World of Warcrack

Ok, first, let me say, I realize that the title is derivative and overused.  Let’s get past that.

Are we good?  Ok… I need to say something.

Blizzard really knows what they’re doing.

I jumped off of the World of Warcraft wagon about 10 months ago, right around when Star Wars: the Old Republic came out.  At the time, I was a bit bored with WoW; my guild was in the early stages of death and there wasn’t much for me to do with my main character without them.  I didn’t have much interest in starting over with a new group of people, trying to earn my spot in raid groups for endgame content.  Also, as doing the same quests over and over can only not be boring the first couple times, starting new characters in the game was also not much of an option. 

So, when greener pastures with light sabers and space ships appeared, I jumped the fence.  It hasn’t all been sunshine and puppies in the galaxy far, far away, but that’s a story for another time.

2 weeks ago, Blizzard sent me a “baby come back” email.  They offered me a free week with WoW to help me prepare for the new expansion (read: to get me hooked on the crack again).  At first I pooh poohed this - what would a week do?  What would be different?  What have you done for me lately?

7 days ago, I cashed in my free week, curious to see what, if any, changes had taken place in Azeroth in the 10 months I had been away.   

That first night, I didn’t do much, and wasn’t very impressed.  I logged into my main character – a level 85 Orc Hunter that I’ve been playing since about 2007.  Initially, I was disappointed: 2 years ago, before the last expansion (Cataclysm), there were quests and daily events leading up to release that tried to get you involved in the story; this time, there was none of that.  I spent an hour or so playing as a lower level character I had abandoned a year and a half ago thinking that nothing had changed, other than a tweak to the talent system.  I was underwhelmed.

I didn’t even log in on day two.

By day 3, I decided to log back in as my “main.”  I thought I would try the raid finder tool (an addition that went into effect after I defected) to maybe get a crack at the big bad of the last expansion, a dragon by the name of Deathwing.

 

I wanted to fight this guy... isn't he cute?

 

I was a bit bummed to find out that my gear was not good enough to queue up for the raid this way, and since my guild had finished its death throes in my absence, I wasn’t likely to get into a group for this raid as random people I had never played with would have more stringent gear needs than the raid finder.

I decided to try to run a few random dungeons to pass the time, and I found a new option in the raid/dungeon finder screen: Scenarios.  The only scenario available: Theramore’s Fall.

Rather than queue immediately, I decided to look up what this entailed.  Basically, scenarios are new to the Mists of Pandaria expansion.  They play out like dungeons, but are tuned to be done with 2 or 3 people instead of a full party.  Also, they are open to any party configuration, so waiting on a tank or a healer isn’t necessary.  And, rather than the 45 minutes to an hour that a regular dungeon can take, these are usually able to be completed in 20 minutes.

Then I saw the loot table: there were 2 significant upgrades that my hunter could use that were possible drops from this mini-dungeon.  Also, as this was only a “preview” of the scenario, it wouldn’t be available after the 24^th to anyone under level 90.  I logged back in and queued up for my 1^st crack at Theramore’s Fall.

OMG... so much epic-er than my shit!

I found a group in less than a minute.  This in itself was a treat, since, as there are a glut of damage class players, usually we are stuck waiting 30 minutes or more for a full group to get together for a normal dungeon.

20 minutes later, the scenario was over.  It was a quick, fun diversion, I earned some “justice points” (currency you can use towards gear), but did not get either of the 2 items I was hoping for.  I also re-discovered something: WoW has a ton of charm and I missed this world. 

So I queued up again.

And did so at least another 15 times over the course of the next 4 days.

I ended up getting both items I was hoping for; the 1^st about halfway through my runs, and the other on my last attempt.  I also had accumulated enough “justice” to buy 2 other upgrades to my equipment.  I even started running regular dungeons again and ended up with another upgrade.

Bear in mind that this was all for gear on a character in a game I haven’t played/paid for in about a year.  Gear for a game that I wasn’t sure I was going to keep playing after my free time ended.  Gear that, if I did get the expansion, would be obsolete in a few levels.

Today is the release date of the new expansion, and it’s been on my mind since I woke up this morning.  It has me seriously considering dropping $55 today - $40 for the game, $15 for a month of play time. 

I’m pretty sure I’m going to cave in – I ran into an old guild mate last night that is trying to lure me into his new raid group.

And you get to play as Jack Black in this one... no , really.

Well played, Blizzard pusher-men.  Well played.

MASS EFFECT 3 "FANS": ENEMIES OF STORYTELLING

Spoiled, entitled, whiners.

This is how I would describe the “fans” of Bioware’s Mass Effect series.

