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E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 4th June 2017
Yes, E3 seems to start earlier every year now, and this year is no exception as this time the first press conference is next Saturday. There haven't been many leaks before the show this year, so far anyway, but I'm sure there will be some at the show. I'm looking forward to E3, it's always a great time... :)
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - Dark Jaguar - 4th June 2017
The relevance of E3 diminishes every year, and I'm completely fine with that. Nintendo's "directs" seem to be a better way of doing things. There was a time when I'd say it would be nice to get some unbiased accounts of the events, but the moment E3 closed it's doors to anyone except industry press was the moment that ended. With no possibility that I'll ever actually walk those floors, I've got nothing to get excited about. I'd rather get the same announcements on Nintendo's clock, at numerous points during the year. If nothing else, that means there's no developer rush to get something that looks like a game ready by E3. There's good reason to believe other companies are moving to this strategy as well.
E3 has a history, and that history can be remembered fine. This year will still have one, and next year too. Beyond that, I have no personal need to have E3 be some eternal "institution". If it went away, I don't think it would affect me.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 6th June 2017
It is true that E3 doesn't mean as much as it used to, but there is something to be said for announcing things to real people. Just like last year, by not having a live show like Sony and MS do Nintendo makes it harder to have a memorable reveal like those Sony had last year, or, of course, like my favorite E3 moment ever, the TP reveal in Nintendo's E3 '04 conference. Those things do mean something.
Quote:The moment E3 closed it's doors to anyone except industry press was the moment that ended.E3 always was an industry-only conference, though. For a while it was easy for almost anyone to get in, but cracking down on that wasn't changing much really since again it always had been an industry event. This year, though, for the first time, they actually sold a limited (was it 15,000?) passes to the general public to let them in to E3. It will be interesting to see how that goes. Yeah it'd be awesome, but a lot of the "good stuff" is hidden in back rooms you only get to with appointments and real press credentials and such, so no general public person would have the same E3 experience as members of the press. And for the press, even if E3 means less than it used to it still means something.
Quote: I've got nothing to get excited about.The announcements, learning about what games are coming, etc. doesn't excite you? Even in a year like this where there haven't been any big leaks yet, that doesn't mean that nothing interesting will be announced! There's a lot to look forward to, from more on Project Scorpio to if Nintendo will announce any more 2017 Switch games. It's more interesting presented at the show than in random Directs and such. E3 also draws a lot more attention than any other gaming event, so you get more people looking at your stuff without as much effort needed to tell people about it; that still has at least some value I think.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 6th June 2017
And now for some pre-E3 news!'
Nintendo (and Namco) announced Pokken Tournament DX for the Switch. I like the announcement trailer. It's a port of the Wii U game with more characters and such. I haven't played Pokken Tournament, but it's nice to see this, sure. Maybe it's fun? I might try the Wii U version sometime.
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon for the 3DS was also announced though, and this one has many people upset because they wanted "real" Pokemon on Switch, but instead the next one will be a 3DS game again. But just like Pokemon Black 2/ White 2, which released on the original DS after the 3DS's release, Nintendo is putting Pokemon on the device with the most users and not the new thing, and that makes sense. Plus Game Freak is a small studio apparently, getting them to make a big HD game would probably not be easy... of course I won't be playing this, but as I like to see platforms continue to get support I like that Nintendo is still announcing 3DS games, and isn't moving everything over to the Switch right away.
Nintendo Switch Summer Trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68OcUvRYz3I
Pokemon announcement video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vA6Si3-GCZk
Additionally, Atlus just announced, after months of not answering the question of if it would ever be released outside of Japan, that Etrian Odyssey V will indeed get a Western release, more than year after its 2016 Japanese debut. Etrian Odyssey is one of my favorite new franchises of the past decade, so I'm relieved that they will indeed be localizing it! I was getting worried for the game... after the disappointments that were the two remakes with their no-good story modes I've really wanted to see a traditional EO game again, and that is what this is. It's great we will see it. Additionally two other 3DS games, Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology (an enhanced port of the DS RPG) and Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey Redux (again, a DS remake/port), have also been announced. I don't care about those too much offhand, as I have Radiant Historia for the DS and it seems alright but not amazing and I've never been a SMT fan though I've never played the Strange Journey games, but it is good to know that they are coming. http://atlus.com/test-slider-approval-page-qwerty54658798
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - Dark Jaguar - 7th June 2017
I'm not saying that we won't get some interesting announcements. I'm saying that we'd get those regardless of whether E3 existed or not.
