[03.05.15] ‘Rock Band’ series returns after 4 year hiatus

Harmonix

In the early hours of March 5, a surprising announcement, 4 years in-the-making, has thrilled fans of the music game genre who have been otherwise nearly abandoned for half a decade. Harmonix, the brilliant minds who started it all with the smash hit “Guitar Hero” before later developing the beloved “Rock Band™” series, have brushed the dust off the latter and declared that an all new title will be launching later this year with “Rock Band 4!”

Harmonix has been busy maintaining previous “Rock Band” titles almost constantly since the launch of “Rock Band 3” while also trying their hand at a few other games, such as “Fantasia: Music Evolved” and the very popular “Dance Central” series for Kinect. After releasing what appeared to be the final DLC for “Rock Band” in April 2013, it was left virtually untouched, until the surprise release of new tracks in January this year. Surveys were also sent to many fans about their interest in future “Rock Band” titles. Still, hopes were anything but high. That’s why it was so surprising that today’s announcement included plans for a 2015 launch on Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

Mad Catz is developing and manufacturing new peripherals to be sold in two different bundles:

- Band-in-a-Box Bundle: “Rock Band 4” game, wireless Fender™ Stratocaster™ guitar controller, wireless drum kit controller, and a microphone

- Guitar Bundle: “Rock Band 4” game and a wireless Fender Stratocaster guitar controller

They are currently working on gaining backwards compatibility for older instruments as well, however nothing is set in stone. Sadly, Keyboardists will have to find a solo act elsewhere as those have been axed in this sequel. Those with massive music libraries have nothing to fear though. Every single one of the roughly 2000 tracks released since 2007 will be able to transfer into the new game seamlessly and completely free, assuming it was previously purchased. Hundreds of additional tracks are expected to be added, come release day, along with regular updates post launch.

Darren Richardson, President and CEO of Mad Catz, is confident in the upcoming relaunch:

“We are very excited to bring the band back together, and re-team with Harmonix to deliver the next installment of the legendary Rock Band franchise to a new generation of consoles. Harmonix understands music gaming better than anyone, and we are confident that the unrivalled music selection and next generation features will prove incredibly enticing to passionate gamers and music fans alike.”

Details on “Rock Band 4” are sparse, but more information should be coming at E3. “We’re doubling down on the energy and excitement of playing music live with your friends,” says Harmonix Chief Executive Officer Steve Janiak. “Focusing on the core experience that our fans have told us they love allows us to evolve established gameplay in meaningful ways that we can’t wait to share with everyone later this year.” However, in an interview, project manager Daniel Sussman struggled to contain his excitement and dropped a few hints:

“There is a certain dynamic [playing in a real band] that you feel that’s magical when you are playing with people who are in tune with what you’re doing and are paying attention to you and are reacting to you in cool ways. It’s one of the best things about playing music with people, and it’s an element of our band sim that I think is lacking. When you watch people play the game, you kind of have four people staring at their little track, completely oblivious to everything that’s going on around them until you get to the results screen and you go, ‘OK, I got this percentage.’ There are some dynamics in that moment that I think are entertaining, but what could we do from a game-design standpoint to allow you to pick your head up above the fray and reward you for paying attention for what other people in your band are doing. That ended up being a pretty rich trove of great ideas, a lot of which we prototyped, and some of which we’re building. It had an immediate impact on the multiplayer game. It made it instantly more fun and more social, which is what we’re all about. There are some huge wins there that we’re excited to show at E3.”

Sussman also went on to say that Harmonix was looking into giving players the ability to express themselves within the game. “One of the other elements of playing music that is viscerally satisfying is the idea that music is this performative art, and as you play a song, whether you wrote it or not, you are given the opportunity to express yourself and put your thumbprint on this piece of music.” He admits this will be tough within the realm of a game, but mentioned there were also prototypes in place for this as well. This could mean an expansion on the “Rock Band Network” similar to what the “Guitar Hero” series has done. It also could be a system rewarding musically-talented players for improvising within a song, although that would be somewhat subjective and very tricky to implement. Everything at this point, is purely speculation, but there’s no doubt whatever Harmonix comes up with, it won’t be a dissappointment.

