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- Day 1: Sony 2013
- Day 2: Nintendo 2008
- Day 3: Ubisoft 2010
- Day 4: EA 2011
- Day 5: Sony 2006
- Day 6: Nintendo 2004
- Day 7: Microsoft 2010
- Day 8: Ubisoft 2012
- Day 9 & Day 10: EA 2014 & Microsoft 2006
- Day 11: Shit Bits
- 13 Days of E3 - Day 12: Magic Moments
What a couple of weeks. We've seen the highest of the high, and the lowest of the low. What we haven't seen is almost two hours of sheer madness perpetrated by the current big turds of the industry. That's right, to top it off we are going back to what I personally believe to be the greatest conference. While some of you only know the famous highlight reel, there was far more to the conference that that. So with that, let's get to the final conference, Konami 2010.
Let's start from the top. While Def Jam Rapstar was kinda popular, I don't think a karaoke game with a rap focus really warranted 10 minutes. It also probably wasn't the best conference opener they could've done. Also, I don't think anyone ever got 1,000,000 views on a Rapstar video. I would be surprised if the game sold 1,000,000 copies. We also got a classic celebrity appearance from Def Jam Man, so that was fun.
Following that was one of the more memorable moments, Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del Ring. Because Konami presumably wanted to ruin AAA's credibility, they brought out El Elegido, La Parka and Silver King to have a stupidly awkward slap fight that resulted in the guy pretending to split it up while holding a fake belt. I like wrestling, and I like Lucha. This is part of the reason why I hate Konami.
I enjoyed the Saw games. They weren't very good, but I found them worth playing. That said, the presentation was pretty unenthusiastic and didn't really help sell it. Therefore, I wont either. Almost unfairly, Saw 2 was sandwiched between the Lucha Libre AAA segment and perhaps the most memorable moment of the entire conference.
Tak Fujii is an E3 legend. Ninety-Nine Nights 2 was shit, I don't think you'll find anyone holding it in memory as a classic Xbox 360 game. That doesn't matter though, because nobody even remembered the game. However, almost everyone remember Tak's antics during the presentation, ranging from the awkward lack of applause, extreeeeme and one million troops. All of this culminated in a classic moment, eclipsing the eventual release of the game entirely. It doesn't matter if his game wasn't very good, Tak Fujii will be remembered by everyone who watched the conference.
Was Otomedius Excellent any good? User score was good on Metacritic but it was slammed by critics. Anyway, who cares, it wasn't remotely amusing. Adrenaline Misfits, on the other hand, absolutely epitomized the crap shovelware that was released on Kinect, with the over-enthusiastic toy advert voice making the game look like a crap parody. That said, the presenter wasn't remotely stupid or confusing, so he get's some marks.
Dance Masters was total madness from the minute Naoki Maeda started talking. Dance Dance Revolution is a classic series, I don't think anyone could deny that, but the ludicrousness of this presentation made me forget that this was a DDR spin-off in the first. Naoki couldn't seem to decide between speaking English or speaking Japanese, and in the end did neither. The guy the brought along to sacrifice his dignity seemed too disingenuously happy about his situation too, like Konami were holding his family hostage.
I hate Glee. I really fucking hate Glee. Maybe some of you like it I dunno. I don't think any of you liked seeing an impromptu five minute performance to advertise a Glee karaoke game though. I feel this is widely left out of the moments that helped Konami 2010 become a classic, but I have a feeling it's down to the performance being too painful, making Queen fans cry worldwide. Yes, I'm biased.
Another thing that seems to be widely ignored is the guy from Hudson's apparent growing depression the longer he stayed on stage. He was pretty chirpy at the beginning with his introduction, but eventually, we was worn down. I think you really need to see all of his segments to really get a feel for how bored and resentful he eventually sounded. By the time he finished talking about Lost in Shadow, I was conviced he was going to straight up commit seppuku on stage. Thankfully though, he left the stage and survived.
In retrospect, the Silent Hill segment was probably one of the best parts of the conference, and what eventually became Silent Hill: Downpour actually looked alright. Nobody really remembered the trailer though, everyone simply remembers the guy burning holes into the back of the other guy's head. This wasn't helped by him standing what looked like a foot behind him. Of course, with the alternative camera angles, you could see he has standing an appropriate distance away, but the angle we saw the most often was certainly the most entertaining.
While writing this, I've only just realized that the head drop guy from NeverDead is the same guy that showed up with Naoko for Dance Masters. I have no idea why I never noticed before, they have the exact same voice. Anyway, NeverDead was a cool idea. The game didn't up being fantastic but it was an original concept. I think the random head drop trick was what a lot of people took away from the presentation though, because of how unnecessary it was. Then again, I love the head drop trick, so I was pretty happy with it.
After that, man I don't think any of you remember this showing up here. Even with how popular it is, it seemed to be overshadowed quite heavily by the nonsense. Metal Gear Solid: Rising was shown off, and was probably one of the most exciting parts of E3 2010. Problem is, the exact same trailer was shown at Microsoft 2010 the day prior, and so Konami gets no marks for this trailer. Shame, the show might've ended up even more the greatest. They did talk about the mechanics a lot more in-depth though, so that was fun.
To top off the conference, they ended with a Castlevania double, consisting of the 2D Harmony of Despair and the 3D reboot Lords of Shadow. Honestly, through all the nonsense, Konami actually finished very strongly with this double bill of games. They kept the fans of the 2D games happy, and then went in with the reboot, which was a pretty wise move and got people hyped without people complaining about the change. Good job Konami.
Now that I look back on it, Konami 2010 was actually pretty good for content, and they kept the presentation going which resulted in a big array of games. Problem is, almost everything they did was overshadowed by the absolute nonesense they cluttered their conference with, from Tak Fujii's extreme presentation, to Dancer Masters, to Lucha Libre, to the Silent Hill dudes, to the random head drop trick. I don't think we'll ever see something like this again, and I am grateful I was able to see something of this caliber.
So, that finishes up our 13 Days of E3. Thanks to all of you that kept reading, it was a fun time time writing these threads up. I also have a couple of questions for you. 1) Would you like to see a recap thread tomorrow ready for the Bethesda conference? 2) Would you like to see recaps of this year's conference before E3 2016? I know it's a long way away but we won't be able to revisit past E3's again, we've already done it. Anyway, thank you for getting hyped for the 20th anniversary of E3 with me. I hope we see many more moment this year.
