The first day of real E3 did not disappoint. It was constant, unrelenting, exciting news — frankly, I am not sure why I even care about video games anymore, maybe I should get into something else like lumberjacking or pulling cement trucks with my beard…
The gang and I woke up at a little after six in the morning. After jumping out of the shower, which was clearly designed for the average Little Tokyo resident, I was at the Nintendo press event. The gods must have been smiling on us especially hard today, as we somehow got amazing seats: here is an image of Sarah and Joel, front row center:
Joel and Sarah appearing on the live stream of the Nintendo presser
I wasn’t able to get front row because of some mixup involving different colored wrist-bands, but I was in the second row which is still awesome. I managed to live-blog most of the show thanks to Mikey over at Bit-Speak. He always comes through in a pinch, especially when he takes the day off to watch press events!
The show was amazing, and easily the best of this year’s E3 press events. The first announcement was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The audience was having trouble remaining seated at this point, like a room filled with first graders. Maybe that is the perfect way to sum up how Nintendo made us feel: like we were little kids again. There were so many beloved series being continued and inspired nostalgia.
"Dude, look what I found in the bathroom!"
Some titles were obviously more creative than others, Kirby’s Epic Yarn immediately stood out as being quite different aesthetically and featured some unique gameplay mechanics like back-ground/foreground and multiplayer. Oh, and of course a crazy Kirby-tank-mode. Donkey Kong Country Returns in contrast looked rather uninspired, yet still reminded me of Christmas ‘94. Nostalgia goggles: engage.
Golden Eye was rumored to be announced this year, yet I was still very surprised to see it. I am sure it will make a lot of people happy, but I am also sure they will wish it was a little stronger graphically. I couldn’t help but feel like I was seeing a beloved actor or actress who hadn’t aged well. “Oh, she looks terrible.”
In terms of new IPs, the only one that really came out at the show was Epic Mickey. The game looked really interesting, like it was made for a mature class of gamer despite the Disney focus. I imagine the success of Kingdom Hearts must have had something to do with it. I am really intrigued by the way the player can alter the game’s environment with paint and paint thinner, affecting the misfit characters in the game’s world. The graphics also worked well: the cartoony nature didn’t make the game feel like it was out of place on the Wii.
Then the 3DS was unveiled. It doesn’t look too different than the DS Lite or any other variant, which is probably for the best. It was exciting when it was announced, but sadly I did not get to spend any time with the system (nor the girls literally chained to them) so I can’t speak to what the 3D looks like yet. As such, I made a b-line for Zelda as soon as the event ended:
Waiting in line for Zelda: Skyward Sword
I did get to play and have to say that the controls are nice. It took me probably three minutes to learn them, which is a short curve. I know Miyamoto-san was having some problems with the bow and arrow, which may have shaken some people’s confidence. I can confirm that whatever issue he had, I did not. My arrows flew straight and true into the hearts of some spiders. My only concern was that I didn’t figure out how to dodge-roll. When I asked the attractive female “assistant” she didn’t seem to know what I was asking about. It is only the most common action game mechanic after double-jump. DUH.
After spending time with Zelda, Sarah and I got bussed over to Sony’s press event. I immediately took advantage of the free refreshments and got myself a beer and a taco. Moments later we were called in only to find that refreshments were not allowed. Fuck. I had to throw it all away — so sad.
The show kicked off on a very 3D-heavy note. It’s obvious that this is this 2010’s Blu-Ray. They showed a few trailers of upcoming titles featuring this new technology. It was somewhat impressive, and maybe in a few years it will be worth wearing dumb glasses over my dumb glasses. Right now, what I saw is definitely not worth the cost of being an early-adopter.
Glasses and glasses, oh my
Then the show transitioned into Move talk. Initially, I was pretty “Don’t care. Next!,” and I think most others felt this way, especially when some dude walked out and started talking about Sorcery. This must be a terrible Harry Potter wannabe, right? The audience was silent, as if they were moments away from seeing something terrible, like a car crash. After seeing the fluid controls and the creative mechanics, the applause was genuine, including my own. Not that I would buy Sorcery, but considering it as a display of what the Move could do, it was rather exciting.
After that I was bored nearly to sleep watching a number of titles looking down the muzzle of a gun. I really don’t care about the amount of research done concerning modern warfare and the years spent talking to black ops dudes; FPS games always look the same to me. I was actually a little surprised to see so many FPS titles from Sony — I was hoping for something creative or beautiful like, oh I don’t know… The Last Guardian. But alas the game was not so much as uttered. This, I found most crushing.
After the event we headed to E3, but honestly I was, and am, pretty tired. So I will save the events of the expo itself for tomorrow. I have a lot more running around to do, but I think I am up to the task! Now, I am gonna have a few more beers with my friends, wake up at my leisure and get back in the fray. Look forward to more coverage from me tomorrow!
