E3 2014 Closing Ceremony/Awards

Written By: Tyler

 

Well, this is it, ladies and gentlemen. There's only one more E3-related post to be made and it's one to celebrate the whole event. I will not be doing individual awards like, "Best Action Game" or awarding games for being the best game on a particular system. Unfortunately, since I'm not there, there are a lot of games I never got to see because I had to rely on feeds.

I appreciate anybody who tuned in and read my numerous articles throughout this entire thing. Now let's get on with this.


Game Of The Show

Winner: Evolve

Before I talk about the winner, I have to explain that I had a hard time choosing this. I wasn't sure if I wanted to go with the game that I am most excited for, because then Metal Gear Solid V would have gotten the nod because I've been excited for that since before it was even announced. Or maybe I wanted to go with the game that had the best presentation... not necessarily the game that I think will be the best, but the game that had the best video. Battlefield: Hardline might have won that because the one video where we actually watch a heist was so intense I couldn't wait. Games like Super Smash Bros. didn't get the nod because I know I'll love it but E3 did nothing to further that... Smash Bros. is Smash Bros. and it will be glorious. So, to get my winner, I kind of put the two elements together and came up with Evolve.

Evolve was not a game that I was super into before E3. I watched the videos, saw the gameplay, but it was during E3 that I came to love it. It just finally clicked with me how original, daring and exciting it is. It's still not the game I anticipate most, because there are a bunch of games in the honourable mentions that I'd rather play, but Evolve totally won me over, and that's reason enough to make it Game of the Show in my eyes.


Honourable Mentions
Sunset Overdrive
Battlefield: Hardline
The Witcher 3
Batman: Arkham Knight
Rainbow Six: Siege
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor
Super Smash Bros.
Xenoblade Chronicles X
Far Cry 4



Surprise Of The Show

Winner: Let It Die

My logic for why this won is more simplistic than my logic for Game of the Show. I love Suda51 and I didn't know this game was being made. So thus, I am excited to see what the crazy bastard does. It beats out the announcement of Star Fox because I had read articles about it beforehand, and I didn't mention the Zelda announcement because that was pretty much a guarantee. Mursaki Baby looked lovely, and #IDARB has one of the neatest concepts of the entire show. Splatoon is also an interesting concept and the fact it's a cool Wii U game made me care more.


Honourable Mentions
Murasaki Baby
#IDARB
Splatoon
The Star Fox Announcement




Press Conference of The Show

Winner: Nintendo followed by Sony, then Ubisoft, then Microsoft... then a distant EA

When I first wrote about the Nintendo Digital Event (yes I know it isn't technically a press conference), I was more warm about it than hot. But then I have thought about it since and it was an excellent mixture of games and theatrics. It was funny, but all about the games, and Nintendo did a great job.

Sony is my primary system so I was emotionally invested in it, but it lost some momentum throughout, until it eventually came back in a big way.

Ubisoft is a great company with interesting games and their presentation was extremely theatrical. It was kind of a nerdy concert.

Microsoft did a great job and made it all about the games.

EA was boring and they didn't focus enough on actual gameplay.



Disappointment of the Show

Winner: No Metroid

Nintendo killed it anyway, and announced two big franchises, but damn it Ninty, where is my Metroid?


Honourable Mention
No mention of The Last Guardian



Unrealistic Desires For E3

Announcements for Timesplitters 4, The World Ends With You 2 and a new installment of The Last Vikings. I knew none of this would happen but I hoped that they would be announced.


As a closing statement, I would just like to say that I noticed a lot of co-op games, whether it was new IPs, or old IPs that are now implementing co-op, it seemed like there was more of a focus on it, which is thrilling for me because I'm a huge fan of that. I also noticed that they're bringing a lot of "old" games to new systems. In cases such as Grand Theft Auto 5, that's exciting, but what do you think about it? Will you re-buy games you already own just because they're now next-gen? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @ArtBathednCrime.

With that, I close down my last remaining feed (a Gamespot wrap-up show) and bid you farewell, and goodbye to E3 until next year. Now it's time to go outside. Well, maybe I'll sleep first.

