy stack of points at the end of our session –– only one previous duo beat ours on the E3 show floor –– our ship exploded in a rain of neon embers and shrapnel. Our time was up, but I couldn't help but want more.

Bethesda has announced that it's Next-Gen games The Elder Scrolls Online, The Evil Within, and Wolfenstein: The New Order will all be available on PS4 and Xbox One- in addition to The Elder Scrolls Online being available for PC and Mac.

Below is the newest trailer for Elder Scrolls Online.
For more information on any of these games, visit www.bethsoft.com

With the 2012-2013 NBA season coming to a close (as soon as the Heat take care of those over the hill Spurs), 2K sports is out at E3 already hyping up the world for the next season. With NBA 2K14 launching in October, the company was quick to show off just what it has in store for the new generation of consoles at Sony's press conference.

A short trailer was shown this week giving some insight on the level of detail and realism that the developer is bringing to the players this year. Thanks to the wonders of Video Game James, the digital Lebron looks even more imposing than the real one on the court. If this looks this good, drawing from an alpha-build of the game's engine (which the developer says it was), I cannot wait to see the final version in motion.
   

In Need for Speed Rivals, you're either a racer or a cop. In developer Ghost's new trailer for the newest entry in the Need for Speed franchise, a racer tells his side of the story, and the motivations behind street racing. 

Set in a dynamic open world, players can drop in and drop out of Need for Speed Rivals at will, in a game "that never plays the same," the developer said. 

For more on Need for Speed Rivals, cheak out our hands-on preview on the E3 show floor.

Normally, I hate it when a developer or company simply announces the existence of a project in passing. I am talking about simply telling you that it exists and offering absolutely zero information aside from that. Considering how much I loved the original game, I guess I can make an exception in the case of Popcap and their announcement of Peggle 2.

Yes, Peggle 2 is coming.And it is coming later this year. that is pretty much all that we know as the game was simply announced in a matter of 5 seconds at the EA press conference earlier this week. There are no other details or information available at this time but at least you know to start clearing your personal schedule now.

There is no "easy" in Alien Rage.
 
Developer City Interactive wants to capture the competition of Unreal Tournament and Quake in its upcoming shooter.
 
In Alien Rage, players can play traditional team deathmatchs as one of two factions, which can be tough enough as it is, but the single player is no walk in the park either.
 
On the “select difficulty screen,” there is no easy mode. “Normal” is as easy as it gets, followed by hard and brutal. After playing through two missions of the single player, it’s clear what City Interactive is talking about.
 
If I’m too slow on the take, enemies are quick to dispatch me, as they’re more accurate and aggressive than enemies in most shooters. Cloaked enemies move in swiftly to use melee attacks when I’m unaware, and heavy soldiers launch rockets at me when I’m parked behind cover. The aggressive AI make the single player sometimes as challenging as playing against humans in multiplayer, City Interactive told me.
 
The levels I played through are comprised of corridors and caverns, lending Alien Rage a conventional, linear feel. The weapons I use are all assault or pistol archetypes, each with a secondary fire, such as the assault rifle’s grenade launcher. The controls feel tight with a controller, but City Interactive is focusing on keyboard/mouse controls as well.
 
As a downloadable title, City Interactive knows it needs to set Alien Rage apart from the plethora of other shooters on the market. With the game’s difficulty, it just might do that.
 
Alien Rage releases this fall for XBLA and PSN for $20.

While Jeremy and I have posted much of what Mad Catz have announced, I was able to stop by their booth today and met up with Big Boy Barry, Alex Verrey. He walked through a few of the things they were showing off today.

First up was the M.O.J.O., which is their Android micro console. Something different from the OUYA here is that they are allowing it to be very open. How so? Well, it supports Google Play Store. It supports Amazon's Android App store. That means if you are an Android user and you have your library of games, you'll be able to play it on here without having to go through a third party store like how the OUYA does. Games you already own, you'll be able to play on it. Right now, the prototype uses a Tegra 3, but Mad Catz is committed at bringing forth the most powerful mobile chipset there is. It could be a Tegra 4, it could be something else.

There's a small skin that seems to be applied to 4.1 version of Android being run on the M.O.J.O. but those that enjoy a stock experience will like what the M.O.J.O. has to offer. I asked about updates and Mad Catz will be doing updates to the console, which you'll be able to download from their website. Now, we'll have to see how quick they will come out with updates once Google releases them, but the ability is there for updates. The console is unlocked so you could potentially install updates from other developers as well. It's up to you.
It's got all the necessary connections on the back and features 16GB of storage, which is expandable via the SD card slot or USB port. At the show floor, there was a mouse and keyboard connected to it and the M.O.J.O. acted like a mini computer with this setup. You'll be able to also pair it with any Bluetooth controller as well.

