DIGITISER
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ

MY EXCITING E3 PREVIEW - by Mr Biffo

7/6/2016

3 Comments

 
Picture
America's Electronic Entertainment Expo is 21 years old this year. And now this: whatever.

I never got to go to it, he says, pouting. Teletext would never have coughed up the funds, and Digitiser was never friendly enough with the right sorts of PR people to get them to pay for a jolly. But let's face it - you don't need to go to E3 to get the E3 news pumped into your thighs.

In the wake of that first E3, we learned that Sony had unveiled its PlayStation, Nintendo had revealed its Virtual Boy, while Sega dropped a soft egg on the industry - making the surprise announcement that its Saturn would be released in the USA that very day, several Proud Jeremies ahead of schedule. Which, as history records, went really well for them...

For this year's E3 - kicking off next week - evidence seems to be pointing towards left-of-field hardware reveal-ohs from Sony and Microsoft, though they're unlikely to be on the scale of Sega's historic bombshell. Unfortunately, there's not much else to get excited about: the big games that we're expecting are mostly all sequels, or tread well-worn paths.

Many of them are likely to be good, but in terms of what's going to get me excited... I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the unexpected. Lest we forget, last year's E3 gave us The Last Guardian, Shenmue 3, and the Final Fantasy VII remake. Although it'd be nice if we got some this year that I actually cared about. Still, here's a quick run down of the games and things I'm semi-looking forward to hearing more about.
Picture
RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2
RDR2 - a droid - isn't confirmed, but it is strongly rumoured, following the supposed leak of map artwork earlier this year. IF it is announced at E3, it'll be the first game from Rockstar to be developed for the current gen systems, which in itself is reason enough to rub oneself with a frond.

Also: Red Dead Redemption was really, really good. The big challenge is in whether it'll offer enough that's new, after RDR pretty much managed to comprehensively lick every Wild West cliche imaginable... including the one about putting a sticky marlin under a tarp.
Picture
NINTENDO
Well now. We all know a new Zelda is on the way - for both the Wii U and the mysterious Nintendo NX. Unfortunately, after Star Fox Zero I've become a little more wary of Nintendo. If they can burst the balls of a franchise as important as that, it's entirely conceivable that they could slip another plumb into their mighty "fool's vice".

Hopefully they won't - but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that New Zelda isn't bogged down with those little Nintendo idiosyncrasies. Nintendo is like that person you know who "Would be a really nice guy, if he wasn't always so weird". You know: the co-worker who promises to come to your birthday party, and then just doesn't show up, and when you go into work on the Monday he just acts normal, and never even mentions the party. 

Also a worry is the level of anticipation and hype surrounding Zelda, and whether any game could ever be capable of living up to it.

What would be ideal is if Nintendo had something else down its trousers to whip out - something which took the pressure and focus off of Zelda. Pokemon Sun and Moon are going to be part of its presentation, but that franchise has become as predictable and clockwork as... well, a clockwork machine that reveals the words "the Sun and the Moon" at the same time every day, while emitting a rowdy parp. Needless. Sad.
Picture
TITANFALL 2
I liked Titanfall. It was an under appreciated gem of an online shooter, with its big exo-robots and little men. It was, alas, short on content - and even its fans rightly decried the lack of a proper single-player mode.

A Titanfall 2 with a campaign is something I could anticipate liking even more than I like this noise: trrrrr-oooo-sssshhhhh-ffff! It might also give the series the leg up that it deserves - and it'll no doubt help that it's coming out for the PS4, rather than being another Xbox One exclusive. Nobody wants that, except for Xbox One owners, who are famously the most terrible people on earth. 
Picture
WATCH DOGS 2
The first Watch Dogs was like a neutered Grand Theft Auto, and widely mocked for it. However, I didn't hate it, and it clearly sold well enough for Ubisoft to slip a sequel into its development oven.

The idea at the heart of the concept - using hacking as a sort of environmental weapon - was pretty solid. Its car chases in particular were splendid fun: employing your phone to hack into the city's infrastructure, to sabotage your pursuers. 

