E3 2012

[jman]

E3 next week !!     Thought it deserved its own thread seeing as its the biggest video game event of the year bar none...so there might be lots of discussion about games that are a long way off yet...

Anyway we should find out...

How cack the Wii U really is
Whether the 720 will be the shock announcement
And if the Vita actually has anymore games coming out for it.. (plus the inevitable price cut)

Should also have stuff on the following games :
Assassins Creed 3, Farcry 3, Fifa 13, Crysis 3, Dead Space 3, Simcity 5, COD:BLOPS2, GTA5 (possibly), Halo 4, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 6, Elder Scrolls Online, Lego LOTR.. plus loads more..

Personally Im looking forward to Halo 4 and Simcity 5 the most.. cant wait till Simcity comes out.. I love that game.. obviously any more news on GTA5 would be great also.

[harv]

Apparently Nintendo have got so much to show at E3 they're having 2 conferences First time that's happened as far as I know! First one on the 5th and a Software Showcase on the 6th. Ubisoft are also having a U titles info blowout on the 4th, no idea how they managed that one lol

I'm expecting Sony's to be reasonable with The Last Story, David Cage's new game and more Vita titles and the Microsoft one to be mostly Kinect-centric yet again which will continue to infuriate fanboys all over the place despite Microsoft having info on Halo 4 in an attempt to placate them.

And if Sony and Microsoft don't have at least a sizzle reel and tech demos of the PS4 and 720 then they've both made a huge cock up.

[jman]

How much do you want to bet that GTA5 doesnt appear on the Wii U then

Nintendos conference all depends on new IPs for me.. if they cant showcase new IPs that we dont know about and also exclusive 3rd party titles then Im afraid nintendos conference(s) will be the worst... simple as..

Microsofts conference is likely to start with COD, GTA5 and a lot about Halo 4... 3 of the biggest franchises ever... I cant see how that will be bad to be honest...microsoft have already had a strong start to 2012 with a number of exclusives and top quality games, much better than the variety on the wii and much better than the ps3 too.. hence why its the still the strongest seller after 7 years....  If there is no 720 news.. there is none.. not particularly bothered.. as long as it is coming out next year... otherwise then they have made a cock-up

Sony is all about re-inventing the Vita, no shame in admitting its been poor in sales, they need to get over that, announce a price cut, announce a ton of new games and get it back on track.. I'll be honest and say I'd be interested in picking one up still if they cut the price and announce a LOT more games for it.. im not touching it at the moment for the right reasons... its just not worth it.

[harv]

Nintendo are fully aware of how important securing GTA V is now that they're concentrating on the hardcore demographic more with the U. And the touchscreen will be perfect for setting waypoints on the fly without pausing the game every 5 minutes. It will also double nicely as a PDA or smartphone screen. Take Two have had good returns from DS and Wii projects so I'll be very surprised if we don't see a U SKU.

I'm really surprised that we haven't had more leaks about the U titles that we're going to see, pretty impressive. Even the kings of leakage, Ubisoft, have been relatively quiet

[Late]

Not expecting much from E3 this year, to be honest.

Microsoft aren't going to give us anything on the nextbox, other than perhaps a few clips showing graphical prowess etc. They'll mainly be focussing on batty crap we're not interested in, such as a newer version of Kinnect, and further streamlining of software/presentation with windows 8 across xbox, pc, and smartphones. Software-wise we're looking at the usual suspects (CoD, Halo, Forza) most of which we already know about but haven't yet seen.

Nintendo are still rearranging bastardised parts from a ylod ps3 and a rrod 360 to make them fit into a wii and a handheld controller, fervently hoping nobody will notice their new machine isn't really next gen, and hasn't actually been designed yet - despite being "showcased" a year ago. Shouldn't be a problem though, as you don't really need much processing power or graphical finesse to make Mario games or party games - especially when 720p would be a giant step forward for the company.

If Sony are behind MS in terms of development of their next gen console it's highly unlikely we'll see anything on that front from them. As others have said, they're much more likely to push Vita, and rightly so - it's a good machine and deserves to do better, whereas any reveal on ps4 would be premature.



Hopefully we'll see a few surprises (hardware or software) but I'm not optimistic...

[ancelotti]

Hoping to see some worthwhile announcements regarding the Vita myself. Would like to buy one, but not being able to play my PSP RPG collection on it puts me off, along with the lack of decent RPG titles available. A price cut + big titles needed.

Nintendo are just going to need to showcase a lot of party/Mario games. That'll get the casual gamer on board again.

Would be nice to see the Nextbox from Microsoft, but not too bothered about it. Still possessing the vastly superior online service and a library of great games means they're top dogs for the serious gamer.

