Konami explained that the game is called ‘Mirror of Fate’ because the mirror plays an important part in the game; characters must make choices to determine their fates and the mirror will reveal  a character’s “ultimate destiny.” Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate will be released in March at retailers and in the Nintendo eShop.

Why did you choose the Nintendo 3DS for Mirror Of Fate? Who approached who or was it simply something you guys were intrigued by from a development standpoint?

We were asked to consider a handheld version of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow and we looked at the available formats and decided 3DS was the most exciting technology for us to bring a 2.5D side scrolling game using 3D assets.

Why is it called Mirror Of Fate?

The Mirror of Fate appeared in the original game, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. You might remember Pan stepped through it in Carmilla’s Castle? This mirror plays a central role in the game because each character must make a choice regarding their fate and the mirror is able to show their ultimate destiny.

Also along the way players will end up seeing some familiar faces and themes from the older games in the series, but presented in different ways and circumstances .

“Lords of Shadow” has finally raised the bar on how “Castlevania” can be played on a three dimensional plan.

Gabriel transverses in rather large levels — just traveling through one level can take a player close to 30 minutes to even an hour or more — by foot, jumping from ledge to ledge and even using his “combat cross” whip to repel up or down and break objects in his way.

Each level in this 20-plus hour game, contains lush scenery, vivid atmosphere and excellent moments to keep the player engaged, until the game is finished completely. Not once did I end up getting bored trekking through a level, nothing felt tedious to do, even if it was a “defeat 10 lycans” type of level.

Combat itself is another strong point with Lords of Shadow, in which Gabriel fights the legion of demons with his “combat cross” whip, the precursor to the series stapled “Vampire Killer” whip.

The combat mechanics revolves around a direct attack and an area attack, with direct attack dealing with enemies directly in front of Gabriel, while area attack is more for the enemies on his side and behind him.

Another important addition to the combat is the feature called “sync-block,” which is blocking at the right time to open up more combinations during combat against larger enemies and bosses.

One last major addition is the inclusion of Light and Shadow magic for Gabriel to use. Light magic heals Gabriel with each successful hit he gives out to enemies, while Shadow magic boost his normal attack strength, giving players an easier time against enemies. Using both of these magic’s at the right moments, is the key to getting past certain fights and puzzles scattered about in the game. 

Boss fights are littered throughout the game, and this is a very good thing.

Each boss fight is different and unique just like the many different levels. Some are straight one on one fights between some of the Lords’ minions and others are fights against giant ancient weapons called “Titans” in which Gabriel has to climb up on to defeat.

These fights are massive and in other words, out right epic.

The music in the game features symphonies instead of the normal electric guitar and instrumental tracks that were featured in the other games of the series. The symphonic style of music, is at first strange and disjointing to those who played previous games int he series, yet eventually over time the soundtrack will win you over by the end of the game.

Narration is also a strong point with the game, the voice acting and over all pacing of the plot is well done, and by the end of the game players will be wanting more. Also at the start of each level is a narration of the current events and the inner struggles of Gabriel that is wonderfully narrated by Patrick Stewart, so players don’t need to remember what is going on by replaying levels and instead just listen in on Stewart during the loading screens.

However with all these praises for the game, there are few minor flaws hidden inside the game. For those jumping in to the action-adventure genre for the first time, be prepared for a rude awakening, the game is not easy even on the easiest setting. It punishes players for their stupidity during fights and critical moments such as quick-time events, forcing players to perfect their rhythm at combat.

Also the story at first would seem to not make sense to players during cutscenes, instead players will have to read scrolls left scattered by dead soldiers and character bios that are unlocked once you meet/kill a character/monster for the first time.

And lastly even combat for those who are used to games like this, will feel like it is a rehash from rival games such as “God of War III” and “Devil May Cry,” due to difficulty, learning curve and enemy AI.

Yet even with these three negatives, the positives still outweigh them. The game is a surefire way to get a good adventure fix, the story gradually becomes epic while progressing in the game, and the combat is highly intense.

I’ve died close to 30 times on normal playing this game, and yet it still makes me want to come back and finish the story to find out what happens to Gabriel and if he gets revenge on those that killed his wife.

With a $59.99 price tag for the standard edition and $79.99 for the limited edition (which features a special packaging and a bonus music CD), over 20 plus hours of gameplay, impressive level of detail, and diverse characters, it is safe to say that “Castlevania: Lords of Shadow” is well worth the price of admission.

American based developer Mercurysteam — who teamed with legendary japanese games designer, Hideo Kojima —  and japanese publisher Konami have outdone themselves and left players wanting more once the final nail has hit the coffin, salivating for a sequel.

“We didn’t want to do a Metroidvania because one of the things about the Metroidvania series is the games start out bloody hard because you haven’t gotten anything. By the end of the game, you have everything and are super powerful.”

– Dave Cox, Head of Product Planning and Development at Konami

Let me translate that for you: “Ridley’s Lair in Super Metroid is probably the easiest area of the game. Timing multiple missile attacks against the Space Pirates that are only vulnerable when they jump is a cinch. But that opening where the pirates are stationary and go down with one hit from your regular weapon? Now that’s brutal.”

That quote (the actual quote, not my translation) comes from an interview on Siliconera about Castlevania: Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, an upcoming 3DS game which has no shortage of colons. What it won’t have are enemies worth fighting, meaning no experience system and no loot.

Let me start this with a warning in the form of my top three favorite games: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Super Metroid, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Now that we have that out of the way, let me also say I really enjoyed MercurySteam’s last Castlevania, Lords of Shadow, and am very much looking forward to the sequel, especially after everything that went down at the end of the first entry.

I’m even okay with Mirror of Fate not being a Metroidvania. When I heard there was a Castlevania from MercurySteam, I didn’t think there was a chance it would be Metroidvania-style, not after the super-linear Lords of Shadow. Then word starting pouring out of E3. “There’s a map on the bottom screen!” “It’s 2.5D!” “This looks like it has potential!”

It didn’t take long for Konami to step in and shut that talk down, letting fans know perfectly clear that this was not a Metroidvania game.

