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I don't want to come off as ungrateful or jaded but unfortunately E3 2010 was a bit underwhelming when compared to E3 2009. When I returned home from E3 last year, I could not contain my excitement for gaming. Last year, we were treated to some truly unbelievable announcements and game-play debuts. We saw the first demonstration of Alan Wake, Splinter Cell Conviction, and Uncharted 2 and we were all blown away when games like Left 4 Dead 2, Crackdown 2, Halo Reach, and Last Guardian were announced for the first time. This year, I can count the number of new game announcements on two hands and the ones that were actually impressive on one. E3 2010 was a gathering of games that we already knew about or seen footage of, being demoed for the first time. While there is nothing wrong with that sort of thing, I certainly enjoy being one of the first people in the world to play these games, it wouldn't be a stretch to say that some of the magic was missing from the show. For this list, I have chosen to omit one of the more obvious disappointments, the focus on motion controls and casual titles, for the sake of focusing on what Kevin Butler proclaimed as the "important thing": The games. Here are my top 5 games that had an underwhelming appearance or were missing entirely from the show.
5- Zelda: Skyward Sword Announcement-Don't misunderstand me, I will be excited to play a new Zelda game for the Wii but something about this announcement left me incredibly disappointed. It is not necessarily the upbeat tone of the new Zelda (I realize a lot of people expected a darker, more mature Zelda game) but the trailer that was chosen to reveal the game was garbage. It accomplished nothing except reveal the title of the game. There were no details regarding the story or mechanics. When coupled with the underwhelming on-stage demonstration and the "tech-demo like" level that shown, I wouldn't even say this game has been revealed yet. Sorry Nintendo, but you dropped the ball on this one.
4- Final Fantasy Versus XIII- I am still struggling to get through Final Fantasy XIII and while I think that the game is certainly a game worth some merit, it is one of the biggest disappointments for me in recent years. I was praying that Sony would finally reveal Versus XIII to the world at their press conference and give me some hope for the future of the series but unfortunately, the game was no where to be found. Since I don't think this game will see the light of day until it has been revealed at an E3 or major convention (TGS maybe), I doubt we will see this game stateside until late next year or later.
3- Mirror's Edge 2- This was a long shot. It was the game I wanted to be revealed more than anything at EA's conference. When they took the stage and said that they had 10 games to show, I was praying that Mirror's Edge 2 would be one of those games. Despite the poor sales numbers, I was hoping that EA would recognize the potential for such an ambitious and unique premise like Mirror's Edge and green light a sequel. So far, EA has only briefly mentioned a sequel being developed by a small team but an official announcement was never made. EA's conference would have been a great time to make this announcement. Hell, a teaser trailer would have been enough. Given its absence, I am worried that this game will never see the light of day and the original Mirror's Edge will stand a lone as a "failed attempt" at a new IP.
2- Beyond Good & Evil 2- This was just cruel. Given Ubisoft's downright ridiculous handling of this game's "existence", I was almost sure that they would take this opportunity to ease the minds of their fans and discuss the elephant in the room. At one point during the show, Brad and I were reading the teleprompter and we were almost sure that this announcement would be the finale of their conference. What did we get instead? BEAT IT. I don't like to take the offensive against game companies, especially ones that I respect, but FUCK YOU UBISOFT. You may be happy denying the existence of this game's development for another year but I can assure you, we aren't.
1- The Last Guardian- There isn't much to be said about this one. I'm sure most people reading this right now already know what i'm talking about. Fumito Ueda's next masterpiece, "The Last Guardian" was revealed last year at E3 and it was easily the most exciting bit of news to leave that convention. So what the hell is up with Sony not even mentioning the game this year? Without a live demonstration of the game-play footage, I think it is safe to say that we won't be seeing this game this year. WTF.
These are just five of my disappointments but there are several others that I didn't even mention. Games like Deus Ex had a slightly underwhelming demonstration and announcements like Devil May Cry 5 and Pikmin 3 were never made. All in all, I hope that this doesn't happen again next year. There better be more game announcements, more surprises, and less Kinect next year!
What were some of the biggest disappointments for you all?
Comments
14 years, 5 months ago
My biggest disappointment was the lack of HL2:Ep2 news. Though in retrospect, I'm much more open to the idea of a Portal sequel than a Left 4 Dead sequel.
I entirely agree about Mirror's Edge though. Even if it was short, there's still just so much potential in the first game that it'd feel like a waste to not give it a second chance. I hope if Portal 2 does does well enough to rekindle EA's interest in FP/Platforming and give Mirror's Edge a second go as far as funding is concerned.
14 years, 5 months ago
Good post, Nick. Agree with all the disappointments.
The absence of Last Guardian hurt the most, indeed. Ahwell, they better show it at TGS or I might actually fly over to japan and fart in Uedas dinner.
14 years, 5 months ago
God I really loved Mirror's Edge. It was one of the most original titles of that year. And I know that Modern Warfare is frowned upon here, but I really was hoping for something from Respawn Entertainment. I want to see what they can do with no strings attached away from Activision.
Also, I wasn't even a big fan of it, but Where the f**k is Half life; episode 3? Is there even any intention of it being made? I think they have hit a block and don't know what to do for the story, so they are postponing.
