E3 2017

The more modern E3s I watch, the more I think that it should be a 2-hour program where every studio drops their trailers at once -- with Sony and Xbox presenters focusing solely on hardware and the few exclusives they have. The more footage there is, the better. Almost all the presenters are awkward at every single E3. Gamers are too saavy to fall for the "let's build hype with practiced smile and enthusiasm" stuff.

1-2 major conferences per day is extremely tedious in the age of Youtube. Especially since online viewers aren't going to access any of the stuff shown on the conference floor. It's obnoxious how they arbitrarily split up trailers/footage across the XBox/Sony/Studio conferences.




Battlefield 1 is just dropping the content that should've been in on day 1. I stopped play BF1 a while ago because I got burnt out, so the addition of new armies isn't going to fix that. It wasn't a bad game. Just tedious after a while. Especially for me.

Don't care about sportsballs or Need for Speed.

Star Wars: Battlefront 2 actually looks amazing. With the bulk of the game no doubt built off the first one, there should be infinitely more room for content. The gameplay already looks better than the first game. Some nerdboys were bitching about Rey being on a Clone Wars map, but it's my understanding that "cross-era" gameplay is a specific game mode or a setting you can toggle. I hope it's good. Everything looks very promising so far. I'm glad they brought classes back.

I will say, I always really enjoyed how Monday just had every press conference in a row for the whole day with 1 - 3 hours in between. It was fun taking that day off from work and just watching everything at once. This arms race of trying to be first is kinda crappy, even not thinking about how everyone and everything is on Youtube and Twitch. Nintendo doing theirs Tuesday morning was fine because Nintendo do what Ninten-Do, but going backwards in the weekend, especially when you have a kinda dull show like EA did on Saturday to lead off just seems like a bad idea.

Anyway.

Finished watching the recording of Microsoft's stream. A lot of games, and most of them looked really, really pretty running allegedly on the X-Box One X (more on THAT name later..., but...I don't know, I'm not super hyped or enthused? It's the type of show I always ask these companies to do by just having games out the wazoo, but it kinda became a blur. Admittedly, I've never been an X-Box owner or player, and the only games I'm really "Ooooh!!!" for are sequels to games I enjoyed thoroughly, so take that as you will. I guess not having one and, honestly, not being convinced to pick one up does dull the imnpat of all the exclusives, so I guess that's that.

Also, "Console Launch Exclusive" gets used an awful lot for most of the Indie games.

Anyway, the biggest news is the Scorpio is now called...the X-Box One X. It's....not a great name, but I guess it's okay and kinda funny, and both the best and worst name they could use. Though, $499.99 at launch is pricey, and while they jsutify if with all those games and looking pretty, I don't know if enough people will care? And most people who care probably already have or will save up for a super high end PC. It also doesn't really give a great pitch for people to go ahead and buy a 4K TV to use the X-Box One X to its fullest, though it puts the case out there for you. I don't know, we'll see.

Anyway, yeah, those games all looked really damn nice...but we'll see if it's notably different compared to the PS4 Pro games tomorrow night. Case in point, Forza 7 looked really nice, so if you like driving games, hey, there you go, compelte with a real car on stage.

A new Metro Game, Metro: Exodus. Always been kinda curious about the series but enver got around to playing them, always dig a non-American perspective at post apocalyptic Earth.

Assassin's Creed Origins, set in Egypt, a Prequel to the entire series about the start of the Assassin Brotherhood, play as Baek, the last Medjay. I think it looks super cool and good, but I like this series. I don't see anyone who doesn't already like the series or dig the game would be as enthused. It looked a little different, and I like how you use a damn Eagle to mark targets instead of climbing towers, but as soon as the guy broke into the fortress, it turned into a recognizable AC game, for better or worse. I'll have to see more at Ubisoft tomorrow, but I enjoyed Syndicate thoroughly, so if you're a fan, there you go.

Anyone play Player Unknown's Battlegrounds? It's coming to the X-Box, and I have a lot fo fun watching the Giant Bomb Duders play, I'm fine never touching it myself.

