Those fearing vampires will now forever be associated with the awful “Twilight” brand name are in for a treat. Konami announced at E3 they are working on two new Castlevania games: Mirror of Fate and Lords of Shadow 2. Both are set after the events of Castlevania: Lords of Shadows, released in 2010 on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. Taking place in 11^th century medieval Europe with a plot concerned with the beginning of the Belmont/Dracula feud, Lords of Shadow served as a reboot to the series featuring the new character Gabriel Belmont.

Originally revealed by Nintendo Power a few days before E3, Mirror of Fate is being developed for the 3DS by MercurySteam, the studio that made Lords of Shadow. Set 25 years after Lords of Shadow, the plot follows Trevor Belmont as he tries to discover what happened to his father, Gabriel Belmont. Trevor, however, is far from being the only playable character. Simon Belmont, Alucard and one other yet to be revealed character will all be controllable, with the player switching between characters in predetermined areas in the game.

Interestingly, many of these characters have already appeared in the franchise, although under different circumstances. Trevor Belmont was the main character of Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse on the Nintendo Entertainment System and also featured in Castlevania: Curse of Darkness on the Playstation 2 and Xbox, both of which were set in the late 15^th century. Simon Belmont is probably the most famous of all Belmonts, having been in several Castlevania games, including the first two, and was born in 1667. Alucard, the son of Dracula, has also been playable in several games, with his most noteworthy appearances being in Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse alongside Simon, and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

It is unclear whether these characters in Mirror of Fate are meant to represent the characters listed above in an alternate universe, or are simply completely different people. Perhaps Konami is trying to ease fans into this reboot by including familiar characters.

Also uncertain is the style of the game: although it is known the game will be set in 2D, it is not known if it will feature different levels, as was the case of Lords of Shadow, or just have one big playing area, with certain areas requiring special abilities for access. Previous games that have fallen into the latter category have been nicknamed “Metroidvania” for their gameplay reminiscent of Metroid. Since Symphony of the Night, all major 2D Castlevania games have been this way.  However, with the reboot and a different story may come a different style of gameplay.

Mirror of Fate is meant as a prequel to Lords of Shadow 2, setting up the events for its console counterpart, and is due for release this fall.

Although details are scarce about Lords of Shadow 2, some elements of the plot were revealed. The game will star Gabriel Belmont, now a vampire, as he deals with a new threat in addition to his former family hunting him down. The debut trailer showed Alucard, although at this time it is unknown whether or not he will be a playable character.

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Now that the E3 Conference has wrapped up, even more information has been revealed about the new game play mechanics and features in the upcoming “Assassin’s Creed III.” In part 1, the storyline and setting were discussed in addition to some new features of game play. “Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation” and the DLCs for “Assassin’s Creed III” were also discussed. In part 2, the heart of game play is revealed.

At the E3 conference in early June, several of these new announcements were made regarding aspects of movement. The creators have worked to put more momentum into Connor’s action – rebuilding how this assassin moves from the ground up. Unlike the previous games, Connor will not have to stop to do assassinations and he can continue straight from an assassination to fighting with other enemies or running away.

Stealth and escape are amplified through the new uses for the brotherhood members. Connor will still have access to the other assassins but now he can also hire them to pretend to be soldiers; this new aspect will significantly aid in stealth and assassination missions, since these assassins can also pretend to have captured Connor.

This new assassin will still participate in the citizen rescue that was used for Brotherhood recruitment in Brotherhood and Revelations, but each mission will be unique. Every non-player character (NPC) in the game will have their own goals and motivation thanks to the AI technologies of the AnvilNext engine. NPCs and Connor can be attacked by animals suck as wolves, bears, and dogs. Another returning feature includes the underground tombs and the puzzles, although the puzzles will be completely different from what we have seen in the past.

Multiplayer gaming will return as well and it too has changed dramatically. Now individuals will work in teams of four battling to hold three key points in a domination style game. Teams can chose their own unique attire to distinguish themselves from opponents and NPCs. Players can also interact with NPCs during the game, making it harder for opponents to recognize and track down each other.

ACIII will also include a new naval battle mini-game. Since the Revolutionary War was fought by land and sea, including naval battles in ACIII was extremely important to the creators, according to their presentation at the E3 conference. Connor is the captain of a ship and during battles he will steer and order the crew when to fire at enemy ships. Weather will change randomly and will significantly affect the sea and how the player maneuvers his or her vessel. During a battle players will be able to sink enemy ships as well as board them. This announcement is perhaps the most exciting of the Assassin’s Creed III developments to emerge from the E3 conference.

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Following the Nintendo Press Conference on Tuesday, Nintendo offered a web follow up on Wednesday with the Nintendo All-Access 3DS Software Showcase. The 3DS Software Showcase offered some new, and not so new, insight to up and coming games for the 3DS, as well as some features for the Nintendo eStore. Though the showcase was insightful and entertaining, it still felt like Nintendo was holding back some details and they did not produce anything to ‘wow’ anyone. With that out of the way, let us take a look at the hits and misses of Nintendo’s All-Access 3DS Software Showcase.

Hosting the showcase was Nintendo of America’s Executive Vice President in charge of Sales and Marketing, Scott Moffitt. Moffitt opens the night by stating that the “best portable gaming is found on the 3DS console” and goes on to introduce future games to come by starting off with Konami’s Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate.

The latest installment of the Castlevania series, Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate is part of the reboot of the Castlevania series. Features introduced for the game were the revival of whip swinging, secondary weapons such as the boomerang, map navigation via the touch screen, and four playable characters which currently include Trevor and Alucard. The gameplay really gives the game a retro feel going back to the original game series along with blending this style with the later games found on the DS. The game was announced to be released in the Fall of 2012.

