The Final Day of ZAM's E3 2010 Awards

We saw more than 20 MMOs at the recent E3 2010 convention in Los Angeles. We participated in the spectacle by attending parties, touring booths and watching the booths babes ... and the games, of course. So that is why each year, we honor the best of the best from each show. Over the next few days, we'll unveil our winners. Here is the schedule:

Today:

  • Best Real Life Game
  • Best Fantasy Game
  • Best Sci-Fi Game
  • Best in Show

Day 1:

  • Best Party
  • Best Booth
  • Best Family Game

Day 2:

  • Best Trailer
  • Biggest Surprise
  • Best Demo

So stay with us all three days as we unveil the winners. In case you missed our coverage, you can check out the E3 index page.

Battlestar Galactica MMO: E3 Video Trailer Debut

We've been cautiously excited about the newly-announced Battlestar Galactica MMO since early-March, when we reported the German browser games developer/portal Bigpoint acquired the rights-to-develop the MMO based on NBC Universal's Battlestar Galactica IP. Bigpoint, in association with NBC Universal and the SyFy Channel, will be unveiling its browser-based Battlestar Galactica MMO (inspired by the reboot, not the original) at next week's E3 expo in Los Angeles. In anticipation of the expo, Bigpoint recently debuted the first Battlestar Galactica MMO teaser-trailer, which ZAM readers can view after the jump.

The teaser is 90 seconds long and showcases a variety of impressive-looking space combat scenes; however, it's unclear whether these scenes are purely cinematic or represent actual in-game footage. Since the free-to-play MMO will employ a hybrid browser plug-in technology (like Free Realms), it's more likely that these scenes are cinematic footage. However, Bigpoint CTO Jan Wergin described the gameplay style as incorporating both third-person avatar and "twitch"-inspired ship combat, as we noted in our initial news report, so we're looking forward to seeing more news from E3 next week. Watch the full Battlestar Galactica teaser trailer after the jump, and check out Bigpoint's official BSG website to sign up for news updates from the developer.

Battlestar Galactica MMO Announced at GDC

If the headline inspired a double-take, you're not alone; we were just as surprised to find out that a Battlestar Galactica MMO is just over the horizon. The news came out-of-the-blue yesterday from the Games Developers Conference in San Francisco, Calif., according to a recent article by Gamasutra. As reported by the Web site, the German browser games developer/portal Bigpoint acquired the rights-to-develop the MMO based on NBC Universal's Battlestar Galactica IP. In previous coverage, Gamasutra reported Bigpoint is splitting its offices between Hamburg and Silicon Valley; the new U.S. office will develop the recently-announced Battlestar Galactica MMO.

According to Gamasutra, the upcoming MMO is based on the recent SyFy reboot, not the original show. Aiming for a late-2010 release, Bigpoint announced the game will be a free-to-play, browser-based MMO with both third-person avatar and "twitch"-inspired ship combat. So far, Bigpoint's description of the MMO's gameplay leads us to speculate that it will be a "browser plug-in" hybrid, similar in execution to MMOs like Free Realms or Battlefield Heroes. In a recent interview with Massively, Bigpoint CTO Jan Wergin described the gameplay style:

"It's going to be a tactical shooter with a lot of interaction and questing rewards system. It's not just going to be a space shooter, but it's also going to have the whole [...] storyline to it, so really deeply immersive."

Like most Battlestar fans, many of us here at ZAM are crossing our fingers, hoping the world's first BSG MMO is "done right," and stays truer to the spirit of the TV show than previous video game attempts. Stay tuned for more news and information as it breaks!