The vocal systems are also being overhauled, along with the entire game engine. Everything is getting an upgrade, but it won’t be just a simple visual improvement either. The game is somewhat of a hybrid between a true sequel, an HD port, and a series reboot all at the same time. While clearly not a port of “Rock Band 3,” it’s still worth noting that this is its successor on grounds of innovation and evolution but is going back to the roots of “Rock Band [1]” (with the elimination of the Keyboard) and wants to double-down on the main four, since those are the instruments most people have. Overall, Harmonix just wants to deliver the ultimate concert-like experience and Sussman thinks the time-off they took has truly allowed them to do so.

“We have a lot more firepower at our disposal that we’re taking advantage of, and it’s more than an up-rez of the experience. We’re really going deep into the dramatic dynamics that you get at a live concert. The color palette, the atmosphere – I’m really into the atmosphere, like the smoke and the way the light cuts through it and all of that sort of stuff. The relationship to the audience and the venue in general, I think we’re going to knock out of the park.

[06.09.14] Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing

Crowds gather at the Xbox E3 2014 Media Briefing at the Galen Center on Monday, June 9, 2014 in Los Angeles

Photo: Matt Sayles, Invision for Microsoft. Used with permission.

It's officially underway - The 2014 Xbox Media Briefing just happened earlier this morning as a part of the Electronic Entertainment Expo’s lineup for Monday, June 9, and this time around it's all about the games. All throughout the conference, there were videos that featured key gaming icon's favorite games as well as tweets for any presenter’s favorites. What exactly does Microsoft have up their sleeves, especially after the long string of announcements leading up to E3? Hopefully there is plenty of new information left to spill and they haven't run out yet. Take a look now at this year’s play-by-play recap of the entire Xbox World Media Briefing.

The conference launched with Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) giving a speech about how great it's been for the gaming community and made a nice nod to both Sony and Nintendo citing their achievements and proceeded to thank Xbox gamers for their involvement in shaping Xbox into what it is today. He then announced that this conference will focus entirely on games and nothing else. The mission: To make Xbox the best place to play games this generation.

A trailer for "Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare" starts playing and the announcement is made that, once again, all content will come to Xbox first. A drop-pod with multiple troops in it crashes out of the sky and into a skyscraper, showcasing the incredible visuals. The trailer also demonstrated the new exoskeleton suit soldiers will wear to help them traverse the battlefield more efficiently and all the crazy new weapons, including grenades with propellers attached to them.

Dan Greenwalt, the Creative Director at Turn 10, takes the stage to talk about "Forza 5". The Nurburgring has been recreated with extreme detail - down to the millimeter - and is now available free for "Forza 5" owners to download. He then passes the stage off to Ralph Fulton, Playground Game's Creative Director to talk about "Forza Horizon 2." Read more about that here.

A trailer for "Evolve" starts playing showcasing the incredible graphics. As expected, you'll be able to fight with a class-based system with traditional classes such as assault or medic. However, you can also play as the monster against a team of 4 as well. Finally, the Beta will be available exclusively on Xbox One and all DLC will arrive first.

Vincent Pontbriand, the Senior Producer at Ubisoft, debuts a trailer for "Assassin's Creed: Unity." Players will be Marquis De Bullion and will fight alongside the French Revolution. It will features 100's of quests and secrets to find. For the first time ever, you can create your own brotherhood and play with up to three others cooperatively.

A world premier trailer for "Dragon Age Inquisition" is shown, with an announcement of a release on October 7. Also, as probably expected by now, all DLC will be available first on Xbox One.

