E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

[jGLZa]

--- E3 2011

Games

Skyrim
Lets not beat around the bush, this game looks amazing! The Dragons look amazing and Scary! OMG! And the scenery is breath-taking.
From the demo it looks like you can switch between a 3rd & 1st person viewpoint which is awesome for travelling and combat alike. The magic controls look especially awesome, switching from one-handed to two-handed wielding at will.
I may not get this game because I don't do RPG's but I would definately stare jealously at those who do.

Batman: Arkham City
They gave a more detailed demo of Catwoman and here game-model, her unique combat and move set. They also gave us a demo on how Batman can move around the rooftops of Arkham City as well as some Two-Face action.
Really looking for to this game.


EA Presentation is about to start... may post pictures later. (you want pics or youtube?)

[NeoN]

^ Pics plz, I don't do youTube, like ever! >_>

Thanks for the writeup, will browse through my gaming news-site (You are not allowed to view links.Register or Login

eGamer.co.za

) in a bit and see what they have to offer on the topic.

[NeoN]

Here's a link to the Day 1 round-up of E3 2011... You are not allowed to view links.Register or Login

--> Link <--

[jGLZa]

Something seems wrong, I can't make posts.
Is there a limit to how long a post can be?

Alright then, gona have to do seperate posts then.

[jGLZa]

--- E3 2011

Spoiler: Microsoft (hover to show)

Microsoft Opening Keynote
So the Microsoft (MS) press keynote opened E3 this year and ended about an hour ago. Being the first one I've seen, it was quite entertaining and they covered a lot of content in the hour & half.

Last year MS "changed" gaming with their announcement of Kinect for the Xbox 360, but kinect hasn't really taken the gaming world by storm this past year. This year they hope to change that, with Kinect going hardcore! Yes, some big games are getting Kinect support.

The first game they showed was Mass Effect 3, yes ME3 will have Kinect support and top of that it will be Kinect Voice support, so look forward controlling your squad with some voice commands. Next they showcased Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Future Soldier which will completely controllable with Kinect, no controller needed. The other big game Kinect game was Fable: The Journey although this one wasn't as impressive as the previous two.

Other games to be demo'd were the new Tomb Raider reboot which looked stunning, we got our first look at Gears of War 3's 4 player co-op (Fcuk YEAH!) and MECHA, Forza 4, Modern Warfare 3 which looks so good, I will no doubt suck tremendously at as well as a look at the remastered Halo: Combat Evolved anniversay edition.

E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

As I mentioned earlier, MS are pumping kinect this year so and there a ton of kinect exclusives presented. Most kinect games are aimed at either kids or family/party play and in that respect they deliver. Sesame Street and Disneyland Adventres headline the kiddie titles while Star Wars, Dance Central 2 & Kinect Sports 2 hedline the party games.
More exciting though was the reveal of Kinect Labs being available on Xbox LIVE. K-Labs will allow for user generated kinect content as well as indie kinect titles. Already some of the stuff coming out of K-Labs looks awesome; scan in ordinary objects and animate them, draw in 3D and much more.

Microsoft's biggest plug though had to be their announcement that Xbox LIVE content will be increasing ten fold. Youtube, Bing & live Tv is coming to Xbox LIVE as well as numerous kinect voice updates. no word on whether any of this will be available in SA (I doubt so) though.
MS clearly still believes that gaming's hot market is the younger generation and/or the social gamer as shown by their kinect & Xbox LIVE offerings. While what they offer is a huge improvement on last years offerings, it will still be awhile before the hardcore market picks it up.

And to cap off their Keynote, MS unvieled their next big Xbox exclusve trilogy - Halo 4, Master Chief is back!

E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

[jGLZa]

--- E3 2011

Spoiler: Sony (hover to show)

Sony Press Conference
Sony had a lot to prove this E3 and they addressed the PSN issues right up front, but if you ask me their whole presentation was just one big apology.

So with Microsofts presser being all kinect, Sony went horns to the wall with 3D and they opened with a breath-taking Uncharted 3 demo in 3D. The game looked good and no one seemed dissappointed especially since they announced a multiplayer as well. Resistance 3 was also in 3D but didn't compare to Uncharted. Resistance will also support PS Move.

