This year's games trade show, E3, which took place last week in Los Angeles was small on true surprises. Most of the announcements that were made had at least been rumoured, if not strongly hinted at, or outright leaked before the show kicked off. LEGO City Stories was one of the few surprises of the show. And boy, was it a good one.
The announcement, as it happened.
In development by TT Games - the people who brought us games like LEGO Harry Potter, LEGO Star Wars, and most recently, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean, LEGO City Stories marks the first LEGO game in absolutely years to not be based on a film license. Instead, bringing with it an entirely original story, LEGO City Stories will also offer an entirely different type of gameplay, with an entire city for you to freely explore, however you want, packed with "action, humour, and LEGO vehicles".
As Nintendo boss Reggie announced at the show, over 60 million copies of LEGO games have sold worldwide, and over half of those have been on Nintendo platforms (Wii, DS and, more recently 3DS). So confident is Nintendo in the quality of LEGO City Stories, it's going to be publishing it itself, as a launch title for their new home console, the Wii U, and their latest handheld, the 3DS.
While details are sparse on the ground at the moment, in the panel to the side, you'll find the first screenshots, taken from the footage of the E3 conference. Somewhat worryingly, however, the screenshots don't appear to have the usual "Press Start" prompt, asking a second player if they'd like to drop in, and play along. As co-op play has been something of a staple for the LEGO games since day one, we're praying it hasn't been removed for this new, more expansive game. We'll be asking those in the know, and will bring you more as soon as we get it.
