Epic Games Showcases Next-Gen Engine

A lot of big things happened during this year's GDC, one of those was a private screening of  Epic Games' next-gen Unreal engine. Thankfully someone was kind enough to sneak some footage from the event. Good lord, does it look good. 
While I'm hoping for a couple more years before the next-gen kicks off, this Unreal showcase is lubing me up for incredible things to come (pun intended). Not only does this engine look fantastic, but it's really got me thinking about how awesome a Blade Runner video game would be, especially with this level of power to back it up.

GDC 2011: Hands on with the 3ds

I think that the best part of GDC 2011 was having a chance to get a hands on with the 3DS, Nintendo's new challenger(and possible dominator) of the new generation of handheld gaming.  The entire Nintendo booth was dedicated to showcasing the system to curious attendees, with a pretty impressive spread of games.  I had the chance to get my hands on 3 games our of the 8 or so, and was allowed to film 2 of the games.  Check out our video previews and thoughts about the system after the jump!

GDC 2011: Mortal Kombat

Mortal Kombat is back guys.  I had a chance to play a few rounds with 3d glasses and I have to say, the second coming of the penultimate 2.5d Western fighting game is upon us.  I edited the Scorpion VS Mileena match above to show the highlights of a thorough Scorpion ass kicking, including a gut wrenching fatality and the much talked about 'X-ray' moves.

The game felt really damn good, with an incredibly fluid new combo system and a much needed new graphics engine.  The button layout has been revamped to feature one button per limb, similar to Tekken.  Gone is the clunky combat of the previous few MK releases, including the underwhelming MK vs DC. One of the games that probably put that final nail in the coffin for Midway.  This game is obviously a labor of love for the Chicago based Nether Realms, who are on their way to make a very strong first impression as a fresh studio.  Everything I've seen so far points to this game being a smash hit.  Keep your eyes out for this one.

GDC 2011: A look at the PSP 2

I had a chance to check out the PSP 2, codenamed the NGP on Friday on the Sony show floor at GDC.  Unfortunately the system was not available to play, with only a prototype inside a glass box for attendees to gawk at.  The system looked slick, lightweight and streamlined.  The new features were well integrated, including the dual analog nubs and the very low key sensors on the back.  The funny thing about the system was that there was no mention of 'PSP,' just a simple 'Playstation' written on the front.

I can only hope that this system doesn't turn into a trainwreck like the PSP did...Hopefully Sony has learned from their glaring mistakes in the last generation, including alienating third party developers.  Its the games, not the hardware that make or break the system.  Lets hope they'll have a playable version ready by E3!