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...