Despite my love for Metroidvania games, that doesn’t mean I’m not a fan of the older, action-focused Castlevania, and like I said, I enjoyed Lords of Shadow. The issue I have with the above quote from Dave Cox is that it is complete nonsense.

Sure, Mother Brain is easy. Dracula is easy. They’re showy bosses that might as well have been cut scenes, or, in today’s world, would probably just be a quick time event. Oh, while I’m mentioning that, good news! Mirror of Fate has QTEs. The point is, those games ramp up the difficulty throughout. If you’re exploring the castle or planet or whatever, yes, you will find things that make things easier, but easier in the sense of going from one end of difficult to the other, not breaking the game. Are there game breaking weapons in Symphony of the Night? Hell yeah the Crissaegrim is. That’s one item though. It’s 2012, just balance your game better than a 15-year-old PlayStation game. If you can’t, something is wrong with your studio, or you’re just looking for excuses.

Another question I have is why should I fight anybody if they aren’t physically blocking my way? This is a problem that Super Metroid had. The only reason you would go after any enemy is to fill up health or get more missiles – which you lost by killing other enemies. A vicious cycle. In Castlevania you were leveling up, becoming more powerful through the game. Loot drops also encouraged combat and exploration.

So maybe they’re just going for something like Dark Souls. In that game, you do level up, but you’re really becoming better by learning how to fight enemies. You as a player are the one leveling up, not just your character. I respect this system more than you can imagine. To go with an older example, it’s a lot like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. Again, you level up, but drop a player with full stats at the Great Palace without having played a second of that game, and they’re toast. How about another example? This time something where you aren’t leveling up. Oh, I know! How about Castlevania, like, the original, where you had to memorize enemy patterns and attacks to up your skills at the game. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case either. You unlock combos, like in Lords of Shadow. This is their version of “leveling up,” which is more about making your weapon do things it couldn’t before. I suppose this is their reasoning for having combat, so your character can get better…at more combat.

Konami: I understand you’re proud that Lords of Shadow was the biggest selling Castlevania of all time. Well, not proud enough to acknowledge the 25^th anniversary of the series last year. But guess what? Games in a series like that are extremely likely to sell more than the previous game. Why? More people buy games now. It’s the same with box office dollars.

If you’re not going to make your game Metroidvania style, as a chunk of your previous games were, that’s fine. But hold your tongue when it comes to slamming that style of game, especially when you’re saying that it just can’t be done properly. You’re knocking classics like Super Metroid, a game that is 18 years old (Jesus Christ I’m ancient…) and did it right. You’re saying you can’t do something that small teams like Drinkbox Studios are doing with Guacamelee! or what Chair did with Shadow Complex. When you say “You’re not going to find 15 million swords and none of them are really useful,” you’re making derogatory remarks about a style of game which just sold 6 million copies in a week, something even your most popular franchises can’t do.

I will totally play both upcoming Castlevania games, but understand you are making yourselves look ridiculous, and worse, downplaying the abilities of your developers by making statements like this. Also consider a world where one franchise can have multiple successful games in different genres. Or, to phrase it better, give IGA something to do. For Vita maybe. Just saying.

Now don’t get me started on your quote about getting 227 musicians to do the music for Lords of Shadow 2. It only took a dozen for Symphony of the Night, the greatest soundtrack in any medium.

I had to say something in this article that was un-modest.

Number 4: Watch Dogs

Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs has a lot of potential to me, but not because of what I saw in the demo. The premise of having that much power over a city’s network opens up the possibility of accomplishing objectives in different ways. Unfortunately the demo dissolved into a violent shoot out that could have been avoided given the nature of the game. I’ll definitely keep my eye on it to see if Ubisoft can put that power to better use.

Number 3: Castlevania

Castlevania was one of the first games I got for my NES, and I’ve followed it somewhat faithfully over the years. I haven’t cared for Igarashi’s direction for the series, but my interest has been rekindled by MercurySteam’s re-envisioning.

Sadly, I’ve only played the demo to the first Lord’s of Shadow, but after seeing the presentations at E3. I will rectify that in the near future.

Number 2: Square-Enix

I’ve put S-E in my list not just because of the strong showing from their Western investments Tomb Raider and Hitman, but because of how they seem to be handling their titles. While I really wanted some new Final Fantasy tidbits, it appears that they’re focusing on what they have ready and what is already out. Hopefully this means that they are refocusing on their approach to the series. Also, I’m really glad to see the localization of Final Fantasy Dimensions in non-episodic form.

Number 1: The Nintendo…3DS!

Most would probably consider this a controversial pick especially considering that nothing new was announced this year, but Nintendo finally managed to push me over the edge and get one of these little buggers in the near future.

I think it was wise to focus on current titles. It shows the press what consumers will have in their hands come Christmas, and Nintendo can stay on message without being distracted with relentless questions about “x” game that won’t be out for 2 years. It is definitely a strategic gamble that I’m sure many presently look at like a failure, but it could be an amazing success if Nintendo handles its messaging appropriately.

Sony has a new thriller title called Beyond: Two Souls. The game stars Ellen Page and looks like it will play a lot like Heavy Rain, which was developed by the same studio currently working on this game. The game is apparently scheduled for release in early 2013. You can see leaked gameplay from Beyond: Two Souls on Youtube here.

Sony also showed off some previously unseen gameplay from The Last Of Us. The new video makes gameplay look extremely brutal in this game, and also makes it apparent how important ammo conservation will be to survival in the game’s post-apocalyptic world.

Nintendo showed off a number of games, including a horror game called ZombiU for the upcoming WiiU console. The game looks like a lot of fun, with the WiiU tablet controller serving a number of functions in-game like inventory and environmental interaction. You can see the trailer for ZombiU on Youtube here.

Microsoft showed off a cool trailer for a new Gears of War game called Judgment. You can watch it here.

Konami announced their stuff earlier than E3 so there wasn’t a lot new from them, but they are still working on those new Castlevania games that have already been reported.