If they've found a way to inject a bit of character and humour into the story - and set it in a more compelling city than Chicago (supposedly, it'll take place in San Francisco: The Gayest Capital of the World) - it would go a long way. There's a strong enough central gameplay conceit that it deserves to be given a chance. Unfortunately, it'll probably be laboured with the same tired Ubisoft map n' missions structure that every open world game feels compelled to copy.
Picture
DISHONORED 2
Dishonored was pretty good, even though I failed utterly to be as stealthy as the game required; they wanted me to stick to the shadows like a cat, where in reality I was like a distressed fox thrashing around in a bin. Also, I got badly stuck very near the end, and never finished it. 

Dishonored 2 is confirmed for later this year, but the specifics have yet to emerge... beyond there being some sort of new skills tree. If that's the sort of thing that gets you excited then, y'know, good for you. But hey - steampunk, magic, and stealth. It's a mix almost as potent as a trough full of mogadons and dugong milk.
Picture
YOOKA-LAYLEE
I wasn't a massive fan of Banjo-Kazooie... but I wasn't a fan of Ratchet & Clank either - and ended up loving the recent next-gen reimagining, simply because it felt fresh and new in a market bogged down with identikit urban shooters and fantasy guff-fests.

Consequently, in the wake of R&C I'm properly looking forward to Yooka-Laylee - basically a brightly-coloured Banjo-Kazooie reboot in all but name. Hopefully it'll be like getting hit in the face with a rainbow, while dressed like some ludicrous harlequin.
Picture
PLAYSTATION VR
We know that PlayStation VR will launch in October. What we don't know is exactly what we're going to be playing on it, or whether Sony's going to release a beefed-up PS4 to give it some extra welly.

It's probably fair to say that VR hasn't exactly exploded into a mainstream pursuit, in the wake of the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive launches. We might have to wait for Sony to get involved in order for that to happen. That is... if it happens in the way that Sony wants.

The biggest concern is that the PSVR simply doesn't connect with punters, and becomes an unsupported peripheral like all the unsupported peripherals we've seen over the years - from light guns to the Kinect to that special bonnet Sega released, which dripped mushed clams down the wearer's back.

That said, while I've long been a Virtual Reality sceptic, I would be very happy to be proven wrong. Prove me wrong, Sony. I dare ye.
Picture
MICROSOFT
Some sort of hardware announcement is rumoured to be spilling forth from the Microsoft news-nozzle at E3. A smaller Xbox One or some sort of VR-style device seem to be the likeliest bets. 

Also: Gears of War 4, Halo Wars 2, Dead Rising 4, and State of Decay 2. None of which get me particularly frothy, but I shall be watching the Microsoft press conference while sat astride my sceptic's stool, waiting for them to kick it out from beneath me.
FROM THE ARCHIVE:
HOW WILL THE BREXIT AFFECT VIDEO GAMES?
GAMES OF MY YEARS: ROLE-PLAYING
WHY I'M WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING - BY MR BIFFO

3 Comments
Spiney O'Sullivan
7/6/2016 03:27:37 pm

So when Ubisoft said "we're taking a year off Assassin's Creed", they actually meant "we're going to release a game where a guy in a long coat runs around a city uncovering a map".

Ubisoft should get a new motto. I suggest something appropriately French: "Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose..."

Reply
AcidBeard
7/6/2016 03:40:39 pm

"I shall be watching the Microsoft press conference while sat astride my sceptic's stool"


Tee hee.

I need to get myself a new sceptic. Mine guards his turds with dragon like vigilance.

Reply
mlpr
7/6/2016 10:57:09 pm

I actually told someone today that I would go to their party next weekend, but I have no intention of going. It is so much easier to say you will go and then just not go. I have done it a bunch of times and I didn't think it a big deal.
Is this why nobody likes me?

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    This section will not be visible in live published website. Below are your current settings:


    Current Number Of Columns are = 2

    Expand Posts Area =

    Gap/Space Between Posts = 12px

    Blog Post Style = card

    Use of custom card colors instead of default colors = 1

    Blog Post Card Background Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Shadow Color = current color

    Blog Post Card Border Color = current color

    Publish the website and visit your blog page to see the results

    Picture
    Support Me on Ko-fi
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    RSS Feed Widget
    Picture

    Picture
    Tweets by @mrbiffo
    Picture
    Follow us on The Facebook

    Picture

    Archives

    December 2022
    May 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    November 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • MAIN PAGE
  • Features
  • Videos
  • Game Reviews
  • FAQ