With most of the big announcements from all the major companies out of the way, now is a good time to look at E3 so far. It’s also fun to see how close some of the rumors and predictions were to reality. Overall, I’d say that each company did pretty much what they needed to and at least met expectations. In this day and age of constant online news, it’s hard to produce huge surprises at E3 anymore, but there were a few jaw dropping events anyway.
Microsoft
What They Did – Microsoft set the tone for the rest of Monday’s big stage announcements by going first, and they did not disappoint. Their presentation was full of nothing but games, as promised, although some of them had already been announced Pre-E3. I had the expectation that announcing Forza Horizon 2 and Sunset Overdive before the conference would allow Microsoft to fill their absence with even more game announcements, but there they were, announced with the rest of the games. It also seems that Advanced Warfare is being severely overlooked just because it’s another Call of Duty game, but the footage they showed was jaw dropping gorgeous and amazing!
The stage itself was set up to showcase the Xbox’s strength: multiplayer and even “asymmetric” multiplayer in games like Evolve, The Division, and Fable Legends. That means four players are controlling their characters with one control method, and a fifth player is controlling something else with a different perspective or even a different type of controller like a tablet or smart phone. Four players also took to the specially designed stage to show off co-op game play in Assassin’s Creed: Unity.
The greatest announcement of Microsoft’s show – and the greatest of E3 overall in my opinion – was the reveal that the rumored Halo 2 Anniversary remake was indeed an entire FOUR GAME “Master Chief” collection of Halo 1 through 4, including all the multiplayer maps and DLC, all in 1080p, 60 fps, and on dedicated servers. All of this, on one disc, for only $60, AND it includes the multiplayer beta for Halo 5 starting in December.
Sony
What They Did – Sony had a lot to announce, and it might have gone better if they followed Microsoft’s example and made some announcements Pre-E3. They showed a lot of games, but their presentation dragged a few times when they had to talk about the PS Vita TV, and the PlayStation Now and TV services. Sony also showed a mixture of third and first party titles, emphasizing that even the third party games were better on the PS4. Far Cry 4, for example, has a special co-op feature that allows a friend to join your game in progress – even if they don’t own a copy of the game!
The first party titles seemed to get the best reactions from the crowd, and I have to share their enthusiasm for games like Little Big Planet 3 and Uncharted 4. I’m still not sold on The Order 1866 and several of the “indie” titles, and many of the games they announced have a 2015 release in mind. I do wish more companies would follow Suckerpunch’s example and release DLC for games that can actually work as stand alone content for those that don’t even own that game – in this case, Infamous Second Son is getting some stand alone DLC very soon.
Nintendo
What They Did – They continue to march to their own beat, and their online-only broadcast was full of Nintendo’s quirky charm. They made no apologies or concessions that their Wii U isn’t selling well – they just stood up and showed off some games that proud Wii U owners can look forward to. I have to admit that I’m not a huge fan of 2D platforming games, so all the Kirby and Mario games – including the ability to finally edit and create your own Mario levels – weren’t that exciting to me.
What is exciting to me – and probably everyone that plays video games – was the short but sweet reveal of a new Legend of Zelda game coming to the Wii U in 2015! Mario Kart 8 is already doing really well and boosting sales of the Wii U, and I expect the release of Super Smash Bros will boost sales even more. Maybe Nintendo’s approach to being the “secondary” console in people’s homes can be valid, especially with more “must have” titles like Starfox, Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, and the Legend of Zelda.
eBash Bits and Bytes 