16 June 2010

Gaming's New Year

Once again E3 has arrived, putting to rest for another year the notion that video games destroy the minds of our youth, and ruin the lives of people like myself. Let's see President Obama or Hilary Clinton/Joe Lieberman try to squash this celebration of entertainment capitalism, right!

I'm simultaneously hopeful and worried for the future of gaming. Hopeful because of stalwart companies like Electronic Arts and Sony putting out great pieces of art. Worried beyond my years because of what Microsoft, Nintendo, and now Ubisoft are staking their financial futures on in the form of family-friendly, gimmicky, motion-controlled "games."

In the interest of keeping order, I'll go day-by-day instead of company-by-company.

Day One


My picks, in no particular order:

Worst Press Event: Microsoft. The mind-boggingly frustrating and stupid event filled with Asian people waving at the Kinect device had me laughing most of the time. Yes, Bungie showed up to demo "Halo: Reach," but that was the high point. Lukewarm feelings toward the mystery Crytek/Microsoft project codenamed "Kingdoms," but with no real game footage, that's going on the shelf for now.




Thumbs Up To... (1) Electronic Arts for their "Medal of Honor" and "Dead Space 2" reveals. The Modern Warfare 2-killer is coming to rule you all, and DS2 looks like a prettier and much louder version of the first game. (2) Bioware's brief "The Old Republic" segment, and I wants my spaceship ASAP. (3) next Ghost Recon game for the (likely) stealth integration that looked very very realistic.







Surprise! Credit Ubisoft for unveiling a clever-looking "Rayman" game. Can't say I'm a fan, but the art looks cool, and unique games at E3 are a dying species.

Honorable Mention: Battlefield Bad Company 2 is getting a Vietnam expansion. Exploding shacks and rice paddies for the win.

Sleeper Games: "Witcher 2", "Driver San Francisco," and "Bulletstorm."







LOL Moment: Ubisoft's strange "thermal scan-esque" fitness game demo. WTF!?

Disappointment: No Valve...yet; Microsoft's ESPN collaboration. Seriously, isn't ESPN 3 already offering all that stuff?

Day Two


Worst Press Moment: Nintendo's god among men Shigeru Myamoto looked thoroughly pissed when the demonstration of "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword" was having some trouble with the Wiimote feedback. Obviously it wasn't his fault, but I think everyone in the room was biting their nails hoping that the problem was due to wireless interference and not some inherent problem with the software.

Thumbs Up To...(1) Nintendo! You didn't spend 30 minutes telling us why the Wii heartbeat sensor is the next big thing in gaming. Hooray! (2) That guy from the Sony commercials showing up on stage to mercilessly give some laughs at the expense of Microsoft and Nintendo. (3) Bioware! They showed up on G4's stage and gave a very lengthy look at SWTOR.

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



Thumbs Down To...(1) Sony. Good lord, do you really need to spend almost half your event showing us montage videos of both games and reasons why Playstation Move is (probably) going to be pretty cool?

XXX
Surprise! Holy crap Nintendo is making a new Donkey Kong game, Goldeneye, *and* a Zelda game!?




Honorable Mention: Sony is bringing back "Twisted Metal" ... I never played it before, but it got a big reaction from the crowd.

Sleeper Games: Portal 2, but on the PC, where it belongs; Nintendo has announced a new Mickey Mouse game, and it actually looks cool.

LOL Moment: Nintendo rolling out a horde of gorgeous women with the new 3DS chained to their belts. Security!!

Disappointment: Sony...you didn't announce the new Deus Ex game, or a price cut to the PS3 Slim. Boooo!

More Games to Pay Attention To:
Fable III



Portal 2



Rage (!!)


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