E3, baby!

[Murgatroyd7]

I'm really surprised nobody is talking about this on here. I know we're not the most active forum around, but I still thought it would be brought up today. Or are you guys just too underwhelmed? I don't know about anyone else, but Microsoft and Sony were both pretty unimpressive. It's not too disappointing for Sony because their conference last year was unimpressive as well, and they at least announced the price of NGP/Vita. I don't know where I discussed it, but the pricing is exactly what I predicted. I'm not yet sure if I'm willing to pay that much, but at least it's remotely affordable. Microsoft didn't really have anything aside from an ugly new Dashboard and games we already knew about.

Although they probably won't live up to 2010, I think Nintendo will be on top again this year, especially with their new console. Of course, we won't really know for sure until tomorrow.

[ITANI]

Ah totally boring show. The only thing I liked is when Sony was talking about the PS3 and after that if got boring and dragged on. Don't event get me started about Microsoft's conference, that's the worst.

By the way I added you on the 3DS, my friend code is 3480-2590-6302

[MTDrunk]

You know, I was pretty psyched for the event to start but once it really got going, I didn't feel like I was part of the audience the companies were reaching out to. There was way too much emphasis on the Move and the Kinect. And when they were featuring games I would actually be interested in, they would throw in a "and this is how we are going to integrate this game with our motion hardware." I wasn't interested when they first showcased those things a couple of years ago. But at least back then, gaming and motion gaming were separate things.

Okay, now for the things I liked. The little bit I saw of Skyrim looked awesome and I loved the mention of at least 300 hours of play. I just hope the game isn't oversimplified. Assassin's Creed: Revelations looks good and I'm hoping that the game will feature Altair quite a bit. Finally, I might just have to get myself a PlayStation 3 just for the Uncharted games.

[ITANI]

Skyrim and Uncharted 3 were the best of the show for me.

[Raymo]

I was a little hesitant with Halo 4 because while it will seem like a cool story to develop with the uncharted planet, I don't know what else they can go with in the Halo universe.
All the HD remakes sound great, Ico, Halo combat evolved etc, but nothing too great so far.
The new sony vita (lame name) isn't impressive to me really.
Let's see what else they have and I'll post again.

[Murgatroyd7]

I'll have to add you as well, Itani, after I get some sleep (don't feel like staring at a tiny screen at the moment). I agree that the first day was rather boring. EA and Ubisoft did a much better job than Microsoft and Sony. Most of their stuff wasn't news, but it was more entertaining. MS and Sony just dragged on, made way too many bad jokes, and talked far too much about Kinect, NXE, Move, and Vita. I like those things, but I also like core games and improved gaming capabilities that don't rely on gimmicks. I really don't care about deals with YouTube and AT&T (it was funny to hear the audience groan at that one) and I sure as hell don't care that the Live marketplace will have a search engine. Each year, E3 keeps getting worse and both of these companies continue to miss what it is that gamers actually want. I love casual games and I think motion controls are fun sometimes, but that's not all there is to gaming!

MTDrunk, you're spot on with "and this is how we are going to integrate this game with our motion hardware"! They talk up these games like they've added new mind-blowing features that are going to make us weep for days because they're just so amazing and then we find out that it's just voice commands (Dreamcast says hi!) and arm flailing.

I really hope Nintendo announces some good stuff today. They're our last hope.

[MTDrunk]

Raymo, I agree with the hesitance over Halo 4. I am kind of excited to see how the series will develop without Bungie. The games got pretty stale there. But they could screw it up, bring back the flood and covenant, and just make a crappier version of the same game we've already seen. And a teaser at the end wasn't enough to save Microsoft's conference.

I'm not excited about the Vita. If I were going to buy either a 3DS or a Vita, I would go with the 3DS. When I was watching, I kept expecting Sony to burst out with a "yeah, but you can tickle the back of ours."

Half an hour until Nintendo. I hope they can salvage this E3.

[Mike]

I don't understand why there were so many press conferences the day before E3 official started. um, wasn't it supposed to start today? Anyway, aside from part of Sony's conference I missed everything else.

Nintendo's conference was ok, the controller is cool, but thats the only thing they had. The graphics on WiiU look like the current consoles or worse, so that was not impressive. Still not a motion controller fan, so I still have no interest in WiiU.