Let me clarify: I have fans in quotes, because I’m referring to the small but extremely vocal pocket of players that have been crying about the ending to Mass Effect 3.  I know there are many fans, like myself, that feel the ending was either good and made sense in terms of the overall tale, or didn't like it, but didn't feel the need to "occupy Bioware" to get the story changed.  This post is to address the childish group of players that continue to make noise as if they've been personally wronged and are owed reparations for these crimes.

For the uninitiated, the Mass Effect series is the story of Commander Shepard, a human space marine tasked with saving the galaxy.  One of the selling points of the game is customization; your character can be male or female, you can choose his/her personal history, and choices you make in each game carry over and are reflected in the story of the subsequent titles.  As such, you can be forgiven for getting a little attached. 

Earlier this month, the third installment of the series was released.  Finally, Shepard’s battle against the forces threatening the entire galaxy would be concluded – the space opera six years in the making would come to a close.

The game dropped, and less than a week later, the interwebs were flooded with unheard of amounts of nerd rage.

“PLOT HOLES!!!” they cried.  “NO CLOSURE!!!” they screamed.  “I DON’T FEEL LIKE ENOUGH OF A HERO!!!” they whimpered.

Do a quick Google search of Mass Effect 3.  Scan the comments.  You won’t be able to get through 5 comments without some overly entitled jackass complaining that the ending sucked.  Petitions were generated and signed to get the ending changed.  One geek in particular even went as far as to report BioWare and EA to the Federal Trade Commission and BBB. 

I get it.  You're invested in the story.  But petitons?  Complaints?

I say grow the fuck up.

First of all, it’s a video game.  Maybe instead of protesting the ending to a game, you crybabies could mobilize behind causes that actually mean something and do some good.  Or attempt to get laid – and I don’t mean hooking Shepard up with Garrus you pixel-pervs.

Secondly, despite the customization, despite the money you paid for the game, despite the hours you’ve logged playing the series, the story belongs to Bioware.  A large portion of the gamer community wants video games to be considered art; to have the same protection of creative expression that books, films and other “accepted” art forms possess.  If this were a book or a film, you may be disappointed in the ending, but bitching about it would do little to change the result.  George Lucas doesn’t consult you when he wants to make his 1,000^th change to Star Wars and Stephen King didn’t ask for your opinion on how to end The Dark Tower – Bioware doesn’t need to get your input on how to wrap up their story.  They don't owe you anything.

Unfortunately, it appears as if Bioware is going to cave somewhat, saying that they are already looking into downloadable content that “will help answer the questions, providing more clarity for those seeking further closure to their journey. You’ll hear more on this in April. We’re working hard to maintain the right balance between the artistic integrity of the original story while addressing the fan feedback we’ve received.” 

As someone that values storytelling in the games he plays, I see this as a huge step back and a terrible precedent to set.  What if we could get every story changed that didn’t cater to our idea of a proper ending?  I just started reading The Hunger Games…. If all these kids don’t survive, I’m starting a furious letter writing campaign to get the whole series changed. 

The point is, while the game is interactive, and you help move the story in this medium, you are not the storyteller – you’re a participant.  Bioware gave you enough freedom with your choices to let you have some small effect on how the story unfolds, but ultimately the scenario and story arc would be the same.  Let them tell their story.  Let them have that freedom as artists. 

If you don’t like the outcome, don’t buy the next game they make. 

A long time ago, in an Azeroth far far away...

I had an opportunity to take Star Wars: The Old Republic for a test drive this weekend.  Since my interest in World of Warcraft has waned of late, I was eager to see EA/Bioware’s upcoming entrant in the MMO wars would be worth the subscription fee come December 20^th.  As a fan of the Star Wars universe (yes, even the prequels), Bioware as a game studio, and MMORPGs, I figured it would be a decent fit.

I put in about 10 hours over 3 sessions of play with 3 different character classes. While I was playing the beta, with launch being about 3 weeks away, content is pretty much set at this point.   I didn’t get to see any high level content, so these relatively spoiler free impressions are based on my experience from level 1 to level 10.

For the uninitiated, SW:TOR is set a few thousand years before Vader, so you won’t see any of the characters from the movies.  But you still get all the trimmings of a Star Wars story: space travel, light speed, droids, bounty hunters, Jedi, etc.  The only difference between then and now is that instead of a handful of monks with laser swords, there is a shit-ton of them.  This goes for the bad guys too – instead of just the emperor and one “Darth,” there are whole planets full of guys with pale skin, bad complexions, and horrendous asthma, who apparently have been ordered to wear only black, and that lightsabers must be red.

