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E3: Blade & Soul Business Model Revealed

Last month, NCSoft announced that Blade & Soul would be coming to the west, with closed beta anticipated to begin this fall and releasing this winter. During E3 we took the time to catch up with Producer Nicolas Coutant and NCSoft Community Director Omeed Dariani to find out more details about the F2P MMO's business model.

E3 Hands-on: Torchlight Mobile

Torchlight Mobile, currently in development by Perfect World Entertainment, is expected to hit iOS and Android devices later this year. An ARPG featuring online play and its own vivid, unique art style, the game looks promising enough to snare in lovers of the genre.

We had the chance to go hands-on with an early build of the game at E3 and speak to Perfect World about it.

E3: Press Conference Recaps

E3 is always a hectic time filled with announcements, with many new reveals and updated information unleashed over a flurry of press conferences. We've collected our conference recaps into one spot for you to catch up on anything you may have missed!

E3 2015: Picture Gallery

E3 2015 has come to a close—next week we'll be rolling out more articles, and this weekend you can enjoy our show floor picture gallery!

The Sims 4: Extended Gameplay Video

Over the weekend Maxis released a video showcasing The Sims 4 demo that was shown to press at this year's E3 (check out our retrospective here). Narrated by Sims 4 producers Graham Nardone and Ryan Vaughan, you can check out almost 20 minutes of gameplay, from the Create-a-Sim (CAS) mode through a very strange house party. The demo is from a one-month-old beta build of the game, so there may be some bugs or changes from what is shown prior to release.

E3 Dead?

Several years ago E3 got rid of the booth babes, and the gamers, and most of us thought it would die. They rallied the show a few more years, but the bells seem to be tolling for the convention one more time. Game Politics quoted a Wedbush-Morgan analyst this morning saying:

The show was small in scope, and the spectacle of E3 is dead. The Los Angeles Convention Center concourse was as quiet as a college library during summer, with little to attract media attention. The main game display area was similar in size to a school cafeteria (as compared to filling the entire convention center)...

E3 is headed for extinction, unless the publishers and console manufacturers wake up to the fact that nobody cares about the show anymore... [the]show is ill-timed, coming after most major holiday announcements are out, and landing during [SEC-mandated] "quiet period" for most of the companies... The lack of a spectacle will likely keep media away in the future, the lack of surprises will keep retailers away, and the lack of interaction with management will likely keep investors away...

We strongly believe that E3 should be held no later than early June (when companies can meet with investors and when some "secrets" have yet to be revealed), and believe that the spectacle should be restored by increasing the size of the show space.

Dennis McCauley from Game Politics has spoken out against the show in its current form as well!

The show is struggling to compete with what it once was in a way that just doesn't work for those involved, and unless the guys in charge change something, I'm afraid they won't survive.

G4's E3 MMO Report

G4 has been at E3 this week covering the event, and of course, they've checked out the MMOs that have been presented there.

Casey looked at Runescape HD, Jumpgate: Evolution, and Warhammer Online. 

Click "more" to check out the video!

Knights of the Old Republic MMO Confirmed

It's been rumored. It's been speculated about. It's been begged for. And now, it's been confirmed: Knights of the Old Republic will be released as an MMO. Portfolio.com reported:

In an interview at E3 this week, Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello said that EA is working on the next version of Star Wars game Knights of the Old Republic, and it will most certainly have a massively multiplayer online component to it.

"We've got two of the most compelling MMOs in the industry in development," said Riccitiello. The first title, based on the Warhammer property, will launch soon. "And the one that people are dying for us to talk to them about -- in partnership with Lucas, coming out of BioWare, which is, I think, quite possibly the most anticipated game, full stop, for the industry at the point when we get closer to telling you about it."

Does Riccitiello mean the oft rumored Knights of the Old Republic Online? "Yes," he said.

Check out the whole article here , and start dusting off those lightsabers!

Bethesda Will Indeed Attend E3

Bethesda Softworks, the minds behind The Elder Scrolls body of works, and of ZeniMax Media who's developing an MMO, has announced they will indeed be at E3.

Yes, Bethesda Softworks will be at this year’s E3 in LA.

Yes, we will have Fallout 3 there.

No, I don’t know why the ESA sent out a list that did not include us, just like they did last year. Maybe it’s because they had to go to print at a certain point and we hadn’t picked our space yet. No idea.

But we’ll be there and so will Fallout 3.

No word on whether the folks from ZeniMax will also be in attendance, but we'll keep our fingers crossed!

Allakhazam E3 2006 Gamers Choice

Our E3 Coverage comes to a close today with one last award - voted by you.







E3 2006 Gamers Choice - World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
Developer: Blizzard Entertainment
ETA: Q4 2006

Last week we posted our pick for E3 2006 Game of the Year, and we asked you to vote for what game you thought had the best showing.

The votes are in, and the Allakhazam E3 2006 Gamers Choice award goes to World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade.

The Burning Crusade is the first expansion for the insanely popular World of Warcraft. Two new races, an increased level cap, and over twenty new areas to explore are only the beginning of a huge feature list.

Check out our E3 coverage of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade:

Preview

Video: Shadows of Necropolis First Look

Congratulations to Blizzard and be sure to keep up with our coverage of the expansion at WoW Allakhazam.