Electronic Arts announced and gave us a trailer for Dead Space 3, which you can see here. It seems the leaked pictures from earlier were real (remember- you heard it here first!), and as the picture showed, the game will involve co-op gameplay on an icy world that purports to be the ‘source of the necromorphs’.

Updates will, of course, follow with any additional horror game news from E3- but as it stands, it sure looks like we’ll have plenty of new horror games coming out well into 2013.

Castlevania Mirror of Fate – Beautiful art style and great looking pseudo 2D platforming action adventure. Direct damage with a chain whip, less damaging area effect attack, and special attack for higher damage. You also have a finisher attack to finish off your opponent. You also have a dodge and block capability. Secondary weapons include a boomerang. There’s also platforming with whip swinging and double jumps. There’s 4 playable characters including Alucard, each with their own unique abilities. Tons to find and mark touch screen map for future notice. Fall 2012

Luigi’s Manion Dark Moon – They showed a lot of different locations and ghosts. From rundown mansions to ice filled ones. There was also some cute skits. Has a new multicolor beam to find secrets in the mansions. Available Holiday Seasons 2012. Trailer available now on the eShop.

Epic Mickey Power of Illusion – Following the idea of forgotten Disney history. Returning to the Castle of Illusion, Mickey springs into action to stop Misrabella from stealing hearts and returning to the world of cartoons. I’m sorry but this game just looks like a Gameboy Advance title. Available Holiday Season 2012.

Paper Mario Sticker Star – The visuals are similar to most Paper Mario games, but this title takes it a whole new direction. The world is open and Mario wonders around gathering stickers from objects. When you contact an enemy, you enter a combat screen. Instead of having a command menu, you utilize the stickers to attack enemies. Using a hammer sticker, you smash the enemy with a hammer. Using a shell sticker you can fling a shell at multiple enemies. You can also use coins to gamble at a chance to use more than sticker/ability per turn. All stickers take different amounts of space, so managing space is important. Unlike most Paper Mario titles, you do not gain experience but rather progress your character by solving people’s problems.  This reminds me a lot of Mario RPG which was epic, I can’t wait for it! LOOKS AMAZING! Available Holiday Season 2012.  Trailer available now on eShop.

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance – Bringing two worlds together never looked so good. Square Enix brings the Kingdom Hearts cast together once again with Disney to bring an epic sequel to the franchise. Flowmotion makes for great travel and devastating tactical attacks and Reality Shift allows the player to use the stylus to unleash special attacks. Supports Circle Pad Pro. Available July 31 2012.

Scribblenauts Unlimited – Travel around an unbound world to solve problems. Create anything using words. Use streetpass to discover solutions.

Pokemon White and Black 2 – Set 2 years after the first game. For the Nintendo DS. 3DS will get new features for it. (see Radar and Pokedex below).

Video Montage featured short clips of Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes, Transformers Prime The Game, Rabbids Rumble, and Heroes of Ruin.

Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes – Batman teams up with other DC heroes to fight against Lex Luther. Trailer available on eShop now.

New Super Mario Bros 2 - Collecting Coins is what it’s all about! Tons of powerups, perfect platforming, long single player campaign, and TONS of coins. Pipes spew coins after killing plants, fire flower coin turns anything you hit with fire makes coins, LOTS OF COINS! All the while you play, your coins get tallied. Later you can choose to play a Coin Rush mode. This is all about speed and collecting. You get one life and you get more coins for less time taken. Street pass passes Coin Rush top scores which you can compete against. Whole game supports 2 player coop. The player that dies first gets put in a “bubble of shame” until finish or other bro dies. This looks like a lot of fun!!  Available August 19th as download and cartridge.

Pokemon Dream Radar – This application, available only on 3DS can capture Pokemon and transfer them to Pokemon White and Black.

Pokemon Pokedex 3D – Allows you to see your favorite captured Pokemon in 3D.  (Not new)

More On eShop – Games will be more available on eShop and new download codes will be available in retail stores. New Super Mario Bros 2 will be one of the first in this new feature.

That’s a wrap!  Can’t wait to see more on these titles!  Hope you all enjoyed this rundown!

Luigi’s Mansion

Castlevania Mirror of Fate

Epic Mickey

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Kingdom Hearts

Scribblenauts Unlimited

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate
3DS

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2
PS3, 360

ZombiU
WiiU

Pikmin 3
WiiU

Watch_Dogs
PS3, 360, PC

Metal Gear Rising (commentary)
PS3, 360, PC

Assassin’s Creed III
PS3, 360, PC

Beyond: Two Souls
PS3

New Super Mario Bros. 2
3DS

Super Paper Mario Sticker Star (with commentary)
3DS

Last of Us
PS3, PSVita

Resident Evil 6
PS3, 360, PC

Darksiders II
PS3, 360, WiiU

Conference begins with a video featuring Pikmin and Mr. Shigeru Miyomoto (LOVE THIS GUY!!!) which leads into Miyomoto coming on stage and speaks a little in english and then calls up his translator (Bill Trinen). They talk a bit about the Wii-U and introduce…

Pikmin 3

Freaking A…Glad they’re making this, its been so long since a new Pikmin game. If you’re familiar with the Pikmin series, you’re gonna love this. Its just as cute and looks just as fun and with the Wii nunchuck and the Wii-U controller, you’ll be able to get a lot more control out of the little pikmin. Should be a great title for the Wii-U when both are released.

Reggie Fils-Amie, President and Chief Operating Officer of Nintendo of America, comes out to tell us even more about the Wii-U and how accessible it is for everyone and that its fun and usable by everyone. Fils-Amie gives us an in-depth view of the Wii-U game pad which looks awesome. He transitions to talk about the “Meverse”, which works a lot like the playstation and xbox dashboard, but with the new technology, its looking like its going to work a lot better than both the playstation and xbox dashboards.

First game introduction…

New Super Mario Bros. U

They finally brought Mario back to its classic side scrolling form for a next-gen console. You’ll be able to play it on either your TV screen or your Wii-U Gamepad, and with extra modes like boost mode and some interesting multiplayer components, this will probably be the best Mario experience since Mario 64…probably.