If you thought that last paragraph was amusing, good for you.  If it pissed you off because I belittled the Star Wars mythos (and if so, stop jerking it to “Slave Leia” pics, you freak), this next sentence may make you go Boba Fett on me.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is just World of Warcraft set a long(er) time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…

This isn’t meant to be a knock at the game.  EA & Bioware made a very smart decision; like it or not, WoW is the gold standard that all MMORPGs are held to, based on their subscription numbers.  11 million people can’t be wrong, right?  So instead of trying to re-invent the model, they took what makes WoW work, and tweaked it.  You won’t be killing 10 boars while searching for a book that was left in that deserted farmhouse, but you will kill giant man-eating slugs while searching a Sith Lord’s tomb for a holocron.  Go back to the person that was to weak/lazy to do it themselves, get a little money, rinse/repeat until its time to move on to the next questing zone.

Travel has been tweaked for the better.  Once you’ve visited a terminal at a quest hub, you can fast travel to it from anywhere else on the map.  In terms of WoW, its like having a hearthstone with multiple destinations.

Combat feels familiar, but a bit more frantic.  Single enemy pulls are almost non-existent; even if your target appears to be alone, in all likelihood he is part of that next closest pack, so 4 on 1 fights are common while questing. 

During my playtime, I was given a companion to accompany my Sith Warrior.  This character will accompany you during quests and will fight alongside you during your journey.   It works similarly to hunter pets in WoW, only you actually get to have conversations and build a relationship (good or bad) with this character over the course of the game.  You can also send this character back to town to sell all the useless shit you’ve acquired while adventuring.

I didn’t have a chance to get too far into the crafting system in the game, but the production skills are referred to as “crew skills.”   Basically if I take archaeology as one of my professions, I can send my companion out to do all the digging, and I can continue to quest.  After a while, he/she will return, and I’ll have materials for one of my production professions.

Where the game blows away most of the MMOs I’ve played is presentation.  I’m not talking about graphics, although they are quite nice for this type of game.  Story is where this game basically hits it out of the park.

In addition to the game’s opening cinematic, both factions (Republic and Empire) get their own intro movie.  Each character class (4 per faction) gets their own Star Wars text crawl and their own class based story missions. 

The biggest step forward is the voice acting.  Every single quest giver is fully voiced, as are your character’s responses.  And the voices are not phoned in – each performance rings true to the source material.  This, coupled with Bioware’s signature conversation wheel and light side/dark side choices, it makes the whole experience more immersive and it seems like you are the impetus for the story instead of a player on the fringe of it.

When I first fired up the game, I played for a solid block of 5 hours, and the time just flew by.  I was completely sold.  After character creation (which is more complex than I care to go into), when the John Williams score kicked in, and the opening text crawl started, I felt like I was 10 again.  I was caught up in this world, and was amazed by the voice acting.  I was ready to call up Blizzard and tell them I needed some space.  Its not Wow, guys, its me...

On Sunday, I put in another couple hours, and the game started to feel very familiar.  I even created 2 new characters, to see the beginnings of their stories.  Again, the stories are fully realized and done very well, but the largest portion of the content is the same basic structure as any other MMO on the market.  The setting is new, the polish is shiny, but the product is very similar.

My final thoughts are this: if you love Star Wars, and are a fan of the current MMORPG formula, this should be an absolute buy for you.  If you think games like WoW ruined the genre by making it too accessible to casual players, you’re going to have to keep looking for the “savior” that reinvents the game.    

World of Warcraft: LFS (Looking For Story)

Ok, so I’ll just come out and say it: I play World of Warcraft.

I’ve been playing for about 3 years now – I picked up the habit just before the Wrath of the Lich King expansion came out.  At the time, my brother and sister had both been playing for about a year or so, and I finally broke down and accepted one of their invites for a free trial. They’ve since kicked the addiction; I keep going back for more. 

When I was new to the game, I would constantly see people in the chat channels complaining about how the game was being “ruined” by the developers.  The old-schoolers and elitists would talk down to all of us "newbs" about how none of us really were forced to learn how to play the game or how to properly use our characters.

They would complain that the game was too easy – that leveling was too fast and loot came too quickly.

They would bitch that the “big bads” in the game were “nerfed” (nerd-ese for “made soft"), or how they remembered when they had to walk everywhere until level 40 (20 levels from the original level cap) before being able to get a mount and that it was “unfair” how the mount requirement was lowered to 30. 

They used all these things and more to vilify the game’s publisher for breaking the game – that the game was somehow ruined for all the old school players because, in their eyes, the game was being changed to cater to “less skilled and less dedicated” newer players.

At the time, I used to roll my eyes and thought of these complainers as the geek equivalent of the old man who bores the shit out of you with stories about how a penny would buy him 8 tons of candy back in his day.

