E3 Day 1 (Part 2): The Other Stuff Of The Day

Written By: Tyler

Image from http://e3expo.com

Now that the main press conferences are over, it's down to whatever news trickles out and gameplay impressions. It's time to open up multiple Firefox windows and watch a few different live streams at a time. I will use this post to sum up some of the news and whatnot of the day that caught my attention, and I will divide the post into "News" and "Impressions."


News

Devil's Third Is A Wii U Exclusive
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/e3-2014-devils-third-is-a-wii-u-exclusive

It looks like Nintendo has picked up another exclusive game, and this one is a more adult-oriented third person shooter, with gore and dismemberment. Whether it'll be something special or a dud will only become clear in time, but it's a good thing for Nintendo that they're getting this.


Star Fox Exists!
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/e3-2014-star-fox-coming-to-wii-u-miyamoto-reveals-new-projects

I didn't catch the tease in the Nintendo Digital Event because I must have been asleep or something, but this is huge news for Nintendo.


Mario Party 10 Is Coming To The Wii U
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/e3-2014-mario-party-10-coming-to-wii-u

I haven't actually played a Mario Party in years but a new one always has the potential for fun. This one will have a new "Bowser Mode" that allows the person using the Gamepad to become Bowser and give trouble to the other players.


Fantasy Life Is The Next RPG By Level 5... And It's For The 3DS
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/e3-2014-level-5-announces-fantasy-life-for-nintendo-3ds

So far, for me, the 3DS has been a combination RPG/Life Simulator machine, and Level 5 is continuing that for me... literally releasing a game that is both. From IGN:

Fantasy Life is a RPG where you'll be able to have different jobs and make a life for your character. You'll be able to set out on adventures to save the world, or take up more leisurely activities like cooking or fishing.

Mario vs Donkey Kong Is Coming To The Wii U
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/mario-vs-donkey-kong-coming-to-wii-u

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/art-academy-on-wii-u-gets-october-release-window

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Is Coming To The PS4 And Xbox One
http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/06/10/final-fantasy-type-0-hd-announced-for-xbox-one-and-ps4

There's a remastered version of the Japan only, Playstation Portable RPG, Final Fantasy Type-0 coming to next-gen consoles. There's no release date yet, but it looks cool and it'll be nice to see it localized for the first time ever. Yeah, America rocks!


Impressions
These are the games that I got to see more of today.

Sunset Overdrive -- It still looks like one of the funnest games that was at E3. Just pure craziness, colourful and fast.

Fable Legends -- I think it looks okay, and the co-op should be fun. I still feel the same way as I did when I saw it during the press conference. It's probably going to be solid but I'm not unbelievably hyped for it by any means.


The Division -- Even though all I saw was the same video that we saw at the press conferences, it had developer commentary over it. I'm really excited for it still and love how it has RPG elements like loot drops and whatnot. They explained the multiplayer a little bit more, and it sounds like it's going to be fluid and not be a typical, generic MMO.

Heavy Bullets -- I had never heard of this game before so I was curious about it. In my mind, I expected a grim cover-based shooter or a really silly shooter, but it's a lot different. The first time I saw the visuals I was caught off guard, but not really in a good way. It's colourful, and the concept of the game -- very limited bullets so you have to aim well -- is interesting but from the video I've seen, I'm just not feeling it.

Xenoblade Chronicles X -- It looks like an evolution of the first Xenoblade Chronicles, which isn't a bad thing. The combat looks deeper, the variety in weapons is nice, the world still looks huge and oh yeah, giant robots. I can't see anybody who loved the first one hating this.

Homefront: The Revolution -- I'm sure it'll be decent, but it honestly just looks like another shooter to me.

Driveclub -- The video I saw was not the most exciting thing ever, since it didn't have online connectivity. All they did was drive, but everything looked pretty already. I am not a big racing game fan but I hope this ends up being good, especially considering all the delays.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor -- This still looks like one of the best games coming up, mostly because of the way relationships and the world changes based on your actions. If this game lives up to what they're promising, this will be truly special, and seeing the demo of it just confirms the potential.

Destiny -- I saw some multiplayer footage of Destiny, and the mechanics look solid. It looks and feels like Halo in a lot of ways to me, at least looking at the video. I can't wait to try this bad boy out.

Some footage I wanted to see but missed: The Order: 1886, No Man's Sky



Okay, I have work early in the morning and I've already stayed up too late. I know that the day isn't over yet, but I will have to catch up on the rest of Day 1 tomorrow and maybe do a quick little shout-out to today in my Day 2 post.

What have you liked about Day 1 of E3? Let me know in the comments below or tweet me @ArtBathednCrime.