Fils-Amie also announces that 3rd party titles will be coming to the Wii-U, such as…

Batman Arkham City: Armored Edition

While it does incorporate some cool touchscreen additions through the gamepad, its Batman: AC…if you haven’t already played it, you’re missing out.

Next title is…

Scribblenauts Unlimited

The ability to create anything is defining for Scribblenauts and they push it even further with multiplayer and giving the player the opportunity to make practically anything you can think of…I’m gonna make a Taco Bomb, muhahahahahaha…

Next they show a video quickly showcasing some more 3rd party developer titles, and they are: Darksiders 2, Mass Effect 3, Tank! Tank! Tank!, TEKKEN Tag Tournament 2, Trine 2: Directors Cut, Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge, and Aliens: Colonial Marines. 

Fils-Amie is back out to introduce…

Wii Fit-U

Basically the same as Wii Fit, but with the gamepad, you can work out while watching TV.

Next is…

Sing

Just your typical karaoke style singing game that’ll allow you to play solo or with friends. Frankly, meh…pass.

Next up, some Nintendo 3DS love…

First up…

New Super Mario Bros. 2

Another Mario game, what hasn’t been said about it. For those wanting it big time, its dropping August 2012, so enjoy!

Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Mario, again, returns to the RPG style of game. Not only with the integration of 3D, the introduction of stickers, not only for collecting, but to be used as battle commands…interesting. Sticker Star is coming for this holiday season.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon

The best looking of the 3, and possibly the most creepy fun. You’ll control Luigi who will be going from mansion to mansion trying to find ways to get rid of those pesky ghosts. But you’ll have to wait until this holiday season to get your hands on it.

Some 3rd party games for the 3DS were displayed in a video, those games were: Castlevania: Lords of Shadow- Mirror of Fate, Disney’s Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, Scribblenauts Unlimited, and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance.

Fils-Amie is back out (this guy is just so monotone and not as cool as Miyomoto, so blah), to reveal…

Lego: City Undercover

Its Lego, but you get to take the role of an undercover policemen and solve crimes using the gamepad while having the square blocked scenery around you. I doubt its going to be anything but PG rating but hey, who doesn’t love Lego??? Oh, and there’s actual voice acting, ITS ABOUT TIME!!!!! It will also be ported to the 3DS

Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft is out to announce…wait, no, its Xavier Poix, managing director for Ubisoft French Studios to announce their line-up for the Wii-U. First, the horror of…

Lets Dance 4

Well, at least they’re actually playing the game this time around. Basically your typical dance game, there’s nothing really different about it except the addition of new moves and possibly the ability to create your own moves (if its anything like the other games, if not, why not?).

Next…

Zombi-U Trailer

This looks like your typical post-apocalyptic zombie game. However, unlike your typical zombie game, one bite and you’re toast. With the features of the Wii-U gamepad, you can easily access your inventory, scan the area, become a sniper, do the shake motion to escape zombies and hack doors.

Next, a video detailing Ubisoft games coming to the Wii-U: Assassins Creed 3, Rabbids Land, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013, Rayman Legends, Sports Connection, and Avengers Battle for Earth.

And lastly…

Nintendo Land

Basically its a Nintendo Theme Park. With tons of attractions featuring many of your favorite nintendo characters like Donkey Kong, Link and Luigi. You’ll get 5 of the 12 for free while having to purchase the other 7 (no price was announced). Probably tons more information will be released for this game/park as time goes on. They gave a video demonstration of Luigi’s Ghost Mansion attraction. Its objective is for 4 players to find the ghost before the ghost takes them out one by one, pretty easy to understand and possibly more fun to play and attempt to co-ordinate with others. They also showed a trailer for Nintendo Land, which looks very much like an in-game amusement park. Nintendo Land releases the same time as the Wii-U launches this holiday season.

We’ll have an aftermath article coming just after E3 ends, so stay tuned to CGLF for more gaming news.

Microsoft

I skipped out on this one on the off chance we’d get another Microsoft Embarrassing E3 conference video like these, but since the conference apparently wasn’t all that bad, looks like I avoided it for nothing.

I’m certainly not winning over man Microsoft fans this week, am I? Regardless, I read Wired’s liveblog of the event, and they didn’t seem too impressed. “You can now say “Take a shot!” instead of just pressing a button. Well, that seems a lot easier. Pressing buttons is a real pain in the ass.” they said, then later ““Let’s talk about sports.” Must we?” and frequently complained about the noise level. Doesn’t sound like I missed much.

Sony

Sony kicked off its conference with an elaborate, colorful montage of the wide range of gaming experiences made possible through the PS3, Vita, Move, etc. Hosted by Jack Tretton, the presentation began first with Quantic Dream of Heavy Rain fame introducing “Beyond”, the story of Jodie Holmes (played by Ellen Page via motion capture), a psychic young girl who somehow learns the mysteries of life after death.

Apparently the game will be about guiding her through life in real time, helping her “become who she is”. The realistic mo-cap graphics might be some of the most realistic I’ve seen in a video game yet, but overall, I’ve never really been interested in this kind of pseudo-cinematic gameplay.

Next came PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale from Superbad Entertainment…

…teasing Sly Cooper, Sweet Tooth, PaRappa the Rappa, Kratos, and more as playable characters for the Smash Bros. clone. Check that…clone doesn’t even begin to describe how much this game straight-up rips-off Nintendo’s Smash Bros series. In the live four-player gameplay match that followed, there was literally nothing to distinguish the two games other than its PlayStation characters; from “Supers” (final smashes), to items, to stage design, to gameplay, to the meters that rise every time you get hit, this is Smash Bros by Sony at its core. The company promised a playable demo on the show floor, cross-compatibility with a Vita version of the game, and also unveiled Nathan Drake and Big Daddy as characters.

Can’t Sony think up their own ideas for once? You’d think Sony would want to really create something special to celebrate all these characters coming together for one game. Instead, this is yet another example of outright plagiarism on Sony’s part, and I wasn’t impressed with what I saw regardless.

