R* writes: "As part of our ongoing commitment to combat cheating and griefing, we have recently implemented new systems to allow us to more efficiently detect and target any players found running mods and cheat programs within GTA Online"
Take Two Interactives (NASDAQ:TTWO) Rockstar has proven to be one of the highest revenue generating companies. The anticipation for GTA 5 single player DLC will easily be more than that of many full-fledged titles. Rockstar also has a good record with DLCs, and with games like GTA 4 and Red Dead Redemption, it produced some of the most acclaimed DLCs of all time.
GTA 5 Cheats writes: "Rockstar Games, developer and publisher of the widely acclaimed Grand Theft Auto V, bafflingly, made Script Hook V and Native Trainer incompatible with the Ill-Gotten Gains DLC which came out yesterday."
They say there are only 7 types of story in the entirety of human creation (which is four up on types of video games - we have "shooting", "not shooting" and "sports"). No matter how hard we think, everything we do can be boiled down to basic plots, the animal instincts that drive us funneling our most enlightened thought.
It's much the same for trailers. Look through the annals of E3 history and you'll spot the same tricks popping up again and again, little pieces of shorthand that help direct the advertising we crave into our brains with utmost efficiency. That said, if this list proves anything, it's that trailers are literally twice as creative an endeavour than all human storytelling - here are 14 trailer types to watch out for this year.
Modern gaming's always looked to cinema for a little help - trailers are no exception. A big, grand voiceover groaning out meaningless wisdom, out-of-sequence clips bolted together for dramatic effect, some rousing music, maybe a weighty tagline to go along with the logo. This is the oldest trailer sequence in the book. And it works.
Here's the opposite end of the spectrum from the Hollywood. Your average indie game is, according to recent surveys, made by four men, with three jobs each, two hands, but only one finger on each of those hands. It's tough. That's why the indie trailers that sneak out around the main conferences tend to be pretty badly cut together, with weird little flourishes and miniature stories to follow. They become twice as intriguing than most AAA fare as a result.
The new kid on the trailer block, the Rockstar is named for the company that made it popular. Essentially, it treats us viewers like the vapid, easily-distracted cattle we are by using the voiceover portion to patiently explain every important facet of the game, while accompanying images show us exactly what it's talking about. It's basically a really, really positive preview.
Look, sometimes the game just isn't ready to be shown. Sometimes all you have are a bunch of assets, some sweet design documents with little doodles in the margins and a whole lot of hope. But then a publisher comes along as says you have to show off your game. In this case, you put together a stopgap - a CG proof-of-concept that proves your game exists, even if it shows absolutely nothing else. See you in four years!
A new, more accommodating form of the Stopgap, the Kickstarter fleshes out all that missing gameplay with talking heads, interviewing men and women more used to tweaking camera systems than sitting in front of a real one. The result is most often a stream of platitudes and half-explained features, presumably because a studio executive behind camera is controlling a teleprompter that just endlessly scrolls the words "if you break the non-disclosure agreement you signed, I will remove one of your eyeballs or children".
People love music. Just look at the way no one talks to each other in public anymore - we've all got headphones in because we literally cannot stop listening to the tunes we love. It's the trailer's greatest friend. Put a recognisable track over some nondescript footage and you've got yourself a winner. Even better, get an idiosyncratic cover of a famous track, and people won't even pay attention to the footage because they'll be so busy trying to work out what the song is.
This tends to go hand-in-hand with a Distractor, but it's become so popular that I'm willing to classify it as a genre all of its own. You know that thing where an advert starts putting sound effects in time with the beat of the backing music, and then you imagine a video editor in a tiny, hot room, crying their eyes out as Adobe Premiere crashes again and something inside of them, small but important, breaks forever? This is that, but in game trailers.
This is another Distractor breakaway most of the time, but not exclusively. It basically involves taking a game of one tone (usually wildly frenetic and macho) and presenting it as if it's got an entirely different emotional timbre (usually a bit sad). Everyone knows that their new shooting game won't make them cry or think about real life, but it's nice to pretend it might, for some reason. Just look at the Gears of War 'Mad World' trailer, that weepy Halo: Reach funeral one or, the king of them all, Dead Island, which duped everyone by making us think the game would be at all good. Genius.
This one works on a meta-trailer plane, spoofing other trailer styles to make its own. It's best explained using an example. Take Sunset Overdrive - it starts out as what looks like a Hollywood, then breaks kayfabe and becomes a Rockstar-Distractor hybrid, which in some ways makes it a Knowing Lie too. All of which is to say it looks like a serious gun game and is actually a silly gun game.
This is where the humble gameplay demo comes alive, and the oh-so drab world of "watching a game" gets catapulted into the rich, heady atmosphere of marketing. Sometimes, that gameplay looks a little too good to be believed in - it's in-engine, sure, but is it real? Can we trust that this game we're being shown is the game we're going to play? Can a version of a game that only exists for the purposes of its own gameplay trailer even be called a game at all? It is both game and un-game simultaneously, our minds left to ponder circuitously forever - or at least until the downgraded version with flat lighting and weird facial animations comes out.