"Sunset Overdrive" takes the stage with a trailer that showcases the ridiculous game play, colorful visuals, and over-the-top humor which the game has become known for. The trailer gives a little of the back story, explaining how contaminated energy drinks have led to people becoming mutants and caused a war to erupt. Out walks Ted Price, the Founder and CEO & Insomniac Games. He provides a little more knowledge and a game play demo showing off the unconventional weaponry and arcade-like design, reminiscent of "Lollipop Chainsaw." He also explains that players will be able to fully customize their own in-game characters and proceeded to announce Chaos Squad, and 8 player cooperative mode.

Falling right in line with the wackiness comes the funniest trailer of the conference, the announcement of “Super Ultra Deadrising 3 Arcade Remix Hyper Edition EX α.” This brand new DLC for “Deadrising 3” is a nod to Capcom’s “31th” Anniversary and features four player cooperative gameplay and tons of Capcom-themed costumes for players to choose from. Best of all, it’s available right now.

Alex Rigopolous, the Creative Director from Harmonix, comes to the stage to talk a little bit about the upcoming game “Fantasia: Music Evolved.” He then proceeds to make the exciting announcement that the insanely popular “Dance Central” franchise will be making its return very soon in the form of a digital-only Xbox exclusive called “Dance Central Spotlight.” The game features an all original soundtrack and brand-new technology which is going to allow them to deliver new songs to the game faster than ever before. It will be available sometime this fall.

Also making its return soon is “Fable Legends” as announced by Lionhead’s Game Director, David Eckelberry. A small gameplay demo was shown displaying a very familiar gameplay style with cranked up visuals and a slight twist. Now, you have the ability to play as the villain. This turns the game into more of a top-down RTS tower-defense game where you set up and control every trap you want to make for the players. The beta for “Fable Legends” will be available this fall exclusively on Xbox One.

A playful trailer for “Project Spark” (currently available as a free Beta on Xbox One) is shown, centralizing around the immense creative power the game allows. It debuts two big announcements. Their will now be new galaxies for players to create and play in, adding to the list of themes already available. As the logo flashes on the screen, and all-to-familiar squirrel comes out with a chainsaw in hand and slices the logo in half. He then says “Almost 10 years without a game, guess we’ll have to make our own!” Available exclusively on Xbox One this fall will be a Conker pack courtesy of Rare.

A brief trailer for a new game and exclusive is shown. “Ori and the Blind Forrest” is a very pretty side-scrolling platformer out of Moon Studios. No word on release date yet.

Suddenly the Halo theme fills the air and a trailer for “Halo 5: Guardians” begins. It continues on right from where he was left in the previous trailer, floating around in space with a giant mine. A closer look is taken at the all-new character featured in the promotional art for “Halo 5: Guardians”. The trailer ends with the words “Your Journey Begins” as 343’s Studio Head Bonnie Ross takes the stage. She explains that “Halo 5: Guardians” will focus on a self-reflective journey for Masterchief as he tries to discover who he really is. Ross then makes a big announcement and passes the stage off to Dan Ayoub, the Executive Producer behind the next game in the Halo franchise.

“Halo: The Masterchief Collection” has 4 games packed into one. “Halo CE,” “Halo 2,” “Halo 3,” and “Halo 4” will all be available in one place on the Xbox One sometime this fall. It will feature one seamless interface in which the entirety of the Masterchief campaign will be unlocked and available. You can pick any of your favorite levels to play and they’ll all feature both HD visuals and the original graphics which can be toggled at the push of a button. The best part about having all of them unlocked and in one place is that players can put together a custom playlist of levels featuring all of their favorite moments in the Halo series and play them back-to-back, crafting their own unique cut of the Halo story. For the ten year anniversary of “Halo 2,” it’s getting the full anniversary treatment. All of the original multiplayer will be available exactly as it shipped ten years ago. On top of that, 6 of the iconic maps will be updated with HD visuals, including fan-favorite Ascension. “Halo: The Masterchief Collection” will also come with over 100 multiplayer levels out of the box, featuring every single map that has ever been released across all four of the games. This will be in 1080p and 60 FPS. The game will also tote 4000 potential Gamerscore because of its size. Also included in the package is the “Halo Nightfall” live action series produced by Ridley Scott. Last, those who purchase “Halo: The Masterchief Collection” will gain access to the “Halo 5: Guardians” multiplayer beta this fall.

