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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

From what I remember, Ubisoft 2012 was considered the highlight of E3 2012, and on watching it back that is for very good reason. From an abundance of gameplay demos, surprising announcements, stunning trailers and a significant lack of the usual Ubisoft bullshit, we were in for a rare treat, consisting of several of the best games Ubisoft have ever released. Let's start from the beginning.

The conference began fairly poorly, with a silly Flo Rida performance to advertise Just Dance and Tobuscus attempting to ruin everything. Thankfully, he wasn't nearly prominent enough to detract from the overall showing. The true beginning was a substantial look at Far Cry 3, consisting of an in-engine cutscene, a five-minute or so live demo, and a gameplay trailer. All of this resulted in a ~10 minute full demonstration, which is exactly how games should be presented. Weirdly, Ubisoft showed off a fairly spoiler-ridden part of the game, but there wasn't really enough context for anything major to be spoiled.

After that, we got possibility the most uninteresting CG trailer of the show, although the game it was for was pretty exciting. Splinter Cell: Blacklist was announced, and although they opted to go for the dreaded CG announcement with no follow-up, the reveal of a new Splinter Cell game was pretty good. There was also another quick CG trailer Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth, which I forgot existed. Apparently it was okay though, so there you are.

Following some CG, we were back to demos, and Ubisoft had a five minute demo of Rayman Legends, one of the best games Ubisoft have recently released. This was during the time where Legends was a Wii U exclusive, and while I know plenty of people were annoyed when it was announced for other consoles, I think it was good that this game got the wider exposure it deserved. Goddamn I love Rayman. Really want to see a new one show up this year.

After that, one of the best Wii U games was revealed with one of the greatest CG trailers of all time, to the point where I think this was probably more effective marketing than actually demoing the game, because a stage demo probably wouldn't highlight the games most unique features like it's rogue-lite mechanics. Seriously, if you have a Wii U and don't own ZombiU, do yourself a favor and go and buy it. It's pretty much the cheapest game you can get for the system. There was also a little bit of Rabbids. Not too much though. Thank god.

Okay so Assassin's Creed is pretty divisive, and AC3 is generally considered to be the lowest point of the series, but in pre-release materials it looked pretty great. Following the standard set by Far Cry 3 earlier in the conference, AC3 was presented with a CG trailer, followed by a gameplay demo, and topped off with a gameplay trailer. I have no idea why Ubisoft don't seem to follow this effective form of showing off games every year, it's one of the best hype generating methods I've watched at E3.

Ubisoft followed that with Shootmania, a Trackmania spin-off that I forgot about and was honestly a bit confused when I rewatched the conference and saw the reveal. I have no idea what the reception to it was, and I never played it, but as a shooter I guess it looked fast and fun. If anybody played Shootmania, tell me how it was. Before their big ending, Ubisoft showed off a quick sizzle reel of their successful games, which wasn't long so shouldn't really matter.

Continuing with what is now a Ubisoft tradition, they invited Yves onstage to introduce the final big announcement. Let's not deal with the eventual reception of Watch Dogs, because that's not what we are here for, but instead focus on what they showed. It was fucking amazing. Again showing a CG trailer and demo to showcase the game, we were introduced to the world of Aiden Pearce and given enough hype to last a lifetime, or at least until around late 2013. It was a huge announcement that pretty much won E3 after all the conference was over, and set the stage for a two year wait featuring the most fun downgrade thread in NeoGAF history.

Let's me just make something clear here, Watch Dogs almost epitomized the E3 hype machine going off rails. Watch Dogs was eventually released to an okay reception, but nothing like we would of expected just after the reveal. We'll probably see a lot of stuff at E3 that won't nearly be as good in the end, so just keep your hype in check, or you will find yourself disappointed. I didn't expect this series to get suddenly moralistic, but there you go.

(images in a bit)

 

[Zeyphersan]

2012 was the first year where I was able to sit down and watch all the conferences live for myself, and Ubisoft had a particularly strong one that year. I remember a friend and I being absolutely floored by the Watch_Dogs trailer, like everyone was

As for Shootmania, I never bought the full game, but I was in the pre-release beta and had a lot of fun with it, so *shrug*. When I eventually pick it up I hope there's a community there

 

[BY2K]

The Watch_Dogs reveal/demo had my jaw fall to the floor, reception at launch notwithstanding.

