E3 2011

[RollCasket]

I'll start this off by saying...kinda disappointed in general with this E3...it had a lot of potential but ultimately fell short. Not sure how many people kept up with all the stuff as it happened, but I'll try to sum up a lot of the highlights and maybe throw some videos and such in when I'm less tired.

EA: Mass Effect 3 looks great and now has nonsensical kinect support, Battlefield 3 looks crazy good (PC version requires $81926416 computer), new Need for Speed has on foot running segments...on foot running segments, they continue to NOT show actual gameplay of Star Wars Old Republic, and more sports games.

Ubisoft: What a clusterfuck of crap, hosted by an insufferable douche bag.

Microsoft: Kinect, Call of Duty 3 stuff, Kinect, new Tomb Raider which is very Uncharted-like, Kinect, Fable now to be an on-rails Kinect shooter (think Link's crossbow training...you know, the FREE game), Kinect, Dance Central 2 for Kinect, Halo 4 and Halo 1 remastered, Kinect, Gears 3 stuff which is still looking really good, and also some Kinect stuff. This is seriously what this conf felt like...prolly the worse of anything E3 this year...and if that weren't enough to convince you? Minecraft for Kinect...FML.

Sony: "Sorry PSN died", Uncharted 3 and portable Uncharted, Resistance 3 and portable Resistance but more important is a Res 3 PS3 bundle with a 3D tv for $499 which is a pretty damn good deal, Starhawk (Warhawk with space I guess), new Sly Cooper (prolly one of the more exciting announcements), new Star Trek game that looks Mass Effect-ish. New PSP called PS Vita and will be $249 (wi-fi) and $299 (3G) with LittleBigPlanet, StreetfighterXTekken with Cole from Infamous playable, ModRacers, and other games announced. Vita also sported the ONLY announcement of all E3 that got boos from the audience, AT&T will be the official carrier. Overall much better showing from Sony than last year.

Nintendo: Zelda 25th anniversary and lots of talk about old and the few upcoming Zelda games we already knew about, few 3DS games shown, Super Mario (with tanooki suits!), Starfox (optional tilt control) with multipayer that shows everyone's camera, Mario Kart with hang gliders in the karts and underwater driving, Luigi's Mansion, and Kid Icarus which looks way more action-y than I was expecting AND sporting some cool multiplayer. 3rd party reel with Tekken 3D and Ace Combat 3D were pretty new along with some others we already knew about. Then brings the "Wii U" presentation which mainly showcases the new controller which functions as a normal controller, has a touchscreen, can stream the game to the touchscreen (people can change the channel and watch tv while you continue playing), and multiple other functionalities with the screen, in-ward facing camera, and built-in gyro. Smashbros also mentioned for both Wii U and 3DS with possible functionality between the two.

Tried to make this not TOO long...there are obviously many things unmentioned in the conferences and not to mention things NOT announced that are on the show floor (like new Kirby for 3DS and Wii). In any case though, like I had said...disappointed in general. It feels like a lot more could have and should have been shown by everyone. Sadly EA was prolly the best conf cause they were like "omg games games games" but still nothing really new. So yeah, I dunno, pretty indifferent about this E3 in general but I am interested in the possibilities with this Wii U and wonder how well it's gonna do.

[RollCasket]

Highlights from the main 3

Microsoft: http://www.gamesradar.com/f/e3-2011-the ... 2749426005
Sony: http://www.gamesradar.com/psp/psp2/prev ... 6161236097
Nintendo: http://www.gamesradar.com/wii/wii/news/ ... 5433320026

[Bear]

Yeah, you know, I posted about it as a "bonus stage" this week as my opinion on it. We were going to have a bonus picture too of Mischief Makers, but Pie scrapped it after it was fully colored because she didn't like the way it turned out. =/

So yeah, back on topic. After sleeping on it, I got to thinking, well, other than the Wii-U there weren't really enough games to actually get excited about. I think that I was still coming down from my high about the idea of the Wii-U being possibly very awesome. I put a lot of faith in Nintendo because I've never really been disappointed with the ideas that they have and Miyamoto tends to do some amazing things with the tech hes has Nintendo produce.

I think for the first time ever, I thought a Kinect game looked cool. The problem I imagine with it though is that it probably gets really old really fast. After a crap ton of Kinect games I wouldn't bat an eye too, is what gets me. Go figure. Oh...supposedly there is a Rez type Kinect game that was supposed to look great. At least my friend said it looked good, but I never got around to checking it out.