From this point on, the conference focused solely on titles in the 2015 and beyond portfolio and was rather rapid-fire.

Playdead Studios is back after four years of development with their new side-scrolling platformer “INSIDE.” It’s a very artsy game, similar to Limbo. This one will be available early 2015.

Chris Charla, the Director for ID@Xbox, took the stage with a very long trailer showcasing the massive number of indie games currently being worked on for the Xbox One.

A brief teaser-trailer announced the return of Lara Croft in “Rise of the Tomb Raider.” Much like “Halo 5: Guardians,” this looks to be a very self-reflective journey for Lara, albeit not much is revealed beyond the Holiday 2015 release window.

John Mamais, Executive Producer on “The Witcher 3” takes the stage with a brief gameplay demo. The game looks great, no other information is given.

Ken Lobb, creative director behind the Xbox One exclusive reboot “Killer Instinct” takes the stage with the announcement that he’s ready to reboot another favorite and cult-classic from the original Xbox. “Phantom Dust” is getting fully remastered with all new gameplay and visuals.

Ryan Barnard, the Game Director for “Tom Clancy’s The Division” shows off an all-new gameplay video to give a peak at the new direction of the game. The graphics look fantastic and the squad-based combat is very smooth as expected from a Tom Clancy game.

Platinumgames Inc. Creative Director Hideki Kamiya comes to the stage with an announcement for an all new Xbox Exclusive out of the company that made Bayonetta, MadWorld, and Anarchy Reigns. “Scalebound” will be a fantasy game in which players take on dragons and other creatures using magical powers.

Last, David Jones, the Creative Director at CloudGine announced the return of “Crackdown.” Not many details were given, but much of the original team is working on it and it promises a revolutionary multiplayer experience thanks to an army of dedicated servers. If the game winds up being anything close to the teaser shown, it will stick close to the crazy, over-the-top gameplay the series is known for.

To cap off the conference, Phil Spencer took the stage one last time to thank everyone for coming and voice his excitement for the future of Xbox One. To continue the evolution that Xbox has made over the last year, he announced “Xbox Feedback,” a one-stop shop for users to voice concerns, input ideas, and vote on what they want the future of Xbox to be. Last but not least, the Xbox One without Kinect is available today for $399.

If you didn’t get a chance to watch the Xbox World Media Briefing, it is available now to watch on demand here.

[10.23.12] Xbox launches new entertainment experience today

Microsoft

Today, Microsoft rolled out the new dashboard update for all Xbox Live members, and with it came a whole slew of new entertainment features. The new update maintains Microsoft’s “Metro” interface, but adds a new tile called “pins”, which allows you to pin your favorite apps, games, or other items to one easily accessible location. Additionally, the TV and Movie tabs have been combined into one channel.

The update also added Internet Explorer to the Xbox, something that users have been eagerly awaiting since the launch of the system back in 2005. It will support HTML5 videos, and you can pin favorites to the main web hub or in the aforementioned “pins” section of the dashboard. Other new additions are the “Xbox Music” and “Xbox Video” apps, which are pretty much just a rebranding of the old Zune apps. The “Xbox Music” app has gotten a little love, as it now has access to the “Xbox Music Pass” – formerly the “Zune Pass” – and will allow you to stream music on your Xbox as well as your playlists from the Zune software on your computer.

Microsoft will also be launching “Xbox SmartGlass” later this week with the launch of Windows 8 phones on Oct. 26. SmartGlass will allow you to interact with your Xbox in many unique ways. It can be used as a touchscreen controller for certain games and apps and can also offer supplementary information for other things you’re doing on your Xbox. For example, while playing a game, it could offer an overhead map of the area showing you precisely where your character is located so you don’t have to keep pulling up an in-game map. During the E3 announcement, it was also hinted that you could use it to draw up and execute plays in Madden.

