So the big pressers of E3 have passed and just wow. There were quite a few stellar announcements made by all parties. So I suppose the best way to weigh up on them is the order they came out! Since this’ll run way long I decided to split it up into two entries. Here’s Monday’s entry!

First up on Monday was Microsoft. Started off with Call of Duty: Black Ops from Treyarch. Sure, they’re no Infinity Ward (who’s now defunct) but World at War was not a bad game by any means. Definitely looks like a lot of fun if a tiny bit stale. I’m getting all “modern warfare’d” out. Next big thing was Metal Gear Solid: Rising. Now this one got me excited. You play as Ninja Raiden and control exactly how you swing your blade. Pretty much in the style of the Afro Ninja game. Was gory beyond belief but hey you also get to cut fruit! Next up was Gears of War 3. Blah blah more of the same. Will stay play it though cause Im a nerd. 4-player co-op is interesting. Just gotta find 3 other friends who’ll play it with me. Next was a VERY brief clip of Fable 3. Showed some ship to ship action and.. well that’s about it. So far just looks like Fable 2.5.. which isn’t all that bad in my book. After that was a teaser of sword and sandals type game from the guys at Crytek. Definitely worth looking into considering the pedigree of the Far Cry and Crysis franchises. Lastly was some Halo: Reach campaign footage. Sure it got me all hot ‘nd bothered, but again just more of the same. Then they started into all the Kinect bullshit. Tech is extremely interesting but haven’t seen a game yet that just floors me. So far just casual games upon casual games. There was a Star Wars demo with a lighsaber and force powers but the video seemed highly suspect. Will have to wait on that one. And to wrap things up, Microsoft unveiled their new 360 design. Definitely sexy and would buy except for the fact that I’ve still got a working 360. Oh well.

Next up were EA’s and Ubisoft’s pressers. EA started off with New for Speed: Hot Pursuit. LOVED the old NfS’s but have hated the most recent ones with their stupid stories, etc. They’re claim they’re returning to their roots with this one so I’m very hopeful. Gameplay looks pretty awesome too. Next up they demoed the new Medal of Honor’s multiplayer on-stage with a 24-person team deathmatch. They announced DICE, of Battlefield fame, was developing the multiplayer-side of things so that’s definitely a plus. Looked fairly awesome. Sure more Modern-Warfare-esque type stuff, but still fun looking. Skipping over a few boring stuff (sports ‘nd casual) out comes The Old Republic. Not much really announced, just personal spacecrafts, but they did bring a new cinematic trailer to the party and oh my god. About had to change my shorts after watching the damn thing. Sexy sexy sexy. Next was Ubisoft. They started off with a new game from the creator of Rez called Child of Eden. Very trippy. Playable with and without Kinect. Up next was some Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood gameplay. Lovely stuff. Loved AC and AC2, undoubtedly will love this too. Next up was boring Shaun White Skateboarding, “laser tag,’ YourFitness for Kinect, some breathing “game.” Up next was the new Ghost Recon which looked like a cross between Modern Warfare and Splinter Cell. Definitely not a bad thing. Seemed a little less strategic than previous titles but still extremely kick-ass. Next biggie was the reveal of a new 2D Rayman game. His last few 3D outings werent exactly a hit so a return to 2D is much welcome. And that’s pretty much it for EA and Ubisoft.

Overall I was disappointed by these 3 press conferences. Nothing really exciting happened. There was a lot of hand-waving and jumping for Kinect which still has yet to reel me in fully. All they seem to have is casual shit to bring in the families. Where’s the hardcore stuff? Where’s Milo? C’mon Microsoft. As for the hardcore games MS did show, they were all pretty much the next iterations in already established franchises which we already knew about. So there wasn’t really anything to get excited about. The only thing remotely close was MGS: Rising since we hadn’t seen anything on it yet. It was the same for EA and Ubisoft. No real big announcements and just more of the same. Casual stuff and new iterations of franchises. And Ubi definitely dropped the ball with no Beyond Good & Evil 2 news. Made everyone a sad panda. Oh well. At least Day 1 of E3 with Nintendo and Sony pretty much brought everything from Day 0 to shame. But youll have to wait till the next entry to find out!

Posted by Carlo under Video Games
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