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E3 Press Conference Grading Thread
- Thread starter sn00zer
- Start date
30yearsofhurt
Member
I would have given Microsoft an A but Sony totally raised the bar to somewhere we didn't think it could go.
.
Hey, the outrage at having liberal hippies defending the world against evil tech was pretty good.
Made me chuckle.Always-honest
Banned
Sony just killed it imo. Really awesome games and insanely looking.: A
Nintendo really blew it imo. Mario Maker seems nice... C
Microsoft had some nice games but not that many that i wanted.
But i missed some games i was interested in too. Quantum Leap, Crackdown, Below.
Gears looked good but they showed a boring section that sounded like Uncharted dialogues.
The holo lense looked impressive.. but i'm not sure how it will work in reality. B
EA had some great games: NFS, Starwars, etc.
Ubi had Rainbow SIx, so that's always great. And i liked the new ghost recon.
Yeah, whan i think about the third party games and exclusives coming out for the PS4 this and especially next year, i'm more than happy.
Sony completely won E3 for me.
Nintendo really blew it imo. Mario Maker seems nice... C
Microsoft had some nice games but not that many that i wanted.
But i missed some games i was interested in too. Quantum Leap, Crackdown, Below.
Gears looked good but they showed a boring section that sounded like Uncharted dialogues.
The holo lense looked impressive.. but i'm not sure how it will work in reality. B
EA had some great games: NFS, Starwars, etc.
Ubi had Rainbow SIx, so that's always great. And i liked the new ghost recon.
Yeah, whan i think about the third party games and exclusives coming out for the PS4 this and especially next year, i'm more than happy.
Sony completely won E3 for me.
A Black Falcon
Member
I'm judging mostly based on whether they had games I want to play.
Nintendo World Championships - A. Great show! I hope that in the future Nintendo goes back to live press conferences (with more reveals), but this tourney was great fun, I really liked watching it.
Nintendo - A-. Nintendo showed almost nothing for next year, but their library for this year is great, stronger for 3DS than Wii U but the Wii U has some good-looking games as well -- Star Fox and Mario Maker look fantastic, and hopefully Xenoblade Chronicles X as well. Yeah, I also wish that the conference had had a big reveal of some major upcoming Wii U game, but otherwise it was quite good. The hate Nintendo is receiving here is crazy. The 3DS got some great stuff announced (new Zelda! New Mario RPG! And maybe the Metroid game too, MP Hunters was fun.), and this year's Wii U library is pretty good.
Sony - B to B+. Yeah, the three big reveals are a big deal, and they showed some other great stuff that's a ways off too (Horizon could be good), but Sony showed NOTHING for this year. Sony and Nintendo really are opposites here, and while shocking reveals are great, why wait all that time for the games with nothing until then, when Nintendo has good games now AND will surely also have other good games in the future, even if they haven't announced them yet? And as for those three reveals... FFVII isn't a game I've ever found interesting enough to stick with, but it is cool it's getting a remake; TLG looks okay but dated; and I found Shenmue 1 quite boring so I doubt I'd like this new one either. So yeah, as cool as it was to see them, for me personally the games aren't my favorite things.
Square-Enix - B. Square's conference was pretty impressive, loaded with pretty good-looking games that look pretty interesting. I hope Star Ocean 5 is good! The main thing holding back this conference was that the biggest titles were already shown yesterday at other conferences -- FFVII Remake, World of Final Fantasy (is this an F2P game, or a traditional RPG? I can't tell.), Tomb Raider, etc. Still pretty good, though, though they could work a bit on their presentation.
Microsoft- C+. This was one of MS's better conferences, but still was a bit thin on games. MS definitely has a better 2015 library than Sony, but they didn't have the big reveals Sony did, and we already know about their major titles for this year. Recore and the Rare game could be good, but I'll need to see more. Also I really find it annoying that MS won't talk much about PC in their conferences. Microsoft, so long as you show that PC isn't important by not talking about it in your conference, I'll never believe your "we care now about PC gaming, really!" talk. And trolling PC gamers by later announcing that KI and Gears remaster or whatever are getting PC ports but not Halo or Forza is kind of annoying; I'm not really a fan of any of those four franchises, but still, if you're going to support the PC, release your major titles for it. It IS a Microsoft platform after all.
Ubisoft - C. The conference was well presented and as entertaining as ever, but they showed very few games I really want to play. I like Ubisoft's racing and platformer games the most, but they had almost none of those apart from a new console Trackmania game. That'll probably be cool, but otherwise the conference was just way too much Tom Clancy stuff I'll probably never play. Still, Ubi does always have one of the funniest conferences, and that is worth something.
EA - C-. Mirror's Edge 2 and the yarn game were the highlights, and those look great. I am particularly happy to hear that Mirror's Edge 2 won't have guns, that's a step in the right direction! Mass Effect could be good too, but they showed little of it. Still, this conference was mostly bland. There wasn't much interesting here, but nothing completely terrible either.
Bethesda - D. Dishonored 2 could be great, but nothing else here was at all interesting. Doom, looks pretty seriously disappointing, and the only Fallout games I care about were made by Black Isle. I don't like Bethesda much, and this conference was a good example of why.
I can't rate the PC Gamer conference for sure right now, haven't watched it all. It looks interesting, but low-budget and light on reveals. Still, it's great that it happened at all. MS showed their usual lack of interest in the PC, so someone had to step up! And they had lots of great and interesting PC games to show, even if they were't new. So yeah, B-something grade probably.
Nintendo World Championships - A. Great show! I hope that in the future Nintendo goes back to live press conferences (with more reveals), but this tourney was great fun, I really liked watching it.
Nintendo - A-. Nintendo showed almost nothing for next year, but their library for this year is great, stronger for 3DS than Wii U but the Wii U has some good-looking games as well -- Star Fox and Mario Maker look fantastic, and hopefully Xenoblade Chronicles X as well. Yeah, I also wish that the conference had had a big reveal of some major upcoming Wii U game, but otherwise it was quite good. The hate Nintendo is receiving here is crazy. The 3DS got some great stuff announced (new Zelda! New Mario RPG! And maybe the Metroid game too, MP Hunters was fun.), and this year's Wii U library is pretty good.
Sony - B to B+. Yeah, the three big reveals are a big deal, and they showed some other great stuff that's a ways off too (Horizon could be good), but Sony showed NOTHING for this year. Sony and Nintendo really are opposites here, and while shocking reveals are great, why wait all that time for the games with nothing until then, when Nintendo has good games now AND will surely also have other good games in the future, even if they haven't announced them yet? And as for those three reveals... FFVII isn't a game I've ever found interesting enough to stick with, but it is cool it's getting a remake; TLG looks okay but dated; and I found Shenmue 1 quite boring so I doubt I'd like this new one either. So yeah, as cool as it was to see them, for me personally the games aren't my favorite things.
Square-Enix - B. Square's conference was pretty impressive, loaded with pretty good-looking games that look pretty interesting. I hope Star Ocean 5 is good! The main thing holding back this conference was that the biggest titles were already shown yesterday at other conferences -- FFVII Remake, World of Final Fantasy (is this an F2P game, or a traditional RPG? I can't tell.), Tomb Raider, etc. Still pretty good, though, though they could work a bit on their presentation.
Microsoft- C+. This was one of MS's better conferences, but still was a bit thin on games. MS definitely has a better 2015 library than Sony, but they didn't have the big reveals Sony did, and we already know about their major titles for this year. Recore and the Rare game could be good, but I'll need to see more. Also I really find it annoying that MS won't talk much about PC in their conferences. Microsoft, so long as you show that PC isn't important by not talking about it in your conference, I'll never believe your "we care now about PC gaming, really!" talk. And trolling PC gamers by later announcing that KI and Gears remaster or whatever are getting PC ports but not Halo or Forza is kind of annoying; I'm not really a fan of any of those four franchises, but still, if you're going to support the PC, release your major titles for it. It IS a Microsoft platform after all.
Ubisoft - C. The conference was well presented and as entertaining as ever, but they showed very few games I really want to play. I like Ubisoft's racing and platformer games the most, but they had almost none of those apart from a new console Trackmania game. That'll probably be cool, but otherwise the conference was just way too much Tom Clancy stuff I'll probably never play. Still, Ubi does always have one of the funniest conferences, and that is worth something.
EA - C-. Mirror's Edge 2 and the yarn game were the highlights, and those look great. I am particularly happy to hear that Mirror's Edge 2 won't have guns, that's a step in the right direction! Mass Effect could be good too, but they showed little of it. Still, this conference was mostly bland. There wasn't much interesting here, but nothing completely terrible either.
Bethesda - D. Dishonored 2 could be great, but nothing else here was at all interesting. Doom, looks pretty seriously disappointing, and the only Fallout games I care about were made by Black Isle. I don't like Bethesda much, and this conference was a good example of why.
I can't rate the PC Gamer conference for sure right now, haven't watched it all. It looks interesting, but low-budget and light on reveals. Still, it's great that it happened at all. MS showed their usual lack of interest in the PC, so someone had to step up! And they had lots of great and interesting PC games to show, even if they were't new. So yeah, B-something grade probably.
vicissitudes
Banned
Microsoft: B
Backwards Compatibility is pretty sick, but otherwise the gaming announcements were meh.
Sony: A+++
Great pacing, trailers, and Uncharted 4. One plus for each megaton.
Nintendo: C-
lol
Backwards Compatibility is pretty sick, but otherwise the gaming announcements were meh.
Sony: A+++
Great pacing, trailers, and Uncharted 4. One plus for each megaton.
Nintendo: C-
lol
I think Sony conference was unbeatable, but the conference itself. Not the game output coming out of it.
This is a thrad to judge how good the CONFERENCES were, so even if FFVII comes to Xbox one, the fact that it was such a megaton on the sony conference should still be noted.
"but this game is years away" Well, thats not relevant to the megaton is it?
In terms of actual impact on my current and soonish gaming the microsoft one had the best things. But the conference itself wasnt nearly as good.
This is a thrad to judge how good the CONFERENCES were, so even if FFVII comes to Xbox one, the fact that it was such a megaton on the sony conference should still be noted.
"but this game is years away" Well, thats not relevant to the megaton is it?
In terms of actual impact on my current and soonish gaming the microsoft one had the best things. But the conference itself wasnt nearly as good.
amstradcpc
Member
Sony: 10+,best conf. ever.
MS: 5
Nintendo: 2
MS: 5
Nintendo: 2
Melchiah
Member
So, it's better to show games we already know about, instead of introducing new ones, let alone new IPs?
As for the bolded, I'm not sure what point you're trying to make; there weren't games coming to their console this year? It's bad to give everyone what they wanted?
Bethesda: B+
Good content and decent pacing. Delivered what l wanted to see.
Microsoft: A
Focused on games, with a few exclusives thrown in. 360 support was a suprise.
Sony: B
Some great games shown, but as a PC gamer, they aren't exclusive (except for TLG and Horizon). FF7 might even come to XB1. I just don't understand the hype?
Nintendo: C
Pretty lackluster content, but enjoyed the presentation/format.
Good content and decent pacing. Delivered what l wanted to see.
Microsoft: A
Focused on games, with a few exclusives thrown in. 360 support was a suprise.
Sony: B
Some great games shown, but as a PC gamer, they aren't exclusive (except for TLG and Horizon). FF7 might even come to XB1. I just don't understand the hype?
Nintendo: C
Pretty lackluster content, but enjoyed the presentation/format.
In order of grading:
- Sony: A+
The Last Guardian, FFVII, Shenmue 3 enough said.
Uncharted 4 and Horizon and No Man's Sky gameplay demos were incredible.
Dreams from Media Molecule looked wonderful.
Partnerships with the 3 biggest shooters coming this fall, Black Ops 3, Battlefront and Destiny Taken King. Whether you like marketing partnerships or not, this is huge.
- EA: B+
Unravel looked amazing and a very genuine presentation.
Battlefront looks unbelievable in 60 fps on PS4 and DICE nailed the sound design.
I had hoped for pure gameplay from Mirror's Edge, but what they showed is promising.
- Bethesda: B
Fallout 4 the only highlight for me, but it was a very good highlight.
- Microsoft: B-
There's something wrong when the highlight was the announcement of backwards compatibility.
