[HEADING=1]Day One: Microsoft, EA, and Ubisoft![/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
I think that this was a nice show. Project Natal came away as a show-stealer in my mind: while it has a man-on-the-moon fakery feel to it, if true it has incredible potential. However, it focused a bit TOO much on it, and some of the demonstrations were a bit wonky. If there isn't a TON of support thrown behind this, it would wind up being a massive flop. The Metal Gear announcement will have Sony fans in an uproar, but at least this time the conspiracy theories about a Metal Gear game on the 360 turned out to be true. All in all, I'm very impressed... and I can only hope that the other conferences bring us the same, if not greater, levels of awesome news.
EDIT: Out of all the conferences so far (up to Ubisoft) Microsoft's flowed the best in my mind: they knew where to stick the bits that weren't all that interesting, and had Project:Natal right behind it to drive all the bland crap out of our minds as we focused on their shiny new toy.
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
The EA conference opened with the mighty force of blah behind it, but thankfully a few shining stars pulled through for us. Bioware's titles look to be real eye-catchers, though the ME2 trailer could have used a few more gameplay elements thrown in. ABP was the most interesting new announcement to me: I can't wait to start my own criminal underworld. The Old Republic trailer was a cinematic masterpiece, and Brutal Legend looked to be a great comedic force (dur... It's a Schaefer game after all!). EA really flubbed the opening bits though. And what was with the Crysis 2 announcement? Absolutely nothing new was introduced. LAAAAAAME.
EDIT: While the opening was terrible, EA had some really interesting games(for me, at least) lined up, and thankfully the opening was the only boring part. Even that was kept half-bearable at times... and once they got into the swing of things I found that even the announcements that dodn't really affect me (the sports ones mainly) were still somewhat major. So far, EA takes my best of E3 award. Will Sony or Nintendo sweep me off my feet? I'd like to see my former favorite(Sony) charm me back into its arms this year with announcements on par/greater than Microsoft's and EA's, but I can't help but think that Nintendo will have sparse offerings unless MotionPlus turns out to be the best thing that's happened to the Wii since Brawl.
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion[/HEADING]
This conference seemed to think that being bad is some sort of competitive sport, because lord, it was awful. While Assassin's Creed 2 and RUSE had nice trailers, they weren't worth sitting through the rest of the conference for. Some will like that Pele was involved. Those three things were the only interesting ones, and with a bunch of unmotivated speakers and a comedian that was hit-or-miss announcing stuff, I found a feeling of having wasted my time lurking in the pits of my stomach after watching this. Also, no Beyond Good & Evil 2 news? That's not going to please some, I'll tell you that right now. With all this added on to a few terrifying announcements and previews (the TMNT game and the fitness crap), I have to say that Ubisoft's conference is by far the weakest of the three premiered as of the time of this post.
[HEADING=1]Day Two: Nintendo and Sony![/HEADING]
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
Damn, this conference left me with good feelings. Thankfully, this time around they focused mainly on the core gamers, with Zelda, Mario, and Metroid announcements aplomb. The two show-stoppers were the Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metriod: Other M trailers, the latter especially so. The trailer seems to suggest a darker theme, and a deep, interesting story: I can't wait to see some more. Also, rail shooters with crisp graphics seemed to have a big presence: the Dead Space and Resident Evil games actually look like they could be really fun to play. The WiiFit crap and some of the Plus stuff was boring, but Nintendo sure learned from last year's mistakes and blew us away with a lot of interesting info.
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
Sony shifted the balance of power of this year's E3 entirely. While I had been feeling optimistic about the WiiMotion Plus before, the tech demo Sony brought to the table today blew the Plus away entirely. At first, as I saw the shell of the thing, I thought to myself: "HA! That thing looks ridiculous!" After the demo had occured, I was instead thinking: "How long will I have to wait to get my hands on one?!" The only part of Sony's conference that felt weak was the constant PSP/HOME pushing. As far as everything else (that wasn't Gran Turismo) went, they offered up a HUGE amount of content... and I loved almost all of it.
[HEADING=1]And the winner in my mind is?[/HEADING]
FINAL EDIT: All the conferences are over, and thus I've edited the OP for what I think will be the last time. Regardless of which company you thought took E3 by storm, you must admit: the future looks bright after this year's showings. Oh, and I changed the thread title: it looked too cluttered for my tastes.
You can thank olivera8 for forcing me to do the Squeenix/Konami conferences. So more updating tommorow! However, I'll leave my opinion of the winners (and LOSER) of the conference unchanged unless some really big stuff is shown.
[HEADING=1]Day Three: Squeenix and Konami![/HEADING]
Alas, it seems that there is no live feed for these two conferences, so I won't be able to offer an opinion until some intrepid soul with a camera posts footage of it. My apologies.
EDIT: Double drat! It seems that no cameras were allowed at the Squeenix event, and since there is no TV spot on G4 for the Konami conference, I'm betting that's gonna have the same rule. So sorry, but no funny summaries of those for you all, as I was getting my info through live streams from G4 
Fuck it, I'm gonna write a summary, formed from the info gleaned from the G4 live blog of the event:
Also, I apologize for having edited the title about a billion times as the conferences went on.
I've just started to add videos for those who don't want to Youtube hunt for them. Please be patient: I'll find stuff for everyone, but it'll take me a while, ok? Also, the conferences that are soon to take place will interrupt me, so once again, be patient
YIKES! That Microsoft section was really hard to load, so I trimmed down on the spoiler tags. If more trimming is needed, let me know!
Oh, and for people who'd like to watch the conferences themselves, here's a link [http://e3.g4tv.com/e32009/pressconferences/] for you.
