EA Sports UFC preview: next-gen tech-downs

When THQ crumbled, so too did its excellent UFC Undisputed series. Developer Yukes successfully adapted many of the nuances of the sport of MMA, and seeing EA take over the UFC license was met with a bit of skepticism--especially after EA Sports MMA failed to make its mark.

A new generation means brand new tech, and EA Sports UFC is taking full advantage of the company's new Ignite engine. At this year's E3, EA Sports focused almost entirely on the tech running the game, rather than showing actual gameplay. However, what they showcased was so impressive that it made me excited for the potential of their take on MMA.

Read more: 'Full Body Deformation' impresses »

Retailers are "rebalancing" their Wii U inventory to focus largely on the Deluxe 32GB model. According to Nintendo, the $349 bundle has been outselling the more value-oriented $299 system.

At $349 however, the current price of Wii U is dangerously close to the upcoming PS4. Sony recently announced that their next-gen console will launch this year for $399. That doesn't give Nintendo much of an edge. However, Nintendo of America senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta argued that the inclusion of Nintendo Land makes a compelling argument for Wii U.

Read more: 'You automatically have software to enjoy' »

Before the second season of The Walking Dead adventure begins, developer Telltale Games is releasing an extra DLC episode for season one. "400 Days" serves as an interquel, connecting the two seasons through a handful of short stories spanning the 400 days since the zombie outbreak.

The demo opens with Vince holding a gun on an unseen person who is begging for his life. Vince looks troubled, but he pulls the trigger, ditches the gun, and runs. The scene then shifts to a prisoner transport van, where he is being taken to prison--an unintentional homage to season one's intro.

Read more: More tough choices ahead »

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said it rather clearly: they won't make more exclusives for Wii U until Nintendo sells more systems. While Nintendo has historically struggled to sustain third-party support, the situation on Wii U is especially dire.

We spoke with Nintendo of America senior director of corporate communications Charlie Scibetta about third-party support on Wii U. He said that third-party support was still strong, pointing to three exclusives: Disney's Planes, Sonic Lost World, and Just Dance. (The last one is not exclusive to Nintendo.)

Read more: Relationship with EA, increasing the install base »

PlayStation 3 was never an especially elegant console to use. From frequent firmware downloads, sluggish in-game XMB, to the inability to multitask, there are many aspects of the PlayStation experience that can be improved upon.

Enter PS4. A new generation offers a blank canvas to work with. And even at PS4's reveal in February, Sony was keen on pointing out that its upcoming console will offer a frictionless experience. A new video shows how attractive gamers might use the system in the hyper-connected, social world they live in.

Watch: They're so attractive »

In addition to silly press events, Nintendo hosted a financial briefing for investors and analysts at E3 today. According to one analyst in attendance, Nintendo plans on releasing its very first free-to-play game before the end of its fiscal year in March 2014.

"Nintendo free-to-play game will be released this FY but will not be Mario or Pokemon game," analyst David Gibson tweeted (via Gamespot).

Read more: Why F2P demands a new IP »

As rumored, Sony has figured out its next marketing slogan for PlayStation. "Greatness Awaits" boldly asks gamers: "Who are you not to be great?"

The campaign launches after a wildly successful E3 for Sony. However, the slogan is not exclusive to PS4. It appears that the campaign will be used for all PlayStation products, including PS3 and Vita. For example, the official website is currently promoting The Last of Us and is offering a dynamic PS3 theme.

Watch: An advertisement awaits »

Ubisoft was behind one of the Wii U's most notable exclusives, ZombiU, but CEO Yves Guillemot has said the company won't make more exclusives until more people own the console.

However, making games for Wii U has been a valuable learning experience for the fancy second-screen features Ubi unveiled for loads of games at E3.

Read more: Hints of another Zombi U-ish game too »

There's an unpleasant but not unexpected hole in Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain's platform lineup. The open-world stealth 'em up is confirmed to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 and Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and... no, no PC. Or not yet, anyway, as series creator Hideo Kojima says even though a PC edition is not being worked on right now, it hopefully will come one day.

Read more: "Not our priority" »

Update: Oh yes! And maps!

"No one cares about Team Fortress 2 since it became all about hats," an unpleasant caricature I've created for rhetorical effect snorts. Well, someone must, as Valve has now paid over $10 million to folks who've created items for sale in the free-to-play shooter's store and to mappers from 'sticker' sales. Yes, that's after Valve's own cut too. Lots of money. And hats.

Read more: Almost $250k in three weeks to Robotic Boogaloo creators »

Titanfall may currently be exclusive to Xbox One and Xbox 360 (and PC, but apparently that doesn't count because we want Microsoft and Sony to fight in a dank basement) but it won't necessarily always be that way.

See, according to publisher EA the exclusivity is one of those "tactical opportunities" that comes along (ie briefcases full of money), while developer Respawn Entertainment says a PlayStation version later is "definitely not out of the question." Fingers crossed.

Read more: "We're just starting out" says lead artist »

We said before that Trion Worlds planned to turn its MMORPG Rift free-to-play on this day but, you know, what sort of company expects people to remember things like that in the excitement of E3? But it has, and everyone can now play it as much as they please without paying a penny.

Watch: A new trailer celebrating the F2P switch »

Developer and publisher Atlus is bringing another of its RPGs over from Japan for your niche playing pleasure--another remake of another of its RPGs, in fact. Jazzing up the original Etrian Odyssey for Nintendo 3DS, Etrian Odyssey Untold: The Millennium Girl is due this fall.

Read more: Adding a Story mode and voice »

After four games where modest and respectable cars kept their wheels covered, Turn 10 Studios is throwing decency to the wind in Forza Motorsport 5 and introducing cars who shamelessly show their wheels. It's adding classic Formula 1 cars, IndyCar racers, and other "open wheel" driving devices, in other words.

