Gamers,
E3, the largest game expo of the year, is currently upon us. We have seen many games be revealed, and many more given closer looks after previously being announced. Today, gamers had the privilege of seeing the Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Sony press conferences, with Nintendo's set for tomorrow morning. I will be discussing my opinions on the first four, as well as hoping to gain your insight on these reveals.
Microsoft
Microsoft has had a pretty rocky time selling the Xbox One, what with their inclusion of DRM in the revealed version and being bundled with the broken technology that is Kinect, so they need a big game exclusively for the console to push sales forward. Did they reveal such a product? Not exactly, but they are getting there, and some may end up turning out in the future to be such a game. They did normal tropes of an Xbox press conference, such as Call of Duty, a Halo reveal, and a few new games. While Call of Duty Advanced Warfare is not going to affect sales much, some other games will. Halo 5 as well as the Master Chief collection may drive sales forward a few notches, but we all know it's new and interesting IPs as well as a series thought dead that sell a console. Sunset Overdrive and the sequel to a cult classic game for the original Xbox, Phantom Dust, among others, seem to be a step forward in doing so. That being said, they did mess up on a few things. With Forza Horizon 2, they went over things that have been in open world games forever as if they were key points. They also kept going over that games would run on dedicated servers that would allow you to join instantly and have 60fps. But in reality, nobody cares about that stuff. All we want is a good game that has a stable framerate, no matter if 30 or 60.
EA
EA's conference was pretty lackluster at best. We got gameplay of only a few games, most of them coming out this year, the rest was conceptual footage. What games they had on hand were nothing special, mostly EA sports stuff, Battlefield Hardline (which is where the conference soared, too bad it was last), and The Sims 4. What conceptual footage was shown gave us some high hopes for the future, most of the time. They started out with Battlefront, and later said that they wouldn't reveal gameplay until spring of next year. Bioware then revealed a new Mass Effect game, which caused me to get excited, but nothing else was shown besides more conceptual footage. The preview for Mirror's Edge 2, despite it being more of the same from the conference, actually looked promising. DICE is making it open world and making the combat feel more smooth, and I can't wait to see more.
Ubisoft
Like the Xbox event, Ubisoft didn't stray too far from the familiar. This time, however, they got it right. Of course, a new Just Dance was announced, and they showed off gameplay of Far Cry 4, with it's villain seeming like a perfect role for Benedict Cumberbatch, but then, something amazing happened. Assassin's Creed Unity was shown off. Not only did we see the vast expanse of late 18th century Paris circa French Revolution, we also got the amazing and traditional CG trailer featuring a cover of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" by Lorde. Three of my inner geeks went crazy, my gaming side, my inner history geek, and my love for travel (besides flying). The last one is key, because I recently went to Paris for a trip. Seeing Notre Dame rendered in 1080p after seeing it IRL excited me to the brink of nearly fangirling (which is weird because I'm a man). Some more games, including The Division, were shown off, and then we got to the last part. A WWI game was announced, which i got interested in because that is pretty rare, and then what looked like a really cool version of hostage rescue from Counter Strike. After watching a tense firefight ensue to defend the hostage, it was then revealed to be Rainbow Six: Siege. Ubisoft's knack for creating games has once again paid off.
Sony
Sony's conference was the strongest of all of them. They announced partnerships and new games galore, as well as hyped us even more for existing announcements. LittleBigPlanet 3, Dead Island 2, and Bloodborne, a new IP made by From Studios, show the spirit in the games that the PS4 to dominate the console market. We saw previously announced titles, some for the first time with gameplay, like Uncharted 4, Batman: Arkham Knight, and most importantly, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The trailer, cinematically similar to last years, was nothing less than stunning. It offered chilling music, excellent acting, and the return to the camp style of the originals after the departure from such in Ground Zeroes, but they still have more serious elements. This trailer has me worried that this may be the last MGS game ever. That series is my all time favorite, so much so, in fact, that I couldn't bring myself to sell my PS2 copy of Sons of Liberty after buying the Legacy collection, so it will be difficult to see it go if such a thing happens.
Final points
We've reached the end of the first part of our e3 discussion, but it is not yet over, we still have Nintendo tomorrow. Throughout all this, however, I have now become convinced we have hit the gaming revolution. Like the industrial revolution before it, we are seeing advancements in technology boom, but we have a long journey to the end. At some point, we will see the final generation, but this is not that generation. We can still innovate graphically and technologically for many generations to come. Besides that, motion controllers that actually work are coming to be, and we are now coming closer to entering the games themselves with the oculus rift and other immersive technologies. Long story short: it has never been a better time to be a gamer.
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