[HEADING=3]Multiplatform games:[/HEADING]
The Beatles Rock Band: A live performance of the game and an interesting multi-mike concept for the vocals have gotten me psyched for this game. I honestly couldn't have imagined forking out money for a Beatles-only thing before this, and I have to say that DAMN I CAN'T WAIT to karaoke it up with my buddies. "All You Need Is Love" will apparently also be released solely for XBLA as well... The one thing I'm confused about is: why was this first, even before the actual VP coming on stage? Ah well.
Tony Hawk Ride: Tony Hawk actually presenting the board was a nice touch. It looks like you'll need to play this on a surface with grip... I'd imagine that the board would slide out from under you if you had a wooden or linoleum floor to play on. I'm gonna hold back on this until I hear how well the board works: if it's good, the game will sell, but if the board fails in any aspect, people won't touch it.
Modern Warfare 2: You don't start the game as Soap? Bummer. But a tense ice climbing session and a stealth mission in the snow seem to be channeling the spirit of Modern Warfare quite well. Damnit though, why did they keep focusing the guy playing the game, or his hands holding the controller?! (That was G4's fault though...) The music playing throughout the mission was slick and dangerous sounding, and the snowmobile chase looked fast and dangerous. The announcement that the map packs would be released first on XBL will likely please XBox owners, though it's likely that their release on PSN won't be that far off...
FFXIII: Too much neon and darkness throughout. The debut of a summon during the conference was neat, but there was still too much neon involved. The mention of combat timers also has me a bit worried... and I think that I heard the translator say there are FOUR of them? That has the potential to be messy.
[HEADING=3]To the 360 exclusives![/HEADING]
Epic Games: They debuted a 2D side scroller named Shadow Complex. One of their guys had a broken mike...urgh. The game seemed chaotic with bullets and enemies aplomb, but looked to have interesting enviornmental exploration with a foam gun that could make platforms to jump on.
Joy Ride: Free to download Avatar racer? Sounds meh. Being able to play on tracks that your friends have purchased is a cool idea though, and there looked to be at least a decent degree of vehicle customization.
Crackdown 2: FUCK YES. Though no gameplay footage makes me a sad panda, at least they're making another one. Just please, no more achievements for getting all the agility orbs. The suggestion that there's some sort of mutant enemies in the sewers has me curious.
Left For Dead 2:HUH? I could never have seen that one coming. Lousiana is a nice choice for a new enviornment though... but damnit, I wanted some more levels in the old game, not just a whole new one! As long as this one has more content though, it could be cool. The redesigned Tank zombie looked really weird. Also, the focus on daylight in the trailer was cool: I was starting to wonder why I could only fight zombies at night.
EDIT ON L4D2:While my initial reaction was very negative, I had forgotten two things: first, that this is a teaser, designed only to say that the game is being made in some form. Secondly, Valve subscribes to the same design philosophy as Blizzard: they release games when they are DONE, as in perfected. So it'll be a long time before the sequel comes along, and during that time who knows what they'll add to the original game? They already had the Survival mode update... Also, that Tank-like zombie is apparently not a Tank at all, but a new zombie called the Charger, designed to kill people who camp in closets and halls, forcing you to keep on the move.
Splinter Cell Conviction: Expected. Real time cutscenes are a neat idea. This seems to be more about killing than being a stealth game. Also, the game seems to be JUMPY somehow... and where did that crowd immersion stuff go?
Forza Motorsport 3: I don't give a shit about racing games. So no comment. However, there will aparently will be a really awesome customizer tool.
Halo 3 ODST: Neato opening scene! The opening pistol makes a reapperance! Sweet... Flashbacks to other ODST's to explain past events could be a neat touch, and the various troopers throw around some funny dialouge.
Halo Reach: A trailer for a new Halo game coming out in 2010, based around the events of Reach? I bet people will cry FRANCHISE MILKING a lot, but since the novel it will likely be based on had a decent story, I'm not going to complain.
Alan Wake: the story looks neat, but the graphics look like they glare quite a bit, and the targeting looks to be jumpy. What was up with the lighting? It just looked FUNKY somehow, especially with the flares, and the constant camera panning was irksome. All hail the Funk!
[HEADING=3]The Misc. News:[/HEADING]
last.fm partnership: Err ok? Hoorah for muzak? It's just sort of unecessary...
Sky TV streaming announcement: I don't really care. Why would you do this? People could just, you know, use their TV's like they do ordinarily. Once again, unecessary...
Movie revamps: Instantly playing 1080 HP movies and doubling the number of countries that said movie downloads are available in was sweet news. However, did we REALLY need the Avatar party feature? Why not just go to a friend's house if you want to watch movies together?
Facebook/Twitter partnership: Who cares? Gah. I've never been one for social stuff though. People who use those sites a ton might enjoy it, but it's just sort of uneeded. I'd rather use my computer to type stuff anyway.
Metal Gear Solid Rising: OH YEAH TAKE THAT SONY FANBOYS!!! Nah really, I love yah Raiden fans will likely ooze happiness as well. While it's no MGS4 on 360, this is a HUGE announcement. Kojima appearing to the question mark sound was badass.
Full-Body Motion Controllers/Project Natal: Damn this seems fake. But if it's true: ZOMIGOD. It looks like tech of the future, today. However, it looked like it could have a few sensitivity issues... The art project was neato. The Milo project was... odd. I think that it was a bit acted out, though we'll likely hear more details on it soon.
Steven Spielberg: Fuck you Mr.Spielberg... You can't even pronounce the word console. CON. SOLE. It isn't that hard.
