Trailers: Ico and Shadows of the Colossus HD

Ico and Shadows of the Colossus rank as 2 of the top 3 games I played for the PS2 and we are lucky to get them in one collection. Japan is getting kinda hosed on that deal though they do get the benefit of full boxart.





The collection is due to be released September 27th. I am excited. If you have a PS3 and have never played these gems, I implore you to buy the collection. Otherwise you'll make me sad and you don't want me sad, do you? And then go buy The Last Guardian whenever that is due to be released.

What I Am Looking Forward to From E3

Admittedly I don't get too excited about E3, most of the stuff that is shown is usually a year or so away but there are always a few things to get eager about prior and I thought I'd make a list of the 5 things I'm very eager to see more of this year.

5 Things I Want to See At E3

- Upcoming 3DS games both carts and downloads

With the 3DS Virtual Console and Ware service due to come online this week (I believe), we could see the 3DS start shifting into gear as far as games goes as the system so far has started slowly. Not only that I want to see more information on new games that like Paper Mario 3D as well as brand new titles. We'll probably see more of Star Fox and Metal Gear Solid 3DS.

- Project Cafe

Despite posting that speculative spec sheet I'm taking everything with a grain of salt until we actually get to see the thing. It'll be interesting to see what is true and what is false and hopefully Nintendo can give us something we can all love.

- Skyward Sword details

I must know when this game is going to be released. The wait is killing me.

- The Last Guardian and Ico/SotC HD info

I'm a big Team ICO fan and their follow up to Shadow of the Colossus has me itching to get to play it. But information has been sparse, especially release details. I was hoping that by now the Ico/SotC HD Collection would already be out but that was also indefinitely delayed. Sure I have both on the PS2 but playing them up scaled will be fantastic.

- American releases for The Last Story and Xenoblade

The one thing that has really frustrated me and Nintendo fans is NoA's apparent lack of interest in at least bringing over games that the, for the lack of a better word, hardcore fans would appreciate. With the Wii obviously on its last legs having these two games and Skyward Sword would make the death at least a graceful one.

Gameplay Concepts: Exploration

Wow, 5 days since an article, that's too many. Well, let's see where this goes!

I thought I would whip up another running series of articles called 'gameplay concepts.' These articles will be about the ideas in games which make them fun. The first concept I would like to talk about is exploration.

Exploration can be a very enjoyable experience during gameplay if its pulled off the right way. In most games, exploration is completely optional, and it's a second thought for most people, but in some games, exploration is the key to gameplay.

Exploring the environment in Shadow of the Colossus is completely optional, but damn, is it beautiful.

When exploring a game's environment, the player looks for something to progress the game's story or objective. It's important for the designer to make this exploration an enjoyable experience, especially if the game relys on the concept for it to succeed.

Endless Ocean relies on the player to explore to advance the story and complete the map.

A genre of 3-D games that utilize this exploration are sometimes called 'sandbox' games. Most people are familiar with Grand Theft Auto in this genre, but not only sandbox games do this. There is a genre of 2-D exploration games which resemble the classic Metroid and Castlevania games called Metroidvanias.

Roaming the city to gawk at the environment in GTA is my favorite part of the game.

Metroidvanias usually give the player the option to explore the entire environment once they unlock all the abilities the games gives them. A couple of games that aren't Metroid or Castlevania that show this kind of exploration gameplay include the independently developed Cave Story and the Xbox Live Arcade title Shadow Complex, and I would recommend playing both. Some Metroidvanias are more linear than others, but they still hold the same gameplay.

It's available on WiiWare right now, go buy it!

There's also a very short flash game that I think shows off this concept of exploration really well. The game is called Small Worlds and you can play it on Armor Games. It only takes around 15 or 20 minutes to play, go ahead and play it to see what I mean about exploration!