E3 2012 | Who Wins When Everyone Loses?

At this very second, at the LA Convention Centre in Los Angeles, America, E3 is occurring.

Or is it?

Well, yes. Yes it is. But I think it's safe to say the best bits are behind us. There are sure to be a couple of other announcements in the days to come, but - these days, at least - the Electronic Entertainment Expo is all about the press conferences, so for me and the myriad millions whose only involvement in this annual extravaganza is which site we stream 'em from, the show's as good as over.

And what a show it was! :)

Actually, no. I'm pulling your leg again. It was rubbish. Last night I stayed up till an ungodly hour to polish off the press conferences I'd missed live, but if I'd known then what I know now... let's just say I kinda wish I'd went to bed instead.

But the show must go on! Indeed, it even had highlights.

I suppose I should know better by now, after decades of disappointment, but I had high hopes for Nintendo's presser this year. I mean, they were - and they are - the only one of the three hardware manufactures with a forthcoming console to show.

But the Wii U didn't demo very well, and the 3DS was hardly involved in Nintendo's conference at all. Speaking of: I still don't own one, but before E3 I was on the brink of buying in. Not so much now, unless they're saving a secret Legend of Zelda for some later date.

Moving onwards, if not necessarily upwards: Microsoft.

First, an admission of guilt. Most of the video games I play, I play on the Xbox 360. What can I say? I'm a sucker for achievements; Xbox Live is my go-to for online gaming; and occasionally, Xbox Live Arcade spits out something simply magnificent. If I could own only one console, it'd be my 360.

So when I sat down to watch Microsoft's conference, I was primed for awesomesauce. I got... well, a bunch of games that I'll certainly play, come the day. But that was never a question. What I wanted was a surprise, and there wasn't one.

That said, Halo 4 looks pretty impressive. I hadn't imagined that 343 Studios could possibly trump Bungie, but the Forerunner weapons alone got me all kinds of excited - more than I have been for a Halo game since I supposedly finished the fight - and I can't wait to try my hands at the neat new combat scenarios the demo delivered.

So there was that.

But if anyone won E3 this year, it was Sony, surely. I don't remember much about what happened between their first and final demo, but those two showcases alone absolutely blew me away. Further to the words we had about Kara not a week or so ago, Beyond is Quantic Dream's new project, and it looks awesome, as expected. Furthermore, it looks like it might just be more of a game than Heavy Rain, and that's got to be good.

Plus, they shaved Ellen Page.

But it was the last game Sony showed that made the ordeal of E3 this year worthwhile for me. We'd seen a little of The Last of Us in advance, but the gameplay demo was absolutely amazing.

The Last of Us is the next game to come from Naughty Dog, developers of the Uncharted series, and it shows. The encounter mechanics appear to be heavily scripted, but the sheer desperation of the scuffle between our main man - and the little lady that's tagging along with him - and a floor-full of guys with guns left me breathless. The climactic brutality, too. Sure, we only saw an isolated vertical slice of the experience entire, but if The Last of Us has a few more of those in store, it could out-innovate even Bioshock: Infinite.

Which didn't feature in any of the pressers at all, alas.

Nor did Grand Theft Auto V.

And of course nobody said anything about Half-Life 3, or Half-Life 2 Episode 3, or whatever that game is called in its current incarnation.

So never mind.

That is, unless I'm missing something major. Any suggestions?

I Tube | Kara: A Quantic Dream

Just so you know, this news is not news. It's months and months old - from way back when in March 2012 - but until very recently, I'd managed to completely miss it. Maybe you had too.

I suppose the reason I overlooked it initially was a case of crossed wires. After all, Kara purports to be a tech demo from the team at Quantic Dream — who developed Heavy Rain, one of my favourite games in recent memory. But be that as it may, I've been burned by tech demos often enough that I've taught myself to turn the other cheek when they appear... even when they come from top-notch developers, as in this case.

Kara, however, is as much a movie as it is a tech demo. A short movie, admittedly. That the whole thing's running in real-time on a PS3 is impressive, certainly, but come to Kara for the title character and the heartbreaking narrative rather than some aspirational demonstration of the quality of tomorrow's graphics or performance capture.

