Spore Origins for the iPhone has been posted on the iPhone App Store. It's pretty similar to the first stage of Spore itself, though it definitely has a more "arcade-like" feel and seems to offer a bit more replayability (it has two game modes, greater level diversity, takes longer to complete, has "achievements", etc). It also controls well and looks good, putting the graphical capabilities of the iPhone to use. It's $10.
Rumor has it (courtesy of Shacknews) that Ensemble Studios is in the process of shutting down. The developer, wholly owned by Microsoft, are currently putting the finishing touches on the Halo Wars real-time strategy game. More distressing in my opinion: These are the guys behind Age of Empires, a top-notch semi-historical RTS series that I've written about before. Halo Wars looks cool, but I'd really hate to never see another AOE title. Update: It's now official - how unfortunate. What will become of AOE?
Last weekend, Glenna, Paul and I attended E For All, the consumer-oriented half of what used to be the E3 Expo.
We had a good time, though in many respects the expo itself did not live up to the hype. There were a handful of big exhibitors in attendance (Nintendo, EA and Konami being notable examples) but many more opted not to - including the likes of industry giants Sony and Microsoft. As you can imagine, this put a huge dent in how many people showed up and the number of A-list titles on display.
The following video recap from Screw Attack more or less sums up the positives and negatives of the show. Granted, this is their first year out but I hope they put a stronger effort into recruiting the big names in the market to show up.
Even though it was definitely no E3 (which I’ve also been to in the past and enjoyed greatly), we did get to see a few good games. Here are my impressions:
Guitar Hero III
If you liked Guitar Hero II, you’re probably going to like this game just as much. There honestly isn’t that much new to it, though battle mode is a lot of fun and should offer Paul ever more ways to hand my ass to me in a Guitar Hero game.
Rock Band
Rock Band is similar to Guitar Hero, though it takes the game a step further by including drums and a microphone to the mix along with the usual lead and bass guitars - allowing for up to four players to get in on the action.
I personally feel that Rock Band’s presentation is much better in Rock Band, though, and the tour mode (single or multiple player) adds an element and feel to the game lacking in Guitar Hero’s comparatively simple “play down a list of increasingly difficult songs” motif.
I have to admit, I am a bit more hyped for this game than Guitar Hero III, though I’m planning to get both when released. I also preferred the look and feel of the Rock Band guitar, though that is somewhat subjective.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Glenna and I had a chance to go head-to-head in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, the upcoming continuation of Nintendo’s unusual and highly-addictive fighting franchise. Not much to say here except that if you liked the previous games, I think this one will be a hit as well.
Rayman Raving Rabbids 2
A sequel to the enjoyable launch title for the Nintendo Wii, Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 continues along the same vein (judging from the six European-themed mini-games we played). They seem to have improved the multiplayer experience, however, allowing up to four players to get in on the action at once - in the previous game, you usually took turns.
There were a few other A-list titles shown at E For All - Super Mario Bros. Galaxy and Metal Gear Solid 4 in particular - but not really a whole lot else. More notable were all the games that weren’t there in any capacity, some of which I really would like to see (Spore, LittleBigPlanet, Haze, Grand Theft Auto IV, etc).