The Beatles Rock Band: A live performance of the game and an interesting multi-mike concept for the vocals have gotten me psyched for this game. I honestly couldn't have imagined forking out money for a Beatles-only thing before this, and I have to say that DAMN I CAN'T WAIT to karaoke it up with my buddies. "All You Need Is Love" will apparently also be released solely for XBLA as well... The one thing I'm confused about is: why was this first, even before the actual VP coming on stage? Ah well.
Tony Hawk Ride: Tony Hawk actually presenting the board was a nice touch. It looks like you'll need to play this on a surface with grip... I'd imagine that the board would slide out from under you if you had a wooden or linoleum floor to play on. I'm gonna hold back on this until I hear how well the board works: if it's good, the game will sell, but if the board fails in any aspect, people won't touch it.
Modern Warfare 2: You don't start the game as Soap? Bummer. But a tense ice climbing session and a stealth mission in the snow seem to be channeling the spirit of Modern Warfare quite well. Damnit though, why did they keep focusing the guy playing the game, or his hands holding the controller?! (That was G4's fault though...) The music playing throughout the mission was slick and dangerous sounding, and the snowmobile chase looked fast and dangerous. The announcement that the map packs would be released first on XBL will likely please XBox owners, though it's likely that their release on PSN won't be that far off...
FFXIII: Too much neon and darkness throughout. The debut of a summon during the conference was neat, but there was still too much neon involved. The mention of combat timers also has me a bit worried... and I think that I heard the translator say there are FOUR of them? That has the potential to be messy.
[HEADING=3]To the 360 exclusives![/HEADING]
Epic Games: They debuted a 2D side scroller named Shadow Complex. One of their guys had a broken mike...urgh. The game seemed chaotic with bullets and enemies aplomb, but looked to have interesting enviornmental exploration with a foam gun that could make platforms to jump on.
Joy Ride: Free to download Avatar racer? Sounds meh. Being able to play on tracks that your friends have purchased is a cool idea though, and there looked to be at least a decent degree of vehicle customization.
Crackdown 2: FUCK YES. Though no gameplay footage makes me a sad panda, at least they're making another one. Just please, no more achievements for getting all the agility orbs. The suggestion that there's some sort of mutant enemies in the sewers has me curious.
Left For Dead 2:
EDIT ON L4D2:While my initial reaction was very negative, I had forgotten two things: first, that this is a teaser, designed only to say that the game is being made in some form. Secondly, Valve subscribes to the same design philosophy as Blizzard: they release games when they are DONE, as in perfected. So it'll be a long time before the sequel comes along, and during that time who knows what they'll add to the original game? They already had the Survival mode update... Also, that Tank-like zombie is apparently not a Tank at all, but a new zombie called the Charger, designed to kill people who camp in closets and halls, forcing you to keep on the move.
Splinter Cell Conviction: Expected. Real time cutscenes are a neat idea. This seems to be more about killing than being a stealth game. Also, the game seems to be JUMPY somehow... and where did that crowd immersion stuff go?
Forza Motorsport 3: I don't give a shit about racing games. So no comment. However, there will aparently will be a really awesome customizer tool.
Halo 3 ODST: Neato opening scene! The opening pistol makes a reapperance! Sweet... Flashbacks to other ODST's to explain past events could be a neat touch, and the various troopers throw around some funny dialouge.
Halo Reach: A trailer for a new Halo game coming out in 2010, based around the events of Reach? I bet people will cry FRANCHISE MILKING a lot, but since the novel it will likely be based on had a decent story, I'm not going to complain.
Alan Wake: the story looks neat, but the graphics look like they glare quite a bit, and the targeting looks to be jumpy. What was up with the lighting? It just looked FUNKY somehow, especially with the flares, and the constant camera panning was irksome. All hail the Funk!
[HEADING=3]The Misc. News:[/HEADING]
last.fm partnership: Err ok? Hoorah for muzak? It's just sort of unecessary...
Sky TV streaming announcement: I don't really care. Why would you do this? People could just, you know, use their TV's like they do ordinarily. Once again, unecessary...
Movie revamps: Instantly playing 1080 HP movies and doubling the number of countries that said movie downloads are available in was sweet news. However, did we REALLY need the Avatar party feature? Why not just go to a friend's house if you want to watch movies together?
Facebook/Twitter partnership: Who cares? Gah. I've never been one for social stuff though. People who use those sites a ton might enjoy it, but it's just sort of uneeded. I'd rather use my computer to type stuff anyway.
Metal Gear Solid Rising: OH YEAH TAKE THAT SONY FANBOYS!!! Nah really, I love yah
Raiden fans will likely ooze happiness as well. While it's no MGS4 on 360, this is a HUGE announcement. Kojima appearing to the question mark sound was badass.
Full-Body Motion Controllers/Project Natal: Damn this seems fake. But if it's true: ZOMIGOD. It looks like tech of the future, today. However, it looked like it could have a few sensitivity issues... The art project was neato. The Milo project was... odd. I think that it was a bit acted out, though we'll likely hear more details on it soon.
Steven Spielberg: Fuck you Mr.Spielberg... You can't even pronounce the word console. CON. SOLE. It isn't that hard.
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
I think that this was a nice show. Project Natal came away as a show-stealer in my mind: while it has a man-on-the-moon fakery feel to it, if true it has incredible potential. However, it focused a bit TOO much on it, and some of the demonstrations were a bit wonky. If there isn't a TON of support thrown behind this, it would wind up being a massive flop. The Metal Gear announcement will have Sony fans in an uproar, but at least this time the conspiracy theories about a Metal Gear game on the 360 turned out to be true. All in all, I'm very impressed... and I can only hope that the other conferences bring us the same, if not greater, levels of awesome news.