E3 Day 2 - Did You Know That E3 Has Games? Bayonetta 2, DubWars, Rainbow Six, Payday 2 And More!

Written By: Tyler

Here we are ladies and gentlemen, the second day of E3 2014. Today I will just be doing impressions of some of the games I watched today.



Evolve -- Evolve is really shaping up to be a great thing. I know I've been pretty positive throughout E3, but a lot of these games just look so good. Of course, I'm really digging the premise of Hunters vs Monster in this game, but the fact it has an ecosystem where the monster you're hunting isn't the only threat is wonderful. I enjoy that the other creatures within the ecosystem can eat the food that the monster needs. If this game ends up sucking, which it doesn't look like it will, there will be a lot of disappointed people.


Broforce -- It looks like a chaotic, retro romp through the shooters of days gone by, with a sense of humour to boot. It should be entertaining. I don't think it's going to do what Mercenary Kings did with the genre, but this will be a blast to play with friends.


Dead Island 2 -- Am I the only one who isn't excited for a Dead Island MOBA? I actually enjoy the Dead Island games, flaws and all, but this? No thank you. Dying Light is where it's at for me.


Dragon Age: Inquisition -- I was pre-ordering some games during the demo of it, so my attention was divided, but Dragon Age looks pretty and it may be my first journey into the world of Dragon Age.


Star Citizen -- This is a game that a lot of PC gamers are hyped for. They showed a demo that was mostly flying through space, and the mechanics of the ship when you are flying. The game is shaping up very nicely.


Lara Croft & The Temple of Osirus -- This is a sequel to Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light and I have never played that. I've seen some videos, and it looked fun, but I just never took the jump and bought it. However, I have a bias towards co-op games and Temple of Osirus looks like it is going to be bigger and better, with completely solid puzzle/action co-op where you can troll people and have them fall to their death in spikes (seriously, we saw that for a while during the video).


H1Z1 - We're in a time where we have a bunch of MMO survival games, but none of them are done. H1Z1 is no different, and it's very much like DayZ and Rust. They didn't show us a lot of actual gameplay because it's still early, but I'm excited for this, more than I am DayZ.


Guns Up! -- From the video I saw, this game succeeds despite its title. Seriously, what a god awful name for a game. However, don't judge it based on that because it actually looks like a need little tactical/strategy shooter.


Rainbow Six: Siege -- The biggest fear of a new Rainbow Six is that it'll just be another dumb shooter. Despite the fact that it's very early in its development, Rainbow Six looks like it's a real Rainbow Six -- tactical with a need for teamwork. That's all R6 fans want.


The Evil Within -- I think The Evil Within will be scary because it's very easy to scare me. I'm sure there will be some memorable gore and jump scares, but I am not psyched for the game. I just don't see it as being a horror game that ranks among the best. It kind of looks like just another scary game. I hope I'm wrong, and perhaps other people see things I don't, but I haven't gained any new appreciation for it over the course of E3.


Hunt: Horrors of the Gilded Age -- This looks a bit like a Left 4 Dead but with a more Southern Gothic feel -- not in the way it feels or plays because it's 3rd person as opposed to 1st, but because it's set-up like L4D. I am glad it isn't just zombies we're shooting, and in the video shown we got to see them fighting a witch. I think that in itself, changing the scenery up, is reason enough to at least keep an eye on this one. So many shooters look alike that it's hard to tell at this point if it'll be just that, but I have some hopes for this one.


Hohokum -- Here we have a colourful indie game that appears to be you just flying around. But that's the point. The world reacts to you, and since there isn't anything telling you what to do, everything you do is right (I can get behind that logic). It's got a simplistic visual style, but the blend of colours makes it a bright and gorgeous game. It strikes me as a very relaxing game, and the type of experience that you want when you just want to unwind after a tough day... like when you want to watch a movie but you really don't want to have to think about it so you watch something dumb. I'm not saying this game is dumb, I'm just saying it looks like it'll have the same affect. It will be released on August 12th of this year on PS3, PS4 and PS Vita. I will more than likely get this.


Payday 2: Big Bank Heist -- Payday 2 is a good game, and much better than the first. I'm not as obsessed with it as I should be, since I love the concept, because there are little things that would make the heists better that they just haven't included. It's a big improvement over the first but there's room to grow. This DLC looks like more of the same, but more missions is a good thing.