No interest in yet another Halo, Gears, Forza.
Halo gameplay demo looked great, Gears demo was boring, Forza should have showed gameplay. A little too much CGI trailers in general.
Bad demo for Tomb Raider. It looks amazing graphically, but that was a very uninteresting segment of "gameplay". Also still calling it "Xbox Exclusive | Holiday 2015" when we know it's coming to PC/PS4 is scummy.
- Ubisoft: C
Ghost Recon going open world was a nice surprise, but we all know it won't look that good graphics wise in the end.
Otherwise a very dull conference proven by the fact that I completely forgot Ubisoft in my original post
-Nintendo: Didn't watch it.
-PC: Didn't watch it.
- Sony: A+
The Last Guardian, FFVII, Shenmue 3 enough said.
Uncharted 4 and Horizon and No Man's Sky gameplay demos were incredible.
Dreams from Media Molecule looked wonderful.
Partnerships with the 3 biggest shooters coming this fall, Black Ops 3, Battlefront and Destiny Taken King. Whether you like marketing partnerships or not, this is huge.
- EA: B+
Unravel looked amazing and a very genuine presentation.
Battlefront looks unbelievable in 60 fps on PS4 and DICE nailed the sound design.
I had hoped for pure gameplay from Mirror's Edge, but what they showed is promising.
- Bethesda: B
Fallout 4 the only highlight for me, but it was a very good highlight.
- Microsoft: B-
There's something wrong when the highlight was the announcement of backwards compatibility.
No interest in yet another Halo, Gears, Forza.
Halo gameplay demo looked great, Gears demo was boring, Forza should have showed gameplay. A little too much CGI trailers in general.
Bad demo for Tomb Raider. It looks amazing graphically, but that was a very uninteresting segment of "gameplay". Also still calling it "Xbox Exclusive | Holiday 2015" when we know it's coming to PC/PS4 is scummy.
- Ubisoft: C
Ghost Recon going open world was a nice surprise, but we all know it won't look that good graphics wise in the end.
Otherwise a very dull conference proven by the fact that I completely forgot Ubisoft in my original post
-Nintendo: Didn't watch it.
-PC: Didn't watch it.
I didn't watch EA, Ubisoft, and PC conference so I can't rate them.
Bethesda: B-
Solid conference and it would have been higher if I was more interested in their games.
Microsoft: B
Started off great with Halo 5 and the backward compatibility was a megaton for many. Dark Souls 3 was nice if it wasn't leaked before.. But if kinda fell flat after that and Gear 4 at the end was not impressive. One of the better conference I have seen from MS these days.
Sony: A+
It wasn't perfect, but we are probably never going to see this kinda of megaton again. The Last Guardian, Shenmu III, FFVII Remake. The holy trinity was there and it was enough to make it the best conference ever for me. Horizon looked great and that Uncharted demo at the end was fantastic.
Nintendo: D
Worst conference I have seen this year by far. One of the worst I have seen in a long time. The only good thing was the puppet thing at the beginning.
Square Enix: B+
I loved the content of the conference. NieR by Platinum was a shock, and Kingdom Hearts III was amazing. But the entire format of the conference was flat and boring, and the ending with Setsuna wasn't that great.
Bethesda: B-
Solid conference and it would have been higher if I was more interested in their games.
Microsoft: B
Started off great with Halo 5 and the backward compatibility was a megaton for many. Dark Souls 3 was nice if it wasn't leaked before.. But if kinda fell flat after that and Gear 4 at the end was not impressive. One of the better conference I have seen from MS these days.
Sony: A+
It wasn't perfect, but we are probably never going to see this kinda of megaton again. The Last Guardian, Shenmu III, FFVII Remake. The holy trinity was there and it was enough to make it the best conference ever for me. Horizon looked great and that Uncharted demo at the end was fantastic.
Nintendo: D
Worst conference I have seen this year by far. One of the worst I have seen in a long time. The only good thing was the puppet thing at the beginning.
Square Enix: B+
I loved the content of the conference. NieR by Platinum was a shock, and Kingdom Hearts III was amazing. But the entire format of the conference was flat and boring, and the ending with Setsuna wasn't that great.
MS had a solid, but dull conference, if you'd told me it was a replay from last gen, i might have believed you. same old, same old, Forza, Gears, Halo. BC is great, but the way MS are doing it isnt. It should be all games, not a limited amount... but its cool that they even bothered. 6.5/10
Sony, i never fell into the Last Guardian hype all those years ago, looks cool though. FF and Shemnue, again, not into these.. dont really know anything about Shemnue, apart from it'll be part 3 of a continuing story, how easy it'll be to get into idk. Horizon looks like it has potential to be epic. No many sky looks cool ofcourse.. and UC looks like more of the same. 7.8/10
Bethesda. FO4 with a release date, 9/10.
EA - 3
Ubi - 4
Square - 6
Sony, i never fell into the Last Guardian hype all those years ago, looks cool though. FF and Shemnue, again, not into these.. dont really know anything about Shemnue, apart from it'll be part 3 of a continuing story, how easy it'll be to get into idk. Horizon looks like it has potential to be epic. No many sky looks cool ofcourse.. and UC looks like more of the same. 7.8/10
Bethesda. FO4 with a release date, 9/10.
EA - 3
Ubi - 4
Square - 6
This is probably the first time I've seen the majority of the conferences.
Bethesda: I liked their approach of showing extensive demos of their games but besides Dishonored (which there was little of) there was not much else of interest for me. Fallout seems to have moved in a direction which I don't quite like but if the core is competent I will give it a shot.
EA: Felt very long but a few interesting games on show with fleshed out demos.
Ubisoft: I already seem to have forgotten most of it. Ghost Recon has potential depending on the options offered to you on how to approach your objectives (but I guess the same can be said for any game).
Microsoft: It was ok. Some good moments and well put together trailers/demos but not much which incites interest in me.
Sony: I've never played FF7 or Shenmue so their 'return' doesnt hold much value for me but I do enjoy some JRPGs and I would be interested in how Shenmue turns out and adapts (if at all) with games like Yakuza and Sleeping Dogs having been released since its first inception. Not much to go on though and both projects seem long ways off. Nice to see TLG again. TLG I imagine is a difficult game to demo as it seems very similar to ICO where the great thing about it was never the moment to moment gameplay but the atmosphere/story built up through out the game and the process of figuring out the solutions (which was always satisfying) so I can see why some people are a bit underwhelmed. Horizon and (especially) Uncharted had great demos. Very odd pacing with the montage and TV/music segments feeling a little out of place. Dreams has potential depending on how accessible the tools on offer are.
Nintendo: Not many games that I'm interested in besides Mario Maker but it did me make me realise that I just don't find watching conferences very interesting (or at all). I like Nintendo's approach with the pre-recorded footage which elimnates most of the extraneous content and awkward/uncomfortable delivery by the presenters one gets at a conference. We get straight to game demos with their developers explaining the thought process behind its creation in an envrionment where they seem less nervous and more open to talk. I think it strikes a good balance between being an advertisment/sales pitch and an opporunity to learn about upcoming games but I guess the difference between these two may seem slim depending on your perspective and level of interest (I did not buy the skylanders segment at all). The format also allows them to be more creative and interesting than conference with the 'sketches'.
Square Enix: A few of the things shown (FF7, Nier new project, Tokyo RPG factory game) had very little to show. Lack of proper gameplay demos was dissappointing but I liked what I saw of Kingdom Hearts. Look forward to Hitman and Deus Ex. I just cannot get excited for a new Just Cause. JC2 was fun for about an hour. Shooting felt terrible, in a rather lifless city explosions felt meaningless, missions were not fun. Best thing about it was the stunts you can pull of in vehicles. Felt like a poor successor to Mercanaries.
Overall, I don't think watching entire conferences is for me anymore.
Bethesda: I liked their approach of showing extensive demos of their games but besides Dishonored (which there was little of) there was not much else of interest for me. Fallout seems to have moved in a direction which I don't quite like but if the core is competent I will give it a shot.
EA: Felt very long but a few interesting games on show with fleshed out demos.
Ubisoft: I already seem to have forgotten most of it. Ghost Recon has potential depending on the options offered to you on how to approach your objectives (but I guess the same can be said for any game).
Microsoft: It was ok. Some good moments and well put together trailers/demos but not much which incites interest in me.
Sony: I've never played FF7 or Shenmue so their 'return' doesnt hold much value for me but I do enjoy some JRPGs and I would be interested in how Shenmue turns out and adapts (if at all) with games like Yakuza and Sleeping Dogs having been released since its first inception. Not much to go on though and both projects seem long ways off. Nice to see TLG again. TLG I imagine is a difficult game to demo as it seems very similar to ICO where the great thing about it was never the moment to moment gameplay but the atmosphere/story built up through out the game and the process of figuring out the solutions (which was always satisfying) so I can see why some people are a bit underwhelmed. Horizon and (especially) Uncharted had great demos. Very odd pacing with the montage and TV/music segments feeling a little out of place. Dreams has potential depending on how accessible the tools on offer are.
Nintendo: Not many games that I'm interested in besides Mario Maker but it did me make me realise that I just don't find watching conferences very interesting (or at all). I like Nintendo's approach with the pre-recorded footage which elimnates most of the extraneous content and awkward/uncomfortable delivery by the presenters one gets at a conference. We get straight to game demos with their developers explaining the thought process behind its creation in an envrionment where they seem less nervous and more open to talk. I think it strikes a good balance between being an advertisment/sales pitch and an opporunity to learn about upcoming games but I guess the difference between these two may seem slim depending on your perspective and level of interest (I did not buy the skylanders segment at all). The format also allows them to be more creative and interesting than conference with the 'sketches'.
Square Enix: A few of the things shown (FF7, Nier new project, Tokyo RPG factory game) had very little to show. Lack of proper gameplay demos was dissappointing but I liked what I saw of Kingdom Hearts. Look forward to Hitman and Deus Ex. I just cannot get excited for a new Just Cause. JC2 was fun for about an hour. Shooting felt terrible, in a rather lifless city explosions felt meaningless, missions were not fun. Best thing about it was the stunts you can pull of in vehicles. Felt like a poor successor to Mercanaries.
Overall, I don't think watching entire conferences is for me anymore.
Mihael Mello Keehl
Banned
Yes cept sony really got an A
Couldn't be more satisfied from this E3.
I hardly think it'll ever get topped.
(From high to low)
Sony: 10/10. Stuff of the legends, will go down in history. Amazing showing even without the 3 megatons.
Square Enix: 9/10. Vast and quality portfolio, western and japanese games, both big and smaller, for every kind of audience. Gains back a lot of respect.
Bethesda: 8/10. Solid, great presentation (dat T.Howard). In-depth Fallout 4 blew minds. Would have scored higher but not interested in the other titles.
Microsoft: 7.5/10. Solid, but no surprising titles.
Ubisoft: 7/10. Many titles like every year, For Honour was the most interesting for me.
EA: 7/10. Many awaited titles but horrible pacing filled with unwanted things (PvZ,Fifa,Mobile).
Nintendo: 4/10. A fucking joke, really. They better deliver at the next one.
Games of the Show:
-Horizon: Zero Dawn: Game of the Show for me. Mind-blowing graphics, fun gameplay, Game of the Generation-worthy concept. Sony has a killer-app right here.
-Star Wars Battlefront: Fun, amazing graphics, fun.
-Nier New Project: I loved the 1st one, did not even know that i wanted a sequel and that i'd actually get it. Nier Team + Platinum Games + Akihiko Yoshida is a dream team.
-Final Fantasy VII Remake: No words needed, really.
-Fallout 4: Many great innovations from predecessors, good writing, great art direction. Still meh graphics though.
Notable Mentions: The Last Guardian, Shenmue III, Kingdom Hearts III, No Man's Sky, Mirror's Edge Cataclyst, For Honour, Uncharted 4.
I hardly think it'll ever get topped.
(From high to low)
Sony: 10/10. Stuff of the legends, will go down in history. Amazing showing even without the 3 megatons.
Square Enix: 9/10. Vast and quality portfolio, western and japanese games, both big and smaller, for every kind of audience. Gains back a lot of respect.
Bethesda: 8/10. Solid, great presentation (dat T.Howard). In-depth Fallout 4 blew minds. Would have scored higher but not interested in the other titles.
