With last year's conferences focusing on the new hardware, this year was shaping up to be pretty game-heavy, and it did not disappoint. I want to take a second and hit on some key points from each of the "Big 3's" (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) press conference. Here we go:
- Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is looking really pretty. I thoroughly enjoy Kevin Spacey so more of him in my life is always a good thing. While I will never sit here and say I am a Call of Duty pro, I do enjoy playing the series and hope this grabs me the same way Modern Warfare 2 did.
- The much wanted Forza Horizon 2 looks like what we have been wanting, more of everything. Horizon was a pleasant surprise and after the mixed feelings behind Forza Motorsport 5, this could be what brings the franchise back to prominence. Also, it's coming out September 13th, 2014!
- Evolve looks downright frightening (in a horror sort of way, not quality way).
- Assassin's Creed: Unity looks to be a great step in the right direction. I felt ACIII lost the plot a bit and Black Flag brought it back. Unity introduces 4 player online co-op as well. Which could be a lot of fun. Looks very promising. (Though with protagonist Victor Dorian, I expect to be making a lot of Scrubs related jokes).
- Dragon Age: Inquisition needs to come out like now. Say what you will about DA2 (disappoint), Inquisition looks like it will right the ship.
- Sunset Overdrive still looks freaking ridiculous and awesome, including 8 player co-op. Also, this comes out October 28th!
- Dead Rising 3 DLC (available now FYI for $9.99) will be bought by me soon. Capcom taking a shot at themselves with all their ridiculous naming and characters, love it. Good on them.
- Dance Central Spotlight coming this fall. Always a good time.
- Fable Legends seems really interesting. The idea of playing the villain and being this "malevolent god" setting traps for the heroes is a cool take on the genre and well worth checking out. Beta hits this fall.
- Project Spark continues to look interesting and will be cool to see where people take it. Also, Conker is in it. (Kinda out of left field, but ok).
- You want Halo? Well you are getting it with Halo Master Chief Collection. You get Halo C.E., 2, 3, and 4 on Xbox One, which also includes EVERY map ever made for Halo multiplayer (that's over 100) with 4000 gamer score. You also get a beta invite to Halo 5: Guardians and Halo: Nightfall which is a digital short that leads up to Halo 5. Holy shit! Also worth noting (since they did) is that Halo 2's multiplayer is being implemented the same way it was when it first shipped.
- Inside is the new game from the guys who did Limbo and looks equally as eye-catching.
- Microsoft embracing the indie developers. It was going to happen eventually, right?
- Rise of the Tomb Raider looks like more of what I loved about the last Tomb Raider game.
- Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is a game you should all be pre-ordering the second you are done reading this, just trust me.
- The Division keeps having fantastic showings, and needs to stop being delayed, I want to play it like now!
- I love Platinum Games, their games are insane and Scalebound is no different.
- New Crackdown game? With the original team? Called Crackdown? Get ready, agent. I'm in!
Overall, solid showing from Microsoft. Xbox One heavy and game heavy. Still, holy shit that's a lot of Halo that I am going to LOVE playing all over again.
Moving on....
- Sony starts off with a bang. Here is Destiny and it appears this is the console you should be playing it on, it looks that good. Beta starts on PS4 July 17th.
- Scratch that, looks like you should play it on the new white PS4 that Destiny will be bundled with on September 9th. I think I will keep my black PS4 but man that white one looks sexy.
- The Order: 1886 looks spooky as hell, and a game I really want to learn more about. You have my interest.
- Entwined seems like a really cool concept and is available now for PS4. Might be worth looking into.
- InFAMOUS: First Light is a standalone prequel, and as someone who loved Second Son, I totally recommend keeping an eye on this.
- LittleBigPlanet 3! (Drops the mic)
- (picks the mic back up) additional characters and last-gen map compatibility! (Drops mic again)
- Project Beast finally gets the full reveal as Bloodbourne, from the makers of the Dark Souls games. 2015.
- FarCry 4 demo. I loved FarCry 3 so if this continues to go into the over-the-top and obscure, I will love 4 even more. Looks promising.
- You can invite your friends to your game even if they don't own the game??? What? How? This could be a gamechanger if done right.
- Dead Island 2 y'all! Looks to be set in California (island?) but I am looking forward to this as I considered the first Dead Island a surprise hit. (Riptide maybe not so much).