[Murgatroyd7]

Um...the graphics of Wii U surpass Xbox 360 and PS3. It's not by much, but it does indeed have better graphics. The amount of detail I've seen in some of the videos is almost jaw-dropping. Nintendo completely stole the show for me. I was a little worried this morning, but I'm quite impressed with what they showed, even if the Wii U controller just looks like a uDraw with a screen. It's probably where they got their inspiration, actually.

Overall, though, E3 was definitely disappointing. As I'm sure we've all noticed, it gets worse each year thanks to PAX and the internet. Microsoft and Sony were so freakin' boring and nobody showed anything new. I think there were maybe 5 games announced that we weren't already expecting. I am pretty excited for Overstrike, though. I love Insomniac and I'm excited about them going multi-platform. When given the option, I really prefer to play on the 360. The video processing is so much better and the controller is perfect for my hands (DualShock 3 feels really uncomfortable).

I'm not as excited about Vita as I would like to be. I guess I feel like they're trying too hard without actually doing anything unique. It always seems like Sony's idea of innovation is slapping as many features together as possible. Currently, I don't feel like it's worth the price. I will be getting one, though...but I'll almost certainly get the Wii U first. I haven't been this excited about a new home console in years.

[DeYanKees1]

Nope best thing they showed is the customized Gears 3 Xbox 360!

[MTDrunk]

Nintendo definitely had the best of the conferences. I was a little confused as to whether or not WiiU was actually a new console or not. For a while I was excited that maybe this would just be a hardware add-on like the Sega CD and wouldn't cost me more than $150 or so. The G4 crew was confused as well and it wasn't until they interviewed Reggie directly after the conference that it was a confirmed (to me, at least) that it was a new console. The controller looks uncomfortable and unnatural but I won't be able to truly say until I've held one. I thought the graphics also looked to be on par with the 360 and PS3 but wasn't paying too much attention to that.

Skyward Sword looks incredible. I have Twilight Princess for the GameCube because I didn't care for how it played on the Wii. Hopefully, with Wii Motion Plus, Skyward will be a better experience and I won't have to trade it in for something else until it is available for the WiiU. The Mario game for the 3DS also looks awesome. It's like an amalgam of Mario 64 and the classic platformers from the NES and SNES.

We are at the best part of E3 where the developers have extended interviews about their products and we can get more info in 7 minutes than in an hour of the press conferences.

[Raymo]

Nintendo really did come through this year with the WiiU (especially since Zelda HD looks like its going to rock ultimate. And it will have neat features like being able to play on the smaller controller screen and voice chat, but I'm seriously getting bored with motion control too. After a long day of work, writing and or school: I sometimes dont have the energy to flail my arms around like a moron. So gaming with a controller or keyboard will always be number one for me (tied with a keyboard and mouse btw).
However, the WiiU still does introduce some great features and it does look really good considering that nintendo is all about gameplay not graphics.
Everything else in E3 almost didn't warrant a convention since the best games are on the horizon like Gears 3, Arkham City, Mass Effect 3 and some others. It's just more footage of games that we already knew we wanted.

Also, is anyone else hating the new tomb raider besides me? Looks like they're trying to make it like drake's fortune too much

[ITANI]

I'm actually loving the new Tomb Raider. This one seems targetted to a more maturer audience rather than the cartoonish Lara that has been failing ever since the PS1 days.

[Murgatroyd7]

Nope best thing they showed is the customized Gears 3 Xbox 360!

Honestly, I didn't even know they showed that yet. If it was in the press conference, I missed it. And if it wasn't in the press conference, then I overlooked it because I haven't had much time to check out the wrap-up videos, interviews, etc. Looking at pictures right now...that's a nice-looking machine. I really don't like the controllers, though. They remind me too much of ice cream and I think they look a little girly. But we'll see how they actually look in person.

Nintendo definitely had the best of the conferences. I was a little confused as to whether or not WiiU was actually a new console or not. For a while I was excited that maybe this would just be a hardware add-on like the Sega CD and wouldn't cost me more than $150 or so. The G4 crew was confused as well and it wasn't until they interviewed Reggie directly after the conference that it was a confirmed (to me, at least) that it was a new console. The controller looks uncomfortable and unnatural but I won't be able to truly say until I've held one. I thought the graphics also looked to be on par with the 360 and PS3 but wasn't paying too much attention to that.

