PixlBit

Well, another E3 has come and gone.  Now it’s time for me to complain about not being able to go to E3 AGAIN this year.  But the games they showed at this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo were pretty neat, and still worth talking about, so here’s a blog all about that.  Enjoy!

The Waah-bulence

But first I just have to complain and vent and get a few things off my chest.  For the third year in a row, I was denied a press pass into E3.  Which is annoying because I’ve been going to most E3 shows since 1996.  They claim the GamerDad site doesn’t have enough numbers.  I know it’s a small site, but at PAX South’s GamerParenting panel, they listed GamerDad as a good resource, so it has to be at least somewhat well known.  I’ve also heard of game companies getting passes for media to help promote their own games now.  That just sounds wrong and a conflict of interests.  I know it’s a silly thing to complain about, and I hate to flash the disability card, but there are a lot of things I can’t do because I’ve been blind in my left eye since birth, so when I’m denied something I CAN do, it just makes things even more annoying and discouraging.  The reason why I titled this blog “E3 Strikes and You’re Out” is because I’ve been debating giving up on applying for any more press passes to the show after three declines, but I probably won’t give up after all because I’m too stubborn and bull-headed.  And applying for a pass is still a good way to get contacts.   I’m glad that E3 is selective on who they let in, but I think they’re shooting themselves in the foot since I would cover games a lot of places wouldn’t.  I think they should look at experience as well as numbers, since I’ve been reviewing games for nearly 20 years!

One more thing I have to complain about is the Nintendo World Championships that Nintendo held before the show.  I have good memories of the original event in 1990, in fact I even recently wrote a blog about it.  So it was exciting to see it again.  However, I didn’t like that Nintendo allowed YouTube speedrunners and game reviewers into the competition as well as the winners from the Best Buy stores.  Did those YouTube folks wait in line and compete like the rest did?  Somehow I doubt it.  I know Nintendo was probably trying to bring in people to attract attention to the competition.  But that’s just it, this wasn’t just an event, it was a competition, so I think some fair play should’ve been in order.  But hey, what do I know?  That’s just my silly opinion.

Nintendo’s Pre-E3 Announcements.

OK that’s enough complaining out of me.  We’ll first talk about Nintendo at E3 because they had the most games that interested me.  That doesn’t mean they didn’t have a few missteps at the show, because they certainly did.  But on the whole they still enticed me with many games I’ll be looking forward to playing.  One thing they did correctly right off the bat was some of their Pre-E3 announcements to help generate hype, because most of them involved us players at home.  Before the show even started, they released EarthBound Beginnings, the NES predecessor to the SNES RPG.  It’s a wonder it took them so long to release it, since it’s been translated for more than 20 years.  They also had a lot of new announcements regarding Smash Bros. content.  While it was all pretty cool, my gosh, Nintendo, that sure is a lot of nickeling and diming.  And if you’re going to put a Street Fighter character in Smash, don’t pick Ryu, he’s boring!  They should’ve picked Cammy instead.  I would’ve bought that character. 

Nindies@Home

Another thing Nintendo did to generate hype for E3 and involve players at home was with their Nindies@Home program.  What you could do was download demos for upcoming indie Wii U eShop titles, and even get a discount on the full game for downloading them!  I’m sure they were the same demos that you could see at the show, too!  Best part is that I’m on a lot of their press lists, so I’ll probably get to review a lot of these games when they come out, too!  Here are some descriptions of some of the ones I downloaded.

Freedom Planet is what you get when you combine 2-D Sonic with Gunstar Heroes.  In fact, I’d say that if Sonic Team wants to get people to like Sonic again, they need to hire the Freedom Planet people.  You can already play it on Steam, but I’m glad they decided to put it on Wii U as well since it looks right at home on a console.

Lovely Planet takes the graphics and music of Katamari Damacy and puts them in a FPS.  But boy is that game hard!  I hope they put an aiming reticule in the final version!  And if they’re trying to get people who don’t normally play FPS games (like me) to enjoy it, don’t make it so hard!  I’m really awful at these kinds of games!

Runbow is a neat obstacle course, Smash Bros. style 2-D racing platforming game for up to eight players!  The gimmick is that the background color changes which can make certain platforms disappear, so you have to anticipate which color comes next!  The neat thing is that in the final version, you’ll be able to play as other indie game characters like Shovel Knight, Guacamelee, Commander Video, and more!  I hope I get to review this one, too!

Extreme Exorcism is a 2-D shooter with 8-bit graphics for up to four players.  The ghosts that you must shoot will follow the path you took on your last life, so remembering where you’ve been will really help.  One indie game that didn’t have a demo (but I wish it did) was Shantae: Half-Genie Hero.  I love the Shantae games so I can’t wait for that.

One last indie game that I have to talk about is Typoman.  It’s a 2-D platformer where you play as a little man made up of letters, and bypass obstacles by carrying letters to spell words.  It reminds me of a really good game I reviewed on the iPad a year or so ago called Type:Rider.  Typoman is a good example of one of the reasons why I like to go to E3.  In the demo, there is a word that spells PART but when you get close, it flips and kills you with the word TRAP.  I couldn’t figure out how to get past that part, but if I had a game developer or PR professional by my side, I’d be able to figure it out and write more about the game!  That’s why even though technology can bring the E3 experience home, nothing can replace personal interactions.  That’s what I really like about going to E3, not the games, but the people!