EDIT: Out of all the conferences so far (up to Ubisoft) Microsoft's flowed the best in my mind: they knew where to stick the bits that weren't all that interesting, and had Project:Natal right behind it to drive all the bland crap out of our minds as we focused on their shiny new toy.
[HEADING=3]Start of the EA conference:[/HEADING]
Dante's Inferno: The trailer was chaotic, and looked ugly. A rather big turn-off...
Littlest Pet Shop Friends: Not a game that's targeted at me... though I guess that the ladies might enjoy it. I'm slightly befuddled as to why this was considered to be a major announcement.
Charm Girls Club: See above.
Need for Speed Shift: Another racing game, whoopee. The video broke in the middle of the announcement... Rewards based on driving styles (agressive or passive) is a neat idea. Aaaand then, the driver playing the game crashed. Hilarious!
Dragon Age Origins: ...Whoa! This looks to be a barbaric barrel of awesome from the trailer. Boobs were prominently displayed several times. What's the bets that this is the next "porn simulator"? Pretty high, I'll bet. The story seems to be focused on violence and chaos, and in a good way. There wasn't any gameplay footage, but hey, my interest is still piqued.
Mass Effect 2: A new threat to humanity other than the Geth, rocket launchers, and conspirazorz seemed to be the focus of this trailer, though it was skimpy with the details as expected (ARGH!). While there were some gameplay elements shown, it wasn't a whole lot. CURSE YOU BIOWARE!!! Your teasing tortures me
MMA and Fight Night Round 4: Fighter fans will likely be pleased. Nuff' said.
Madden 2010: The ability to make teams and fields with Team Builder will appeal to people who like customization, and at long last allow people to pimp their playing space with giant cartoon dongs.
active: Yet another fitness game? This is going to become another gamemaking trend... you'll see. I bet there will be a zillion of these before long. I just had a horrific idea: extra exersizes offered via DLC.
Grand Slam Tennis: Heeheehee. These people fail at their own game... but that was really all I found interesting. It's good to know that the people demoing the game don't know how to serve the ball...
The Saboteur: The trailer was cool, but the music made me irritated. The art style is really nice looking, and the premise is a cool one. It looks to have the same sandbox feel as Destroy All Humans and Mercenaries, but with a focus on stealth above gunplay. Pandemic better not fuck this up!
[HEADING=3]EA Partners Titles![/HEADING]
Brutal Legend: Schaefer was awesome at introducing the game (big suprise). The trailer was funny: until now I didn't think I'd be that interested. The humor looks to be awesome, but the combat... I'm worried. It didn't look like it flowed that well.
Crysis 2: Nothing new was announced... YAAAAAWN. Not even a single video clip!
APB: An insane amount of character custumization and a 100 player criminal takeover looks to be very interesting... if RealWorld can pull it off. Me and my buddies would totally take the streets by storm in matching purple suits.
Star Wars The Old Republic: Nerdy, but appropriate intro. Couldn't they have gotten some cooler lightsabers? The trailer was awesome... really good work done on it, though I would have liked to see some gameplay footage. Still, an awesome lightsaber fight sent shivers down my spine. I'll be keeping a weather eye out for more info on this to be sure!
Dante's Inferno: The trailer was chaotic, and looked ugly. A rather big turn-off...
Littlest Pet Shop Friends: Not a game that's targeted at me... though I guess that the ladies might enjoy it. I'm slightly befuddled as to why this was considered to be a major announcement.
Charm Girls Club: See above.
Need for Speed Shift: Another racing game, whoopee. The video broke in the middle of the announcement... Rewards based on driving styles (agressive or passive) is a neat idea. Aaaand then, the driver playing the game crashed. Hilarious!
Dragon Age Origins: ...Whoa! This looks to be a barbaric barrel of awesome from the trailer. Boobs were prominently displayed several times. What's the bets that this is the next "porn simulator"? Pretty high, I'll bet. The story seems to be focused on violence and chaos, and in a good way. There wasn't any gameplay footage, but hey, my interest is still piqued.
Mass Effect 2: A new threat to humanity other than the Geth, rocket launchers, and conspirazorz seemed to be the focus of this trailer, though it was skimpy with the details as expected (ARGH!). While there were some gameplay elements shown, it wasn't a whole lot. CURSE YOU BIOWARE!!! Your teasing tortures me
MMA and Fight Night Round 4: Fighter fans will likely be pleased. Nuff' said.
Madden 2010: The ability to make teams and fields with Team Builder will appeal to people who like customization, and at long last allow people to pimp their playing space with giant cartoon dongs.
active: Yet another fitness game? This is going to become another gamemaking trend... you'll see. I bet there will be a zillion of these before long. I just had a horrific idea: extra exersizes offered via DLC.
Grand Slam Tennis: Heeheehee. These people fail at their own game... but that was really all I found interesting. It's good to know that the people demoing the game don't know how to serve the ball...
The Saboteur: The trailer was cool, but the music made me irritated. The art style is really nice looking, and the premise is a cool one. It looks to have the same sandbox feel as Destroy All Humans and Mercenaries, but with a focus on stealth above gunplay. Pandemic better not fuck this up!
[HEADING=3]EA Partners Titles![/HEADING]
Brutal Legend: Schaefer was awesome at introducing the game (big suprise). The trailer was funny: until now I didn't think I'd be that interested. The humor looks to be awesome, but the combat... I'm worried. It didn't look like it flowed that well.
Crysis 2: Nothing new was announced... YAAAAAWN. Not even a single video clip!
