gamescom 2012 in cologne - Any questions?

[ph03nIXx]

Well, this is a short one really:

As I have the pleasure to be working for a major publisher since this may, I'll be attending gamescom in cologne for the first time ever - and lucky me already before the gates open for the public.

So since it looks like I won't be doin much work there ;-) but stroll around the different booths etc., I wanted to give you guys the opportunity to ask anything you are particularly interested in and I'll see what answers I can get.

Myself, I'll be trying to get a good look on basically all the stuff Ubisoft is bringing to gamescom, SC2 Heart of the Swarm, Crysis 3, Dead Space 3 and Dark... so those will be my personal focus - just to let you know.

So shoot those questions...

[Shaitan]

Apparently CoH2 will be at Gamescom, seeing as this is a relic fan forum, anything you can see or find out about CoH2 would be much appreciated.

[Inquisitor Lok]

Id be interested in your opinion of HotS (especially if they can tell you a beta release date :P ) as im still playing WoL to this day so am curious how it stacks up

And have fun!!

[Shuma]

I just want to know if Crysis 3 is more like Crysis 1 than 2 was. Don't really care about the others.

[LoneWolf666]

I got the HotS for some SC2.


Oh god that was terrible. Anyway, have fun at Gamescom.

[0rph3u5]

I knew you would use your new job to show off sometime or another...

For me, keep an eye of SC2:HotS and Dead Space III (maybe text me if you can grab hold of some merchandising stuff, please)

[ph03nIXx]

@CoH2 - acknowledged.

@SC2:HotS - I guess that will be one of the first things I get to see - since I don't really want to be at the Blizz Booth once the public gets in as it has always been crowded as hell - and with no Blizzcon this year and them bringing all the stuff to gamescom that they would have shown there... yep, I'll definitly will be looking at that on press day or not at all.

@Crysis 3 - yeah, that's one the things I am really interested in, too... as far as I know there will be hands-on-demostations for Crysis 3 at the EA Booth, so I'll hopefully get to test it throughly myself.

[CommissarRezail]

I got two questions:

1. Where there be japan and america marines in coh 2?

2. Dow3?

[ph03nIXx]

Okay, so basically it's what I wanted to see anyway + CoH.

Does anyone know what form THQs presence at the gamescom has? Last thing I readt was "Oh, yeah, we said that we can't come but now we decided yet to come to cologne, so here we are"... but nothing more...

[Shaitan]

They say CoH2 will be playable there.

[Wargrim]

Oh really? Anyone knows where the booth is? The Gamescom page is a pain when it comes to searching for exhibitors or games...

[Jonny]

Have you seen X-Rebirth there by any chance?

[Mokino]

/\ I agree with Jonny

Also, is the new SimCity as bad as it sounds?

[ph03nIXx]

Well, gamescom startes next wednesday, so I haven't seen anything up to now ;-) But I'll be having an eye open...

@Mokino: As the last SimCity I played has been SimCity 2000 or whatever and haven't followed this one - what's to be my guideline for "as bad as it sounds"?

[Mokino]

The game from previews sounds like it's not much of a sim at all. It's just a very colourful social game.

I'm really hoping they haven't ditched complexity to try and get the Facebook type gamers involved.

[DrRansom]

Can you look at Wargame: Airland Battle and see if there's any info on Rome 2 Total War?

Oddly enough, this Gamescom may be shaping up to be the resurgence of PC strategy games, with EU4, new Total War, and Relic all tossing in big titles.

[ph03nIXx]

Okaaaaaayyyyyyyy...

I was more busy with work than I had anticipated (well, "busy and somehow having managing to not have gotten anything done by the end of the day" to be more precise), but still I can give you some answers - pretty disappointing ones, no less...

- SC2 Heart of the Swarm: Managed to get 15 minutes of hands-on time - little did I know that when I chose "Single-Player" over MP I chose Skirmish over real MP. What I took from that 15 minutes: Feels like WoL. A few new units and mechanics, but nothing special... for me at least, but I am no MP person in general so my remarks my be totally of the mark. The new units - I was playing zerg vs protoss - felt fun, but 15 minutes isn't much time for people like me, so I can't say that much. I'll try to get another game in on saturday if the booth isn't piled full with people...

- Company of Heroes: I looked for that one eagerly, but couldn't find it on the showfloor. Lucky me, I ran into a bunch of CoH branded THQ presenters this morning as they are staying at the same hotel I am and tried to pry their secret location and stuff from them while waiting for their cab to arrive. Essence: They are doin press appointments and guided demos in the gamescom business area. As I am the enemy work-wise, I didn't manage to convince off the bat to let me in but perhaps I'll find a way in now that I know where they are.

Everything else I'll be getting a look at in the next days, prolly tomorrow or late on saturday. Stay tuned and shoot questions if you have any.

[CommissarRezail]

Guided demos?

[etherdragn]

How's the Dayz booth? Are they showing anything from their updated engine and does it compare to current engines tech wise?

[ph03nIXx]

@Rezail

Guided Demos as in "You play, a producer is watching over your shoulder and giving tips and stuff". Didn't get in, but people said they would be releasing the info out into the public wild in the next weeks.

@Crysis 3

For those guys who asked about crysis 3: I had some hands-on time yesterday - looks fantastic, plays fantastic... feels like Crysis 1 for me, the things that annoyed me interface wise and so on on Crysis 2 were gone... 15 minutes is not much to say about, but as I said, the general feeling is "more of the better".

[Mokino]

Your SC2: HotS impressions line up with what I feared. They're only changing the game in a bare minimum way in regards to MP to get MP buyers to get it, which goes against original statements by Blizzard that the expansions wouldn't affect MP and be solely single player products. I figured that wouldn't last due to ActiBlizz's obvious greed as of late.

[Inquisitor Lok]

Your SC2: HotS impressions line up with what I feared. They're only changing the game in a bare minimum way in regards to MP to get MP buyers to get it, which goes against original statements by Blizzard that the expansions wouldn't affect MP and be solely single player products. I figured that wouldn't last due to ActiBlizz's obvious greed as of late.

They are adding in a few units per race and adding a few new abilities to tweak older units. They have to add something to MP because yes they want people who only play MP to buy it (which is the majority of players) Also Blizzard has done this sort of thing with every expansion they have done for their RTS games (Warcraft and Starcraft)

[Jonny]

Not to be nitpicky or anything, but

They're only changing the game in a bare minimum way in regards to MP

sounds pretty much exactly like

the expansions wouldn't affect MP and be solely single player products

so Blizzard are sticking to what they said all along?

[Misiok]

I don't know where from you got that impression. Blizzard was pretty clear after announcing HotS that there will be new stuff and whatnot. That was my fear though, that to still play MP with the majority of playerbase you'll have to get the newest expansion. It's a bit shitty, because at the end of the day you'll have 3 different communities playing vanilla, Hots and the Toss' expansion.