E3: The Keynotes

[Murdoc]

Does anyone watch these live every year like I do? I shouldn't get exited over this crap. I like seeing the new key announcements for each console and publisher and the weird circus act that seems to get more bizarre every year.

So watching the microsoft one and I have taken away these bits of information

1. My 360, with natal, will be able to tell if a black man is in the room

2. I can now watch porno on my 360 and not have to worry about wasting a hand on a stupid remote.

3. They are really relying on Halo and Gears of War, both look pretty much the same as the last time I saw them.

4. Metal Gear cutting thingy seems neat, it also as Lightning Bolt Action.

5.Fable 3: Yep, ok I liked the fable series, but I think this one just got away from me. Also the character models are shit.

6. Hey social features on the 360! This is where the shows usually take that bizarre turn into pure awful comedy.

7. Apparently natal/kinect can only be demonstrated by asians.

8. With Kinect I can transform my living room from a petting zoo, to a gym, to a dance floor... with my xbox I used to transform my living room into epic battlefields spanning time and space... so really this sounds like a step up.

9. New xbox... its just as fat, now it's shorter... alright. Hey same price and wifi, neat. Ships today?! Sega Saturn? What? fun stuff.

Anyway, that's out of the way, really looking more forward to seeing if anything real of Zelda will be shown or more Last Guardian. Oh and I'll check out ubisofts just for Joel Mchale, he was pretty fun last year.

[Roderick]

That was the most hilariously awful conference in a loooong time. The only cool thing was the dance game, and I was somewhat taken in by the baby tiger game. Everything else was freaking awful. Just... awful.

[lobotomy42]

I watched some of it live (tuned in and out because it was, well, really boring.) I came away completely unimpressed. They unveiled new sequels to their (IMHO) most boring franchises, and then showed a bunch of blatant Wii knock-offs. To top it off, the new console design is hideous. What's with all the console makers reverting to Sony-black all of a sudden? I thought we had finally gotten away from gaming systems that need to appeal to thirteen-year-olds, but I guess I was wrong.

[toblix]

They say the new Xbox 360 is "whisper quiet". I'd quite like to know what that entails, because if it really is more like the PS3 noise-wise I'm getting it just for that.

[Murdoc]

They say the new Xbox 360 is "whisper quiet". I'd quite like to know what that entails, because if it really is more like the PS3 noise-wise I'm getting it just for that.

I still doubt mine will last through another playthrough of any game and personally I'd like to be done with it, but then ME3 will roll around or something and I'll need one. Just as long as I don't need to turn up the volume of my tv to drown out the noise of the 360, I might actually use it more.

I wouldn't really call the MS keynote awful, I mean it was pretty typical with the way things are going at E3. It wasn't as slick as theirs last year or interesting, however, but with a large dedication to natal and no other announcements I was fundamentally interested in it did drag on.

The horribly scripted conversations and such never disappointed though, but I'll reserve the king of those situations to Nintendo, as they seem to win that ever year.

I have been pretty much a pc gamer for my adult life(teens - present) and I do like to play consol games, but I think over the last couple years my interest in what is new going on in them has shifted considerably. Gears of War 3, halo whatever, call of duty something? Meh. Camera/movement controls? Eh.

I dunno, my interests just aren't in those things, so really to kind of get any sort of rise out of me they need to show some really innovated stuff or feature set that would change the way it handled... which I guess might be natal it just not in the direction I'm keen on.

Even when a new console eventually gets announced I can't see getting all excited over it. Better graphics? Sure, neat, but it just seems the high budget titles have really hit a creative/risk dead end. We're finally seeing some really nice art and some really solid games now with this generation of console, but they all seem very straight forward game designs, many of which are handcrafted amusement rides.. and that kind of stuff just put me to sleep.

Actually, not to go off on a tangent, but the realization that a call of duty is essentially using a Half Life 2 formula(though I prefer HL narrative) got me thinking of what Valve would do for Half Life 3 or whatever, I can't imagine them wanting to just do more of the same, but rather change that formula up quite a bit, Anyway, that was just a passing thought during the CoD stuff on the keynote.

[Lu]

I think all our sentiments so far are the same, although I don't mind the Xbox360 slim look, but holy shit, what a snooze fest that was.

Nintendo might 1up MS in terms of, uh, scriptedness, but at least you know they've got some cool unknowns. There was absolutely nothing that surprised me or excited me. I am kind of discounting all of the Kinect stuff, though. None of the software they showed could even get me remotely excited for the thing, as a consumer.

Did you notice, by the way, how they conveniently forgot to mention a price point for Kinect? I have a feeling that that thing is going to be expensive...

And was it just me or was there a small group of people in the audience cheering and clapping like retards at fucking everything?

For your enjoyment. The Dancing game set to Guile's Stage theme.

iTYtH28esTg

I also watched the EA presser, which was a lot more fun to watch. Generally less yapping and more games. I have to say that, since I was watching a low bitrate stream, when I saw Medal of Honor gameplay; if you had told me that I was looking at the new CoD multiplayer, I would've believed it. Keep hearing the term "Bad Company 2 lite" so guess I'll see. Hopefully I'll get to check out the beta.