APB: An insane amount of character custumization and a 100 player criminal takeover looks to be very interesting... if RealWorld can pull it off. Me and my buddies would totally take the streets by storm in matching purple suits.
Star Wars The Old Republic: Nerdy, but appropriate intro. Couldn't they have gotten some cooler lightsabers? The trailer was awesome... really good work done on it, though I would have liked to see some gameplay footage. Still, an awesome lightsaber fight sent shivers down my spine. I'll be keeping a weather eye out for more info on this to be sure!
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
The EA conference opened with the mighty force of blah behind it, but thankfully a few shining stars pulled through for us. Bioware's titles look to be real eye-catchers, though the ME2 trailer could have used a few more gameplay elements thrown in. ABP was the most interesting new announcement to me: I can't wait to start my own criminal underworld. The Old Republic trailer was a cinematic masterpiece, and Brutal Legend looked to be a great comedic force (dur... It's a Schaefer game after all!). EA really flubbed the opening bits though. And what was with the Crysis 2 announcement? Absolutely nothing new was introduced. LAAAAAAME.
EDIT: While the opening was terrible, EA had some really interesting games(for me, at least) lined up, and thankfully the opening was the only boring part. Even that was kept half-bearable at times... and once they got into the swing of things I found that even the announcements that dodn't really affect me (the sports ones mainly) were still somewhat major. So far, EA takes my best of E3 award. Will Sony or Nintendo sweep me off my feet? I'd like to see my former favorite(Sony) charm me back into its arms this year with announcements on par/greater than Microsoft's and EA's, but I can't help but think that Nintendo will have sparse offerings unless MotionPlus turns out to be the best thing that's happened to the Wii since Brawl.
The comedian they brought was pretty decent, but considering they brought in ANOTHER guy to talk behind him... who speaks with a odd accent... and very loquaciously...
UPlay: This isn't a game. GET TO THE REAL STUFF ALREADY.
Movie Director teamups: Er, ok? GET TO ZE GAMEZ PLZ.
Err... was he really supposed to mention the WiiMotion Plus? I thought that was still mythical/unnanounced!
Aaaand yet another person, the Montreal rep. Let's hope that he's gonna actually talk about the games quickly...
There's been lots of mentions of the Avatar game that will revolve around a movie. I find myself unenthused, due to a lack of any visuals.
It seems that they're really pumped about pairing with movies as a medium...
James Cameron: You aren't a video game. Go away.
It's been 33 minutes, and we've gotten no games.... most of it was Cameron talking about his Avatar project. Meh.
The comedian said "Yielding a katana..."
Red Steel 2: The trailer had a really nice feel to it. The gameplay looks fun, but at the same time a bit unweildly. The guy that was commenting during the gameplay was ANNOYING. Couldn't they have gotten anyone else to talk during it?
Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage: The trailer was LAAAAAAAME, and that was all that was shown. Yeesh.
Academy of Champions Football: Football/Soccer(sorry, I'm an American) doesn't really interest me, just like all sports. But the trailer looked pretty amusing.
Got cut off for a moment, but thanks to olivera8 I didn't miss much. All they were going over was Splinter Cell:Conviction stuff, and from what they were showing I didn't miss much. There were some new bits talked about on the various enviornmental interactions, but the gameplay shown was a duplicate of the previous Conviction showing.
RUSE: A neat teaser trailer, but with no info I've got no real enthusiasm.
imagine/Petz: Another game series set targeting the young ladies. I abstain from commenting.
And what did I tell you! More fitness games! And this one is even lamer than the last...
Rabbids Go Home: URGH. Well, they did a remarkable job of ripping off the Katamari Damacy concept. Other than that? Meh.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up: ....I wasn't aware that TMNT had enough characters to make a good roster for a fighting game. The trailer did not assuade my fears. It looks to be a nightmare.
No More Heroes 2: Like the Crysis 2 announcement: nothing we didn't know already.
Assassin's Creed 2: Awesome cinematics set in the Carnival were fun to watch, and the display of some sort of projectile killing tool was fun. However, there wasn't any gameplay!
UPlay: This isn't a game. GET TO THE REAL STUFF ALREADY.
Movie Director teamups: Er, ok? GET TO ZE GAMEZ PLZ.
Err... was he really supposed to mention the WiiMotion Plus? I thought that was still mythical/unnanounced!
Aaaand yet another person, the Montreal rep. Let's hope that he's gonna actually talk about the games quickly...
There's been lots of mentions of the Avatar game that will revolve around a movie. I find myself unenthused, due to a lack of any visuals.
It seems that they're really pumped about pairing with movies as a medium...
James Cameron: You aren't a video game. Go away.
It's been 33 minutes, and we've gotten no games.... most of it was Cameron talking about his Avatar project. Meh.
The comedian said "Yielding a katana..."
Red Steel 2: The trailer had a really nice feel to it. The gameplay looks fun, but at the same time a bit unweildly. The guy that was commenting during the gameplay was ANNOYING. Couldn't they have gotten anyone else to talk during it?
Shaun White Snowboarding World Stage: The trailer was LAAAAAAAME, and that was all that was shown. Yeesh.
Academy of Champions Football: Football/Soccer(sorry, I'm an American) doesn't really interest me, just like all sports. But the trailer looked pretty amusing.
Got cut off for a moment, but thanks to olivera8 I didn't miss much. All they were going over was Splinter Cell:Conviction stuff, and from what they were showing I didn't miss much. There were some new bits talked about on the various enviornmental interactions, but the gameplay shown was a duplicate of the previous Conviction showing.
RUSE: A neat teaser trailer, but with no info I've got no real enthusiasm.
imagine/Petz: Another game series set targeting the young ladies. I abstain from commenting.