Microsoft: 7.5/10. Solid, but no surprising titles.
Ubisoft: 7/10. Many titles like every year, For Honour was the most interesting for me.
EA: 7/10. Many awaited titles but horrible pacing filled with unwanted things (PvZ,Fifa,Mobile).
Nintendo: 4/10. A fucking joke, really. They better deliver at the next one.
Games of the Show:
-Horizon: Zero Dawn: Game of the Show for me. Mind-blowing graphics, fun gameplay, Game of the Generation-worthy concept. Sony has a killer-app right here.
-Star Wars Battlefront: Fun, amazing graphics, fun.
-Nier New Project: I loved the 1st one, did not even know that i wanted a sequel and that i'd actually get it. Nier Team + Platinum Games + Akihiko Yoshida is a dream team.
-Final Fantasy VII Remake: No words needed, really.
-Fallout 4: Many great innovations from predecessors, good writing, great art direction. Still meh graphics though.
Notable Mentions: The Last Guardian, Shenmue III, Kingdom Hearts III, No Man's Sky, Mirror's Edge Cataclyst, For Honour, Uncharted 4.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
Heh Sony with over 75% of the vote.
I'd give their conference a 10/10 as you cannot reasonably expect any more than they had in their locker on Tuesday. Best show in years.
Microsoft I would give a 3/10 as it seems the biggest news was backwards compatibility for old games. Not a single title that gets me excited and would prompt me to buy an XB1 in the future.
Nintendo I would give a 7/10. Starfox was their big highlight and something that could prompt me to buy a Wii U.
I'd give their conference a 10/10 as you cannot reasonably expect any more than they had in their locker on Tuesday. Best show in years.
Microsoft I would give a 3/10 as it seems the biggest news was backwards compatibility for old games. Not a single title that gets me excited and would prompt me to buy an XB1 in the future.
Nintendo I would give a 7/10. Starfox was their big highlight and something that could prompt me to buy a Wii U.
UltraGunner
Banned
My Report Card
Bethesda: A (Strong showing from both Doom and Fallout 4, plus Dishonored 2 announcement)
Microsoft: C (I liked Halo and Gears, but really the only other stuff I felt was super major was Backwards Compatibility and Rare Replay)
EA: D- (Everything that I liked got brief mentions at best, with the majority of the time being spent on Sports and Mobile)
Ubisoft: C- (I really liked Rainbow Six and For Honor looks sweet. Aisha Tyler trying to make memes should be considered a federal crime)
Sony: SSS (Last Guardian, FF VII Remake, Shenmue 3. Not only were these megatons of epic proportions, but the rest of the conference had surprisingly few lows. Horizon's looking like I may actually like a game made by Guerrilla. Hitman's got me pumped. Uncharted looks mindblowing. Blops 3 looks like its following AW which I am more than happy about)
Nintendo: D/bordering on F (This conference actually made me mad. The other bad ones simply bored me but I was actually mad at this one. Star Fox was the only thing I liked, everything else looked trash. That Metroid game stung the most though. The fact that they were the only good conference last year really highlights how poor this conference was)
Square Enix: A (They took a very Japanese approach with announcing there games, which was kinda welcome actually. Just Cause 3 looks properly insane. Hitman is looking great as well. They showed off a lot of cool new shit you can do in Kingdom Hearts 3. Star Ocean 5 looking great as well. HOLY SHIT NIER 2 BY PLATINUM! And a bit of info about that new RPG initiative that they started. My only grip was that I wanted to see some proper gameplay for Tomb Raider and a bigger demo for Deus Ex. Also too many videos they showed in other conferences. This conference really makes me optimistic about Square Enix in how they're committed to actually making games for both the East and the West.)
PC: N/A (Didn't watch it. By the sound of things nothing major happened.)
Bethesda: A (Strong showing from both Doom and Fallout 4, plus Dishonored 2 announcement)
Microsoft: C (I liked Halo and Gears, but really the only other stuff I felt was super major was Backwards Compatibility and Rare Replay)
EA: D- (Everything that I liked got brief mentions at best, with the majority of the time being spent on Sports and Mobile)
Ubisoft: C- (I really liked Rainbow Six and For Honor looks sweet. Aisha Tyler trying to make memes should be considered a federal crime)
Sony: SSS (Last Guardian, FF VII Remake, Shenmue 3. Not only were these megatons of epic proportions, but the rest of the conference had surprisingly few lows. Horizon's looking like I may actually like a game made by Guerrilla. Hitman's got me pumped. Uncharted looks mindblowing. Blops 3 looks like its following AW which I am more than happy about)
Nintendo: D/bordering on F (This conference actually made me mad. The other bad ones simply bored me but I was actually mad at this one. Star Fox was the only thing I liked, everything else looked trash. That Metroid game stung the most though. The fact that they were the only good conference last year really highlights how poor this conference was)
Square Enix: A (They took a very Japanese approach with announcing there games, which was kinda welcome actually. Just Cause 3 looks properly insane. Hitman is looking great as well. They showed off a lot of cool new shit you can do in Kingdom Hearts 3. Star Ocean 5 looking great as well. HOLY SHIT NIER 2 BY PLATINUM! And a bit of info about that new RPG initiative that they started. My only grip was that I wanted to see some proper gameplay for Tomb Raider and a bigger demo for Deus Ex. Also too many videos they showed in other conferences. This conference really makes me optimistic about Square Enix in how they're committed to actually making games for both the East and the West.)
PC: N/A (Didn't watch it. By the sound of things nothing major happened.)
Otakumegane
Member
Sony A-
The games they showed were on the unicorn scale of myth, but can't help but feel that a lot of the hype is unwarrented given that Last Guardian should have been out ages ago and that FF7 isn't going to hit anytime soon. The game of their show was indubitably Horizon which looks amazing. Very very solid conference.
Microsoft B
Microsoft of all people announced BC. While I can't say that I'm interested in the games they got to offer, I'm glad for the people who do.
Nintendo C-
Yeah this one was bad. Metroid Feds was a low blow. The pluses are the NWC and the Smash stuff, but overall the games that they showed were very bland. Really see the whole resource diversion to NX here.
The games they showed were on the unicorn scale of myth, but can't help but feel that a lot of the hype is unwarrented given that Last Guardian should have been out ages ago and that FF7 isn't going to hit anytime soon. The game of their show was indubitably Horizon which looks amazing. Very very solid conference.
Microsoft B
Microsoft of all people announced BC. While I can't say that I'm interested in the games they got to offer, I'm glad for the people who do.
Nintendo C-
Yeah this one was bad. Metroid Feds was a low blow. The pluses are the NWC and the Smash stuff, but overall the games that they showed were very bland. Really see the whole resource diversion to NX here.
Adam Scott Aukerman
Member
Got to say I'm really surprised Sony's conference has had such a positive reaction. Although I don't really care about TLG, FF7 or SM3, I'm aware that they're they mean a lot to people, but I think the conference itself was really poorly structured and presented.
Going in, we all knew Sony's main weakness was the rest of their 2015 lineup, and they really didn't do anything to smooth that over. Morpheus is a big differentiator for them, but they glossed over it in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it aside. So what if it's hard to present to present VR? At least try! Look at what MS are doing with Hololens - it's a might be total bullshit, but at least it's showing the potential of the technology.
And as for those big three games, at least spread them out or save something to the end. As it was, it was completely front-loaded, and the underwhelming second half did nothing to distract from Sony's weak 2015 lineup.
These conferences are as much about how they're presented than their actual content (if not more, if 2013 was anything to go by), and I felt MS had a much better handle on that side this year - alongside a decent lineup of software.
Nintendo, they might not have had much of anything truly interesting to show, but look at how it was presented. I haven't played a new Nintendo game now since a few years into the Wii, but I gladly sat through that and came out with a decent impression of what they're doing to sustain themselves until the launch of their new platform(s).
As for the publisher conferences, Ubi was a good laugh as always, Bethesda was interesting, but I probably would have been better off reading about the others.
Going in, we all knew Sony's main weakness was the rest of their 2015 lineup, and they really didn't do anything to smooth that over. Morpheus is a big differentiator for them, but they glossed over it in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it aside. So what if it's hard to present to present VR? At least try! Look at what MS are doing with Hololens - it's a might be total bullshit, but at least it's showing the potential of the technology.
And as for those big three games, at least spread them out or save something to the end. As it was, it was completely front-loaded, and the underwhelming second half did nothing to distract from Sony's weak 2015 lineup.
These conferences are as much about how they're presented than their actual content (if not more, if 2013 was anything to go by), and I felt MS had a much better handle on that side this year - alongside a decent lineup of software.
Nintendo, they might not have had much of anything truly interesting to show, but look at how it was presented. I haven't played a new Nintendo game now since a few years into the Wii, but I gladly sat through that and came out with a decent impression of what they're doing to sustain themselves until the launch of their new platform(s).
As for the publisher conferences, Ubi was a good laugh as always, Bethesda was interesting, but I probably would have been better off reading about the others.
Bethesda was A+. Every game looked great, and they even had me looking at iOS devices for a bit.
Microsoft was a solid A: all games, no fluff, backwards compatibility. Only misstep was Halo itself, which just does not look like an actual Halo game, and seems to be more Halo 4 encounter design. It's not often I get to walk away from a conference and boot up a classic game I adore shortly afterward, and I got to do just that with Viva Pinata: TIP. Backwards Compatibility is seriously the best news out of E3.
What I saw of EA's was bad, but I had to go to work, so no grade.
Same with Ubisoft, only caught part of the conference. I will say that the single most excited I'd
Sony was a B+. The announcements themselves were huge. Textbook perfect. But... well, we've been through the CG Trailer thing before (remember the last time we saw HD FF7 or KH3?), and announcing someone else's Kickstarter is just weird. The only really exciting game for me was Horizon, and even then... Guerilla has made four bad games. A fifth good one would surprise me. Uncharted 4's demo looks like something that's really easy to break, and ND hasn't made a good game since the PS2 days, so meh. And then there's The Last Guardian, which had the same two or three words repeated so frequently I just know it's going to irritate me to death in the real game. "Come over here, come over here come over here come over here come over here" oh my god shut up weird kid.
And they didn't show any more R&C.
So like... in terms of titles alone, wow, amazing. In terms of how some of this stuff has panned out before... ehhhhhnh.
Nintendo: didn't see.
Square, D: lots of recycled stuff, Deus Ex confirmed to have third person still (gross), more details-without-details on Hitman. Just paced really weird and not really showing any meaningful gameplay demos.
PCGames, B+: Best presenter, hands down. Just. Wow. Kudos to that guy. The reveals were pretty solid: super hyped for Rising Storm 2. New missions for Starcraft has me excited. American Truck Simulator is something we knew about, but it's good to hear more of. That Gears megaton was great. Wished we could have seen Shadow Warrior 2 revealed at that show.
Biggest complaint is a lack of Age of Empires 4, which I realize is an irrational desire, but whatever. It also went on too long; there was no reason to have Cliff on stage, for instance, because he didn't... really do or show anything. An interview with him in some pre- or post-show thing would have been way better. Loved seeing the actual AMD hardware discussed; the first guy didn't really do anything interesting.
I heard a lot of people who were there complaining about the chairs.
I'm expecting the PC show next year to be the best out of all the shows.
This is a great way of putting it. Sony's talking about the right titles, but is the second FFVII HD CG trailer in, like, ten years really meaningful? Plus, Sony talked about TV. Again. So there's that.
MS generally has the better lineup and news to offer in a given year, but they're not good at giving the audience what it wants, either. People want The Last Guardian, so they'll claim "best show" on anything that has anything about The Last Guardian in it. Or FFVII. Or Shenmue. Or whatever. Microsoft doesn't do a good job surprising us with stuff we already want.
If Microsoft understood that, they'd have given us Banjo Threeie. That would have made the discussions a lot closer.
Microsoft was a solid A: all games, no fluff, backwards compatibility. Only misstep was Halo itself, which just does not look like an actual Halo game, and seems to be more Halo 4 encounter design. It's not often I get to walk away from a conference and boot up a classic game I adore shortly afterward, and I got to do just that with Viva Pinata: TIP. Backwards Compatibility is seriously the best news out of E3.
