Industry Ramble: Obvious Post-E3 Piece

Ah… the long awaited follow-up to my fluff piece about E3. Originally I was going to do a piece after every conference, but then I realized there’s just not enough to write for all the ones that aren’t Sony and Square-Enix. The dust has settled and E3 is past us for another year. I don’t want to go on the fan-war argument on who “won” E3 (but my smart answer is Japanese Games won) nor do I want to tackle the bummer arguments of that E3 is a sham and a capitalist hype machine that will shepherd all us sheep to consume. I’m not just a fan of either of those narratives personally. Instead I just want to quietly reflect on what I saw at the show in a small casual essay.

                                                    

            This reflection is mostly one of celebration. I actually enjoyed this year’s festivities quite a bit. I didn’t really know what to look forward to, but it resulted in the most surprising, and in my opinion, best E3 I’ve ever seen. This E3 season just felt like a time where so many people felt legitimately excited about the future of games. This was an E3 of “Miracle Grade Happenings” as I called it. The Last Guardian, Final Fantasy VII Remake, and Shenmue 3 are real. They were once legends of the seemingly decaying Japanese AAA games industry. They’d be the butt of jokes every year, but they, at least for now, are real products that are happening. Personally, I’m mostly looking forward to Final Fantasy VII’s Remake. I’ve been revisiting the original lately and it’s absolutely winning me over from my complicated negative relationship with that particular title (that I might go into detail later on). That’s not to say I dislike The Last Guardian or Shenmue 3, but those are just projects I have no personal investment in.

            That’s not to say this year’s show was just three megatons. There are also other announcements that get me really excited about finally buying into this “Next Generation” of gaming. Like I said in my earlier piece, Halo 5, Gears of War 1: Ultimate Edition and Gears of War 4 are games that were there on the Microsoft side that I am very excited about. Sony of course showed off The Last Guardian, but also showed products like Horizon: Zero Dawn that I feel have potential. Nintendo held their Nintendo World Championships which was a blast cheering on Cosmo along with other favorite speedrunners. Also, Nintendo finally showed us Star Fox: Zero, which originally I had little interest in until I saw it in motion and it reminded me of Star Fox: Assault, the only Star Fox game I personally enjoyed. Platinum Games being on the Star Fox project also helps instill confidence in that game as well. Bethesda showed off Fallout 4 which I have a lot of mixed feelings about but ultimately I am pretty excited for it. Electronic Arts brought Mass Effect: Andromeda, Mirror’s Edge: Catalyst, Star Wars: Battlefront, and that adorable Unravel presentation. Square-Enix, along with the Final Fantasy VII Remake bomb, brought with them a new Kingdom Hearts III gameplay trailer and a Nier sequel of all things developed by Platinum Games of all people. Even Ubisoft had… well… that sword fighting game has some potential, I hope.

            Also, this was a BIG E3 for women in games. There were lots of women protagonists representing in full force this year. Also, Link wore a dress, and not even as a joke (you know like the shameful display on that Fallout 4 trailer). Come on, you cannot say no about Link wearing a dress. He looks so adorable. I am so happy. It seems that perhaps the silent AAA industry is actually listening to us lowly bloggers, journalist, and feminists looking for better representation. They still have a long way to go, but at least we’re on this track.

            Overall, this was a really fun E3 to watch. I watch a ton of hours of Street Fighter V on stream. Nintendo brought back their Treehouse show which was just a blast to watch. I feel a huge amount of optimism after this show about the AAA game industry, or at least the games they are putting out. I feel this optimism is something that a lot of us needed. Video games have been rough lately. I’m glad that we at least had a brief moment of celebration and optimism for the future.

Industry Ramble: Inevitible Pre-E3 Hype Piece

           I’ve been having a hard time writing on this blog. Not that I don’t have anything to say, just I hold myself to an impossible standard and never get anything done. Maybe what could help me is to just relax and write up some more casual pieces.

            …And what better time to casually write about videogames than E3!

            Are you excited? Do you “Believe the Hype”? Are you ready for the Superbowl of business men trying to sell you videogames? Are you ready for buzzword filled speeches written by a madlib, delivered by mediocre actors or business men little charisma? Are you ready to be led through the AAA game industry hype cycle like the sheep that you are?

I kid, I’m excited for E3. Honestly, probably more excited than I am for most E3s. Almost entirely because for the first time since probably middle school I have no idea what to expect. That’s likely a positive side effect from lessening my focus of games reading about the big AAA releases and the ongoing trends in the industry. I haven’t kept my ear obsessively to ground for leaks and rumors. Instead I’ve been spending more time reading more critical pieces on games and… well, actually playing games.

So what am I excited for E3? Nothing, or more accurately I have nothing I am particularly looking forward to seeing in the show since I don’t really know what to expect. There will inevitably be news about the big AAA games that are there every year. I look forward to seeing what Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, Halo 5, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS, and others have to offer. Of course there are always the favorite developers to look for as well. Excited to hear if Platinum or Square Enix have any big surprises for us (especially considering they seem to be saying that FFXV and Scalebound won’t have a major presence this year).