And what did I tell you! More fitness games! And this one is even lamer than the last...
Rabbids Go Home: URGH. Well, they did a remarkable job of ripping off the Katamari Damacy concept. Other than that? Meh.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Smash Up: ....I wasn't aware that TMNT had enough characters to make a good roster for a fighting game. The trailer did not assuade my fears. It looks to be a nightmare.
No More Heroes 2: Like the Crysis 2 announcement: nothing we didn't know already.
Assassin's Creed 2: Awesome cinematics set in the Carnival were fun to watch, and the display of some sort of projectile killing tool was fun. However, there wasn't any gameplay!
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion[/HEADING]
This conference seemed to think that being bad is some sort of competitive sport, because lord, it was awful. While Assassin's Creed 2 and RUSE had nice trailers, they weren't worth sitting through the rest of the conference for. Some will like that Pele was involved. Those three things were the only interesting ones, and with a bunch of unmotivated speakers and a comedian that was hit-or-miss announcing stuff, I found a feeling of having wasted my time lurking in the pits of my stomach after watching this. Also, no Beyond Good & Evil 2 news? That's not going to please some, I'll tell you that right now. With all this added on to a few terrifying announcements and previews (the TMNT game and the fitness crap), I have to say that Ubisoft's conference is by far the weakest of the three premiered as of the time of this post.
[HEADING=1]Day Two: Nintendo and Sony![/HEADING]
A nice opening trailer with some decent music started this out quite nicely.
The person who made the stage sure likes the color purple, as it's everywhere. This isn't a commercial about antacids you know...
New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 4 player co-op and coin battling competition has me psyched. This looks to be the Mario equivalent of Four Swords, and I can't wait for it, though it's not as revolutionary as I would have hoped.
This woman is better than the Ubisoft guys, but she pauses a LOT.
WiiFit Plus: OOOH MORE FITNESS STUFF! YAY! Not really. This looks to be nothing more than a bare minimum upgrade of the original. Nice work Nintendo...
Another trailer? Why? All to introduce the Regginator?
Resort/Plus: What was with the trailer? It was really boring up till the last bit... Ok, that skydiving intro bit looks really cool. This game looks like it has potential (especially the archery bit), but couldn't they have picked another game besides basketball to demo?
Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers: URGH MY HEART. I want to die...
Kingdom Hearts: Fuck, those cutscenes look sweet. What was with emo chick?
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: Funny, though it looks a lot like another game...
Golden Sun DS: ABOUT TIME YOU PRICKS! While it didn't look as slick as the KH game, I'll be damned before I mark it down for that.
Women's Murder Club: Games Of Passion: Hey, a point-and-click! And it looks lame, with a bunch of minigames! Pass.
Cop: The Recruit: I don't know about this... it COULD be good. Maybe. The rendering looked funky, and I don't know how a game like that would function on a DS, considering it seems to be similar to the playstyle of GTA.
DSi... the I stands for irksome. Once again, no BC, no sale Nintendo. Flipnotes Studio is a gimmick, but it could be fun to mess with.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again: This could be fun, with a focus on making new levels and sharing them online...
WarioWare DIY: Allowing us to MAKE MICROGAMES!?! Awesome. That is all.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: WTF! No footage or trailer during the conference? I should smack you for having something that essential but not showing anything about it!
Vitality Sensor: What, Nintendo is selling healthcare products now? GRRRRR.
Iwata: While he was cooler than that lady, he talked about NADA. ZIP. NOTHIN. Just that Vitality Sensor.
Super Mario Galaxy 2: SO. MUCH. WIN. Yoshi, a neat soundtrack, and crazy worlds all seemed to be the focus of this trailer, along with evoking the sense of Super Mario 64. Alas, it won't be released till next year.
The Conduit: A teeny-tiny itsy-bitsy eyestrainer of a trailer left my optic orbs in pain.
Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles: Seems to be another rail shooter, but the graphics made me eager to see more. It seems to be covering the Veronica saga... who bets that there's gonna be some more of Alfred being a nasally snot?
Dead Space Extraction: Another slick rail shooter. And the premise is a nice concept: fighting the Necromorphs in a prequel to the first game. The use of stasis was very fun-looking.
Team Ninja partnering/Metroid Other M: ZOMIGOD. What on Earth? A really cool trailer with deep story implications and a darker theme than before has left me starved for more information.
The person who made the stage sure likes the color purple, as it's everywhere. This isn't a commercial about antacids you know...
New Super Mario Bros. Wii: 4 player co-op and coin battling competition has me psyched. This looks to be the Mario equivalent of Four Swords, and I can't wait for it, though it's not as revolutionary as I would have hoped.
This woman is better than the Ubisoft guys, but she pauses a LOT.
WiiFit Plus: OOOH MORE FITNESS STUFF! YAY! Not really. This looks to be nothing more than a bare minimum upgrade of the original. Nice work Nintendo...
Another trailer? Why? All to introduce the Regginator?
Resort/Plus: What was with the trailer? It was really boring up till the last bit... Ok, that skydiving intro bit looks really cool. This game looks like it has potential (especially the archery bit), but couldn't they have picked another game besides basketball to demo?
Final Fantasy: The Crystal Bearers: URGH MY HEART. I want to die...
Kingdom Hearts: Fuck, those cutscenes look sweet. What was with emo chick?
Mario and Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story: Funny, though it looks a lot like another game...
Golden Sun DS: ABOUT TIME YOU PRICKS! While it didn't look as slick as the KH game, I'll be damned before I mark it down for that.
