Looking at: E3 2015

E3 was a thing that happened and we all let it happen.

Overall 2015 wasn't a horrible year for the show. The addition of three new conferences only increased the amount of announcements and the embarrassment was mostly relegated to one show.

Alright, let's go through the shows rapid like and see what worked, what didn't work, and what made E32015 worth talking about:

Bethesda

Bethesda came out swinging, or more specifically firing both barrels with their extended look at Doom 4. They rode that train through the Dishonored 2 announcement, including the announcement of a playable female protagonist, right through Battlecry and into Elder Scrolls Online.

Then they delivered the coup de gras with plenty of Fallout coverage, including two in-game demos, more information than you can shake a mininuke at, and the announcement of a Pip Boy companion app and arm brace. Couple that with the launch of a Fallout mobile game for IOS (Android version still pending) and you have a great show.

Overall, for their first show as a company, Bethesda did great. They obviously did a lot of research on how to properly control the show and kept a great energy throughout. It is a bit unfortunate that they had so few games to talk about, but they nicely balanced it with plenty of video content and demos.

Microsoft

MS have had a shaky history at E3, often spending more time talking about television and sports then actual games. I'm happy to say that wasn't the case this year, as they never mentioned television once and focused on actual game announcements and demos.

Halo 5, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Gears of War 4 all had great gameplay demos showing off some interesting tech, as well as a second look at Fallout 4. There were plenty of announcements from third party developers, including Ubisoft and EA each showing off some interesting content, although Ubisoft won hands down with announcements concerning the Division and R6: Siege. The debut of Dark Souls 3, Gigantic, and a host of indie games was a nice touch too, since MS never really attracts the indie crowd.

Ok, let's talk about the VR segment. I seem to be in the minority here by thinking it's not going to be that great. Seriously, I don't think Hololense is going to work nearly as well as the stage demo, and I say this with historical evidence to back me up. I seem to be the only person that remembers the stage demo and following hype for the reveal for the Kinect, which has since become an industry punchline. We'll see, but I don't have high hopes for Hololens, save for the fact that Peter Molyneux is no where in sight.

Finally, while I think the announcement of native back-wards compatibility is nice, I still think they're fucking liars and cowards for waiting this long into the hardware's life cycle to release it. I understand there may have been some actual engineering, but the cynic in me believes it wasn't all that difficult and X1 sales are so dismal they needed another angle. Regardless, it is a good thing, and has done wonders for my opinion of the X1.

EA

EA... wasn't all that great. It's that kind of bad that you don't realize till it's over, but yeah, EA was sort of bad. Starting the show off with Mass Effect: Andromeda was nice, although an actual trailer rather then just a reveal teaser might have been better. Need For Speed looks like it might be an ok reboot/continuation/culmination of the franchise, provided the awful banter is not actually part of the game.Unravel and Mirrors Edge Catalyst might be great, but hands down the gameplay reveal of Battlefront 3 stole the show.

That's the good, the bad is pretty much everything else. Like I said, NfS might be ok, but the demo shown was so annoyingly awful that it actually sort of put me off the game. PVS:GW 2 was also terrible, with boring looking gameplay and an unenthusiastic presentation. Worse it came right after Unravel's genuine stage presentation and was like watching a small town parade walk through a poetry reading.

Then there's EA sports. Between a host of games that don't look much different then their predecessors, horribly scripted banter about fantasy football, something called a Hoop Gawd trying to act excited about face scan technology that looks demonic, and just far to much Pele, EA sports halted what was already a second rate show to a complete stop.

If it hadn't been for Battlefront 3 they're show might have been a failure, as it stands, thanks to extended in game footage, culminating in a short fight between Vader and Luke, EA was barely tolerable for yet another year.

Ubisoft

Despite being based in my home and native land, I have no love for Ubisoft of late. Thankfully their cocaine powered E3 presentation was interesting enough for my rage to subside and there were plenty of announcement that got me excited.

A new South Park RPG, For Honor, R6: Siege, and Ghost Recon Wildlands top my list for their game announcements. We also saw an extended demo of The Division, which would be nice were it not for the fuck-awful banter they insisted on keeping. It didn't work when the game was announced and it doesn't work now. The announcement of a console version of Track Mania was pretty great and got me interested in that series, and while I have no idea who the black guy was for Just Dance, I understand the appeal of those games.