Now… 3 years later… I find myself having similar complaints.

I don’t care that new characters can get mounts at level 20 (down 10 levels since I started playing).  Walking is slow, the world is big, so I support this change.

I think it’s great that they can press a button and basically “wait in line” for a questing group to tackle a dungeon.  When I started playing, I had to hang out in town and beg in the chat channel for an hour, usually with no success. 

I even like that every so often, they make the high level content easier so that a higher number of players (and not just the dedicated few) get to see and conquer the end game baddies.

What does bother me is the speed of the leveling.  While I like the easier flow of questing from zone to zone, I completely agree with the complainers that gaining levels has been dumbed down too much. 

For me, story is important, particularly in a game that has any sort of grind.  All RPGs, MMORPGs especially, are quite repetitive - you can only kill x amount of y so many times without it feeling like groundhog day.  As such, the story in these types of games is what keeps me engaged and keeps me playing.  The lore for the world that exists in this game is intricate, vast, and chock full of little pop culture easter eggs - if you go out of your way to see every bit of it.  But the game’s design has changed so that it almost seems as if it’s pushing you forward to the detriment of the story

Levels fly by so quickly at this point that your character often “out levels” an area before you’ve seen the whole story for that zone.  The experience and rewards offered for seeing that story line through to the end are far outweighed by the rewards offered for moving onto the next “level appropriate” zone.  Leveling happens even faster if you happen to run a few dungeons in between quests. Throw in heirloom gear (special gear that high level characters can “pass down” to lower level characters) and guild perks and the levels pass by at lightning speed.

For a game that is built on getting the next upgrade, for hitting that next level, the message is clear: fuck the story.  Who cares if the people of Westfall are counting on you to solve the mystery of the murders happening throughout the country side – you’ll get a better sword than you’ll ever get in Westfall if you move on to Redridge Mountains and help the people there with their gnoll problem.  You can improve your character’s growth, abilities, and gear, or “waste time” by seeing the quest through to the end.

When the game was first released, you needed to explore just about every inch of the 2 continents that were available to hit level 60.  When I started playing, you could get away with doing half of that.   These days, you may only see a third of the “original” world, and, more than likely, only see half of the story in every land you visit. 

The game has been going strong for 7 years, and I understand that changes need to be made to a game like this to keep it somewhat fresh, and to keep the all-important subscription dollars rolling in.  I’m just disappointed that it comes at the expense of the story.

E3 2011 part three

I'd say I'm going to make this post brief, but I'm verbose, so that won't happen.  It won't be as in depth as the previous two posts because, let's face it, E3 has been over for about 5 or 6 weeks.  I'm really just doing this because I hate leaving things hanging, and if I don't talk about the Sony press conference, I'll probably never post again because I'm oddly obsessive compulsive like that.  I'm not going to re-watch the press conference, so this is going to be mostly from memory.

Back when I used to work in a video game store, I would only recommend Sony game machines to people because they were the best selling platform at the time.  Their strength back in PS and PS2 eras was the amount of 3rd party support they received.  Back then, I would have said that they had the same problem as Microsoft has now - a lack of first party exclusives that you couldn't get on a competing machine.  I guess Sony agreed with me...

They opened the show with a video of the latest Uncharted game: Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception.  I don't own a PS3, but this is a series that could easily convert me.  The level on display took place on a ship.  After some stealth action, Drake gets into a firefight with the baddies on the boat, and inadvertently causes the ship to start to sink.  It then becomes a race against the water to get out of the boat.  The visuals looked great, the action intense.  And, most importantly, you can't play with Drake on a non-Sony made console.

They also showed Infamous 2, which was a bit odd since it was going to be released a day later (the conference was on June 6, the game was being released on the 7th).  This is another top tier title that can only be played on a PS3 - it just seems like the time should have been used to hype a game that was at least a few months out.

Sony announced plans on releasing "affordable" 3D capable monitors and glasses.  While I'm not too keen on the whole 3D movement, this could really push 3D TVs into widespread adoption.  Basically the PS3 is probably the device most responsible for Bluray winning the last format war, so if Sony can give us a 3D TV and glasses that you don't have to sell organs to be able to buy them, the more likely it is to end up being the "standard."  Especially since they went on to announce that many PS3 games in development will be 3D compatible.

Sony announced that the God of War PSP games would be released as a compilation for the PS3.  They also gave a date (Sept 27) for the Ico/Shadow of Collossus collection. 

Ken Levine from Irrational came out to basically say that he used to think Playstation Move was bullshit, but after having a sit down with Sony and having them show him how he could use it, he's changed his mind.  So basically Bioshock: Infinite will have Move functionality.

