After writing a rather lengthy blog on Microsoft's E3 press conference, I felt obligated to share my impressions of Nintendo and Sony's conferences as well. Here goes.
Most of Nintendo's conference consisted of the same tripe that made up previous conferences where they boasted about their massive console and handheld sales and their dominant position in both markets as if we gamers give a sh**. When they managed to refrain from congratulating themselves on a job well done, they showed off their selection of rehashed first-party titles and low-rent shovelware games which made me wonder how the hell Nintendo managed to top the other consoles this generation.
An hour into the conference they'd shown nothing even remotely decent aside from Golden Sun and I say that mostly because I have a soft spot for RPGs that aren't made by Square "Epic Fail" Enix. Fortunately, with that hour of rubbish out the way, they finally showed off their heavy hitters, starting with Super Mario Galaxy 2. SMG2 seems to follow a gameplay formula similiar to it's predecessor, but I can't comment on what it does differently since I never played SMG1. Still, it looks like fun and that's all I really care about.
There were other notable titles shown off such as Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Dead Space: Extraction, but the one that really caught my attention was the new Metroid which appears to be a collaboration between Nintendo and Team Ninja. I mean, what's there not to like? It's Metroid with Team Ninja on board. Anyway, the gameplay seems to be primarily combat oriented with a heavy emphasis on melee, but hopefully they'll find some room for the exploration element that many fans enjoyed in earlier Metroid games.
Overall this conference didn't impress me. While I don't know if it was as bad as previous Nintendo E3's (since I didn't watch any of them), but it seemed to reflect the disdain Nintendo has consistently shown for their hardcore fanbase in favor of catering to casual/non-gamers that as I said in my last blog wouldn't know a good game if they tripped on it.
Thankfully, Sony's conference didn't disappoint. They got off on a strong start showing new gameplay footage of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. The first one was (and in my opinion still is) a stunning presentation of just what the PS3 was capable of, but this sequel has an incredible amount of detail and even with all these explosions and debris scattering around, the framerate never seems to dip even a little bit. Not only is it graphically stunning, but it looks like a blast to play as well. No doubt this will be a day one purchase for me.
The next game they showed was their much touted squad-based 256 player online shooter, MAG. They display the tactical element to this game quite well, showing how airstrike and squad commands worked while executing an attack on an enemy held bunker. To encourage players to work as a team, bonus points are awarded to players that act on the orders given to them. Despite supporting a massive number of players, I didn't notice any lag in the demo at all. Hopefully, the final build will hold up that well when this game releases.
I remember hearing some time ago about an exclusive that Rockstar was planning for PS3 owners. For a while, I thought they were just blowing hot air, but there's finally been an official announcement concerning this subject. The upcoming exclusive is called Agent. This game is set in the 1970s and as the name implies is centered around espionage. Sadly, I haven't heard many details beyond it's name, but I'll be keeping tabs on this one.
Probably one of Sony's worst kept secrets was Team Ico's upcoming project. Some time ago, a trailer was leaked onto the internet showing a young boy running towards a cliff and being rescued by a large winged animal just as he's about to fall off the edge. Upon it's appearance on the interwebs, many questioned the legitimacy of the trailer entitled Project Trico and I'll admit that even I simply blew it off. However, all suspicions were dispelled when the finished trailer was unveiled today at E3 under the title The Last Guardian. Not very many details were released concerning gameplay and given that I haven't played ICO or Shadow of the Colossus, I don't really know what to expect. It looks like it will at the very least be something unique, so I'm definitely interested.
The last exclusive shown was God of War III. I think the coolest part was when Kratos stuck his blades in the harpies and used them as platforms to cross gaps and kill them. As usual, over-the-top gratuitous violence is the name of the game and this one doesn't seem to hold back any more than the others did. It still uses alot of QTEs, but personally, I always felt GoW pulled them off in a way the they seemed far less irritating than in other games *coughResident Evilcough*. The demo was rapped up shortly after a miniboss battle against a chimera concluded with Kratos ramming one of it horns through it's skull. Now that's hardcore.
Not just exclusives, but also multiplatform titles made an appearance. Assassin's Creed II showed a considerably more impressive degree of variety than predecessor (which is really why I hated it). Both the tools at the protagonists disposal and the weapons available to him vary considerably. Also, it appears that other weapons can be unlocked by syncing ACII with the PSP AC (a feature exclusive to the PS3 version, no doubt). The missions still look somewhat linear, but I can forgive that if they simply do a better job of mixing up the action this time around.
Final Fantasy XIII took the stage once again. This time, instead of three propagandists rambling on, we were shown a trailer revealing some rather vague incites into the story that I still don't fully understand. It did get me a little more interested nonetheless. Perhaps it's enough to make me reconsider my "no games by Square Enix" policy. It didn't end there however. Another trailer followed providing a sneak peek at Final Fantasy XIV Online which is set to release on (I sh** you not) 2010 exclusively for the PS3.
Of course, they had to draw in the casual gamers with that silly motion sensing controller. I should probably give credit where it's due, though since they at least presented it on an RTS-like interface at one point, given that such a use would actually have some practicality for most gamers. If nothing else it was a good source of lulz.
There were other things that caught my eye such as the new PSP Go (Sony's other worst kept secret) and the new MGS: Peace Walker on PSP, but there really was too much at this conference for me to remember all of it. That in my book makes Sony the clear winner at E3 this year. There are some things I was rather disappointed with such as White Knight Chronicles and Demon's Souls not taking the stage at all. I know with everything they had on there plate already, they probably didn't have time to show everything, but considering the shortage of RPGs on the PS3, one would think they'd show a little more effort to cover their bases in that area. Oh well... I guess you can't have everything.