Women's Murder Club: Games Of Passion: Hey, a point-and-click! And it looks lame, with a bunch of minigames! Pass.
Cop: The Recruit: I don't know about this... it COULD be good. Maybe. The rendering looked funky, and I don't know how a game like that would function on a DS, considering it seems to be similar to the playstyle of GTA.
DSi... the I stands for irksome. Once again, no BC, no sale Nintendo. Flipnotes Studio is a gimmick, but it could be fun to mess with.
Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again: This could be fun, with a focus on making new levels and sharing them online...
WarioWare DIY: Allowing us to MAKE MICROGAMES!?! Awesome. That is all.
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks: WTF! No footage or trailer during the conference? I should smack you for having something that essential but not showing anything about it!
Vitality Sensor: What, Nintendo is selling healthcare products now? GRRRRR.
Iwata: While he was cooler than that lady, he talked about NADA. ZIP. NOTHIN. Just that Vitality Sensor.
Super Mario Galaxy 2: SO. MUCH. WIN. Yoshi, a neat soundtrack, and crazy worlds all seemed to be the focus of this trailer, along with evoking the sense of Super Mario 64. Alas, it won't be released till next year.
The Conduit: A teeny-tiny itsy-bitsy eyestrainer of a trailer left my optic orbs in pain.
Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles: Seems to be another rail shooter, but the graphics made me eager to see more. It seems to be covering the Veronica saga... who bets that there's gonna be some more of Alfred being a nasally snot?
Dead Space Extraction: Another slick rail shooter. And the premise is a nice concept: fighting the Necromorphs in a prequel to the first game. The use of stasis was very fun-looking.
Team Ninja partnering/Metroid Other M: ZOMIGOD. What on Earth? A really cool trailer with deep story implications and a darker theme than before has left me starved for more information.
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
Damn, this conference left me with good feelings. Thankfully, this time around they focused mainly on the core gamers, with Zelda, Mario, and Metroid announcements aplomb. The two show-stoppers were the Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metriod: Other M trailers, the latter especially so. The trailer seems to suggest a darker theme, and a deep, interesting story: I can't wait to see some more. Also, rail shooters with crisp graphics seemed to have a big presence: the Dead Space and Resident Evil games actually look like they could be really fun to play. The WiiFit crap and some of the Plus stuff was boring, but Nintendo sure learned from last year's mistakes and blew us away with a lot of interesting info.
While the opening trailer was visually slick, it was a audio mess at the start: it made my ears ache.
There's been a lot of numbers thus far... and a bit about how they're continuing to support the PS2. Meh.
Uncharted 2: Damn! A slick gameplay trailer with stunning visuals and witty dialouge has left me impressed. The one thing that looked a bit iffy was the combat, but if that pulls through it will be a great game.
MAG: A live 256 player game! WOOT! The demonstration was impressive, but I still can't help but fear massive connectivity issues... Ah well.
Hannah Montannah on the PSP is... well... not something I CARE about.
The expected PSP Go! announcement was made. Meh. The media manager sounds interesting, but is that really all they could have mentioned besides lowering the price of the PSP dev kits? The TV PSP crossover thing was something neat, but sort of uneeded... though they did show a bunch of new TV content they plan to add that I'm excited to see.
TOO MUCH HOME. Stop trying to convince me that you guys are hip already: at this point I'm willing to take it for granted. And enough with the techno.
Assassin's Creed 2: Why didn't Ubisoft show this at their conference? This demo was incredible: displaying double assassinations, flight, swimming, and even disarming opponents.
Gran Turismo on the PSP: Never been a fan of Gran Turismo, so this news was rather boring to me. The man announcing it also looked sort of frustrated somehow, angry.
FFXIII: A good trailer for this seemed to indicate that the story is about a race that's invaded the world. While the cinematic parts of the trailer oozed amazing levels of awesome, the gameplay parts looked a bit too cluttered and jumpy to my eyes. It seems to be incredibly complex, and that scares me, especially considering that there's some form of combat timers involved.
FFXIV: Why on Earth did they announce this now? They haven't even released FFXIII yet! Ah well. It looks to be the next MMO due to the "Online" subtitle, so I don't really care.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: A very slick trailer with both dark and humourous tones left me eager to see what Kojima will make of the PSP. But why no Rising info? Surely that isn't a 360 exclusive... Also, cardboard boxes for the win!
ModNation Racers: The insane amount of customization has me giddly with glee, but you can't tell me that this was only possible on the PS3. It's a cartoony racer for god's sake.
The Last Guardian: At last, a name for Project:Trico was revealed! Thankfully they changed the kid's art style and added a bit of footage at the end to keep everyone interested.
The Motion Support demonstration: Please, read my comment on this conference in total for my thoughts on this. But in the meantime:
Gran Turismo 5: Ultrarealistic racers aren't my thing: I'm a Mario Kart style man.
God of War 3: A taste of sweet graphics, ultraviolent disembowelments, and neat platforming have captured my attention for sure. This is gonna be the PS3's heaviest hitter this year, I bet.
There's been a lot of numbers thus far... and a bit about how they're continuing to support the PS2. Meh.
Uncharted 2: Damn! A slick gameplay trailer with stunning visuals and witty dialouge has left me impressed. The one thing that looked a bit iffy was the combat, but if that pulls through it will be a great game.
MAG: A live 256 player game! WOOT! The demonstration was impressive, but I still can't help but fear massive connectivity issues... Ah well.
Hannah Montannah on the PSP is... well... not something I CARE about.
The expected PSP Go! announcement was made. Meh. The media manager sounds interesting, but is that really all they could have mentioned besides lowering the price of the PSP dev kits? The TV PSP crossover thing was something neat, but sort of uneeded... though they did show a bunch of new TV content they plan to add that I'm excited to see.