What I saw of EA's was bad, but I had to go to work, so no grade.
Same with Ubisoft, only caught part of the conference. I will say that the single most excited I'd
Sony was a B+. The announcements themselves were huge. Textbook perfect. But... well, we've been through the CG Trailer thing before (remember the last time we saw HD FF7 or KH3?), and announcing someone else's Kickstarter is just weird. The only really exciting game for me was Horizon, and even then... Guerilla has made four bad games. A fifth good one would surprise me. Uncharted 4's demo looks like something that's really easy to break, and ND hasn't made a good game since the PS2 days, so meh. And then there's The Last Guardian, which had the same two or three words repeated so frequently I just know it's going to irritate me to death in the real game. "Come over here, come over here come over here come over here come over here" oh my god shut up weird kid.
And they didn't show any more R&C.
So like... in terms of titles alone, wow, amazing. In terms of how some of this stuff has panned out before... ehhhhhnh.
Nintendo: didn't see.
Square, D: lots of recycled stuff, Deus Ex confirmed to have third person still (gross), more details-without-details on Hitman. Just paced really weird and not really showing any meaningful gameplay demos.
PCGames, B+: Best presenter, hands down. Just. Wow. Kudos to that guy. The reveals were pretty solid: super hyped for Rising Storm 2. New missions for Starcraft has me excited. American Truck Simulator is something we knew about, but it's good to hear more of. That Gears megaton was great. Wished we could have seen Shadow Warrior 2 revealed at that show.
Biggest complaint is a lack of Age of Empires 4, which I realize is an irrational desire, but whatever. It also went on too long; there was no reason to have Cliff on stage, for instance, because he didn't... really do or show anything. An interview with him in some pre- or post-show thing would have been way better. Loved seeing the actual AMD hardware discussed; the first guy didn't really do anything interesting.
I heard a lot of people who were there complaining about the chairs.
I'm expecting the PC show next year to be the best out of all the shows.
This is a great way of putting it. Sony's talking about the right titles, but is the second FFVII HD CG trailer in, like, ten years really meaningful? Plus, Sony talked about TV. Again. So there's that.
MS generally has the better lineup and news to offer in a given year, but they're not good at giving the audience what it wants, either. People want The Last Guardian, so they'll claim "best show" on anything that has anything about The Last Guardian in it. Or FFVII. Or Shenmue. Or whatever. Microsoft doesn't do a good job surprising us with stuff we already want.
If Microsoft understood that, they'd have given us Banjo Threeie. That would have made the discussions a lot closer.
ULTROS!
People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Sony - 9.5 - Great show and showed the 3 unicorns (FFVII Remake, Shenmue 3, TLG).
SE - 8.5 - Slow but showed a lot of diversity. As a JRPG Fan who loved Squaresoft, I'm happy they showed off more JRPGs.
Microsoft - 7 - Not my cup of tea but it wasn't very diverse and the lineup is safe and known.
Nintendo - 2 - What was that? I'm not a Ninty fan but this was terrible.
SE - 8.5 - Slow but showed a lot of diversity. As a JRPG Fan who loved Squaresoft, I'm happy they showed off more JRPGs.
Microsoft - 7 - Not my cup of tea but it wasn't very diverse and the lineup is safe and known.
Nintendo - 2 - What was that? I'm not a Ninty fan but this was terrible.
Imperfected
Member
Sony: A+ - The line-up so nice not all exclusives even made the cut.
I rewatched the "Big 3" conferences (or rather, watched full-length reaction videos of them after having seen them myself). I was struck by how robust their conference actually was on a second watching. The initial viewing, the hype from The Last Guardian hadn't really worn off by the time FF7:R hit, and then into Shenmue, and I think as a result I actually ended up overlooking most of the conference.
The second time, though? The fact is, even without the megatons it probably would have been the best conference this year. They had what (in the absence of tsar bombas) would have otherwise been show-stealing gameplay demos of first-party exclusives book-ending the show, tons of interesting games, an excellent tempo and the decisions of how to show each game were almost uniformly superb. The presenters were quick and capable, and the stage never felt wanting for content.
The only complaint I can think of is that the Star Wars stuff fell a bit flat for me. I'm not sure what could be done for it, to be honest, aside from just trimming back the runtime.
Microsoft: B - More than just shootbangs... somewhat.
The only things that really grabbed me on first watching were the announcement of backward compatability and the HoloLens Minecraft demo; unfortunately, on a second watching the "wow" factor of the HoloLens demo had faded and I can't say my interest in it remained. Basically at the same place I've been on the tech forever: it looks interesting, but I don't think I have any personal use for it, especially without knowing the full requirements and capabilities, and the inevitable Kinect-style hitches.
That said, the conference itself was still well put-together: as with Sony, they did a good job sandwiching the "meat" of the presentation between two solid gameplay demos for first-party exclusive games, and had at least a few surprises (Recore) to garnish. There were, unfortunately, a number of games that were conspicuous in absence, and the show did meander a bit toward the end.
Nintendo: D- - I'd rather have nothing.
I went in expecting next to nothing and somehow came out disappointed. There was a lot of talk about "transformation" of franchises, only for Star Fox to come out looking like an up-rezzed N64 game (floppy puppet head portraits and vector-graphics ships and all) with the gameplay not seeming to have visibly evolved outside of the inclusion of (yet more) gimmick vehicles. This looks more like a blatant nostalgia cash-grab than an evolution/transformation of the series.
As with Microsoft, there were too many conspicuous absences; unlike Microsoft, there wasn't anything else to fill in for the absent games, making the lack of them even more keen. Not one mention of the new Zelda game? Nothing about Devil's Third or Fatal Frame? Nintendo's line-up just was not robust enough to bear dropping that many known quantities from the show.
The puppet shorts were pretty mediocre compared to even relatively recent Directs and particularly their last E3 Digital Conference's skits. The developer interviews were pure fluff, with the only interesting bit about them being Miyamoto showing the old graph-paper prototypes for original SMB levels. The pacing was stilted and often awkward, even compared to the live conferences, and the runtime felt overly padded for how little was shown.
The only reason it's not a straight "F" is because the canned trailers for Fire Emblem and the FE/SMT crossover game were relatively solid, even if they were given no appropriate lead-in or follow-up to speak of, just sort of clonking down mid-stream before returning to the regularly scheduled programming.
Bethesda: B- - Fallout, Fallout, Fallout
There had been a few too many leaks about Fallout 4 for anything to really come as a surprise, and as soon as the in-game started rolling I was reminded of how much I disliked the art design of Fallout 3 compared to 1/2 and NV. The game will probably be good with mods (thank you based Microsoft/Sony), but I don't expect much of it out-of-the-box; it honestly looks like a bit of a step backward from New Vegas.
That said, while the content may not have been inspiring, the delivery was solid: Bethesda brought tons of gameplay footage showcasing a lot of the things fans wanted to see and answering a lot of the questions fans were asking. I suppose I'm biased due to not being interested in the game until it's had six months of modding to de-ugly it and tune up the more egregiously bad mechanics (and probably fix any number of game-breaking bugs), but even so I can tell that they were showing it off using the optimal methodology.
Similar with Dishonored and DOOM: bringing lots of gameplay earns no small amount of brownie points, even if I'm not exactly champing at the bit for the games themselves.
Square-Enix: B+ - How to give away your megaton and still have a solid conference.
I suppose having seen the FF7:R reveal at the Sony conference, my expectations for the Square-Enix conference were lowered considerably. I was impressed, nonetheless: considering their trump card had already been played by someone else, they still had tons to show, and even more to talk about. Far more surprises than anticipated.
The P* Nier announcement was a huge, interesting surprise that obviously could have done with quite a bit more "meat" on the bone. That, overall, is the main thing that held their press conference back: big ambitions, but somewhat lacking in substance. Even the games they had gameplay trailers for (Deus Ex in particular) were somewhat questionable cuts that didn't particularly show off the best traits of the games in question. The presenters were also a bit awkward and ineffective at times.
That said, they still had an astoundingly good line-up, especially considering how much the Japanese arm of the industry has been in retraction in recent years. They seem committed to not only redoubling their Western publishing efforts (Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex), but also ready to go all-in on getting Japanese gamers back home invested in the new console generation. They may very well be the savior that Japanese console gaming needs right now; if FFXV, FF7:R, and KH3 can't wake the market from its slumber, it's probably a lost cause.
Ubisoft: C+ - Tom Clancy's Ubisoft, featuring Assassin's Creed
Ubi seems to have no sense of how to mete out their production; they're either releasing three Assassin's Creed games a year and nothing from their other franchises, or three Tom Clancy games in a year and nothing from their other franchises. Their talent for glutting their presentations with the same types of games cannot be overstated, and hurts them as sorely here as it ever has.
The presentation itself was reasonably good, but content-wise Ubisoft was vying with Nintendo for the worst content on display; theirs was the "safest" line-up by far, with very few games that looked immediately new or interesting and even fewer legitimate surprises. Most of the games looked as if they might be decent or even good, but there wasn't much new there to appreciate.
The presenters were strong, the cadence was good, and the trailers were well-cut and generally to the point. A better video game publisher should poach their presentation staff.
PC: D+ - Fuck it, let's NOT do it live.
The format was... curious, but ultimately probably ill-advised; there was not enough content to fill the block of time they wanted to use, and the pace suffered for it miserably, making it genuinely hard to even watch it straight-up rather than succumbing to "teenager multimedia ADHD" and going to look at more interesting bits on social media or GAF.
The actual content was oft-middling. I was at first impressed they actually got Blizzard to show up, only to realize they were just there to pimp Heroes of the Storm, which is hardly newsworthy. That's most of the content, really: the sort of "recently released" or "already known" quantities you expect to see in ye olde gaming outlet interview cycles off the main stage, rather than something that could steal the show.
There wasn't enough buy-in on the part of the PC developer community, and there probably never will be; with Sony and Microsoft tripping all over themselves to be the one to play nicest with PC-centric developers, why even bother showing up for this show when you can get one or the other to push your game without even having to agree to exclusivity? As much as I liked the idea of having a "PC Gaming" conference, in retrospect I think I can see why it just doesn't work: the best of PC is already being shown at the platform-holder and publisher conferences.
I don't think there's anyone who would be better served putting together a "Digital Event" ala Nintendo than the greater PC community. Have every PC-centric developer send in their trailers, sizzle-reels, and developer documentaries and recut it into a snappy, effective presentation with a few footnotes by hardware manufacturers. This interview-based "show" format was just weak tea.
EA/Oculus: N/A - Did not watch/no interest.
I rewatched the "Big 3" conferences (or rather, watched full-length reaction videos of them after having seen them myself). I was struck by how robust their conference actually was on a second watching. The initial viewing, the hype from The Last Guardian hadn't really worn off by the time FF7:R hit, and then into Shenmue, and I think as a result I actually ended up overlooking most of the conference.
The second time, though? The fact is, even without the megatons it probably would have been the best conference this year. They had what (in the absence of tsar bombas) would have otherwise been show-stealing gameplay demos of first-party exclusives book-ending the show, tons of interesting games, an excellent tempo and the decisions of how to show each game were almost uniformly superb. The presenters were quick and capable, and the stage never felt wanting for content.
The only complaint I can think of is that the Star Wars stuff fell a bit flat for me. I'm not sure what could be done for it, to be honest, aside from just trimming back the runtime.
Microsoft: B - More than just shootbangs... somewhat.
The only things that really grabbed me on first watching were the announcement of backward compatability and the HoloLens Minecraft demo; unfortunately, on a second watching the "wow" factor of the HoloLens demo had faded and I can't say my interest in it remained. Basically at the same place I've been on the tech forever: it looks interesting, but I don't think I have any personal use for it, especially without knowing the full requirements and capabilities, and the inevitable Kinect-style hitches.
That said, the conference itself was still well put-together: as with Sony, they did a good job sandwiching the "meat" of the presentation between two solid gameplay demos for first-party exclusive games, and had at least a few surprises (Recore) to garnish. There were, unfortunately, a number of games that were conspicuous in absence, and the show did meander a bit toward the end.
Nintendo: D- - I'd rather have nothing.