A LOT of Indie Games coming, most Timed Exclusives. A lot look really cool, but as they showed more and more I just got too overwhelmed. There are too many damn games coming out, and I just don't have the time (or monne) to even consider playing them all. But variety is never a bad thing, so there's likely something for everyone.

I didn't expect to see a Dragon Ball Z fighting game at this. It actually looks cool, and it's made by the Guilty Gear developers, so it might actually be worth playing. A genuine, legit 3 on 3 fighting game might be something I bite on.

Sea of Thieves, again, looks really cool, and nice, and has a lot of whimsy, something missing from games nowadays. But it's 4 player co-op only, and that kinda turns me off. Could be fun though.

Cuphead is FINALLY coming out this September. Looks awesome, console exclusive, but I'm hoping it comes to PC.

I know there was a leak, but I did not expect a Life is Strange Prequel. I really, really liked that game, but I'm uneasy about a Chloe and Rachel based story. I'll play Before the Storm, and it's a smart move only having it be three parts, but I don't know if this is necessary, and even if it isn't, if it can justify existing.

Shadow of War still looks cool, but it almost might be too complicated for its own good. The first game was a well worn but well done type of game with an awesome mechanic in the Nemesis System, and this looks like a bigger more complex version of that. Which could be really good! Or...really bloated and unwieldy. We'll see.

A sequel to Ori, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Pretty, but nothing really shown.

And so we see Anthem. Yup, it's Destiny, except looking more promising and more interesting, but it being an MMO turns me off. if this were a single player RPG like Witcher or Dragon Age I'd be super, super intrigued, but if the main story is like Destiny in that it's more of an excuse plot for you and your three buddies to shoot things rather than an actual narrative with characters I care about, than eh. Seems like it's worth looking at though.

And if you were hankering for Brute Force or Blinx the Time Sweeper, hey, original X-Box games backwards compatibility is coming.

So that's that. Some good stuff, and it all looks pretty, but I'm personally not too excited. But it was a good show, and if you own an X-Box One, I'm sure this is all much mroe exciting for you. I'm curious if anything ehre would push people to upgrade though, I know the Pro didn't do anything for me on the PS4 front.

Next, Betheda's EXTREMELY LATE press conference at 11:00PM my time.

So, Bethesda! A kind of weirdly paced conference but with at least one notable new game, and everything they showed comes out this year apparently!

Cute opening with the devs' kids talking about what their parent(s) do for work, though a notable lack of "I never see my Mom/Dad, they're always in crunch."

Some VR stuff - a "VR Experience" type thing with Doom VFR, and straight up Fallout 4 in VR. For the former, the movement just seems wonky and slow for Doom, but if they're creating it to cater to how to move in VR it makes sense. Fallout 4, is Fallout 4, for better or worse.

Hey, they're trying Paid Mods again, except this time with actual Curation and verification and calling it Creators' Club for a PR friendly new spin. We'll see.

The Switch version of Skyrim looks a bit nicer then the older version but is notably not as nice as Special Edition, but has both Amiibo support - complete with giving your character Breath of the Wild Link's outfit and the Master Sword - and motion control bow and arrow. Cool, but useless, but also not offensive.

Dishonored 2 DLC? Add-on? Stand alone expansion? It's later this year. I always wish I liked that series more than I do, though apparently the little bit of plot they toss out is a big deal? Death of the Outsider.

Quae Champions looks like Quake, still not sold on the classes, but it sure looks fast.

Hey, Evil Within 2, another game I kinda wanted to like more but didn't. It looks moody and creepy, I'll say that.

And the one I care about the most, Wolfenstein II: The New Collosus. This game just LOOKS friggin' crazy, in a good way. The editing was weird but fitting, and all the crazy stuff is leaning really hard into the whole Nazi's won and are all over the place thing from the last game. Takes place in the US now instead of Europe, and despite seeming crazier it fits really well with the tone already set and doesn't seem like a giant leap. I loved the German versions of the old timey pop songs last time, and the old timey TV shows here are great from the clips they showed. Looking forward to this one, October 27th.

