E3 2012: Borderlands 2 gameplay footage, plus info about the story

Borderlands 2 made an appearance this E3 and revealed some new information about this FPS lootfest. In the video, Vice-President Steve Gibson of Gearbox Software talks to VG247 about the game's story, trading, gun codes, while showing new gameplay footage of the game. It's looking great but it looks like we are getting the same game but with new content, and new classes. Not sure if this either good or bad at this point because it seems there isn't anything unique that could separate the difference between the first game to the sequel. Check out the video below.

I'm definitely going to have loads of fun with Borderlands 2, but I was hoping the sequel would bring deeper RPG elements this time around. It seems like Gearbox Software played it safe and just improved on what we loved about the first game rather than bringing in new elements into the game that would make it feel like a different experience.

The weapon looting begins on September 18 for North America, and September 22 for the rest of the world.

First gameplay footage of ZombiU

Yea, thinking the same thing - Horrible title, but believe it or not, this is one of the few interesting Wii U games coming exclusively to Nintendo's next console. Ubisoft's ZombiU is obviously a survival horror game that capitalizes the unique features in the Wii U GamePad. Since Nintendo is dumping all the attention to that large controller rather than the console itself, I'm not surprised that the first batch of games are trying to apply the Wii U's unique features. With ZombiU, this is pretty much a first look at what games would look like for core gamers. It looks promising. Check out 10 minutes of gameplay footage.

ZombiU Gameplay

The second screen on your controller fits perfectly for this game. The fact that your checking your inventory, looting corpses, and picking locks in the Wii U controller's small screen creates more tension and fear to the game. It's a survival horror after all. Focusing on the task at hand on the small screen, but actually checking the big screen if any zombie is coming close to you. Should have been nerve-wracking for the player in the video. I also like the fact that you go to third person view while using the Wii U controller, then heads back to first person when done.

E3 Wii U Controller trailer

ZombiU is looking good. The problem is, the gameplay shown again brings the biggest concern with the Wii U console -Is it stronger or weaker than the PS3 or Xbox 360?? Yes, it's a big step up, but the Wii U is considered a next-gen console, the successor to the successful Wii console. From what I'm hearing, the Wii U could be stronger or weaker than current consoles. With how ZombiU looks at this point, it seems weaker. Hopefully there is a lot more developers can dish out in the system as years go by, because its visuals are a bit underwhelming.

ZombiU Trailer

But thanks to ZombiU, I now have one reason to buy the Wii U at this point.

Diablo 3 Real Money Auction House goes live

Delayed since launch, the Real Money auction house goes live today. Players can now buy/sell in-game items using real money. Believe me, you'd think people wouldn't spend huge amounts of dollars for pieces of Diablo 3 gears, well there's actually a lot of them willing to throw money like that. It's going to be crazy from now on.

Now I've checked out the Real Money Auction house and end-game gear can go for a whopping $250! It's obviously unstable at the moment it being the first day and all, but people are reporting players buying these overpriced items. I also witness a $200 purchase on a Twitch.tv live stream, and the streamer even said the piece wasn't even worth that much. It's a bit absurd  to see gear cost more than the actual game itself. And to top it all off, all transactions, Blizzard is getting a $1 cut for each one. Sneaky bastards.

Not sure how this is going to play out for the future of Diablo 3, but it's definitely looking grim. It's a great game by itself, but the whole Auction House feature seems to be ruining the game as the weeks go by. I have  little respect whenever I see geared characters since you have no idea if it was hard-earned equipment or a fat wallet that got them all epic.

Blizzard has given players a decent post regarding how to use the Real Money Auction House.

Blizzard laying down the Diablo 3 Ban Hammer

Took Blizzard long enough to whip out the Ban Hammer. If you're doing certain exploits, bots, and cheats to break or make the game easier, watch out because they are out to do some permanent bans. I consider cheating, or rather breaking the game part of any game, but with Diablo 3 being an online-only game with an Auction House soon to give players the option to buy gear with real money, this wasn't a surprise. 

From Blizzard:

Blizzard Entertainment has always taken cheating in any form in Blizzard games very seriously, and that's no different for Diablo® III. If a Diablo III player is found to be cheating or using hacks, bots, or modifications in any form, then as outlined in the Diablo III end user license agreement, that player can be permanently banned from the game. This means that the player will be permanently unable to log in to Battle.net® to play Diablo III with his or her account.

Playing Diablo III legitimately means playing with an unaltered game client. Doing otherwise violates our policies for Battle.net and Diablo III, and it goes against the spirit of fair play that all of our games are based on. We strongly recommend that you avoid using any hacks, cheats, bots, or exploits. Suspensions and bans of players that have used or start using cheats and hacks will begin in the near future.

This what happens when a game goes online-only. Heck, I bet Blizzard won't give a damn if this game had an offline mode with no Auction House. But it is what it is. Exploits and cheats are part of video games, especially for games that are considered a single player game. Decisions like this reminds me that gamer's that bought the game don't really own the game. I've already given my thoughts regarding Diablo 3 going online-only and I won't dwell on that anymore.

Real Money Auction house is coming on the 13th and I can see a series of shit storms coming in the next few days.

Unreal Engine 4 running on real-time gives us a glimpse of the future

 

Unreal Engine 4 has been officially revealed to the public by Epic Games. The tech demo titled "Elemental" shows a supernatural knight inside a volcano waking up from its long sleep. The tech demo is of course being played in real-time and showcases the power of Unreal Engine 4.

I suggest you guys watch the video at 720p.

For all you tech savvy game developers - Here's a walkthrough video thanks to GameTrailers showing us the features in this new game engine.

According to Epic Games, actual games running on Unreal Engine 4 will be out sometime around 2013. A lot of game studios are all excited to give the engine a spin. With Epic Games revealing Unreal Engine 4 and Square Enix teasing the world on how Final Fantasy games could look like in the future, 2013 just might be the year of next-gen reveals.