My Post-E3 thoughts

Well another E3 has gone in the books and for me, this year was a mixed bag. There were press conferences that showed off new hardware and other press conferences showing off new games. There were games I was looking forward to that were there and some games I didn't know about that surprised me. After watching a ton of footage of E3 here are my thoughts on E3 as a whole.

I think this past E3 has shown that the industry is still going strong, but in an audience that we didn't expect to be targeted. As hardcore games like us, we always look for the games that stand out and really pop to the eye, but what we are starting to see more of out of the industry is expanding its audience to not only the casual; but to the kids too. For example, the Microsoft press conference showed off Disney land adventures, Sesame Street, and some kinect kid friendly games. Perhaps maybe the hardcore isn't enough to satisfy the gaming industry. Maybe the gaming industry needs to look outside its own crowd to people who never picked up a controller and to the average dad out there who's last game he played was Mario for the Nintendo back in 1987. At the same time this E3 did prove that gamers are still a very important part of the industry and keeps supporting it even in tough times. Sony seems to be the only other company from the big three that is really pushing for hardcore gamers. Not to say Microsoft isn't but judging from the press conference they showed it just seems Sony is more upfront for gamers then Microsoft is. Reason I am not talking about Nintendo is because that's there M.O. and have been for the past couple of years. We are only seeing now that even Nintendo has to come back to it's hardcore roots with their new console. They can't bank on selling more consoles then their games, and for a while it worked with the Wii, but now your seeing the results of not having a good line up of games for the Wii. It will be very interesting to see how the public will react to Nintendo's new console when it comes out.

What really surprised me this year was two things. One, Sony announcing the PlayStation Vita for 250$ and seeing Star Wars Kinect in action. What Sony announced was a bold move on their part to have their vita up against Nintendo's 3DS at the same price. Even knowing that Sony put so much money in that portable gaming device pricing it at 250$ is much lower then we all expected to be. I think Sony actually might have a good chance of beating out Nintendo in the portable space only if they a good line up of games. If it has good strong security so it won't be easily hacked like the last PSP has it stands a better chance of outselling the 3DS, but we have to wait and find out. The other thing that surprised me was seeing Star Wars Kinect in action...and I was so disappointed. I was excited when I first saw the intro scene in the Microsoft press conference  for Star Wars but then quickly was disappointed on how the game play played out. Your star wars character was outrageously slow and from the looks of things it was put on rails the entire time. As a person who has seen all six Star Wars films you should be fast and active like a jedi in the movies is suppose to be; but no you have to be this slow ass jedi that makes you look like a the evil emperor if he was a jedi rather then a young jedi.

The game that really surprised me this year was Pray 2. I really wish it wasn't called Pray and called something else and I would of been fine with it, but what it's worth, Pray 2 looked so good! I did like the idea of being a space bounty hunter and having these options of turning in your bounty in for cash or get double that amount to double cross the person paying you for more money. Last time I seen this type of thing in my experience of playing games was Oddworld' Stranger's Wrath and I played the crap out of that game. I can't wait to find out more details about Pray 2 and hopefully play an early build of it soon. Also looking forward too other games like Modern Warfare 3, Bioshock Infinite, Catherine, Star Wars: Old Republic, Gears of War 3, Mass Effect 3, Halo 4, Halo Anniversary, and so on. Overall there were a lot of games I am looking forward to as well as games I am going to avoid. The gaming industry is still strong and I am glad I am a part of it.


-Anthony Beanes