Child of Eden

[Daft]

This Is Basically Rez For The PlayStation Move, Kinect

 

Sega Rally creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi is probably most loved for his 2001 synaesthetic shooter, Rez. This is Child of Eden. Same guy, same game, just for the PlayStation Move and Kinect.

 

I'm not reaching with that statement. Gameplay looks identical, and even sounds identical (listen closely for Rez's targeting noises), only there's now a calming "planet earth" theme instead of frantic computer glitches.

 

When people who want more from their motion controls than party games complain, I imagine this is what they're ultimately pining for. Now if only any of us had TVs big enough for this trailer to look "real".

 

Awesome. A perfect game for motion controls.

 

Edit: Also, I got the name wrong. Someone change the thread title to 'Child of Eden' please! :p

[Dante]

The offical site is online and the trailer.

 

Info

Child of Eden is the “multi-sensory shooter” that will send players diving into a kaleidoscopic matrix of synchronized music and mind-blowing visuals that will usher forth yet another landmark game experience from the mind of renowned game designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi, its creator.

 

Child of Eden thrusts you in the center of a battle to save Project Lumi, a mission to reproduce a human personality inside Eden, the archive of all human memories. As the project nears completion, the archive is invaded by an unknown virus. The Player’s mission is to save Eden from the virus to restore hope and peace.

Key Features

 

MULTI-SENSORY EFFECT – A visionary entertainment experience that synchronizes stunning graphics and innovative sound design to electrify the senses. By bringing physics in synergy with spectacular visual and audio, Child of Eden is creating the next-generation sensory experience

 

THE WORLD OF EDEN – Coming straight from Mizuguchi-san’s mind: unique, surprising, rich and beautiful.

 

CONTROLS – Simple & natural. Designed for standard controllers and Xbox 360’s new Kinect™ controller. The Kinect™ controller adds an extra dimension to the experience as you truly merge into the game, with no physical barriers between the game world and you. Use your body to move the camera, and both hands to lock-on and shoot for a completely new and multi-sensory shooting game experience.

 

Screens:

[Dante]

E3 2010: ‘Child of Eden’ producer says ‘Microsoft f–ked up big time’

 

During the final day of E3 2010, my request to demo Child of Eden was shot down by an UbiSoft PR rep. Thankfully, I ran into one of the game’s producers, James Mielke, as I was leaving the convention center.

 

asked why Microsoft didn’t place more emphasis on Eden. His response was unusually direct.

 

“Yeah, Microsoft fucked up big time,” he said, sporting a knowing grin. “They had a chance to feature it for Kinect but decided to focus on family-friendly games like what’s on Wii. They weren’t expecting everyone to react so negatively. After we showed off our game at UbiSoft, the Microsoft people came to our booth like, ‘Oh, oh wow.’”

 

He mimed curiosity by pursing his lips and drumming fingers across his chin, then rolled his eyes.

 

I complained to him that all of Kinect’s other software is uninspiring, but noted that Eden alone would make it worth my money.

 

Mielke nodded. “Lots of people were saying that — except, you don’t even need Kinect to play it.”

 

As an aside, he also said that Nintendo designer Shigeru Miyamoto usually spends just a moment or two looking at each game and rarely shares his thoughts. After demoing Eden, Miyamoto and Q?’s founder, former Sega veteran Tetsuya Mizuguchi, spoke with each other for a few moments. According to Mielke, the legendary creator of Zelda and Mario called Eden “game of the show.”

 

The former journalist and part-time DJ added: “[Eden] will be out before next year’s E3, probably like Spring 2011. It sounds like a long time but, for me, looking at it from the inside, that’s not long at all.”

 

While it may not be a long time in development terms, Eden is one game that simply cannot come out soon enough. In spite of Mielke’s rather frank criticism, Microsoft would be wise to begin coddling the geniuses at Q? from now until this game ships.

 

Xbox 360’s proprietors would be fools to continue ignoring the sales potential behind Eden. A high-dollar Kinect/Eden marketing campaign and any amount of bribery necessary to secure a game/hardware retail bundle seems to be the most logical solution.

[Choze]

Child of Eden is too niche for what MS are aiming for. MS definately got good press where it mattered in the mainstream news.

[Ashley]

Ubisoft criticising someone for focusing on crappy family-friendly games?

 

Well now I've heard it all.

[S.C.G]

I don't know why MS 'snubbed' the developers of this game, this is basically the only game I want for Kinect...

 

...

 

..

 

.

 

Which actually has me wondering if I should buy Move and get it for that instead...

