E3 2014 - "Guilty Gear Xrd" Is Art In Motion

Guilty Gear Xrd was announced as a PS4 and PS3 exclusive at E3 with a slated western release for sometime later this year. And I personally can't wait, because I seriously want to spend a few weeks studying the absolutely impressive cel shading style that looks 2D during fights, but is anything but when the players pull off special moves and victory stances.

Following years of legal battles to reclaim the rights to the Guilty Gear franchise following them ending up with Sega after a merger that shifted the IP into different hands, the developer finally got a chance to develop a proper follow up in 2011. During those years of legal wrangling we got the Blaz Blue franchise from developer Arc System Works, which was touted as a spiritual successor. While it had the same vibe, it never quite gelled with me from a gameplay standpoint due to the mechanics. Either way, if you're into the fighting games this is definitely one to keep an eye out for.

E3 2014 - "Secret Ponchos" Looks Fun As Hell

At last year's E3, one of the funnest titles we played at the PS4 indie booth was Secret Ponchos by newcomer studio Switchblade Monkeys. Aside from the amazing stylized look it had, the game was a fast paced isometric 'duel' game in which anywhere from 2 to multiple people would engage in frantic, but balanced battles with a slew of colorful characters. Each character had his own set of distinct abilities: Phantom Poncho could use his whip to snare a player and facilitate delivering a fatal shotgun blow, Kid Red could use a timed TNT charge to crowd control opponents.

And it was addictive as hell one year ago, so you can imagine that one year of polish has probably done wonders for the game, which honestly seemed ready to go last we saw it. The title will be dropping sometime later this year, and we're looking forward to taking it for a spin.

Secret Ponchos takes place in a dramatic Wild West setting, full of tension, stylization and attitude reflective of a graphic-novel. In a town crawling with bandits, murderers and bounty hunters you are an outlaw with a bounty on your head and everyone is gunning for you. In order to survive you must be the best and to gain notoriety you must defeat your opponents--claiming their achievements as your own.

E3 2014 - PS4 Indie Roundup: ABZÛ, Pavillion, Hotline Miami 2, Talos Principle, Night In The Woods, Rogue Legacy, Nuclear Throne

Sony embraced the indies this year with full force, expanding on the initiative that captivated so many people last year. And this year's offerings are no exception, with a whole slew of fantastic titles being announced for release in the near future. While Microsoft seemed to opt for a quantity approach while trying to adapt their outlook to a more gaming-centric direction, Sony focused on a smaller and more manicured list of titles.

The most notable exclusives were titles like Hotline Miami 2, Broforce and the beautiful looking Abzu (Above), but there were quite a few other interesting titles announced that we hadn't seen before as well, like Croteam's intriguing looking Talos Principle. No Man's Sky is also a PS4 exclusive, but that title was so ambitious that it warranted it's own feature. Check out the lineup after the break.

ABZÛ will take players on an epic adventure into the depths of the ocean, where they will encounter majestic creatures and discover long lost secrets. The game draws inspiration from a deep, innate story that we all carry in our collective subconscious, a universal origin myth that resonates across cultures. As such, the name ABZÛ references a concept from the oldest Mesopotamian mythology: it is the combination of two ancient words Ab, meaning ocean, and Zû, meaning to know. Essentially, ABZÛ is the ocean of wisdom.

E3 2014 - Insomniac Unveils "Ratchet And Clank" Movie

Following the reveal of the Sly Cooper film earlier this year and the recent announcement of a Ratchet And Clank film at this year's E3- It seems like Sony is intent on expanding some of their most popular franchises into the cinematic realm. Not a bad thing necessarily as Ratchet And Clank always had the stylings of an animated feature, especially in the most recent installments. Set to be released sometime in 2015, the movie appears to be an incredibly faithful adaptation of the franchise.

The multiple installments of the games games followed Ratchet, a cat like tinkerer with an affinity for gadgets hailing from an extinct race of intelligent creatures called Lombaxes. Driven from their home following a great war, Ratchet's hunt to find traces of his fellow Lombax became a reoccurring theme of the franchise since the release of the first title in 2002. Looking forward to learning more about this feature, which is slated to release sometime in 2015.

Ratchet and Clank tells the story of two unlikely heroes as they struggle to stop a vile alien named Chairman Drek from destroying every planet in the Solana Galaxy. When the two stumble upon a dangerous weapon capable of destroying entire planets, they must join forces with a team of colorful heroes called The Galactic Rangers in order to save the galaxy. Along the way they'll learn about heroism, friendship, and the importance of discovering one's own identity. 

E3 2014 - "No Man's Sky" Is An Indie That Puts AAA Games To Shame

Seven employees. Seven employees. After watching this trailer I felt nothing but disbelief at seeing the execution of an impossibly ambitious vision with such a small team. It made me realize that there's no longer a need for hundreds of millions of dollars in budget, AAA level marketing to create a title that blows away traditional scope as we know it.

Out of all the titles shown at E3, No Man's Sky probably had the most impressive visual impact, simply because of how much they accomplished with less. They also managed to execute a concept that many AAA games have failed time and time again to accomplish: The ability to seamlessly take off from a planet into space, mixed with elements of Minecraft and an infinite, procedural universe for players to explore. And all this with fluid looking multiplayer.

No more artificial barriers or boundaries, any place you see is a place you can visit. If the team at Hello Games is able to make the gameplay compelling with the current visual fidelity they've been able to execute thanks to some very smart procedural generation - I get the feeling we'll have a game on our hands that might shake the foundation of the industry in terms of what's possible with smaller teams. With game budgets ballooning into the hundreds of millions this generation, perhaps it's time to reconsider whether celebrity cameos and bloated marketing budgets are necessary to make a better game.

