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Jeff Thinks Back On E3 2012

Jeff talks up a few of his favorite games at the show and already begins thinking about next year's E3.

Not Pictured: Some kind of weird ghost thing.
Not Pictured: Some kind of weird ghost thing.

The back-and-forth bickering about whether this year's show was a "good E3" or a "bad E3" is one of the most pointless things I may have ever followed. But, for whatever reason, I followed it. And I come down on the side of it being a pretty good E3, actually, but that's mostly because I went in with realistic expectations. This is a transition year, one where everyone wants hints of the next moves from Sony and Microsoft, but won't actually get it. It was Nintendo's show to lose, and yet they somehow managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

I don't actually believe in that whole "winning" or "losing" E3 thing, but you get my point.

Sony managed to baffle show attendees by trying its hardest to forget that the Vita exists during its press conference, but everyone else forgot about Sony's forgetfulness because we were too busy talking about Ellen Page. With the press conferences out of the way, we were left to fend for ourselves and focus on the part of E3 that we always claim really matters in the first place: the games. And again, it's a bit of a weird year for those, with a few sequels showing up that look a bit more like business realities than creative endeavors. EA picked up UFC, Ubisoft picked up steam, and I picked up a nasty head cold that made driving home from the show some kind of mobile spirit quest. Even now, I'm waiting for my spirit animal to reveal itself so that I might strangle the power right out of it. I'm pretty sure it's going to be a diseased weasel with a bum leg.

With all that hardware stuff out of the way, the air was cleared to talk about games. Actual games. Games that will probably ship over the next 18 months or so, because otherwise they'll be shipping on "old" consoles. That provides a certain air of immediacy to the proceedings that I like. We got very little of that drawn out "here's a game, we'll talk more about it next year" stuff. Instead it was a fat list of games you'll be able to buy soonish, some of which I'm pretty excited to see more of.

FLYING CAR CONFIRMED
FLYING CAR CONFIRMED

The top of my list is Need for Speed: Most Wanted. People are often quick to write off games that aren't super story-heavy when it comes to doling out these sorts of accolades. It's something I've felt a little guilty of in the past, like we're shortchanging certain games merely because they focus more on raw mechanics than on telling some sort of moving story. That's probably something for a longer conversation about the nature of all award shows, not just gaming awards. Anyway, Most Wanted looks like it's combining elements of my two favorite racing games of this hardware generation. It's got the cops, the chases, and the cool down spots of the original Need for Speed: Most Wanted. And the rest of it is practically a sequel to Burnout Paradise that's been better-informed by the work Criterion has done on its "Autolog" concept. It's got Road Rules, there are billboards to crash through, gates to smash through, and from the look of the map, plenty of events to go around.

I primarily saw the game's multiplayer mode, which uses a sort of playlist mentality to keep players in a rhythm of driving to a meet up, where one of a number of events starts, then you drive off to the next meet up spot to get another thing going. Those events can be races, but they might also just ask you to hit a specific jump and get more distance than anyone else. That sort of light, fun multiplayer kept Burnout Paradise stuck in my Xbox... and my PS3... and installed on my PC... for hundreds of hours. The notion that Criterion is producing something that even resembles those past works is enough to let me forgive them for not including some sort of amazing/awful/amazing FMV-based story mode.

Here's an interview I conducted at the show:

I probably don't need to tell you about Borderlands 2. If you're anything like me, you already know you want to play Borderlands 2 and you don't really need to see any more of it prior to its September release. But, for the purposes of due diligence, I went and played what Gearbox was showing at E3 anyway. The other two starting classes were in, so I went with the Commando class, since it seemed to be the closest to the Soldier I played in the previous game. (Also, I already played a Gunzerker back at PAX East.) The sequence being shown had me and a company spokesman playing on the kiosk next to me rushing through a city area and guarding a large robot as it went from spot to spot, destroying statues of the game's bad guy, Handsome Jack. It played like Borderlands. Sign me the eff up.