TOO MUCH HOME. Stop trying to convince me that you guys are hip already: at this point I'm willing to take it for granted. And enough with the techno.
Assassin's Creed 2: Why didn't Ubisoft show this at their conference? This demo was incredible: displaying double assassinations, flight, swimming, and even disarming opponents.
Gran Turismo on the PSP: Never been a fan of Gran Turismo, so this news was rather boring to me. The man announcing it also looked sort of frustrated somehow, angry.
FFXIII: A good trailer for this seemed to indicate that the story is about a race that's invaded the world. While the cinematic parts of the trailer oozed amazing levels of awesome, the gameplay parts looked a bit too cluttered and jumpy to my eyes. It seems to be incredibly complex, and that scares me, especially considering that there's some form of combat timers involved.
FFXIV: Why on Earth did they announce this now? They haven't even released FFXIII yet! Ah well. It looks to be the next MMO due to the "Online" subtitle, so I don't really care.
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker: A very slick trailer with both dark and humourous tones left me eager to see what Kojima will make of the PSP. But why no Rising info? Surely that isn't a 360 exclusive... Also, cardboard boxes for the win!
ModNation Racers: The insane amount of customization has me giddly with glee, but you can't tell me that this was only possible on the PS3. It's a cartoony racer for god's sake.
The Last Guardian: At last, a name for Project:Trico was revealed! Thankfully they changed the kid's art style and added a bit of footage at the end to keep everyone interested.
The Motion Support demonstration: Please, read my comment on this conference in total for my thoughts on this. But in the meantime:
Gran Turismo 5: Ultrarealistic racers aren't my thing: I'm a Mario Kart style man.
God of War 3: A taste of sweet graphics, ultraviolent disembowelments, and neat platforming have captured my attention for sure. This is gonna be the PS3's heaviest hitter this year, I bet.
[HEADING=3]Overall Opinion:[/HEADING]
Sony shifted the balance of power of this year's E3 entirely. While I had been feeling optimistic about the WiiMotion Plus before, the tech demo Sony brought to the table today blew the Plus away entirely. At first, as I saw the shell of the thing, I thought to myself: "HA! That thing looks ridiculous!" After the demo had occured, I was instead thinking: "How long will I have to wait to get my hands on one?!" The only part of Sony's conference that felt weak was the constant PSP/HOME pushing. As far as everything else (that wasn't Gran Turismo) went, they offered up a HUGE amount of content... and I loved almost all of it.
[HEADING=1]And the winner in my mind is?[/HEADING]
Sony wins this time around in my opinion. Sometimes being last adds a dramatic impact, and in this case it let them take everyone by storm. The only bad part was with the constant wave of PSP announcements that all sort of blended together after a while, and even in that case there was still neat stuff to find.
Microsoft had a good second place though, with the debut of Project Natal. However, Natal will need a lot of support if it's to become another form of gaming. There were also a lot of cool games announced, and Kojima's suprise was awesome, but it didn't have the same impact that Sony's show did.
Nintendo emerged from this one with lots of games for the core fans lined up, but I can't help but feel that their biggest innovation, the WiiMotion Plus, got destroyed by Sony's little tech demo. It's just been outclassed, I'm afraid. They get a solid third for still having some interesting games, but a on-off presentation.
The biggest loser though was Ubisoft. Just read my above opinions on it: I don't need to rage on it twice.
Microsoft had a good second place though, with the debut of Project Natal. However, Natal will need a lot of support if it's to become another form of gaming. There were also a lot of cool games announced, and Kojima's suprise was awesome, but it didn't have the same impact that Sony's show did.
Nintendo emerged from this one with lots of games for the core fans lined up, but I can't help but feel that their biggest innovation, the WiiMotion Plus, got destroyed by Sony's little tech demo. It's just been outclassed, I'm afraid. They get a solid third for still having some interesting games, but a on-off presentation.
The biggest loser though was Ubisoft. Just read my above opinions on it: I don't need to rage on it twice.
You can thank olivera8 for forcing me to do the Squeenix/Konami conferences. So more updating tommorow! However, I'll leave my opinion of the winners (and LOSER) of the conference unchanged unless some really big stuff is shown.
[HEADING=1]Day Three: Squeenix and Konami![/HEADING]
Fuck it, I'm gonna write a summary, formed from the info gleaned from the G4 live blog of the event:
FFXIV: They're CONSIDERING FFXIV on Microsoft hardware apparently... I don't really care about it, but hey, it'll give Sony fans something to rage about. Also, they will apparently continue to support FFXI with another year's content at least, with more on the horizon, so they're not abandoning the old game entirely, which is nice. WOOT for a worldwide simulaneous release! It does not take place in the previous game's land...curious. Cross-platform servers?! Neato. Hints at the battles in the game were scarce, but there was a brief mention at "many vs. many" and "many vs. one" battles. Beta info was unavailable. You will not be able to transfer characters from FFXI. Pricing on the game is yet to be determined: so hold out hopes that it could be free to play.
Also, I apologize for having edited the title about a billion times as the conferences went on.
I've just started to add videos for those who don't want to Youtube hunt for them. Please be patient: I'll find stuff for everyone, but it'll take me a while, ok? Also, the conferences that are soon to take place will interrupt me, so once again, be patient
YIKES! That Microsoft section was really hard to load, so I trimmed down on the spoiler tags. If more trimming is needed, let me know!
Oh, and for people who'd like to watch the conferences themselves, here's a link [http://e3.g4tv.com/e32009/pressconferences/] for you.