I went in expecting next to nothing and somehow came out disappointed. There was a lot of talk about "transformation" of franchises, only for Star Fox to come out looking like an up-rezzed N64 game (floppy puppet head portraits and vector-graphics ships and all) with the gameplay not seeming to have visibly evolved outside of the inclusion of (yet more) gimmick vehicles. This looks more like a blatant nostalgia cash-grab than an evolution/transformation of the series.
As with Microsoft, there were too many conspicuous absences; unlike Microsoft, there wasn't anything else to fill in for the absent games, making the lack of them even more keen. Not one mention of the new Zelda game? Nothing about Devil's Third or Fatal Frame? Nintendo's line-up just was not robust enough to bear dropping that many known quantities from the show.
The puppet shorts were pretty mediocre compared to even relatively recent Directs and particularly their last E3 Digital Conference's skits. The developer interviews were pure fluff, with the only interesting bit about them being Miyamoto showing the old graph-paper prototypes for original SMB levels. The pacing was stilted and often awkward, even compared to the live conferences, and the runtime felt overly padded for how little was shown.
The only reason it's not a straight "F" is because the canned trailers for Fire Emblem and the FE/SMT crossover game were relatively solid, even if they were given no appropriate lead-in or follow-up to speak of, just sort of clonking down mid-stream before returning to the regularly scheduled programming.
Bethesda: B- - Fallout, Fallout, Fallout
There had been a few too many leaks about Fallout 4 for anything to really come as a surprise, and as soon as the in-game started rolling I was reminded of how much I disliked the art design of Fallout 3 compared to 1/2 and NV. The game will probably be good with mods (thank you based Microsoft/Sony), but I don't expect much of it out-of-the-box; it honestly looks like a bit of a step backward from New Vegas.
That said, while the content may not have been inspiring, the delivery was solid: Bethesda brought tons of gameplay footage showcasing a lot of the things fans wanted to see and answering a lot of the questions fans were asking. I suppose I'm biased due to not being interested in the game until it's had six months of modding to de-ugly it and tune up the more egregiously bad mechanics (and probably fix any number of game-breaking bugs), but even so I can tell that they were showing it off using the optimal methodology.
Similar with Dishonored and DOOM: bringing lots of gameplay earns no small amount of brownie points, even if I'm not exactly champing at the bit for the games themselves.
Square-Enix: B+ - How to give away your megaton and still have a solid conference.
I suppose having seen the FF7:R reveal at the Sony conference, my expectations for the Square-Enix conference were lowered considerably. I was impressed, nonetheless: considering their trump card had already been played by someone else, they still had tons to show, and even more to talk about. Far more surprises than anticipated.
The P* Nier announcement was a huge, interesting surprise that obviously could have done with quite a bit more "meat" on the bone. That, overall, is the main thing that held their press conference back: big ambitions, but somewhat lacking in substance. Even the games they had gameplay trailers for (Deus Ex in particular) were somewhat questionable cuts that didn't particularly show off the best traits of the games in question. The presenters were also a bit awkward and ineffective at times.
That said, they still had an astoundingly good line-up, especially considering how much the Japanese arm of the industry has been in retraction in recent years. They seem committed to not only redoubling their Western publishing efforts (Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex), but also ready to go all-in on getting Japanese gamers back home invested in the new console generation. They may very well be the savior that Japanese console gaming needs right now; if FFXV, FF7:R, and KH3 can't wake the market from its slumber, it's probably a lost cause.
Ubisoft: C+ - Tom Clancy's Ubisoft, featuring Assassin's Creed
Ubi seems to have no sense of how to mete out their production; they're either releasing three Assassin's Creed games a year and nothing from their other franchises, or three Tom Clancy games in a year and nothing from their other franchises. Their talent for glutting their presentations with the same types of games cannot be overstated, and hurts them as sorely here as it ever has.
The presentation itself was reasonably good, but content-wise Ubisoft was vying with Nintendo for the worst content on display; theirs was the "safest" line-up by far, with very few games that looked immediately new or interesting and even fewer legitimate surprises. Most of the games looked as if they might be decent or even good, but there wasn't much new there to appreciate.
The presenters were strong, the cadence was good, and the trailers were well-cut and generally to the point. A better video game publisher should poach their presentation staff.
PC: D+ - Fuck it, let's NOT do it live.
The format was... curious, but ultimately probably ill-advised; there was not enough content to fill the block of time they wanted to use, and the pace suffered for it miserably, making it genuinely hard to even watch it straight-up rather than succumbing to "teenager multimedia ADHD" and going to look at more interesting bits on social media or GAF.
The actual content was oft-middling. I was at first impressed they actually got Blizzard to show up, only to realize they were just there to pimp Heroes of the Storm, which is hardly newsworthy. That's most of the content, really: the sort of "recently released" or "already known" quantities you expect to see in ye olde gaming outlet interview cycles off the main stage, rather than something that could steal the show.
There wasn't enough buy-in on the part of the PC developer community, and there probably never will be; with Sony and Microsoft tripping all over themselves to be the one to play nicest with PC-centric developers, why even bother showing up for this show when you can get one or the other to push your game without even having to agree to exclusivity? As much as I liked the idea of having a "PC Gaming" conference, in retrospect I think I can see why it just doesn't work: the best of PC is already being shown at the platform-holder and publisher conferences.
I don't think there's anyone who would be better served putting together a "Digital Event" ala Nintendo than the greater PC community. Have every PC-centric developer send in their trailers, sizzle-reels, and developer documentaries and recut it into a snappy, effective presentation with a few footnotes by hardware manufacturers. This interview-based "show" format was just weak tea.
EA/Oculus: N/A - Did not watch/no interest.
FreezerGeezer
Member
The sony announcements topped it but I enjoyed the style of the PC conference the most.
Nakkilokki
Banned
I give this whole E3 an A- which will probably never be topped.
I'm not into assigning grades and shit like that, but I don't think there's any denying Sony pretty much stole the show this year with a number of genuinely huge announcements (Which they are, whether you are excited personally by them or not) and some really nice looking new IPs. (Plus Nier 2 by Platinum for PS4 being an after the fact announcment was pretty fucking cool as well.)
Nintendo had a couple of... 'mis-steps' I want to say... but delivered on a dream project a lot of us have been wanting for ages now in Platinum's Starfox and a few other decent looking new titles in addition. Good for sure, but not quite on the level of last year's.
Microsoft was... eh... it had some interesting stuff on show for sure, mainly the Hololens MC demo and Sea of Thieves, but for the most part it was fairly dry compared to the others, with no real standout announcements beyond being able to play (Some of) your old games again. Didn't help either that Gears 4 and Halo 5 looked pretty... boring tbh.
I've yet to watch the PC conf though, but sounds like some nice stuff came out of it as well.
It's Ape, so almost certainly the latter. Don't take the bait.
Nintendo had a couple of... 'mis-steps' I want to say... but delivered on a dream project a lot of us have been wanting for ages now in Platinum's Starfox and a few other decent looking new titles in addition. Good for sure, but not quite on the level of last year's.
Microsoft was... eh... it had some interesting stuff on show for sure, mainly the Hololens MC demo and Sea of Thieves, but for the most part it was fairly dry compared to the others, with no real standout announcements beyond being able to play (Some of) your old games again. Didn't help either that Gears 4 and Halo 5 looked pretty... boring tbh.
I've yet to watch the PC conf though, but sounds like some nice stuff came out of it as well.
It's Ape, so almost certainly the latter. Don't take the bait.
PuppetMaster
Member
This thread makes me want to watch the PC conf now. I have a thing for a good train wreck.
Microsoft: 8/10
The conference had a good rythm, games were shown, mostly no surprise. I personally hope the Pirate game from Rare will be good for people who enjoy the pirate theme.
Personally the only game i was interested in was Recore.
Sony: 8.5/10 unbiased 7/10 biased
Like the Microsoft conference, the rythm was good, even the section i gave absolutely no fucks like morpheus or Vue were quickly done. The first 30 minutes or so were incredible, The Last Guardian finally showing signs of life, a real remake of FF7 and Shenmue 3 kickstarter was unreal.
Now my personal problems with this conference outside of lots of game being 2016 (if not more) release.
Personally speaking outside of the hype, i really don't give a shit about those previously mentioned games, i really don't. Infact the only game i was even interested in during the whole conference was Horizon (Amazing art direction). Add to that the middle finger to Vita owners like myself and it was just to much, and i didn't expect much to begin with (couldn't even find his words when mentioning it after that FF chibi game, that 3s video showing the Vita that was mysteriously not worth showing, incredible).
Then again, objectively, pretty good conference.
Nintendo: 5/10
I'd have rated that lower right after it ended but i had time to cool off, mainly because of that Metroid spin off but after all it wasn't sooooo bad.
I personally thought the conference was slow as hell, those 10 minute video after every single games were just unbearable to watch. Amiibo didn't helped, i don't really care.
Metroid i still believe it was an insult to the fans, at least they shouldn't have called it Prime, i'm ok with it existing but i'm sorry, this is NOT Metroid Prime.
I personally can't think of a single game i wanted, maybe that Mario RPG game and Metroid as the good fanboy i am? (i hate myself right now)
This thing felt like the 3DS and WiiU (almost as dead as the Vita during Sony's conference!!!) are at the end of their cycle so they had to buy some time before they can show NX.
Mediocre conference, i could see people being interested in a few games but i was left disappointed.
Square Enix: 9/10
The best conference for me, they showed a game (even if only a teaser), spoke a bit about it, showed another game, spoke a bit about it, repeat.
It had some surprise like Nier 2, some exclusive footage of game fans awaits (like KH3), it had decent diversity, lots of people coming on stage (i liked the end were they all come one after the other).
And i personally don't really give a shit about SE, but i just found that conference interesting from beginning to end.
PC... slow/10
I won't rate that one because i actually stopped watching one hour in, it kinda reminded me of Nintendo with how ubearably slow it was, except that it started at 3am in my timezone so after one hour i came to the conclusion i was better off going to sleep that suffering through that. Notice i actually watched Sony as a whole despise it being at the same unhealthy hour.
I consider PC my main plateform when it comes to gaming followed by handheld and this was incredibly disappointing to me. Imo it was the worst conference by far, if i had to rate it for what i watched it would be inferior to 5 by a decent margin. The good host couldn't save that.
The conference had a good rythm, games were shown, mostly no surprise. I personally hope the Pirate game from Rare will be good for people who enjoy the pirate theme.
Personally the only game i was interested in was Recore.
Sony: 8.5/10 unbiased 7/10 biased
Like the Microsoft conference, the rythm was good, even the section i gave absolutely no fucks like morpheus or Vue were quickly done. The first 30 minutes or so were incredible, The Last Guardian finally showing signs of life, a real remake of FF7 and Shenmue 3 kickstarter was unreal.
Now my personal problems with this conference outside of lots of game being 2016 (if not more) release.
Personally speaking outside of the hype, i really don't give a shit about those previously mentioned games, i really don't. Infact the only game i was even interested in during the whole conference was Horizon (Amazing art direction). Add to that the middle finger to Vita owners like myself and it was just to much, and i didn't expect much to begin with (couldn't even find his words when mentioning it after that FF chibi game, that 3s video showing the Vita that was mysteriously not worth showing, incredible).
Then again, objectively, pretty good conference.
Nintendo: 5/10
I'd have rated that lower right after it ended but i had time to cool off, mainly because of that Metroid spin off but after all it wasn't sooooo bad.
I personally thought the conference was slow as hell, those 10 minute video after every single games were just unbearable to watch. Amiibo didn't helped, i don't really care.
Metroid i still believe it was an insult to the fans, at least they shouldn't have called it Prime, i'm ok with it existing but i'm sorry, this is NOT Metroid Prime.
I personally can't think of a single game i wanted, maybe that Mario RPG game and Metroid as the good fanboy i am? (i hate myself right now)
This thing felt like the 3DS and WiiU (almost as dead as the Vita during Sony's conference!!!) are at the end of their cycle so they had to buy some time before they can show NX.
Mediocre conference, i could see people being interested in a few games but i was left disappointed.
Square Enix: 9/10
The best conference for me, they showed a game (even if only a teaser), spoke a bit about it, showed another game, spoke a bit about it, repeat.
It had some surprise like Nier 2, some exclusive footage of game fans awaits (like KH3), it had decent diversity, lots of people coming on stage (i liked the end were they all come one after the other).