E3 2010: Day 1: Nintendo and Sony Press Events
The first day of real E3 did not disappoint. It was constant, unrelenting, exciting news — frankly, I am not sure why I even care about video games anymore, maybe I should get into something else like lumberjacking or pulling cement trucks with my beard…
The gang and I woke up at a little after six in the morning. After jumping out of the shower, which was clearly designed for the average Little Tokyo resident, I was at the Nintendo press event. The gods must have been smiling on us especially hard today, as we somehow got amazing seats: here is an image of Sarah and Joel, front row center:
Joel and Sarah appearing on the live stream of the Nintendo presser
I wasn’t able to get front row because of some mixup involving different colored wrist-bands, but I was in the second row which is still awesome. I managed to live-blog most of the show thanks to Mikey over at Bit-Speak. He always comes through in a pinch, especially when he takes the day off to watch press events!
The show was amazing, and easily the best of this year’s E3 press events. The first announcement was The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. The audience was having trouble remaining seated at this point, like a room filled with first graders. Maybe that is the perfect way to sum up how Nintendo made us feel: like we were little kids again. There were so many beloved series being continued and inspired nostalgia.
"Dude, look what I found in the bathroom!"
Some titles were obviously more creative than others, Kirby’s Epic Yarn immediately stood out as being quite different aesthetically and featured some unique gameplay mechanics like back-ground/foreground and multiplayer. Oh, and of course a crazy Kirby-tank-mode. Donkey Kong Country Returns in contrast looked rather uninspired, yet still reminded me of Christmas ‘94. Nostalgia goggles: engage.
Golden Eye was rumored to be announced this year, yet I was still very surprised to see it. I am sure it will make a lot of people happy, but I am also sure they will wish it was a little stronger graphically. I couldn’t help but feel like I was seeing a beloved actor or actress who hadn’t aged well. “Oh, she looks terrible.”
In terms of new IPs, the only one that really came out at the show was Epic Mickey. The game looked really interesting, like it was made for a mature class of gamer despite the Disney focus. I imagine the success of Kingdom Hearts must have had something to do with it. I am really intrigued by the way the player can alter the game’s environment with paint and paint thinner, affecting the misfit characters in the game’s world. The graphics also worked well: the cartoony nature didn’t make the game feel like it was out of place on the Wii.
Then the 3DS was unveiled. It doesn’t look too different than the DS Lite or any other variant, which is probably for the best. It was exciting when it was announced, but sadly I did not get to spend any time with the system (nor the girls literally chained to them) so I can’t speak to what the 3D looks like yet. As such, I made a b-line for Zelda as soon as the event ended:
Waiting in line for Zelda: Skyward Sword
I did get to play and have to say that the controls are nice. It took me probably three minutes to learn them, which is a short curve. I know Miyamoto-san was having some problems with the bow and arrow, which may have shaken some people’s confidence. I can confirm that whatever issue he had, I did not. My arrows flew straight and true into the hearts of some spiders. My only concern was that I didn’t figure out how to dodge-roll. When I asked the attractive female “assistant” she didn’t seem to know what I was asking about. It is only the most common action game mechanic after double-jump. DUH.
After spending time with Zelda, Sarah and I got bussed over to Sony’s press event. I immediately took advantage of the free refreshments and got myself a beer and a taco. Moments later we were called in only to find that refreshments were not allowed. Fuck. I had to throw it all away — so sad.
The show kicked off on a very 3D-heavy note. It’s obvious that this is this 2010’s Blu-Ray. They showed a few trailers of upcoming titles featuring this new technology. It was somewhat impressive, and maybe in a few years it will be worth wearing dumb glasses over my dumb glasses. Right now, what I saw is definitely not worth the cost of being an early-adopter.
Glasses and glasses, oh my
Then the show transitioned into Move talk. Initially, I was pretty “Don’t care. Next!,” and I think most others felt this way, especially when some dude walked out and started talking about Sorcery. This must be a terrible Harry Potter wannabe, right? The audience was silent, as if they were moments away from seeing something terrible, like a car crash. After seeing the fluid controls and the creative mechanics, the applause was genuine, including my own. Not that I would buy Sorcery, but considering it as a display of what the Move could do, it was rather exciting.
After that I was bored nearly to sleep watching a number of titles looking down the muzzle of a gun. I really don’t care about the amount of research done concerning modern warfare and the years spent talking to black ops dudes; FPS games always look the same to me. I was actually a little surprised to see so many FPS titles from Sony — I was hoping for something creative or beautiful like, oh I don’t know… The Last Guardian. But alas the game was not so much as uttered. This, I found most crushing.
After the event we headed to E3, but honestly I was, and am, pretty tired. So I will save the events of the expo itself for tomorrow. I have a lot more running around to do, but I think I am up to the task! Now, I am gonna have a few more beers with my friends, wake up at my leisure and get back in the fray. Look forward to more coverage from me tomorrow!
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