[RollCasket]

OMG I LOVE MISCHIEF MAKERS D=

Sorry, I wanted to throw every type of option on that one line >.>;; I love that game though, I even got 100% on everything and almost had done it a 2nd time later lol. I'd reply to more but I gotta get ready for work again...ugh...but as a quick note, the Rez game Child of Eden can be played controller style also.

[Decaf]

Some of the tidbits were harder to find as well, such as the "Pre-E3" video that Konami did, which included a segment on Hideo Kojima's upcoming project. All they showed was a small scene in a forest but the claim was it was an engine they had built from the ground up and it looked really good.

While I agree that the Ubisoft presenter was absolutely atrocious, I will also say that he gives their show a... unique flavor, in the midst of what is generally the same bull split up by the fact that they are from different companies. Mostly at this point though his spiel is old and tired, the problem is so is everyone else's except Nintendo (because they are actually innovating.)

NGP (aka VITA) presentation really disappointed me though, there was nothing mentioned on if they plan to allow users a way to migrate their games from PSPUMD's onto the new system. It looks great sure, but backwards compatibility is important and Sony keeps falling further behind in that department while trying to chase the "future", a future which they are letting Nintendo drive. Sony needs to realize that they don't need to mimic what Nintendo does in order to be successful, they need to devise their own future, and remember what made them great in the past. The original PlayStation wasn't a huge success just because it had massively better graphics than the SNES (though admittedly that helped) but because it had amazing games that you couldn't get otherwise.

Anyways thats my 5c >_>.

[Bear]

It astonishes me that for as long as the game industry has been around that people just don't seem to get the fact that its the games that matter most. I mean, Sony's Move seems like interesting enough hardware but...who cares? Seriously? I don't care about technology enough to warrant a purchase if there aren't enough games for it. If the Move and SonEye gets packed into the PS4, then we might see some nice things for the Move, but I won't be holding my breath.

I wish I could see more than ONE QUARTER of the games on the freaking PS3 to get excited about as there were for the PS1 or 2. The only game I thoroughly loved was Mirrors Edge...and...(goes to check collection) Darksiders. We have Valkyria Chronicles and Prince of Persia that need my attention still. Fei and I played a good way through Eternal Sonata before I started ripping out my hair from random encounters and boring dungeons. But compared to its predecessors and all the games I thought were "must haves" at the time, the PS3 library pales in comparison.

Going back to the technology aspect, you can go on and on about how Microsoft sold a whole ton of Kinect's but I want to see what their freaking software sales will be like. I bet that they will end up losing a lot of cash on the device because they are selling it at a loss and it seems like they are mostly selling it to people who want to use it as something other than an XBOX peripheral.

Here's a pro tip guys: let the games drive the technology, not the other way around. Then again, maybe I'm too far detached from the social gaming scene since all of our gamer friends live too far from us now? Who knows.

[RollCasket]

Yeah, there are always things not in the press conferences that are out on the floor, but I never understood why they can't show small bits of some of the unmentionables in a sizzle reel of sorts, esp something like Kirby =P Konami didn't show though because of their...show...last year, which everyone found to be quite entertaining. Still, most of what Konami is putting out is remakes and such x.x

It's funny that you mention the Move and Eye being possibly packaged into a PS4, cause that's what I thought was going to happen with Kinect. I was like "well, 360 has been out for a while now...I'll bet they'll put out a few things for it, then design the new system to make better use of it and package it with it." Though that could have been the plan, but once it magically sold a ridiculous number (it sadly sold a LOT) they started seeing dollar signs. You asked about how the games for Kinect are selling, and I had read the numbers though I can't seem to remember it now...the only thing I remember is that it is BAD. It seems like people are trying it, seeing that it's junk, and then not buying anything else for it. I think though that aside from it selling so well, the software NOT selling so well is part of why they're focus at E3 was "hey! look at all these games for Kinect and big titles with Kinect support!"

I kinda have the same problem with PS3...not enough exclusives I care about. I have a friend who is a disgustingly massive Sony fanboy and he goes on and on about why the everything Sony does and everything that comes out for it is the best thing under the sun. I play all of the systems, but I'm rather disappointed that the PS3 didn't become the jrpg system I was hoping it'd be. Eternal Sonata I had actually gotten when it came out first on 360, and I can understand how someone wouldn't like it, but I love the characters (Viola, Falsetto and Salsa are my favs in that order) and how amazing it looks. The thing about the boring battles I don't get, but that could depend on how far in you were. In that game at different points they add/change something in the battle system and by the end you're chaining combos between all the characters to take down enemies efficiently. Viola is the best archer character ever, easily, and an awesome design D=

Anyway, you mentioned specifically Mirror's Edge and Darksiders, but both of those came out for 360 too, there are so few exclusive games these days. Esp now that WiiU is gonna come along and also be playing all those same 3rd party games it's gonna come down to those few exclusives.