Touching briefly on the PlayStation Network, the company patted itself on the back for providing such an indie-friendly service, and pushed its PlayStation Plus service by making games like inFamous 2 and LittleBig Planet 2 free for members. Everyone in the audience was promised vouchers for one free year of the service. Nice. Sony also advertised PS One classics coming to Vita, and pushed the new video and music services for systems connected to the network. All cool things, still not interested in the premium service nor the Vita.

Ubisoft came out to talk about Assassin’s Creed III on PS3 and Vita, the latter version to be subtitled ‘Liberation’. The developers showed off a new clip of gameplay involving the steering and commanding of an old naval ship during the Revolutionary War sailing around blowing the shit out of other ships. Cool.

The show took a steep dive when the discussion turned to PlayStation Move, advertised as the platform with the “most motion gaming experiences out there.” I guess we’re just ignoring the obvious then, huh? This turned out to be a promo/demo of the new Wonderbook, an augmented reality device using PS Move to create a virtual book on your TV screen. Enter JK Rowling’s Book of Spells, a new text from the Harry Potter author allowing users to learn and cast their own spells. The demo dragged on for an eternity as the models fumbled about trying to cast a fire spell. Definitely the low point of the evening, and certainly not something I’d even consider buying. Reminds me of the old days of PC activity centers, “edutainment” games, and other wastes of time.

The show finally wrapped up with demos for God of War Ascension and The Last of Us. The former looked good, but I’d bet watching the damn thing isn’t nearly as much fun as playing it. The latter looked like a grittier, more violent version of Uncharted, and with a kid sidekick. I was indifferent.

Overall, Sony’s was a solid presentation, if a bit overlong and tedious towards the end. As my first full Sony E3 conference viewing, I was impressed how they really treated the show like an important event, and brought out many of the creators and such. They put a lot of effort into the evening and it largely showed. Most importantly, Sony focused first and foremost on its hardcore gaming audience and, minus the Wonderbook, didn’t feel pandering or overly kiddie in the slightest. Definitely looking forward to the company’s future.

Nintendo

In Nintendo E3 tradition, the company’s presentation began with a video from Shigeru Miyamoto, showing the legendary developer preparing for the festivities with Pikmin all around his office. Miyamoto was all smiles coming out onstage, digitally placing Pikmin on the shoulders of some unenthused journalists in the audience on the big screen behind him.

Miyamoto brought on the long-gestating third installment of Pikmin, narrating over the gameplay. Announcing several new features in gameplay and using the more accessible control setup of the Wiimote/nunchuck, Miyamoto emphasized deeper strategy this time around with the more natural control scheme.

It seemed like this was Nintendo really plugging their definition of a hardcore experience. I like the series, and I’m sure it plays even better with Wii controls, but this installment didn’t look to be anything more than what we’ve already come to expect from the series. The environments look a little more detailed than on Gamecube, but otherwise, it hasn’t received much of a facelift from the the eight-year-old Pikmin 2. Still, Pikmin 3 looks decent enough and ended up standing as the highlight of the conference.

Next, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime came onstage to reiterate the philosophy of the new Wii U system Satoru Iwata talked about Sunday evening, all while announcing new features, such as the system’s ability to use two gamepads “just like the original [NES]”, and support for more video streaming services like Hulu Plus and Amazon video. Quickly recapping the features of the controller and the Miiverse, now apparently the Wii U’s hub world/home menu, Fils-Aime moved into the upcoming software.

As hinted at in promo vids, New Super Mario Bros. U was officially announced. The game will be able to connect with Mii players mid-game, as well as enable those holding the touchscreen controller to drop ‘?’ blocks into the game. NSMBU looked exactly like the other “New” Mario games, which I was never a fan of. Compared to the tight controls and punishing difficulty of Super Mario World and Super Mario 3, respectively, NSMB feels like a step down more than anything. It’s a reflection of the sad reality that Nintendo just isn’t the same company anymore.

Taking a note from its competitors’ presentations this year, Nintendo brought out many of the third party developers working on games for the system, and first up among them was WB Interactive’s Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition. The new edition will see extended gameplay, Catwoman as a playable character, and a new BAT mode using the touchscreen that charges up Batman and gives him…invincibility, or something. You can also switch between gadgets with the touchscreen.

While the new features looked interesting, there didn’t seem to be much in the way of new content that would really demand players of the game on PS3 and 360 to go out and buy the new version.

In a montage, games like Mass Effect 3, Tekken, Ninja Gaiden 3, and Aliens Colonial Marines were among the games coming to Wii U. Wonder how long that’ll last before, like with the Wii, developers flock back to Sony and Microsoft’s consoles, taking their cutting-edge titles with them. I give it two years.

Fils-Aime introduced the next game Wii Fit U by playfully reminiscing on his infamous “my body is ready” quote. Sadly, the game itself was far less entertaining, featuring a promo vid where a player placed the touchscreen controller on the ground in front of the Wii balance board and had her Mii do trampoline jumps on the screen. I await the endless complaints when people start accidentally crushing the controller upon landing. As for the game, wasn’t interested in the first, not interested now.

We were then “treated” to a game called Sing from FreeStyleGames. Wanting to change up the typical karaoke game dynamic, the company showed a promo video where the player used the screen on the controller to face the audience instead of the TV. The controller commanded the singer to tell everyone in the room to clap their hands. I suppressed my vomit as the presentation carried on.

In a brief turn towards the 3DS, Films-Aime turned it over to the head of marketing, who showed quick glimpses at New Super Mario Bros. 2, a game, bizarrely enough, more about collecting coins than anything else, Paper Mario: Sticker Star, the latest installment in the RPG sub-series now featuring the collection of stickers to get items and make moves in battle, and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon, sequel to the 2001 Gamecube title featuring similar ghostbusting gameplay, though this time around, pitting Luigi against a giant spider and a ghost dog. Of the three, the latter was the only title that captured my interest.

We also got quick glimpses at some of the third party games coming out for the handheld, among them Castlevania Lords of Shadow: Mirror of Fate, a 2.5D title which appears to have the same kind of quicktime events as in the console game, and Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion, which looks a lot like Capcom’s old 16-bit Disney titles. Not bad for a system sorely lacking killer aps.

