ach year a great deal of E3 conversation revolves around the Big Three, the companies responsible for the systems on which our beloved pastime comes to life. Yet Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony are only a part of the equation, and this year three third-party publishers ran media events of their own.
Electronic Arts
EA's conference was arguably the most satisfying of the week, wasting little time on bragging and instead showcasing a massive volume of upcoming material. In addition to already well-publicized titles we saw the debut trailers for a Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit revival and a Vietnam sequel to Bad Company 2. To accompany all the violence, EA unveiled "Gun Club," a rewards program for players of the company's shooters.
EA's conference was arguably the most satisfying of the week, wasting little time on bragging.EA Sports also had quite a lot to showcase. Most striking was the LIVE Broadcast program, a chance for smack-talkers to get their braggadocio out to the world and then fight in front of an audience of thousands to defend it. Though discussed primarily within the framework of the new MMA game, it's likely that if the service proves popular it will become more widespread.
The head-scratching moment of the day came when Rod Humble came out to discuss The Sims 3, specifically the power of the game's AI engine. After a foray into Greek mythology, Humble announced that "The Sims may just have more free will than we do," espousing a fatalistic philosophy that human beings have no real control over their lives.
Ubisoft
The phrase "ran out of steam" seems appropriate for describing Monday night's conference. Ubisoft began by showcasing a Kinect-fueled demonstration of Child of Eden, the heretofore-unannounced spiritual successor to cult classic Rez. This was followed by additional footage of Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood that demonstrated enough diversity in gameplay to keep skeptics interested. Even the Shaun White Skateboarding demonstration was impressive, if not a bit elementary.
A fascinating teaser for next year's "Project Dust" wasn't enough to salvage Ubisoft's show.And then came the laser tag. The introduction and subsequent demo of Ubi's Battle Tag was so baffling as to nigh defy explanation. Vague information was given about necessary peripherals and game-types, as well as a design tool, but without pricing or console specification Ubisoft left viewers with more questions than answers, and a vague feeling that what they'd just witnessed wasn't really a video game at all.
Battle Tag was followed shortly thereafter by health-based games, including the same (at times, verbatim) YourShape demonstration as had been given earlier at the Microsoft briefing. By the time the anticipated titles arrived — a new Rabbids game and a pretty demo of Ghost Recon: Future Soldier — the conference's momentum was gone. Driver 3's gorgeous trailer and impressive feature set, a fascinating teaser for next year's "Project Dust," and even the long-awaited return of Rayman weren't enough to salvage the show.
Konami
"Hands on" is perhaps the best way to describe Konami's approach to this year's press conference, ditching the smooth-talking translators in favor of having the actual directors and developers introduce their own content. The result was one of the strangest, yet most intimate events E3 — perhaps gaming in general — has ever seen. From the complete lack of response to Ninety-Nine Nights II to Naoki Maeda's excitement getting lost in translation, from Mexican wrestlers slapping each other's faces to a NeverDead skit that involved someone's head falling off while talking, Konami's conference must be seen to be believed.
One of the strangest, yet most intimate events at E3, Konami's conference must be seen to be believed.Much of the conference was devoted to two new major partnerships with Def Jam and Slang, who have been (respectively) developing Def Jam Rapstar and Lucha Libre AAA: Héroes del Ring. The remainder of Konami's lineup showcased the company's diversity, from Saw II and NeverDead to Dance Masters (think DDR, but without peripherals) and Glee Karaoke Revolution. Otomedius Excellent, a game featuring lolitas piloting individual fighter jets a la Gradius, was a surprising announcement because many have speculated that the American public's view of the genre (which is very popular in Japan) is one of dismissal if not outright condemnation.
But the real showstoppers were Konami's hard-hitting franchises. First, a trailer for the newest Silent Hill. Then a much deeper explanation of the Metal Gear Solid: Rising trailer from Matsuyama, whose torch-receiving from Kojima at the MS conference was more than metaphorical. Next came Castlevania: Harmony of Despair, the Xbox Live Arcade 2D adventure game announced earlier in the Expo. Perhaps the most exciting part of the presentation was a trailer for the new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, a fully-3D action game harkening back to the earliest days of the franchise.
The Good, the Weird, and the Ugly
If we learned anything from the success of EA's conference, it's that you don't need big surprises to please the audience; all you need are games. EA delivered a smorgasbord of titles that people wanted to see and saved their only true surprise for last, leaving people with something to discuss. EA's success at E3 is overshadowed only by Nintendo's, which began its briefing with the Zelda title everyone wanted and left the surprises for later on.
Thankfully, a company's ability to put on a good show for the press isn't a reflection of game-making ability.Ubisoft, meanwhile, failed to deliver perhaps the most anticipated title the company has ever announced, Beyond Good & Evil 2. A company's inability to provide the games its customers want is indicative of a deeper problem than poor public relations, and can approach pretension when a company goes for too long without delivering the goods. Likewise, Sony's failure to confirm or deny the long-rumored PSP2 generated annoyance among both the gaming press and gamers at large.
It's hard to say whether Konami made a great move or a terrible one. To be sure, the company's decision to stream its own event rather than have an outside media outfit broadcast it — which effectively broke the Konami site and left thousands of would-be watchers in the dark — was an exceedingly poor choice. And while the decision to forgo an external MC was a refreshing change from, say, Ubisoft's decision to bring back Joel McHale, the resultant chaotic and unintelligible presentations may be seen as more harmful and juvenile than endearing. Time will tell.
Thankfully, a company's ability to put on a good show for the press isn't a reflection of game-making ability, and fans of all three publishers have plenty of reason to look forward to the months ahead. E3 may be over, but the summer gaming season is just beginning.
Remember the good ol' days when certain Japanese releases were deemed to strange for Western consumption? Ummm, yeah...
Seen to be believed, indeed. I'm going to have to watch an archived version of Konami's conference from what everyone's been saying about it.
Well anyone who wants to should be able to stream it from here: https://konami.com/e3/indexa
At the bottom there's a link and they're running it from their site. Don't know how long that site will be live, so jump on it while you can ^_^
Konami didn't quite cross into Mister Sparkle territory, but it flirted along the border.