ONE: Xbox One hit fans with DRM and online checks at E3 2013. The crazy fallout from this mess has been entertaining. Including all the wonderful gifs it has generated. MS did very little to squash the problems they caused at their launch even. Their best feature, 10 person family share, is barely talked about. The Xbone boss said that people should just use the 360 if they have no internet. For me the Xbox One doesnt have anything big to make me want to rush out and get it.
TWO: Two new FPS IPs from big shooter developers. Firstly you have Bungie with their social co-op shooter Destiny. Then you have Respawn, ex call of duty guys, with their mecha shooter Titanfall. Titanfall looks to be the more interesting of the two for me, partly because of the competitive nature. Huge Titans moving about as nimble soldiers parkour over the relatively constrained arenas. Destiny presentation seemed to be pushing the social aspect more, joining up with buddies to take down mobs and boss mobs, sharing the spoils of war borderlands style. Even The Division looked like it pushed the social deal more.
THREE: Witcher 3 has already won a few awards and if they were for graphics then its easy to see why. Its one of the best looking games of the show based on screenshots and the video released. It sounds ambitious too, being many times larger than Witcher 2 and open world. I sure hope they can pull it off with a mature story-driven experience. They need to work on the combat and balance from Witcher 2 and leave the rest.
FOUR: Battlefield 4 is adding a ton of community requested features onto the core of BF3. Spectator, Commander, bigger squads, reduced suppression etc. As with any new DICE BF game there is a twist in the class gadgetry and some new elements. Huge destruction events change the maps (levolution), like the building collapsing to cover the level in thick ash for the remainder of the match. The presentation of this game made it my best of the show, although no real surprise since Im a big fan of the series.
FIVE: Watch Dogs is just five months away from release and recent gameplay vids have been impressive as usual. Admittedly I have kept myself in media blackout for Watch Dogs (as I do for most games) because I want to see it all for myself when I play. It certainly has a very ambitious design and it appears to be reaching potential. Integrating games with tablets seems to be the next big thing for gaming and Watch Dogs does this by allowing you to call a tablet user in to help you flee from the cops.
So there you have it, E3 offered a lot of videos, screenshots and gaming news. For that reason, it made it a pretty interesting week and introduced a few games that have piqued my interest.
Other Gaming Stuff...
I started playing Team Fortress 2 fairly regularly, which I havent played in years. Initially I played some games to get the Steam cards (gotta catch em all), but kept playing because of the entertainment. Im only playing Mann Vs Machine, which is co-op / tower defence mode. There is something very addicting about taking down scores of robots and beating the waves. However, after a few dozen hours, I might be losing interest in the mode.
On a side note: I managed to sell most of the TF2 items I have accrued from special game editions on Steam Market (e.g. Hitman, Quantum Conundrum, Sleeping Dogs). I have made about $35 from that which is quite nice bonus and there are a few more items to sell. I would advise people get in and sell stuff, prices seem to be on a general decline.
360 XBLA games:
Got access to a few keys for FC3: Blood Dragon and CoJ: Gunslinger on Xbox 360. Both have been quite impressive shooters that kept me entertained. Blood Dragon is a great themed reskin of FC3, taking about 10hrs to finish and explore everything. Gunslinger is an arcade entry into the CoJ franchise. Gunslinger has some great combat in between the awful boss battles. I will likely get both games on PC when there is a good deal. Probably during the awesomely inevitable Steam summer sales.
GRID 2
Loved the original GRID game, but GRID 2 just did not hit the high mark set by its predecessor. Its actually rather bland and full of minor problems that add up. Played most of the game on Hard, ramped down the difficulty near the end because I was losing time trials by fractions of a second and races got long and tedious. Normal mode is easy, but it also seems to have way more rubber banding than Hard. Drivers are very fast for the first 4 corners of a race and then stupidly slow to let you pass. It just felt like I was playing a role in a predetermined script.
Drift races are horrible; in fact most vehicles drift anyway. My enjoyment level was inversely proportional to my vehicles sliding ability. Some of the Hong Khong tracks are mediocre, the visuals really did not impress me (the Sun is horribly overdone). The game is still entertaining from an arcade driving perspective. TheAbu Dhabitracks have a decent flow. Overtake is a fun mode and time trials are a nice relaxing way to play without needing to put up with bad AI drivers.