Tom Bennett guides us through the latest from the biggest games industry annual knees-up, which took place this week in the States
Every year in early June, representatives from Microsoft, Sony and other small and big hitters descend upon the Los Angeles Convention Centre for E3 – the Electronic Entertainment Expo; the gaming industry’s equivalent of Mecca, where new games are shown, new tech is touted and socks are usually well and truly blown off.
Microsoft kicked off proceedings on Monday with its early morning press conference, and delivered a very strong games-centric presentation (unlike its show a year before, where they spent a great deal of time floundering with their restrictive Digital Rights Management policies).
Trailers for big blockbuster shooter titles such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare and Halo: The Master Chief Collection were balanced out with atmospheric indie titles such as Playdead’s mysterious Inside and Moon Studios’ Studio Ghibli-esque Ori and the Blind Forest. Overall, a strong comeback with renewed focus for the gaming world’s green giant.
Sony took to the stage towards the end of the day to display its upcoming wares and once again did not disappoint, flaunting a smorgasbord of different games. There were big flashy titles like Bungie’s sci-fi epic Destiny and the incredibly ambitious space exploration game No Man’s Sky (being developed in Guildford by Hello Games), intense gothic horror nightmares in the form of The Order: 1886 and Bloodborne, and delightfully breathtaking indie titles such as ABZU and Entwined – the latter being simultaneously released as it was announced. Nice touch, that.
Interestingly, there was a slight lull in the pace midway through to discuss TV programming coming to the Playstation Network – a surprising move considering Microsoft received great flak for extolling the virtues of TV during the original Xbox One reveal in May last year.
However, Sony pulled it back, and the conference ended on the ominous but beautifully rendered trailer for Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.
Tuesday saw Nintendo take the early morning slot and deliver a concise 46 minute focused ‘Digital Event’ rather than live conference. Mario Maker, a ‘make your own Mario’ game was particularly impressive, in addition to Nintendo’s own take on the 3rd person shooter genre with Splatoon. The main focus here, though, was undoubtedly on the next title in the company’s beloved fighting game series, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
The unveil of Amiibos, small Nintendo figurine toys that save and track your stats when attached to the Wii U gamepad, are Nintendo’s answer to the Skylanders/Disney Infinity craze. The fact that the figures are compatible across multiple Nintendo games (including the recently released Mario Kart 8) sounds truly impressive and unique in that classic innovative Nintendo way.
Overall, this year’s E3 has so far been a strong games-led performance from all corners.
This can only a good thing for the consumer, as closer, aggressive competition between developers and publishers equals better games and experiences for the player. E3 ends today (the 12th) and news is still flooding out of LA as we speak.