[harv]

Hoping to see some worthwhile announcements regarding the Vita myself. Would like to buy one, but not being able to play my PSP RPG collection on it puts me off, along with the lack of decent RPG titles available. A price cut + big titles needed.

Nintendo are just going to need to showcase a lot of party/Mario games. That'll get the casual gamer on board again.

Would be nice to see the Nextbox from Microsoft, but not too bothered about it. Still possessing the vastly superior online service and a library of great games means they're top dogs for the serious gamer.

The problem for Nintendo isn't getting the casual gamer on board again but getting the attention of the hardcore crowd. If Nintendo have any sense they'll have Retro working on an FPS or TPS for launch or the launch window.

I'm also expecting them to do this via third party exclusives as well as certain hardcore titles multiplatform titles such as Madden, FIFA, Tiger Woods, GTA V, Pro Evo, Call of Duty, Medal of Honor being not only visually better but a better experience thanks to both the DRC and the combination of the DRC, remote and nunchuck being used together.

Tiger Woods in particular should be awesome, although EA Sports could be in danger of turning it into a simulation rather than a game..

I'm also hoping that someone has had the good sense to develop a Poker game. Online video chat playing poker..? Yes please!!!

The only problem with developing a poker game is that it's difficult to get the balance of the AI right. Make it too easy and the game will get bad reviews because it's too easy to beat, make it too hard and you'll get bad reviews because reviewers can't beat the game. Very tricky from a design standpoint.

I started testing a poker game at Eidos and the AI was a real bitch to beat. Ended up getting canned in the end. It involved cross-platform play between PS2s and PCs as well which was quite clever, can't remember it ever being tried before.

[jman]

Plenty of poker games on XBLA..

I liked Texas Hold Em which was released about 4 years ago.. and for the first week was free to download.. so naturally I picked it up and was pleasantly suprised...its given me hours of playtime...mainly just building up my bankroll to earn the money achievement.. and when I was only one tournament away from doing so, I finished last and went on a bad run and lost pretty much everything, and just havent had the patience to build up my bankroll again....

Thats the problem with poker.. it gets boring fast... Full House Poker is probably the best poker game on XBLA by all accounts, but then you can just play poker for free online on the PC.. why bother paying money to play it ??


Back to the subject at matter... like I said, nintendo need to bring out some 3rd party exclusives to steal the show for me.. otherwise its just going to be.. heres the hardware.. which you already knew about... and heres the same old tired games that you see on every nintendo console... I dont doubt there will be 1st party surpises such as a new mario or whatever... its just not going to cut the biscuit for everyone...

But the loss of games such as GTA or COD is going to be a bitter blow to their chances of changing their demography... and I hasten to add that neither game has been announced for the Wii U as of yet.. whereas other games such as FIFA have at least been confirmed as in progress for the Wii U...so its not looking promising... I just cant see nintendo changing tack from what they did with the Wii.. the confirmed Wii U  launch games do nothing to negate this argument so far either.

[harv]

A poker game with a decent career mode is worth it's weight in gold but in all my years of gaming I haven't seen one that's good enough. All a developer needs to do is start off with a game played in dodgy backroom bars with venues upping in status gradually as the game goes on. Introduce a bit of organised crime and loan sharks along the way and you're onto a winner imo.

As for having poker games for free on PCs the same can be said for every single AAA title given how rife piracy is lol. If the game is on the U you're guaranteed that everyone is going to be on camera, not every person playing on a PC will have a webcam.

You'll also be able to have a mixture of local play and online if the game supports multiple DRCs, the DRC is made for it.

[harv]

The latest rumour is that Blizzard are working on at least one, perhaps two, U titles

If that's true then that's a major coup for Nintendo and their third party support

[jman]

Well they arent at E3 so you wont find out there...

Even if Diablo 3 got a Wii U release, which is entirely possibly... its still not exclusive and will definitely not be a system seller.. especially as its bound to be available on the PS3/360 too.

Other than Diablo 3, I highly doubt Blizzard have any more console games in the works, never mind one just for the Wii U.. they are a PC developer first and foremost..

...sounds like a garbage rumour to me..

[harv]

Nintendo are starting E3 early lol. They've got a Nintendo Direct at 11pm tonight, Ubisoft have a conference tomorrow and then Nintendo have their E3 on the 5th and a Software Showcase on the 6th.

Edit: Just seen the Nintendo Direct and it was quite interesting. The official name of the controller is the Wii U GamePad, I preferred DRC myself. It does have clickable sticks and doubles as a remote control for your telly which is pretty cool. That was rumoured a while back but I wasn't too sure if it was possible, looks like they've worked it out somehow.

