How first-person shooter games look like in 2011. Hint: It's about the guns.

With the Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3 2011), the largest annual gaming convention, just over, a new wave of games were released and this is where we get to catch a glimpse of the next generation of games and/or notice some jarring trends.

Cracked.com did the latter and have made a quick graphic to highlight one particularly outstanding trend in recent First-Person Shooter games. "Read more" to check out the image.

Spot the similarities? All the games shown here are the future FPS games.

As shown, the First-Person Shooters games have been moving towards a similar style of aiming down the gun sights. The aiming-down-the-sights mechanics have been popularised by big games such as Call of Duty, and have since been copied over and over by pretty much all the shooters games out there now and what's there to come.

While I admit it makes the game more realistic, I hate that the gun actually covers up to a quarter of the screen, adding unnecessary difficulty of spotting your enemies. Gone are the days of a simple crosshair with full unobstructed view whilst aiming. Instead now, you get to appreciate the details on the back of your gun while you pop your targets with bullets, cause you know in games, its all about the graphics now..

Source: Cracked.com

She-Hulk crashes into Marvel vs Capcom 3: FTW, the latest in a line of unexpected characters (Video)

The Marvel vs Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds developers have been slowly releasing teaser videos of their characters and gameplay every now and then ever since it was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) this year. The latest video features the official debut of She-Hulk.

The Marvel vs Capcom game series is well known for its huge variety of playable characters from the Marvel comic books and Capcom range of franchises. While most of the characters are insanely popular, more often than not, there will always be a few relatively unknown and/or unexpected ones that make an appearance. Some of which includes Dante from Devil May Cry, Frank West from Dead Rising, the Okami Fox from Okami, etc. Now, She-Hulks joins the ever growing list.

Not being a Marvel comics fan, I don't know who She Hulk is. In fact, I've never heard of her before. But she does look similar to the Hulk, who's also covered in green skin and wears purple pants. Ok, I'm feeling too lazy to go read up more about her, though I do know that she is a lawyer. Also, I definitely can't deny that her combos in MVC3:FTW are wicked. Check out the video below for clips of her moves.

"Michael Jackson The Experience", Minus The Glitter Glove, Plus The WiiMote (Video)

Game companies will do anything for money, especially when it comes to exploiting a celebrity (think Hannah Montana). Now that Michael Jackson has passed on and his legacy is very much alive, Ubisoft was quick to take advantage and made a MJ-dancing video game for the Wii. Check out the trailer in the main post.

While the trailing is actually quite impressive, reminding me of the "This Is It" movie trailer, I have a strong inkling that the game is going to be quite thrashy. I wouldn't criticise the graphics, given the limitations of the Wii. With that, I would say the visuals are not too bad, though MJ looks a bit.. erm.. gay? However, I doubt playing the game will make you feel as accomplished than if you were to say, learn the real dance moves. I know I'm being mean, but there are much better ways to appreciate MJ than to dance unnaturally while grasping a wiimote.

Portal 2 Intro Gameplay Video Surfaced; Darker, Creepier Than The First Game [Video]

Portal 2, the sequel to the wildly popular Portal, has been announced back in June and will be released in 2011. I can't wait for this game, absolutely enjoyed the puzzle solving in the first game. Few videos on the game have surfaced since June, but most of them were demos on the new features in the game.

Today, Valve has released an actual gameplay video to showcase the quality of the game. And also to tease eager gamers, like me. The video features the introduction scene of the game, a full 3 mins of gameplay. It seems like this time, the game is set in a darker tone with a more intense atmosphere, much creepier than the original. Watch the video in HD to get the best effect. ^.^

Medal of Honor Trailer ft Linkin Park (Video)

The Medal of Honor franchise has now moved into the modern warfare era, first started by Call of Duty and later followed by Battlefield. Now M.O.H. usually has a sub-title to differentiate their games, but this time, they're just putting this game out as Medal of Honor. Why? Maybe they're trying to move away from their past games. I don't know.

Well anyway, this is their feature trailer. It is set to The Catalyst by Linkin Park, one of my favourite bands. I'd say the trailer is nicely set to the music and seeing the gameplay footage makes me kind of want to play this game. ^.^

Video after the break.

Nintendo 3DS Announced. Very impressive!

Nintendo unveiled their latest handheld device. Its to feature their venture into the newest trend, 3D. At their E3 press conference, the Nintendo 3DS is shown for the very first time to the world. It was such a special moment that it was lifted onto the stage on a shiny pedestal, complete with smoke and lights. And who else was there to introduce it but Nintendo's CEO, Satoru Iwata.