Although not many specific details have been revealed for it, some games and apps have been confirmed to work with it. All of the following will have some sort of functionality via the SmartGlass app:

Games:

·       Ascend

·       Dance Central 3

·       Forza Horizon

·       Halo Waypoint

·       Home Run Stars

·       Karaoke

·       Kinect Sesame Street TV

·       Prima Games

Apps:

·       Elections 2012

·       ESPN

·       HBO GO

·       MSN

·       NBA Game Time

·       NBC News

·       NOW TV

·       Slacker Radio

·       TODAY

·       UFC

·       Univision

It’s also likely that Microsoft’s other flagship titles (Halo, Gears of War, and Fable) will have SmartGlass capabilities, even though none have been confirmed yet. Hopefully, many more games and apps will also adopt SmartGlass in the near future, as it actually looks to be very promising technology.

Unfortunately, the SmartGlass launch will be exclusive to Windows 8 phones, for the time being. There is a planned release for Windows 7 phones, iOS, and Android to get SmartGlass as well, however there’s no set release date for it right now outside of “soon”. For iOS and Android, the SmartGlass app will come via an update to the currently available “My Xbox” app which will add the new functionality and update the name.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he’d love to hear from you

[06.04.12] Everything you wanted to know from E3’s Xbox 360 Media Briefing 2012

Microsoft

The Xbox 360 Media Briefing was quite the spectacle this year, despite no new console reveal. Rumors have been swirling around for months about the next generation Xbox, but it made no appearance here. Then again, is it possible that was a good thing? Are gamers really ready for a new console? Perhaps it was just backlash from the way the core gaming community felt they had been abandoned at last year’s E3. Today, Microsoft wanted to remind you that they haven’t forgotten about their roots, but also showed off they want to blend the best of both worlds when it comes to casual and hardcore gaming; and maybe blur the lines between a few other worlds as well.

This year, Microsoft did something all new by making a stream of the conference available to anyone with an Xbox 360. There were a few technical hiccups along the way, but nothing as severe as the Diablo III launch. If you missed out on the event, the streams are going to be available on the Xbox 360 as well as Xbox.com

The Xbox 360 Media briefing kicked off with a beautiful live action trailer for “Halo 4” which seamlessly transitioned into a campaign gameplay demo showing off an amazing looking game. Master Chief is going to be battling the Forerunners and battling with losing his A.I. counterpart Cortana. Everything has been upgraded, including Master Chief’s armor, the game’s graphics, and a lot of weapons. The demo started off feeling very reminiscent of Halo 3’s campaign, but suddenly the jungle environment felt incredibly unfamiliar when new glowing enemies showed up. Despite the many changes, it’s clear that Halo hasn’t lost itself, and it will be exciting to see what else 343 has planned for the all new trilogy.

Sam Fisher is also back with “Splinter Cell: Blacklist”. Gameplay looks very similar to “Splinter Cell: Conviction”, although the presentation, as well as Sam’s gear, has taken a step back to the older games. Once again, there’s actually a HUD instead of everything being artistically mapped onto the environments. “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” also supports Kinect integration. In the demo, the player called out, “Hey, you!” causing a guard to turn around surprised and confused so Sam could perform an execution. The player was also able to call in an airstrike using only his voice. All the while, everything was being done with the Controller, so much like with the integration in “Mass Effect 3”, it’s not being forced upon you, but could definitely supplement your gameplay nicely.