If I have any worries going into this year’s E3, it’s that I’m worried this will be The Year of VR. Not that I dislike VR, but it seems to be the big new “gimmick” that the industry is pushing. I could go on about how I’m skeptical of that ever catching on, but that’s a whole other exhaustive topic. I am just worried that we’re going to see a repeat of the motion control push but with VR headsets. Not that, again, I dislike either or think they are equivalent, but that its going to take up to majority of the show. Also, wow is it really difficult to present to a stage audience with their naked eyes the joys of VR, maybe even harder than trying to act out motion controls. At the time of writing this, the Pre-E3 Oculus Conference has already passed, and that was a pretty cringe worthy impression of things to come.

Of course there’s also specifically which conferences I’m interested in seeing. Typically I tend to really go out of my way to catch The Big Three, but I’ll catch the others if I’m not busy at the time. The only one of the “side” conferences I have a lot interest in is the Square Enix conference, but sadly it’s overlapped with Nintendo’s Digital Event.

Sony

Sad to say Sony is the conference I’m the least excited for, and mostly because Sony has the least to offer me. Sony doesn’t have the wealth of properties like Nintendo or the favorite new age IPs like Microsoft holds for me. It’s a shame because the PS4 and the Vita are probably the BEST consoles of their markets, but they just don’t have the pull of exclusivity for me that the others have. I’m sure Final Fantasy XV, Kingdom Hearts III, and Persona 5 will run their best on a PS4, but the slight difference in resolution is just not enough to get me on board with Sony. A bummer considering they won so much good will when they choose to side with consumers with the various next gen console scandals from a while back, but sadly I don’t buy consoles on good will or hardware specs. Also, ironic that Microsoft got dragged through the mud for talking up TV a while back, but last year Sony spent so much of their conference time talking about services and that POWERS PS Plus exclusive show which just doesn’t hold any interest for me. I WANT Sony to prove me wrong though. I WANT their console more than the competition. I’m even holding a PS4 controller RIGHT NOW… that I use on PC to play emulators with. I’m not sure what to expect or what exactly I want, but please just make me want to buy these consoles because I will… eventually… when I have money (I need a job).

Microsoft

Previously the villain to Sony’s hero, or the heel to Sony’s face, Microsoft is a company and the Xbone (yes I still call it that even as I search for deals to buy the damn thing) is a console that I have such mixed complicated feelings about. There’s a lot of mistrust, but also optimism I feel around Microsoft, and I likely buy into the latter because they have Halo, Gears of War, and a new game by Platinum (which is apparently going to be a no show sadly). Even the way I came into owning an Xbox for the first time was a complicated situation of mixed feelings. I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas one year because the Nintendo Wii was too rare and the PS3 was outrageously expensive. With Microsoft I pretty much know what I want. I’m already sold on the console because I hunger to put that Spartan armor on after a leave of absence. I want to see Halo 5 and hopefully the new Gears of War. I hope they are good like their predecessors I enjoyed so much, but also fresh new experiences all their own. Other than the big two shooters on the box I’m not sure what else exactly I want, but likely that will be enough for me. I’m already sold on getting an Xbox One, but make me much more excited for the eventual purchase. Also, please don’t be nearly as embarrassing as you have been in the past. I want to own an Xbone, but I also don’t want it to feel like I’m making a pact with a demon… the capitalist kind, not the cool kind with magic powers.

Nintendo

To no one’s surprise, Nintendo is once again the odd duck this year. Once again they are hosting a pre-recorded Digital Event instead of a big bombastic stage show. I have mixed feelings on that topic specifically, but at the very least it still gets across the same news and like I’d ever be able to see these shows live anyway. Nintendo is also hosting yet another big tournament at E3, though this time a reboot of the Nintendo World Championships instead of a Smash event. I suppose this is Nintendo trying to understand the concept of eSports or other competitive games, which outside of maybe Pokémon, they have a difficult time understanding (then again Nintendo has a difficult time understanding anything current). Honestly I had very little interest in this competition when it was announced, but then they announced that the competition will include newer games instead of just NES classics including the new and exciting Splatoon. Also, they invited a few special guests to compete that happens to be another competitive game scene that Nintendo has been almost historically opposed to, the Speedrun Community. Well, there’s also a few YouTubers thrown in the mix because of course (also an extremely ironic choice since Nintendo handles that scene poorly as well). Not sure if this will be as good as the Smash tournament last year, but at the very least I’m excited for it. Oh yeah… there’s also games to be announced… that’s a thing that happens at E3. Well, at the very least I like that they have a separate event pre-E3 scheduled to get the inevitable Smash news out of the way. Guess there will be more time during the Digital Event for other things. Though what won’t be there is the new Zelda revealed last year. There’s a bit of trend of these publishers announcing that they’re not showing their most anticipated properties at these shows. Still that’s yet another inevitable announcement that won’t be eating up the clock at the Digital Event. I look forward to being surprised. I’m already sold on their consoles considering I already own a 3DS and a still unopened copy of W101 that I bought new because I just could not ignore a Platinum game that released on my birthday (I wish I could just open and play the damn thing already).

Wow that short little write up became really huge after I got started. Maybe I can do this writing thing after all.