2K games bored me by having Kobe Bryant come out and play NBA 2K12 with the Move controller.  I don't really like sports titles, so this part of the conference could have been amazing to some people.  I would have chosen this segment to take a piss break.

Sony's big announcement had to do with their new handheld: the PSVita which is set to be released "fourth quarter 2011".  I was never interested in the PSP, but I have to say, this machine looks pretty damned cool.

It has a touch screen, a touch sensitive pad on the back, front and rear facing cameras, "sixaxis" motion sensing, and all the interface buttons of your typical Playstation controller.  The machine will play games from cards not unlike the DS game cards, as well as downloadable titles.

They showed a new handheld Uncharted game for the system.  The graphics were impressive, and they went out of their way to show off the various control options the system offers.  You could control Drake the traditional way with the joysticks and buttons.  During a sequence where he was moving from handhold to handhold, you could "draw" on the touchscreen the path you wanted him to take, and he would do it automatically.  The game looks like an easy "must buy" for the system.

One of the other cool segments showed the PS Vita version of Mod Nation Racers.  With the track design feature, you could draw the track on the touch screen.  You could use the touch screen to place environmental objects like trees, lakes, buildings, etc.  With the rear touch pad, you could manipulate the terrain: pressing on the back of the system would create a hill. 

The PS Vita will also share some cross compatibility with the PS3.  There will be games you can buy (a copy for each system, mind you) for both machines.  You can then start your game on the PS3, save your game to "the cloud," and then take the PS Vita version with you on the go to pick up where you left off.

The machine looks impressive, so what about the price?  Sony announced that they will release the machine in 2 versions: WiFi only for about $250, and 3G/WiFi for $300.  This makes it very competitively priced with the 3DS, and the announcement was met with cheers.  Sony then announced that the exclusive partner for their 3G network would be... AT&T.  The cheering died off, and actually a few boos were thrown in for good measure.  Guess AT&T's offer was too good to pass up, despite legions of customers bitching about that network in the days before IPhones went network agnostic.  Still, kinda harsh to get booed at your own press conference.

So what's the grade? 

I'm going to give Sony a B+.

Sony has a lot of top shelf, exclusive software in the pipe for this year.  And the PS Vita announcement was huge.  I almost gave them an A and would have given them the edge over Nintendo.  My reasoning was, originally, this: Sony is giving us a lot to be excited for now, while Nintendo was building excitement for the future.  After letting it sit (for more than a month), I remembered something - the release "window" for the PS Vita.

Any of you financial nerds will know what I'm talking about.  "Fourth quarter, 2011" does not mean that the machine will release this year - it just means that it'll be out by March of 2012 as the "fiscal year" is what they're talking about.  It's only a difference of a few months, but if PS Vita isn't dropping for holiday 2011, the launch may be a bit lukewarm (ask Nintendo how launching the 3DS in March went).  Also, their choice of AT&T as their wireless partner seems ill advised.

So there you have it - my opinion is that Nintendo "won" E3 2011.  I'm bummed that the Wii is dying, but excited for what's on tap for 3DS, and can't wait to see what they do with Wii U.

Sony did a great job, and this may be the year I break down and buy a PS3.  Hell, they may get me to forsake Nintendo's latest handheld for theirs.

Microsoft, I'm sorry.  You shit the bed this year.  Kinect looked like crap... and don't even get me started on the "actors" you had showing off your Kinect titles.  I got so many douche chills watching those guys playing Kinect Madden Football... ugh... flashback.

Ok... now that I finally got E3 out of my system, maybe I'll post more regularly.  In shorter form so people don't get bored while reading.  Or with up to date news... you know, something interesting for a change.

E3 2011 part two

Ok, so “tomorrow” turned into about 2 or 3 days after my last post. The guy setting my deadlines should crack the whip a little harder. Oh, wait... that's me.

For today's entry, I'll review Nintendo's press conference. Just to give you fair warning, I've been a bit of a Nintendo fan boy since I first held an NES controller back in '86... I am getting old

Its the 25^th anniversary of The Legend of Zelda, so the show started with an orchestra playing music from the soundtrack, with the video clips of the various games in the series playing in the background. Once this montage was over, the presentation started with Shigeru Miyamoto taking the stage. For those of you who don't know (and that may be at least 75% of you since the only people that could possibly be reading right now are friends and family) this is the guy responsible for most of Nintendo's biggest franchises – he created Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers and the Legend of Zelda. If you name a blockbuster Nintendo title, chances are Miyamoto had something to do with it. This also displays a strength that Nintendo has that Microsoft lacks: exclusive, top shelf titles that can't be played on a competing system.