 

...

 

But... achievements... >>

 

..

 

Nah... I'll buy it on whichever format it performs best on because it looks freakin'g sweet.

[Ganepark32]

Watched the trailer for this earlier today and I must say, it looks incredible. And it's not as though the premise is a difficult one. Its just a very simple looking game but done elegantly and extremely well. You can see elements of Rez in it and I think like most people, I'm happy with that as Rez was and still is a fantastic experience of synaesthesia and this should easily meet that standard. And who knows, it may even pass it. Glad standard controllers will be supported as I'm not fully sold on Kinect and Move yet but I can see it being an interesting experience with them.

 

I will say Mizuguchi really is a visionary in the games industry, in the same way Miyamoto and Meier amongst many others are. It's strange that the whole synaesthesia thing hasn't really translated to many other games though. As I said above, it's such a simple concept but done properly and it can really enhance the experience of a game. There's no other game that has literally put me in a trance like state as when I play Rez, especially playing the HD version.

[Hero-of-Time]

I've never really been interested in this title but Joystiq's preview of the game has got me a little hyped.

 

Armed with a early preview disc for Ubisoft's upcoming Child of Eden, I would compare the game's two methods of control, the good old-fashioned thumbstick and buttons and the newfangled Kinect method. Then, when comparing the scores for both, I'd have a pretty good idea of which method is superior.

 

So what was the problem? The fly in the ointment? ... Well, see, one of the methods made me cry.

 

I'll admit that I had to literally wipe some dust from my Kinect before I started up this spiritual successor to Rez, but before the opening strains of the first level, "Matrix," had ended, I was reminded of how much promise the camera has.

 

As I hurdled down a tunnel of light, pulsating music urging me on, I'd wave my hand over enemies and ... OK, I'm getting ahead of myself. At the very start what actually happened is that I sort of spun around for a while and had to fight to get my view back on anything worth shooting.

 

The disorienting thing is that both the camera and the reticle are tied to the motions of your hand and until you get that into your skull (it didn't take me more than a minute) you're going to be staring off into space a lot.

 

Once you learn to wrangle the camera, you have two weapons at your disposal: On your right hand, a lock-on missile barrage capable of targeting eight enemies at once and, on your left, a rapid fire laser that destroys whatever you wave at. While the targeted missile strikes require you to flick your hand forward, the left-hand laser is always firing.

 

While the missiles are more powerful and therefore your primary weapon, the laser is the only thing capable of bringing down enemy projectiles. Here's the way that typically plays out: You wave your hand over a group of enemies, destroy them with a very "Force Push"-like move and then eliminate some enemy fire in such an authoritative way, it's hard to not to (appropriately enough, considering the level's title) feel like Neo. What I'm saying is that playing Child of Eden with Kinect is like being a Jedi and The One simultaneously. (And yes, for those wondering, it's perennially 1999 in my noggin'. Sorry.)

 

So many video games are power fantasies, but when the barrier of the controller is removed, it's hard not to let this one go to your head. But the impact of using the Kinect is about more than gameplay. Standing up, likely even closer to the screen than you'd normally sit, you're immersed even deeper into Child of Eden's neon synaesthesia.

 

I was reminded of how much promise the Kinect has.

 

Eden's threadbare "save the girl" central objective couldn't be more tired, but something about how immersed I was in that world short-circuited my cynicism. At the end of "Matrix," I saw my charge, Lumi, and flailed desperately as I tried to free her from her crystalline prison. The music was swelling to a crescendo and I was literally doing everything I could physically to save a girl that, for the moment, was the only other person in the universe. And then, just for a second, right there in my living room, I teared up. Maybe it was emotion of the moment, maybe it the depressing realization that all the flailing had actually left me pretty winded. Either way, it happened.

 

Next, I tried the controller. It was fun.

 

As several more hours of testing would prove, my scores were fairly even between the two control methods, but my experiences could not have been more disparate. With Kinect, this is synthetic tourism, a 10-minute trip into a gorgeous, abstract world where you're the most powerful being in existence.

 

With a controller, Child of Eden is a video game.

 

[Ganepark32]

There's also a video preview up on Gametrailers. Game looks fantastic in it.

 

It's also out on June 17th in Europe, 14th in the US. But that's only the 360 version unfortunately. I believe the PS3 version has been pushed back to September, presumably because Microsoft want the timed exclusivity to help push Kinect sales a little further with a proper game.

 

I'll be picking it up, perhaps for both, as I loved Rez and this genuinely looks awesome.