E3 Presentation Afterthoughts

I watched four press conferences at this year’s E3 and decided to give you all an idea of how I feel it went, at the end of each conference I've given a score. This is not indicative of the games that were shown but more on the actual conference itself. Enjoy!

Microsoft

Oh dear, hands up who didn't see this coming? Just a year after Microsoft starting grooming the casual gamer market they appear to have gone all soft on us. The conference started off well with the demo of Modern Warfare 3 which is looking better and better (I don't care that it's cool to hate on Call of Duty now) and also the demo of the new Tomb Raider; possibly the surprise of the week for me. The conference from then on kinda went down quicker than a lead balloon, it basically became a Kinect fare. The main worry is that in their rush to get big name titles into the same circle as the Kinect brand Microsoft are watering down their stock. A pretty awesome bullet time trailer for Ghost Recon was shown and I was excited to see what kinect could do with a tactical shooter, then in some type of minority report twist the demo showed guns being exploded into pieces with the swish of a hand, I was almost sold. Then I saw a grown man squat and give the jazz hands as if he'd turned into a human lighthouse, all just to fire a gun. Sad Face, very sad face. I also thought I'd seen the last of simulated families after the debacle of "Skittles" at last year’s E3, but I guess the men at Microsoft aren't sick yet. I watched children demo a Disneyland adventure which again, looked good. However; titles these days do look good, and at E3 to be honest if they don't look good the developers have pretty much killed their title. Back on topic, the game looked good, but I'm a grown man without kids watching a games conference. Not really what I want to see, but Microsoft kept it coming, anyone like Sesame Street? Yes? Wanna play it on your Xbox? I thought not. I have to give credit to Tim Schafer here; he said "Bring on the simulated family!" A nice touch from a good man. 

 

Peter Molyneux was the next man to really catch my attention (as he always does), it's hard not be enthused when he takes the stage as he is truly great at delivering a rousing speech. I thought we were onto a winner with a new Fable title, I thought to myself "After Fable 3, Lionhead will really want to create the best one yet". Sadly I was wrong, ANOTHER Kinect title. I'm not entirely sure what the game was like because frankly, I had stopped caring by that point. I was then "Treat"?!? to watching Star Wars Kinect, which drew applause from the audience (before it was shown, that's kinda key here). The game looked a bit crappy to be honest, in visuals and also in gameplay, there was a good second lag between movement and the game actually performing an action and the game only picked up on broad actions. I was reminded of Red Steel on the Wii when I saw the guy demoing it, not a good comparison. The applause was not replicated at the end of the demo. One of my major concerns is that many titles shown look far to obvious that Kinect has been shoehorned in rather than been the main development point. Other than star wars, Fable and Cryteks "Ryse" none of the other games needed Kinect, and more importantly look like they could benefit with it being removed. For me that's an issue.

 

After being told I don't need a TV remote anymore Microsoft finally got back down to the gritty stuff, Gears of War 3 was demoed, I can't wait for this title, it's looking great and it looks like the trilogy arc is going to end on a high. Ice-T also demoed the game with Cliff Blezinski, yep. Ice-T. 

 

Another big announcement was the HD remastering of Halo: CE, a game held with fond memories indeed. The only thing I'd say though, is it really necessary to remake a 10 year old game? It's not as if the games skipped a couple of generations, it was out on literally the console before this one. Reeks of money grabbing, but the crowd ate it up.

 

The last major announcement was a "surprise". I say surprise like that as it was actually leaked on xbox.com hours beforehand. Bit of a shame as Halo 4 really should be the game which everyone went out talking about. It wasn't the greatest teaser, not the worst, but certainly not the best I’ve ever seen. Looks like the action will be picking up right where Halo 3 left off. It'll be interesting to see the 343 Industries stamp on this game. Wonder how the fanboys will take a non Bungie title, even if most 343 employees are ex Bungie staff the lack of the name on the game case is enough to cause the internet forums to bleed fanboy blood.

I'd give Microsoft a 5/10 for this show, must do better. Please, for the gamers.

Sony

“Now if everyone can put on their 3D glasses, we can resume the review”. This E3, Sony has brought a fair bit of ‘new’ hardware to the table in an attempt to catch up with the other big boys. But not before we get a nice, long-winded and beautifully scripted apology from some Sony director, whom I guess is important for something.  We saw the long awaited reveal of the NGP, named PSVita. PSVita is Sony’s latest attempt at creating a handhold that might actually be bought by someone outside of Japan! They’ve clearly taken head to the wind and decided, “If it’s broken, let’s not change too much”; I say this as it looks rather similar to a previous hand held of Sony… Very similar some would say. It’s put on a few pounds since the PSP and has grown an additional analogue controller, but besides from that you would think very little has changed! However, you would be quite wrong. The screen is now touch receptive, this allows the player to choose between touch-click moves or using the traditional buttons whilst playing, quite innovative in some ways. No information has been given on the processor within the handheld, but it must be said that the graphics look far superior to its predecessor. The new Tekken x Street fighter was demoed on it and the frame rate was way beyond what I expected; it showed some luscious, smooth and just generally sexy graphics which shocked this cynic and shut him right up. So basically it’s a DS with good resolution; now, will people please stop trying to copy Nintendo. I couldn’t predict the future of this product, it appeared to get a good reception and has a fair few ‘big name’ titles in production, but will it float or sink? Only time will tell. 

