After 300 hours of E3 coverage......



After digesting three days worth of E3 coverage, mostly via G4, I am very unimpressed. There was very little that left me wanting more. Hell, there was only one game that intrigued me.  It was a very sad showing from my point of view.

The Pre-Sequels

It seemed every game demo, hands on or first look was a sequel or worse a prequel. Now I don’t hate all sequels, but most are unnecessary. If your game is engaging enough to warrant a sequel then cool. If not, then stop it. Better yet, go the Final Fantasy route and give it the same name, terminology, but make it a different game. Do we really need another Halo? Are the trials of some faceless dude that interesting? Hasn’t the world seen enough of the Umbrella Corporation? I guess not since Resident Evil 6 is on the way. Do we need another installment of (insert over the top fighting game title here)?  Far Cry 3, Crysis 3, Borderlands 2, Grand Theft Auto 5, another (insert war, battle, medal or duty here) with whatever number, Hitman whatever number this will be, Dead Space 3, (random driving game with speed, motor or sports here) with or without a number, I could keep going. It isn’t that I hate sequels. I love the Dynasty Warriors games, and those are the same button mashers every time and I hate myself for loving them. I found the Mass Effect games awesome! I have punched through three Diablo games. So, it isn’t a hate of sequels, it is just a giant disappointment for the slew of sequel releases that are mostly unnecessary and all over E3 this year.

“Well Ian if you are tired of the slew of sequel releases, then how about this….we have prequels!” says random gaming industry spokes man.

Well even better! I really need a Tomb Raider prequel. I had a hard time understanding the character of Laura Croft. This should answer all my questions. God of War Ascension….what hasn’t Kratos killed in the Greek mythical bestiary yet? Wait maybe this on will explain......wait I don’t care why he kills things. It is just that he must look good doing it. Then a Gears of War prequel, and I was almost interested until it was announced to contain Cole Train and Baird, you know the characters nobody cares about. Come to think of it I didn’t care about any of the characters in that series. I just loved me some chainsaw bayonet dismemberment. Wait! I forgot Devil May Cry getting a prequel, or is it a reboot? Yeah there might of have been more, but who cares?

Intelligent brittle, transparent fused silica

Microsoft Smartglass was announced and I care why? A second screen to use for gaming and that I can use to sync up my other media devices. One second……..I so don’t care about this. Why do I need an Xbox, phone, tablet, blender, waffle maker and curling iron all synced together? Seriously who needs a fraking tablet, phone, controller and second viewing screen to play games or watch t.v.?

The same goes for the Wii U. I found the Wii to be cute. I hate cute. I ignored it and will do the same with the Wii U. A shame since after the Atari the Nintendo was my system of choice for years. I thank you Sony for breaking me free from that love affair.

I care little for hardware. It is the software that drives my interest and purchases.

Any lasting impressions?

The game The Last of Us is the only real standout from watching this coverage. Why? Well it involves a post apoc setting, which is a good draw for me. It also is after a viral outbreak that has off’ed much of the populace. The nature is reclaiming the planet, and seeing cities over grown look cool and better than the usual rubble husks in post apoc games. The use of the cordyceps fungus as a base for an extinction event is very interesting to me. There is also the element of survival that isn’t horror driven, but is still scary. All this and it looks really good too. It is the one and only one game I’ll be tracking prior to release. I know there is a chance it could blow, but here’s to hope.

Besides this, there was little I cared about during E3 this year and that is depressing. Either I am becoming old and cynical; the developers don’t care, or why take risks when people will buy what sold before (but now with a new outfit, weapon, multi-player or in-game element).

Well at least it is only like a month until Comic-Con maybe some good news will come out of there?