Look, the chances of a live-action trailer being anything other than some sub-Syfy Channel business - where guys prance around in fibreglass chainmail and somehow look less realistic than game NPCs - are so slim that I struggle to understand why anyone still makes them. The hit-rate is decidedly low but, to be fair, can lead to some great things, like this still-wonderful Destiny spot. Unfortunately, it's so enjoyable that it makes me regret that the game is almost nothing like it in tone or action. So yeah, live-action stuff. Dodgy.
This has some of the same tonal problems as the Cosplay, but feels less adorably naff and more haughty and obnoxious. It tends to follow a single, prescriptive formula - start with what appears to be real-life news footage and slowly segue into gameplay exposition, establishing a timeline of events. This is presumably meant to make it all feel chillingly "authentic", but in reality lends it a sort of weird neediness, like the game's story couldn't hold up on its own without showing us the horror of Some People Rioting Once. Also, no one can ever make fake news channels look right, for some reason. I still quite like it, though, because it reminds me of the start of the new Mad Max.
These trailers are amazing. A combination of smart editing and neat storylines, subtly hinting at game systems as they go without the need to show gameplay. They whet your appetite for a game perfectly - and almost no game can live up to them. Usually, an Over-reach leads to a game damned by what it doesn't do - just look at Bioshock Infinite. Sometimes, however, an Over-reach is deadly. RI.P. Prey 2 - we barely knew thee, apart from the cool-looking weapon systems and hover boots.
This is the ultimate Stopgap, a rule unto itself. You have literally nothing to show, and can't corral anyone together for a Kickstarter. An Indie's out of the question, and you can't Switcheroo because there's no Roo to Switch to yet. Terrified of making an Over-reach you can't come back from, and a Cosplay you'll regret, there is only one action to take. Just put the logo on screen for a second. That'll do. Good work, everyone!
You feel that in the air? The constant buzzing of press releases and hype trailers? It's E3 season, and that means it's time to get excited once again about the future of video games. Usually, the E3 lifecycle works like this: watch a trailer and some gameplay footage for a hot new game at E3, get really excited about it, wait about a year or two, then finally walk to your local store and pick up a copy of the game.
Sometimes, though, games get stuck at the 'waiting' step and never find a way to get out. Time continues to march on, E3s come and go, and these games either disappear into the aether, or get cancelled outright, leaving behind a video or two and brief demo a handful of people actually got to try. So let's gather ‘round, reminisce on promises left unfulfilled, and pour one out for these E3 vaporware games.
When the Wii was originally unveiled at E3 2006, Nintendo also showcased an array of games that would make a case for its then-unheard-of motion controls. Look at all these beautiful people flailing the Wii Remote around as they wield a virtual sword, baseball bat, or hammer! And while demoed games like Red Steel, Wii Sports, and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess saw the light of day, it was Project H.A.M.M.E.R. that was doomed to get the axe.
In Project H.A.M.M.E.R., you would play as a burly dude covered in power armor, and your objective was to swing around a massive sledgehammer, obliterating every enemy and object in sight. That seems to be about as far as the dev team got, as the game was considered "paused" as of E3 2007. While not officially cancelled by Nintendo, it's been nearly nine years since its initial unveiling, so make of that what you will.
Some console names are a bit strange (seriously Nintendo, the Wii?), while others are a bit more obvious, perfectly encapsulating what the machine is and does (like the PlayStation). But no name is more perfect than The Phantom, a console developed by Infinium labs that, other than brief showing at E3 2004, never saw the light of day.
The Phantom was a console developed by Infinium Labs (rebranded as Phantom Entertainment in 2006). Revealed in 2003 then arriving at E3 in 2004, the idea behind it was, at the very least, ambitious. For under $399, The Phantom was to be a PC that hooked up to your TV like a console, letting you download and install games directly to the device via the internet. It was essentially a Steam Machine before Steam was even a thing, but release dates came and went as the machine's release ended up pushed beyond 2005, finally removed from Phantom Entertainment's website in 2006. Perhaps the world just wasn't quite ready for a living room PC solution, but at least there's a silver lining to this story: Phantom Entertainment still exists, and - a couch-based keyboard originally designed for the The Phantom console.
Exclusives are important for any console manufacturer. Each box essentially does the same thing, so you have to give people a reason to buy your machine over the competition's. So when Sony announced in 2007 that a game from the studio behind Grand Theft Auto was coming exclusively to PlayStation, it was perceived as a big get for the company that sat firmly in second place.
It's unfortunate, then, that the only official image we've seen of the game since its E3 unveiling was the logo. A few screenshots have leaked out since then, and publisher Take-Two still claims that the game is in development. Rockstar Games is known for taking its sweet time developing games, but eight years on a single game is a bit much.
The 21st century hasn't exactly been kind to LucasArts. For every Knights of the Old Republic, there was a Star Wars Kinect; for every Mercenaries, there was a Fracture. It wasn't exactly a surprise when LucasArts effectively ceased operations in 2013 following Disney's acquisition of basically everything George Lucas owned. But it was still a shame - especially because it meant cancelling the one project that could have put LucasArts back on the map: Star Wars 1313.
