Konami Pre E3 2013 Presentation Round Up

A few days ago Konami held their pre E3 presentation looking at some of the games they’ll be looking to release this year. While what was announced was nothing new, a lot more details regarding those titles were released with even more to be said during the actual E3 2013 week. Oh and they somehow squeezed in that this year it was their 40th anniversary… heck yeah!

Pro Evolution Soccer 2014
What the development team are looking for is to try and replicate the football experience as much as they can from player movement to the actual arena and audience present. A new game engine based off the Fox Engine by Kojima was developed to make this all possible and was made exclusively for this title. The engine is touted to create much higher resolutions then we've ever seen in a sports game and there are six elements to it: True Ball Tech, Mass, PES ID, Team Play, Heart and The Core.

While they didn’t go into detail about all six elements, a few were talked about which you can see below:
- True Ball Tech: This essentially lets you control the ball in any direction whether it’s on the ground or in the air. You also get the ability to control the centre of the player and the ball separately for more realistic movement.

- Mass (Motion Animation Stability System): This brings a more realistic essence to matches by simulating the physics when it comes to body contact and therefore making matches feel more competitive.

- Heart: This particular feature I found really interesting as it basically works on the individual players on your team. Your players are affected by the home and away environment and therefore it can also affect their performance on the pitch.

Lastly it was teased that a huge feature that’s likely to be announced during the main show at E3 has been added to the game and apparently it could only be done now thanks to the power of the engine. Any guess on what it could be football whizzes?

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
I believe the presentation that everyone has been pretty eager to see, especially with the previous announcement of David Hayter not being contacted to do Snake’s voice… so the big question was, who was it?

Before we get into that, Kojima went on to explain why he changed voice actors and simply stated that the new game takes on a lot more darker elements compared to previous titles in the series and therefore he wanted Snake to have a more subdued performance, expressed through subtle facial movements and tone of voice instead of words. So who did he pick? Why none other than Keifer Sutherland!

Kojima goes on to explain that as the technology improves and game hardware evolves, the Fox Engine was developed to create photo realistic experiences within the context of a game. He wanted to shift from creating characters from hand to capturing real life actors in 3D by using their physical likeness along with their voice, facial expressions and movements. While most of these goals were reached, Snake’s face was created using a base with several others mixed in on top of it. Kojima mentions that Snake’s look has been established for many years now and it wouldn't make sense to change it.

Below are a few more notes on the game regarding its setting and gameplay:
- The game place takes place in 1984.
- Snake is 49 years old.
- Kojima wanted a voice actor that could express this.
- Kojima wanted to see how far they could go by creating a truly believable, living, breathing incarnation of Snake.
- The system has been changed to embrace an open world game design. It’s different from previous stealth games and resolves in a more tension packed experience. This new style of gameplay along with the new creative process and realistic characters will add more depth than ever before to the story telling and atmosphere.

As always, Kojima doesn't fail to keep his fans hyped when it comes to the Metal Gear series and with more details such as platform and release date to be announced during E3 2013, well… I personally can’t wait, however seeing how high end the visuals are, we could be looking at a next gen release.

Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2
While I personally haven’t played the previous title in the series, Castlevania: Lords Of Shadows 2 was looking epic beyond epic! The team behind the game went into its story, themes, gameplay and new features.

A lot was mentioned on the engine and how it was adapted in order for the new game to run well. Things such as being able to run around the world freely, no loading times, updated graphics and a free camera that can move anywhere was being worked on for the upcoming title. Apparently the free camera was very demanding for the engine hence the change.

I believe it would be interesting to see a high quality, amazing game world with no loading times and when I first heard it, I couldn't believe it was true even if the game was coming to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Should they pull it off, it’ll stand as a benchmark for other developers to simply admire.

Below are a few notes from what was said during the presentation:
- Lords Of Shadow 2 picks up from the epilogue of the first.
- The story becomes dark/ cruel.
- Main Character is Dracula.
- Dracula has three new abilities.
- Enemies have shields and they wear armour, therefore you need to get past that before you can kill them.
- The series is being taken into a modern day setting.
- Huge city to explore.
- Music directed into the characters emotions.
- The game is set to be released this Winter.
- Lastly they go onto show this really bad live action rendition of Dracula that proves to be pretty hilarious. Created by Mega 64.

Apart from a few mobile/ web based titles, that’s it from Konami for now. Chances are there is a lot more to be announced during the actual E3 week but so far they are off to a pretty damn good start. PES 2014 looks to bring many new improvements and ideas to the game, Metal Gear Solid V: Phantom Pain looks absolutely amazing and Castlevania: Lords Of Shadow 2 looks to expand further than what was possible before.

What do you think of the updates? Anything interest you so far or are you hoping for something else? Let us know in the comments section below! Or tweet me @wkg_liban