26th April 2003, 3:10 PM
I'm really looking forward to E3. Sadly, there were technical difficulties in my plans and I won't be attending the show, but I'll be glued to my monitor for the full 96 hours. However, plans for next year's E3 have already begun so that this type of thing won't happen again.
Lucky me, my last AP exam EVAR is on May 12, which means that I'll just be recovering from mental overload when the press conferences start (May13). Of course, we all know that the biggest news comes out of the Nintendo Press Conference.
What am I looking forward to at this E3? The major titles MUST deliver. F-Zero has got to be more than glitz to be a must-have. Mario Kart: Double Dash must reinvent what addictive gameplay is(multiplayer!). Final Fantasy:CC must prove itself amid skepticism. Factor 5 must step it up a notch in the gameplay department to make Rogue Squadron 3 a top-tier game. Those on-foot levels have the potential of being utter crap. There are several second-tier games that I think could step up and make an impact. Pikmin 2, Viewtiful Joe, PN03, Soul Calibur II, Mario Tennis, and Mario Golf all have this potential. I'm sorry that I'm dissing Kirby's Air Ride and Wario World, but they just seem unexciting (to me at least).
But Nintendo's big E3 game maybe something that we know very little about. Some of these games have barely been announced, while others may be a bit too early for a big E3 unveiling: Resident Evil 4, Dead Phoenix, Killer 7, Billy Hatcher, "Game Zero," Silicon Knight's game, Star Fox Armada, Mario 128, Capcom's secret project, MGS:Twin Snakes, Metroid Prime 2 and perhaps an entirely new game from EAD.
One game that I think might surprise people is Eurocom's Sphinx.
At this stage in the game, I think it will be difficult for Nintendo to radically change its fortune.
One thing that I'm really surprised about is how Nintendo has been heavily relying on its franchises. Franchise games outnumber original games by a frightening number. I thought the point of farming out development to 3rd parties was so that EAD could focus on exciting, new game ideas, but I haven't seen anything this generation that has made me think, "Wow." Pikmin was a great game, but I feel that Pikmin barely scratched the surface of the main idea. Animal Crossing was clearly innovative, but it was really created last generation for N64, and by the time it came out in the United States, the Sims (PC) had taken a firm hold of innovation in the lifesim category. I really hope that Nintendo has a game up its sleave that answers the question, "Miyamoto, what was so innovative that it was worth hiding from the public?"
Lucky me, my last AP exam EVAR is on May 12, which means that I'll just be recovering from mental overload when the press conferences start (May13). Of course, we all know that the biggest news comes out of the Nintendo Press Conference.
What am I looking forward to at this E3? The major titles MUST deliver. F-Zero has got to be more than glitz to be a must-have. Mario Kart: Double Dash must reinvent what addictive gameplay is(multiplayer!). Final Fantasy:CC must prove itself amid skepticism. Factor 5 must step it up a notch in the gameplay department to make Rogue Squadron 3 a top-tier game. Those on-foot levels have the potential of being utter crap. There are several second-tier games that I think could step up and make an impact. Pikmin 2, Viewtiful Joe, PN03, Soul Calibur II, Mario Tennis, and Mario Golf all have this potential. I'm sorry that I'm dissing Kirby's Air Ride and Wario World, but they just seem unexciting (to me at least).
But Nintendo's big E3 game maybe something that we know very little about. Some of these games have barely been announced, while others may be a bit too early for a big E3 unveiling: Resident Evil 4, Dead Phoenix, Killer 7, Billy Hatcher, "Game Zero," Silicon Knight's game, Star Fox Armada, Mario 128, Capcom's secret project, MGS:Twin Snakes, Metroid Prime 2 and perhaps an entirely new game from EAD.
One game that I think might surprise people is Eurocom's Sphinx.
At this stage in the game, I think it will be difficult for Nintendo to radically change its fortune.
One thing that I'm really surprised about is how Nintendo has been heavily relying on its franchises. Franchise games outnumber original games by a frightening number. I thought the point of farming out development to 3rd parties was so that EAD could focus on exciting, new game ideas, but I haven't seen anything this generation that has made me think, "Wow." Pikmin was a great game, but I feel that Pikmin barely scratched the surface of the main idea. Animal Crossing was clearly innovative, but it was really created last generation for N64, and by the time it came out in the United States, the Sims (PC) had taken a firm hold of innovation in the lifesim category. I really hope that Nintendo has a game up its sleave that answers the question, "Miyamoto, what was so innovative that it was worth hiding from the public?"