THIS CAPTION IS ABOUT GUNS
THIS CAPTION IS ABOUT GUNS

That's not to say that there's nothing new worth saying about Borderlands 2. The version I played was running on a PC and it looked outstanding. It's really making the most of its high-resolution and every single edge on every surface, enemy, and item just looks outstanding. It really makes the Borderlands art style pop out even more than it did previously. As for the PC version's interface, I can't really say. We were playing it with a controller, so it worked just like the console version. Speaking of console version, the 360 version was on display over at Microsoft's booth. It looked fine, as well, but it clearly needs some more optimization work, as the frame rate wasn't as solid as it probably should be.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown was another case of a PC game with a 360 controller attached, which is a pretty interesting choice for a turn-based strategy game. When I played it prior to the show, I was a little skeptical when I walked up to the kiosk and saw a PC with no keyboard and mouse available. But after playing it, I get what they're going for. Look, it's turn-based. Obviously it's going to play fine with a mouse and keyboard. But forcing people to try it with a gamepad is pretty smart, because it actually controls pretty well that way, too. I ran through a tutorial level or two that showed off the cool side-view home base, where you promote and equip your soldiers, research new technologies, and so on. In-mission, the game turns into exactly the sort of isometric turn-based thing you'd want out of a modern X-COM. On top of that, the developers have found a way to prevent that high camera angle from getting old by adding different views when you're aiming weapons and little vignettes that show your crew kicking down doors or performing other maneuvers as they execute their turns.

The burning ship was the coolest-looking part.
The burning ship was the coolest-looking part.

Oh, and Sid Meier's in it.

There's more, of course. The non-playable duo of Watch Dogs and Star Wars 1313 certainly caused quite a stir as people tried to determine when they'd be released and which platforms they'd appear on. The answer--unofficially, anyway--seems to be that they'll both end up straddling the line between the generations. Both are capable of scaling down to fit onto our existing consoles, but they're both clearly being developed with the next Xbox and PlayStation in mind. Of course, the specs for those things aren't exactly common knowledge amongst developers just yet, so everyone's playing it safe by just making high-end PC games. In other words, if you've already got a high-end PC and you're planning on keeping it that way, sit back and relax. The next set of visually stunning games is already heading your way next holiday season.

As for everyone else... well... there's always E3 2013, right?

Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

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ghost_cat

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Edited By ghost_cat

Dawg you write 2 good.

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GrandHarrier

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Edited By GrandHarrier

So, really curious, what is the "big deal" with Ellen Page? I don't even know who she is, but people seemed to be losing their shit over her?

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Bourbon_Warrior

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Edited By Bourbon_Warrior

@Sooty said:

Watchdogs really didn't look that good visually, Star Wars I admit as next gen.

Put on your glasses and watch in 720p. Didn't look good visually? Look how many objects are on the screen in that shootout scene!

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Bourbon_Warrior

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Edited By Bourbon_Warrior

If games aren't art neither is any Pixar movie!

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bassman2112

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Edited By bassman2112

@GrandHarrier: It's because she's the voice of Ellie in The Last of Us, and was a "major reveal" during Sony's press conference as being the lead character in the new Quantic Dreams game Beyond

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gill

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Edited By gill

@Bassman2112 said:

@GrandHarrier: It's because she's the voice of Ellie in The Last of Us, and was a "major reveal" during Sony's press conference as being the lead character in the new Quantic Dreams game Beyond

She's not actually the voice of Ellie, people were just saying the character looks like her.

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StingingVelvet

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Edited By StingingVelvet

My Intel Q9550 and GTX 480 have felt "high-end" for a while now, but I bet I will need an upgrade when the next consoles come out to keep my games at high settings.

Still looking forward to it.

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namesonkel

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Edited By namesonkel

Really stoked for Most Wanted as well and for the same reasons as Jeff.