When you switch on the console the first thing you see is Miiverse which is similar to the Mii Plaza, it has your Mii, all of the Miis belonging to accounts on your system, your Friends' Miis and the Miis of people that have been playing the same games as you. You can talk to other people's Miis using the GamePad as a keyboard and as well as typing you can also draw with the stylus or your fingers.

Miiverse can be used to communicate with other people playing the same game to help you if you're stuck and video chat is also available. Wonder who the first person to wave their cock at people during video chat is going to be..?

They didn't go into any more details about friends and Nintendo Network's Achievements/Trophies equivalent but I think we can take it as given that they'll be there.

Another Edit: Here's the pre-E3 Nintendo Direct for those that missed it. Miiverse has the potential to be bloomin HUUUUGE.

Have just had Diablo 3 for the PS3 confirmed too

[harv]

Halo 4 looking good, FIFA and Madden looking good, Splinter Cell looking good, Gears Judgement looking good, Fable Journey will be practically unplayable due to lag, Forza 4 looking good but the visuals of Project CARS on all platforms should blow it out of the water.

Good conference for Microsoft so far, but this talk of the 360 as a media centre is sending me to sleep tbh. Talk of ESPN on Live but no mention of how much it's going to cost yet. Xbox Music now, 300m tracks. Zzzzzz

Some bloke from Nike talking about athletes and fitness. Kinect Training, a Wii Fit type game without checking your weight. A bit pointless imo.

Looks like all 3 platform holders are going for bringing consoles, tellies and Smartphones together. Miiverse may have the upper hand in this due to the more social aspect involved. Internet Explorer coming to the 360 at long last. Took them long enough Mind you, I'd prefer Firefox lol. Quite clever that SmartGlass can use pads and phones to browse on your 360.

Tomb Raider looking good.

Here we go...new IPs. Ascend New Gods looks good. Loco Cycle has a pointless trailer. Matter has a similar pointless trailer.

First look at RE6. Looks pretty good. Nice lighting, a few decent finishing moves. Not too keen on having a poof as a protagonist though, Leon Kennedy has always been a bit suspect imo.

A new South Park game. Great stuff!!! Developed by Obsidian (sp?).

Bloody stream is playing up. Bugger.

A crappy dancing game for Kinect from Harmonix. Meh.

This has to be the strongest showing from Microsoft for years, pretty impressive.

Well that's the Microsoft E3 showing in a nutshell. Sony are going to have to pull out all the stops to beat this. Finishing with BlOps 2, looks okay but I've got pretty tired of the Call of Duty franchise now tbh. Blimey, this is going on a bit...thought we might have avoided them giving us a ten minute playthrough of the latest Call of Duty lol.

I have to say I'm getting pretty tired of being the good guy in these games...I wouldn't mind having to kill the President rather than protecting him or her lol.

Edit: Meh, looks like EA are ruining the Dead Space franchise. Co-op..? In a survival horror game..? No. Just no. The best thing about Dead Space was the sense of isolation. The spooky atmosphere. The stingers here and there. How the fuck are you going to have that playing alongside another character..? Ridiculous decision.

I quite like what they've done with Madden, giving it RPG features...heavily influenced by Inazuma Eleven I'd say. I like the things they've done with the in-game Twitter and Facebook stuff and very pleased that another developer has adopted the Infernal engine, it's a real nice piece of kit. I really can't see why they didn't bring all of this to FIFA tbh. I don't give a monkey's about American Football but those features are looking pretty cool. FIFA looks pretty disappointing, no new Fight Night and no appearance of Tiger Woods either

Medal of Honor and Battlefield looked pretty good but like I've said before I'm getting a little tired of the seemingly endless supply of Modern Warfare style shooters tbh.

Another Edit: Ubisoft have completely stolen the show so far. Great opening with Just Dance 4, Far Cry 3 looks amazing, Assassin's Creed 3 looks amazing, Rayman Legends on the U looks amazing, Freaks has changed from Mutant Killer Rabbids Invasion to a zombie apocalypse game called Zombi U (a little disappointed with that I guess because I liked the humour from the original idea but zombie apocalypse games are always full of win) which had a very impressive trailer and a new IP, Watch Dogs, was looking pretty tasty.

Definitely the best conference so far. Sony up next!

Am quite surprised that we have only heard about games from Ubisoft for the U though but I guess we're going to have information overload on U games from third parties tomorrow or the 6th during the Software Showcase. I'm guessing we'll have first party titles tomorrow and third party titles on Wednesday.

