E3 2012 thoughts?

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Hobchild

623 posts

Ultimate Geek

#103370 6-Jun-2012 00:06

Well so far I have to say I'm pretty disappointed with E3 this year. I'll break down what I think are the highlights so far.

Beyond: Two Souls grabbed my attention more than anything else mainly because it was probably the only game I hadn't heard of. Although very little was shown it was exciting to know that Quantic Dream (the makers of Heavy Rain) have finally come out of the shadows with some new IP. If the gameplay is similar to that of Heavy Rain I'll be very happy although I have a feeling Quantic Dream will try and crank it up a notch.

The Last of Us looks great, it looks like the story will grab you as you are playing instead of the old kill a few bad guys, cut scene, kill some more bad guys, cut scene, solve a puzzle, cut scene etc etc. Oh and I will add rather violent, which isn't really a bad thing is it?

Assassins Creed 3's warship battles looked promising, it's good that they've introduced something new and innovative to the series as I was a bit worried it would be the same ol' with some different weapons in a different time/country.

Watch Dogs looks interesting. At first while watching the trailer I was getting pretty bored but then zang all the action started and it made all the boring stuff at the start suddenly seem quite interesting. Looks like a game that will require a bit of thinking which I really like. Will be keeping a watchful eye on this one (get it?)

And some of the low points...

Smartglass. At first I was like this will be MS's answer to the Wii U controller but sadly it sounds like an app for your phone/tablet nothing great there really.

Wonderbook. Ok I get that it's aimed at kids and hardcore Potter fans and it'll probably take off because of that, but it couldn't possibly hold my interest for long at all. Could you even consider this a game? Another stupid Move gimmick IMO.

The so so's...

God of War: Ascension and Gears of War: Judgement will both probably be awesome but there's nothing really new there. Sure there'll be tweaks here and there but both of these presentations were just new games of old series. Where is my God of War Move game where I throw my arms around like I'm having a seizure trying to pull off Kratos' combos and the Kinect integration with Gears where I grab my grenade from behind my back and lob it at the enemies while still blindfiring from behind cover huh?

Oh apologies for not mentioning Halo 4 I've never played any of the previous Halo's so all I can say is it looks alright.

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395 posts

Ultimate Geek

#636653 6-Jun-2012 13:25

Agree on most of what you've said. Ubisoft is the stand out for the second year in a row. AC3, Watch Dog, FarCry 3 are the games I'm most looking forward to. I missed Microsofts show and have yet to read up on what they are bringing out apart from Black Ops 2 and Halo (both of which I don't play). I didn't get much out of Sonys performance either apart from the fact they are working closely with Ubisoft of a bunch of games.

I had heard before E3 started that this year will be a bit of a nothing year. Next year should bring out the best of Microsoft/Sony (re new consoles).

Web development blog: http://www.devhour.net
Follow me on twitter: @JAGracie

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#636812 6-Jun-2012 17:15

Watch Dogs looks very impressive, and The Last of Us should be interesting, "I am alive" kinda reminded me of what I've seen previously, but given how much fun the Uncharted games are, I'm very much looking forward to this.

Everything else? Meh.

@KnightNZ

Hobchild

623 posts

Ultimate Geek

#636863 6-Jun-2012 18:21

No new hardware makes for a boring E3 alright. However it's good to see a few new titles on the way instead of every new game being a sequel.

D1023319

524 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#637281 7-Jun-2012 12:52

looks like Microoft Smart Glass could be a major

am looking forward to browisng web on xbox 360 as we already use it as media extender

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/426734/xbox_smartglass_what_we_know_far/?fp=4&fpid=399285820

the other features look pretty cool too

Hobchild

623 posts

Ultimate Geek

#637351 7-Jun-2012 14:54

D1023319: looks like Microoft Smart Glass could be a major

am looking forward to browisng web on xbox 360 as we already use it as media extender

http://www.arnnet.com.au/article/426734/xbox_smartglass_what_we_know_far/?fp=4&fpid=399285820

the other features look pretty cool too

That sounds a little more impressive than I had initially thought. Though I'll expect it to drip out very slowly, only being available on Windows phones/tablets for a start and probably only the flagship phones at that.

I am quite interested to see what IE on the Xbox will be like as well. Will it be as good as it is on a PC or will it be like a smart TV's watered down browsers? Time will tell.

D1023319

524 posts

Ultimate Geek

ID Verified

#637363 7-Jun-2012 15:12

I wish I had more risk money. I was reading about hiding your IP to use Xbox to access Netflix.

Anyway heres another interesting E3 article - interview with microsoft on their plans for 360 seen as people are expecting a hardware update to 720.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/06/microsoft-top-xbox-360-man-talks-next-generation

I admit to being confused by first para which says
"We want to know why Microsoft came to E3 without showing us anything of its next-gen system, which is currently with developers."