A short and sweet show where they jsut got the news right out there and didn't beat around the bush...but other then Wolfenstein I also wasn't super excited? Still, can't complain about brevity for these things.

Tomorrow: Ubisoft then Sony.

There's not much I'm too crazy about so far.

The new XBox has a stupid name, but the machine itself looks impressive. I don't see myself upgrading to 4k any time soon, though, and playing at 60fps isn't something I obsess over (sometimes I think it looks weird tbh). Especially not for $500 after I already dropped $400 for a launch One bundle. I see it appealing to new players, though.

Assassin's Creed looks fine enough, though I only play the series very casually. So it's not a must-buy game for me. Neat setting, though. Still wish they'd made a full game out of the China Chronicles game.

Lots of indie games and PC ports. Which is fine.

Anthem is Bioware's new IP. Sounds like they're fully moving away from RPGs. Which makes more sense after that Kotaku article about Andromeda's development -- which stated that EA makes them use Frostbite, which was not designed with RPGs in mind. Causing headaches for the strictly RPG projects. It looks like Iron Man meets Destiny.

I have little faith in Bioware after their last couple games, but those were RPGs. This sounds more like an action game with multiplayer co-op. Perhaps they'll do better with that. Either way, I am not personally interested. I'm not really into co-op action games. Maybe if it proves itself to have a really solid, complex story. But co-op indicates that scripted character interaction won't be a thing. Or at least not a big thing.

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Bethesda was kinda ho-hum.

The only game I'm interested in is Wolfenstein II, which looks genuinely amazing. They have some really cool concepts for the Switch version of Skyrim to make it worth another purchase.

The Creator Club is likely going to tank hard, and with good reason. Stream already tried this concept and was met with intense backlash. Modding is a labor of passion and it makes a gaming community amazing. Because it all comes from love of the game instead of desire for money. Really good modders often receive donations from players. Or direct support. Creating a pay divide for mods starts twisting the community up. And it effectively outsources additional paid DLCs to fan creators instead of the actual studio. I imagine this will not go over well. Especially if they restrict modding tools or give the pay-to-play modders extra features.

Metro: Exodus is literally all I care about now. Go play the others right now DJ. The first one especially is an experience.

Metro Redux keeps going on sale, so I really need to.

So Ubisoft! I'm liking how to the point these conferences are mostly being so far, so that's not a bad thing. Actually a lot of stuff, but they don't dwell on a lot of things.

The Official reveal of Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is...actually a lot more cool and interesting then I thought. Miyamoto (WITH A GUN) was there and true to his work, it's a game that Nintendo never made themselves. It's Mario and Rabbids in X-COM, and it...looks kinda awesome. Like, pleasantly surprised in a way I did not expect at all. Comes out August 29th, and I went from mildly morbidly curious to genuinely interested, and it actually looked very cool and pretty.

Assassin's Creed Origins gets bumped to the post show? That's really wierd considering it's like their premiere game for this year. It seems like an AC-ass AC game from the gameplay demo. It does look decent though, but again, I am a fan already.

he Crew 2, now with Boats and planes. The first game was a good idea but it wasn't very good, so I'm not looking forward to it.

South Park comes out October 17th, eh, whatever.

The weird Elijah Wood trailer from his company Spectrevision, Transference. It's a meta-ass trailer, since it's a real company Woods did in fact found and still helps run, but they seem to be playing with the fiction since it's a VR game? Not saying much, so just a teaser, but at this point there've been too many trippy trailers and teasers that I'm nto even going to pretend to get or explain it.

Talk about a rollercoaster - I was exited about the new Pirate game spun off from AC: Black Flag, Skull & Bones....but then they said it's Destiny with a shared world, and I just don't care anymore. I'd LOVE an open world single player pirate game with the open seas and islands and a good-to-middling story, so I hope that's an option, but so far they're not saying much. We'll see.

New Just Dance, whatever. Interesting to note that it's coming out on the original WII. And will probably sell best on that console. Weird, but also makes sense.

