E3 2011 Awards Nominations

One of the franchises that came out largely unscathed by excessive multiplayer capabilities was the Fable series. While Fable III did boast co-op capabilities, Lionhead Studios has never done anything quite on the scale of what it is attempting with the newly announced Fable Legends . The franchise's next-gen debut, an Xbox One exclusive, is an ambitious online jump for the series, allowing up to four players the opportunity to work together in order thwart another player taking on the role of the vill


The nominations were decided by all 11 of the Game Rant staff in attendance for Fablelegendary.com E3 and are based upon our previews, demos and hands-on experiences with all of the available titles at the event this y


Welcome to the first day of Game Rant's E3 2010 coverage. The first big event of the show, Microsoft's press conference, is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM Pacific Time. No doubt there will be a ton of information on the newly named Kinect . But what else? Will we see the rumored Xbox 360 Slim ? Any new news on Halo: Reach or Gears of War 3 ? And what surprises are in st


Should the listings indeed apply to Fable 4 , Lionhead's "reimagining" may well arrive in the form of a next-generation, free-to-play MMO. For one, The Journey , as mentioned, already took a significant departure from the Fable foundation with its implementation of Kinect-based gameplay and a more linear narrative. And when Lionhead hired former Cryptic Studios CEO John Needham to head up operations this April, parent company Microsoft was quick to extoll his "deep understanding" of "subscription-based, massively multi-player, client-based console and free-to-play online [experience


There was one new IP shown that got our attention as gamers for a brief moment, Codename: KINGDOMS , with no game-play or true promotion. This was quickly watered down for those of us at home who saw those covering the event immediately drawing comparisons between this and the God of War franchise. Eventually they revealed the Xbox 360 S (a.k.a. Slim) which did little to entice owners of functioning Xbox 360s. Another thing that worked against MS was the decision to demo Call of Duty: Black Ops , a multi-platform game for a longer period of time than most of their other showcases. Yes, there was talk of some timed exclusivity for the DLC (wouldn't be MS without some) but this too was little to parade over since this deal has already been standard with bestseller Modern Warfare 2 . All things considered, the Microsoft Press Conference was almost hard to watch. I had thought ahead of time that MS could show many strong new IPs and win E3 2010, but boy was I wr


Developed by Lionhead Studios —then known as Big Blue Box — the Peter Molyneux-headed title hyped itself as only a Peter Molyneux title could, with vast, speculative suggestions, promises and ideas. Players were told of how a single acorn, planted during the game's early youth sections would sprout into a mighty oak by title's end. That particular feature, and many more like it never made the cut, but their loss didn't stop Fable from delivering an otherwise engaging and enjoyable experie


Talking further, he said that while they hadn't quite figured it out, the team is trying to use the Xbox One's cloud servers to matchmake players with friends and strangers. Although he didn't explain how this would work, he did alluded to influences that the team are drawing f


COMMERCIAL IMAGE In this photograph taken by AP Images for Xbox, Microsoft unveiled Kinect for Xbox 360 at the World Premiere Experience imagined by Cirque du Soleil on Sunday, June 13, 2010 in Los Angeles. Kinect makes you the controller; when you move your Avatar moves. (Casey Rodgers/AP Images for X


Online is an integral part of video games in the modern age. For better or for worse, the last generation of console was dominated by online gaming with competitive matchmaking becoming a norm for most AAA game titles, helping make the eSports culture more mainstream. The popularity of series such as Halo , Call of Duty and FIFA meant that for many gamers, online play was the main reason to keep playing a game. The consequences of this were that several publishers became slaves to the trend, putting (forcing?) in needless multiplayer modes that took away from certain game as a wh


Seeking to fill vacancies for an animation director and a core engine programmer , the listings became notable for their job descriptions and preferred-experience requirements. Both positions, they read, will be "key contributor[s] on an unannounced title," and both desire applicants with "knowledge of Unreal Engine 3 and/or


The last thing I saw was the Kinect taking over the remainder of the Microsoft Press Conference which was just sad. Demos of games in which you pet tigers, ride rafts through a river, and exercise all shared a unified element; they excited the core gamer in absolutely no way, shape or form. I cringed when they showed Kinectimals . I scratched my head when I saw the running in place game and I literally had to leave the room when they showed the fitness title. The racing game in which you steer with your hands was easily the most hardcore-oriented title shown for Kinect. The dancing game really irked me though because everyone they brought out to play already knew the routines. I don’t see how one without knowledge of the dance steps prior would be able to play (dance) at that level of enjoyment and not make a few more mistakes along the