A huge fan favourite was the announcement of God of War Origins a remastered version of the previously PSP only  titles and in 3D as well. So although the God of War franchise is over, you can still play some Kratos.

Obviously as 3D was the theme, Sony decided to show off their new PS branded 3D display, which will supposedly do away with splitscreen gaming by giving each player their own individual view.

The nice thing about the Sony presser was that they showed alot of games like Infamous 2, Starhawk (which looks great, a nice new title), the return of Sly Cooper and Bioshock Infinite. They skimmed over these games however as they wanted to debut and finally name their Next Gen Portable (NGP), the result - Playstation VITA which boasts 6-axis controls and a multi-touch display. Launch games for the PSVITA include: Uncharted and possibly Bioshock (not infinite).

E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

Sony is also still pumping PS Move and games getting the treatment include NBA 2K, Bioshock Infinite and a new title called Dust 514 which is also unique in that it will be set in the same world as EVE Online.

I mentioned earlier that Sony are still apologising for PSn and this was evident when they announced a slew of bundles and PS exclusive content. While from their exclusve games only Uncharted 3 & Infamous 2 drew any real interest they have arranged for cross-platform titles to get PS exclusive content (like Kratos for MK9). Saints Row 3, SSX & NFS will be getting exclusive while BF3 will be bundled with a free digital copy of Battlefield 1943. Another positive was that the PSVITA will be priced at sub $300.

[jGLZa]

--- E3 2011

Spoiler: Nintendo (hover to show)

Nintendo Press Conference
Nintendo were the last of the console makers to present and everybody was anxious to see what they had up their sleeves as rumrs were abound that they would be unveiling a new console.

They started things off in dramatic fashion with a full orchresta to play the main theme of Zelda who is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. They then proceeded to pump out Zelda bundles and offers spanning over all their platforms ending with Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword for the Wii. I really don't have an opinion on this as they didnt show any gameplay.

Next up was the 3DS where they do 3D right. They premiered a multitde of new 3D games for the 3DS, the headliners were of course Mario Kart 3D which looked brilliant and has gotten a ton of positve reviews most saying that it is a definite improvement on the already sensational DS version. Then we got see Starfox 3D which along with 3D made use of the gyro controls and some excellent multiplayer/co-op. Super Mario wasn't left out but was definately overshadowed by Kid Icarus Uprising which stole the show or atleast that was until Nintendo revealed Luigi's Mansion 2, super mario bros meets ghostbusters, all in 3D.

Nintendo then spoke about some of the new servies it was to release soon. The eShop would function like the Xbox marketplace or PSN Store allowing gamers to buy games and other stuff online. Next was their Virtual Console which would allow gamers to play old nintendo games on their DS, such as Tekken, Resident Evil, Metal Gear Solid, etc all whihc would of course be available from the eShop. And as a gift to all who use the eShop, all would receive a free download for the Pokedex 3D.

Lastly Nintendo stepped up and revealed their newest game changer - the Nintendo Wii U, their new console.

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E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

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E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

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E3 - Electronic Entertainment Expo

The Wii U brings HD graphics to nintendo for the first time so that it may finally compare with the other platforms, but HD wasnt the only thing new. Wii U's new tablet like controller opens up a world of possibilities for the console. The controller sports dual analogues, shoulder & trigger buttons as well as a touchscreen in response to the cry of the hardcore gamer.
The Wii U is also compatible with all of the original Wii pereferals, so you can use your wand & nunchuck too. just look what it can do.

Wii U Demo/Trailer: You are not allowed to view links.Register or Login

But what broke the Wii last time was the lack of 3rd Party games, mostly owing to a lack of HD and the unique controls. But this time its different, at launch the Wii U will be getting Batman Arkham City, Assasins Creed Revelations and plenty other big games as well. Then to top it all off, EA games came on stage and announced that they would be bring all their titles to Wii U in the future, pretty impressive Nintendo, pretty impressive.