That and Star Wars 1313 were the game that made be go: "This is fucking next-gen."

 

[Spine_Ripper]

I remember getting so excited from the demo. The combat was so fast AND fluid. Blew my mind. Then we saw the downgrade a few months before release. I played the game for an hour after renting it. What a terrible final product. But as far as demos go, that was one of the best, period.

 

[Radec]

Ubi did good that E3.

 

[Mushroomer25]

That Watch_Dogs demo is so remarkably cool. Felt so fresh and innovative, right as the hype for new machines was starting up.

Shame they never made that game...

 

[Altairre]

That Watch_Dogs demo is so remarkably cool. Felt so fresh and innovative, right as the hype for new machines was starting up.

Shame they never made that game...

The Watchdogs demo was cool up until the point where he started shooting. My interest immediately dropped when that happened. The finished product was a lot worse than I had thought though.

 

[Yawnier]

That Watch Dogs demo was amazing, I remember when it blew up all over the internet after it was shown and everybody talking about it. That, and the Star Wars 1313 trailer were both on a level we hadn't seen before.

This was a decent conference, overall I think. I remember some people didn't like the Blacklist demo in how action-y it was. I liked what they showed of AC3 and FC3, too bad AC3 turned out to be such a turd.

I never played it, but the Shootmania gameplay demo felt a bit out of place imo.

 

[ohlawd]

WD was my favorite thing out of E3 2012. normally it'd be Reggie off stage saying they're localizing Fire Emblem Awakening but yeah again, off stage.

Never again. last time I get hyped out of my mind for a Ubisoft game.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

Man that watchdogs demo was so fucking good, I was stoked as fuck. Imagining this is what we'd be getting on the next gen systems.

 

[Markitron]

Is it generally accepted that AC3 is the worst one? I thought it was far better than Revelations.

That Watchdogs demo was the ultimate minge-tease, I really thought the game would look like that. It was certainly do-able on PC.

 

[Ridley327]

Is it generally accepted that AC3 is the worst one? I thought it was far better than Revelations.

I don't know about it being the worst one, but I do believe it's held as being the most disappointing one. Ubi had hyped it up as gamechanger for the series, and what we got instead was merely incremental.

 

[Zeyphersan]

I don't know about it being the worst one, but I do believe it's held as being the most disappointing one. Ubi had hyped it up as gamechanger for the series, and what we got instead was merely incremental.

A contrast to something like Revelations which was also merely incremental (or even exactly the same as AC2/Brotherhood), but wasn't hyped as the second coming so it didn't sting as hard

 

[TheWorthyEdge]

That Rayman demo...one if the best demos ever. So gud.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

Ah yes, the beginning of tg Ubisoft having tbe best conference streak. Was glorious. Personally I didn't get carried away by tbe Watch Dogs demo. I mean come on. It was really hard to tell how much of it was real and how much was bullshit. I took the wait and see approach with the game. And doing so meant my expectations were actually reasonable and I was able to enjoy a great game for what it wqs rather than what a BS reveal might make people think it could be.

 

[Boombox On]

Apparently the hosting duties were not even worth mentioning.

 

[Ridley327]

A contrast to something like Revelations which was also merely incremental (or even exactly the same as AC2/Brotherhood), but wasn't hyped as the second coming so it didn't sting as hard

Right. Ubi didn't really go out of their way to oversell that game, which is why whatever negative perception it might have is muted and generally focused on singular elements (like the tower defense stuff), rather than the game as a whole. AC3 was all THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING, and it decidedly didn't.

 

[RE_Player]

I never understood the hype behind Watch_Dogs even with the initial reveal.

 

[DieH@rd]

Good conference [with poor start]. They stole the show with that WD unveil.

 

[Ridley327]

I never understood the hype behind Watch_Dogs even with the initial reveal.

