The biggest and most prestigious video-gaming show of the year has just wrapped up and no doubt gamers all round are thinking about the slew of games they have to look forward to in the coming year if not sooner. While personally speaking I think this year’s event ranks among one of the more mediocre if not lower in the events history there were still a few nice surprises sprinkled throughout.
For all those out there who had the chance to watch all of the conferences (or at least pick up the highlights.) what were your thoughts? Which conference do you feel “won” (hate using that term, but…) E3?How would you rank the conferences in terms of the excitement they generated (Most to least.)? Hopefully we can keep these discussions civil.
For myself it went a little like this…
1: Sony:
While I don’t particularly think this years’ E3 was Sony’s strongest I stillfeel they “won” by default. The amount of games (particularly exclusive AAA titles.) they showed was probably the highest in attendance. Uncharted, Days Gone, God of War, Spiderman, Detroit, The Inpatient, Horizon Zero Dawn rounded out some of the more noteworthy exclusives while a host of 3rd party titles like COD, Destiny 2, Marvel VS Capcom and others added to Sony’s focus on games. The unveiling of The Remake/remaster of the Shadow of the Colossus was probably one of the more “wow” moments of Sony’s time in the spotlight but details on whether it is a full blown remaster from the grounds up or just another HD port are still sketchy. While nothing really blew me away it was still nice to see titles we had only gotten a glimpse of in the past given more of a showcase.
With that said I would be lying if I said I was not a bit disappointed. Even though many developers had relayed that they would not be attending (or for that matter for fans not to expect anything from their respective studios.) a part of me was still hoping to see something in the ways of a The Last of Us 2, Death Stranding, Shenmue 3, FF7 Remake, Resident Evil 2 Remake, or something. While Sony’s conference was jam packed and barely had any “down time” compared to the others I think people were still expecting to see something more.
2: Nintendo:
Not sure whether some will not consider them part of the conference seeing as how they never formally took to the stage but I still consider “the big N” very much a part of the festivities. Due to having had time to prepare a presentation that could have been heavily edited and built to highlight everything perfectly I don’t think it’s completely fair to rate their conference against their peers; conferences that were live. In regards to what was shown I think Nintendo started off strong. Truth be told I think of all the conferences they were the one that kept the momentum going at a steady pace throughout. Fans of Nintendo no doubt will be pleased by the announcements of such favorites like Kirby, Poke’mon, Zelda DLC, Xenoblade Chronicles 2 and more. Still, I think the 2 main highlights of their conference was the unveiling of Super Mario Odyssey and the announcement of development on Metroid 4. That later announcement may very well be the biggest news of E3 all things considered but all that was shown was a screen, so…
While if I’m being completely objective I would say Nintendo had the best conference I find myself gravitating more towards the titles at Sony’s showing thus why I placed them in second (Once again, that is subjective.). The other reason as to why they didn’t come out on top for me was that their conference was short… like really short. It felt like it was 20 minutes if that. As soon as it began it was over. At least that’s how it felt to me. With that being said I still do feel this is probably one of Nintendo’s stronger outings as of late but I feel that unless you’re a true Nintendo fan you may not have cared at all about any of the titles on display other than maybe 1 or 2. Still, great showing by Nintendo and it looks like those who invested in the Switch will have a lot to look forward to.
3: Bethesda:
Even though they seemed to be pretty focused on VR (Fallout VR, Doom, etc…) what got me excited about their conference was that they actually had games that were coming out relatively soon. Games that had actual release dates instead of just “coming 2017/2018.” I think the crowning jewel of their conference was Wolfenstein (once again, that’s subjective.) but other titles like The Evil Within 2 were a pleasant, if not somewhat expected, surprise. If I’d have to pinpoint it, I would say that those 2 titles right there were their heavy hitters but for others out there perhaps the new VR additions stole the show.
4: Microsoft:
What can I say? This was their show to lose. The unveiling of new hardware is always a huge thing and in truth usually propels all the hype, build up, and excitement to developer(s) who have the latest tech to the forefront of everyone’s mind. While the revealing of the Xbox One X was nice Microsoft fell victim once again to what has hindered them at more than a few of their previous E3 outings. Namely games, or lack thereof. I know a few of you out there are saying “What the hell, Ninja!? Microsoft had games. Lots of them. 40 something with half being exclusives!” and to be completely fair that is accurate. However, what is easy to gloss over is the type of games in question. Microsoft didn’t shy away from taking every chance they could get to announce what was exclusive (a great move on their part and one I feel shows they have been listening to fan feedback.) but the majority of the games they showed were not AAA titles by any means. While indie games are nice they aren’t going to compare to the efforts from AAA studios for the most part. THIS I feel was Microsoft’s biggest issue. Not quantity of games but rather quality of games (once again, that’s subjective so please calm down.). The true exclusives they showed (Forza and to a lesser extent Crackdown 3.) were nice but once again you could count them on one hand. If anything it was the new Metro game that stole their portion of the conferences. Visually the game was breath taking, but once again… multiplatform.
If we were even given glimpses of a new Halo, a new Gears of War, or even to a lesser extent something like an Alan Wake or something in the works from some of Microsoft’s AAA studios I think it’s fair to say that (paired with the unveiling of the new hardware.) they would have easily “won” the events of theweek.
5: Ubisoft:
Probably the most “cringe worthy” of all the conferences shown. The appearance of Jethro Tull (the announcer giving play by play.) raised more than a few eyebrows at the conference but I don’t think it had the intended effect Ubisoft was hoping for. The dance portion was also right up there (although I must say I did like the robotic ninjas. ;) ) but I understand it was in line with a game centered around that very concept. Those moments aside Ubisoft had a few notable moments. I think it goes without saying that some of the bigger draws were the Assassins creed and Farcry 5 games. Both games getting a lengthy in game demo was nice and for any out there excited about those titles it gave them more reason to get hyped. Probably the biggest standout of their conference (if not the whole show.) was the unveiling of Beyond Good and Evil 2, a game that while not quite at the same level in terms of hype as something like Shenmue 3, FF7 Remake, or Resident evil 2 Remake still demanded everyone in attendance take notice.
6: EA:
Honestly, I know I’m completely biased towards this one (or against.). I’m not a huge sports gamer so most of EA’s conference went through one ear and out the other. If you were however someone who thrives on sports game than EA may very well have had the best conference in attendance. While perhaps Star Wars was the center piece of their conference (a game they devoted half of their time in the spotlight to.) I think Anthem (Biowares new IP.) may have actually stole their portion of the show. Bioware gave notice to those that may have felt slighted by Andromeda that they could be on to something. Still, that’s a big “could”. I’m sure people will get more of a feel as more info is leaked in the coming months but I will admit, it did look pretty good.
So there you have it.
1: Sony
2: Nintendo
3: Bethesda
4: Microsoft
5: Ubisoft
6: EA
Once again I feel it is important to stress that these opinions are my own and are completely subjective.
So GiantBomb community, how would you rank the various E3 conferences? What stood out to you the most at the festivities this year?
-RANK ‘EM NINJA APPROVED-
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