Anyhoo, I can't imagine Nintendo and Sony coming with a worse presser, so I'm still kind of looking forward to it.

[Murdoc]

After MS, EA, and halfway through Ubisoft's I really get the feeling this is the year casual gaming started to take over.

Their still making the hardcore games, but really it was "hey heres some sequal shooter shit, but what we really want to talk about is ..... BLAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH*

Edit: Ubisoft: Holy shit they actually showed their Populous 3 game. I was really excited about this, since I was a huge populous fan, it's just a shame it's very similar to Populous 3 and not 1.

But either way, it's a really exciting game, just think Populous 3 with crazy ai ecosystem going on in the background that effect land, animals, flora, water, and other elements from the earth.

It's super neat and was surprised they showed it because it was just a elaborate tech demo a few months ago.

Rayman: Neat.

I tell ya, all the cool shit from Ubisoft starts in France; which disappointed me greatly being in Montreal.

Edit 2: Michal Jackson: The Video Game

Edited June 15, 2010 by Murdoc

[Patters]

Microsoft's was kinda meh, I entirely agree with the Gamasutra article that it was successful in what it's trying to do. With the creator of Rez and Turn 10 being behind Natal it could be interesting.

Ubisoft and EA were both damn solid, Ubi did more for me.

Also Skateboarding wizard: Confirmed.

[Forbin]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1QnijwxtY#t=0m49s

[lobotomy42]

I don't have a problem with "casual shit," I just wish they would do some original "casual shit." Wii Sports was cool because, for all its faults, it was still a mostly new idea in 2006. Four years later, collections of sports-related minigames just don't have the same sway. Microsoft's casual line-up (and, for that matter, their core lineup as well) seems so blatantly focus-grouped and derivative that it's hard to have any enthusiasm for it. It's really disappointing after last year's presentation about the possibilities of then-Natal.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Wow, it sounds like MS really dropped the ball here. Natal has been this "amazing" thing in the pipeline for ages, and when they go to demo it, nobody cares (apparently). Doh.

[Kolzig]

So, where are Molyneux and his love child Milo?

Were those seen at the press conference?

Edited June 15, 2010 by Kolzig

[siggiarni]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj1QnijwxtY#t=0m49s

Good one, Krusty

[Lu]

So, where are Molyneux and his love child Milo?

Where those seen at the press conference?

Nothing. Besides the Kinect shit, they showed Gears of War 3, Halo: Reach, Metal Gear: Rising and Fable 3. That was about it. I think some of the Konect stuff might be good for the Wii crowd (not meant as putdown), but I care very little. Kind of dreading the Sony one, because you know they'll show a bunch of Move shit that evokes the same feeling I have about Kinect. Moreso because Move is so much more like Wii. At least the David Jaffe game will be revealed!

[Sleepdance]

That's it, I'm quiting video games.

[Kolzig]

Kinect!

[Roderick]

Gaming is dead. You heard it here first.

[Nachimir]

I think Molyneux was saying recently that Kinect will lead to entirely new genres. I look forward to them replacing the many fitness games that have just been announced.

Heh:

SIMON BYRON ® UNVEILS 'FUCK OFF FAT, YOU FUCKER'' EXCLUSIVELY FOR KINECT

Cynicism aside, there are things I'm seriously having to bite my tongue on, and I'm actually fairly optimistic about Kinect. It's an interesting thing and has been worked on by some excellent people.

I'm mostly looking forward to the minority report type interaction with the UI, though if you know it very well it might become a chore compared to flipping through it fast with a pad.

[toblix]

I guess it could be the advanced A/V equipment they were using for the presentation, but the delay between actual and the on-screen movement seemed very high on Kinect.

[ThunderPeel2001]

Gaming is dead. You heard it here first.

Thank god! I can finally do something else with my life!

[Sleepdance]

I actualy think that Natal(fuck you, I'm gooing to call it his way) is a great thing, just not in video games. god knows how many small movie studios can't use motion tracking duo to expenses and let's say they upgrade it a bit and bum, you got a motion tracker for resonable price(up to 5000 €/$). It wouldn't be mind blowing, but would save a lot of work.

[Patters]

I actualy think that Natal(fuck you, I'm gooing to call it his way) is a great thing, just not in video games. god knows how many small movie studios can't use motion tracking duo to expenses and let's say they upgrade it a bit and bum, you got a motion tracker for resonable price(up to 5000 €/$). It wouldn't be mind blowing, but would save a lot of work.

What does that mean?

[Sleepdance]

Oh freddled gruntbuggly,

Thy micturations are to me

As plurdled gabbleblotchits on a lurgid bee.

Groop I implore thee, my foonting turlingdromes

[Nachimir]

^ Vogon poetry

I want to see a Kinect game as punitive as HHGTTG

[Sleepdance]

HHGTG

Hilarious Hallowen Gokard TellTale Game?