Post E3 2013 Thoughts

With E3 (Electronics Entertainment Expo) 2013 wrapped up for the year, the crew thought it only appropriate to share our thoughts on what we saw this year.  

Whether they were things that caught our interest, disappointed us, or things that got us excited, we tell all. Here are our Post E3 2013 opinions

Senior Stiv

This was probably one of the best E3’s in a while. I loved finding out more about the PS4. The power behind this machine and its awesome line up of games has won me over.

Not to mention the rather dismal Xbox One presentation and Microsoft’s continued use of horrible policies has me switching sides. The Xbox One isn’t completely doomed, but if Microsoft doesn’t adjust these policies they can certainly expect it to be.

But by far the best parts were the games themselves. Seeing Thief, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wind Waker HD and many others makes me feel warm and fuzzy about gaming’s next generation. Oh, yeah, and the Star Wars: Battlefront teaser stole the show for me. Thank you, DICE.

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 Emma

With another E3 gone it has taken me a good couple of days to catch up on all the game announcements. And wow did they impress! The Division looks amazing as does Watch Dogs. I think with both the games the fact that they are both new IP and got a similar style in futuristic worlds I cannot wait to play these.

Out of all the press conferences I think Ubisoft’s impressed me the most. Game after game they presented interested me immediately such as; new Trials, Rayman Legends, The Crew, and The Mighty Quest for Epic Loot looks hilarious (fingers crossed for a closed Beta key). Special mentions of some other games that looked great; Pokemon X and Y, Disney Infinity and of course Dragon Age!

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Microsoft’s press conference wasn’t great and none of the games looked inspiring or got me excited at all. One in particular, Ryse: Son of Rome, the gameplay tried to be as epic as possible yet the combat looked terribly boring. I’m really hoping with all the money and new studios they seem to be setting up they come up with some better content.

KRS 2

I actually didn’t catch too much E3 as I’ve been busy all week. However I enjoyed what little I saw except the whole Xbox One rape joke thing… that was awful. But I specifically got to see the good half of the PlayStation 4 presentation (in case you’re wondering, the bad half was mostly about trying to force us to buy a PS Vita) and the Nintendo Direct.

For the PlayStation 4, I thought the games looked pretty good and had a nice variety of stuff, but what really won me over was the focus on Indie games such as Transistor. Those games are the ones that I’m really interested in and seem the most unusual.

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The Nintendo Direct on the other hand was a little disappointing since I was hoping to hear about more games, but what little I did see was pleasing. I got to see a little bit more of the Monolith Soft game in production as well as Bayonetta 2, and a lot more of Mario Kart 8. I’m looking forward to racing on walls and ceilings. Super Mario 3D World was announced which looks very similar to Mario 3D Land on the 3DS which is exciting, especially since we can FINALLY play as Peach again. Anyone who has played Super Mario 2 knows she was the best choice.

And of course Super Smash Brothers for Wii U and 3DS was shown. Needless to say, I’m excited about playing as Megaman, as is the whole world. They also revealed a Villager from Animal Crossing and the Wii Fit Trainer, so those will be interesting to play as.

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Ion_Squared

E3! Thanks for getting me excited about gaming again!

Last year I felt somewhat meh about E3 and nothing really caught my attention other than Rayman Origins. That excitement was robbed as the game was finished some time ago and in an underhanded move worthy of Capcom (thanks for the on disc DLC guys), they held off on releasing it until it was ready for a PS3/XBox360 as well.

(Actually, Ubisoft recently revealed that during the down time they added 30 new levels and improved the game over all instead of just porting the game – KRS 2)

Enough of that negativity though, onto the good stuff. Smash Bros, finally it’s been shown and growing up with the Mega Man series I am incredibly excited to play as the Blue Bomber (Once again, thanks Capcom for completely ignoring the little guy).

 Seeing what Retro Studios was working on was a relief. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed that it wasn’t a new Metroid game but Donkey Kong Country is one of my all-time favourite series. The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds was good to see as it’s been some time that we’ve had a more traditional top-down game.

Other games I was excited to see were Final Fantasy XV and Kingdom Hearts. I honestly expected to see nothing from Square-Enix but was pleasantly surprised to see these two titles.

Now as for Microsoft and Sony, I think my reaction to their news is intrinsically tied. I’m excited about the PS4 despite that they didn’t really show me anything I hadn’t seen before. The reason, I’m fairly certain is because of how thoroughly unimpressed I was by the XBox One. Microsoft managed to leave me so bored, annoyed and somewhat offended that all Sony had to do was show up.

Bored because I saw nothing I hadn’t really seen before, annoyed because of the DRM and inability to played used games and offended because of the moronic rape joke slipped by the fool that demonstrated Killer Instinct. Seriously, XBox Live has a reputation for being a homophobic, misogynistic and adolescent environment. Having someone representing their company and only feeding into that reputation isn’t just a blow to their company but a blow to gaming in general. Way to be regressive guys…

Despite some of the negativity I’ve put forward I’d have to say that all in all, I’m excited for the next year in gaming.

What are your post E3 2013 thoughts? Do you agree or disagree with our staff?