Warren Spector and Peter Ong introduced Epic Mickey Power of Illusion. The game is its own story with no connection to the previous Epic Mickey title, but is in fact based off the classic Disney game Castle of Illusion (remarked as the best Mickey game to date). The game introduces a team up between Mickey and Oswald along with the ability to paint in object and the ability to erase enemies via the touch pad. The game is scheduled to be released November 16th of this year.

Nate Bihldorff discussed Paper Mario Sticker Star. Like Luigi’s Mansion, much of what was described about the game was mentioned in Nintendo’s previous Press Conference, with an addition of a few new examples. The new Paper Mario game heavily revolves around the new sticker system. Stickers are Mario’s means of attack, from basic attacks to item attacks, they are all sticker based. The RPG element has also been updated, which does not involve attacking enemies to earn XP. This time Mario must earn his health boost and attack boost by completing tasks or by finding hidden passages. The game is scheduled to be released during the holiday season.

Nate also discussed information on the New Super Mario Bros 2. The new Mario Bros game for the 3DS, as detailed in Nintendo’s Press Conference, is heavily coin based. Along with the usual game mode, a special counter has been added which keeps track of Mario’s coin count. This coin counter will play a heavy role in the new challenge mode that has been introduced, Coin Rush.

Coin Rush is a speed run mode with a twist, the twist being that the player must collect as much coins as he can while trying to make record time to add to their coin count. The game also introduces a co-op mode, in which the player and a friend can team up to beat the story. The last announcement is the return of the Tanooki suit and the ability to fly. New Super Mario Bros 2 is scheduled to be released August 19th in store and as a download.

The showcase also announced that the new Pokemon games Black and White 2 will be released on the 3DS. The games will also be able to function with Pokemon Dream Radar and Pokedex 3D Pro (both are exclusive releases through the Nintendo eStore). The release dates for the games have not yet been released.

Besides other third party games, again previously announced, the Showcase went into some new details about what’s new with the Nintendo eStore. The Nintendo eStore is looking to bridge the gap between stores and web purchases, by further expanding their catalog of games available for download and giving people the option of purchasing the game in a store or the option of purchasing a download card.

Overall, it was nice to see some more details about some of the hot games coming out for the 3DS, but a lot of it felt rehashed from the first press conference, with an exception of a few new details for Paper Mario and New Super Mario Bros 2. One game that Nintendo continued to leave out was Animal Crossing for the 3DS, a popular series that has had its share of success was yet again left out of Nintendo’s E3 showcase. In the end, the 3DS showcase was better than the Nintendo Press Conference, but still lacked a lot of game details and surprises that Nintendo really need at E3 this year.

Image Courtesey of  Sklathill

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Paramount Pictures and leading video game publisher and developer Namco Bandai Games America gave fans the first look at the key villain to be featured in the upcoming Star Trek video game inspired by J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek (2009) film reboot.

The announcement made at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), revealed that a legendary lizard-like race known in Trek lore as “The Gorn” will play the destructive and villainous role in the video game releasing in early 2013. The co-op game is based on a standalone storyline that continues the adventure of iconic characters Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock as they work together to stop the Gorn, an enemy race bent on conquering the galaxy.

“The Gorn are among the most iconic villians in the Star Trek universe and their role in this game certainly lives up to that persona,” said Brian Miller, Senior Vice President at Paramount Pictures and Lead Game Producer. “Kirk and Spock find themselves in an incredibly challenging amount of mayhem as they confront the Gorn throughout the game.”

More than just lizard-skinned foes, the Gorn are a blood-thirsty race determined to conquer the galaxy. A true military dictatorship, the Gorn are made up of billions of self-sacrificing warriors across thousands of colonies, each focused on the conquest of alien races. By utilizing their chaos-causing infectious venom, the Gorn seed mayhem and destruction as they destroy populations and deplete planets of their resources.

“Great villains give our favorite characters a chance to become heroes in the process of attempting to eliminate a powerful threat, and Star Trek fans have been eagerly anticipating the moment when the antagonists of the game would be revealed,” said Carlson Choi, VP of Marketing at Namco Bandai Games America Inc. “This is one of those moments and we couldn’t be more excited to give gamers a glimpse at the challenges that lie ahead for Kirk and Spock.”

The Gorn range in size and abilities, infecting their foes with venom that can poison, cause hallucinations, and even kill. From the smaller infantry Gorn Rushers, to the larger Gorn Warriors and the massive Gorn Brutes, the Gorn provides a serious direct threat, while the wall-climbing Gorn females showcase the cunning for which this race is feared. Technologically capable and possessing the antithesis of Federation ideals, the Gorn pose a devastating threat to Starfleet, the Enterprise, and its crew.

With a storyline occurring after the events of J.J. Abram’s 2009 Star Trek reboot, the Star Trek video game puts players in the shoes of seminal heroes Captain James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, inviting them to work together to take on the ferocious Gorn in this epic action adventure. Built from the ground up as the ultimate co-op experience, players are set on a journey of immense proportions across unexplored planets and enemy battleships with the latest 23rd century weapons and gear. Kirk and Spock’s complementary personalities result in the most fully realized and varied co-op experience for this console generation.

Under a license from CBS Consumer Products, the game is being developed by Ontario-based developer Digital Extremes (Bioshock 2, Unreal Tournament, Dark Sector, The Darkness II) with production being overseen by Paramount Pictures and a scheduled release in early 2013 for Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC.

For more information on the Star Trek video game, please visit www.startrekgame.com  and follow the game on Twitter at www.twitter.com/star_trek_game.

For more information about Namco Bandai Games, please visit http://www.namcobandaigames.com.

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