- The Last of Us Remastered continues to be a great way for people to experience a masterpiece if they didn't on PS3.
- Magicka 2! Yes!!
- Grim Fandango? Double Fine? Shut up and take my money!
- Sony really pushing their indie games, which includes Broforce and Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number.
- No Man's Sky looks gorgeous and well worth keeping an eye on.
- Playstation Now hits open beta on July 31st (day before my birthday, just saying).
- "We are working on Vita games....ok moving on".....uh....ok....
- Mortal Kombat X! (Drops mic, shatters) Damn! Anyway, MKX looks fucking incredible. I CAN NOT WAIT!!!
- I should really get into this whole Powers thing, huh?
- A Ratchet & Clank movie? Awesome! Also a reimagining of the first Ratchet & Clank game? Even more awesome! I'm a fan.
- Metal Gear Solid V still looks damn impressive, really makes me want to get into this series.
- Grand Theft Auto V coming to next gen consoles and will have save transfers. I wonder how the achievements and trophies will work.
- Batman: Arkham Knight looks phenomenal! Looks like the perfect way to end this franchise.
- Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (if I had the mic, I would drop it again). Looks fantastic as usual.
Sony came out swinging. Huge game releases, the new white PS4 is very appealing, and a lot of exclusive content. Though I feel the pacing of the show was a bit off when they starting getting into PS4's power and the Playstation TV, still a hell of a lineup.
One more, can Nintendo hang around?
- No actual "press conference" from Nintendo, opting instead to do a Nintendo Direct Live Stream. I wouldn't read too much into that, it actually ended up working out better, I thought.
- The Nintendo figurines are called "Amiibo" it uses the word "Mii" and sounds like "amigo", that's my reasoning for the name.
- Super Smash Bros will be the first to use the figurines, which can fight in the game, level up, learn new techniques and keep persistent stats. Neat idea that has worked for Skylanders, we shall see how it works here.
- Amibo will also work for Mario Kart 8, Mario Party 10, and other games in the future. To what extent? Who knows?
- Yoshi's Wooly World is freaking adorable. I LOVED Kirby's Epic Yarn, so more of that look is always welcome.
- Remember that mini-game from Super Mario 3D World where Toad collects stars? Captain Toad gets his own full game and looks to be a lot of fun.
- New Legend of Zelda game looks like Zelda meets Skyrim with a huge open-world landscape that looks stunning.
- Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Pokemon games. 'Nuff said.
- Bayonetta 2 looks crazy and will also include the first game and neat Nintendo goodies. Awesome!
- I hope Hyrule Warriors is good, I appreciate the Dynasty Warriors games (even if I don't love em) and the idea of Link slaughtering legions of enemies sounds appealing.
- Kirby and the Rainbow Curse looks to be a splendid experience and the claymation effect really showed well.
- Our dreams were realized with the official reveal of Mario Maker. Create your own levels and put them in the old 8-bit style or the "New" era. This has potential to be truly awesome.
- Splatoon's segment ran WAY too long, but the game seems like a lot of fun. The concept of claiming territory through ink and having that factor into the gameplay seems like a really cool idea. They did mention tilting the gamepad to look, which I sure hope is just an option cause that doesn't sound like a good idea at all.
- You know, I would watch an Anime Smash Bros series.
- Lady Palutena in Smash Bros? Kinda feel like E3 is where you should announce someone with a little more recognition.
- Update: Nintendo announced (after the Live stream) that Pac-Man will be joining Smash Bros. See? THAT's who you should have led with. That's awesome news!
Nintendo continued on after the live stream and showed a few more games like Mario Party 10 and talked a bit more about Amiibo, but overall I was pleasantly surprised with Nintendo's showing. Great games coming from them and we shall see how this Amiibo line plays out.
Nintendo continued on after the live stream and showed a few more games like Mario Party 10 and talked a bit more about Amiibo, but overall I was pleasantly surprised with Nintendo's showing. Great games coming from them and we shall see how this Amiibo line plays out.
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So it's time to crown a winner in all this. Who wins E3 and reigns supreme?
Drumroll please.....
The winner is....
US!
For the first time in a long time, all 3 companies showed up and said the right things and gave us consumers some great things to look forward to.
Sure, EA and Ubisoft had their conferences and hit upon other games I haven't mentioned here, but the point of this is that it's great to see all 3 companies come through and present strong shows.
Hear that? It's the sound of hype. Soak it in.
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