Yes, they announced the new AssCreed game, and no I don't really care. It doesn't have pirates, it looks exactly like all the other AssCreed games, it doesn't have pirates, and looks like it's filled with witty British mannerisms right out the ass. It might be good, and considering the negative PR Ubi got for the last two also non-pirate AssCreed games it sort of has to be. The inclusion of a female PC is a nice touch, so I guess they figured out their animation issues.

Sony 

It wasn't the worst show, but Sony's conference was a close second. Between ignoring the Vita completely, spending to much time not talking about games, and only a few new announcements Sony sort of became the Microsoft of this year's E3.

Ok, I'll give them this, starting the show with confirming that The Last Guardian still exists and is due out in a year was a smart move. Following that up with the reveal of Horizon: Zero Dawn was a great one-two punch and gave them just enough energy to carry through Hitman and Street Fighter 5. No Man's Sky was a nice cap off (although no longer a PS4 exclusive) before they slowed to a halt with whatever the hell Dreams is. Firewatch piqued my interest again, but the demo was nothing more then a short trailer. Then things took a turn for the worse with an uninteresting look at Destiny, a brief look at AssCreed Syndicate, a teaser for FF7 remake with no information, Whatever the hell Final Fantasy World is.

Things picked up again with a look at upcoming indie titles from Devolver, but got weird with the announcement of the Kickstarter for Shenmue 3. I don't think I like the idea of AAA companies using Kickstarter like that, but it did work and the project was funded in 9 hours flat. The look at Arkham Knight was boring and CodBlops 3 looks like the last three COD games.

Then there was the really boring shit, talking about Sony TV or something, and Skylanders Star Wars. They wrangled the show back up one more time with more Battlefront 3 footage before floundering with some footage of Uncharted 4. It wasn't an awful show, but there wasn't a great amount of energy in the room and not a lot of excitement for anything shown.

Nintendo

Once again Nintendo opted to do a Nintendo live pre-recorded presentation instead of a stage show and man was it ever a trip. Between the nightmare inducing muppet versions of the Nintendo executives, a string of nonsensical Japanese games and the breakneck pace of the entire show, I was still reeling from it well into the Square Enix conference.

They started off the show with the most goddamn surreal announcement for a game ever with the reveal of Star Fox Zero a remake-but-not of Star Fox 64. Then some talk of Skylanders/Amiibos crossovers, a new 3DS co-op Zelda game, and the reveal of Hyrule Warriors on 3DS. See Sony, when you have two active consoles you're supposed to talk about both of them.

Then things plunged head first into madness with rapid fire reveals of new Metroid game(s?), a new Fire Emblem, something called FE, and a look at Xenoblade Chronicles, only to pull the brakes hard with two new Animal Crossing games and Yoshi's Woolly World.

After a short trailer for something called YoKai Watch we got into the meat and two veg of the show with three new Mario games, with Mario and Luigi Paper Mario, a brand new Mario Tennis, and finally Mario Maker. I'm a big fan of Mario, so this was a nice way to cap off a crazy show.

Square Enix

Oh Square, you poor bastards. Maybe it was the lack of energy in the room, or the back-to-back times lot with Nintendo, or the lack of any games, but the Square show was a disaster. It sounded like there were maybe twenty people in the audience, and the fact that the show was mostly people talking didn't help.

They started with Just Cause 3, eventually, which was great, but then only teased at a new Nier game. They spoke a bit about Rise of the Tomb Raider, but only showed the trailer we had already seen. Then there was a bevy of games they didn't even talk about, including a new Dragon Quest and the Final Fantasy 7 remake, as well as the upcoming Final Fantasy 15. There was an overly long section for Kingdom Heats 3 and the new Kingdom Hearts mobile game, and that almost justified the show. Almost.

The awfulness continued with no new information about Hitman, the bizarre trailer for Star Ocean, a smattering of new info about Deus Ex: MD, and the cryptic announcement of a new studio called Tokyo RPG Factory. Overall, just awful and hard to watch.

The PC Gamer Show

While it was nice to have a show dedicated to PC gaming, and the interview format hosted by Sean "Day9" Plott was a nice change of pace, the show was just to goddamn long. It was interesting at least, but it rolled to almost three hours, and didn't actually announce that much.