[jGLZa]

--- E3 2011

Spoiler: EA (hover to show)

Electronic Arts
So Electronic Arts broke in their presentation with some Mass Effect 3. Their demo showed off the massive scale the ME3 will be taking on, taking the game to Earth finally. They also showed the improved combat system. Now I've never played any Mass Effect game before so Im not sure how much the combat system has changed but to me it looks like they took a (big) page out of Gears of War. The characters take cover, slide into cover, mantle cover like they do in gears as well a melee combat system similar to Gears. Thats a good move, Gears has the best 3rd person combat system out there. They mentioned adding more RPG elements to the game but you can't really present that in a demo.
Kinda regretting I haven't played the previous two.

Moving on, they then showed Need for Speed: The Run which looks nice (using DICE's Frostbite 2 engine) but really it isn't anything new to the franchise. They did add in some quicktime sequences where you run on foot but overall meh.
They then showed some Star Wars: Old Republic footage which looks awesome, still no gameplay and still no release date. Come on EA!

What would EA be without EA Sports, FIFA12 and Madden 12 were shown, nothing new really. FIFA did show off FIFA Football Club which is basically their Live Season from 11 but much bigger. The Sims also made a cameo but it didn't do it for me. I don't want gaming and Facebook mixing, clearly this game wasnt made me for.

Gaming studio Insomnia previously a PS exclusive has made a game for the Xbox360 - Overstrike. Co-op shooter with classic Insomnia crazy weapons, looks fun but not hardcore.

And last but certainly not least, EA ended with their COD killer... Battlefield 3. Showcasing the new Frostbite 2 graphics engine, it looks better than MW3 straight off the bat. Then they announced that they would be launching their own social platform (like COD Elite) except theirs would be free. This ties in with EA's new Orbital portal where downloadable content for all their games can be gotten for free.
Lastly, EA mentioned that they would be doing an open Beta for Battlefield 3 which releases October 25.

[jGLZa]

--- E3 2011

Spoiler: Ubisoft (hover to show)

Ubisoft
Ubisoft are french, just thought you'd want to know that, I didn't. Anyway, they opened with Rayman Origins which from what I remember of previous Rayman's was a fun platformer and its still that. This time they have returned to it as a side-scroller, full of great earthworm jim style humor and gameplay. Also, 4 player co-op whihc is great for these type of games.

They then showed Far Cry 3 which was a surprise to most, however besides swapping africa for a pretty tropical island there doesnt seem to be much else new stuff. Next up was a return to the world war 2 Brothers in Arms franchise with Furious 4 which looks to be Inglorious Basterds the game.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier which debuted in Microsofts presser with kinect but in the Ubi demo we saw more of the tactical side of the game and its prety in-depth, this is definately a FPS you would play for the campaign.

Besides Ubi's original kinect money cows - Just Dance 3/Your Shape it showed a Raving Rabbids kinect game which made use of kinect augmented reality sensing and looked like great fun for a party game. Then Ubi unveiled a new franchise... MANIAplanet which will include 3 seperate games which all share the same world. At E3 they showed TrackMANIA which is the racing game but also mentioned a FPS and a RPG.

And to close things off Ubisoft demo'd Assasin's Creed: Revelations which is supposed to be Ezio's final chapter. I've never played any Assasin's Creed games but to me it didn't look any different to the previous games.

[jGLZa]

So E3 is done and dusted and internet critics/game enthusiasts all over have been laying down their opinions and views on who "won" E3 2011. It seems that its pretty unamious that Microsoft did not win, while the vote has been divided between whether Nintendo (my vote if you were interested) or Sony won.

People however seem to have forgotten that electronic entertaiment isnt exclusive to gaming, its a much broader spectrum. And in my opinion Microsoft is the only one of the big three that addressed the spectrum in its entirety. This is understandable though as MS were the only ones who didn't need to make up for anything. Sony needed to mend its reputation owing to the PSN incident while Nintendo needed to revamp things as the novelty of the Wii was wearing off and this reflected in Sales.

