So E3 while still going on, could essentially be over right now. Watching the conferences streamed over the internet, the only real difference in experience is that I can’t get to play the games I am disappointed about.
Some companies could get away with what they showed, Microsoft and Sony for example. They are near the end of their respective consoles lives and should be keeping most of their big guns in reserves for next year. Nintendo however has no excuse.
Things looked amazing for Nintendo at the start when they revealed that there would be a Nintendo Direct, followed by a major conference dedicated just to Wii U, then lastly the 3DS software presentation as well as some roundtables. That in itself sounds like a full out preventive strike against the competitors which don’t have consoles coming out this year.
Things started to crumble down when big publishers such as EA and Activision had nothing really to show in regards to the Wii U at their conferences and of course Nintendos. Ubisoft however came into the picture with their usual expect titles.
One of the biggest revolutions for Ubisoft which makes them win E3 according to many, was their combination of game sequels, Wii U support and of course the big surprise at the end- Watch Dogs. What I dub was essentially what a video game version of Person of Interest would be like. Which is pure gold, a statement echoed by many. It is unknown what platforms Watch Dogs was going to appear on until after their conference when it was revealed the game shown was a PC build, and that it would also be heading to Xbox 360 and PS3. As well as been a next generation title, which could possibly mean Wii U- but it doesn’t.
The Nintendo Direct show was possibly the most informative when it comes to the Wii U. It gave gamers an informative look at the Wii U controllers as well as the online architecture.
When it came to the conferences themselves, little new games were revealed at all. With the big hitter new games revealed coming from the Wii U conference (Nintendo revealed nothing new at the 3DS one), and these titles include; Pikmin 3, Nintendo Land (shown to death at the conference) and then Game & Wario and P-100 not shown at all, but still been new unique IPs.
Switching over to 3DS mode for a few minutes during the conference Nintendo slammed three Mario titles into one rolodex of what was to be expected from the 3DS conference. Which dam well should have been taken at 100% reality, because the 3DS conference showed little to do with any other Nintendo IP besides the Mario titles. With the fact that Fire Emblem is heading to the 3DS in America buried as after conference material. Also Animal Crossing wasn’t shown at all. With the main third party games as well been titles we knew since forever.
Nintendo messed up especially when they are meant to be reannouncing the Wii U because of how the announcement went last time, and as well as the fact its launching this year.
Oh and the biggest blow in my mind is Killer Freaks from Out of Space becoming a generic Zombie title. At least Ubisoft did include some interesting ideas such as perma deaths, but outside of that I feel the game was patched up as a Zombie game to quickly and loses most of the charm the original concept had.
So besides Watch Dogs, the big title for me was Sim City for PC. It looks amazing. But moving on.
Nintendo should of condensed the conference they had down (and really it felt very stretched out anyway) and using the extra time have enough time to announce other titles which they forgot, as well as trying to give a clear look at the Wii U after launch. It doesn’t need footage just “these IPs will also head to the Wii U in 2013”. Gamers need to know there is more to the Wii U after launch, and right now it doesn’t seem that way.
Also Nintendo should have revealed Watch Dogs. I’m not too sure if it is going to head to a Nintendo platform, but if it is it should have been at prime centre. After Ubisofts conference, gamers were in tuned with what Watch Dogs could offer, if Nintendo had come out at some point during the conference and shown off a trailer and said “this is coming to Wii U”, it would of left an amazing dent in the overall E3 appearance.
The 3DS half also needed some other titles besides Mario. Nintendo in panic mode is horrible, they just keep pushing out the same title over and over. Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem should have been there. Also Nintendo should of revealed some games coming in 2013 to spur the pot more.
It is amazing that for a games conference, there isn’t much games.