And i personally don't really give a shit about SE, but i just found that conference interesting from beginning to end.
PC... slow/10
I won't rate that one because i actually stopped watching one hour in, it kinda reminded me of Nintendo with how ubearably slow it was, except that it started at 3am in my timezone so after one hour i came to the conclusion i was better off going to sleep that suffering through that. Notice i actually watched Sony as a whole despise it being at the same unhealthy hour.
I consider PC my main plateform when it comes to gaming followed by handheld and this was incredibly disappointing to me. Imo it was the worst conference by far, if i had to rate it for what i watched it would be inferior to 5 by a decent margin. The good host couldn't save that.
Clear
CliffyB's Cock Holster
In no particular order:
Sony: A (A perfect trifecta of epic surprises, some great exclusives, just a supremely confident showing.)
MS: B- (Not really my thing content-wise, but credit where its due; Very solid showing for the Xbox faithful. Let down a bit though by MS' excessive pomp, and smoke and mirrors tactics with Hololens.)
SE: A- (Very stiff "old school" presentation that nevertheless showed off as teriffic range of content from both east and west. Nier on PS4 delighted me even more than Sony's reveals)
Ubisoft: C+ (I like Ubi's loose presentation style and I think Aisha is a great frontwoman for their shows. Content is a mixed bag as ever though, some nice surprises like South Park submerged in a lot of annualised sequels)
EA: C- (EA's usual overly forced and corporate presentation was salvaged by a couple of nice surprises: Unravel looks fantastic, and the in-game footage of Battlefront II was just ace.)
Bethesda: No Grade (Only caught part of this, but it looked good.)
Nintendo/PC-gamer: Didnt see.
Sony: A (A perfect trifecta of epic surprises, some great exclusives, just a supremely confident showing.)
MS: B- (Not really my thing content-wise, but credit where its due; Very solid showing for the Xbox faithful. Let down a bit though by MS' excessive pomp, and smoke and mirrors tactics with Hololens.)
SE: A- (Very stiff "old school" presentation that nevertheless showed off as teriffic range of content from both east and west. Nier on PS4 delighted me even more than Sony's reveals)
Ubisoft: C+ (I like Ubi's loose presentation style and I think Aisha is a great frontwoman for their shows. Content is a mixed bag as ever though, some nice surprises like South Park submerged in a lot of annualised sequels)
EA: C- (EA's usual overly forced and corporate presentation was salvaged by a couple of nice surprises: Unravel looks fantastic, and the in-game footage of Battlefront II was just ace.)
Bethesda: No Grade (Only caught part of this, but it looked good.)
Nintendo/PC-gamer: Didnt see.
timetokill
Banned
Only the ones I watched:
Bethesda: B-
Moved quickly, but let's face it, without Fallout 4 this would've been a waste of time. DOOM looked pretty and boring all in one. Dishonored 2 had no gameplay to show. Whatever else was there I forgot about already. Fallout 4 looks cool (except the dialogue and animations... typical Bethesda problems) and the mobile game looks fantastic. Can't wait for it to his Android so I can play it.
Microsoft: A
Good emphasis on games coming out this year. Halo was Halo. Tomb Raider was Tomb Raider. Forza looked amazing, and I'm not even into realistic racers. HoloLens looked amazing for what it was. ReCore looked incredible. Mod support for Xbox One Fallout4 makes it the definitive console version, which is massive. Nice to see Dark Souls 3 as usual. Cuphead looks glorious, it needs to be out already, along with Below. I hope Tacoma is good but I couldn't get a sense for it. Rare Replay is the first good thing Microsoft has done with Rare since purchasing them. Partnering with Valve for VR could be a big deal. Their emphasis on Windows 10 was a strong point for me. If Bone and W10 integration is good, it's a huge feature for me.
Sony: A-
No doubt there were some fantastic announcements here, but after sleeping on it, it's a clear style without substance conference. I've been dreaming of Shenmue 3 for forever it feels like. I didn't think a FF7 remake was necessary, but I'll also admit that I never thought it would happen, so it's still pretty cool. That the Last Guardian lives is nice, but it looks really damn rough and I don't like how they treated PS3 owners who expected the game (I still feel burned). The biggest issue with Sony's conference was that the "hypest" announcements (Shenmue 3, FF7r) didn't convince me to buy a PS4. Instead, it made me even more secure in my PC decision, since I'll get the best version there. On that note, the two best things Sony showed were Dreams, which looks fascinating, and Guerilla Games finally stepping out of the shit-shadow of Killzone to make something that is actually worth their time with Horizon. And it looks AMAZING, though I didn't care for the dialogue. I'm also super-excited for Firewatch, but again, on PC. I'm bored of Uncharted and nothing I saw with 4 changed my mind.
The biggest issue with the conference was that I got the impression that Sony realized they had next to nothing for this year, and decided to "fire their vaporware cannons" and show us 2016's conference instead. Like I said before, style without substance. But Shenmue 3 is still too hard to ignore. Anyway, we'll probably see a lot more of this same stuff next year.
Nintendo: B
I can hear the gnashing of teeth now, but here's the main reason: Nintendo's E3 setup is still lightyears ahead of Microsoft and Sony's. The Nintendo World Championships was absolutely fucking fantastic, and one of my favorite things I've ever seen at an E3. Nintendo's week has actually been pretty cool when you consider the stuff "outside" the main direct itself. NWC was incredible. The Smash updates have been awesome. Mother Beginnings. Treehouse Live is awesome as usual.
The biggest "problem," perception-wise, for Nintendo was not "saving" their announcements for the digital event. But when you take them together, you realize it's actually a pretty decent conference. Not as good as last year's, of course (few conferences are), but decent enough for two dying platforms. The entire Smash direct could have been rolled into it and people would've been more sated. Ryu in Smash? Holy shit! Lucas and Roy, too? New stages, costumes, music, more? Then: MOTHER BEGINNINGS? Wow! These are huge announcements they didn't put in the direct that would've made an impact. Then, of course, they didn't show Fatal Frame, which looks incredible for fans of the franchise. They don't announce that Platinum is working on Star Fox with Nintendo.
Luckily, Super Mario Maker has gone from "uh, I guess it might be good?" to "HOLY SHIT this is gonna be fucking incredible." If you missed its showing at the Nintendo World Championships, you missed out on one of the most electric showings of a game I've ever seen at an E3. Up there with Twilight Princess reveal. No joke.
Of course, we can't ignore the fact that we're in spin-off city now, and that Nintendo is clearly supporting two dying platforms in their twilight years. Wii U still has some goods -- Fatal Frame, Yoshi looks adorable, Xenoblade Chronicles X. The return of StarFox! But then there was a Zelda that wasn't THE Zelda, a Metroid that wasn't THE Metroid, an Animal Crossing that wasn't THE Animal Crossing. And it's hard to get past that disappointment. And unfortunately that smell of death was lingering over everything, and made every absence, even the ones we knew about like Zelda, all the more apparent.
Bethesda: B-
Moved quickly, but let's face it, without Fallout 4 this would've been a waste of time. DOOM looked pretty and boring all in one. Dishonored 2 had no gameplay to show. Whatever else was there I forgot about already. Fallout 4 looks cool (except the dialogue and animations... typical Bethesda problems) and the mobile game looks fantastic. Can't wait for it to his Android so I can play it.
Microsoft: A
Good emphasis on games coming out this year. Halo was Halo. Tomb Raider was Tomb Raider. Forza looked amazing, and I'm not even into realistic racers. HoloLens looked amazing for what it was. ReCore looked incredible. Mod support for Xbox One Fallout4 makes it the definitive console version, which is massive. Nice to see Dark Souls 3 as usual. Cuphead looks glorious, it needs to be out already, along with Below. I hope Tacoma is good but I couldn't get a sense for it. Rare Replay is the first good thing Microsoft has done with Rare since purchasing them. Partnering with Valve for VR could be a big deal. Their emphasis on Windows 10 was a strong point for me. If Bone and W10 integration is good, it's a huge feature for me.
Sony: A-
No doubt there were some fantastic announcements here, but after sleeping on it, it's a clear style without substance conference. I've been dreaming of Shenmue 3 for forever it feels like. I didn't think a FF7 remake was necessary, but I'll also admit that I never thought it would happen, so it's still pretty cool. That the Last Guardian lives is nice, but it looks really damn rough and I don't like how they treated PS3 owners who expected the game (I still feel burned). The biggest issue with Sony's conference was that the "hypest" announcements (Shenmue 3, FF7r) didn't convince me to buy a PS4. Instead, it made me even more secure in my PC decision, since I'll get the best version there. On that note, the two best things Sony showed were Dreams, which looks fascinating, and Guerilla Games finally stepping out of the shit-shadow of Killzone to make something that is actually worth their time with Horizon. And it looks AMAZING, though I didn't care for the dialogue. I'm also super-excited for Firewatch, but again, on PC. I'm bored of Uncharted and nothing I saw with 4 changed my mind.
The biggest issue with the conference was that I got the impression that Sony realized they had next to nothing for this year, and decided to "fire their vaporware cannons" and show us 2016's conference instead. Like I said before, style without substance. But Shenmue 3 is still too hard to ignore. Anyway, we'll probably see a lot more of this same stuff next year.
Nintendo: B
I can hear the gnashing of teeth now, but here's the main reason: Nintendo's E3 setup is still lightyears ahead of Microsoft and Sony's. The Nintendo World Championships was absolutely fucking fantastic, and one of my favorite things I've ever seen at an E3. Nintendo's week has actually been pretty cool when you consider the stuff "outside" the main direct itself. NWC was incredible. The Smash updates have been awesome. Mother Beginnings. Treehouse Live is awesome as usual.
The biggest "problem," perception-wise, for Nintendo was not "saving" their announcements for the digital event. But when you take them together, you realize it's actually a pretty decent conference. Not as good as last year's, of course (few conferences are), but decent enough for two dying platforms. The entire Smash direct could have been rolled into it and people would've been more sated. Ryu in Smash? Holy shit! Lucas and Roy, too? New stages, costumes, music, more? Then: MOTHER BEGINNINGS? Wow! These are huge announcements they didn't put in the direct that would've made an impact. Then, of course, they didn't show Fatal Frame, which looks incredible for fans of the franchise. They don't announce that Platinum is working on Star Fox with Nintendo.
Luckily, Super Mario Maker has gone from "uh, I guess it might be good?" to "HOLY SHIT this is gonna be fucking incredible." If you missed its showing at the Nintendo World Championships, you missed out on one of the most electric showings of a game I've ever seen at an E3. Up there with Twilight Princess reveal. No joke.
Of course, we can't ignore the fact that we're in spin-off city now, and that Nintendo is clearly supporting two dying platforms in their twilight years. Wii U still has some goods -- Fatal Frame, Yoshi looks adorable, Xenoblade Chronicles X. The return of StarFox! But then there was a Zelda that wasn't THE Zelda, a Metroid that wasn't THE Metroid, an Animal Crossing that wasn't THE Animal Crossing. And it's hard to get past that disappointment. And unfortunately that smell of death was lingering over everything, and made every absence, even the ones we knew about like Zelda, all the more apparent.
Only watched the Big 3, none live.
I agree with the consensus, but want to add that I would go a step further on Nintendo and say it was their worst showing, ever. Possibly the worst big 3 showing at an E3 ever. Not the most disappointing relatively (because expectations were low), but on the actual news.
I agree with the consensus, but want to add that I would go a step further on Nintendo and say it was their worst showing, ever. Possibly the worst big 3 showing at an E3 ever. Not the most disappointing relatively (because expectations were low), but on the actual news.
Sony: A+
They showed some of gamings greatest myths and made them real to various degrees. With these games it doesn't matter so much when they are released but to prove that they exist. Amazing! And the more tangible first party games like Uncharted and Horizon looked fabulous as well.
Bethesda: B+
Great first effort with solid games and some nice release date surprises.
Square: B
Brought some of the awkwardness of old E3 conferences back that is sorely missed these days and they had some very nice surprise announcements. Good to see that they're trying to correct some of their past mistakes.
Ubisoft: B-
Huge props for South Park and some of the surprise announcements, but the trend that every game has to be 4 player co-op or team based right now is disturbing.