It will ship with one C.T.R.L.R., which has some pretty nice little features of its own. First up, this controller features both Bluetooth 4.0 and 3.0 radios. With 4.0, you'll be able to get a years worth of standby power and 40 straight hours of gameplay on two AA batteries. That's a great deal of battery savings if you have a product that has a Bluetooth 4.0 radio to pair it with. The controller felt really comfortable in the hand and really responsive. It was definitely more responsive than the OUYA Bluetooth controller and that translated to a better gaming experience. What's nice about the C.T.R.L.R. is that since it's a Bluetooth controller, you can connect to any other Bluetooth device such as a phone or PC. It can run in Gamesmart mode, which is Mad Catz's way of putting out a standard to make it easy to use with mobile games. There's the traditional PC mode that you can switch to so it acts like a regular controller. Finally, there's a mouse mode that will let you control an onscreen mouse with the stick, letting you play games like Angry Birds on the big screen. If you're playing it with a phone, Mad Catz will also have available a detachable clip that you can put in a phone to. It's large enough to clip a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 to and is adjustable to phones of various other sizes. You'll be able to purchase the C.T.R.L.R. separately of course, and I think it feels like a nice controller with multiple uses. 
  Mad Catz also had an Xbox One on hand with Killer Instinct running. Shown off is their fightstick and they will be the only ones with a fightstick at launch. The buttons and stick have a solid arcade feel, which is no surprise for those that have experienced Mad Catz's fight sticks. There's a hinge that allows you to get to the internals or store the wire, but we weren't allowed to look inside just yet. Also, it will be a lot easier to change the top panel's graphic as the stick can drop and you'll be able to change design with removing the buttons. The buttons light up as well as the side with a soft bottom so it sits on your lap easier. No pricing was available yet, but for those that want a good wired fightstick for Killer Instinct, Mad Catz has you covered. 
 
As mentioned earlier, their lineup of headphones were there and the S.T.R.I.K.E. 3, which is a more entry level keyboard in that line that will come in at around $100, was also briefly touched upon. Overall, Mad Catz has a solid showing and I'm now more interested in the M.O.J.O. and the C.T.R.L.R. after seeing it up close and personal.

A little while ago I posted a video showing Mega Man joining the Smash Bros. cast.  However, what would a new Smash Bros. be with only one new character?  Thus far it seems that three new characters have been announced: Mega Man, The Villager from Animal Crossing, and the Wii Fit Trainer.  Granted those last two kind of made me scratch my head a bit, but if Nintendo can make it work, more power to them.

The video below is a Nintendo Developer Direct that talks about these three characters and their moves.  It's also worth noting than when talking about Mega Man's weapons they show off the Top Spin, which wasn't one of the nine shown in the reveal trailer.  This might be the most use the Top Spin has ever had.  I'm also interested in The Villager's ability to catch projectiles and fire them back, including even Mario's fireballs or Samus's power beam.

Although Microsoft glanced over the announce trailer during their press conference yesterday, the details regarding the new Killer Instinct are starting to make their way out of E3. The development of the new game has been handed off to Double Helix Games, the studio that brought recent titles such as Silent Hill Homecoming and Battleship.

The game will actually be presented as a free to play title via the Xbox Live Marketplace. The base come, which is available to players at no cost, will feature one selectable character: Jago. Addition characters, including Sabretooth and Glacius, will be made available for purchase for those who want to expand their roster. Microsoft is assuring fans that there will be a nice mix of both familiar and completely-new characters. The price points for characters, and other features, will be decided closer to the game’s launch.

You can expect to get your hands on the game when the Xbox One launches this November (reportedly 11/21) as it will be a launch title available for the system.

I, like many people, loved Bayonetta. As much as we love the game, we were also worried that it might lose a little bit of its “edge” when it become a Nintendo exclusive on the Wii U. Platinum Games showed off a new trailer for Bayonetta 2 at E3 this morning which should reassure us all that the witch isn’t going to miss a step on Nintendo’s console.

The latest trailer for Bayonetta 2 looks fantastic and can be found below. The action is every bit as over the top, frantic, and utterly raw as it was in the original. So much for that watered down direction we thought it might go...although I do have one question. If Bayonetta’s power lies in her controlling her hair, why did they give her a short haircut?