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Greetings and solicitations children of technology!
Here is the moment you've all been waiting for my little Pumpkin Squirts. The time where the meat meets the gristle and bone joins the flesh! The moment where we separate the wheat from the chaff as I proclaim my choices for the best and worst of E3 2010!
Yes I know I've already written an article describing the most cringe inducing moments of the show, but really here we're going to take a serious look at some of the best parts of E3. And as we give the winners their dues we will also be forced to take a look at that little dichotomy known as LOSERS in this situation.
Game of the Show (playable) - Vanquish
My game of the show can go to know other than a little golden nugget named Vanquish. If you had been paying attention, and I know you are simply waiting with baited breath for each and every post that I make, you would have seen my impressions article on Vanquish last week. I'm still just as excited for this game as I was after playing it. Over the top, action sc-fi, shooter action with glorious sense of self parody. Secretly I'm really hoping to see something like a sci-fi Bayonetta, and the only way this title can really fail is if it tries
to take itself too seriously. Already the controls of the game are spot-on, and the game has that particular ability to have a metric-fuck-ton of shit going on the screen and still allow the player to feel completely in control. Bayonetta is the same way. Watching it, the entire thing looks like a Mongolian clusterfuck. Pick up a controller, and the entire thing suddenly just makes sense.
Game of the Show (Non-playable) - Portal 2
Portal 2 did for me in 30 seconds what some games have never been able to do. Inspire me, fill me with a sense of allure intermingled with fascination...give me goosebumps....and not just because of Doug Lombardi's keen sense of fashion. To put it bluntly, Portal 2 is destined to do for puzzle games what Half-Life did for shooters. Change everything. Portal was itself a brilliant conglomeration of a first person shooter and a 3D puzzle. Portal 2 is set to take that to the next level and blow your pants skyward while doing it. In past podcasts I had said out loud, "So what has valve been doing?" Now I know. Portal 2.
In full disclosure I should admit that until about a week ago I had never played Portal. I never really liked puzzle games and simply designated Portal to the Myst and Professor Layton Pile.
I was so wrong.
The E3 2010 teaser trailer made me take a second look and I'm not about to look back.
Biggest Surprise - Nintendo
Hands down the biggest surprise of the show was Nintendo. Not for what they showed but for what they didn't show. Of the "big three" at the convention last week, being Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo was the one who showed the least amount of motion control games. Let me spell that out for you. The company who started motion control of this generation pretty much hardly talked about it at all. Instead they rolled out some of the best 3D, without glasses, that I've ever seen. As Sony and Microsoft fell all over each other to get in on the motion control action, Nintendo was all like "Plleeeeease, motion control is so last E3. Here is some of the best 3D this generation. Have a nice day and thanks for playing." The huge lines at E3 were not at Kinect or Move. They were at the new 3DS...and as word got around at how good it looked, the lines just got longer and longer. I was able to jump on Kinect and Move with almost no wait at all. I wouldn't even dare to try the 3DS line on the show floor (where, incidentally, a playable 3D version of StarFox 64 was being shown)...it snaked around like a soup kitchen line during the depression.
Biggest Disappointment - Motion Control
Honestly, the biggest disappointment for me was the sheer amount of motion control shovelware that was being shown at this E3. The press conference of Sony and Microsoft were dominated with it, all in a giant rush to cash in on the popularity of the Wii. I can’t help but think that a big reason we didn’t see a lot of the games we were hoping to get word on (e.g. The Last Guardian and others) was simple because most of the time was being taken up by the new wave of motion sports and exercise games. Some of these press conferences were almost unbearable at times…and sometimes they were really creepy.
-Joseph-
Comments
15 years ago
Nintendo has probably rolled out the greatest business strategy of all time. They have honestly made Sony and Microsoft look like mindless rodents lost in a maze while trying to get a piece of a pie that Nintendo has long since devoured.
Vanquish looks incredible. The first time I saw the trailer, I thought it was going to be another feeble attempt for a Japanese developer to make an FPS, how wrong I was. When I saw the power slide for the first time I knew that this game was destined to be great. People will buy this and kick themselves for letting Bayonetta slip through their fingers.