 

Another big bit of hardware, is the announcement of a 3D TV designed for the ‘hardcore & social gamer’ crowd. Utilising the current trending technology of 3D, Sony has designed a 24-inch TV with 3D capability. This is Sony’s attempt at providing 3D at an affordable price, $499 to be precise (this includes the TV, glasses, a HDMI cable and the new Uncharted 3). This translates to about £320 but we will probably get screwed over and will look to pay about £399 (if we’re lucky). By far the most impressive feature of this is the ability to play 2-player split-screen, without having to split the screen… I’ll explain. Modern 3D is polarised into 2 distinct forms, so 1 player observes through one form and the other player through the other form, It’s that simple! It sounds ever so elementary but this allows the two players to each have a full screen each whilst split screening, how amazing is that! Best thing from the whole Sony conference in my opinion.

 

After Sony got finished riding the PSVita like a new bike, they eventually moved on to a few of the big titles everyone was expecting. The biggest of which were probably Uncharted 3 and Resistance 3, the demo for Uncharted was very nicely done, it was explosive, action packed and kept me thoroughly immersed throughout the tech. Not the same could be said with Resistance, It looked pre-recorded or like the developer had no idea how to play his OWN game. Not impressed.

 

Sony gets a solid 6/10 from me, nothing too special and they are still playing catch up. The TV was a good start, now do something interesting like remaking FF7; that will make a lot of fan boys happy and you, very rich.

Nintendo

Ah Nintendo, the company which weaned me on the bosom of gaming. The company which betrayed me with this generation of home consoles. They had a lot of making up to do, and to be fair to them, they mostly succeeded. I won't go into massive depth on the Wii U because Anthony has and he basically echoes all my sentiments. Right from the offset I was hooked and grinning like a moron. The celebration of Zelda with the orchestra and Miyamoto's childish enthusiasm rubbed off on the audience, everyone was happy to be there. 

 

Right from the offset Nintendo teased, Mr. Iwata knew people wanted to hear about the new console but he wanted to first cement the company’s beliefs, nice little speech about how Wii was ridiculed purely because of its name but after people got to know the true name they stopped laughing. I didn't, still find it funny now to be honest. Then came the presentation we were all waiting for; Wii 2 is Wii U. Hmm, the name makes sense but it isn't the greatest one. I guess Nintendo don't want to ditch the Wii name which earned them a golden palace. After the dust had settled and the initial excitement was over I was left with a bit of scepticism. Although the console isn't the main selling point of Wii U not one image was shown of the box. You could see it in the videos shown but it just looked like a Wii. Apparently the Wii U can output full 1080p visuals and we were treat to a video with a bird and cherry blossom, I'll be honest, not that impressive, the textures and detail didn't blow me away as much as I'd hoped for a machine which is coming out 5 years into the HD generation. Ninty then boasted a large amount of 3rd party supporters, Ken Levine included is a highlight for me, the man's a genius. They showed a reel of games which will be available for the Wii U, but later admitted that they were only 360/ps3 videos. Naughty Nintendo! One game was announced for launch, wait for it; Lego: City Stories!!! What's that? Oh yeah, that's the sound of nobody caring. Bit disappointing that the only game they came up with to show wasn't 1st party with all Nintendo's back catalogue.

 

3DS was where my excitement gland was soothed the most, I've had one since launch but don't actually own any software for the machine, the inbuilt software is much more fun than any games I've seen released so far. Nintendo must know this and have got some truly amazing things in store, Luigi's Mansion 2 anyone? After possibly the most under-rated game on GameCube it's great to see Nintendo bringing back Luigi and with the addition of 3D it made me very happy indeed. Also shown was Mario Kart 3DS and Super Mario 3D, this is the stuff I want from Nintendo, true adventures made by the best in the business, Super Mario 3D looks like it may play like LittleBigPlanet in the sense you can move in and out of the main pathway. The addition of depth will make for some typical Nintendo puzzles and I can't wait for it. Mario Kart was a bit less graphically impressive than I hoped, but the true genius of Mario Kart is in the gameplay, with a bunch of friends the game just raises up another level which no other kart racer (or real racer) can reach. Another highlight for 3DS for me is Starfox 64 3D, I loved Lylat Wars, and deathmatch over wireless with friends is a very welcome addition. I enjoyed Nintendo's little poke at themselves by making Peppy Say "Do a Barrel Roll!", sign of a good company when they can mock themselves.