[AVFCRoss]

Beyond is announced first....New IP, totally kept under wraps. Graphics look absolutely insane, was a genuine "wow" moment when the gameplay video showed up for the first time. Seems like it might go down the same route as Heavy Rain in terms of the gamplay mechanics too. Who needs PS4?!? 

All Stars Battle Royale next. Already announced, but no gameplay and it looked exactly like Super Smash Brothers (the only decent Nintendo title..)
Glad it's coming to PS3, the Vita and PS3 cross-play capabilities is also an excellent revelation. Gameplay looked great, and more characters confirmed for the games roster including Nathan Drake and Big Daddy from Bioshock. Decent stuff.

Carrying on with the Cross-Play theme, some LBP2 is being released to enable it. Massive package with new levels, stickers, items etc too!

PS1 classics coming to the Vita too, including the whole Final Fantasy trilogy. Massive announcement for the Vita there. Call of Duty also announced for the Vita too. Gonna be called Declassified I think? It's definitely a new IP though, so that's another massive coup for the Vita. Another exclusive game....Assassins Creed : Liberations...They're pulling it out of the bag with the Vita here.

Assassins Creed 3 now. Heard alot about it, obviously, but gameplay looks stunning again. Amazing graphics and excellent scale. Another excellent looking game with a PS3 hardware bundle coming out at the same time.

Far Cry 3 now....4 player co-op announced right off the bat, with some gameplay too. Graphics look nice, solid gameplay but nothing really new it seems. Dedicated co-op campaign is a nice touch though, so that should be something to look out for.

Interesting.....Something called the Wonderbook, a new product where you can create stories through the PS3. Not entirely sure if people will take to it,  the trailer didn't really give much away, but it'll probably be a hit with the kids and might suprise a few people. Something called "Book of Spells" will make use of it at launch.....Written by J.K Rowling, which is an interesting coup too. Tech Demo makes it seem absolutely bonkers tbh.....Can't see anyone another than kids going anywhere near this, looks like something you'd see from the fnargin' Wii. Yeah, back to reality anyway....

Playstation Suite......A programme that brings PSN functionality to Smartphones and tablets. Simple but excellent idea...Not sure if already exists for Microsoft though, but it's good Sony have jumped on board regardless.

God of War Ascension next. Instant graphic-gasm, as you'd expect. Gameplay shows one of the massive scale boss fights but cuts out just before it's revealed what Kratos is actually fighting ......Looks like some sea-serpeant thing, possibly a Kraken or the Hydra, but we'll never know, not soon anyway......Some typically fast paced and intuative GOW gameplay and will no doubt be another massive hit.....March 12th 2012 is also announced as the release date, closer than I expected!

The Last of Us is next......Naughty Dogs new IP. Uncharted hits you instantly, definitely looks like it'll have similar mechanics and playstyle. Gameplay demo shows some sort of opening level maybe. Hand to hand combat looks brutal and shooting mechanics look extremely solid and realistic. Definitely another hit, possibly might top Uncharted too, which would be mental.

Solid conference from Sony, didn't see the Microsoft one, but it's gonna have to have been amazing to top that. Harv?

[harv]

Don't know who organised Sony's conference but they seriously cocked up the start. A lengthy sizzle reel with no real impact and poor choice of music. Quantic Dream's new game, Beyond, looks very impressive. A couple of decent games for the Vita in Black Ops and Assassin's Creed 3, not the full console titles but good looking spin-offs.

The Sony Super Smash Bros. All-Stars game looks okay but I was never a fan of the Nintendo original tbh.

Saw a Mario Kart Wheel for Move in the sizzle reel earlier too lololol

Wonderbook looks interesting, using the PS Eye and Move for AR. First is the Book of Spells by Rowling. Lol, the demo isn't working, there's always at least one at E3 lololol Looks like a pile of old pants to me but I'm sure kids will love it.

More on PlayStation Suite, Sony's solution to bring smartphones into their domain. Have got a partnership with HTC. Renaming it PlayStation Mobile. Not as impressive as Microsoft's solution and nowhere near Nintendo's Miiverse.

A sneak peek at the new God of War game. Looks VERY nice The demo is going on a bit though, bad organisation again

Ooh!!! Last of Us! Out of focus blood spatter too, wish more developers would get that right, it always gets on my tits...probably due to me wearing specs and being aware of focus blur more than non-speccy people. Looks a bit too much like Uncharted though tbh, but still looks good.

So far Ubisoft > Microsoft > Sony > EA.

Nintendo tomorrow at 5pm and Thursday at 2am. Can't see Nintendo failing to impress over the next two days, they should be > Ubisoft