Next, developer Ubisoft was invited onstage to kiss Nintendo’s ass for just how great the Wii U apparently is, and showcased two contrasting games. The first, Just Dance 4, saw a group of dancers come out to dance to the game’s Moves Like Jagger track, all while Films-Aime acted as “puppet master” and carried out the commands the dancers would see onscreen for them to do. “Puppet master…kind of like running Nintendo of America” he quipped.

The second game, Zombi U, another FPS zombie shooter, used the touchscreen controller to scan for nearby lifeforms, snipe, select weapons, shake off zombies, and more. Looked pretty cool, and the crowd in the theater really dug it. Then Reggie stuck the touchscreen controller’s camera in his face and started posing for the game’s “zombiefy” feature, and the whole thing just got embarrassing.

Fils-Aime proceeded to present the show’s final game, Nintendo Land, a game imagining popular Nintendo properties as theme park rides designed to show off the new features of the controller. From the developers of Animal Crossing and Wii Sports, the game features a multicolored theme park your Miis can walk around in, with 12 different attractions available to enter, among them rides based on Zelda, Animal Crossing, Luigi’s Mansion, Donkey Kong, and an original ride called Ninja Castle, where you shoot throwing stars at targets via the touchscreen (as in the promo vid we saw last year).

I expected Nintendo to announce this to be a pack-in title with the Wii U, but the company said nothing to that effect. I certainly wouldn’t buy it as a standalone title if that’s what Nintendo expects consumers to do – it’s far too kiddie for my tastes, and the theme park itself lacks any real sense of scale, looking more like a toy than anything. The orchestrated score sounded okay at least.

One of the rides on display was Luigi’s Ghost Mansion, which is pretty much a redesigned version of the highly underrated Pac-Man Vs. Basically, one player is a ghost chasing others around a maze using the touchscreen controller, while everyone else has to avoid him and shine a flashlight in his direction when he gets close. I’ll stick with Pac-Man Vs.

The approach behind Nintendo Land is sound, almost taking a page from Disney World and how Epic Mickey reproduced many of the locales from that park. Still, the actual rides seem to add up to little more than yet another minigame collection from Nintendo, and I can’t be the only one absolutely sick of that kind of game after Wii became a dumping ground for them.

The presentation closed as Fils-Aime framed the Wii U as a “Wii Universe”, reiterating the idea of playing games together and closing out with a small clip of a Nintendo Land firework show.

On the whole, I was disappointed. Nintendo clearly hasn’t learned from the mistakes of the Wii and seems content to repeat them with the Wii U game lineup. Honestly, the Wii U sounds like a solid piece of hardware in its own right, internal limitations notwithstanding, but the game lineup so far just doesn’t deliver. Nintendo’s own titles look to be more of the same gimmicky, kiddie tripe, and it’s highly likely third parties aren’t going to be around forever to pick up the slack for the hardcore audience.

I honestly expected Nintendo to bring back a lot of its core franchises to win back consumers in the form of a new Star Fox or Smash Bros. cinematic, but instead, Nintendo is yet again choosing to neglect its core audience. The only game that really, truly felt like a return-to-form was Pikmin 3, and even that’s a bit of a stretch. All I can say is, I don’t envy Nintendo come November.

Keep following for more from E3 tomorrow!

Update:

Nintendo just showed some gameplay of Mirror of Fate, which displayed the depth of Dracula’s castle and a few of the other environments. It definitely reminds me of SotN, even more so now that Alucard was announced as the third playable character!! It was also implied that Street Pass will be supported. Hopefully we’ll see more soon before the game launches this fall.

I never would’ve guessed that a 3DS game would end up being one of the things I want the most out of E3, but that’s what happened. Fans of the series probably agree with me that this game is looooooong overdue. Sure, we had Order of Ecclesia, Dawn of Sorrow, and Portrait of Ruin for the DS, and the release of the downloadable Harmony of Despair last year, but something about them just didn’t quench my thirst for Castlevania.

Enter Castlevania: Mirror of Fate. Or Castlevania: Lords of Shadow-Mirror of Fate, as it was initially called right after the announcement in Konami’s pre E3 show. No matter what you call it, this looks and sounds more like the game I’ve wanted since my 13th playthrough of Symphony of the Night. Details continue to surface, but thus far we know it will be a 2.5D side scrolling Castlevania with a combat system that blends LoS with SotN.

We also see the return of Simon and Trevor Belmont, with two more characters yet to be revealed, bringing the total to 4 characters you will control during the adventure. I could go on and on about my nerd boner for this game, but I wasn’t at E3 so I can’t tell you much more than the fact I want this right now so I can clean the dust off of my 3DS and get cracking (my Vampire Killer). See what I did there?

Mr. Dale North over at Destructoid was in attendance, however, and was nice enough to post this little tidbit about his hands on time with the game.

And to think I almost traded my 3DS in!

Pikmin 3

Nintendo had the most entertaining press conference of the lot (though not necessarily the best).

They opened with a gameplay demo/unveiling of Pikmin 3. I’m delighted to see this one; it’s one of the most charmingly fun franchises in video games.

You can manage up to 100 Pikmin, who can now use materials from the environment to build bridges to access more of the map.

There’s also a new breed of Pikmin called ‘Rock Pikmin’ that can be used to break down walls.

You can see the Wii U GamePad gives you an overview of the map, allowing you to easily manage your Pikmin.

Why can’t Pikmin be real?

Wii U

Turns out the Wii U will support two GamePads at once. The touch screen can be used with the included stylus or your finger.

There was also a recap of the Miiverse (the Wii U’s startup screen and social network).

Nintendo announces that the Miiverse will eventually be available through PC and mobile devices.

Super Mario Bros. U

It’s a Mario game, it looks like every other Mario game but with HD graphics.

Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition

As soon as this flashed up on the screen I braced myself for a shoddy port to the Wii U, intended to squeeze a bit of money out of us, but the game actually looks like it has some fairly creative ways of using the Wii U GamePad.