Microsoft: B-
Solid effort overall, but the big games they showed won't make me return to those franchises or the platform. Gears especially left me cold and I can wait for the games that are more interesting like Tomb Raider or the indies. Some of the other interesting exclusives they had were tarnished by making them F2P or MMO.
EA: C
Some nice high points like the Yarn game, Mirror's Edge and Star Wars, but the pacing of the show was horrible.
Nintendo: D+
Charming presentation but there was not much interesting content there. Their resources seem to be spread too thin, so what they did announce looked rather cheap and cobbled together to have something to show at all.
They showed some of gamings greatest myths and made them real to various degrees. With these games it doesn't matter so much when they are released but to prove that they exist. Amazing! And the more tangible first party games like Uncharted and Horizon looked fabulous as well.
Bethesda: B+
Great first effort with solid games and some nice release date surprises.
Square: B
Brought some of the awkwardness of old E3 conferences back that is sorely missed these days and they had some very nice surprise announcements. Good to see that they're trying to correct some of their past mistakes.
Ubisoft: B-
Huge props for South Park and some of the surprise announcements, but the trend that every game has to be 4 player co-op or team based right now is disturbing.
Microsoft: B-
Solid effort overall, but the big games they showed won't make me return to those franchises or the platform. Gears especially left me cold and I can wait for the games that are more interesting like Tomb Raider or the indies. Some of the other interesting exclusives they had were tarnished by making them F2P or MMO.
EA: C
Some nice high points like the Yarn game, Mirror's Edge and Star Wars, but the pacing of the show was horrible.
Nintendo: D+
Charming presentation but there was not much interesting content there. Their resources seem to be spread too thin, so what they did announce looked rather cheap and cobbled together to have something to show at all.
tamaster92
Member
Bethesda - A - fallout fucking 4. doom looked good too, fallout shelter was great and yeah. Was hosted well too imo.
MS - B - some really cool new stuff, backwards compatibility, but nothing that made me go "wow".
EA - C - average conference with some standout games (battlefront, unraveled).
Ubisoft - C - as above really, south park is a nice surprise though.
Sony - A+ - fan fiction. Dragged in the middle as per usual but god damn. Those games. The bad part is - how can they possibly compare to this next year?
Nintendo - C- - The presentation was great, the idea of developers talking about their games is great. But the games were bad. Hardly anything I was interested in at all.
PC - i missed
MS - B - some really cool new stuff, backwards compatibility, but nothing that made me go "wow".
EA - C - average conference with some standout games (battlefront, unraveled).
Ubisoft - C - as above really, south park is a nice surprise though.
Sony - A+ - fan fiction. Dragged in the middle as per usual but god damn. Those games. The bad part is - how can they possibly compare to this next year?
Nintendo - C- - The presentation was great, the idea of developers talking about their games is great. But the games were bad. Hardly anything I was interested in at all.
PC - i missed
microsoft was solid great showing, great games, no blabla: 8-9
ea was kinda meh for me: maybe 5
unbisoft was not bad: 7-8
se was also ok: 7
Sony just had the most memorable conference in recent years. you could not make this up in your wildest dreams. this will go down in history. they dropped not only nuclear, they dropped some fucking antimatter bombs right there.
10/10. 11/10
havent seen the others.
ea was kinda meh for me: maybe 5
unbisoft was not bad: 7-8
se was also ok: 7
Sony just had the most memorable conference in recent years. you could not make this up in your wildest dreams. this will go down in history. they dropped not only nuclear, they dropped some fucking antimatter bombs right there.
10/10. 11/10
havent seen the others.
Ape Gone Insane
Member
Thought all the conferences were poor and Sony wasn't particularly standout. People seem very impressed over a Kickstarter, a remake of a game that's nearly 2 decades old and a rough looking PS3 game that's been near vapourware for a decade.
Krisprolls
Banned
Microsoft : 7 / 10 - good conference overall, well focused on games, but still the old smoke and mirrors tactics about Hololens and the extent of BC.
Sony : 9.5 / 10 - a conference for the ages, like a fan fiction. FF7 remake, TLG, Shenmue 3 were the three most asked announcements so they get the top score. Then you add great looking new IPs (Horizon and Dreams) and the gorgeous Uncharted 4, you can hardly ask for more. Maybe more Morpheus would have been great.
EA : 4 / 10 - They look a bit stale now. The same old Madden and Fifa. Now a new Mass Effect could be great, and the new Plants vs Zombies looks fine. We need more new IPs, they should take more risks.
Ubi : 6.5 / 10 - Assassins Creed must reinvent itself now, looks like the same gameplay formulas every year, they must bring more new things, we're bored. Stop with CG trailers too, we need live gameplay. Then again, Ubi at least bring intriguing new IPs like For Honor, The Division and the Ghost Recon open world game at the end (gorgeous world). A new South Park game is nice too.
I didn't watch the other conferences.
Sony : 9.5 / 10 - a conference for the ages, like a fan fiction. FF7 remake, TLG, Shenmue 3 were the three most asked announcements so they get the top score. Then you add great looking new IPs (Horizon and Dreams) and the gorgeous Uncharted 4, you can hardly ask for more. Maybe more Morpheus would have been great.
EA : 4 / 10 - They look a bit stale now. The same old Madden and Fifa. Now a new Mass Effect could be great, and the new Plants vs Zombies looks fine. We need more new IPs, they should take more risks.
Ubi : 6.5 / 10 - Assassins Creed must reinvent itself now, looks like the same gameplay formulas every year, they must bring more new things, we're bored. Stop with CG trailers too, we need live gameplay. Then again, Ubi at least bring intriguing new IPs like For Honor, The Division and the Ghost Recon open world game at the end (gorgeous world). A new South Park game is nice too.
I didn't watch the other conferences.
Triggerhappytel
Member
Holy shit; Sony currently killing it with 76.71%!
I voted Sony. Horizon looks amazing and might be my game of the show, I'm hyped for Dreams from Media Molecule (love the LBP series, Tearaway and I really love their creativity), so pleased to see The Last Guardian again, and despite feeling a little disinterested in the series, Uncharted 4 looks incredible, in terms of attention to detail, tech, set-pieces and world building. Shenmue 3 was cool although I'm not familiar with the series (still got kind of caught up in the hype because I know it means so much to so many), and although FFVII is my favourite game ever and I would probably buy the remake, I suspect it's a long way off and I'm a little suspicious of how SE willfuck it up change it.
I voted Sony. Horizon looks amazing and might be my game of the show, I'm hyped for Dreams from Media Molecule (love the LBP series, Tearaway and I really love their creativity), so pleased to see The Last Guardian again, and despite feeling a little disinterested in the series, Uncharted 4 looks incredible, in terms of attention to detail, tech, set-pieces and world building. Shenmue 3 was cool although I'm not familiar with the series (still got kind of caught up in the hype because I know it means so much to so many), and although FFVII is my favourite game ever and I would probably buy the remake, I suspect it's a long way off and I'm a little suspicious of how SE will
Bethesda - 7.5/10 solid showing
MS - 8/10 great lineup, many exclusives. And some nice surprises. Halo 5 looks great
EA - 3/10 Battlefront aside, poor conference
Ubisoft - 8/10 Again, solid. Lots of gameplay.
Sony - 7/10 Some nice surprises, but very few exclusives. And games too far away. Everything a bit overhyped IMO. Needed more near future stuff to look forward to.
Nintendo 4/10. Nintendo gonna Nintendo.
MS - 8/10 great lineup, many exclusives. And some nice surprises. Halo 5 looks great
EA - 3/10 Battlefront aside, poor conference
Ubisoft - 8/10 Again, solid. Lots of gameplay.
Sony - 7/10 Some nice surprises, but very few exclusives. And games too far away. Everything a bit overhyped IMO. Needed more near future stuff to look forward to.
Nintendo 4/10. Nintendo gonna Nintendo.
Caipirinha
Member
Melchiah
Member
Oh well, moving on...
Cereal Enthusiast
Banned
Microsoft 7/10, great games for this year, but nothing really impressed me, Tomb Raider feels old compared to Uncharted, and Gears was bad IMO
Sony : 9.5/10, Megatons of course, Horizon OMFG, and Uncharted 4 is insane. Too bad everything is 2016 and beyond.
Nintendo 3/10: Nothing interessed me.
Sony : 9.5/10, Megatons of course, Horizon OMFG, and Uncharted 4 is insane. Too bad everything is 2016 and beyond.
Nintendo 3/10: Nothing interessed me.
Bethesda - Haven't watched
Microsoft - 6/10 Delivered on features, not on games.
I'm still hesitant on BC and mods, etc. until we see more, it was all "Hey guys here's 360 BC* ", "Fallout 4 mods on Xbox One* BOOOYAH!"
Elite controller looks a little ridiculous, price is ridiculous but I'm pro more than just standard controllers on consoles. Customizable ones, different sizes, it should happen.
Now games...I'm surprised that a lot of MS games just demoed really poorly, even if they may be good games overall.
Halo 5 didn't demo well imo, Tomb Raider demo was absolutely awful, like they have chosen the most generic definition of "cinematic gameplay" - very slim interaction, a lot of scripts, and this token black guy character that she left behind...
Maybe I've had too big expectations for the next Gears of War (Gears 4 is such an awful name :-/), you know new MS team, new gen, clearly important franchise. I was very eager to see how can MS shake the formula.
What I've got was just more Gears with cranked up graphics, that overly dark demo didn't do it any favours either. Also please, if you have a very slow paced section in the game keep the demo short, it just doesn't show well at E3, it dragged and was boring.
And of course MS' favourite - CGI. Please keep CGI to minimum on your conferences.
We got Recore which was probably the biggest surprise of the conference, but it was CGI so no telling what it really is. The concept seems simple so I'm wondering if this is a small downloadable project or something retail?
New Rare IP looks fun, but is MMO, so that's a dealbreaker for me.
Good value on MS remasters.
Great indie showing, as usual one of MS conferences highlights, majority of games coming to other platforms though.
Standard 3rd parties showing. Awful EA segment.
Overall it seems rather clear to me, that the core Xbox experience won't change much from last gen - it's Halo/Gears/Forza/Fable all over again leading the charge with a couple more experimental new IP's like Scalebound or Recore (when we'll see actual gameplay).
It's even worse for me after that PC show, as a lot of MS games are also releasing on PC, which makes me getting an Xbox a very unlikely scenario.
Ubisoft - 7,5/10
Strong conference. A lot of games, a couple of surprises, that damn Ubisoft formula...
For Honor looks cool, will buy when it's cheap.
Great to see more South Park.
Time to give AC a long vacation, it really needs it (give me Rogue on PS4 first though)
Ghost Recon gets the Ubisoft treatment...expect open world, towers to climb, mini card games to play...That's not what I think of when I think Ghost Recon, should have been just a new IP.
The Division was revealed waaaaay too soon, I'm tired of it before even playing it, even though I was hyped when it was first announced and was looking forward to play it in early 2015 lol.
EA - 4/10
Sorry EA, that conference was a drag, I just can't get excited enough about sports games to listen about them for 40 minutes. Pele is a legend, but that segment was ugh....
The clear highlight was Unravel, more similar things like that EA, that's a day 1 purchase.
Battlefront was expectedly fantastic, hopefully it will be playable at launch, but I'm cautious.
Disapointed that no other Star Wars game was revealed.
Also no ME trilogy remaster? Boooo EA.
That's another awful EA conference, maybe it's time to let it go? Show your awesome games at MS and Sony conferences, your sports titles will sell gangbusters anyway.
Sony - Ohh Sony, Sony... 9,5/10
That was as good as it gets if we stick to reality.
Marketing contracts most probably require games to be shown during all big conferences during the year. I don't really want to see Destiny, Assassins Creed or Call of Duty, but they are undeniably huge franchises so they will be there.
Overall Sony managed to hugely improve pacing from past conferences, all segments, even the non-gaming ones (which I don't really mind) were quick, short, snappy
- Here's a trailer, some exclusive DLC, boom.
- There's some Destiny DLC, boom.
- Here's Playstation Vue, a'la carte, boom
- Playstation is home of Call of Duty, here's some gameplay, boom.
The lowlights of the conference didn't drag to take anything away from the hype moments.
