Was there any big events at E3 like that one MS did with Cirque du Soleil a few years ago to show off Kinect? I want to see a real circus of splendor.
My E3 (Part Two: Faithfully Applauding the New)
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 On 06/11/2014 at 10:59 PM by Matt Snee See More From This User » |
E3. Game orgy of the highest order. I’ve heard a lot of people say this E3 was the best in years… and I’m inclined to agree. I think MS and Sony’s conferences were pretty lackluster – though they definitely had their moments of grandeur, but Nintendo’s was the best. I’m not just saying that as a fanboy, but as a person who has worried about big N lately, but also well enough aware that hitting a low doesn’t mean your demise. Nintendo needed to shock and awe this E3, and they did so on the internet, without any sort of real conference. They also did what the other big boys didn’t seem to want to do: show game play. Most of the games who had a presence at E3 didn’t show much other than pre-rendered trailers and other gunk. I’ve heard multiple people on twitter hoping that the other big companies do next year what Nintendo did this year: show in-depth looks at their games.
Not all games got by with just a little bit of a trailer though. Evolve showed a bit, and I’ve been very impressed with the gameplay I’ve seen of Batman: Arkham Knight – very impressed. We also saw a lot of the new Assassin’s Creed, which I don’t really care about, but I appreciate that we actually got to see game play, etc.
The curious absence of E3, for me, was Destiny. With a release date coming this September, you’d think we would have seen more of this game. We saw more in game views of Arkham Knight which comes out next year than we did of Destiny, and while I appreciate the pedigree of this game, I have yet to see anything that makes it seem interesting. The hype for it has died down since its original announcements, and also it has an astronomical budget from what I’ve heard – but we still have seen so little. Weird.
Was there a game of the show? I don’t know. Zelda blew me away, even though we only saw a tiny glimpse of it – but that glimpse was wonderful.
The other game that really astounded me was No Man’s Sky. Now – I know some gamers prefer games with objectives, and loath games that are just “experiences”. But personally, objectives exist just to provide experiences. Anyway, that’s how I like games, and something like No Man’s Sky is honestly something out of Nineties science fiction, a true infinite world that just sort of lives by itself. Obviously, we’ll have to wait for the real thing, but from what I saw, it doesn’t matter how good it really ends up being – it will still be a harbinger of things to come, with procedurally generated games being a pillar of the future.
I was also thrilled with what little we saw of Mirror’s Edge, a cult darling that isn’t meant for great sales, but is meant for great fun.
Otherwise, it was a good E3, and it’s too bad it’s over. Again, I was really impressed by Nintendo this year, they did a great job when their Wii U is doing terribly. But with an exciting holiday season coming up for Big N, I feel glad I have the system. I’ll buy a PS4 eventually, and while I want an Xbox more than I did, especially now Kinect isn’t involved – I’ll probably wait on that. Titanfall is apparently amazing, but it feels like it wasn’t the hit it was supposed to be, and no wonder talk says it will be multiplatform next time.
Anyway, that’s it. I hope all of you are well.
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