Does this mean that are developing new hardware?

stevenz

2802 posts

Uber Geek

#637380 7-Jun-2012 15:31

They're definitely developing something, devs need to have at least a guideline of what the hardware is going to be a couple of years out from any release so they can have an idea of what to start developing for, and hopefully they should expect proper dev hardware at least a year beforehand. Huge NDA's abound of course so odds of much information making it out is pretty remote.

Sony keep saying they expect a 10 year life cycle for the PS3, but 6 years is a pretty good run really, both systems are getting on a bit now, especially relative to the specs of a even fairly moderately powered PC. Even the PS Vita isn't far behind the 360\PS3 in terms of processing power, and that's a handheld.

The next Gears of War, Halo 4 and the next Forza title are likely to be the last of their respective series' for this generation, the envelope has been pushed about as far as it'll go on the current hardware, announcements don't seem to be expected by anyone this year, but I would imagine either MS or Sony will have a new console out by Christmas 2013.

(All largely speculative obviously).

@KnightNZ

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gehenna

8499 posts

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#637407 7-Jun-2012 16:20

Mostly interested in The Last of Us but I'm apprehensive after the way Dead Island looked fantastic in their media but really wasn't good for gameplay or originality.

Star Wars 1313 also looks interesting to me - about time there was a mature Star Wars game.

Hobchild

623 posts

Ultimate Geek

#637450 7-Jun-2012 17:31

gehenna: Mostly interested in The Last of Us but I'm apprehensive after the way Dead Island looked fantastic in their media but really wasn't good for gameplay or originality.

Star Wars 1313 also looks interesting to me - about time there was a mature Star Wars game.

Yeah and don't forget about all the hype Brink got as well. But I think it will be better just because it's developed by Naughty Dog. Though I have to admit I'm a lot more excited about Beyond: Two Souls as with Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream introduced a totally different gaming experience.

As for Star Wars: 1313 I'll wait and see with this one as I was mostly underwhelmed by The Force Unleashed. Once again it looked great but was just so-so once it came out.

zaptor

745 posts

Ultimate Geek

#637974 8-Jun-2012 18:15

Mainly interested in seeing what the Wii U had to offer.

Don't really think Nintendo can pull off another mindshare coup like they did with the original Wii (although, wouldn't surprise too much if they could).

The primary hardware seemed okay (not as hobbled as rumored elsewhere thankfully). Not sure about that GamePad though.

Blazher

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#644129 21-Jun-2012 08:43

I look forward to the event each year, But this year I was so let down.

A part from the above games, nothing really stands out.

I also believe E3 wont be in LA next year.

crackrdbycracku

1168 posts

Uber Geek

#644236 21-Jun-2012 12:44

Kingy: Next year should bring out the best of Microsoft/Sony (re new consoles).

I think this, and in the case of MS Win8, about sum it up.

It's not so bad considering console platforms last about 10 years or so before you have to buy the next one.

It is the usual thing of trying to sell us stuff which we all know will soon be 'so last year'. Pity as the best games for consoles usually come at the end of the run.

My personal bugbear is that nobody has yet come up with a must own Kinect game. I want either Street Fighter Kinect or Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Kinect. Oh, well, maybe next year.

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

Kingy

395 posts

Ultimate Geek

#644245 21-Jun-2012 13:15

crackrdbycracku:
Kingy: Next year should bring out the best of Microsoft/Sony (re new consoles).

I think this, and in the case of MS Win8, about sum it up.

It's not so bad considering console platforms last about 10 years or so before you have to buy the next one.

It is the usual thing of trying to sell us stuff which we all know will soon be 'so last year'. Pity as the best games for consoles usually come at the end of the run.

My personal bugbear is that nobody has yet come up with a must own Kinect game. I want either Street Fighter Kinect or Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing Kinect. Oh, well, maybe next year.

I don't think Win8 will have much to do at E3 unless of course they show off how it can interact with Xbox Live or what not.

And I def agree with what you're saying about Kinect. A lot of the games feel as though they are demos. A good start but a whole lot more to add.

I'm really into my sports games and have played the s*** out of Kinect Sports season 1 and 2. What sucks about them is the fact the sports themselves last all of 2 minutes with very limited features. Take the soccer for example. I would like to see it expanded so you can play entire seasons/longer games/higher range of passing and shooting etc (I'm imagining Fifa 12 fully controlled by Kinect here).

I'm hoping as the technology gets better so will the interactions with the games.

Web development blog: http://www.devhour.net
Follow me on twitter: @JAGracie

Regs

4066 posts

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Snowflake

#644288 21-Jun-2012 15:00

following the news?

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/xbox-360/generation-xbox-preview-143462

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Hobchild

623 posts

Ultimate Geek

#644393 21-Jun-2012 17:50

Regs: following the news?

http://www.winsupersite.com/article/xbox-360/generation-xbox-preview-143462

As much as I hope this is the direction that they (and Sony) are moving in, there are just some things that don't add up. One, they referred to it as the Xbox 720, as stated in that article they wouldn't even use that as a codename. Two, the price, $299? I don't think so, they are missing a digit. Reading the supposed specs on this Super Xbox puts my PC to shame.

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