By the way, if they're actually opening their doors to the public again, it's got my attention. I wouldn't be surprised if the organizers felt it necessary considering that E3 lacks the clout it once had in the industry. (Heck, companies like Blizzard have just side-stepped it entirely with their very own company specific conventions).
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 10th June 2017
So EA's conference happened. It was an hour and a half long and didn't have much to show, not new at least... there were a few good parts, but mostly it was just another not too great EA press conference. There was a lot of mostly uninteresting EA Sports stuff, a bunch of Star Wars Battlefront (I'm sure it'd be fun for a little while, but Battlefront/Battlefield isn't a kind of game which has ever grabbed me for long), some on Battlefield 1's expansion (fantastic graphics in that one!), and such. The interesting-looking new game from the guy behind Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons looks like it could be pretty good, though I don't know if I want to play it. And Need for Speed... well, it's a good franchise, but we'll see how this one turns out. The graphics look really good, but you can't tell how the game will actually play from that trailer. There was no mention of their upcoming Bioware sci-fi game, though it's apparently going to be at MS's press conference tomorrow. I guess I'm looking forward to seeing more of that.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 11th June 2017
Bethesda's conference just finished. I'm generally critical of them of course, but they do own id and their main focus this year was on... a new Wolfenstein game, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus. It's from the developers of the highly regarded Wolf game from a few years ago and looks pretty good. The visuals are good of course, but the gameplay looks good. This time the game is set in an America conquered by the Nazis (the last game was set in Europe), and you need to help defeat the Nazis here. That sounds serious, but the trailer is weird in an interesting and amusing way. The art design, silly writing and story, and more are pretty good. Watch the video of the game, it's well worth it. From the Nazi-propaganda fake-TV shows to the ingame cutscenes this game may be doing something that has been done before, but it's having fun with it. The silliness within a serious franchise, Nazi robots to destroy, and all have long been some of my favorite things about the Wolfenstein franchise, and this one looks good. The title intrigues me too; "The New Colossus" is of course the title of the famous poem written for the Statue of Liberty, which goes "send me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" and such, and was written by a Jewish woman in the late 1800s. The game is about a rebellion against the Nazi occupiers so it could just be a reference to the obvious (freedom, America, etc.) but will it be any more than that? And even if it's unintentional I can't help but think of at least a few modern political issues this makes you think of...
Other than that, this conference was pretty much just a video, there were almost no elements on the stage. Wolfenstein II was the highlight but they also showed some new Dishonored 2 thing, some footage of Skyrim for the Switch including Amiibo support (scan the Link amiibo and you get his outfit in the game or something, I'd need to watch it again), several VR projects (VR, something conspicuously absent from MS's conference) for Doom and Fallout 4, little bits about their card game Elder Scrolls Legends, some new content for The Elder Scrolls Online, and maybe a bit more. Decent conference overall, and short too at only 40-ish minutes. Decent for a Bethesda conference, I guess.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 12th June 2017
Ubisoft! Ubi started with a bang early on, as they announced Mario & Rabbids Kingdom Battle for real and showed a bunch of gameplay... and a special surprise appearance from Miyamoto himself! The discussion between Yves Guillmot and Miyamoto's pretty entertaining, watch it. One of the games' creators (from Ubisoft) said that Nintendo said to make a Mario game unlike any other Mario game before, and, well, they succeeded, there has never been a Mario game like this. As for the game. yes it is real, and it looks quite good! The graphics are great, with a very Mario look to them, and the gameplay... well, it's a tactical strategy game basically. It looks fun. Once in a battle you move each character within the movement range, shoot at enemies, throw allies at other points in the map, etc. It looks fun, and a Mario strategy game is a good idea which actually works. The concept seemed silly when it leaked, but the game actually looks great. It'll be out in August too, so it's coming soon.
After that, Ubi showed a bunch of stuff, including The Crew 2 (now with planes and boats, and no sign of an overly serious plot like the original... but will it control well this time?), Far Cry 5 (now in Montana, versus a cult), Just Dance 2018 (once again coming to the original Wii!), some more of the new Egypt-themed Assassin's Creed Origin (which was announced at the Microsoft conference Sunday; it's an AC game in every way, just in Egypt now and with a black protagonist. Gameplay appears unchanged though, so it's probably going to be decently fun but not too compelling for me.), an Olympics DLC addon to Steep, the new game Skull & Bones (basically the pirate parts of AC IV/Rogue spun off into a multiplayer-focused, ships-only game; it looks pretty good, though it's a late 2018 title so it's a ways off. It's set in the 1700s as usual for pirate games, but in Indian Ocean instead of the Caribbean. The unique setting could be interesting, I like that the game is trying something different there!), and a few more. It was all well presented, though I did miss Aisha Tyler -- this year she wasn't hosting, they just had the game developers pretty much. Too bad, but it still was a very Ubisoft press conference thankfully with some of their usual silliness.