Kara put me in mind of nothing so much as The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang, which I reviewed here on The Speculative Scotsman a year or so ago. Set seven minutes of your grind aside and you'll surely see why:

To my mind, this so-called tech demo attests to the storytelling prowess of the creative leads at Quantic Dream at least as much as it does the engine they're building their next game with... whatever it is.

Tell you what, though... after Heavy Rain, and this minor magnificence, I have my fingers firmly crossed we'll hear more about the team's next project in a few short weeks at E3.

Which reminds me: what are you hoping to see revealed at this year's expo?

Give me Bioshock: Infinite, Half-Life 3, GTA5 and a bit of Bungie's next project, and I'll come home a happy camper.

Remember, I tube so you don't have to!

Trailer Trash | Elder Scrolled

So yesterday, I watched press conferences.

They were not, as a whole, particularly inspiring. There will be new games! Hooray! And who would have thunk it?

Sadly, most of the things I'd hoped to see were not to be. I'll admit to some excitement over the Kinect functionality Microsoft and certain third parties are baking into a select few forthcoming 360 games - primarily Ghost Recon: Future Soldier - but of the four conferences yesterday, honest to God, I think I enjoyed the Ubisoft one the most.


For Far Cry 3, the stealth-developed sequel to an open world FPS which could and should have changed the face of gaming a few years ago, but didn't; and for the next Assassin's Creed - that is to say Revelations, "the final chapter of Ezio's story," as if it hadn't already ended twice - which looked awesome... despite my misgivings about diminishing returns from studios churning out yearly sequels.

But one of the coolest bits and bobs to come out of E3 thus far wasn't at any of the press conferences - though there's still the outside chance it could feature at Nintendo's new hardware extravaganza later today. Rather, released apropos of nothing much at all, seven solid minutes of gameplay from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.


And here they are:

Can I hear a hell yeah? :)

But I Digress | Arise Electronic Three!

There are high points and low points on every gamer's calendar. Next month, for instance, the Summer slump - wherein NO VIDEO GAMES HAPPEN! - begins in earnest. Thankfully, before that, we've the other extreme to enjoy. That would be perhaps the single biggest event in gaming each and every year: the Electronic Entertainment Expo, or E3.

'Tis tres exciting. :)

And as of this moment, Electronic Three is mere hours away. I've got a review or two to polish off this afternoon... then the press conferences begin. Microsoft will be up first, then Sony, then Nintendo, with a couple of third parties occupying the spotlight between the big hitters. If you're of a mind to watch any or all of the above - and if you have the slightest affection for video games, you really, really should - there are links to the various sites which will stream you the big three here. I'll be tuning in for sure.

Anyway, we've only four hours to go till it's on (!), so consider this question strictly time-limited: 

What are you hoping to hear about from this year's E3?

To get us started, here are a couple of the things which, if and when they happen, will likely elicit a little wee from me --- I mean, uh... a little wheee.

• Batman: Arkham City. After the shocking awesomesauce of Rocksteady's first turnabout with the caped crusader, Arkham City has a lot to live up to. I fully expect it will.

• I so want Half Life 3, but that's an almighty long shot: Valve have already come out and said nuh-uh, not going to happen, and with Portal 2 only barely behind us, I suppose I can understand why they wouldn't want to steal away the limelight so soon. And yet... these guys aren't above a bit of bullshit to make a surprise all the more surprising, and a guy can still dream in this town, can't he?

• Bioshock Infinite needs to be mine. Alas, it won't be, not until well into 2012; some serious teasing is the best we can expect. But that'll do me dandy, thank you very much.

• And what's next from Rockstar? A new Grand Theft Auto? It could totally happen. I'll certainly play it when it does.

• Less likely, but still somewhat plausible: a sequel to Red Dead Redemption. Which if you're asking - let's say you are - I think should be called Red Dead Revenge.

• Meanwhile, I'd kinda like to see some sort of Call of Duty: In Space. There've been rumours of such a project forever, and I'd be interested - at the very least - to see the medium's biggest hitter head off in a more speculative direction.