I just hope there is some sort of visual car customization. That always appealed to me in sorta way.

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TheHBK

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Edited By TheHBK

Yes, Jeff put it best. This is a year of transition, before new consoles and the disappointment is all really coming from Nintendo because they had to prove the Wii U. MS just has to show off to investors what cool new tech and games they got. Kinect sells well, and the smart glass stuff was really interesting. Sony showed off games but makes you worry about the Vita. And the Watchdogs and 1313 stuff is a hint of what you will see next year. A bombardment of specs for the consoles that comes along with new IPs. When consoles launch is the perfect opportunity to release a new IP since there is so little to play or release another sequel to a game that might not have been as big as before. So sit back, I cannot wait for E3 2013.

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sharpmezman

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Edited By sharpmezman

yeah E3 2013 should at the very lest be interesting

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BestUsernameEver

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@sharpmezman said:

yeah E3 2013 should at the very lest be interesting

That's selling it a bit short, all things point to next year as being one of the best showings since 2005. Two new consoles, more studio stuff like Respawn, bungie, insomniac, and playground entertainment. It will be a huge hardware and software show for sure. Sadly it's a long wait.

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Wuddel

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Edited By Wuddel

@GERALTITUDE said:

@Top8cat: Best way to go is PC+PS3. Microsoft publishes a larger percentage of their games on PC (duh, I guess).

Never leave your PC.

QFT. Sold my XBox. But PS3+PC is the best combo if you can live with the lack of Gears, Halo and Fable.

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Stubee

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Edited By Stubee
@Wuddel

@GERALTITUDE said:

@Top8cat: Best way to go is PC+PS3. Microsoft publishes a larger percentage of their games on PC (duh, I guess).

Never leave your PC.

QFT. Sold my XBox. But PS3+PC is the best combo if you can live with the lack of Gears, Halo and Fable.

I findh my combo of ps3, xbox and mid range gaming laptop perfect for me. Graphical powerhouse games that are pc exclusive are too few and far between to warrant me splashing out on a top end rig.
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RedRoach

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Edited By RedRoach

@BestUsernameEver said:

@sharpmezman said:

yeah E3 2013 should at the very lest be interesting

That's selling it a bit short, all things point to next year as being one of the best showings since 2005. Two new consoles, more studio stuff like Respawn, bungie, insomniac, and playground entertainment. It will be a huge hardware and software show for sure. Sadly it's a long wait.

It's weird, E3 is usually a gauge or how good the year is going to be. E3 was fairly boring this year, but the next year is packed with tons of games. So the wait won't be too bad considering all the amazing games coming out.

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Icecreamjones

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Edited By Icecreamjones

Could really go for some Meadow Muffins these days.

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Wuddel

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Edited By Wuddel

No love for SimCity? Jeff seemed stoked on the live show.

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Edited By DeF

@GrandHarrier said:

So, really curious, what is the "big deal" with Ellen Page? I don't even know who she is, but people seemed to be losing their shit over her?

because ever since the first The Last of Us trailer, people were saying the character of Ellie looked and sounded like Ellen Page (which they then said it was not her) ...and now at E3 Sony reveals Beyond by Quantic Dream which actually has Ellen Page as the main character of the game. That's why people kept joking about it. Ellie still looks like her but isn't and the Beyond character is actually played by her. Both are Sony exclusives and they opened and closed their show with these games.

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PhilipDuck

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Edited By PhilipDuck

@Wuddel said:

No love for SimCity? Jeff seemed stoked on the live show.

That was Ryan.

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Hunter5024

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Edited By Hunter5024

I think this notion among the bomb squad that everyones just going to ignore these consoles once the next one comes out is really kind of misinformed. Maybe it's because they're locked into buying it either way being part of the industry, but typically generational shifts take a year or two to fully occur. Look at all of the amazing ps2 games that came out post ps3 like God of War 2, and Persona's 3 and 4. Maybe this time it will be different with the way this generation has dragged on, but I'd be willing to bet that the 360 and ps3 still have another couple of years of solid games.

