Last night I had the opportunity to attend Capcom's release party for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. This is Capcom's second exclusive offering for the Xbox 360, and they spared no expense at this event to allow gamers a chance to play the full retail version of Lost Planet.
Upon entering the venue, a smaller convention center building, I could not help but notice the snow and ice theme decorations. They were also in luck with the weather, as it was about 40 degrees inside and out! With fog billowing around the entrance way, the gamers walked through an arch into the central gaming area. Capcom had as many 360's as they could comfortably fit into this very large room. I did not count them, but there must have been well over a 100 full 360 setups. Very impressive Capcom!
There was a DJ spinning some very cool, low key dance music. The music was of a low key bassy nature, a musical soundtrack that really helped with the ambiance and was not at all bothersome. There was also a rock-climbing section, cool ice sculptures scattered all around, and a crew hand silk screening t-shirts. This was a really nice touch, as each gamer was allowed to pick from one of four designs. The shirts were nice long sleeve models also.
I didn't get a chance to meet the design team who were in attendance, but they were signing signed collectors edition copies of their game. Some of these team members were Executive Producer Keiji Inafune, Producer Jun Takeuchi, and Director Kenji Oguro. I did meet briefly with Chris Kramer, who I believe is in management at Capcom.
The evening was built around a multiplayer completion. Brave gamers entered into pools to play multiplayer games against each other for a chance to compete against the Capcom's Lost Planet development team. So throughout the night, groups of gamers would rotate through the 360s. I opted out of this contest, as I have only played the multiplayer mode a handful of times and didn't want to get embarrassed! Each station had a nice wide screen monitor, headset, and of course Lost Planet. All gamers that I spoke with indicated they were having a great time playing in the completion, win or lose. That is what I like to see as a proud member of PGL!
I figured that the development team would crush the local fans, and at first this was true. However, the local gamers rallied and ended up winning the match after all. Good job guys!
Since I did not enter the competition, I didn't get a chance to play the release version of Lost Planet. I can say that it looked really smooth, and I heard no complaints. I did however get a few minutes playing the single player game, and was very impressed. This game has the "fun factor" that many gamers will appreciate. With a diverse weapon selection, nasty aliens around every corner waiting to take you out, coupled with a great story that will keep you moving onward, I can easily see this game being a hit. Plus the multiplayer online aspect will give this game the replay value of games like Gears of War and Halo 2. Eight vs. eight is a real nice touch, plus Capcom seems to have listened to the fans and has a created a fully next-gen lobby system, something many other recent games have failed at. Good job Capcom!
It was a great event and I met quite a few really nice people. Many were developers, programmers, animators, and other game industry positions from companies such as EA, Lucas, and of course Capcom. It was an honor to have met so many people that are so open and passionate about their jobs and the work they perform. I gave them all open invites to pregamelobby.com and hopefully one or two will stop by.
I went the event too. I didn't get there till 9pm though because of car accident on the freeway.
I wasn't able compete in the tournment because of being late, but I did play some mutliplayer and singleplayer. I thought it was cool they had games there to purchase and free posters and could have some of the develope teams sign them; although I thought it was funny for $75 you could get your limited edition signed game. Maybe it's me, but how many people in the general public are going to know any of these people to care enough about the signatures.
The mutliplayer was cool. Some poeple were good, some were not (me). I see the multiplayer being the bigger selling point for this game. The only knock if you were playing multiplayer was that some people couldn't hear their teammates, especially those that sat near a speaker; Capcom provided the MS headset. I didn't have the issue because I brought my adaptor to use my cellphone ear piece which is noise cancelling.
The signle player looked very nice, sold mechanics, overall fun. I found it annoying to have to keep getting the thermopacks; I was playing the hardest level, so the meter ran pretty fast.
I was interesting to see what was behind the curtain. One of the security guards wouldn't let me in; I assuming it was some type of VIP area.
I have to say Samsung flatpanel LCD TVs were pretty nice.
Eventhough the event was fun and interesting, I ultimately felt it was anticlamatic. Oh, did you catch was the "big" annoucement was that they were supposing doing around 9pm?
Peeeeeeeeench why did you not let us know about this. WAs it free, Cause if it was I would of rode to San Fran to the Event. I live right over the San Mateo Bridge!
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