E3 2009- General thoughts

[juan0tron]

I do say, I was quite excited about some of the stuff at E3 this year. Some things that caught my attention:

Metroid: Other M-
I've been waiting for a new side scrolling Metroid forever, so just the announcement of any new Metroid was exciting. The trailer also hinted at a few more story elements hinted at in Fusion (anyone remember Adam?). I am quite concerned about a few thins after watching the trailer though. It seems to be a lot more in depth in combat and a lot less into exploring. Also the cartoony graphics really don't seem to set that same dark and desolate feeling i seem to remember from exploring underground caverns in the old games. Also, Samus talks. Come on. Eh, I guess it could work but all I heard was a squeaky prepubescent voice rather than a strong-willed, ass-kicking woman's voice. Also I just never liked the Zero suit, it never seemed to work with Metroid, but that's just me. Also, if this is after Super Metroid, what happened to that bitchin' black bikini? lol.

Tony Hawk: Ride-
I used to love the Tony Hawk series, and I'm glad they're at least trying to revamp the series. I'd love to have a little skateboard to use indoors actually (Though I am worried I will instinctively try to actually do ollies and kickflips and end up smacking the dog in the face or something). Neversoft kind of lost my interest after they announced the last 50 Guitar Hero releases, but this could be an interesting little game. Not so excited about the $120 price tag though. :/

Guitar Hero 5:
Party mode looks like a welcome addition for parties (duh), and thankfully they 'borrowed' some ideas from Rock Band too. Nothing really stood out to me other than that though, so I'm hoping Rock Band will somehow implement this into RB3, but better

Rock Band: Beatles-
This one actually looks really good. I'm normally against the release of multiple games in a franchise within the same year (I'm looking at you, Guitar Hero >:I), but this looks good as a standalone tribute to the Beatles with it's own style. Nothing notable gameplay-wise aside from being able to have three singers at once, and I think I sadly saw a lack of drum fills being replaced by just green notes that activate overdrive. May just be an option that was toggled off for E3 though. Overall though, it's the Beatles. 'Nuff said.

Kojima's Plethora of Metal Gear Solid announcements-
Nothing much shown, all I can say is I'm excited. Kojima has that special touch to his games, and I bet it'll be awesome.(Kojima-style Castlevaia will be a sight to see)

Oh yeah, and Final Fantasy 7, Resident Evil 1, and Metal Gear Solid 1 were finally either announced or released as PSone classics on the Playstation network. Hopefully this means even more awesome games are to come to America finally. (Xenogears, anyone?) Sad thing is this should have been done a while ago (And I already own all three of those games )



Anything that caught anyone else by surprise?

[the7k]

Best of Nintendo: Metroid: Other M, with Golden Sun DS a very close second.
Worst of Nintendo: Vitality Sensor? Wii Fit Plus and Facebook, also, get no praise from me.

Best of Sony: Uncharted 2 looked spectacular, and Mod Nation Racers has a level editor that puts Little Big Planet to shame.
Worst of Sony: Even with the motion controls reportedly being focused on hardcore gamers, it still seems like a huge "Me Too!" from Sony. Also, there was that Agent announcement. Just a logo? C'mon.

Best of Microsoft: Shadow Complex looks like it could end up being a fun Metroidvania game. Modern Warfare 2 looked spectacular, and Metal Gear Rising has me very excited - but they're not exclusive so I'm kinda hung up about giving MS credit for that.
Worst of MS: So many non-exclusives, and all the talk about Facebook, HD Movies, and all sorts of other stuff make me think X360 is becoming the very thing people criticized PS3 for in its early years - no longer focusing on games.

Best of EA: The Saboteur looks really fun, and I always love to see more Brutal Legend. The Bioware games also look to be of high-caliber, as always.
Worst of EA: I know EA Sports is really huge, but for me personally - I could not wait for it to be over so they could focus on other things.

Best/Worst of Activision: Didn't even watch it. Activision, as far as I'm concerned, can suck an egg. They have done nothing but disappoint, time and time again. I can't wait for the day they lose all IPs that they can't "Exploit on a year by year basis."

[Mick Dundee]

I don't know if Project Natal was at E3 or announced just before it, but Lionhead makes it look interesting and space agey with the interactive kid

[the7k]

Natal was at E3, and I omitted it in my summary for a reason. I don't know whether it will be good or bad. Even Peter M admits that much of the Milo demo was 'making use of tricks'... Smoke and Mirrors, basically. Many have also reported that the "Breakout"-style demo has a lag, which could be a problem. Peter M has made grand promises of revolutionary gameplay before, and we all saw how that turned out.

Most importantly, no buttons. This'll make playing real games almost impossible, and it will effectively be no more than a Wii Fit deal.

The thing that confuses me about Natal is that everyone seems to think it'll be much better than the Wii. Nintendo has been in the console industry for ages, and even their efforts were lackluster for many gamers. Why do they think Microsoft will fair any better?

[juan0tron]

Yeah I could really care less about Project Natal and Sony's Motion controls. I'm more for actual games than gimmicks. I do hope this eventually evolves into this "new age" of gaming we're all hearing about, but I'll gladly sit it out while they work out the kinks. The Wii vitality sensor is one of those odd things I've come to expect from Japan. I'm getting kind of sick of Activision too, but for some reason Tony Hawk always seem to stick with me. I'll demo it at a rich friend's house then decide if it's worth spending that $120 on a new skateboard instead. DJ Hero looks like a cool concept, but I don't wanna bother with it while it's in Activision's hands. Maybe that other DJ game I hear is coming out will blow it out of the water. Probably.

