Sony Review

I know that I need to wait and see what Nintendo's got in store before I degenerate into one of 'them' and start waving my arms around screaming 'Sony won the show,' but Microsoft lowered the bar enough to make that wait difficult.

Sony offered more games with fewer gimmicks that MS did. Period. Sure, there was some silliness about the PS Move, but we got to see Uncharted and all those other games that I'm not terribly interested in.

We got to see the PS Vita, which is, dare I say it, the best gaming handheld I've ever seen. No gimmicks. It plays games in as straightforward a fashion as you could ever want. And it's $249. Fucking great.

That being said, the Move should be the platform for that Kinect Lightsaber game. It's more natural to hold something in your hands. I play Tiger using the Move on my PS3, and having something to hold while golfing is way better than pretending to hold something.

Also, I thought that Jack Tretton had his best personal show ever. He handled the PSN debacle well, and he seemed more relaxed than ever before.

I can't say enough about how impressed I was with both Uncharted games, and can't wait to get my hands on either one. I'm looking forward to the MP beta later this month.

Game Trailers - E3 2011

G'nite!

-Blaine

Microsoft Presser Review

'SHUT THE FUCK UP ABOUT KINECT.' That seemed to be the general consensus on Twitter and in my brain. The usage of the voice command in Mass Effect 3 during combat looked awesome. The Fable on-rails shooter looked like putrid ass.

This is yet another gaming gimmick out of control. It was the Wii for a while, and now it's the Kinect.

The Ghost Recon usage was insane, and totally inappropriately applauded.

That being said, Gears of War 3 looked great, as did Forza 4.

Gears showed a level taking place on a giant boat, and co-op partners made use of a mech suit. One person wore it while firing away, while the other player was actually able to use the mech suit as cover. Very, very cool.

Forza Motorsport 4 has a nice graphical overhaul, but little needs to be said about this game. We know it's going to be great, and those of us with good taste will buy it.

Mass Effect 3 looked AMAZING and the usage of voice-command was great in combat and not so much in dialogue. I'm going to hate the parts that they've geared even more toward generic people, but I'm going to love the game. I just hope the voice command for combat makes it into the PC version.

We got the obligatory Halo and CoD stuff, but peppered in between that was the above good stuff.

There was also a bunch of blah blah blah about watching TV on the 360 and talking at your XBox and whatever, but I suddenly found staring out the window very interesting then.

Sadly, the last third of the show was once again Kudo's Gaming For Babies Seminar. Kudo used to be a symbol of innovation, but now he just signals to me that it's time for me to quit paying attention.

Overall, Microsoft showed more core games than I was expecting, but the forcing of Kinect into everything was very disappointing.

Make me happy, EA!

-Blaine

Games to Watch

Here are the games on which I'm keeping tabs this E3 ... QUICKLY!

Aliens: Colonial Marines
I really thought this game was dead. It had gone dead quiet for ... a year? Two? I can't remember now. Anyway, this franchise + Gearbox Software + Sega sounds AWESOME. This is going to be a title that could really surprise some people at this year's show.

Battlefield 3
I've recently discovered that the Battlefield series has been doing the 'military shooter' thing better than anyone for a long time. Intense action + non-retard story + smooth PC-based gameplay = HAWT.

BioShock Infinite
It's a Ken Levine game.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution
The devs on this are saying all the right things, showing all the right assets, and displaying some real soul and originality, but because this is tied to a beloved franchise, I'm nervous about it.


The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Because the fifth time is the charm, yes? There is no logical reason for this series never clicking with me, so I will try, try again!

Final Fantasy XIII-2
I love numeric and Tactics-based Final Fantasy titles more than I should, but word on the street is that this title is actually going to play a lot closer to classic Final Fantasy than its predecessor. I'm curious to see whose stage this shows up on during the console pressers.

Forza Motorsport 4
I suck at all racing games, but really enjoy the sim racers anyway. Turn 10 does it better than anyone else right now, so I love Forza right now.

Gears of War 3
Time to finish the fight. The Gears of War series has been the best third-person action series of this generation, and I'm looking forward to suiting back up. Big dudes, big guns, big action, and big story that doesn't take itself too seriously. Sounds fucking great.


Madden NFL 12
Why the fuck not?

Mass Effect 3
Remember when Mass Effect was that space RPG that we were getting instead of KotOR 3? How it was not that big a deal to anyone but us hardcore RPG fans? And then Mass Effect 2 came out and told us all to get our shit and get the fuck out because it wanted to be with shooter fans now. I'm curious to see how much shit I'm going to have to put up with to love Mass Effect 3.

Metro: Last Light
I REALLY need to go back and finish the first one. I know most of you are terrified of these eastern European games, but you knuckleheads are missing out. Eastern Europe is the '90s Seattle' of this generation of gaming. If you don't believe me, then go play The Witcher, STALKER, or Metro 2033 then go to the card shop and get an 'I'm sorry I'm such a xenophobic fucking homer' card.

NCAA Football 2012
The best football game every year gets better every year.

Neverwinter
A great setting for an MMO. Too bad Atari sold its developer. I want to know what the status is on this now. This could be a cash cow if it appeals to all those jilted Bioware fans that Bioware doesn't want anymore.

Rage
John Carmack. BOW.


Silent Hill: Book of Memories
This is actually being internally developed at Konami, which is interesting. It's the first one since the non-Silent Hill Silent Hill 4 to be developed by Konami. That bodes well for this title.


Silent Hill: Downpour
This series has really come off the rails since Toyama-san stopped working on it, but something about this one ... looks right. If they realize that 70% of the original trilogy's success was the sound design, this could be great.

Soul Calibur V
I've always had a soft spot for this series. That hasn't changed. It seems free of the pretension that dominates Street Fighter, Tekken, and all those douche-attracting fighters. PLEASE let this have the character-builder ...

SSX
Thank the Maker that EA dropped the CoD-serious take on this series that we were threatened with at that fake gaming awards show. We're back to crazy snowboarding on a mountain, and that suits me just fine.

Star Wars: The Old Republic
MMOs generally have the highest 'suck' factor in terms of what percent of them are utterly terrible. SWtOR, having been tied to the excellent KotOR series, looks to be a fun money-printing press for EA. I don't like the art style, but I like everything else I've seen about the game. I'm hoping to see a release date. I think it's at least a full year out.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
The first game was near-perfect, the second game's single-player was too long, but still great, and the multiplayer was surprisingly solid. Both narratives were rock-solid. The third game is going to be awesome.


Uncharted: Golden Abyss
And thus starts the spin-offs. It was inevitable, I suppose. Since Uncharted 3 is in development, this has been farmed out to either a 'B' team or another dev. I'm excited about, don't get me wrong, but I just wanted to make some things clear right up front. Maybe it would be better to delay this until the 'A' team can work on it? That never happens with handheld spin-offs, but ... one could hope.

Warhammer 40k: Dark Millenium Online
I love everything about Warhammer 40k, so I'm curious about this.


Warhammer 40k: Space Marine
This falls outside of Relic's comfort zone, which is strategy games, but I trust them when it comes to quality. They also know this IP inside and out. It looks Gears-esque, which bodes well, and this has the potential to be a really fun take on the IP. I look forward to seeing more.

And that's it. I can't wait to see what other games surprise us, but this is a good place to start.

What did I leave off?

-Blaine