Then, at the end, came the big reveal... a brand new trailer for Beyond Good & Evil 2! Yes, the project lives, though art style aside it looks unrecognizably different from anything either from the original game or even that BG&E2 trailer from like ten years ago now. The new trailer is great, but it's a 100% CG cutscene without a hint of gameplay. And for the other major negatives, it's a prequel so it won't star Jade; it sounds like some kind of open-world / space exploration game, and not a 3d platform/stealth game like the original; and no year or platforms are mentioned. So yeah, despite being in development for a very long time this game is still early on apparently. That's not great. The game could be great, sure, but knowing so little and with such a dramatic change of everything from the first one, who knows. Now, considering that I did not love the original like many making some changes is not bad, but I would have liked to see Jade return at least. Still, it's kind of crazy that this game is still in development, I hope it actually releases sometime.
Overall Ubisoft's conference was pretty good, and once again is the best one through Monday.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 12th June 2017
And last for Monday, Sony. Much like last year Sony gave a shorter and game-heavy conference, more like MS's conference this year than the overlong and boring Sony conferences of old. Sony's hardware is out, so it's all about the games, for PS4 (Pro) and PS VR.
Games... well, Sony showed some games only in their pre-show, then more in the main conference. Knack 2 and Gran Turismo Sport both appear only in the pre-show. I don't care about GT but Knack 2... I haven't played the first, but sure, why not I guess if it's better than the first one is usually regarded as being?
But in the main show, starting with the ones I disliked most, as expected, they show a lot more information about Days Gone and the new God of War. Days Gone is what it looked like before, a zombie game where you play as a not-very-nice biker guy. It looks as completely uninteresting now as it did a year ago, to me anyway. Open worlds, QTEs, luring zombies into killing your enemies, etc... it did not look very good. God of War also looks similar to last year -- it's God of War, but with an axe now and its new somewhat contemplative story tone. Considering the horrific things Kratos did in the previous games, saying that just because centuries have passed now he's sort of decent is hard to believe, but I've always thought Kratos is one of the most unpleasant, awful game protagonists around and what he did before doesn't go away just because of this game. And anyway, he still is an angry killer and I imagine the plot will eventually turn into an excuse for killing your way through another set of gods, so yeah, my borderline hate for this series's story continues. As for the gameplay... walk around and hack things, just slightly differently this time. Meh.
Otherwise for first-party stuff, they showed more of the Uncharted stand-alone addon thing, announced a Horizon DLC addon set in a snowy setting, announced a PS4 port of Shadow of the Colossus, with better graphics this time. 2018 though. There also is a new trailer for David Cage's Detroit, showing more of the game -- you lead an android rebellion against the humans, it seems. The story could be good, but I wish it was a game and not just a QTE sequence like his games always are... ah well. They also showed footage of their upcoming Spiderman game for PS4. I think that was announced before, yes? It looks like a Spiderman game all right. Run around a city, web people, etc. There's some nice destruction in this trailer, but will the game have real destructible environments or is it just canned? And how much of that trailer was actually gameplay, a lot was cutscenes and QTEs... so at this points who knows. Oh, and it's a 2018 game too. As usual Sony sure does love showing things you won't be able to play in the year of their conference.
And finally, they had a VR segment. Star Child, a platformer thing, could be good. The others much less so - a horror game called The Inpatient, Bravo Team (an FPS), Skyrim VR, Final Fantasy XV fishing (what?), and that good-looking Redwall-styled game starring a mouse warrior.
Additionally there was also a bunch of third-party stuff of course, much of which will be multiplatform -- COD: WWII, Destiny 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 4, Monster Hunter World, and more. Monster Hunter World is a big one, but it apparently will be multiplatform so it's not exclusive. I don't like what little of this series I have tried, but for fans it's nice to see one on a major console again for the first time in a while, I guess.
(Not there: The Last of Us 2. I don't really care, but I'm sure many people are disappointed by that.)