It was mostly just updated information on games that had already been announced like Deus Ex, Hitman, Dean Hall's ION, Tacoma, and Beyond Eyes. The new information was welcome, sure, but rarely introduced revolutionary information.

There were some great reveals, like a new Pillars of Eternity expansion, Guild Wars 2's expansion (GUILDS!) Strafe and Enter the Gungeon demos, and of course the reveal that No Man's Sky was coming to PC.

If there is one really great thing to be said about the PC Gaming show is that it really was all about PC gaming. Being sponsored by AMD we saw a lot of hardware talk, and no one ever dumbed themselves down. There were lots of PC exclusive titles, and candid talk about the PC as a platform. Hopefully the show returns next year, but maybe a little less talking.

Overall

2015 wasn't a horrible year. Actually, it might be one of the better E3 shows out there. Plenty of announcements, three new contenders for better or worse, and lots of gameplay footage. Most importantly it kept us entertained and that's really what it's all about isn't it?

Looking at: Sony E3 2015

I think Sony just became Microsoft. I'm still calculating it all in my head, but, yeah they kind of just became Microsoft, in their own twisted way.

To start off with, let me just say how disappointed I was at the complete lack of Vita at the show. It's clear now the Vita really is dead, and this was the final nail in it's coffin. Over the last 90 minutes it was only mentioned twice.

Ok, you know the deal, let's take a look and see what transpired:

The Last Guardian

Starting their show off with the mother of all big bangs, an actual confirmation that the long thought dead Last Guardian not only exists, but will be coming out within a year or so.

Last Guardian is a follow-up to Team Ico's Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, two PS2 classics. The last time we saw anything about the Last Guardian was it's announcement as a PS3 game in 2007.

Regardless, it looks like standard Team Ico fare, that is, minimalist as hell and with a focus on emergent story telling. It's way to early to tell how the monster works as a gameplay mechanic, but as Last Guardian a companion he's cute, in a sort of dog/bird thing kind of way.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

I'm skeptical that what was shown is final build gameplay, but what I'm not skeptical about is the idea of hunting robot dinosaurs like a future cave woman.

I like the open ended stealth and the monster-hunter-esque gameplay that puts a focus on dodging attacks and exploiting weaknesses. Best of all I'm an absolute sucker for post-apocalyptic, and this seems to be dissimilar enough from Fallout 4 to keep my attention.

Hitman and Street Fighter 5

There's a new Hitman, but it's just called Hitman, despite being like, the seventh entry into the series now. It involves killing people and sneaking. I don't know what more you want, except maybe for this one to be better then the last Hitman game.

Also, there's Street Fighter 5. They announced two characters, although I blinked and only saw the return of Cammy. Her legs have not made the transition to next-gen very well.

I was always a Mortal Kombat guy myself. Fatalities are my Viagara.

No Man's Sky

We finally got to see some honest to god gameplay and... it's still hard to tell. The game looks great, and it's clear that there's lot to see and explore, but is there stuff to do? If you're selling me on just non-stop radio towers from Far Cry 3, then I'll stick with the dozen or so games that offer that with an actual plot.

Flying the ship and walking around seemed pretty neat. There was also some footage of a space battle as well as the destructible terrain planetside. I guess, once again, we'll have to wait and see, as no release date was announced.

Dreams

Oh god, someone made a game out of Tool's Sober music video? That's what the first moments of this game(?) looked like. Apparently it's a creative tool, but they didn't show it in action very well.

Countdown to the first dick-based creation has already started.

Firewatch

I get more and more excited about Firewatch every time it gets talked about. It looks less and less like a walking around game, and more like a horror adventure game. The demo was short, but it looked awesome, like a Pixar movie, and was just mysterious enough to make me want to discover what's hidden.

Destiny: The Fallen King

First, I didn't know Destiny was on PS4. For some reason I actually thought it was an X1 exclusive. I know now that's foolish.

Second, does anyone want more Destiny? I've heard good things about the previous DLC packs, but there never seems to be anyone talking about this game anymore.

AssCreed Syndicate

Ubisoft teased a female protagonist at their conference earlier, so it was nice to see her in action. Footage was still pre-rendered, but it did show off some of the new tools like a cane-sword and throwing daggers.