Starlink: Battle for Atlas looks like a neat space game with customizable ships, but it being Toys-to-Life is iffy. Could be cool, but I don't really want to have a whole bunch of toys piled at the table in front of me everytime I play. It's already a hassle to tap all my Zelda Amiibo when play BotW, so all those little bits and pieces might ruin a neat idea.

Steep is getting an Olympics Add-on. Yay...?

Far Cry 5 gets a trailer and that's all. I liked 3 and 4, but I hope this one does mroe to the formula and game play loop to freshen it up, because the setting is kinda neat.

And completely unexpected, Beyond Good & Evil 2 is an actual game that exists again. Huh. All CG so nothing to really show, but that main theme sounds great for a fan of the firsrt game.


...and then they call it a shared systemic world. Goddammit. They say you can play alone, so I REALLY hope it has a decent narrative and single player mode, or else I'm going to be kinda annoyed a game I've been looking forward to ends up being a genre I don't want to have anything to do with. It's a prequel, but again, we don't actually know anything else about it, so I'm curious. I am one of the crazy people who loved that first game.

So not a bad show, some weird choices and some genuine surprises. I kinda can't stop thinking about Mario and Rabbids Tactics game, it's just so crazy yet it looked kinda amazing in all the right ways.

Tonight: Sony.

There's not too much I'm interested in, although I was really intrigued by Skull and Bones. I loved Black Flag. So I'm glad Ubisoft recognized the good thing they had going on there. But the notion of a shared world and lots of multiplayer turned me off. I don't want "Edgy Sea of Thieves" or "For Honor on Water."

If it has a decent single-player experience, then I would be sold.

I really dislike how the big studios are making everything have a big multiplayer component. Shared worlds are always less interesting than developed single-player worlds. I'm not saying shared worlds or multiplayer are bad. I just don't want it everywhere.




Being from the midwest, Adrienne's opinion on Far Cry 5 was: "This scenario is my worst nightmare." 

Sony was on the short side, but only one thing matters:



HD Shadow of the Colossus remake.

I really like how most of these conferences have been short on talky bits and just showing the trailers, since that's really want everyone wants. I note that the pre show had a ton more trailers and news, so I guess they got all that out of the way so it's all just theoretically big news. Honestly, I'd say I was underwhelmed, except I was keeping my expectations so low for all of these, it's ended up being an okay show.

More on that stand alone Uncharted expansion with Nadine and Chloe, it's more Uncharted, so it is what it is.

Horizon DLC, I still need to play the main game but it all looks good.

Days Gone is a game I'd be way more interested in if it were just post apocalyptic world with biker gangs, the zombies just turn me off. Even zombie bear does nothing for me.

A PS4 Monster Hunter is a pretty big deal for people who like that game...it's not for me, so whatever.

I'm not complaining, but a Shadow of the Colossus Remake is a weird one. I'm in, but I did not expect that.

Looks like Marvel vs Capcom Infinite's got a story mode, which I'm fine with. I don't expect it to actually be good, but if it can be goofy with all the crossovers it can be cool. That's a really bad Chun-Li model though.

Hey, it's Call of Duty. Sure.

Skyrim in VR. Whatever.

Final Fantasy XV Fishing in VR. Uh.....

God fo War still looks good, I can't complain, still itnerested.

Detroit is another David Cage game. I eagerly anticipate watching someone else play it while getting angry at the writing.

Destiny 2. Yup.

And Spider-man looks REALLY DAMN GOOD. A little too much QTE for my tastes, but the combat and movements look really good.

Tomorrow....Nintendo. Which I'll miss since I work, so I'll catch the replay later on.

IT'S HAPPENING

HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!

And a Metroid 2 re-imagining on 3DS. This year!

And a real Pokemon game for Switch!

Yoshi! Kirby! Amiibo everywhere!

Nintendo wins.

Nintendo could have debuted 15 games where all you do is file paperwork at a bank, and they still could have won with that single Metroid Prime 4 teaser.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssss.


But watch it launch in 2021.