Following the voice command trend, “Madden 13” was briefly shown off and now features voice commands. Plays can be called verbally, audibles can be called at the line, and of course you can yell “hike!” to start play. All of this was demoed and appeared to work pretty well, although it also did a great job of highlighting Kinect’s limitations. There was a minor delay from command to execution, which will slow down gameplay significantly in comparison to the responsiveness and speed of a controller. Keep in mind, this is just an early build, although it’s highly likely the delay will still exist, at least to some extent, meaning this feature will probably be entertained briefly by all, but only utilized by quarterbacks who know every play and don’t have to wait for the menus to step them through each part of the play calling.

“Fable: The Journey” also made a brief appearance via trailer, although it didn’t actually reveal anything not already known. There was no exciting announcement to go along with it, and it wasn’t hardly even mentioned after the trailer was over. It seems as if it was only present to say “Hey, this game still exists… but it isn’t ready quite yet.” Likewise, “Gears of War: Judgment“ also had a trailer revealed, although it showed little more than a broad release date of 2013.

Next up, the Forza logo flashed on the screen, but surprisingly, it was followed by clips of street racing. Taking a drastic turn for the series, “Forza Horizon” looks a lot like the classic “Need For Speed” games meeting the ever-popular “Foza” series. It sported all of the neon lights and mountainscapes that have made appearances in past “Need for Speed” games, but also brought in the smooth gameplay, realistic physics, and unbelievably gorgeous car models Forza fans know and love. Also, it releases October 23, 2012.

Taking a break from games, Microsoft wanted to show off one of Bing’s new search features: the ability to search movies by genre. Additionally, Bing is being expanded to 12 new countries and will support more languages. To go with this, Microsoft plans to double the amount of entertainment apps in the following year. Partnership with Nickelodeon, Paramount Movies, Machinima, and Univision were all announced. NBA League Pass and NHL Gamecenter are also joining the lineup in the sports category. ESPN on Xbox is going to have live programing 24/7. ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, and ESPNU will all be available in HD.

Next up was the announcement of “Xbox Music”. With a library of over 30 Million music tracks, it appears as if this is Microsoft’s new direction with Zune. It’ll be available across Windows 8 PCs, Tablets, Phones and of course, the Xbox. From the looks of things, it appears as if Zune is no more, and has simply been morphed into Xbox Music. Although this hasn’t been confirmed, things such as the appearance of Smart DJ, the hint of Xbox Music being a music subscription service, and the announcement by Microsoft to discontinue their Zune MP3 players a while back make this seem like a highly likely turn of events.

Nike+ and Xbox now have a partnership, and are working to bring you “Nike+ Kinect Training”. It offers personalized training and feedback and even has mobile reminders to work out. The plan is to bring the massive Xbox Live community together with the massive Nike+ community. It will be fully integrated with everything Nike+ already has to offer, and its coming Holiday 2012.

Arguably the biggest reveal of the show was “Xbox SmartGlass”. It works across Windows Phone, iOS, and Android. This service looks to offer supplementary information to what you’re viewing on your big screen, and wants to put it all in the palm of your hand. Everything from background information on actors in movies to maps showing your where characters for TV shows are at within their universe. That’s just everything for the entertainment front.

Xbox SmartGlass also works with games. A little preview video showed off the gaming capabilities, and from the looks of things you can use it as a controller for Madden to draw up plays and actually run them as well. For Halo 4, it will have full WayPoint integration, which isn’t very surprising. It’s likely most other games will have features similar to that. SmartGlass also works like a touch-remote for Xbox, you can navigate it completely with your touchscreen, similar to how you already can with the Kinect.

The most exciting breakthrough SmartGlass offers, is the ability to finally browse the web on the Xbox 360 through Internet Explorer. SmartGlass will allow you to use your phone or tablet like a laptop’s touchpad for your Xbox 360. You can drag around with your finger as a cursor and fully manipulate the web on your TV. It will also support Kinect, giving you full control of the web with your voice. It launches worldwide sometime this fall.

