E3 2016 Day One minus Zero Recap
What’s good Fanbros? E3 is once again upon us and I have returned as well to cynically recap the first day of big conferences. This year is being called a transition period for the long stand conference. Plenty of publishers of all size that decided to leave the L.A. Convention Center in favor of hosting their own events or livestreams this week or later on. This has caused many in the gaming press to question “the importance of E3.” However, none that matters, as there are still plenty of folks at E3 and news to raise an eyebrow at.
Bethesda’s Like “We Didn’t screw up DOOM so here’s Quake”
So once again E3 kinda-maybe-sorta started on Sunday. Last year, Bethesda was an unknown but this year no so much as most of their announcements leaked a few days before the show. Still they put on a pretty solid presentation. More Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter content is coming soon. Elder Strolls Online is going well and Skyrim is getting a HD Texture pack Remastered edition for PS4, XBONE and PC. Dishonored 2 was demoed and now you leap through time to help you mind link murders all your disloyal subjects. Still, the most pleasant surprise was the reveal of Quake Champions. At first glance it appearance like Overwatch/Team Fortress 2 character based shooter but ID is labeling a “competitive multiplayer arena shooter,” AKA Quake. After successfully resurrecting Wolfenstein and DOOM ,ID software has shown they know what they are doing. Also Dishonored 2,
Prey 2 is now Prey and Nothing was the Same
Prey is a franchise that has development trouble coded into its source. Prey 2 premiered some time ago (2011). The trailer was cool, but what really got people excited was the behind the doors closed demo the press got to see. The few who got to see that, described the game as a “Cowboy Bebop like open world shooter” and also called it mind blowing and ambitious. Forget all that, Prey 2 has been rebooted. Tommy as a space bounty hunter on a Blade Runner like alien space station has been replaced by a new protagonist who has bad case of Groundhog Day and an eye he should really get a doctor to look at.
EA Powered by Frostbite not the ESA
Mush of the talk before E3 this year stemmed from who was not going to be at show instead of who was going. A few big publishers pulled out this year and EA was one of the first to give up their booth space, set up a community event and question the relevance of the big show. So while they are not officially part of E3, they are still around E3 and have few things to show. It started a few years but for it appears EA has transitioned most of their games to DICE’s Frostbite engine. Why pay someone else for an engine when you have one in house? At the same time, why pay the ESA and the L.A. Convention Center to announce games at E3 when you can just live stream on them on YouTube?
EA Wants You to Know They Bought The Star Wars License Part 2
So last year, EA purchased the Star Wars video game license from Disney and they wanted everyone to know “STAR WARS DAMNIT!” They busted their ass and got Battlefront out in time for The Force Awakens. This year EA wants us to know yes more Star Wars is coming but this time from DICE, Motive, Visceral and Respawn.
EA’s PR Tour Starts Here. Please Stop Voting us America’s worst company
“Hey guys, we at EA hear you. We now have a full single player experience in Titanfall 2. New Mass Effect, coming next year. Are you excited yet? Thanks for all the Battlefield 1 love on YouTube. Here’s Snoop Dog! We also love indie games too guys! We put one out last year, here’s another- FE! We are not even going to try to make a basket game this year. We did put a story mode in FIFA though. So please, not voting us America’s worst company. That’s Comcast.”
Microsoft “Who leaked all our stuff”
Microsoft’s whole press conference was leaked on the web a some hours before they went live. Twitter users pretty mush had a program schedule down to the segment time for the Microsoft conference. Stinks for Microsoft, but this is the internet.
Xbox Games are Coming to windows 10 but Not Where You Want Them.
Microsoft’s bringing their games — all their first party games to the PC… just not Steam. Xbox Play is what Microsoft is calling their huge cross platform plan to expand the Xbox brand on the PC. It used to be Microsoft would rarely bring their first party developed games to the PC. Now they are bringing all of them to the PC – The Windows 10 App store. Buy a Microsoft game like Forza Horizon 3 or Gear of War 4 your copy works on both Xbox One and a Windows 10 PC. It’s cool, a really great move, but remember these games are Window 10 apps, meaning you’re not getting them from Steam or GOG but the Windows 10 app store…Enjoy running them in fake full screen with Vsync issues!
We got all the Teraflops over here
Microsoft was in a spot. They could not confirm the Xbox One S without also confirming another, more powerful Xbox coming next year. So instead of pretending like the press didn’t post all their specs all over the web, they went ahead and revealed that yes, Project Scorpio is real. It has all the Teraflops. Xbox forever. Xbox everywhere.
Sony Sold 50 Million Playstation 4s And now don’t know what to do with themselves
The PlayStation brand is doing well, Sony might not be doing well but PlayStation has some extra cash to spend. Don’t believe me? last year Sony co-developed Street Fighter V and dropped $500,000 in Capcom’s Pro tour, ensuring Street Fighter would be part of the Sony PlayStation family for a long time. This year, PlayStation revealed VR exclusive content for Resident EvII (Get it? 7!) So PlayStation’s pretty mush keeping the lights on at Capcom. PlayStation also has Insomniac working on an exclusive Spider-Man game. Crash Bandicoot is getting remastered. Yea,PlayStation is just throwing cash around. Also The Last Guardian has a real release date. It will be out before Jay Electronica’s Act II.
Krato, Father of the year or FATHER OF THE F*CKING YEAR!
This man got shot in the shoulder — WHILE HE WAS TRYING TO MURDER A FROST TROLL– by is own son and didn’t raise his voice. That’s parenting.
A Wild Hideo Kojima Appears
No love lost for Kojima at the Sony press conference. Even if he didn’t have anything to show, just the sight of him would have sent the crowd into a frenzy. But he did have something to show, a trailer for his new game Death Stranding, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Ubisoft, While Fighting a Hostile Takeover…
Had a fun little presser. Ubisolf showed some games, told some jokes. New South Park and Trials games are coming . The Division is getting to two big DLC updates for later this year. Watch Dogs 2 features a black guy from Oakland (I wonder if he knows Sway?) Ghost Recon Wildlands still look promising, even with Ubi’s bad fake gamer talk. For Ubisoft, this year is all about saving face and looking strong as Vivendi Universal tries to swallow them whole. Hell, Vivendi has already coast one Guillemot brother a job. Now they are trying to go two for two.