Microsoft
MS lead with kinect which was viewed by most as a mistake but think for a minute, who are Microsoft's target audience? Not core gamers as they have their 3rd Party partners to deal with that, their target audience is the casual/family gamer, which explains why most 1st-party development is going into kinect games. Its easy pickup and play games with a very gradual learning curve. Now couple this with what I view as their biggest draw card this year - their next Xbox Dashboard update which will be jam-packed with content. It just makes sense for dad/mom to opt to buy a Xbox 360 for the family over anything else.
Microsft are buil;ding the Xbox 360 to be more than just a gaming console, they building it to be an Entertainment platform. They have Netflix (yes both Sony & Ninetendo have this) the biggest online movie streaming service, Last.FM the biggest music streaming service behind itunes and have now exclusively added Youtube with the prospect of Live TV (UK users can already watch Sky) to be added as well. Bring onboard Bing to help you search and find all this marvelous content and throw in PayPal as an alternative method to pay for all of this and its builds quite an impressive package. They just need to work on getting all of this available in all regions now.

Sony
Sony focused on 3D, which like kinect hasn't had a great response by the majority of the public but they pushed forward regardless. So as kinect was dismissed for Microsft, I'll dismiss 3D for Sony, which means their only offering was the new NGP or Playstation VITA. Its nice, a better design than the PSP and it has dual analogs which appeases the hardcore fans (which I'll admit Sony took better care of than MS). But really, how many of us are going to buy PSVITA to do some serious gaming, not many especially considering most of its games will be available on the PS3 anyway. This is really only for die hard fans or parents who copout and buy the PSVITA over a full PS3.

The additions to PSN as expected were mostly security wise, with a few updates of their service but no new additions. The PS Move was especially disappointing with it not even getting any new games, it was only hap-hazardly adapted into a few mainstream games and didn't really impress much. Although the PS Move was originally superior to the Wii-mote but that was sorted when Nintendo brought out the Motion PLUS, the Move now really is worst in the motion detection department, Kinect is the most advanced but Microsoft has yet to make any use of its latent potential yet.

Nintendo
It's easy to compare Sony and Microsoft as they seem to mimc each other in many ways but Nintendo is whole different can of fish, a can of fish with great big balls that is. Nintendo changed gaming with the Wii and now they look to do the same with the Wii U. The Wii failed long term as it didn't gather much 3rd Party support owing mainly to a lack of HD and "different" controls. They have patched that by adding HD graphics and more conventional control's, we're happy with that. Then they dropped some big names as 3rd-party supporters, the biggest being EA, so far they have ticked off all their boxes.

Even better (and I don't know why no-one has thought of this before) they announced complete compatibility across their entire device range. That means all your original Wii perepherals will work with Wii U as well as being able to use DS/3DS as controllers. Now the only thing they need sort out is to ensure that all this 3rd-party support actually make full use of the technology. But the Wii U is still more than a year away so we should atleast expect proper launch games.
But don't be fooled by Nintendo, the Wii U is not a 4th gen console, its not a huge step up from the Wii, as I said they just ticked off a few boxes. You can be sure that when Sony & Microsoft release their next gen consoles, Nintendo will bring something new as well.

Going Forward
Microsft will continue to build on their entertainment platform. They have evolved beyond a gaming console, by adding more functionality they will grow their user base and because of this where do you think game developers follow? I do want to see them actually use their use the tech advantage though, Ubisofts Raving Rabbids use of Kinect was the best so far, making full use of the MS augemented reality engine, if they can adapt this to more hardcore games it would be awesome.

Sony need to do something new, either be the first to get 3D working properly or start nailing down more console exclusive IP's which really all they have been doing this past year. It's a risky strategy but it could come off if MS don't use kinect properly.

Nintendo have it easy, they just need to keep their promise and deliver the Wii U with all they showed this year. Get 3rd-party content to fully use the tech and they should be fine if not leading the market.

Conclusion

• Sony satisfied the fans now with the PS VITA. Its small and inconsequential in the scheme of things but its here now.
  Damage control by Sony.
• Microsoft built on and improved what they already had and at the same time expanded their buyer range.
  Business as usual for MS.
• Nintendo have prophesied the future (Wii U) and improved on what they have (3Ds). They've raised the bar and set themselves a firm platform to continue building.
  Uber trend setting by Nintendo.