14 years, 5 months ago
i hate teaser trailers they get me excited about the next game in a series then it turns out it might suck
but i don't think there is a way to screw up a zelda game its like how to make the game is written in stone so the only thing you can change is monsters the ammount of small children are your fans and if its a fairy or a green midget "fairy" thats going to annoying the hell out of you. so I'm excited for the next zelda
14 years, 5 months ago
It kind of amuses me that people are still surprise to not see many Japanese titles make an appearance at this years E3. It's most likely that they're saving those titles for TGS. Now I dunno if that means that Japanese game development or TGS is slumping, and that they need to now hold off on showing games just to make more of an impression later, but it isn't too rediculous of a presumption. I wouldn't be shocked if The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy Versus XIII or Valkryia Chronicles 2 made not only an appearance but a significant one at that at the Tokyo Game Show 2010.
Hey, after calling that Gabe Newell appearance at the Sony Conference I feel pretty awesome and confident in making predictions now.
14 years, 5 months ago
so 4 of the dissapointments of E3 was games that they did not show?
I'd say that it doesn't really count then.
14 years, 5 months ago
I disagree with the Zelda comment. From what I read, the game looks very promising and the controls work very well. There is also no reason to be disappointed about the art style. Don't forget that the Wind Waker had shell-shaded graphics and that game was very well done. So with that said, I have no doubt that this game will be a good game.
I'm surprised that you didn't say anything about the lack of any news of Obsidian's next game (if they are making one right now).
14 years, 5 months ago
Great post Nick!
Here are my top 5 biggest disappointments of E3 2010:
5. No Uncharted 3 announcement. I know the game is coming, and it might be too soon to show anything, but I think Sony would benefit from saying "Hey, Uncharted 3 is coming next year, and it totally supports 3D and Move!"
4. No Mirrors Edge 2 announcement. What Nick said.
3. No The Last Guardian stuff. I have never picked up Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, but I wanted to. Hearing everybody say "It's my favorite game ever!" only made me want them more. The Last Guardian was a chance for me to start playing those games, and I was really exited for it, but there were nothing new at E3 2010.
2. All the motion control and 3D bullsh*t. Sure 3D, Wii 2.0 (Move) and Eye Toy Advanced (Kinect) is exiting, but about 50% of all the press conferences were about it. I want The Last Guardian, not Move support for Tiger Woods.
1. Not being able to go to E3 because I live in Norway. Seriously, fuck Norway.
14 years, 5 months ago
Ubisoft really was a disappointment, I mean they had a lot stories coming out in the run up too E3: 2 unannounced tom clancy titles, and Beyond Good and Evil 2 still exists.
Great post Nick, whilst still a good E3, there was a lot of stuff that disappointed me.
14 years, 5 months ago
Forgot to mention, I definitely agree with the Mirror's Edge 2 and Beyond Good & Evil 2 reveals. Unlike TLG or FFVXIII, those games have absolutely no solid footage or even basic confirmation of their existance. E3 would have been THE perfect time to reveal those game. Hell, it probably would have saved those two conferences from mediocrity (Well, to EA's credit they did perform competently. Ubisoft was almost Konami bad had it not been for a minute amount of stuff like Shaun Whites Skateboarding and 2D Rayman. Good lord). So yeah, I think those two can be legitimately classed as all round disappointers at this years E3.
P.S. Did I say Konami was bad? Forgive me, slip of the tongue, since in actuality that was the greatest conference in the history of forever. And if you don't agree...
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4821/motivatorc24236f5c6afb8.jpg
14 years, 5 months ago
i have to say my biggest disappointment had to have been not hearing about any updates on half-life. Portal 2 was really good news but as with last year and learning about l4d2, i would still rather have half-life.
14 years, 5 months ago
Yeah, I wanted to see something about Last Guardian too.
14 years, 5 months ago
My disappointment is that Half life :E3 didn't get viewed at E3 :(God dammit VALVE.
14 years, 5 months ago
On the Mega64 podcast not too long ago, Rocco revealed that he had a credible source (he's friends with a number of developers, particularly the indie ones) who fed him the information that The Last Guardian may very well be the game that "sends off the PlayStation 3". In fact, they even went on to say that we'd be lucky if the game comes out in 2012.
I predict it'll follow Final Fantasy XIII's example. First announced at E3 in 2006, paired with a trailer, and finally released 3/4 years later.
14 years, 5 months ago
i am looking forward to the last guardian. i loved shadows and team ico knows how to make a game so this is one game i am looking foward to.
14 years, 5 months ago
Basically, it just seems to me that the gaming companies are metaphorically selling out.
Everyone starting to make more and more cookie cutter games to make a quick buck.
As far as Final fantasy goes, its disappointing me lately. FF13 was very underwhelming to me.
I picked up FF4 recently, and its a hell of a lot more engrossing to me than this new game.
Why cant they just go back to making FF's that are more like 4,6,9,10?
instead they keep selling out to nerd fans of FF7 who treat that game and story like the bible.
Last guardian should and most likely will be just as amazing as shadow of the colossus
14 years, 5 months ago
5 words:
No new Elder Scrolls news?
The fact that it's been years since the last release of Elder Scrolls 4, Bethesda disappointed me. Now before you go off thinking I'm just a troll, I'll state my case. I'll give the fact that Fallout New Vegas has taken much of Bethesda's time and funds but still, the people either want some form of the game's true existence to be shown, or for the company to just come out and say that it's not going to happen this year at all, for which I believe to be true since it wasn't shown at E3 at all.
The series has always been great, so why stop something that millions love? I'm just disappointed in the outcome of nothing at all that Bethesda has given us.
14 years, 5 months ago
@Deluxlux
Uh, Fallout: New Vegas -isn't- being developed by Bethesda, silly.