Starring a young Boba Fett, Star Wars 1313 would have followed the bounty hunter's first adventures, and made it out to be a third-person shooter filled with heavily-scripted set-pieces, similar to Uncharted. Except, y'know, it's Star Wars. While the demo looked promising, 1313 was officially canned a year later, as LucasArts laid off the majority of its staff.
Some games are lucky enough to escape their vaporware fate, and there's probably no greater turnaround story than Prey, that somehow actually turned out alright considering the circumstances. Unfortunately, its sequel didn't end up so lucky.
While a sequel was reportedly in development shortly after the first game's release in 2006, it wasn't officially unveiled until 2011. Taking place after the events of the first game, Prey 2 would have followed the adventures of US Marshal Killian Samuels, a single human living among an array of alien races, hunting bounties and earning cash to survive. Prey 2 made a showing at E3 that year, but shortly after, rumors began to swirl about its cancellation. Bethesda continued to deny rumors until 2014, when Bethesda VP Pete Hines confirmed that development on the title had ceased.
So Nintendo struck paydirt with the Wii, and games like Wii Fit and Wii Sports flourished with an audience who would have never thought to pick up a gaming console in their lives. In an effort to keep that gravy train rolling, Nintendo wanted to create a controller that everyone could use, a controller so simple, all you have to do is put your finger in it and sit there. Enter the Vitality Sensor.
In an ideal world, the Vitality Sensor would have gathered the player's biometric data (namely, their pulse) and the game would then take that data and react accordingly. But despite an initial announcement by Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata at E3 2009, the device essentially disappeared without a trace. It wasn't until 2013 that Iwata confirmed why this strange peripheral never got released: turns out, it only worked for . It doesn't sound like that big of a gap, but when ten percent of the people who buy your product are returning it because they think it doesn't work, it's probably best to shelve it.
Peter Molyneux is basically the Willy Wonka of game design - except Molyneux's Fizzy Lifting Drinks don't do much more than taste like an off-brand Sprite and give you a slight caffeine buzz. Not that he makes bad games; it's just that they end up kind of pedestrian in comparison to the pie-in-the-sky promises that he makes leading up to their release. And there's perhaps no greater example than Molyneux's ability to over-promise and under-deliver than Project Milo.
The idea (as these things tend to go) looked promising, as you interacted with a virtual young boy with voice and hand gestures via Kinect, and the boy would react to your statements and change over time. It all sounded a bit too good to be true, especially considering , despite Molyneux's insistence to the contrary. Considering Molyneux's departure from Microsoft in 2012, it's doubtful this project will be completed.
You'd be forgiven if you don't remember the original Phantom Dust on the Xbox. Even though it was developed by Microsoft Japan, it's still pretty niche, combining third-person action, card-collecting, and multiplayer arena battles. Microsoft's been on a rebooting kick lately, taking old properties that the publisher owns and getting other studios to remake them for Xbox One. Phantom Dust was the latest to supposedly get the treatment, complete with an E3 2014 trailer.
But within a year of its announcement, the studio behind the remake , leaving the ultimate future of Phantom Dust in question. Microsoft has stated that they are committed to the title and that development still continues, but it's probably going to be another couple of years before we ever see anything about this strange hybrid again. I suppose getting shut down quickly is better than getting strung along for years, but still - that was fast.
Las Vegas, that strip of hedonism and hubris out in the middle of the desert, has never really been immortalized in video games (though Fallout: New Vegas gets it pretty close). There are casino games, sure, but there's never been been a game that fully encapsulates the celebrity DJ/bottle service/$7.99 all-you-can-eat buffet experience that Las Vegas is really known for. And thanks to the cancellation of This Is Vegas, we're going to have to wait even longer.
First hinted at in 2006, the splendor of This Is Vegas wasn't fully revealed until 2008, and was scheduled for release later that year. Unfortunately, thanks to publisher Midway's own personal financial woes (many of them likely brought on by This Is Vegas' ballooning costs, as the publisher reportedly spent Keep the Vegas dream alive.
Here it is: the White Whale of vaporware. Blizzard is known for only releasing games when they're "done", which of course means they take years longer to make than most, and the studio isn't afraid to shelve something if they don't think it's worth continuing - even if that means cancelling a game after years of development. StarCraft: Ghost would have put players in the role of the titular sniper as she sneaks her way through various sci-fi environments, completing objectives, and shooting Zerg in the face.
Unfortunately, development didn't go as smoothly as you'd expect. Originally planned for a 2003 release, Ghost underwent numerous delays, and even changed hands from developer Nihilistic to Swingin' Ape Studios. It was then relaunched at E3 2005 and slated for a release in 2006 - which came and went, and Ghost was still a no-show. Around that time, a little game you've probably never heard of called World of Warcraft released, and Blizzard decided to pour resources into its new MMO rather than continue working on a stealth-based PS2/Xbox game, so it put Ghost on indefinite hold. If you're still holding out hope, don't: Blizzard CEO Mike Morhaime finally put a bullet in this one, confirming its cancellation in 2014.
