E3 Afterthoughts

So E3 ended in disappointment. I don't get why the hell I got my hopes up again, I'm such an idiot. Never the less, unlike last year, I was so over it, that I didn't bother watching any conferences besides the "Big 3." Oh, and parts of the EA, Mass Effect 3 and The Old Republic beckoned me. Would have been wonderful if 2K held a press conference of their own. As a publisher, they have more franchises that I'm interested in than anyone else, including Bioshock Infinite, which has superseded ME3 as my most awaited game.

I cannot say it was all disappointment. In fact, when I think about it, it was actually pretty decent, good even. "Holy fuck, what a contradiction!" you proclaim. And well, yes it is, but that's because my initial response was just me being a whiny entitled fanboy, who expects all my every wants to be catered to. I was disappointed because I didn't see any announcements that made me go "bat shit, lose control of my bodily functions" crazy and immediately proclaimed E3 a huge frustrating failure. But, when I do get to thinking about the announcements, and sure maybe nothing really stood out and astonished me, but overall it was actually good. On the other hand, maybe the WII U was amazing, but I'm still trying to decide if in fact that's just more confusing and intriguing than actually impressive. Regardless, I have plenty of news and information to be happy about.


If I'm to start with my current platform of choice, a big set of stand outs are the Halo related announcements. Although, the fact that they were leaked really took some of the "oomph" from the live announcement during the conference. I am still eagerly awaiting any news and info on the games, as well as the games themselves. Forza 4 looked pretty good from what I saw, nothing mind blowing though. Tomb Raider was actually quite impressive, and not because of the moaning. Horde 2.0 really, really sounds appealing to me. I haven't been interested in a Gears of War since the first one, but after reading about Horde 2.0, I am ready to jump back into the chainsawing fray.

If I could go on a tangent from the positive and onto the negative, I have to admit that I am starting to feel like I'm having Kinect shoved down my throat. Yes, I do realize that E3 is huge and everyone reports on it, not just the gaming world, but still it bothered me.

The way it was integrated in Ghost Recon seemed pointless. Like it was there to just say, look what Kinect can do....what you can already do with your controller. When I saw the person playing the game, I just placed my palm firmly on my forehead. I know that I won't be forced to use this, nor am i interested in even trying it out, but I still see this as Microsoft trying to trick people into buying a Kinect. They're trying to say "look how cool this is," instead of "look how much better it is to play with this."
The way it was added to that game didn't show any innovation. Although, that's probably not Microsoft's fault, it's the fault of the developer for not being more creative with it. The manner in which the game was being played did nothing to sell me the peripheral, and yes this time they were trying to cater to me. After all, Ghost Recon is supposed to be a "core" title.
Then, there was voice commands for Mass Effect 3, using the Kinect. I thought a couple of things, for on, isn't the controller more efficient for the tasks they were showing? I'm not sure about others, but I've never found it to be a pain in the ass to do the simple commands for selecting a dialogue option or ordering my teammates around. Two, and most importantly, why not use a headset. I mean, why would I want to spend $150 to do this? End War used a regular headset and it worked just fine from what I played(I was in the beta on xbl). How sad, or hilarious, would it have been if Sony had shown the same demo for the PS3, just that they were using a blue tooth headset. In fact, I would love to see that.

Back onto the positive, and another BioWare game, The Old Republic. Once again, it had no release date. Sure the intro for the game was released, which actually did make my fanboy heart skip a beat, but It's starting to feel like "Oh an awesome cgi video, pretty, but I want to play already."
This is especially bad since I'm so conflicted when it comes to this game. After all, anyone who even knows me a little bit, knows that , I am not really a fan of MMO's, but I love Knights of the Old Republic(it is my all time favorite game after all), it's a BioWare game, and it's Star Wars.
For years, those huge positives have been outweighing that (not so) negative, but time erodes my excitement. Add to that the whole news about it costing a lot to make, so it needs a lot of people to buy it so they can make their money back and the subscription fee, I can see myself just eventually passing it up. I know the development costs shouldn't really matter to me as a gamer, but here's why it does. If this game becomes too expensive to support, they could cancel it. Or worse yet, if the numbers aren't there, how long are they likely to support it after launch. After all, why would they support such an expensive project without the revenue. I want this game to succeed because I want it to exist.

Sony wowed me with the PlayStation Vita. I can't say much of anything else really wowed me, mainly since I no longer have a PS3. I know many people are applauding them for their great exclusives, but to me, the ones that really appeal to me are Little Big Planet and Motorstorm, which new games have just come out this year. What a terrible time for my console to be bricked. :(
Still, I was pleasantly surprised at the price of the Vita, then unpleasantly surprised at the fact that AT&T would be providing the 3G support for the Vita. Then, I realized that I wouldn't care to get a 3G version anyway, so the point was moot. Still I laughed when that was booed.
Then came the inevitable 3D, which I couldn't care less about. As for the move, I tuned out at that part, so I don't really recall anything. All I know is that Bioshock Infinite will support it. Unlike Kinect, I saw nothing that would make me barf out my lungs.

Finally, Nintendo, they had an okay showing. I didn't care for the 3DS, so I'll skip all related announcements and get straight to the Wii U(cue ambulance siren), which I think is a stupid name, but that's just me. Seriously, at this point, I'm starting to get the impression it's just another add on. From the info I'm seeing for the console, it seems like the Wii will be an add on for the WII U(cue ambulance siren again). I am not sure what to think yet. It really intrigues me, even interests me, but I can't for the life of me think why I would want to buy one. And on the subject of buying, how much will it cost?
Still, it was a great announcement because it got me wondering. it's a shame they didn't show use more games or demos at the least. My interest is very, very piqued in this thing. Much more so than the Wii, which I honest thought was dumb from the get go.
I have to say though, i was already conceptualizing the WII U when I heard about Windows 8. I'll get into more detail on that in another blog though, maybe soon. I want to see the utility of this console outside of gaming. I can already imagine the amazing things hackers will do with this.
Kind of how Kinect has been used as an interesting add on for pc's. Unlike Kinect, I'm actually interested in playing games on this thing. Just not sure what exactly. Hopefully something amazing and unexpected and so obvious that we should have thought about it sooner.

Finally, i get to Bioshock Infinite. Going into E3 it was my most anticipated game and that hasn't changed. Just from the game play they've shown, I know that I have a lot to look forward to, but the information I keep hearing is giving me the impression that this game is being made for me. (Yeah, that whole thing about me being an entitled gamer, well Bioshock is making me feel like I'm getting exactly what i want and more). This game is just speaking to me like no other. The environment are looking simply amazing and the story, well what little I know has me foaming at the mouth. Every time I see game play of someone riding the skylines, I just want more. I'd settle for a demo of someone just traveling around the city. Also, time travel and even possible travel between realities, yes please. Can't wait to drown myself in this game.