E3 Overload

E3 has been called many things:  Christmas for gamers, the biggest annual event in gaming, and a huge waste of time and money.  Whether that's actually the case or not I wouldn't know, because I still... haven't... been able... to go.  Really, I've been a gamer and a serious journalist for years now, and I STILL can't get in?  There is no justice in the world.

So like the rest of the gaming world, I've been checking 1Up, Joystiq, Massively and GameTrailers for the latest news and sneaking a few extra coffee breaks to watch new trailers and videos all week long.  Which makes this more like March Madness in a typical office environment, just instead of updating my bracket I'm updating my E3 bingo cards.

So here's all the shiny things I spotted that will likely put me in the poorhouse by this time next year.

Image: The Guardian

The New Stuff


Arguably the most-anticipated announcement to come from this year's E3 was Nintendo's new console, WiiU.  As expected it'll have much more robust, HD graphics and be able to run games like Assassin's Creed and Modern Warfare.  It'll also have a new controller with a built-in touch screen, camera, motion control and other dohickeys.  That's probably going to be the most controversial part of the new system, because what wasn't shown at the press conference was a price.  The demo videos of the WiiU controller on Nintendo's website showed one person using it, while others used regular Wii controllers to play different parts in the same game.  That leads me to believe the controller by itself could cost as much as half the total cost of the system, which may cause Nintendo to lose their spot as the company with the top-selling console.  The Wii sold as much as it did because it was easy to use, but primarily because it was cheap.  Take that advantage away, and things will look much different in the console wars.

As for new games, one of the biggest surprises was Microsoft's announcement that there would be a Halo 4 coming to Xbox 360.  Not only that, it'll apparently be the start of a new trilogy.  The trailer showed Master Chief waking up to an exploding ship, taking Cortana out for a look and seeing something huge sucking in the ship.  Will it be close encounters with the Forerunners?  A new enemy?  More of the Flood from a different perspective?  Either way, Master Chief's fight has been a compelling-enough story for me to play the first three Halos, and so I may wind up grabbing this at some point if the story's going to be there.  We'll hopefully learn more about that as it gets closer to release.

The Expected

I think every Star Wars: The Old Republic fan (including me) got everything they wished for, except for a release date.  There was a new cinematic that totally rocked my face off and added in some needed Smuggler love, as well as gameplay videos and developer walkthroughs of mid-level questing around Tatooine.  Some important questions were answered:  intention counts in multiplayer dialogue, so I don't lose out on possibly dark side influence just because the Agent decided to be a little nicer and won the die roll.  Most of the traditional MMO features are making their way into the game, including auction houses, mounts/vehicles, social hubs, etc.  The news that the game is running on Biowares servers and has been for some time is also a good indicator things are accelerating nicely toward a release date this fall, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Also from Bioware, the Mass Effect 3 showcase looked really impressive, both as a look at the actual game and as a demo of how Microsoft is adding Kinect functionality into upcoming games.  At one point in the press conference, a director from Bioware was using the Kinect to order his companions into position, use powers, and even select dialogue choices for Shepard.  The possibilities this opens up for roleplaying games alone makes me really excited, and impressed at Microsoft for finding a unique way to innovate gameplay besides just wacky motion controllers.  If those abilities and more wind up being added to other upcoming Xbox games, especially RPGS, I might just have to shell out for a Kinect.

We also got more of a look at Catwoman's role in the next Batman game, Arkham City, and that role can be summed up in two words:

Being naughty.

Her costume screams sex kitten, as expected, but her moves positively scream alley cat.  She'll be a more fluid flipper and kicker as opposed to Bat's hard-hitting, bone-crushing style of martial arts, and I'm looking forward to finding out just what would bring one of the world's best thieves back to the hell that is Arkham City.  G4TV has some audio files that sound like the same patient diaries you pick up in the first game, and in them Hugo Strange is threatening to kill a girl named "Holly" if Selina doesn't cooperate with him, so it sounds like Catwoman's either being held against her will, or out for revenge.  The only thing missing in action was more on the thievery itself; hopefully they give Selina a few gadgets to do her dirty work, similar to the Batman's but with more of an emphasis on subtlety.

Honorable Mentions


There were other games I'm interested in that got the chance to strut their stuff, like the next Assassin's Creed, Bioshock: Infinite (which looks AMAZING), the Tomb Raider reboot and Elder Scrolls: Skyrim.  That's a lot of roleplaying and not a lot of budget, so if you see me advertising rare Star Wars CCG cards on EBay you'll know a release date's coming up.