Seeing him hit the stage, I was excited. What treasures would Miyamoto-san (I learned that from Karate Kid! Thank you Mr. Miyagi!) unveil for us! Out comes the interpreter, and I'm psyched...

… and immediately my hopes are deflated as all he's out to talk about is the game's anniversary. He played with the orchestra a bit, asking them at random to play pieces of music, such as “the solving a puzzle” theme. This sequence dragged on a bit longer than it needed to.

After his personal play date with the musicians, Miyamoto announced that Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening would be available for download via the DSI shop starting that day (June 7). Miyamoto then reminded the audience that the LoZ: Ocarina of Time 3D would be released for the 3DS the following Saturday. For September, Nintendo will be releasing LoZ: Four Swords on the DSI shop as a free download. Finally, he confirmed that the latest game in the series, Skyward Sword, would be released for Wii this holiday season. He then informed the audience that the orchestra will be touring and that live “Legend of Zelda” concerts will be played to celebrate 25 years of Zelda.

So basically in the first 20 minutes of the show, the only one new title, Skyward Sword, was announced. I still have my N64 and my copy of Ocarina, so I don't exactly need the new 3DS version. Same goes for Link's Awakening. Four Swords for free download is pretty nice, but again, I'm not going to buy a 3DS or upgrade my DS Lite just to be able to play it. Skyward Sword is a must buy for me, but nothing else had me super jazzed at this point.

We can skip Satoro Iwata's section of the show because it was basically 10 minutes of him saying how Nintendo is awesome for broadening the gaming audience with the Wii and DS platforms. Yeah, congrats, bud.

Reggie Fils Amie, Nintendo of America President, came out and talked about the 3DS. He shows a video montage of the 1^st party Nintendo titles that are in the pipeline for the 3DS. A new Mario Kart (now with hang glider and u-boat propeller attachments), is coming out this holiday. Mario Kart is always pretty fun, and the air and underwater gameplay looks to change up the formula a bit.

Star Fox 64 3D, a high def, 3D remake of the Nintendo 64 game is slated for release in September. The multi player function supports a facial capture system so you can “see the reactions” of your opponents during dogfights. This one, I'm not so interested in as I have the original. I think that the fact that its a 3D remake of a game that is 15 years old may have some people shy away from it.

Next they showed Super Mario 3D. Mario games never disappoint, and this one is not a remake. It does seem to be heavily influenced by Super Mario 3 – the game that many believe to be the best in the series. Mario has the raccoon tail again, and while the clip didn't show him flying, he definitely used it to slow his fall, and to defeat enemies. The airships from SMB3 were also shown, and there was a scene where he was stomping on a boss that resembled Boom-Boom who was the mid-stage boss in every world in that game. There was no solid release date given – Reggie just told us it would be out “before the end of the year.” I would definitely buy a 3DS to play this game. I'm sure many of the fanboys in attendance creamed their jeans as well.

They showed a lot more footage for Kid Icarus: Uprising. The game actually reminds me of Star Fox Assault for the Gamecube which had a mix of flight combat and ground based stages. I hope that Kid Icarus executes the concept a bit better. Its been a long time since Pit starred in a game – I'd hate to see his “comeback” fail.

The last game they showed was the one I'm most excited for: Luigi's Mansion 2. I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed the original on the Gamecube, and was always a bit let down that a follow up had never come. I'm happy to take control of Mario's oft forgotten brother doing his take on ghost busting. The release for this was just given as 2012 – so its a ways off.

They also showed a montage of third party software coming to the 3DS. Highlights included were the two Resident Evil titles: the Mercenaries and Revelations; Cave Story 3D; Tekken 3D; and Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D.

This was a needed shot in the arm for the 3DS. The months since it's launch have been a bit rough due to a lack of “must have” software. The downside is that many of these titles are still pretty far out from release.

The big announcement of the show was the unveiling of Nintendo's follow up to the Wii. Their new machine, dubbed “Wii U” was revealed. The big news associated with the new machine is the controller. It almost resembles an i Pad. In the center of the controller is a 6 inch touch sensitive screen. On each side of the screen is an analog slide pad, similar to the slide pad on the 3DS. There is also a standard control cross, four face buttons, as well as right and left bumpers and triggers. The controller also has a gyroscope and accelerometer, so the controller itself is motion sensitive. It also has front and rear facing cameras, and a microphone. Original Wii remotes and software will be compatible with the new system, and graphically, it appears to be on par with the current “high def” gaming machines. And it will be capable of web browsing and video chat.