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deactivated-59a31562f0e29

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@Hunter5024: it's less that people are going to ignore them, and more than new consoles and their games are going to be the focus of a hell of a lot of attention. There's a slight difference I think ... and I'm usually a year or two 'late' with hopping onto new consoles (actually just waiting to see if their game selection gets any good) so will be enjoying this generation for a long time to come yet, but everything definitely goes on the back-burner when new hardware arrives - not because the old stuff is lesser or games stop coming out for it, just because the new stuff becomes the focus for attention.

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dropabombonit

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Edited By dropabombonit

I'm with you Jeff, can't wait for the new Burn...I mean NFS game

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i8246i

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Edited By i8246i

@buft said:

My dissapointment didnt come from the lack of games, in the UK i have no spike tv so i was forced to watch the press conferences

I don't live in the UK, but the press conferences were a big (and justified) source of some serious anger. If you have 10 minutes to devote to Usher singing like a moron, or your crappy AR technology (JK ROWLING ZOMG!!!!!1111ONEELEVEN), OR FOR BROKEN VOICE RECOGNITION (now in SPANISH), you have 10 minutes to use to show off GAMES for your GAME CONSOLE.

You have time to make The Last Of Us look like a SURVIVAL game with MORAL CHOICES rather than SHOOT DUDES IN THE FACE 2: SHOOT HARDER. You have time to make your "target audience" want to buy your $300 handheld and $350 "next-gen" motion control-centric console.

I don't get *all* of the negative vibe from people about this year's E3, but Jeff Gerstmann , and the rest of the GB crew...

There was some serious BS going on in these press conferences, and it needs to STOP. If PR and execs want to talk about crap that only other PR and execs want to hear, go reserve space in a different location and spout your buzzwords and catch-phrases there. E3 is about games.

Now, that being said, there were decent games shown off at these press conferences...some of them looked really good.

And if you didn't see something that interested you there, Giant Bomb, GameSpot, IGN, and other channels on YouTube can yield gameplay footage and interviews with developers of some of these new games. And there are more Quick Looks to come!

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camp7203

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Edited By camp7203

wii u strike out

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MeatSim

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Edited By MeatSim

Definitely gonna want to play some Borderlands 2 and XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

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Edited By hermes

I actually liked this E3 quite a lot. Sony and Microsoft stay clear of most hardware talk and everyone focused on the games. Games that will actually be playable in the near future, and without having to drop hundreds of dollars in new equipment.

And, for a transition year, there was a surprising amount of high profile new IPs and fresh ideas. Many won't live up to expectations, but right now lets let the hype machine roll...

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Edited By Baal_Sagoth

I was really late to the party with Burnout Paradise, mostly because I suck at even arcady racing games to an incredible degree and rarely buy them, but that didn't stop me from really enjoying it, even though I didn't play very far into the post-credits content (10-15 events maybe). The only other arcade racer (other than Mario Kart back in the SNES days) I ever enjoyed somewhat extensively were the older NFS titles so I'm with you in being very excited for the new MW. The critical question for me is going to be how heavy the autolog integration is since I don't have arcade racing gamer friends and none of that will therefore do anything for me and if it will be practically idiot-proof so that I can progress without too much frustration.

And then theres XCOM of course but there has almost been said enough on that subject. I just need to see for myself now and hope for a glorious return!

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striderno9

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Edited By striderno9

Great write up Jeff.

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Mockduck

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Edited By Mockduck

Nice writeup, thanks!

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Edited By 1p

This year's E3 mainly accomplished one thing for me: Getting me excited for E3 2013!

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Edited By grilledcheez

I just hope EA realizes that putting out a mediocre need for speed game in between the Criterion ones is probably doing a lot of damage to the brand.