I feel like between that game and the Star Wars 1313 reveal that it became really obvious that the then-current generation had gone on for too long, so seeing a pair of games that were a massive step beyond what we had been seeing from a graphics fidelity standpoint or, in Watch Dogs' case, the emergent gameplay possibilities, was a huge moment for hyping up the upcoming gen.

If we only knew then, right?

 

[Markitron]

I don't know about it being the worst one, but I do believe it's held as being the most disappointing one. Ubi had hyped it up as gamechanger for the series, and what we got instead was merely incremental.

A contrast to something like Revelations which was also merely incremental (or even exactly the same as AC2/Brotherhood), but wasn't hyped as the second coming so it didn't sting as hard

Is that what it was? Fair enough I suppose. I was really into AC after 2 and Brotherhood, so Revelations being awful hit me hard. I actually can't recall a single memorable thing I did in that game, just constantly being told about bomb-crafting and that tower defence minigame. I still haven't figured out what any of the 'revelations' were either btw.

AC3 may have failed at a few things but at least it was ambitious.

 

[Duxxy3]

I never understood the hype behind Watch_Dogs even with the initial reveal.

The shootout was, and is, pretty damn impressive.

 

[CHC]

The pubescent phase of the "vertical slice".

 

[Ramenman]

The Watch_Dogs reveal/demo had my jaw fall to the floor, reception at launch notwithstanding.

That and Star Wars 1313 were the game that made be go: "This is fucking next-gen."

Yeah, and then 1313 was canceled so WatchDogs was the only one to get all the backlash for showing unrealistic expectations

 

[Ridley327]

Yeah, and then 1313 was canceled so WatchDogs was the only one to get all the backlash for showing unrealistic expectations

I would have already been on the whole mindset of "1313 had nothing going for it but the visuals." I'm really surprised so many people were disappointed with the cancellation, given LucasArts incredibly spotty recent history as a developer, as well as the fact that it didn't look like much more than a Star Wars-themed Uncharted. That it turned out to be Boba Fett didn't change anything for me.

 

[I Wanna Be The Guy]

I would have already been on the whole mindset of "1313 had nothing going for it but the visuals." I'm really surprised so many people were disappointed with the cancellation, given LucasArts incredibly spotty recent history as a developer, as well as the fact that it didn't look like much more than a Star Wars-themed Uncharted. That it turned out to be Boba Fett didn't change anything for me.

I agree. It never looked interesting to me.

 

[Magnus]

Was this the year of Laser Tag? Fuck, that was awful. Did that product ever launch or was it quietly killed out back?

edit - lol, the wiki entry:

Battle Tag is a laser tag-shooter hybrid game developed and published by Ubisoft. The game was revealed at E3 2010 at the Ubisoft press conference.[1] The game was released on November 2010 in Texas and Canada.

lol wut

 

[DAREALGUMMY]

This was the conference that blew away even the major 3 for me. Just stacked with big games and amazings trailers/demos. Watch_Dogs made GAF melt down in excitement. Shame that it never lived up to it's reveal.

 

[unknownstranger]

For some reason I barely remember anything from E3 2012 except for Nintendo's press conference and to a lesser extent Ubisoft's. The Far Cry 3 demo was amusing because it went uncensored on TV (before G4 died). I thought Ubisoft had the best press conference that year but I don't remember anything from Microsoft's, EA's or Sony's press conferences.

 

[iNvid02]

2012: Watch Dogs
2013: The Divison
2014: Rainbow Six Siege

I like their tradition of dropping a bomb at the end of the conference, it has to continue

 

[ohlawd]

I thought Ubisoft had the best press conference that year but I don't remember anything from Microsoft's, EA's or Sony's press conferences.

because those three didn't show shit

you probably only remembered Nintendo's conference for that Pikmin 3 goodness and lol Nintendo Land fireworks.

 

[Ridley327]

2012: Watch Dogs
2013: The Divison
2014: Rainbow Six Siege

I like their tradition of dropping a bomb at the end of the conference, it has to continue

It's likely to be that RPG they've been working on with the codename (final title?) of Hero, given the various chatter about it over the past year.