Skyward Sword looks incredible. I have Twilight Princess for the GameCube because I didn't care for how it played on the Wii. Hopefully, with Wii Motion Plus, Skyward will be a better experience and I won't have to trade it in for something else until it is available for the WiiU. The Mario game for the 3DS also looks awesome. It's like an amalgam of Mario 64 and the classic platformers from the NES and SNES.

We are at the best part of E3 where the developers have extended interviews about their products and we can get more info in 7 minutes than in an hour of the press conferences.

I'm hearing from a lot of people that they didn't know it was a new console. I feel like I'm the only person who wasn't confused. Ha ha. I remember Iwata saying they were going to show off the "new console" and announcing that it would come out in 2012, and then we had to watch a bunch of videos because they're big teases. Better graphics definitely aren't very important, but I think the Wii U looks fantastic nonetheless. They didn't showcase it very well during the conference (that was mostly 360/PS3 footage), but I've seen a few videos on YouTube and I'm very impressed with how it looks. If this thing's GPU isn't more powerful than Xbox and PS3, I'll be shocked.

As for Skyward Sword...I think it will control just fine. At the very least, it will be a lot better than Twilight Princess. The MotionPlus works very well. It has 1:1 motion detection like the Move, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. And I agree that the new Super Mario looks great. I'm really excited about that. Xbox and PS3 have some great games, but nothing gets me excited like the Nintendo lineup. Sometimes, I just need a break from the countless shooting games that all play alike.

Nintendo really did come through this year with the WiiU (especially since Zelda HD looks like its going to rock ultimate. And it will have neat features like being able to play on the smaller controller screen and voice chat, but I'm seriously getting bored with motion control too. After a long day of work, writing and or school: I sometimes dont have the energy to flail my arms around like a moron. So gaming with a controller or keyboard will always be number one for me (tied with a keyboard and mouse btw).
However, the WiiU still does introduce some great features and it does look really good considering that nintendo is all about gameplay not graphics.
Everything else in E3 almost didn't warrant a convention since the best games are on the horizon like Gears 3, Arkham City, Mass Effect 3 and some others. It's just more footage of games that we already knew we wanted.

Also, is anyone else hating the new tomb raider besides me? Looks like they're trying to make it like drake's fortune too much

I'm not necessarily tired of motion controls; I'm just tired of being constrained to them. I prefer to just have motion as an option, not a requirement. That's why I'm excited about the new controller: it provides a number of different gameplay options, which should end up with us having a bigger variety of games and how we play them. A lot of people are concerned with how it will feel when being held, but I don't think that will be an issue. I have a uDraw (which the Wii U is largely modeled after) and it feels pretty natural when I hold it like a controller. It will take time to get used to it, but I think it will work pretty well.

As for Tomb Raider...I don't really hate it, but I've also never cared much for the series as a whole. I stopped playing after they announced "the last Tomb Raider game" about 15 years ago and then started making more (I did get the recent collection, though...haven't played it yet). But yeah, I have to agree that it looks very much like Uncharted. And it's copying what I think is the worst part of Uncharted: constantly running from disaster. I just don't see the appeal of outrunning explosions, boulders, snakes, IRS, and whatever else they decide to throw at you. I was actually enjoying the Uncharted 3 footage until it got to the point where I was thinking "Oh, look, now he's outrunning bullets...and debris...and explosions...and water..." It's the main thing turning me off from the series.

Oh, and am I the only who finds it bothersome that Lara Croft is still wearing the same damn clothes? Apparently even her younger self has no fashion sense. Or her family holds stock in khaki short shorts and sleeveless tops.

[StatiK TactiK]

I actually missed alot of it because of work. Just trying to play catch up with all the coverage afterwards. I agree with you all that it's been pretty ho-hum. Not much surprises.

The Wii U looks....interesting....Not quite what I was expecting though. I'm really tempted to sell my regular Wii before the hype builds up for this so I can get some decent money for it. I usually don't trade in systems but I really can't see myself going back to it too much. Hell I hardly even play it now. The only other game Im looking forward to on the horizon is Skyward Sword but I really don't want to have to buy a Wii Motion Plus.

Oh and Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim *drools*.....