Some of these features include; using the GamePad to scan for clues, switching between gadgets, and controlling some gadgets, like the Baterang, with the gyro sensors in the GamePad.

Scribblenauts Unlimited

You can see where this one is going. You use the GamePad to draw things which then appear on the TV screen.

There’s also a brief mention of multiplayer.

Games announced for Wii U

• Darksiders II
• Mass Effect 3
• Tank Tank Tank!
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• Trine 2: Director’s Cut
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
• Aliens: Colonial Marines

Wii Fit U

Yes it seems Wii Fit is not dead. It’s difficult to explain how exactly the GamePad adds to the Wii Fit experience, so just watch the trailer.

I will say, the exercises don’t look particularly strenuous. The calorie counter says they burned over 100 calories doing that.

Not possible, I could do a 10 min run on a treadmill and I wouldn’t burn as many calories as that.

Sing

You know singing? That thing you can do anywhere, anytime, with anyone? That thing that has absolutely no need for a video game or hardware of any kind? Yeah well there was a singing game where the lyrics come up on the GamePad. What will they think of next?

New Super Mario Bros. 2

Brace yourself, here’s three Mario games in a row for the 3DS.

I love the use of the phrase, “As you can see, this looks very different to the Wii U Mario Game from earlier.”

Oh yeah so it does… there’s more coins. I’m blown away by the innovation.

Paper Mario Sticker Star

Okay so this is a bit more creative in the sense there’s some RPG elements added.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon

If more Mario/Luigi games were like this and actually tried something new, the series wouldn’t be as tedious and irritating as it is.

Games announced for 3DS

• Castlevania Lords of Shadow-Mirror of Fate
• Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance

Lego City Undercover

Nintendo showed off 3 impressive games for the Wii U (they showed off a lot more unimpressive ones). The first was Pikmin 3, this was the second.

The reveal of Lego Lord of the Rings showed us the Lego games seem to be doing away with the mute, mumbling characters. Lego City Undercover is following suit, with full (and fairly humorous) voice acting.

Many people have commented that it looks like a Lego GTA game. While it’s unlikely to be as expansive or deep as GTA, it look like a good deal of fun and is worth keeping an eye on if you’re a casual gamer.

There’s also a 3DS version with a separate story in development.

Just Dance 4

You know dancing? That other thing you don’t need any software or hardware of any kind to do? Well there’s a game for it. Moving on!

Zombi U

I was extremely skeptical about this one after the trailer so obviously ripped off Dead Island, but it won me over with its gameplay. This was the 3rd and final positive game showing from the conference.

The GamePad compliments the 1st-person zombie-slaying action in a wide and creative variety of ways, including; acting as a sonar monitor to detect zombies, managing inventory, scanning objects, hacking doors, sniping and shaking off zombies.

As you can see, you can also use the Wii U GamePad’s camera to zombify your face.

NintendoLand

To wrap up the conference, Nintendo showed off their virtual theme park, ‘NintendoLand’.

It’s billed as a place where Miis can hang out and play mini games together that are based on other Nintendo series.

Not bad, but not good from Nintendo. We didn’t get anywhere close to a release date for the Wii U, or a full launch lineup. Metroid, Zelda and Starfox fans will be disappointed at the lack of a new game announcement for those series as well.

Watch the whole thing here

The use of the new Wiipad looks really interesting and they have managed to utilize it well in the titles to come. Speaking of titles:New Super Mario Bros. 2
Everything wrapped in gold with shitloads of coins, to put it simply. It looks pretty much like it’s prequel, but with the coin collecting galore, this could be really entertaining.Paper Mario Sticker Star
They’ve added a new element to this one, and as the title suggests – it’s stickers.
You find them in your environments – on trees, houses and things like that. Peel them off and you’ll find several different uses for them. They can serve as weapons, they can reveal new ways to escape danger or find secret items.Luigi’s Ghost Mansion
The new Luigi game uses more strategic ways to catch ghosts and there are some new multiplayer minigames. One of them that were shown reminds me of Pacman, taking place in a house with an overhead view. Some players are ghosts, some players are ghost hunters. The ghost plays on the Wiipad and the players use the TV screen. The ghosts can see the players and need to try do spook them in order to take them out. The hunters don’t see the ghost, but have flashlights that they use in order to reveal it. But don’t use the flashlight at all times, since there are limited batteries powering them. The ghost takes damage when shone upon and will eventually be caught it exposed to too much light.

Some other 3DS titles that are coming up are Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate, Mickey Mouse: Power of Illusion, Scribblenauts Unlimited and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, to name a few.

One of the games that will use the Wiipad in a really interesting way is ZombieU. You’ll use the Wiipad to browse your inventory, scan zombies and environments, aim with rifle scopes and hack doors. This is probably what caught my attention the most.

Developed by Spanish coders MercuryStream who handled the Lords of Shadow games on the home consoles, the game looks like a hugely stylish cross of 2D and 3D action, with the gameplay taking place on a 2D plane, but with 3D models and 3D environments.

Not much gameplay is really shown in the trailer below, but nevertheless it certainly looks the part and will surely give 3DS owners something to sort out that Castlevania craving.

Castlevania: Mirror of Fate is due out exclusively on the Nintendo 3DS later this year.

Konami released a teaser video for Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow – Mirror of Fate during their pre-E3 presentation and promised to show more of the game during this week. The publisher released the trailer for the upcoming Castlevania during E3. The game will be exclusive to the Nintendo 3DS. The trailer doesn’t include gameplay footage but shows us the unique art style and sound of the game.

With that announcement also came with some details. The game will involve Trevor Belmont from Castlevania 3, no word if you will play as him. You will have to earn experience points (XP) to unlock new moves. And making a return is the light and shadow magic.

Update: During last nights Konami pre-E3 conference they announced  in a form of a trailer that Mirror of Fate is coming to the Nintendo 3DS.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate was recently revealed for the 3DS. Konami released a teaser trailer during their pre-E3 presentation, which showed absolutely no gameplay. Information regarding the title will be shared on June 5^th, which is also the day Nintendo’s E3 presentation takes place.