 

[SmackAttack]

2012: Watch Dogs
2013: The Divison
2014: Rainbow Six Siege

I like their tradition of dropping a bomb at the end of the conference, it has to continue

How they've managed to do this, whether the game looks good or not, is really cool and I also hope it continues.

 

[unknownstranger]

because those three didn't show shit

you probably only remembered Nintendo's conference for that Pikmin 3 goodness and lol Nintendo Land fireworks.

I actually forgot about Pikmin 3 too but I remember it now and Miyamoto pretending to throw the Pikmin doll into the crowd. I remember Reggie saying they were going to show off a ton of games (forgot the exact number) but most of them were only in montages.

 

[iNvid02]

It's likely to be that RPG they've been working on with the codename (final title?) of Hero, given the various chatter about it over the past year.

no its not its BGE2

 

[Ridley327]

no its not its BGE2

 

[Cheat Code]

How they've managed to do this, whether the game looks good or not, is really cool and I also hope it continues.

They seem to pretty much always begin with a silly performance (Flo Rida, Jerry from Alice in Chains, Just Dance stage show) and then get into a hyped game we knew about, like Far Cry 4 from last year.

They'll probably announce Watch Dogs 2 somewhere in the middle, likely just after they demo Syndicate. The last announcement is anyone's guess. I could see them doing something with Splinter Cell or Ghost Recon, but they don't seem big enough.

 

[jayu26]

Three Assassin Creed Demos at MS, Ubi and Sony conference is what I remember from this year, along with everyone ducking the Next Gen questions.

Watch Dogs demo was great, but Last of Us demo topped for me that year.

 

[SirUltimos]

2012 was the first time I ever went to E3, and this Ubisoft conference was the second one I ever went to. I have very fond memories of this particular conference, and I remember at the time that everyone at E3 thought Ubisoft absolutely rocked it. We left the building that day singing Ubi's praises.

 

[sjay1994]

3 years ago, it seemed like ubi was on top of the world. Now it seems like everyone hates them.

How times have changed.

 

[Doominated]

It was really an amazing conference in the heat of the moment. I remember every forum I was on at the time exploding during Ubi's conference. When 2012's E3 was done I saw so many "Who won E3" polls overwhelmingly leaning toward Ubi it was out of control.

 

[Zeyphersan]

3 years ago, it seemed like ubi was on top of the world. Now it seems like everyone hates them.

How times have changed.

With Ubisoft and EA, these things tend to go in waves

 

[GamerJM]

I knew something was up with Watch Dogs when everyone was hyping it, personally I didn't care about it since it was open world, but I still sort of pushed all of this to the side because I was glad a unique looking new IP was getting attention.

Rayman and ZombiU definitely made this conference of the year, though, IMO. Probably the only time I've thought that about a third-party conference.

 

[Windom Earle]

That Watch Dogs trailer was truly the high and low point of Ubisoft.

 

[TheCarrotKiller]

This was a great conference and I think this was the first year that I followed E3 live, or at least saw the conferences later the same day. Since this was pre-Ubisoft-open-world-worn-out-period I remember is as very exciting, and as a major Assassin's Creed fan at the time (while they still had Desmond and the first civ.) I was extremely hyped for AC3. Watch Dogs seemed great at the time, and though I planed to buy it I never did. But apparently I didn't miss anything.

 

[Mechazawa]

That blacklist demo they showed off was hilarious in retrospect, especially compared to what we got. Sonar goggles with insane range and a fucking voice activated airstrike that wasn't even in the game.

 

[JailDesigner]

Day 7 link is broken

 

[BloodR0se]

I feel like between that game and the Star Wars 1313 reveal that it became really obvious that the then-current generation had gone on for too long, so seeing a pair of games that were a massive step beyond what we had been seeing from a graphics fidelity standpoint or, in Watch Dogs' case, the emergent gameplay possibilities, was a huge moment for hyping up the upcoming gen.

If we only knew then, right?

And also, at that point nobody had actually seen anything from GTA V and GTA V was arguably the title that tore Watch Dogs to pieces.

 

[Cheat Code]

Sorry guys, all time was lost today.

I'll be doing a double tomorrow.