This is the E3 of Europe more or less. There's been some news thus far, although I think most of the new stuff starts tomorrow. So expect lots of new trailers, screens, info, etc., throughout the week. EA had a press conference today. I missed it, but don't think it was any good (guess FIFA 13 and some other stuff). Sony had their conference (they're the only one of the big 3 with a presence at this event usually). It was actually OK. A lot more Vita stuff than what was at E3. Not saying a lot of great stuff, but seems like maybe they learned a bit from the reactions at E3. Highlight of Vita stuff was probably Media Molecule's new game, Tearaway: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NK6_QvdxyXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Some other Vita announcements included a Killzone game, PS1 games (finally...yes, I'm excited about this), and the CoD Vita game, which was finally shown off in game form. I thought it looked terrible, but I think that about all CoD games pretty much. Didn't help that it followed a new "Last of Us" trailer. They also finally got some sense, and announced a "Cross Buy" program, where you basically get both the PS3 and Vita version of the game with the same purchase. Don't think they really said much about it (PS All Stars and a few other games I'm forgetting support it), but would be nice if they embrace this going forward (and by embrace, I don't mean charge $80 for the combo). Had a couple of other Vita things, but mostly minor stuff IMO. No price cut or anything though. Still...better than what they had at E3 I guess. Was some new PS3/PSN games. I probably liked "Puppeteer" most: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/0GECUR5Wgyc" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Other games look interesting, although not sure if they'll actually be any good (e.g., Under Dawn is a Move game which looks like a bad B-Horror movie...complete with bad acting and couch-makeout sessions). But like the Vita, no news on a price cut or redesign (even though a Slim Slim seems ready to go at this point). No Gaikai stuff (guess expected). Not much else shown...except more awesome Wonderbook stuff. Here's a NeoGAF link that wraps up all the stuff, and has links to everything for more info/media: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=486856 Not sure if this is officially a GC reveal (think it is), but an interesting multiplatform game: <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FMyQlnnxXuk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> I think I shared a leaked GIF of this back at E3.
Also, absolutely nothing to do with GC, but I'm posting it here anyway (guess it could go in Kickstarter thread): http://www.gamemusic.net/interview.php?id=3373
Some new trailers: Spoiler <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/7nDWUL1z-bk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1CU687VjXWo" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/FKGXtm02zBE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/nqqMt41dhOE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iaqOAEzWyf0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5w_AZ5GTojY" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/d9XrsWUO9sw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> The last trailer is for a game called Routine. Think only 3 guys right now are working on it, so who knows if it will end up being any good (or even releasing), but I thought it looked interesting. Also has permadeath.
Metal Gear Rising looks terrible. Star Wars is my **** so that looks amazing. Assassins Creed: Thought it was a native character called Conner or something? When did it become some girl? I hate seeing girls kicking ass. Will take me completely out of the game.
That's the Vita Assassin's Creed game, which is a standalone game. I actually wasn't paying attention and posted it, thinking it was the console game.
Well the trailer looks interesting anyway, though laughing at the floppy disk. :grin: The video for Rayman Legends makes me wonder how the Wii U will be received. I, for one, really don't like the look of it. I suppose they think that cell phone gamers used to dragging their fingers across a touchscreen as an input will be right at home... but to me, I wouldn't really like having two completely separate types of input at the same time. I feel like it would take away from immersion, and just generally be annoying and feel like too much work. Come to think of it, I haven't been this un-excited for new gaming systems in... err... ever. The 3DS, well... I just don't care about 3D. The Vita? Woulda gotten that sucker on launch day if they'd had any sort of way at all to play my old UMD PSP games on Vita (such as discounts on the digital versions for proving I already own them, at worst). Lacking that, I just don't care enough. As I said above, Wii U looks centered around a dumb gimmick that I don't care for. As for PS4 & Xbox 720, meanwhile, I keep hearing stuff about them exterminating the used games market, and even tying a game to a particular user account so that I couldn't even buy a game disc, and let a different user account in the same household use it. Give me a break. And on top of all that, I don't think it'll be as big of a graphical jump as it was when we last got new systems.
Didn't watch that one before, but now that I have, got to agree. Sorta shocking the extent to which it appears to have been turned into a Devil May Cry Wannabe, rather than a Metal Gear Solid game.
That's the best part. I've started to get excited, but only just recently. Started to see some next-gen technology (both software and hardware), which has been fun (love this stuff). Still, it is quite a bit below previous transitions. Although there is one thing that excites me. New consoles being released means that Atlus might be ready to finally release a HD Persona game (or any SMT RPG game I guess). Persona 4 Arena doesn't count, although I admit the story in Arena excited me much more than I expected (mostly due to implied connections between the Persona games, and what could happen in a future game...though I might still prefer starting fresh...either way). It just occurred to me that a HD SMT title might be released before Versus. The joke that keeps on giving. You might already know this (you more or less described it exactly), but I think SCEJ had a program like this for the Vita. They didn't bring it to NA and Europe due to less demand, or some BS like that. Guess they could do this, but not sure they're ready to cutoff Gamestop and others. I figure they'll just continue to strongly push digital distribution, but still allow for the same old, same old with the retail market. Then again, I might have thought $60 games was just wild speculation. I agree, although I think some are starting to set their expectations too low as well. The tech demos/games shown already are considerably better than 360/PS3 games, and I'd expect actual PS4/720 games to look much better later on down the road (maybe imagine we're getting an early look at Uncharted 1 now vs getting Uncharted 3 in a few years). Some pretty interesting hardware configurations out there, though it remains to be seen how aggressive Sony and MS will be with their new boxes. I think it seemed kind of interesting with their first demos. If I'm not mistaken, at that time, it was still developed internally. Then I guess they figured out their idea didn't work out, so they could get Platinum Games to make Bayonetta 2 featuring Raiden and crew. Konami is a mess. Lucky they still have Kojima. Seems they're hoping the Fox Engine catches on. (Bitter Silent Hill fan) I'm having more fun pretending I'm a bigwig exec, getting regular updates from Tim Schafer, Jane Jensen, Brian Fargo, etc., regarding the status of the latest game I'm funding. These new consoles/games can't compete with that.