I saw a trailer of Uncharted 2 recently, and it definitely reminded me what's keeping games from being more realistic. Naughty Dog seems to have nailed the animations in this game, and it must have taken quite the amount of studying and work to get it just right. Plus the game looks pretty damned sexy.

Ugh, also a reminder of how empty my wallet is. All this spare time and I can't even work because the theater I work at is cutting hours :/

 PSP Go! is out of the question for me, I don't understand why Sony thinks people will pay so much for their systems. Didn't they learn from the PS3?

[Drakul]

well the easiest way to answer is to link my blog where i covered the show.

http://nostalgeek.wordpress.com/

Let me know what you think.

[the7k]

PSP Go! is out of the question for me, I don't understand why Sony thinks people will pay so much for their systems. Didn't they learn from the PS3?

Well, the PSP Go does look sexy. Not worth paying $90 more than a regular PSP, but I do love the look.

Also, Sony has said that the price is meant to target early adopters... at least they're honest that they're trying to sucker people.

[juan0tron]

Yeah I kind of want one...but no UMD drive and the same ol' analog nub really kills that decision for now

[MisterCreazil]

I have a hard time finding games that interest me anymore period.  Growing up I was one of the most avid computer gamers if ever there was one, but now I find the things I like the most are probably the ones that relate to something I loved when I was younger, like Starcraft 2 or the new Halo games.  I remember being excited about the DS but when I finally bought one I never played it.  Anyways the point of this really is just that all these new things they show at E3 hold very little interest for me anymore. 

[KaiserWAVE]

On of the biggest highlights, was when Reggie asked if Nintendo itself could make edgier games and then the Team Ninja logo came on and cross-faded to Metroid: Other M  
It looked like Ninja Gaiden Metroid but I'm fine with that. Add some bouncing for Samus and give her some badass moves and I'm sold. And please make it as challenging as Ninja Gaiden.
Mario Galaxy 2 was great, even if its just a "map pack" but Mario Galaxy is one of the best games for Wii so I'll buy it day one.
Wii Sports Resort and Wii Motion Plus looked good and I'm really looking forward to it.
Everything else from Nintendo was very lackluster again. New Super Mario Brothers Wii looks like a glorified port of the DS game to me and I just don't see the appeal of playing a jump n run in 4 player co-op.
The Vitality sensor is a bad joke. It has some potential ( Imagine a Phoenix Wright game where you're in the dock and the Vitality sensor acts as a lie detector or something) but the way they presented it it was as casual as can get and while I do enjoy some casual gaming it gets old very quickly. Also, why the freaking hell is Golden Sun for DS and not for Wii? I know the prequels were on GBA but for me the Wii is in dire need of some "real" games. I bought my Wii nearly a year before my Xbox360 and while I have close to 50 games for xbox I only have 12 for Wii and maybe 5 that I will buy this year (as opposed to 10+ on xbox).

Other highlights were Splinter Cell Conviction ( I really liked the style and the new approach), Asassins Creed 2, Uncharted 2 (I think I'll finally get a PS3 for that and God Of War 3), Saboteur. Rock Band Beatles looked great although I don't know how challenging the guitar part can be for the songs. GH 5 sounded good, but I really think that I'm through with GH after Guitar Hero: Van Halen and stick with Rock Band unless GH5's tracklist is the bomb. One of the games I'm most exited for is Brütal Legend. Alan Wake looked great too.

Biggest let downs:
Kojima san anouncing MGS Rising but no port of MGS4
Epic enters the stage and gives us...no announcement for Gears Of War 3...but Shadow Complex. Which looked nice. Like a combination of Contra Shattered Soldier and Metroidvania.
PSP GO for $249 and they even dare having the same price tag in Euros? Epic fail!
The anouncement for Final Fantasy XIV Online. SquareEnix teases us like 3 years with little snippets of FF XIII and then they have the guts to announce FF XIV before XIII is released? And on top is looks like a sequel to FF XI, a half assed MMORPG.

personal highlight:

Rabbids Go Home, the scene where the rabbid was inside the Wiimote and you could press buttons and he would interact with them and then you could throw him around. I LOL'd  

[Beastman1975]

im excited for alot of things ,

DS- new zelda , golden sun
Wii- metroid other m. New Super mario bros.
ps3- god of war III, and any FF titles
Xbox 360 - C.O.D. , Crackdown 2

and so many others i cant even think of

oh and about project natel, my friend said it best......"who knew skynet would start on a home system?"
all i can think of is sayin " ok Milo im done playin and im goin to turn you off now." and milo replyin " Sorry dave , i cant let you do that."

[Doom]

New Super Mario Brothers Wii looks like a glorified port of the DS game to me and I just don't see the appeal of playing a jump n run in 4 player co-op.

It's the same story as Mario Galaxy 2: It's a map pack for New Super Mario Bros. with marginally better graphics and stuff. I look forward to it. The AVGN claims it should be called Asshole Mario, because the most fun you have is being an asshole to the people you're playing with.