Nintendo Digital Event

OK, now we’ll talk about the actual E3 stuff.  I have to say that Nintendo did a good job on their Digital Event video.  They didn’t just show trailers to the games, but also insight as to how some of those games were made, too. And although I imagine a lot of people scoffed at this, I loved the use of puppets in the video!  I read that the Jim Henson Company actually helped with those puppets!  From now on, I don’t want to hear from regular old Iwata, Miyamoto, and Reggie, I want to hear from their puppet forms!

But that doesn’t mean Nintendo’s E3 showing were perfect.  There were a few missteps and disappointments, too.  None of their games were very surprising, and you can really tell they’re cashing in on the Amiibo craze to keep the Wii U afloat.  You’d think I’d just explode that they announced TWO new Animal Crossing games.  But one is just a home decorator and the other is a board game.  Blah. Now, after looking at it a little more closely, the Happy Home Designer game is a bit more robust.  But still.  Of course, I’m such a big Animal Crossing fan; I’ll probably get them both anyway.  And call me crazy, but I’m not sure Metroid Prime: Federation Force is what Metroid fans really wanted.  “2-D Metroid Dread?  Nah, you wanna play Metroid Soccer, right?”  Oh boy.  But at the end of the day, Nintendo still had a lot of fun games that I can’t wait to play, so let’s take a look at some of those.

Wii U

Their big game was probably Star Fox Zero.  I’m not a big Star Fox fan, but this one looks kind of fun so I’ll probably pick it up and try it.  At E3 I heard you could sit in Arwing cockpits.  I wonder if they’re the same ones they had when I went to E3 a long time ago when they showed off Star Fox 64! 

Another big deal was Super Mario Maker, which is basically LittleBigPlanet with Mario.  I’m not too big on games that let you build your own levels, but I’ll probably give this one a try, too, because it does look kind of fun.  It looks like it has a sort of Mario Paint motif, too, and I loved Mario Paint back in the day.  Another Mario-related game is Yoshi’s Woolly World, which looks adorable and Game of the Year quality.  I have a lot of good memories playing Yoshi games with family and friends, so I’m really looking forward to this one, too.  And I’ve GOT to have that Yarn Yoshi Amiibo!  One last Mario game on Wii U was Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash.  I might skip out on that one since I’m not a big tennis fan, but if it ends up being really fun, maybe I’ll get it anyway.

Surprisingly, one game I’m looking forward to on the Wii U is Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Waters.  You’d think I wouldn’t play games like this, since I mostly dabble in cutesy fare.  But sometimes I do like to play a more ‘grown up’ game, and I like ghosts.  Plus I also enjoyed Spirit Camera on the 3DS, and that was actually a Fatal Frame game, too.  I’ll just have to put on my big boy pants to play it!  (Nintendo REALLY needs a Pokemon Snap game on Wii U).  One last question, though.  Why didn’t Nintendo make FAST Racing Neo be an F-Zero title?  Oh well.  Nintendo had a bunch of other games, too, but I don’t really care about the Fire Emblem and Xenoblade stuff.

3DS

Nintendo had a lot of 3DS stuff, too.  One complaint I have is they never made it clear in their videos if all their games will work on the old 3DS as well as the ‘new’ one  All the gameplay was done on New 3DS systems, so that’s why I was a little confused.

One game that they had that I haven’t seen much coverage on is Yo-Kai Watch, and that could be a big kids’ game this year.  Yokai in Japanese is a word that encompasses all manner of ghosts, goblins, spirits, and monsters.  Many of these mythical Yokai have a strong impact on Japanese culture and can even be seen in video games.  I think they’re pretty interesting.  Anyway, in the game you play as a kid who befriends, collects, and battles all sorts of Yokai monsters.  So it’s like Pokemon with ghosts.  The game is made by Level 5, who makes a lot of nifty games.  It even has a kind of Ni no Kuni-ish vibe to it, which was another Level 5 title.  Yo-Kai Watch is very popular in Japan, and they’re already on their third game!  There is also an anime cartoon, and it’ll be released in the US this fall!  Will it be as big as Pokemon?  Probably not, but we’ll just have to see!

They also had a couple of new Zelda 3DS titles.  I’m really excited about Triforce Heroes because I loved Four Swords and it was one of the best multiplayer gaming experiences I’ve ever had!  Even though this one is just three Links, I’m still going to enjoy playing some “Three Swords.”  It’s actually one of the best games at E3 that I read about!  Hyrule Warriors Legends was also shown, and while it looks cool, I already have the game on my Wii U so I may not get this one.