Overall the Sony conference was alright, but it didn't have the big reveals of last year. They did show more exclusives than Microsoft did, but most of the big exclusives aren't games I care about at all so that doesn't mean much. Sony this year, overall: average at best.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - Dark Jaguar - 13th June 2017
So last year was:
But this year is:
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 13th June 2017
Yeah, it's a good show for Nintendo. Outside of the two major Metroid announcements (on that note, Metroid Prime 4... 2018, or 2019? That no footage or a year were shown suggest later than 2018, but who knows.) Nintendo also announced Kirby and Yoshi for Switch, both of them 2.5d platformers similar to the Kirby and Yoshi games of recent years. The last couple of Kirby platformers have been on 3DS, so while Nintendo is still supporting the 3DS this year, this is another sign that next year they are probably planning in going in a Switch-only direction. I wonder, will they have some more portable-friendly version of the Switch then? That large tablet can't be as portable as a 3DS is... but yeah, the Kirby game looks great. The Wii and 3DS Kirby platformers are really good, and this looks just as good. Being able to combine powers returns too, not seen since Kirby 64! That's really cool, that was one of the better things about that game. Otherwise, Nintendo also said that there is a mainline Pokemon game starting development for Switch, to release... sometime. This is another sign of the 3DS not having much of a future past 2017, since Pokemon Super Sun & Super Moon release this year for 3DS. Like Fire Emblem though, which just had a 3DS release but they said the next major FE title will be for Switch, that switchover is happening.
At least the 3DS still has a solid library for this year though, and that's good; it would be quite foolish for Nintendo to do as some people want and completely abandon the 3DS the moment the Switch's release was successful. This slower fadeout is a far better move, though again, I know I've never used a Switch and I'm sure it's a great portable for times when you can bring that thing with you, but is that really the solution as a handheld as it is, with its large-ish size, lack of an easy screen cover (folding systems are great for that), and poor battery life... great for taking around the house and such, like the Wii U Gamepad but without that annoying range limit, but for carrying around?
... Anyway, back to the games. While Nintendo did announce some 2018-or-later games, the main focus was on stuff releasing this year. The games shown were mostly first party, though a few third party games were there, most notably Rocket League, which is getting a Switch port. That's awesome, Rocket League is a great game which well deserves its huge success. It'll have PC/XO/Switch cross-platform multiplayer too, similar to Minecraft. No Sony because Sony refuses to allow that, for stupid reasons. Still though that's great. They also showed a bit of FIFA. First party wise Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 probably got the most time, though others like Splatoon 2 were mentioned. XC2 looks alright, but the character designs and selection are pretty disappointing -- seriously, after having that great character creator in XCX, why in the world did Monolith-soft think that forcing players to play as the generic annoying young anime protagonist guy who you have to be in this game was a good idea? It's not! The character art is also not very good, and I know that's an issue XC and XCX have to some degree as well but this might be worse. The actual gameplay looks like classic XC stuff though, and that's good because they are pretty good games.
As for Mario, well, it looks like an open-world Mario game, very much like Marios 64 or Sunshine but with one major new mechanic, that you can throw your hat and possess many types of monsters with it, or turn into electricity and travel down power lines and the like. You can also turn flat and go into 2d segments of levels. The game looks really good of course, and it's great to see Nintendo return to this 3d Mario style after so long away. I'm sure the gameplay will be very well polished, and the variety of stages is good. That story is TERRIBLE though, there is no excuse for "rescue the princess" AGAIN in this series. No, it is not okay. The whole 'wedding' and 'evil wedding planner villains' ideas are amusing, sure, but they do not take away from that core problem. And only being able to play as Mario is a definite disappointment too; just being able to take over enemies isn't quite the same, though it is a pretty good gameplay concept. On the other hand, though, it's cool that Pauline appears in this game (for the first time in a main-series Mario game?), and as Mayor of New Donk City, no less. That's a step up from her previous appearances.
Apart from the story though there isn't much to criticize about the game. If I wanted to mention a few things though... hmm. Well, the "Mario 64 but new" idea is awesome because I love 3d platformers, and there have been far too few Mario 3d platformers with big open levels like those. It does mean that the game isn't doing new things like Galaxy and 3D Land/World do, though; it's "like Mario 64 or Sunshine, but newer and with enemy takeovers". That's really awesome and the game looks fantastic, but whether or not it's better than those games (and that's a very high bar, but the game could meet it!) it is true. Of course, Nintendo has overused some Mario gameplay ideas, in particular the New Super Mario Bros. series, so this one is very overdue for a return.
As for the graphics, Mario Odyssey looks really good (for its hardware), but it doesn't have that glowing shine of 3D World or Mario Kart 8. I guess some criticize that 'plasticy' look, but I thought those games look amazing. This time that shine isn't there, and what you do have is a mix of styles, with different looks in each of the games' worlds some more realistic and some less. The worlds they showed here at E3, the city and desert, both look very nice though so that's fine. Once they release it will, however, be interesting to compare this game to Mario & Rabbids Kingdom Battle, which has that 'shiny' look to it (and looks fantastic).