Bayonetta 2 -- I didn't even need to see videos because I have it pre-ordered. It's still as zany and nuts as the original... but what happened to her hair! I'm excited for this.


DubWars -- A shooter where you're character shoots based on the sounds of the song, so if it's silent, you can only avoid enemies. This music-based gameplay makes this a game worth playing and while the graphics are really not that appealing, I love the concept. I could be wrong here, but apparently the launch is Friday... only I thought I heard that the "launch" was actually not the full game, but early access. If I'm right, I have to ask... is that what is considered a launch these days? I won't rant about this, because maybe that's a post for another time, but I'll leave it at that.


Well readers, this is all I got for the day. I know I've missed games over the past few days, but video game journalism is hard and I quit! No, not really, I don't quit, but it is quite difficult to catch everything, especially when you factor in that there are some games I just don't care about.

Anything I missed that you're into? Message me on Twitter @ArtBathednCrime or leave a comment below, and I will see you tomorrow, where I'll do another post like this, and do an E3 Awards post.

E3 Day 0 (Part 2) -- The EA and Ubisoft Press Conferences

Written By: Tyler

Image from: http://e3expo.com

Welcome back. With this post, I will be giving a mostly live rundown of the EA and Ubisoft press conferences. What I mean by "mostly live" is that, outside of any point where I have to leave my PC, I will be writing this post as I watch the press conference so that's why it will seem very "in the moment."


EA Press Conference

Star Wars: Battlefront 3. After that popped up, EA dropped the mic and left the stage. No, but they did start it off by talking about Star Wars, showingvery brief in-game footage and then ending it by saying that the new Battlefront will show up in Spring of next year.

Unfortunately at this point I had to leave my PC so from this point on I just had to go through articles and get my news. I take it I missed a game demo of Dragon Age: Inquisition and they teased a new Mass Effect that will take place in *gasp* space, and a new IP that will tell "contemporary" stories.

I came back during the new Sims, in which personality is supposed to play a big role in the stories of the Sims. The concept is "smarter sims" and Sims 4 is supposed to be deeper in that regard. For example, one old woman annoyed a guy in the footage we were shown, and the next day at the gym the guy worked out harder because he was frustrated. Then they threw him a party to cheer him up... and he laughed to death. Whether this will work as they intended remains to be seen.

Next up is EA UFC. It started with Bruce Lee... no really, the video did. The MMA fighters talked about how Bruce Lee was the father to MMA, and then we were told we can be Bruce Lee. Next came the video game footage... the 5th round between BJ Penn and Bruce Lee. Having played the demo, I found that the AI brawled way too much on the feet, and this video was no different. I won't dissect all the gameplay, but this video hasn't really done anything to calm my nerves concerning the full game.

Onto a new sport now -- hockey. NHL '15 is on its way to the surprise of absolutely nobody, and apparently everything is supposed to change. So the pucks will be cannon balls and knives are allowed. Just kidding, but it's the typical spiel about how it's going to be more realistic. Then an emotional video of hockey players played in which we got to see a cinematic of the great Canadian game.

Then we were showed an extremely early example of the new Criterion Games game, in which they have expanded beyond cars... we will now be able to play with helicopters, jet skis, cars, etc in a first-person view. 

Frostbite 3 is coming to EA Sports PGA Tour. So get hyped for the... most... exciting... sport on earth.

With Madden '15, they're working hard on defense since defense is apparently "nearly" half the game. Well, I'd say it's exactly half, but I'm not nitpicking.

Dawngate is an upcoming moba that is supposed to build on existing mobas, not just clone them.

As the show starts to wind-down, Mirror's Edge 2 is shown off. This is one of my more anticipated games, so of course I got excited. They talk about Faith, attitude and the style of Mirror's Edge and we see footage of the conceptual prototype. Turns out, Mirror's Edge 2 is going to be heavy on parkour. Who woulda thunk it? I don't think they expanded as much on the reveal from last year as they should have.