There is also a crossover game of Mario RPGs with Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam.  I’m worried about this one because the last two games in both series were lacking.  Dream Team was fun but was way too long and meandering, and bosses took forever to beat.  And Sticker Star was just flat out awful.  But I am REALLY looking forward to Chibi Robo: Zip Lash.  I love the Chibi Robo games, and this one’s a 2-D platformer.  It’ll even have a Chibi Robo Amiibo!  Needless to say, I’ve already got this one reserved at GameStop!

Microsoft & Sony

And that’s all I have to say about Nintendo.  Sorry for talking so much about them, but they just have most of the games that interest me right now.  I still like Microsoft and Sony and enjoyed the 360 and PS3, but there just isn’t anything on the Xbox One or PS4 that interest me enough to buy a new console.  But one good thing both companies did at E3 was make some announcements that made the new consoles more tempting to me.  For the Xbox One, Rare had a collection of 30 of their classic games!  And another company had Cuphead, a 2-D action game with graphics that looked like a 1930’s cartoon!  They also announced Xbox One backwards compatibility, which sounds cool but I bet there’s a catch somewhere.  The 360 couldn’t play ALL Xbox games, and even the PS2 couldn’t play every PSOne game out there.  Sony also had some good games for the PS4, too.  One was Tearaway Unfolded, which looked like a 3-D platformer made out of paper.  And they had a Ratchet & Clank remake.  All these games make their new consoles look more tempting to me, but right now I’m happy with what I have.

Square-Enix

They made a big splash when they announced the Final Fantasy 7 remake.  But it wasn’t that big of a deal to me.  While I appreciated how different it was, I really didn’t like FF7 that much.  There are two kinds of people in this world: those who like FF7 more, and those who like FF6 more.  You can probably guess where I fit in.  I would just explode if they made a FF6 remake!  But I guess if they had to remake something, FF7 is a good choice since it’s so popular and the original game hasn’t aged well AT ALL!  I bet there is one character who will look good in the remake, if you know what I mean.  Actually I was more excited about World of Final Fantasy, since it looks a lot cuter.  It’s just Final Fantasy Pokemon, though.  They also showed a tiny bit of Kingdom Hearts 3, but neither it nor the FF7 remake has a release date, so who knows when we’ll see them.

Activision

Skylanders is a big deal at GamerDad.com and it was the most talked about game at the GamerParenting panel I attended at PAX South.  So when they added vehicles to the new Skylanders Supercharged, I knew I’d have to review that when it comes out!  Even more exciting is that in the Wii U version, they’ll have Skylander figures of Bowser and Donkey Kong!  You can guess which version I hope to review!  Skylanders and Amiibo have put Disney Infinity in a distant third for me, and Disney Infinity 3.0 now has Star Wars, too!  But I guess they’re all good games for kids.  Speaking of kids, Activision also had a new Transformer game that looks just like the old 80’s cartoon.  It’s titled Transformers: Devastation, but I think I’m going to rename it, “Cary’s Childhood: The Game.”

LEGO Dimensions

Speaking of Skylanders, LEGO is doing their own type of game with real life LEGOs you can put in play!  I hope I get to review it, since I’ve been able to review nearly every other LEGO game out there.  But even if I don’t, I’ll have to break down and buy it because they have levels based on Portal!  And I LOVE the Portal games.  I hate it that some people are calling it ‘Portal for Preschoolers.’  I guess I just don’t like snarky comments like that.  I think it looks cool and will probably be the closest thing we get to a new Portal game for quite a while. 

Misc. Games

I don’t know if I should be disappointed with the lack of smaller third party companies at E3, or the lack of game reviewers who covered their stuff.  But I do know Natsume was supposed to show a new retro-styled Harvest Moon game for Wii U and PC.  Little Orbit showed a bunch of licensed titles based on Adventure Time, Monster High, Barbie, and Kung Fu Panda.  I’m sure the quality of those titles may be questionable, but I’m kind of interested in the Adventure Time game because it’s called Jake and Finn Investigations, and that makes it sound like it might be a parody on the Phoenix Wright series!

I’m not sure what all Capcom showed, but I think they had Street Fighter V.  I’m not too terribly interested in that, but it does have Cammy in it so that’s cool.  They also announced Mega Man Legacy Collection, which has the first six Mega Man games on it.  That’s a bit disappointing since the last compilation over ten years ago had way more Mega Man games than that.  Deep Silver is publishing Mighty No. 9, which is the spiritual successor to Mega Man, so we’ll have to see how that goes.

I’m guessing Namco was at E3, but you wouldn’t know it from the news coverage.  I guess they have a new fighting game with anime characters call J-Stars Victory, and a new RPG in the Tales series called Tales of Zestria (I hear my favorite game music composer, Go Shiina, is working on it).  But no new Pac-Man game?  Bummer!  And was SEGA at E3 at all?  I know they have a new 3DS Sonic Boom game coming out, but I didn’t hear about anything from them at the show.

Conclusions

And that’s all my impressions about E3.  Or at least the coverage of E3, since I didn’t get to go.  Still bummed about that, can’t help it.  In the comments section, let me know if there was any E3 news you think I would’ve liked that I missed, and let me know what your favorite E3 games and news was.  There was certainly a LOT more games shown than I talked about!  Until next time, later!  --Cary