I have to admit that I've read a few articles about the Unreal 4 Engine, and that makes me a bit excited for the future. Not so much that it looks prettier... more because it sounds so much more user-friendly, that maybe developers will spend more time actually coming up with good gameplay ideas rather than spending all their time making things pretty. Yep, I read all about it awhile back. Just makes me shake my head. Why wouldn't they do it? It's an opportunity to get big gamers like me to give them more money for things I already own, besides getting me to buy the Vita itself, which would mean they would get yet more money from selling me Vita games. The only semi-logical reason I can think of was that as UMDs don't have unique identifiers, they were afraid that a bunch of people would just share their games with their friends so they can all buy them at a steep discount. Except of course, that that really isn't logical. PSP games are old enough that anyone who wanted to buy them already has, so there really aren't any sales to lose! Only lots of money to be made for practically zero effort on Sony's part! I'm probably just an odd relic in this respect, but I just really don't like the move towards digital distribution for gaming. Or, like, anything really. Here's the example that always pops in my head... think this was for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2. There was DLC to unlock Juggernaut, and some other people (but who really cares about the other people). Well, they removed it from the store after a paltry few months. Something about the fees they have to pay to Sony to have the DLC up in the store or something. Anyway, there was enough of an uproar that they did put it back in the store for a few months... and then took it down again. Long story short, stuff I bought can be arbitrarily made unavailable for me to ever use again. Sure it's on my system, but I have no way to back that DLC up or anything. Since DRM for the PS3 is tied to the motherboard, when my PS3 eventually dies, that content is just gone forever. That bothers me. Don't get me wrong... don't think I even own Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 anymore. It's not that I'm that crazy about that individual game. Take Diablo 3 as well. You always have to be connected! So not only am depending on my internet to work in order to play something I should be able to play offline, I'm also depending on their servers not to be so laggy that it won't kill my character. And if I arbitrarily decide I want to play Diablo 3 again in 20 years, who's to say they haven't shut off the servers? However unlikely that may be, shouldn't I be able to if I want to? What happened to the days when I bought a game, on a disc, and 1) all the game's content was on the disc, and 2) I OWNED the game?
Yeah, that's a good point. Japanese developers in particular struggled this last generation. With huge improvements in middleware and next-gen hardware that seems to be much more dev-friendly (at least with Sony's machine...MS consoles are always really good), should free up resources (relatively speaking) for developers to focus on things that actually matter. Still going to need to devote a lot to asset creation and all that, but nice to see these improvements. The fact they'd do this in Japan, but not elsewhere is what seems odd to me. That implies to me that it is technically possible, publishers could be on board, etc., but for some other reason, they kept it in Japan. I guess they felt they needed a certain amount of sales with this program in order to justify it for NA/EU games (not necessarily $0 costs to setup things I guess?), and Japan was the only market they felt that supported the PSP strongly enough to justify "wasting" resources on such a program. I guess. Like I said, BS. I heartily embrace digital distribution, but only if it makes sense. You've listed all the abuses of such a program. That's no good. I guess one good thing about physical media is it prevents some abuse from publishers. Offline play in general does that. If you can't release a patch or DLC 3 weeks after release, maybe you'll spend a little more time polishing the game instead of releasing a turd. Patches and DLC can be good, but also are abused, giving us problems we didn't have in previous generations. And I don't even want to discuss Diablo 3 (really disappointed with Blizzard here...don't think I'll even bother playing the game at this point). DD does have a lot of benefits though. Can get access to a lot of content that normally wouldn't be available at retail (I remember being very surprised at being able to get Xenogears Myth on iTunes shortly after it released in Japan; that would normally be a Japan-only release). Lot of Kickstarter projects that likely wouldn't be possible without DD. IMO, DD should provide games for cheap (say $40 at launch, often <$20 after 9-12 months or so). Should be able to play the game immediately at release (preload data, ala Steam/GOG/etc.). Should be able to "play" it anywhere (to varying degrees...I'm good with how Steam does it). DLC should be free, not something you use to nickel and dime your fans (DLC itself is actually a great marketing tool if done right). Some DRM is OK, but nothing crazy (can play offline and all that). Ideally no DRM though. Publishers should still release physical copies of their games, but make them special. Put lots of awesome stuff with it. Great manuals, boxes, etc. Basically, do everything CD Projekt does. Treat gamers right and make a lot of money doing it. For me, any publisher that strays from what they've done, that's just one more reason for me not to buy their game.
"Sandbox" gameplay from Beyond (cam footage sadly, but looks great): <div style="background-color:#000000;width:776px;"><div style="padding:4px;"><iframe src="http://media.mtvnservices.com/embed/mgid:arc:video:gametrailers.com:7db6e02b-46a6-4bab-81a4-5f052f452a62" width="768" height="432" frameborder="0"></iframe><p style="text-align:left;background-color:#FFFFFF;padding:4px;margin-top:4px;margin-bottom:0px;font-family:Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;font-size:12px;"><b><a href="http://www.gametrailers.com/games/uwvkez/beyond--two-souls">Beyond: Two Souls</a></b></p></div></div>