The worst part was the Disney Infinity segment, I love Star Wars, may even buy Disney Infinity, but that was pretty awful.
Now the games, damn Sony brought the games...
Horizon - game of the show for me (sorry Uncharted). To see how incredibly that leaked concept art comes to life...That looked so rad, can't wait to play that game.
Dreams is not necessarily a game for me, but I always appriciate MM's ability to bring something new, fresh, quirky and creative to the table. This seems like their biggest thing yet.
Uncharted 4...holy moly Uncharted 4, that's what I wanted from Gears 4. This demo and the PSX demo shows so well what ND learned last gen, and how well they implement it in the this game. It is a very natural progression for the series and not only in the graphics department. Scale, scope, verticality, physics, enemy encounters - it's all improved from previous games and I can't wait to finally experience it. This demo shitted so hard on it's direct competitor...
Highly commendable that all Sony first party games were showcased with gameplay demos.
And now the other Dreams, those that came true. If someone said those 3 games will show up, people would tell him that it's too ridiculous even for a dream wishlist. It all actually happened and it was real life. This conference won't ever be beaten. It showed us though that if we believe hard enough, dreams can come true!
Where the hell was Battlefront Beta though? :-(
Nintendo - It was running in the background, didn't really focus on it, from what I heard and seen, it looked weak.
Square Enix - 7/10
Very decent showing.
A lot of the trailers looked good. KH3 looks superb.
Got to say, highly appriciate Square Enix for their console support, especially considering their success in mobile gaming. I would expect SE to go the way of Konami, instead we have KH3, World of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest Heroes, Star Ocean, FF7R, new Nier, new console RPG studio, all the Western branches games and so on.
Also big props for going PS4 only faster than majority of Japanese devs.
A little too much talking, but I guess it's a Japanese thing.
Microsoft - 6/10 Delivered on features, not on games.
I'm still hesitant on BC and mods, etc. until we see more, it was all "Hey guys here's 360 BC* ", "Fallout 4 mods on Xbox One* BOOOYAH!"
Elite controller looks a little ridiculous, price is ridiculous but I'm pro more than just standard controllers on consoles. Customizable ones, different sizes, it should happen.
Now games...I'm surprised that a lot of MS games just demoed really poorly, even if they may be good games overall.
Halo 5 didn't demo well imo, Tomb Raider demo was absolutely awful, like they have chosen the most generic definition of "cinematic gameplay" - very slim interaction, a lot of scripts, and this token black guy character that she left behind...
Maybe I've had too big expectations for the next Gears of War (Gears 4 is such an awful name :-/), you know new MS team, new gen, clearly important franchise. I was very eager to see how can MS shake the formula.
What I've got was just more Gears with cranked up graphics, that overly dark demo didn't do it any favours either. Also please, if you have a very slow paced section in the game keep the demo short, it just doesn't show well at E3, it dragged and was boring.
And of course MS' favourite - CGI. Please keep CGI to minimum on your conferences.
We got Recore which was probably the biggest surprise of the conference, but it was CGI so no telling what it really is. The concept seems simple so I'm wondering if this is a small downloadable project or something retail?
New Rare IP looks fun, but is MMO, so that's a dealbreaker for me.
Good value on MS remasters.
Great indie showing, as usual one of MS conferences highlights, majority of games coming to other platforms though.
Standard 3rd parties showing. Awful EA segment.
Overall it seems rather clear to me, that the core Xbox experience won't change much from last gen - it's Halo/Gears/Forza/Fable all over again leading the charge with a couple more experimental new IP's like Scalebound or Recore (when we'll see actual gameplay).
It's even worse for me after that PC show, as a lot of MS games are also releasing on PC, which makes me getting an Xbox a very unlikely scenario.
Ubisoft - 7,5/10
Strong conference. A lot of games, a couple of surprises, that damn Ubisoft formula...
For Honor looks cool, will buy when it's cheap.
Great to see more South Park.
Time to give AC a long vacation, it really needs it (give me Rogue on PS4 first though
)Ghost Recon gets the Ubisoft treatment...expect open world, towers to climb, mini card games to play...That's not what I think of when I think Ghost Recon, should have been just a new IP.
The Division was revealed waaaaay too soon, I'm tired of it before even playing it, even though I was hyped when it was first announced and was looking forward to play it in early 2015 lol.
EA - 4/10
Sorry EA, that conference was a drag, I just can't get excited enough about sports games to listen about them for 40 minutes. Pele is a legend, but that segment was ugh....
The clear highlight was Unravel, more similar things like that EA, that's a day 1 purchase.
Battlefront was expectedly fantastic, hopefully it will be playable at launch, but I'm cautious.
Disapointed that no other Star Wars game was revealed.
Also no ME trilogy remaster? Boooo EA.
That's another awful EA conference, maybe it's time to let it go? Show your awesome games at MS and Sony conferences, your sports titles will sell gangbusters anyway.
Sony - Ohh Sony, Sony... 9,5/10
That was as good as it gets if we stick to reality.
Marketing contracts most probably require games to be shown during all big conferences during the year. I don't really want to see Destiny, Assassins Creed or Call of Duty, but they are undeniably huge franchises so they will be there.
Overall Sony managed to hugely improve pacing from past conferences, all segments, even the non-gaming ones (which I don't really mind) were quick, short, snappy
- Here's a trailer, some exclusive DLC, boom.
- There's some Destiny DLC, boom.
- Here's Playstation Vue, a'la carte, boom
- Playstation is home of Call of Duty, here's some gameplay, boom.
The lowlights of the conference didn't drag to take anything away from the hype moments.
The worst part was the Disney Infinity segment, I love Star Wars, may even buy Disney Infinity, but that was pretty awful.
Now the games, damn Sony brought the games...
Horizon - game of the show for me (sorry Uncharted). To see how incredibly that leaked concept art comes to life...That looked so rad, can't wait to play that game.
Dreams is not necessarily a game for me, but I always appriciate MM's ability to bring something new, fresh, quirky and creative to the table. This seems like their biggest thing yet.
Uncharted 4...holy moly Uncharted 4, that's what I wanted from Gears 4. This demo and the PSX demo shows so well what ND learned last gen, and how well they implement it in the this game. It is a very natural progression for the series and not only in the graphics department. Scale, scope, verticality, physics, enemy encounters - it's all improved from previous games and I can't wait to finally experience it. This demo shitted so hard on it's direct competitor...
Highly commendable that all Sony first party games were showcased with gameplay demos.
And now the other Dreams, those that came true. If someone said those 3 games will show up, people would tell him that it's too ridiculous even for a dream wishlist. It all actually happened and it was real life. This conference won't ever be beaten. It showed us though that if we believe hard enough, dreams can come true!
Where the hell was Battlefront Beta though? :-(
Nintendo - It was running in the background, didn't really focus on it, from what I heard and seen, it looked weak.
Square Enix - 7/10
Very decent showing.
A lot of the trailers looked good. KH3 looks superb.
Got to say, highly appriciate Square Enix for their console support, especially considering their success in mobile gaming. I would expect SE to go the way of Konami, instead we have KH3, World of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest Heroes, Star Ocean, FF7R, new Nier, new console RPG studio, all the Western branches games and so on.
Also big props for going PS4 only faster than majority of Japanese devs.
A little too much talking, but I guess it's a Japanese thing.
MilkyJoe
Member
Microsoft
Backwards Compatibility
Forza 6 looks great
Love the look of Sea of Thieves - best water I have seen & bright and colourful. A good pirate game is sorely lacking.
Cup Head
Tomb Raider, Looks great, I really liked the last one, hopefully it's a bit more actual tombing this time
Cup Head
New Controller, I'm not sure it's for me, but the fact it was done alone is a really cool thing. I have said it for years the world needs first party customisable controllers, sliders to reposition the sticks would be the ultimate!
Elite Dangerous
Day Z
Nice range of genres and some mega tons.
That's rather subjective, don't you think?
Backwards Compatibility
Forza 6 looks great
Love the look of Sea of Thieves - best water I have seen & bright and colourful. A good pirate game is sorely lacking.
Cup Head
Tomb Raider, Looks great, I really liked the last one, hopefully it's a bit more actual tombing this time
Cup Head
New Controller, I'm not sure it's for me, but the fact it was done alone is a really cool thing. I have said it for years the world needs first party customisable controllers, sliders to reposition the sticks would be the ultimate!
Elite Dangerous
Day Z
Nice range of genres and some mega tons.
That's rather subjective, don't you think?
"subjective"
While I like the idea of ranking. You can't compare apples with oranges.
I do blame nintendo for the shit they showed and it was thier fault they didnt focus on 2017 games...what they showed is games they are working on in the near future and had some suprizes.
They shouldnt have done the 2 pre e3 shows as combined they could have had a great show.
D- from me
Sony had a lot of filler and too much crap. The monster hunter game looks interesting but I'm betting that lore and world will be wasted on yet another monster hunter clone.
Uncharted needed less shooting and driving and more treasure hunting imo.
Last guardian was a great trailer but I cant see it being a fun game.
C
Rest had nothing of value for me
Xbox backward compability sounds cool but not needed (there are still xbox360 consoles) and rare bundle while a bargain isnt a new rare worthy game
I do blame nintendo for the shit they showed and it was thier fault they didnt focus on 2017 games...what they showed is games they are working on in the near future and had some suprizes.
They shouldnt have done the 2 pre e3 shows as combined they could have had a great show.
D- from me
Sony had a lot of filler and too much crap. The monster hunter game looks interesting but I'm betting that lore and world will be wasted on yet another monster hunter clone.
Uncharted needed less shooting and driving and more treasure hunting imo.
Last guardian was a great trailer but I cant see it being a fun game.
C
Rest had nothing of value for me
Xbox backward compability sounds cool but not needed (there are still xbox360 consoles) and rare bundle while a bargain isnt a new rare worthy game
I'm PS guy so I'm biased a little but here are my thoughts:
I liked Microsoft's conference, they've greatly improved in the last couple of years. They showed that they've been listening to their fans and they also have a great line-up this year.
Meanwhile I voted for Sony because they delivered one of the best shows for the fans ever. Reactions everywhere were priceless. It was mostly driven by nostalgia but there were also some new exciting stuff so it was fairly diverse. They've also cut down on the boring stuff from previous years.
Only watched these two so there it is.
I liked Microsoft's conference, they've greatly improved in the last couple of years. They showed that they've been listening to their fans and they also have a great line-up this year.
Meanwhile I voted for Sony because they delivered one of the best shows for the fans ever. Reactions everywhere were priceless. It was mostly driven by nostalgia but there were also some new exciting stuff so it was fairly diverse. They've also cut down on the boring stuff from previous years.
Only watched these two so there it is.
Sony: 8/10
Announcements of TLG, FFVII Remake and Shenmue were cool, too bad I'm not that interested in any of those. UC4 looked okay and I can't wait to play No Man's Sky. SFV was impressive, too.
Microsoft: 8/10
Solid and entertaining conference, Minecraft Hololens stuff was pretty neat and backwards compatibility is never a bad thing. New Gears and Tomb Raider looked boring tho.
Nintendo: 3/10
That Metroid announcement... FUCK YOU NINTENDO.
Bethesda: 7/10
Fallout 4 looks amazing. Everything else was kinda meh, though.
EA: 3/10
One of the most boring e3 conferences of all time.
Ubisoft: 4/10
cringe + memes + bad games = Ubisoft e3 conference 2015
Square Enix: 5/10
Almost as boring as EA's conference.
Announcements of TLG, FFVII Remake and Shenmue were cool, too bad I'm not that interested in any of those. UC4 looked okay and I can't wait to play No Man's Sky. SFV was impressive, too.
Microsoft: 8/10
Solid and entertaining conference, Minecraft Hololens stuff was pretty neat and backwards compatibility is never a bad thing. New Gears and Tomb Raider looked boring tho.
Nintendo: 3/10
That Metroid announcement... FUCK YOU NINTENDO.
Bethesda: 7/10
Fallout 4 looks amazing. Everything else was kinda meh, though.
EA: 3/10
One of the most boring e3 conferences of all time.
Ubisoft: 4/10
cringe + memes + bad games = Ubisoft e3 conference 2015
Square Enix: 5/10
Almost as boring as EA's conference.