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Sorla10

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Edited By Sorla10

ubisoft bought steam? what?

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Edited By clstirens

@Grilledcheez said:

I just hope EA realizes that putting out a mediocre need for speed game in between the Criterion ones is probably doing a lot of damage to the brand.

I don't think they do....

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Edited By ildon

I know this has been said before, but I really feel like the E3 press conferences are being very negatively affected by being televised. It's causing them to cater to a lower common denominator. Instead of trying to show their more innovative or interesting games/products, or giving their entire product line some stage time, they're just showing what they think will be the biggest sellers, and the trailers/play throughs/vertical slices of those games are focusing entirely on action/combat like one expects from a movie trailer. How many slow, methodical scifi/horror/psychological thriller movies have action packed trailers that totally mislead the audience about what the movie is actually about because marketers think that's what will get more people into the theater? (and they're usually right).

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Edited By radioactivez0r

I had a little double take myself at the "Ubisoft picks up steam" as it's such an ubiquitous word in gaming now, but it's an interesting case of "we never capitalize words on the internet anymore" confusion.

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DG991

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Edited By DG991

@Sorla10 said:

ubisoft bought steam? what?

I think he meant they are releasing more games on Steam? I have no idea though... he didn't really elaborate.

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SmilingPig

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Edited By SmilingPig

For me E3 2012 was a bit of a snooze, I have high hopes for 2013 with the next gen comming out (2 years late).

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Edited By LaFlamaBlanca

Well geez Jeff, glad you could rationalize E3 into something that wasn't a boring fucking disaster. For the rest of us, it sucked ass.

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Edited By natetodamax

Borderlands 2 is definitely looking really great. The demo I played at PAX East (also the PC version) was very impressive.

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chosenwonton

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Edited By chosenwonton

As a Forza 4 convert from GT5, I am hugely excited about Forza Horizons... looks like the perfect "sim" to play when I just want to mess about, and not worry about cutting 2 tenths off my laptime. Hope it has the same feedback I get in FM4 on my CSR-E and isn't controller biased.

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Edited By big_jon

@LaFlamaBlanca said:

Well geez Jeff, glad you could rationalize E3 into something that wasn't a boring fucking disaster. For the rest of us, it sucked ass.

What? It was pretty god I thought.

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Edited By Dan_CiTi

@SmilingPig: 2 years late? Developers are going bankrupt left and right this generation, when cost goes up it will be crazy.

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Edited By VintAge68

Interesting read though I personally am looking forward more to MoH Warfighter, Crysis 3, Dead Space 3, than the new NFS (I for one liked The Run, though). On E3 2013 next-gen consoles hopefully will have brought finally the concretization of all present speculation...

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Edited By Kingfalcon

@DG991 said:

@Sorla10 said:

ubisoft bought steam? what?

I think he meant they are releasing more games on Steam? I have no idea though... he didn't really elaborate.

Are you not familiar with the phrase "picked up steam"? It means something gained momentum.

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Bloodrush545

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Edited By Bloodrush545

@Kingfalcon said:

@DG991 said:

@Sorla10 said:

ubisoft bought steam? what?

I think he meant they are releasing more games on Steam? I have no idea though... he didn't really elaborate.

Are you not familiar with the phrase "picked up steam"? It means something gained momentum.

I guess they didn't notice steam was not capitalized. I mean think about it for a second. Why would Valve sell Steam?

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Edited By IBeDanYo

I personally like the talk of who won E3. It makes the conferences so much more entertaining when you look at it from that perspective.

As for the new Need For Speed, no thanks. Burnout Paradise ruined the series for me completely. That style of arcade racing is just not well suited for the rat race "find you own way" lack of structure. Burnout was always about high speed and reaction time. Not navigating a mini map so you have to take your eyes off the road and wonder which turn you're supposed to be making. I'm disappointed that Criterion is so insistent on this way of doing things. As if going the Midnight Club route is the only way to evolve the genre.