Holy crap I'm talking too much...but to Decaf I agree with most of what you said, I was hoping they'd show a lot more games being made for the Vita. PS1 sold I think initially cause of graphics, but those early games were so bad...but then Squaresoft started pumping out games for them (since Nintendo screwed em over like they did other developers, but not as bad as they did Sony) and the rest is history =P Still, I think it was better in the long run that Nintendo didn't take Sony's tech for a new system and instead Sony sold it themselves...cause it's strange to think how the industry would be today...would Sega still be around? As an old time Sega fan, possibly, but who knows if they would've ever overcame their biggest problem, taking North America seriously and actually marketing to them.

[RollCasket]

I miss working at a game store and talking about games and game companies all day

[Bear]

Don't get me wrong, I loved the character designs, graphics and music for Eternal Sonata. I think the big problem I have with it, which is completely a personal one, is my limited time and impatience to get through an RPG with dungeons that drag on for long periods of time with nothing interesting about them.

I had to talk it over with Pie a bit to remember what it was that was such a turn off for me, I guess it was the going back and forth within the same dungeon. It would artificially lengthen the amount of time necessary to complete one without adding anything interesting to what you were doing. Mostly trying out multiple paths with keys or switches until you got the right combination to get through. The battle system was great, but I dunno, I'm so turned off from dungeon grinding right now...it has to be a suitable mix of exploration, story, and fighting and Eternal Sonata just chained two many dungeons one after the other and I just got tired of it. =/

Also, I really don't think Microsoft sold a lot of Kinects to gamers. I think instead of a huge population of gamers buying into it, it was more like a ton of people like techies, roboticists, photographers and scientists. All over the place I see news stories about how Kinect is being used to do this or that amazing tech thing, which don't get me wrong, is cool. But it's supposed to be a game peripheral. It's like if they said one day, hey, the Move can be used to pilot a space shuttle and remove cancer, I would still think, yeah, but it still doesn't have any good games. lol

[Autolux]

Hey everyone ^_^ long time no see *hi-jacks this thread, and makes it about me*

[GlaDoS]It's been a long time.[/GlaDoS}

Been super busy lately, but I miss you all so much~ I see there are some new faces which is awesome! I've been hardcore workin' to get a better job than the crappy one I had, and I succeeded (yay ^.^v) I don't think my computer comes on for more than to check for directions xD Just wanna say, whenever it came to mind, I still checked back on your comics, and you guys are still doing great, I love it! I'm gonna systematically spread the word amongst my office <3

*steers back onto topic*

E3 hm... Not really much to say about it. I'm already excited for bioshock infinite, and showing me just a LITTLE more footage isn't much of an e3 to me. Everything else just kinda fell blah on me. The new Lara Croft looks kinda interesting... but they didn't show nearly enough to even warrant anyone to say "I'm soooo gonna buy this" The only idea they communicated was that they were making a strong attempt to change Lara Crofts style, appearance, and overall believability. I must give them credit, had the earlier games been more like this (not even the graphics, just the style) I think we would have had a lot better of a movie from it. *stabs her Angelina Jolie Voodoo Doll*

I can think back to every year, being blown away by E3, there was something always fresh and exciting. I think perhaps partially to blame for this, is the power and ability of our current systems. 360/PS3 wont see a new upgrade to a new hardware for quite some time yet, back in the days we all fondly remember, it was never long before a new system rolled around, perhaps we can liken the lack of excitement to just being too spoiled ~_^?

I could probably rant on, but I'd like to end on a happy note

Casey: You better text me, like seriously, do you still HAVE my number? Miss you guys so much <3 don't ever stop doing what you're doing, no matter what!

Fei: <3 U > Kel <3's Orange Soda, when I get some PTO saved up, I'm comin' back down to see you guys! and this time I wont forget my ID when we go to the bar <.<;

Everyone: If you have me on MSN/XBL, drop me a line! I always check my messages, and I wanna hear from you <3 (Edit: Unless you stink )

Have a great day ^.^ ciao for now!
~Melony~@