Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Guest Post: My E3 Round Up


So the first day of E3 is all wrapped up, I managed to get some sleep, and here I am now, writing up what the first day brought us in terms of expectations and disappointments. Day 1 was full of the big hitters minus Nintendo.

By far the most talked about and the most hyped (after the presentation) was Watch Dogs! This came out of the left field didn’t it?!





A brand new IP, and from the footage shown, it looks amazing~ From first glance I drew comparison to GTA purely from the layout (map at the bottom left, open world, etc) and that’s where the comparisons end from the trailer. 'The game takes place in New York city after a virus has been unleashed, causing a huge blackout and eventually control of all public computer systems handed to a major corporation.' …sounds pretty cool, right? The main thing I was impressed with was the atmosphere the game presented. I like the whole ‘dark city’ vibe. Very nice.

Though this game was shown to be played on an Xbox 360 controller by an Ubisoft employee, no platforms were specified for the games. Well done, Ubisoft, for presenting something we're actually looking forward too!

On to Microsoft...sigh...

The conference...THE WHOLE THING.... was a disappointment for me. Halo 4 made an appearance as the opening to the show. Eh, it was nice to look at? It's just another Halo game to me. How far can they stretch this series? I not really interested in it at the minute so biased opinion is biased. 
By far my biggest gripe with Microsoft comes from the introduction of SmartGlass.

I must ask...WHY?! Okay, it's something new and can do some fancy things, but its so gimmicky, and in my opinion lazy. So what exactly is SmartGlass? Its essentially an app that can turn your phone or tablet into another screen for your TV.

I must ask...WHY?! Okay, it's something new and can do some fancy things, but its so gimmicky, and in my opinion lazy. So what exactly is SmartGlass? Its essentially an app that can turn your phone or tablet into another screen for your TV.

Fancy? Maybe, but if I want to find something out about a TV show, I just Google it. It's simple, it's easy, why do i need some program to do that?  Who even has the battery power for that these days? I'm not going to go too much into SmartGlass, because I'll be off on one for days... 

The one thing I was happy about was... Resident Evil 6! Oh yeah! They brought Leon S. Kennedy back, a fact I am happy and disappointed about. I love Resident Evil 2 and therefore the characters included, so of course I'll be happy when they're brought back. However i liked the fact that you normally get to play a new character or someone linked to people in past games, buuuuut they chose to bring Leon back...again. Oh and Ada! How much can they do with these character without the players getting bored of them? 

The trailer lets us know that we'll be back to fighting zombies..YES! Finally! I was sick of fighting 'Parasites' lets hope they bring back some more classic elements of the game we loved. (More puzzles, yo!)


The trailer lets us know that we'll be back to fighting zombies..YES! Finally! I was sick of fighting 'Parasites' lets hope they bring back some more classic elements of the game we loved. (More puzzles, yo!)








 Other things worth noting is Tomb Raider.. Poor Lara, they're really putting her through it this time. It looks good, but once again I think it is so different from the Tomb Raider we all used to love. I know, I know, games need to be developed and pushed to be successful and to be open for new gamers, its just something i personally would like to see. The main thing being said about this new Tomb Raider game is that it is being compared to Uncharted. Go watch the trailer.. what do you think?

Microsoft jumbled stuff up, with a performance from Usher (Ushering in a new era, D'OHOHO) I thought this was more of a twitter break for everyone and after that there was of course more COD and Madden games....Yawn.

Sony..
Oh Sony... Y U DO THIS?! 
Sonys conference was a mixed bag of disappointment, embarrassment and a few maybe saviors thrown in. there was also a lot of 'What were you thinking'!! as well.. 
We all knew that there would be some Assassins Creed 3 footage, which was impressive. and visually looked good.

They also announced an AC Vita spin off, but is anyone really interested in that? It does have a female lead..

And then..and then there was Wonderbook..oh my days! What to write? How to write? are there any words?! From some strange place in the universe, JK Rowling of the Harry Potter fame and Sony teamed up to make this THING called 'Wonderbook: Book of spells'  

It works by making use of the PlayStation Eye camera. This Wonderbook is tied in with Rowlings Pottermore website (So its another Outlet for the content) I guess this idea is more for the kids? Maybe its trying to combat the age old argument of 'Kids should read more and play games less' by combining the two? 






The main thing that really got me about this is the amount of time Sony focused on this! it was like a good 15-20 Minute (or it felt like that) it was embarrassing to watch the people live demonstrating it on the stage, and just the sheer amount of waffling that went on to fill the time.. WHY SONY WHHHHHY?! 

2 games worth noting from Sony's love fest are 'Beyond: Two Souls' and 'The Last Of Us'

From the makers of Heavy rain, Quantic Dream presents us with Beyond: Two Souls. 'The game is centered on questions about what happens after death. The game's producer noted that players might be able to find out ''what likes beyond'' after playing the game. The game features a dark graphical style, in the vein of Heavy Rain' Ooooo 


So there you have it, the game boasts that Ellen Page (Of the Juno fame) as the model and voicce actress for the main lead. David Cage from Quantic said that "For the first time ever, players will like the life of a video game character over the course of 15 years," and that the players will. "experience her life and help her to become who she is" It all sounds very interesting right?! 

And lastly the other game that 'wasnt that bad' from the conference. 


The Last Of Us is an upcoming post-apocalyptic Third-person survival action-adventure (thats hitting a lot of target markets right?) video game is developed by Naughty Dog for the PlayStation 3... ELLEN PAGE?! IS THAT YOU AGAIN?! 

It is stated that the player will take control of the character Joel (Voiced by Troy Baker) The game includes both gun fighting and melee combat. Exciting~ 

Even Wells Co-President of Naughty Dog states that; 
"The Last of Us is a genre-defining (did you see all the genres in it?! how is that defining?) experience that blends survival and action elements to tell a character driven tale about a modern plague decimating mankind. Nature encroaches upon civilization, forcing remiaining survivors to kill for food, weapons and whatever they can find. Joel, a ruthless survivor, and Ellie, a brave young teenage girl who is wise beyond her years, must work together to survive their journey across what remains of the United States." Is it just me or does every game have a virus of some sort in it?!

To me, this doesn't seem 'Genre-defining' it looks like your typical Survival horror, but i still have some hopes for it.

So there you have it! Thats my game highlights of the first day! Overall, it was lack luster for me. Bar some of the games mentioned above, some failed to grab my attention and interest. I was hoping for some new and interesting things! So i'm holding out for day two...Hey, thats today! 

So what did you think of Day 1? 

Written By Saramariii

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