Brief GamesCon 2010 update

GamesCon is on and there are few updates that sparked my interest, again.


Firstly, there are news about Diablo III. Diablo III realm was quiet for a while and now we have some videos showing new features. Namely, the video shows Artisan. Artisan is an advanced blacksmith that will work for you. New and interesting features about artisans are:

• They can level up
• they can create sockets in any weapon
• when crafting an item(s) random special ability is added

Socketing of legendary items is very nice but I'm sure it would cost you an arm and a leg. To help you get some materials you can now salvage items you collect. Salvaged materials can be then used by an artisan. This could be a good way to get to better items faster.

Here is a video showing features of Artisan

While we are on the subject of RPG games, Torchlight II is announced. It has all loved features from the first one (random dungeons, simplicity, etc) and the one that was missing - multiplayer. Here is the trailer for it.







And now something completely different!


Cars. Lots of cars. Of course this means Gran Toursimo 5. There are lots of videos for GT 5 from GamesCon and most of the good ones are on GTPlanet web site. Some of the highlights from the news so far:

• Karting video now available
• More info on track editor
• Monza gameplay video
• Nascar at Monza gameplay
• Interview with Yamauchi

News about karting in GT 5 surfaced not too long ago (about 1-2 months I think) but there wasn't much out there. Now we can see how it actually looks. It does support usual views like in standard cars and this looks like a fun category.

For track editor we know it will not be a full blown "free to do whatever you like" style editor. The reason is simple - it would be too complex (and probably would take another year to implement). Actually, this could be a good thing. The way it will work (if it does not get sacked or changed) is like this

The course maker allows players to select certain set parameters to create a track. A theme can be selected, with the Belgian High Fens or Toscana two examples, and the individual track sectors are then defined.

Sectors are edited individually, with frequency of curves, sharpness of corners, degree of topography and banking angle are set with a series of sliders. 

As expected, on every big gaming event we see more details about tracks, UI changes and cars. This time round we see the Monza track. Here is how it looks.



For Nascar race on same track you'll have to go here due to bandwidth issue at present.


If you like interviews then here is another short one. For me most interesting bits are below.

Given the time, money, space and resources, which fantasy Gran Turismo track would you create in the real world?

Kazunori was visibly awed by this question and spent nearly a minute thinking of an answer. “Deep Forest”, he said. I countered with “Trial Mountain?”.

Both are classic tracks and it would be nice if that Japanese company is actually going to build it.

More news and videos should be coming in. Let's hope we will see more details about Diablo III.