SDCC – Games
SDCC – Games
San Diego Comic Con is one of the biggest events on the calendar, and with it comes its trademark mix of comics, movies, TV, games, cosplay, toys, weirdness and much more. We’ve tried desperately to keep track of everything that went on and cherry pick out the best news from the show. Here’s our picks from the games on show at SDCC.
Check out our other San Diego Comic Con wrap-ups; Games | Movies | TV
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham was officially announced at SDCC this weekend, promising to take the series to new heights – in space and beyond! The game promises to be “this year’s ultimate super hero video game for all ages“.
Here’s the official launch trailer for the game;
Not content with simply announcing the title and giving us the launch trailer (below), we also get this cast video showcasing a host of the heroes and villains who will appear in the game including 1960’s Batman, voiced by none other than Adam West!
Here, have a few more cast screenshots too to whet your appetite even further;
LEGO Batman 3: Beyond Gotham will release in autumn on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, 3DS and PC.
Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Alongside the launch of a new trailer for the forthcoming title Middle-earth: Shadow Of Mordor, publisher Warner Bros announced that the release date for the title is moving forward, something that simply doesn’t occur enough in the games industry, and will now release on October 3 in the UK.
Warner Bros said of the game;
“Based on hearing fans’ excitement over the latest chronicle in Middle-earth, WBIE will release the action game earlier than originally planned at all participating retailers. In the game, players will experience the depth of the Nemesis System, where every enemy is unique, differentiated by their appearance, personality, strengths and weaknesses. These enemies are shaped by their encounters with the player to create personal archenemies who are unique to every gameplay session.”
Here’s the new trailer too;
The Walking Dead: Season 3
Yeah, we know Season 2 of the Telltale Games’ series hasn’t reached its conclusion yet, but creator Robert Kirkman and Telltale Games president Kevin Bruner confirmed that we absolutely will be seeing a third season of The Walking Dead.
Confirmed at #SDCC! @telltalegames President @kevbru & @RobertKirkman "There WILL be a 3rd season of #TheWalkingDead" pic.twitter.com/d78HM3rm8C
— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) July 26, 2014
The original season picked up a lot of love and accolades, so it’s no surprise that Telltale want to further continue the story; if that’s what they intend to do. No further details were offered, not even confirmation if we can expect to see everybody’s favorite video game child Clementine involved.
Mass Effect
Mass Effect developers BioWare hosted a panel at SDCC covering the development of the new entry in the popular series, the first to break away from the original trilogy and lead character Shepherd. They didn’t give a major amount of details away at the panel, but here’s a quick list of what was confirmed and discussed;
- The player character in the next Mass Effect title will be human, not any of the games other races
- The game could occur during Shepherd’s lifetime
- Exploration will serve a much greater role than the latter games, with the Mako vehicle making a return (see below)
- The Mako has been re-designed and will be much faster than previously
- Mako customization is something that BioWare are considering
- Alien races will return, but it’s not clear whether previous game characters will also return
- The game will make use of the FrostBite 3 engine allowing for animations they “couldn’t even imagine before”
- Co-Operative multiplayer is more important to bioWare than competitive
- The release of the next title is likely to be “years” away yet
- Some cheeky photos showing possible new N7 armor were taken (see below)
- The game will not be called Mass Effect 4
Here are the photos from BioWare’s slides;
Lords Of The Fallen
Publisher Square Enix and developer CI Games announced the Day One Edition of forthcoming RPG title Lords Of The Fallen. Pre-ordering will secure you the Day One Edition which unlocks exclusive story DLC, additional weapons, and the official soundtrack to the game.
The single player DLC is entitled Monk’s Decipher and is described to “offer more single player action, uncovering hidden secrets throughout the three worlds Harkyn explores in Lords of the Fallen, while the Demonic Weapons pack includes three devastating new weapons.“
Halo
A trailer was shown for the live action series Halo: Nightfall, which can be seen here;
The live action series will launch alongside Halo: The Master Chief Collection and will take place between Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians. The series will be based on the colony world of Sedra where a terrorist attack catches “legendary manhunter” Agent Locke and his team off guard. It will be an origin story for the character, who will play an important role in the Halo 5: Guardians game.
Here are some stills from the series;
Developer 343 Industries also discussed Halo: The Master Chief Collection, stating that all of the Halo games included in the collection will contain the same glitches as the original titles. The soundtrack has also been improved, alongside other visual improvements for the titles.
There entire panel for Halo can be watched here;
Battlefield: Hardline
The single player storyline for Battlefield: Hardline will revolve around a framed cop, imaginatively called Nick, looking to clear his name. Hardline‘s creative director Ian Milham said that Nick was “framed when a drug bust in meth country didn’t go down as planned“.
Nick will be going in behind enemy lines undercover in order to investigate what happened. The player is also said to be able to see both sides of the story play out dynamically and the campaign will star actors Eugene Byrd, Kelly Hu, Benito Martinez and Mark Rolston.
Assassin’s Creed: Unity
One clever attendee was able to record the following 8 minute of jittery gameplay footage from Unity;
SDCC also saw the premiere of an animated movie short that The Walking Dead co-creator Tony Moore teamed up with Rob Zombie to create for Assassin’s Creed: Unity – be warned, it is fairly graphic and bloody, leaving little to the imagination, but it’s well worth a look.
Tekken x Street Fighter
Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada confirmed at SDCC that Tekken x Street Fighter is still in development, although nothing from the game was at the show … but Tekken 7 was (see below.
Tekken 7
Publisher Namco Bandai Games showed off more of Tekken 7 in a full length three minute trailer.
Skylanders
It was confirmed at SDCC that publisher Activision will be launching more powerful, elite character toys for its Skylanders series later in the year, at a premium price point. The line will originally launch with two figures; Elite Spyro and Elite Chop Chop with a further six figures from the original Skylanders roster.
The new figures will be up to three times stronger than other characters in-game, offering an increased stat boost for Skylanders fans.
So there you have it, the PopGeeks run-down of all things gaming from San Diego Comic Con 2014.
Don’t forget to check out our other San Diego Comic Con wrap-ups; Games | Movies | TV