Ok. So basic specifications about the new Nintendo toy.
Features include:

• Similar design to NDS XL, 2 screens
• A large, 3.53 inch, 800x240, autostereoscopic 3D non-touch top screen (don't need glasses)
• A smaller 3.02 inch touch screen for the bottom.
• 1 front facing VGA camera like NDSi
• 2 outward facing VGA cameras to take 3D photos
• Collapsible stylus
• New analog stick above the D-Pad.
• Depth slider control to adjust the 3D view or turn it off
• Accelerometer
• Gyroscope
• Backwards compatible with NDS titles
• and many more...

As Nintendo explained, they basically combined technologies from both the Wii and NDS and the new 3D, into one handheld device. The 3DS has an improved graphics chip to take on more visually demanding games, and I think also to supplement the 3D. With the 3D screen, the 3DS allows you to watch 3D movies on the go, with companies like Disney, Warner Bros and Dreamworks already pledging support for the 3DS.

And of course, there's the games. Logically, the games cannot be demo-ed on the big screen (for obvious reasons). But Nintendo has assured us that many big name companies have already started developing games for the 3DS, to ensure that there are already a sizeable library of games to purchase when the device goes on sale later in the year. By the way, you can turn off the 3D if you want and view it as a normal 2D screen.

Just to get you excited, these are some of the games that are publicly announced at the press conference.

• DJ Hero 3D
• Assassin's Creed Lost Legacy
• Final Fantasy
• Kingdom Hearts
• Metal Gear Solid
• Resident Evil Revelations
• Fifa
• Madden
• Nintendogs + Cats

And these are some of the companies that are currently developing games for the 3DS.

• Activision
• Hudson
• EA
• Harmonix
• Square Enix
• Konami
• Capcom
• Ubisoft

Thus, looking at what's to be offered, I would say that the Nintendo 3DS has a huge potential in the gaming world. It currently allows you to play almost all kinds of games, both 3D and 2D, utilising the d-pad, analog stick, touch screen, accelerometer and gyroscope. That's a lot of possibilities for game developers. If all goes well, this is the device that would revolutionise handheld gaming yet again. Nintendo is out to prove that they are still strong in the gaming world.

PS: I'm guessing that you may start to see many iPhone games migrating over to this 3DS as this provides the same functions as the iPhone (with the touchscreen, accelerometer and gyroscope), except with more physical controls and a 3D screen. However, many games are free to download on the iPhone. Not too sure if it will still be free for 3DS. Nonetheless, those are only casual, on-to-go games, which is not what Nintendo is really aiming for.

Metal Gear Solid Rising - Amazing New Cutting Mechanics

At E3 2010, Konami's Hideo Kojima, known for his Metal Gear Solid franchise, revealed the latest installment, Metal Gear Solid Rising.

He explained that in this game, the gameplay is moving away from the stealth elements that the series is famous for. However, to make the action make interesting, a new physics and offense mechanic has been developed. And that is cutting mechanics. You will wield an all powerful katana and you can choose how you want to slice your enemies and environment. What makes this new is that for the first time, you can choose exactly which angle you want to slice and the victim actually falls apart. Instead of me trying to explain, just watch the trailer video below. Haha. You'll love what you see, if you're into these games, that is.

Microsoft Kinect (aka. Project Natal)

Xbox controller-less motion control is officially announced at E3 2010. It used to be called Project Natal when it was unveiled last year at E3 2009. It is now called Kinect. It has a rotatable camera to detect your movements and a microphone for voice controls.

With Kinect, you can control the menus by simply raising your hands or by speaking. Some examples of voice controls, to pause a video playing, say "Xbox, pause", to resume, say "Xbox, play", to stop the video, say "Xbox, stop. Sounds futuristic? But it works, as shown in the E3 2010 demo. You can also do video chatting and the camera will track your body so that if you move out of the frame, the camera will pan along to keep you in the frame.

Kinect comes with a few games, such as Kinect Sports, Kinect Joyride, Kinect Adventure and etc. Looking at the demos, I would say that Kinect is quite responsive and can register movements very well. Playing Kinect games would require the gamer to move the whole body, this will encourage players to be more active when playing games. And in my opinion, these kind of motion control games are more suited to family titles and fun-filled games. Most of the games unveiled for Kinect are mostly fitness-related and family fun games, which Nintendo Wii has already done, except that its in high definition now. I wonder how hardcore games like first person shooters and realtime strategy games would work with Kinect but we shall keep an eye for such demos. So far, Kinect has been demo-ed for driving, running, yoga, hip hop dancing, light saber swinging, etc.

**Edit** Forza (racing game) was quickly demo-ed to show how Kinect is used to add interactivity into the game. For eg, you can "walk" around a virtual car, like at a car show room, by leaning left and right.

Controller-less motion control is a first in the world and we hope that Microsoft will do a good job. The games, however, may not be so original since we have seen many similar games on the Nintendo Wii. The only selling point for these games is that they are in high definition. Kinect will officially go on sale in Nov 2010.