 

My main concern for Nintendo is how they ended their presentation; they want to run 4 platforms at the same time; Wii, Wii U, DS and 3DS. Something will have to give, either in the form of support as we'll either get terrible ports or just in public uptake, gaming isn't a cheap hobby and I feel we could have a potential Dreamcast on our hands if Nintendo continue to support Wii Strongly when Wii U is released. Although the same could be said of the 3DS, it's got a lot to live up to with every man and his Nintendog (Did you see what it did there!) owning a DS in some iteration.

Nintendo score a well deserved 8/10 for their presentation, they've attempted to bring back the market which was alienated by Wii. Have they succeeded? Only time will tell. 

EA 

EA produced a superb show, better than both of the platform holder shows I watched. They had a little dig at Microsoft saying it’s the games which matter (which is right), and not bringing out celebrities. They produced a massively strong line up, of which Battlefield 3 is definitely the highlight. Whisper it; this could be the year CoD is demoted. Mass Effect 3 is another title which is jaw droppingly beautiful, I can't wait to finish the trilogy and hopefully save Earth, fingers crossed Ashley won't find out about my close relationship with Miranda! Also Insomniac of Resistance fame came to show their new multi-platform title; Overstrike. Bit of a lame name but it oozes the character and soul which Insomniac have in their titles, it could be the Ratchet and Clank for Adults, which is fine by me!

 

My only concern with watching a publisher conference and not platform holders is that the platform on which the game looks best is shown off, not giving true representation. Battlefield 3 was shown on PC, and as much as I hope I’m wrong I can’t see the 360 being capable of processing the game to full capacity, especially as DICE said the reason that the game isn't playable at E3 on 360 is because it isn't ready. Bit of a concern so close to launch. Need for Speed: The Run was shown on ps3, which could hint towards PS3 being the lead platform, I sincerely hope that there isn't too many of the "out of the car" moments. I really can’t heap enough praise on DICE and Battlefield 3, they had a cheeky hit out at Activision when they mentioned you’ll be able to connect and compete all for free with this game (get some CoD: Elite). Frostbite 2 is the real deal, the visuals that the engine produces are truly amazing but it is the audio which is the part which I noticed most, everything sounds right, muffled when it should, and balls out loud when it needs to be. Epic may need to keep on their toes if they want Unreal Engine to stay ahead of the game. Of course EA also have their Sports range, of which like every year, the games look to be a big improvement, I can only comment on FIFA as it's the only sports game I play yearly but the new physics engine looks like it could add more realism which is only a good thing.

 

EA really tore it up this year and have shrugged off the reputation they had of just being a sports company, not just good, but GREAT games galore this year. Well done EA, you score 9/10

Now onto the last conference that I watched, and the one which I'll be honest, I was least looking forward too.

Ubisoft

Ubisoft kicked off with a montage celebrating 25 years of Ubisoft, which was quite a nice touch. They then went on to show Rayman origins. Rayman for me was a last gen hero and hasn’t translated well to this generation, perhaps unfortunately for Ubi I can’t see this changing my mind, the game looked OK, but isn't going to set the world ablaze. However it did make me laugh that the creator of Rayman died twice whilst playing the demo. Ubisoft then introduced "Mr. Caffeine" on stage, I wanted to die. I’ll be fair to him though, he’s enthusiastic about his products. Ubisoft seem to have got a reputation this generation of being a publisher who will publish anything to make money, just look at the stuff for sale on the Wii, most the shovelware has Ubisoft slapped on it. It seems they may be cleaning up, and only showed core titles such as; Driver: San Francisco which looked pretty darn sweet it has to be said, I’ve not played any driver games so I have nothing to compare it against in terms of gameplay. Next up was a title I’d not heard of, located in a jungle where everybody appears to be insane. It's definitely an adult title, the game looked superb (I’d be more surprised if a game didn’t look great these days) and reminded me of Uncharted, but from a 1st person perspective, mixed with Far Cry...ah, that’ll be because it was Far Cry 3, new setting, new character, one to watch out for after the Marmite Far Cry 2. Gearbox were up next to show a new Brothers in Arms title, a series I’m quite a fan of. Brothers in Arms is almost in it’s own little pool now, a WW2 isn’t very common anymore and although I wouldn’t believe myself saying this a few years back it’s refreshing to see a WW2 game and not a modern warfare game. Although I must say I’m very disappointed by what was shown, looks more team fortress than Brothers in Arms. What a waste. Sad face. 

 

The main highlight for me with Ubisoft, and probably everyone else's is the demo of Assassins Creed: Revelations. I love the Creed titles, they've constantly had a gripping storyline and have each played better than the predecessor. This title is of more interest for fans of the story as it will tie up Altair and Ezio's arc. The game itself is looking utterly fantastic (do I need to make this point with games anymore?) and it showed a step up from the other Creed titles. Ezio is aging and truly acts like the master assassin that he was becoming in Brotherhood. The hook blade looks to be a handy new addition which will add to the free running element of the game and I can't say much more than bring on November!!!

 

I'd give Ubisoft a well earned 7/10, not poor by any standard but perhaps overshadowed by the standard of other conferences this year.

-Dave (with help from Craig on the Sony Conference) :D

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