E3 Day 1 (Part 1): The Nintendo Digital Event

Written By: Tyler

Image from http://e3expo.com

I'm not going to lie to you people, but the Nintendo Digital Event is what I was most forward to seeing. Partially because in my heart, I'm a Nintendo guy (despite the Playstation being my primary system) and partially because I need to see them do something great. I'm writing this thing live, so it may not be the best writing I've ever done because I'm going for pure reactions.


Nintendo claymation is a thing, and the Digital Event starts with it. It brings the trademark Nintendo creativity. Fight scene.

Then Super Smash Bros. shows up and we watch Smash Bros. versions of Iwata and Reggie duke it out. Then Mario gets brought into the fight via figurine and beats up Reggie Fils-Aime. Mario wins again!

Super Smash Bros. will allow you to use your Mii as a fighter. You can choose any of the three varieties of Miifighters... the brawler, swordfighter and gunner. You can also choose your moves. It's an interesting idea in a game that is already going to be awesome. 

There are also going to be a bunch of different modes in Smash Bros.

Amiibo is coming this year. You will be able to put your figurine on the Gamepad and the statistics of the character will be put into the game you're playing and you can use it, if I'm understanding correctly. Super Smash Bros. will be the first game to use this feature, but it will show up for games like Mario Kart 8 as well.

Then they talk about yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World. It looks like it could be fun with interesting ways of manipulating the world with your yarn, and two-player mode is always welcome but this isn't really what I want from the Digital Event.

Don't call it a comeback. It also looks like the little Toad mini-game in Super Mario World 3D is coming back. Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. 

Then we have another claymation skit where Bowser apologizes to Princess Peach for kidnapping her so much. This is a... strange lead-up to none other than the new Legend of Zelda game for Wii U!

It turns out they're really going for making the world of the new Zelda vast and open. After a little bit of it in action, it says 2015 and then we cut to a real-world boy wandering in a forest. This leads to some footage of the new Pokemon remakes.

The next game we see is Bayonetta 2, a game that I am personally looking forward to. It looks as crazy as the first one, and that's definitely a good thing. If there's one thing Platinum Games is good at, it's making intense action games that are absolutely nuts. It's awesome that they're packaging the first game with the second.

Hyrule Warriors gets the spotlight next. Yup, still looks like Dynasty Warriors meets Zelda. I'm completely okay with that, and I'm not even a big Zelda fan. Every so often I'll play a new Dynasty Warriors because it's nice sometimes to just button mash and kill hordes of enemies. Hyrule Warriors gets released at the end of September, 2014.

Next there is some footage of Kirby. Kirby and the Rainbow curse hits in 2015, and it looks just like a Kirby game. Like the Yoshi game, it should be fun but it's hardly a system seller.

However, right after that, we get some more footage of Monolith Soft's X (apparently called Xenoblade Chronicles X now)... my most anticipated Wii U game and a game I'm already calling one of the best RPGs of all-time. It looks awesome, even if it isn't more actual gameplay.

Next is the game that got leaked, where you design your own Mario levels. It's called Mario Maker and I definitely think it's a cool concept, and one that we should have had before, but again, it's not a system seller. I still dig the idea a lot though and will probably pick it up. It will be out in 2015 and it also reminds me that we really need a new Mario Paint.

Splatoon shows up next. It's an eight player 4 on 4 online multiplayer action game where people fight for territory. Yeah, gang warfare! It's colourful and family friendly, but definitely has a charming creativity to it, such as being able to shoot ink up walls and travel up those walls really fast. You use your ink to claim your territory.

Then we get an animated video of Link fighting Kid Icarus. But then Palutena shows up and gets rid of him. Guess we got a new character for Smash Bros. Then of course we see some footage of her in action.

Next Miyamoto talks about the gamepad and new experiences and it's over. I'm really disappointed that they chose to end the digital event this way.

Closing Statement: What I like about Nintendo is that they spend more time showing actual gameplay than just pretty cinematics. Say what you want about their games, but their way of announcing things in that regard is better than everyone else. I can't help but feel disappointed as a whole though. I'm one of those guys who eagerly anticipates each Nintendo Direct, only to be disappointed. I feel the same way. It was a good, entertaining, humorous presentation, and Zelda is big news (even if people already knew it was going to be announced), but they did not come out and kill it like they should. No Metroid, Star Fox, F-Zero, no new IPs that we don't know about outside of something like Splatoon (which does look fun, don't get me wrong). They really had to go for broke here and they didn't.


Edit: Wow I'm an idiot. I completely missed the Star Fox tease. I also feel like I was a little hard on the presentation, even though I enjoyed it. Nintendo did a good job.