Watch: An IndyCar just sitting there, not doing anything »

Arma developer is bringing us the thrills, chills, and brown rolling hills of Mars in a new sim about exploring the surface of the red planet, it has announced at E3. Take On Mars have you piloting landers and rovers on scientific missions, probably not encountering hostile life you must blast to pieces but who knows how its mod tools will be used?

Watch: Rovin', rovin', rovin' to find water »

Skylanders has come a long way from its origins as a bizarre Spyro spin-off. The game that integrated real-world collectibles and busted many a parent's wallet has spun its way into a full-blown money-making powerhouse for Activision. Even as Disney approaches a similar concept built around much more recognizable characters, a look at Skylanders Swap Force shows why the House of Mouse has a real fight on its white-gloved hands.

Read more: Combinations and upgrades »

Yesterday's demo of Tom Clancy's The Division painted yet another apocalyptic picture of the future, with a virus destroying much of America. Described as a "persistent open world RPG," the game appeared more shooter than RPG. Ubisoft Massive producer Fredrik Rundqvist explained that progression and loot are core to the game, but that the game does not confine itself to the traditional class-based roles of an MMO.

Read more: Lots of demand for PC version »

PlayStation 4 is incredibly small. It may be hard to tell in photos, but the hardware is tiny. Official specs released by Sony show that PS4 is closer in size to the PS3 Slim than Sony's launch PS3.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not released concrete numbers on Xbox One, leaving it to internet sleuths to attempt extrapolating that data based on official photos and measuring USB ports (which should be the same size on every device). This photo (via CVG) has been making the rounds, highlighting that Xbox One has a larger footprint than PS4.

Read more: Not necessarily directing it, mind »

It may not come bundled with the PS4, but Sony also has a next-gen camera in the works. PlayStation Eye for PS4 will be available as a $59 peripheral, but what can it do? We got to see a tech demo called "Playroom" to see the possibilities.

A Sony representative said the demo was simply a way of showcasing how the new DualShock 4 worked in conjunction with the Eye. On the TV, a floating AI robot appeared, pouring a bunch of smaller robots into your controller. If you put your ear to the speaker you could hear little sounds supposedly coming from inside. The controller would rumble as the robots jumped inside the controller.

Like with previous Eye games, the showed an augmented version of the real-world room that we were in. Swiping up on the touchpad numerous times hurled the smaller bots out of the controller onto the floor, allowing me to interact with them with my hand. Pressing down on the touchpad, I could vacuum them all back into the controller.

Watch: AR hockey and face-tracking »

Sucker Punch brought InFamous: Second Son to E3, showing off the dazzling new powers players can try in the upcoming PS4 action game.

In addition to highlighting new hero Deslin Rowe's new abilities, game director Nathan Fox discussed how player choice would remain a pivotal aspect of the series.

The demo took place near Seattle's famous Space Needle and focused on Deslin fighting off a large group of the Department of Unified Protection. More of the fire-based powers revealed in last month's Game Informer were on display, with Deslin using his smoke abilities to launch himself towards high areas. The demo culminated with Deslin unleashing a special attack, in which he launched himself into the air and rocketed down to earth, creating a giant crater and clearing out all surrounding foes.

Watch: The E3 gameplay demonstration »

Remedy wants their next title, Quantum Break to represent the next step of interactive entertainment. But what is that, you ask? Well, it's TV, of course.

Quantum Break, is more than just a game. It's an interactive experience that ties into a companion TV show. "This time around, we are going a lot further with Quantum Break," explained creative director Sam Lake to the audience. "It's much more than a triple-A game. There is a top-of-the-line action TV show that ships with the game. Both the game and the show are meant to be consumed together. Episodes of the show interweave with episodes of the game. For us, this really is a dream come true. Looking at our past games, it's a logical leap forward."

Read more: More than a Choose Your Own Adventure

A MMORPG set in Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 universe has been announced at E3 for PC, Xbox One and PS4 but, er, it's probably not what you're expecting. WH40K: Eternal Crusade will see the Space Marines, Chaos Space Marines, Orks and Eldar duking it out in a "persistent online war" to control a planet, and all sounds quite PlanetSide-y.

The surprising part is that it's from Behaviour Interactive, developer of Wet and Naughty Bear.

Read more: Fight for territory on foot and in vehicles »

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 picks off right after the events of the first LoS. And spoiler alert: you play as Dracula.

MercurySteam's Dave Cox, head of development on the game, said the team had three goals when it went in to make the sequel. The first was to remove the fixed camera and offer a 360 field of view to who off the world.

"People really loved the vistas and the art design, but a lot of people found the fixed camera work frustrating," Cox said. "That was a really big decision because that meant going back to look at the engine design, which was created for the PS2 and Xbox. We basically used it for the next consoles without making any improvements."

Read more: Three new weapons to learn »

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare should not be a good game. Turning PopCap's beloved tower defense game into a console third-person shooter sounds like a joke; surely this must be the result of mega-corp Electronic Arts' heavy focus-testing. Yet, Garden Warfare manages to instantly wash away any cynicism surrounding the title with its loving 3D recreations of PvZ's iconic characters. It even manages to be an interesting game in its own right, by successfully translating the strategic gameplay of the original into a tactical shooter experience.

Read more: Taking down a zombie boss »

Pokemon has been one of the Nintendo's slowest-evolving franchises, ironic given what the series is about. The company hews closely to tradition, building a devoted fanbase, and constantly inviting a new generation of players to take up their own mantle as Pokemon trainers. At an E3 panel last night, Game Freak and The Pokemon Company revealed how it plans to pack new features into Pokemon X and Y without jostling the formula too severely.

Read more: The Personal Search System simplifies friendship »