Also making a repeat appearance from last year’s E3 was “Tomb Raider”. New gameplay shown was shown and the game looks great. Much like the first gameplay demo, this one reaffirmed the much more mature tone the game is taking on, and it seems like an excellent turn for the series. Also announced was that the first DLC package will be available first on Xbox 360, following suit with the Call of Duty series

Microsoft had three world exclusive premiers up their sleeves for games that will all launch in 2013. They weren’t much more than incredibly brief teaser trailers, but they certainly sparked lots of interest. First up was a new game from Signal Studios, the team behind the popular “Toy Soldiers” series. There new game is called “Ascend: New Gods” which can be played across both the Xbox 360 and Windows phone. It looks like it could be Xbox Arcade’s attempt at a “Shadow of the Colossus” game?

The brilliant minds at Twisted Pixel, Microsoft’s latest acquisition, showed a very vague glimpse of their next project, titled “LocoCycle”. A voice described a futuristic, super powerful motorcycle that looked like something straight out of “Tron”. First assumptions would be a sci-fi racing game, but then again, with Twisted Pixel at the helm of the project, you really can’t know what to expect.

Last for the exclusive reveals was “Matter” for Kinect. Not much was shown here either. All that could be gathered from the trailer was that it might possibly be a futuristic puzzle game, although not even that is certain. The glowing blue and orange eyes of the two silver sphere-shaped characters shown are very reminiscent of “Portal”, although no connection was confirmed.

“Resident Evil 6” had some gameplay to show off, and it clearly sported many improvements over its predecessor; the most notable of which is the ability to shoot and move at the same time. There were lots of real time events, a nice blend of shooting and hand-to-hand combat, and some pretty crazy action sequences. Many fans are expecting this to be the best of the Resident Evil series yet, and it does look to be shaping up that way.

Going back to Kinect was another brief mention, “Wreckateer”. It’s going to be exclusive to Xbox Live. The gameplay demo made it basically like the classic internet sensation, “Crush the Castle” for Kinect. A massive catapult is loaded with many different types of ammunition you can control and manipulate in the air. Points were awarded for destroying parts of castles, but the player was limited to just three shots in the one level shown in the demo. It’s likely they’re trying to hop in with the “Angry Birds” craze by bringing it to Xbox. “Wreckateer” launches on Xbox Live sometime this summer.

South Park is back and just as obscene, vulgar, and hilarious as ever. Have you ever wondered what it’d be like to put yourself in an episode of South Park? Now you can find out because you star in “South Park: The Stick of Truth” created by Obsidian. You’ll get to create your own personal “South Park” character and wander around the town as the new kid in town. Joining you will be Stan, Cartman, Kyle, and Kenny. “South Park: The Stick of Truth” is being written by the show’s creators, and will launch on March 5, 2013 with an exclusive “Mysterion Superhero Pack” for those who preorder it on Xbox 360.

Harmonix is bringing back “Dance Central” for the third time. It looks to be much of the same with a nice blend of new music. Prior to a surprise performance by Usher, he stated that he worked alongside the team at Harmonix to bring his exact choreography for two songs into the game. This could show that Harmonix is trying to bring more artist integration into the series much like they did with their work on the “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” franchises.

Closing out the event was a gameplay demo for the already announced “Call of Duty: Black Ops II”. The game’s presentation had a very familiar blockbuster action movie feel to it, much like the games in the past. The demo did show off some of the exciting new decision making features the game will sport. In the specific mission shown, the player was attempting to protect the president and escort her safely. On the edge of a blown out highway bridge, the player had the choice to rappel down with your group to do work from the ground or stay up top and snipe while your team moves the President below. The demo also showed off a few futuristic weapons, the use of support drones, and a nice section of vehicular combat. “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” will launch on Sept. 13, 2012.

Anthony Ortale writes news and reviews on behalf of Examiner.com. He does so much gaming in his spare time, it’s practically a full time job! If you like what you read here, please subscribe to his articles! You can also follow Tony on Twitter, or become a fan on Facebook! If you ever have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to email Tony any time at ortale.anthony@gmail.com, he would love to hear from you