No Man's Sky will be hitting Playstation 4 and PC at an unspecified date in the future, and I'm honestly very hopeful that this title will offer an experience unlike anything we've seen yet out of the indie scene.

E3 2014 - "Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain" Trailer

If you've had the chance to reach the end of Kojima's miniature taste of what's to come with Ground Zeroes, this trailer for Phantom Pain will make a lot more sense.We witness Big Boss (The Snake from Metal Gear Solid 3) rebuilding Mother Base and burying the Diamond Dogs comrades lost in that momentous attack, which carried a heavy toll for everyone involved. Cold war is in the air with scenes from Afghanistan, Soviet era troops rumble through the desert menacingly.

Faces from the past appear in this trailer- Revolver Ocelot training new recruits on Mother Base, Huey - Otacon's father is seen being interrogated for unknown reasons. A conflict between Eli (A suspected young Solid Snake) and Big Boss unfolds. Yet the overall tone of this game is clear- Anger, hatred and pain.

I've always loved how Kojima's been able to fill in the gaps with timelines between games, and this looks like it'll be no exception, offering us a conclusion to the events of Peacewalker and pieces of the puzzle regarding the backstories of characters in past titles taking part in the future (That was a mouthful, I know). Considering the absolutely awful things that happened at the end of Ground Zeroes (I won't spoil it, but it was probably one of the hardest sequences to watch in a videogame), I'm guessing the motivation behind Big Boss will lead to some truly dark events in retaliation for the attack that took so many of his comrades lives. Looking forward to checking this out when it releases (No date set yet).

E3 2014 - "Valiant Hearts" : Crossed Destinies, Broken Love And A Neverending War

Ubisoft revealed a new trailer for Valiant Hearts, the latest project to be built on the same 2D engine that brought us the likes of Rayman Legends and the stunning Child Of Light recently. Telling the tale of four unsung heroes from World War I, their stories are all linked by a trusty companion dog called Walt. This game feels like it will be heavy on the narrative, but I don't mind as the stories being told are based off of real letters gathered from people on the front between 1914-1918.

The art style looks absolutely amazing as well, emulating a stylized bande desinee look mixed with some subtle, atmospheric lighting effects to truly deliver the emotional impact that a narrative set in such a grim setting is set to drop on us. Look forward to playing this artsy puzzle adventure hybrid when it's released later this month (June 25).

Four unsung heroes will try to rise above the tragedies strewn across Europe and band together with their dog, Walt, in search of their loved ones. In Valiant Hearts, the lives of these characters are inextricably drawn together over the course of the story. Friendship, love, sacrifice and tragedy befall each one as they help each other to retain their humanity against the horrors of war

E3 2014 - Xbox One Indie Roundup: Hyperlight Drifter, Cuphead, Ori And The Blind Forest, Hellraid, Inside, Aztez

Microsoft unveiled a full slew of indie titles as part of their revised, gaming centric strategy for E3 this year -And to be honest we're relieved to see them learn from the mistakes of last year's event with the Xbox One reveal, which focused on anything but that aspect. There were zero mentions of the Kinect at the conference, and their press conference was close to 90 minutes of just pure gameplay with little fluff in between.

One of the coolest indie titles to be unveiled was Ori And The Blind Forest, a title that's been in development for close to 4 years now at the German Moon Studios. Featuring beautiful, painterly environments with story driven 2D gameplay, the title gave off a vibe that I've come to expect from the likes of Team Ico (Fingers crossed for The Last Guardian later today!). We've picked a few of our favorite indie titles from their upcoming lineup, which you can check out after the break.

Ori and the Blind Forest is an action-adventure platformer that combines deep exploratory gameplay with emotional storytelling. Join Ori to solve the mysteries of a dying forest while escaping the evil clutches of Kuro, the dark owl.

E3 2014 - "Sunset Overdrive" Pokes Fun At Activision With Their Latest And Greatest Trailer

Amidst a sea of grit, grays and browns lies a new AAA hope and darling - Insomniac's Sunset Overdrive. For E3 they played it pretty clever by playing up the fact that they're one of the incredibly few new franchises to pop up and re-embrace an art direction style that's been mostly absent in main stream games as of late- Colorful.

Call Of Duty is the obvious target here, with the colorful protagonist making fun of the stale gameplay and art style before offering an introduction to Sunset City and plenty of gameplay to boot. Out of all the Xbox One exclusives, without a doubt this is probably one of the most desirable offerings they've had to show yet.  It's loud, rambunctious and is (As they put it) the culmination of everything Insomniac's been working towards all these years.

While I haven't picked up an Xbox yet, this is one of those titles that would probably get me to drop the money on one. A breath of fresh air outside the indie gaming scene, finally. And also, let's not forget that the amazing folks at Honkfu lent their distinct art styles to help shape the world of Sunset Overdrive.

E3 2014 - Capcom Gets Ridiculous With "Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX Plus Alpha Prime"

Now this is DLC presentation done right. Capcom just announced a rather amazing piece of content for Xbox One's Dead Rising 3, transporting all the protagonists of the game into a hyper violent, retro arcade world. Think of it as a Wreck It Ralph for adults.

Created to celebrate Capcom's 31st Anniversary, the title features the four protagonists with the ability to cosplay as a ton of retro arcade characters from Capcom canon: Captain Commando, Mike Haggar, Felicia, Tofu and a monstrous undead M. Bison looking boss to face off against. The DLC is out now, so pick it up if you get a chance- Looks crazy fun.