And next is Fifa '15, and once again we're told how Fifa is going to be more realistic with man to man battles, more agility, authentic atmosphere and visuals. Nothing out of the ordinary, but something that is sure to be a lot of fun if you're a soccer fan.

Then Battlefield: Hardline shows up to the party. It's time for cops and criminals this time. The plot is supposed to be more like a great cop TV show, but the focus is obviously going to be on multiplayer.
They showed us footage of a heist in-game from multiple perspectives -- the cops and the criminals. It looks and feels like Battlefield, but I have to admit that taking it away from the military based gameplay to this intrigues me. The game looked incredibly exciting and dynamic, like a Battlefield game should. I was already sold, but after I watched the crane come down and be the catalyst of a ton of destruction... give it to me right now. October 21 can't come soon enough.

After that awesome footage, they launched the beta of Battlefield: Hardline.


Closing Statement: I wasn't terribly impressed with the EA Press Conference but it had its moments. It looks like they're doing something neat with Sims, and ending it with Battlefield was a great thing because that game looks astonishing, but mostly we just get some updates on sports games. I also think that Battlefront should have gotten more than it did, because while it's exciting enough that it exists, we've been waiting so long for it that some real game play would have been welcome. Same with Mirror's Edge.



Ubisoft Press Conference

The Ubisoft press conference starts with a pretty shot of a mountain. Aww. What this mountain means is Far Cry 4. After a lengthy cinematic, Dan Hay shows up on stage, saying that it's the first five minutes of the game. 

Then we apparently get some stand-up comedy. I got to give it to them, putting Aisha Tyler up there every year now is probably a good idea because she's entertaining. What's next? Just Dance 2015. Yay?

We get to hear Happy for the millionth time in the last 24 hours, and it shows off footage of the game. I'm not excited at all, but I can't even slow dance so what do I know? The big news is, now you can play it on your phone! Sweet! I'm going to do that...

After talking about how dancing makes people happy, Aisha does a nice transition to relate that to post-apocalyptic New York. Here comes The Division. All they did was show a movie of it, so how the online aspects tie-in are still a mystery to me, which sucks because that's all I wanted to know.

Next up we have The Crew. In the video, the car is going F-Zero fast while a moody song plays in the background. There are two one-hour missions in the game. There are co-op missions, open-world driving... basically The Crew sounds like a pretty inventive racing game. You can get the "beeta" on the Crew website, and the game is coming out November 11 on Xbone, PS4 and PC.

 It was only a matter of time, so here comes Assassin's Creed Unity... a game that actually impressed me during the Microsoft press conference. There's another cinematic with more moody music
but no actual gameplay. It's a really cool video, though. Afterward we're told that the core experience has been changed. Then the gameplay comes and it looks like a lot of open-world fun, with a neat ending where the other players show up. 

So what did we all want? A fitness game. Thanks Ubisoft for bringing us Shape Up. Instead of doing boring stuff, we will jump on trains and shit. We see a video of the presenter stepping on piano keys against himself, and it doesn't actually look terrible. Then we get to see push-ups! This party doesn't stop! This is an S Club party! I believe Shape Up is a fitness game I can get behind.

From fitness to World War 1, we have the puzzle game Valiant Hearts. The game has a pretty artstyle and revolves around a dog and the letters that soldiers wrote back in WW1. It was an incredibly touching trailer but I'm not really sure what the game play will be like, nor will it be any good. What I do think is we'll get an emotional game that sticks with you, even if it isn't the most fun to play. 

How do we end it? With pre-alpha footage of Rainbow Six: Siege. I'm beyond excited for some tactical shooter gameplay, such as blowing up the floor in order to ambush your opponent and rescue the hostage. I cannot wait for this game to come out, because even in pre-alpha it looks like a beast (not graphically, but just gameplay wise).


Closing Statement: Ubisoft tends to have really theatrical press conferences, which is a double-edged sword for me. On one side, it makes for an extremely entertaining, lively and comical presentation, but on the other side, sometimes it goes on way too long when you just want to see games. They are definitely the "least corporate" of the companies presenting, in the sense that they seem to have more fun with the whole ordeal, and right now they're tied for the best presentation of the show... with Microsoft, who played it more bland but gave us a ton of great games.