I guess Ubisoft figured out that animation issue then huh?

Final Fantasy World and 7 remake

The only Vita game with actual footage. I have no idea what it is, but there was plenty of Final Fantasy fan service stuffed into an overly cute package. The story concerns two shape-shifting siblings, and will involve monsters.

Speaking of Final Fantasy Fan Service, rather then talk about the new Final Fantasy, Sony instead revealed the long requested remake of Final Fantasy 7. It's unknown far of a remake this will be, but 7 is usually regarded as one of the best FF games, and it's a favorite for a lot of people.

It's a good bet we'll get more info, as well as info on the upcoming Final Fantasy XV at the Square conference tomorrow.

Devolver titles

Devolver is a producer I love, and they're bringing four of their new titles over to the PS4.

First is Ronin, a game on Early Access now. From what I've read it's a turn based platformer, so points for originality.

Next is Eitr, a Diablo 2 style isometric hack-and-slash about vikings, all done in a stylish lo-fi pixel art.

I think this was supposed to be the splash for Eitr, but the image is fucked up. 

Then there's Mother Russia Bleeds, an arcade style brawler about beating the fuck out of Russians. Info on this one is scant, but this is top of my list for sure.

Finally is Crossing Souls, a coming of age story about kids getting in over their head. Has a lot of potential, and a lot of heart.

Shenmue 3

I've always wanted to play the old Shenmue games, but I can't get a hold of them anywhere. Regardless, a lot of people did play them and so the original creator announced his kickstarter at the show. And promptly crashed Kickstarter. I'm not sure I agree with this trend of AAA developers going to Kickstarter, as it seems like it's taking money away from smaller dev teams.

Batman: Arkham Knight

No footage of the actual game, but an exclusive pack of PS4 missions based around the Scarecrow. It also set up cryptically for the main game by giving us details about Joker's cremation and the line "This is how the Batman died" If this means the last Batman game for a while then I'm all in, as I feel the series is outgrowing it's welcome.

Things that aren't games

I cared so little about this part I forgot screenshots. Skip to the next section for the interesting bits again.

Sony talked about their upcoming Morpheus VR headset. Honestly, if you put Morphus and Oculus Rift next to each other I would not be able to tell them apart. There were some games flashed in the background, inlcuding Eve Valkrie and Riggs, a new IP specifically for Morpheus, but that's it.

Then Sony talked about all their TV streaming shit. I like the idea of individual pick and choose cable channels, and I hope that catches on, but everything else was really boring.

Blops 3

First they talk about non-gaming stuff, then they announce a new Call of Duty, complete with PS4 exclusive content. That's why I called Sony the new Microsoft, and that's not a good thing.

Anyway, yes, new Black Ops. It has shooting, there are now women and minorities in multiplayer, and the singleplayer campaign has co-op. They also promised that singleplayer is less shit, but that's probably a lie.

Star Wars

Sony announced two new Star Wars additions to the already immensely profitable Disney Infinity kit, which allows kids to play games through the use of plastic figurines. Amiibos before Nintendo did it.

There's two new games, one for each trilogy, plus an exclusive PS4 Bobba Fett character. These games are geared to kids, and in that respect it looks pretty ok to me.

Finally, as I predicted, we saw a second bit of gameplay from Battlefront 3, and yes I'm still calling it that. This time we saw the co-op mode, which looked like a very linear version of the multiplayer. No word yet on whether they'll be an actual overarching story like in BF2, but all signs point to no.

Uncharted 4

The game so great they showed it twice. Seriously, I can't imagine how embarrassing it was to restart the demo. Despite that, we finally got a look at some Uncharted 4 gameplay and... it looks mostly the same. There wasn't anything strikingly new, save maybe the driving.

What was nice to see was the well written and human feeling banter between Drake and Sully. Naughty Dog have always been great at this, and the tradition continues.

There was plenty of destruction, both during the beginning shoot-out and the extended driving scene, showing off the game's new destructible terrain. Other than that details are slim right now.

That's all for day one. Join me tomorrow for the back-to-back Nintendo and Square shows, because there's no fucking way I'll have time to write a post between them. Then we'll cap it off with the big PC gaming show tomorrow night.