Also of note, Bethesda has announced that they will be rereleasing Doom 3 for the PC, PS3, and XBox 360 systems. The new version- Doom 3 BFG edition- will include extra levels not seen in the original game as well as the full games Doom and Doom 2.  Bethesda seems keen on keeping their old shooters in the public eye, what with this announcement coming so soon after their recent announcement of a rerelease of Quake 4. In any event, you can catch the trailer for Doom 3 BFG edition here.

UPDATE: RelyOnHorror has posted what may be an official piece of artwork from Castlevania: Mirror of Fate.

Silk flowers arranged with gold sprayed pine cones

Because it’s half term this week, you would think I would be busy doing lots of activities with the children so that they wouldn’t flake out in boredom.  We started with a lovely lunch at the weekend at my parents, then a trip to the Science Museum on Sunday, followed by severe illness on Monday.  My youngest was struck down with some kind of mysterious virus that rendered him feverish and sick.  Needless to say all the plans we had (bar the chocolate cake making) went out of the window.

Tuesday came Valentine’s Day and although we don’t celebrate it as a couple, we had a few moments of nostalgia whilst waiting for the little one to awaken and throw up (as you do).  This year, we will celebrate 9 years of marriage.  We are wondering where the time has gone and can barely remember the time before children (is it like that for everyone?!).

We joked that we’d like to have the wedding day again as it was just so much fun.  We had two weddings…yes two, and both on the same day plus  we were so lucky to be able to celebrate with all our friends and family that we don’t get to see alot nowadays that it would just be the perfect excuse for a get together. 

So two weddings, I hear you say…well with me being Iranian, and the husband being English, we just had to mix a bit of both so we had a Church ceremony in the beautiful St. Wilfred’s Church of England in South Manchester and we had the Sofreh Aghd (Iranian wedding Ceremony) in the hotel before the reception.

Now I have lived in England for most of my life and therefore handed over the whole wedding organisation to my mother who gave me and the husband the best day and memories to last us a lifetime (thanks mom!) and I could never hoped to have had the Iranian side of things without her knowledge about what needed to be done.  Here I thought I’d share some of the photos of the *Sofreh Aghd* (sofreh=table, aghd=marriage), and try to explain a bit about this very old and traditional ceremony which dates back to the ancient Zoroastrian times. Please forgive the photo quality as I can’t take the photos out to scan properly.

 On the Sofreh, there are several different things layed out all with their own significance. 

• A mirror (called the Mirror of Fate) with candles on either side represent fire and light.  The bride comes in veiled to sit next to the groom who are both sat on the side of the sofreh opposite the mirror. When her veil is raised, her reflection in the mirror is the first time the groom sees her face (at the wedding of course).
• Herbs and pastries are always present on the sofreh.  The herbs can include poppy seeds, angelica, frankincense, nigella seeds and tea leaves. Rice is also present.  The pastries include rice cookies, almond cookies, chickpea cookies, marzipan shapes, baghlava (layers of filo pastry with nuts and syrup) and noghl (a white sweet).  These pastries are taken after the ceremony and served to the wedding guests.
• Fruit, decorated eggs and nuts, better known as symbols of fertility and the heavenly fruits (apples, pomengranate and grapes).
• A cup of rose water for the perfume.
• Shakh e Nabat – a bowl made out of rock candy or any shape available.
• Honey-after the ceremony, the bride and groom dip their little fingers in the honey and feed it to each other.
• Incense to ward off the evil eye.
• Gold or silver coins to represent prosperity and wealth.
• The sacred text of choice.
• A Prayer rug or traditional Iranian *Termeh*.  This is a rug placed in the middle of the sofreh to remind the couple of the importance of God and prayer.  This can be coupled with rosary beads and a prayer stone.

During the ceremony, 2 cones of sugar cane that have been prettily decorated are ground over a veil covering the bride

Traditional Iranian Termeh

and groom’s head typically by the single women of the family to *bag themselves a husband* as well as pour sweetness over the newly-wed couple.  On a funny note, these ladies might also sew in a stitch or two which is said to bind the mother in law’s tongue against any nasty words in the future!

After the religious representative conducting the ceremony has finished, he then asks the bride three times if she wishes to marry the groom.  For traditional reasons I haven’t found out yet, she isn’t supposed to say yes until the third time.  Generally, the mullah gets heckled by female membes of the wedding party.  He will ask if the bride will take the groom, the female members will shout something silly like *the bride has gone to collect flour from the mill*.  After the third time, the bride will say yes upon the blessing of her family (which is already given of course) and the clapping and cheering begins.

In the spirit of true Iranian and English tradition, the rest of our wedding was the same as any other.  Much celebration and partying with music, food, dancing and cake!

Sugar cones given to us by my Grandmother

As in most other eastern traditions, the cake knife is *stolen* (in our case by my sister in law) and isn’t given back until the groom hands over some money.  I’m pretty sure the husband was fleeced of about £100 that night by a couple of different girlies who took the knife!  The cutting of the cake for us was memorable too as we had NO idea there was a board under the decorative part of the cake to stop it sinking in (we had a very soft sponge and cream cake) and therefore couldn’t cut it.  Dissolving in tears of laughter and embarrassment, we were rescued by a friend of the family who just happened to be a baker!

My mother and father made the whole Sofreh themselves.  Some items were brought over from Iran but the decorative

Light and fire

flowers and other bits were made here.  We picked pine cones from parks that had fallen on the floor, washed them and sprayed them ( I still have them all) and I can still remember the smell of the gold and silver sprays in the house in the weeks up to the wedding!

The wedding also holds a huge and special memory for me as my grandmother got to see me get married.  She had given my mother the tradional Iranian Termeh (prayer rug with stone and beads) and sugar cones many years before for my wedding whenever it may be on the off chance she wouldn’t get to be here.  I am grateful to the powers that be that she was here for our big day and we got to see her one last time in 2005 and late last year she passed away.  

I am not sure I can write anymore now as the memories have flooded my mind and the tears have started. I hope you like the pictures and this little insight into an Iranian wedding and yes, if I could, for more reasons than one, I’d do it all over again.

Our honey bowls