But for the most part, Mario Odyssey looks like a really, really fun, classic 3d adventure platformer in a way the Mario hasn't seen in 15 years. There have been a lot of Mario games in the past decade-plus, but this is quite different from all of them in a lot of ways and that's great. I mean, I'm playing Mario 3D World and Mario Maker now and both are REALLY amazing games, easily among the better games in the genre, and I hope Nintendo makes another Mario Maker game soon, but I wanted the Mario 64 style to return as well and it finally is! I wonder though, after the (in my opinion wrongly, the game is outstanding) mixed reception Yooka-Laylee got, do people still want open-world 3d platformers? We'll see later this year I guess. I hope it does great.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - Dark Jaguar - 13th June 2017
I mean, who would have thought? Mario is riding a dinosaur! This could NEVER have been done on the old Nintendo hardware. It takes the power of the Super Nintendo to pull something like this off!
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 13th June 2017
Yeah, that was a good intro bit, nice fake-out with the dinosaur. It made you think, what game is this? Monster Hunter or something? But no, it's Mario! Heh... :)
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 13th June 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5e36BtYYko IGN's video of the game here is pretty good and shows the game off well. It looks like so, so much fun...
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - Dark Jaguar - 14th June 2017
Being able to take over enemies is basically an endless source of powerups. Only, instead of Mario wearing hats, everything else wears YOUR hat. Also, Wonder Cultural Appropriation Mode, ACTIVATE! Form of, Sombrero! Form of, Poncho! Although, a lot of those costumes resemble various cameo rolls Mario had in a lot of older games.
I'm pretty sure near the end of that trailer we saw Pauline at her day job. That settles it, the "real world" this game takes place in is the same one Mario fought Donkey Kong in. Also, that photorealistic dinosaur... So, is this game like... Super Mario Bros: The Movie: The Game?
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 14th June 2017
A couple more new (I think) announcements from Nintendo for the 3DS:
Sushi Striker - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csNr6Wz1zJc This is a fun-looking puzzle game, I'd like to play this.
Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga & Bowser's Minions - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI54_yxpwkY I think this announcement isn't all new, but the Bowser's Minions part is, I believe. This is one part remake of the GBA Mario & Luigi game (which I actually have not played because at the time I didn't think it looked that great and I've never seen it cheap), and one part a new thing called Bowser's Minions that you can see in the video. If it's cheap enough I might get this, not sure.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 14th June 2017
https://www.theverge.com/2017/6/14/15801280/beyond-good-evil-2-preview-michel-ancel-interview-e3-2017
BG&E2 has barely even started actual development, seriously? And it's incredibly ambitious too. I wonder, will it be finished in ten years? If it ever releases at all that is...
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - Dark Jaguar - 15th June 2017
What's going on with the art style in that game? I don't think anyone ever asked for their fantastical pig people to look photorealistic. It's like a screaming nightmare.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 15th June 2017
It is a big change from the first one, but didn't that CG trailer many years ago (which showed Jade and Pey'j, so it is not this game) also have a realistic art style like this one does?
Also, they just showed Ever Oasis (3DS) on the Treehouse stream, and I wasn't before, but now I'm actually looking forward to the game now; it looks pretty good. And a demo releases in just over an hour? That's cool. The gameplay looks fun, the combat good, that dungeon a bit Zelda-ish, it has some nice art design, the announcement that you can play as a female character too is a nice surprise... good stuff. It probably should be getting more attention than it has.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 15th June 2017
So I played through the Ever Oasis demo for 3DS. It is a short demo, but yeah, it starts a little ways in, so that you can't save is fine. You can explore the town and an explorable area just outside it, and go through a small dungeon. The combat is fun and controls well, particularly with the New 3DS thanks to its added camera controls as you can rotate the camera with the second stick. It also uses ZL and ZR, one of which duplicates character switching instead of having to use the d-pad, and the other switches to first person instead of having to hit an on-screen button. The combat's good too, and I like that you can switch between all of the party members for additional variety, each has a different weapon. Fun game so far, I'll probably get it.
E3 2017 - events starting Saturday 6/10 - A Black Falcon - 21st June 2017
So I took all the stuff I wrote here about E3, added a bunch to it (it might be half new?), and posted it as an article on my site: http://www.blackfalcongames.net/?p=347 I'm not sure if it's worth posting here since a lot of it is the same, but... maybe?