The video introduced several concepts for this controller. In a sports game, the TV would show the batter's perspective, the pitcher in front of him. The pitcher, with the Wii U controller would look down at the screen in his hand, see the batter and catcher, and be able to place his pitch without the batter being tipped off where he was looking to throw.

It showed a player placing the Wii U controller on the ground. On the controller's screen was a golf ball. The player stepped up to the controller like he was stepping up to the tee, and used his Wii Remote as his club to swing at the ball. The ball then sailed across the golf course on the TV in front of the player.

One of the most interesting things it showed was the possibility to start your game on your TV screen, and then continue to play on the controller's screen. You still would have to be in range of the console, so this isn't a truly portable option – more of a convenience to allow others in the house to use the TV without interrupting your gaming session.

After showing this video, Nintendo announced that the next installment of Smash Brothers would be on both Wii U and 3DS and would somehow interact with one another. This brought cheers from the crowd. From me, not so much as I've never really been into the series or fighting games in general. I'm in the minority here, so it was a good addition to both consoles' lineups.

Reggie came out to tell us that while no actual Wii U games were at the show, several tech demos showing the capabilities of the machine. One of these demos could best be described as a hide and seek game. The player with the Wii U controller was “it” and got a head start to hide in the maze – on the controller's screen, they had a view of the whole maze. The other 4 players all used original Wii remotes and their view was in split screen on the TV. They were the chasers and only had a view of the immediate area in front of them.

They had to work together seek, while the 1^st player avoided them. It was almost like multi player Pac-Man.

Lego City Stories was revealed. I'm curious about this title because, from the few still shots shown, it looks like its Grand Theft Auto (the HUD and map look like the ones in GTA), only Lego-fied. I like the GTA series, and I got a kick out of Lego titles, so it may be an amusing marriage of concepts.

Nintendo then played a video of several third party publishers that are on board to support the system. Testimonials were given by reps from EA Sports, Ubisoft, Namco, Irrational Games, THQ, and several others. It was announced that Darksiders 2 would be available at launch for Wii U. Ubisoft stated that Assassin's Creed and the Ghost Recon series would appear on the system. Namco promised Tekken, and WB Interactive offered up Batman: Arkham City. The last game on display was Ninja Gaiden 3. This game received quite a few cheers, which kind of surprised me. The first one was good, but very hard. The sequel felt like more of the same. I think most of the cheers were because Ninja Gaiden is notoriously violent, and the fans and analysts present probably took it as a sign that Nintendo was trying to shed it's “kiddie” image.

Nintendo then trotted out John Riccitiello, CEO of Electronic Arts, to praise the Wii U's capabilities – blah blah blah....

My thoughts: Nintendo had a really strong showing. A day or two after the show, I would've said they “won” E3 easily. But after a couple weeks, my fanboy rager has sort of calmed down a bit.

First of all, Wii software was non-existent other than Skyward Sword. Nintendo is basically telling me that they're packing it in on a machine I own and moving on. The fact that I don't really have any other major releases to look forward to is a bit of a downer.

3DS has had a bumpy start, and I think Nintendo did a good job of showing that there will be reasons to own its new handheld. The problem is that there is no “must have” title now. The only two games that were show at the presser that could make me drop the $250 to get one are at least 6 months away. The closest thing it has to a AAA title is the Ocarina of Time update – and that's a 15 year old game with a glossy new finish. For me, a re-release is not a system seller.

Wii U seems exciting and full of possibilities as far as gameplay innovations. But the problem is will anyone but Nintendo use these features? The games announced by the third party publishers are essentially ports of games that will have been out already on the Xbox 360 and PS3. Batman: Arkham City will have been out for almost a year on those systems before Wii U is even launched. Nintendo's strength lies in its AAA in-house titles, but they've always lacked in 3^rd party support. It nice to see these companies lining up to offer software, but I would be more excited to see them design titles for the Wii U that utilize its unique features instead of just ports of games you can play elsewhere.

Overall I give Nintendo a solid A. If people were reading this blog, the Xbox fans would be demanding my nuts on a silver platter. Don't worry. I still have to do the Sony press conference. Anyone that knows me knows I usually take a dump all over Playstation products. I don't even personally own a PS3. So you Xbox boys still have a chance to beat someone... or do you?

E3 2011 part one

Starting a video game blog 2 weeks after the biggest industry show has ended is probably one of the biggest examples of procrastination there is on the internet. Since people use the interwebs for news as it happens, why bother commenting on an event that has been picked apart by all of the major gaming sites? Because my opinion matters, dammit… and because it was super slow in the office today. Can’t be seen on camera taking a nap on company time…

So every year after E3, the gaming news outlets have the grand debate: “Who ‘won’ E3?”  These opinions cause the fanboys of the world to go into a frothing, nerdrage, frenzy.  So in the hopes of driving possible traffic (negative or otherwise) to my corner of the 'net, I'm going to weigh in on each of the Big 3’s press conferences and declare my own winner.  I’m wearing my flame proof undies as I write this.