I have never really thought of Portal being a Half-Life of puzzle games before, but you may very well be right. In the least it should bring about a revolution in the depth of gameplay for first person shooters. A different way of interacting with a world beyond "Whatever enters my cursor goes bye bye." Game design in general, regardless of genre could take a note from Portal's book. So it may turn out that Portal will be the next game to make designers take a step back from the drawing board and realize that they can make their game much better. Except for Peter Molyneux of course.
15 years ago
I like the Leonidas outfit, Joseph.
15 years ago
This summed up how I felt about E3 for the most part. I am incredibly excited for VanQuish but then again I was pretty interested from the start considering that I'm a Shinji Mikami fan.
I was quite disappointed with the stuff we saw for motion controls. The PS3 Move honestly looked like the worst off the lot, and at a price of 50 dollars for the motion controller and 30 dollars for the navigation controller, getting a set of two (mind you a number of games recommend having two motion controllers) will easily cost more than the predicted price of the Kinect.
The Kinect looks like in the long run it'll be the most promising motion-control related device specifically because it also has multimedia usage and could add a lot of convenient and neat features that help Xbox Live establish itself as more than a gaming network. I was a little bummed though because it seemed like a step back after some of the stuff we saw with Milo previously. Also, at a predicted 150 dollar price it could be a pretty tough sell.
As far as Nintendo goes I didn't really see anything there that got my goat except for Kirby's Epic Yarn and the 3DS. I guess Nintendo just doesn't hit me for some reason, I dunno. I feel like they rely almost entirely on Nostalgia to get people excited and to sell their products. The new Zelda and Donkey Kong game just didn't get any reaction out of me at all.
For comparison, a game like Twisted Metal, which could heavily rely on nostalgia itself for it's announcement opened with something that I've never seen before in a Twisted Metal game and followed up with even more new and exciting features. Donkey Kong opened with what looked like the same Donkey Kong we've all played ages ago.
The 3DS on the other hand really looks fresh and innovative and I'm just waiting to hear what the pricing for it will be.
As for Portal 2, I've looked around recently because I'm SURE I missed something here but I still don't get why everyone is giving this game such enthusiasm. Portal was beyond-great and Portal 2 will no doubt be awesome but considering how many other potentially amazing games I'm seeing not receive any mention, I'm seriously wondering if you all saw some video or feature or footage that I didn't see since Portal 2 seems to be on everyone's mind.
15 years ago
El Molesto approves.
I really got tired by the amount of motion control games that were unveiled at E3. It's not really "revolutionary" if there has already been a company that has already innovated many players to the motion control craze, it's kind of like beating a dead prostitute and trying to bust one off in it's dead carcass.
But, The Last Guardian was seriously the biggest disappointment for me. To be deprived of any new trailer or gameplay for one of my most sought after games is a big kick in the nuts with a steel toe boot. The same goes for Beyond Good and Evil 2, I'm starting to think that it will never see the light of day. It could have been a great IP but, UbiSoft just said, "Fuck you!" So I must say, "Fuck you too, very much!"
15 years ago
Is that Kazuo Hirai moving the Ps3 motion controller? if it is, then lulz ensue.RIDDDDGGEE RACER!!!
But overall, I heavily agree with what was written here. The Wii pulled a pretty nice sucker punch in the faces of all conferences this year, and can only hope 360 and PS3 conferences go much better next year
15 years ago
I just started playing Bayonetta and I'm loving it so far. I hope Vanquish ends up being just as good.
15 years ago
Funny how Sony and Microsoft were trying to be Nintendo while Nintendo was trying (and succeeded awesomely) not to and shifted away from motion control.
15 years ago
Joseph, why don't you have body hair?
15 years ago
I have to agree with your biggest surprise. I was amazed with Nintendo's show. It seems everyone is trying to catch up to nintendo with their whole motion capture thing. Nintendo came hard, and came strong.
15 years ago
PORTAL2 OMG!!!!!!!!!!
15 years ago
I gotta agree, Portal 2 is looking awesome.
14 years, 12 months ago
I think Sony has the better motion control of the two, but both are destined to follow the way of the EyeToy for the PlayStation 2.
14 years, 12 months ago
I hate the Sony motion control. (I think it's called move.) Honestly, it looks like a vibrator.