• I really want to hear about Journey, the next game from Jenova Chen, which is to say the mastermind behind flOw and Flower. Alas, I fear all the pre-E3 coverage has probably squared this one away for the next while. But maybe a date?

• Oh, and while we're on the downloadable kick, I'm looking forward to hearing more about Ms. Splosion Man, Fez, and the next game from the makers of Limbo. Come on, they've had a whole year!

• Almost despite myself, I'm keen to hear about the Nintendo's new home console. And Microsoft and Sony could start hinting about their next hardware platforms. I mean, I don't want them yet; I can't afford them yet; but damn, I'll watch target renders all evening, given the chance.

• And last - last but not least - a nice surprise is always nice. I would like for Electronic Three to surprise me, this year.

Now then. Excuse me while I explode... :)

Over to you!

Stuck in the Middle with Sony at Electronic Trio

So. E3.

For all intents and purposes, for those of us following the action from the comfort of our homes or at our desks while pretending to work, it's over. The press conferences are done: Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony have all said their pieces.

Thoughts?

In as much as there's anything triumphant about two-hour lectures punctuated by trailers, pie-charts and occasional gameplay demos, there's a tradition of one company or another "winning" E3 each year. Having watched live streams of all three presentations, my money's on Nintendo - much, I would add, to my surprise. Since the Wii's mainstream success, Nintendo have established a track record of ignoring the core to cater to the casual, but this year they played against type, presenting one favourite after another: a new Zelda, Metroid: Other M, the return of Donkey Kong Country courtesy of Retro Studios - a game and a developer after my own heart - and Kid Icarus, at last.

Oh, and there was a little thing called the 3DS.

I resisted the iPhone, the iPad, the PSP, and all the iterations of DS to come after the Lite, but you can be sure I'll pick up a 3DS on launch day - whenever that is. The line-up already looks stellar, and the hardware powerful enough to give the Wii a run for its money; quite the achievement on a handheld. I'm excited for nearly everything Nintendo talked about yesterday.

And here I was expecting hours of Wii Relax or another bit of fitness-oriented nonsense...

Microsoft, meanwhile, got started a day earlier - two days earlier, if you count the baffling Cirque de Soleil performance on Sunday night - but squandered any gala day goodwill by over-focusing on Kinect, the retail-friendly name for what was once Project Natal. It's a good name, to be sure, and some of what Microsoft showed looked better than I'd anticipated, but Kinect has neither the built-in family appeal of the Wii nor the definition or precision of Sony's more powerful Move controller.

My guess? There'll be a brief flurry for Kinect at retail initially, but of all the motion controllers, Kinect is the dead duck of the bunch. The core will grudgingly embrace Playstation Move and the casual will stick to what they know. And honestly, so they should: the repurposing of the Wii starter library is shameless. Kinect Sports, Kinectimals... really, Microsoft?

Otherwise, the Xbox head honchos showed a bunch of trailers for games we all knew were coming. Pretty damn disappointing. On the other hand, response from the media as to Microsoft's press conference has been rather deceptive. Can anyone guess why? Well, everyone attending got a free Xbox slim. Tepid at best, then, coming from the perspective of someone who didn't get any freebies for sitting through the three presentations. And last place of the big three, without a doubt; even the third-party press conferences from Ubisoft and EA put Microsoft to shame.

Stuck in the middle with Sony again, eh? They showed a few solid-looking new games, there were a couple of pleasant surprises, and the Move looks like it might actually work - and with games that don't look a decade old. Presuming the price tag for the camera and the controllers is reasonable here in the UK, I'm in, I think.

So. That's been my E3. For those poor souls out there in LA covering the event in person, there are plenty of game demos to keep them occupied over the next few days. For me, it's over, and all in all, the whole thing's been a bit of a wash. None of Nintendo's exciting announcements will bear fruit until 2011 at the earliest, and in the interim, there wasn't much of anything shiny and new to get all hyped for.

Back to Trials HD, then. There's Final Fantasy XIII to finish thereafter. And come to think of it, I still haven't gotten around to playing that copy of Mass Effect 2 I got for my birthday...

What can I say? I've been saving it for a rainy day!