I’ll start with Microsoft: right off the bat, I’m going to say that M$’s problem is the same problem they’ve had since getting into the console biz – a lack of 1^st party exclusives. They started their conference with a presentation for Modern Warfare 3.  The game looked amazing (and I’m not a big FPS fan), but the simple fact is you can play this game elsewhere. I don’t care if the DLC will be on the 360 first, I don’t have to buy an Xbox to play this game.

We also saw a preview for the Tomb Raider reboot. This game looks interesting, and seems to be heavily “inspired” by Resident Evil 4. But, as above, you’ll be able to play this on competing consoles, so big whoop.

Peter Moore came out and talked about EA Sports – whose games will also come out for other consoles. EA also showed Mass Effect 3 and its Kinect functionality.  It seems like Kinect will only be used for the voice recognition - you can choose your character's dialogue as well as issue commands to your team verbally.  Kinect won't be required to play, but they do have the option which is nice.

Kinect got the hard sell during this show. Every game on display had some implementation of the hardware. Ubisoft showed Ghost Recon; Lionhead unveiled Fable: The Journey. We also were “treated” to Kinect Disneyland Adventures and Kinect Star Wars.

My personal opinion about Kinect: I like the concept. Voice recognition in games could open up some game play innovations. Issuing commands to AI controlled team members instead of slogging thru menus or button presses seems like a natural move forward. Motion controls also have the potential for that extra feeling of immersion. What we saw on display during the Kinect portion of the show makes it apparent that the effective execution of this concept is still a long way away.

I know that most of these games are not in completed form, so maybe I’m being a bit unfair, but all of the Kinect-centric games displayed just seemed slow and tedious. I’m a fan of the Fable series, and when Molyneux came out with the logo behind him, I was jacked for the unveiling of the next title: what I got was what appeared to be an on-rails shooter with sluggish motion controls. While the Fable series has never been quite as epic as promised, it is decidedly less epic when the game is watered down to what is essentially a House of the Dead clone where I wave at the screen in exaggerated motions to chuck fireballs.

Star Wars also looked disappointing. The light saber movement seemed to be on almost a full second delay from the demo guy’s arm motion. The enemies also seemed dumber than dirt to make up for the slow, unintuitive controls.

Speaking of unintuitive motions – Ghost Recon has you doing what looks like a kung-fu palm strike to fire your weapon. I don’t care if I can verbally tell the game to optimize my load out for certain combat situations, or put my weapons together mid air like I’m in Tony Stark’s lab – if I have to do a half-assed Ryu from Street Fighter impression every time I want to fire my gun, I’ll pass.

Another Let’s Dance game was shown, and was easily the best Kinect title on display.

Cliffy B came out to show off Gears 3 with Ice-T. Gears looked pretty intense. This, at least, is an exclusive. Ice-T said that his rock band, Body Count, would provide a song from the game – the crowd went mild at this announcement. Probably because most of gaming press present were in kindergarten the last time Body Count released an album.

It’s apparently the 10^th anniversary of Halo, so Microsoft also announced Halo: Anniversary – an HD remake of the original game. Yawn. Played the original – don’t need to play the same game with a new coat of paint. If I want to play that game again, I’ll drag it out of the storage bin, blow the dust off of it and play it.

There was a presentation about how Microsoft is planning to basically replace your cable or sattellite provider in terms of set-top entertainment.

After a re-cap, Microsoft brought their show to a close stating that they were announcing the start of a new trilogy. The video that followed was a teaser trailer for Halo 4.

Overall, I felt Microsoft’s presser was weak. Outside of Gears 3 and the Halo 4 announcement, there were no top tier games shown that you would absolutely need to play on their machine. The games on display for Kinect were underwhelming – the best implementation being by mini-game collections like Kinect Sports. With laggy, sluggish controls – none of the Kinect exclusives are a must buy for me.  I actually felt that the highlight of their show (despite not mentioning above) was their partnerships with media providers - in a nutshell, Microsoft is partnering up with various media outlets to provide you the same content you get thru your cable or sattellite provider.  If they can deliver on this, I may have a reason to drop my cable company.

Grading on a curve, I give the Microsoft press conference a C.

Come back tomorrow for my thoughts on Nintendo's press conference.  Or maybe I'll write about Sony!  Look at me - teasing an upcoming post like people are actually reading...