E3 2017

[iLunar]

Didn't bother with XBox announcement.

Sony's presention was a lot of hits and missses. Everything felt the same, action/adventure with a lot of violence and realistic graphics. Other than Shadows of Colusses, which is an old game, nothing felt fresh or really exciting.

Nintendo's presentation also seemed kind of tepid other than Super Mario Odyssey. It looks amazing. Watching some of the gameplay in the treehouse is just taking my breathe away. I like the look of the new Yoshi, but the game didn't look that exciting. Perhaps I'm getting jaded.

Glad we saw a Metroid Prime 4 announcement, but even a hint at character or game world designs would have been good.

 

[Zaft]

I think we can all agree the demise of the home console was much exaggerated. It's still strong, you can't do battlefield 1 on an iPad or other app boxes.

 

[Sensamic]

For me it's been a disappointing E3. Most of what I saw I learned of in news a while back.

The highlights for me were Metro, Wolfenstein, new Pokemon RPG for switch, Xbox One X, Days Gone and Spider-Man. Maybe even Hidden Agenda, since Until Dawn is my all time favorite.

Xbox One X looks amazing, but just watching an interview with Phil Spencer I have some worries.

For example, some multiplatform games may hold back on Xbox due to PS4 Pro, like Destiny 2 multiplayer being 30fps on both despite the Xbox being able to do 60fps.

Metro and Anthem showed the future of games in graphics. So so good.

Mario is great, but everything else from Nintendo... Meh. Feels like the Wii U catalog over again, with Yoshi and Kirby games in 2D and the looks of a kids game IMO.

I'm losing interest in the Switch if these are the games to expect.

 

[hawkeye_a]

Finally watched the Nintendo thing... wth was that? A powerpoint slide for Metroid Prime 4?

 

[44267547]

For me it's been a disappointing E3. Most of what I saw I learned of in news a while back.

The highlights for me were Metro, Wolfenstein, new Pokemon RPG for switch, Xbox One X, Days Gone and Spider-Man. Maybe even Hidden Agenda, since Until Dawn is my all time favorite.

Xbox One X looks amazing, but just watching an interview with Phil Spencer I have some worries.

For example, some multiplatform games may hold back on Xbox due to PS4 Pro, like Destiny 2 multiplayer being 30fps on both despite the Xbox being able to do 60fps.

Metro and Anthem showed the future of games in graphics. So so good.

Mario is great, but everything else from Nintendo... Meh. Feels like the Wii U catalog over again, with Yoshi and Kirby games in 2D and the looks of a kids game IMO.

I'm losing interest in the Switch if these are the games to expect.

2018 will be a huge year for releases. Red Dead 2, Last Of Us 2, Far Cry 5, Metro Exodus.

Do we have any release dates pending for Days Gone or Spider-Man? Or are those also pushed to 2018. It seems Bethesda was the only developer releasing dates during the conference.

 

[Taustin Powers]

Mario Odyssey looks really strange. It looks very polished, mind you, but it doesn't look like a "real" Mario game to me.

Back to Super Mario World...

 

[hawkeye_a]

Mario Odyssey looks really strange. It looks very polished, mind you, but it doesn't look like a "real" Mario game to me.

Back to Super Mario World...

My thoughts exactly. The shading model looks way off for a Mario game. There seemed to be lots of bloom lighting and harsh specular lighting. It looks...like something made using the Unreal engine.

The shading used in Mario Galaxy or even the Mario game on the WiiU looked great in comparison.

 

[0098386]

I'm mega excited about that Mario game now. It's an unsafe game in a standard series that I can get behind (and maybe that's how they're gonna make sequels to "perfect" games in other series, like the next GTA and Zelda - just go wild).

I think we can all agree the demise of the home console was much exaggerated. It's still strong, you can't do battlefield 1 on an iPad or other app boxes.

Who ever said consoles were dying? The market expands year on year, it's incredible.

 

[Zaft]

Who ever said consoles were dying? The market expands year on year, it's incredible.

couple years ago the rave was all about the consoles dying.

 

[0098386]

couple years ago the rave was all about the consoles dying.

Nope. I think a lot of Mac fans spread FUD around like that because they want everyone to be playing games on iOS. A few years the PS4 was launched which was pretty huge, the 3DS was at its peak too.

 

[Sensamic]

2018 will be a huge year for releases. Red Dead 2, Last Of Us 2, Far Cry 5, Metro Exodus.

Do we have any release dates pending for Days Gone or Spider-Man? Or are those also pushed to 2018. It seems Bethesda was the only developer releasing dates during the conference.

After seeing the E3 my believe is TLOU 2 will release on 2019, and everything else on 2018.

Spider-Man is set for 2018, although there were news that it could release this year. Days Gone had no release date either, so probably late 2018 also.

 

[gkarris]

Mario Odyssey looks really strange. It looks very polished, mind you, but it doesn't look like a "real" Mario game to me.

Back to Super Mario World...

Unreal Engine 4?

I went back and watched EA, Bethesda, and Ubisoft press conferences...

EA, like Sony, was just a celebration of their laurels (yes, you WILL buy their games no matter what they pump out).

Bethesda's was pretty neat and creative.

Ubisoft cleaned up - definitely the best one of E3.

 

[44267547]

Unreal Engine 4?

I went back and watched EA, Bethesda, and Ubisoft press conferences...

EA, like Sony, was just a celebration of their laurels (yes, you WILL buy their games no matter what they pump out).

Bethesda's was pretty neat and creative.

Ubisoft cleaned up - definitely the best one of E3.

Bethesda had the most creative, very similar to the Fallout video games with the narrating behind that.

Ubisoft was good (Starlink and Farcry 5 looks great). I liked Microsofts conference the best.

2018 looks to be a massive year for games and most of these titles will show the potential of the X-Box One X.

 

[maflynn]

2018 looks to be a massive year for games

I won't disagree but I cannot get excited for that, since we're just at the halfway mark for 2017. Way too early for me to start getting excited games being released in 2018. Some of them may even have their publication dates slip which will only make things worse.

 

[Burningtime]

Nope. I think a lot of Mac fans spread FUD around like that because they want everyone to be playing games on iOS. A few years the PS4 was launched which was pretty huge, the 3DS was at its peak too.

There actually was a lot of "industry" talk about consoles being a thing of the past before the PS4 and XBOX One launched. It was ridiculous. Business insiders thought that all gaming would move to mobile devices and no one would want to buy consoles.

 

[hawkeye_a]

There actually was a lot of "industry" talk about consoles being a thing of the past before the PS4 and XBOX One launched. It was ridiculous. Business insiders thought that all gaming would move to mobile devices and no one would want to buy consoles.

To be fair,the PS4 and XBO are just repackaged PCs.

With their 'sliding settings' and upgrade cycle, not to mention cross compatibility between Windows and XBO, the lines seem to blurred IMHO

 

[gkarris]

To be fair,the PS4 and XBO are just repackaged PCs.

With their 'sliding settings' and upgrade cycle, not to mention cross compatibility between Windows and XBO, the lines seem to blurred IMHO

The turn-key aspect of them is nice, especially for VR...

Interestingly enough, some are finding out that the "4K" games being displayed are really just "checkerboard upscaling" instead of Native 4K (here's an XBO-X example):

 

[Burningtime]

To be fair,the PS4 and XBO are just repackaged PCs.

With their 'sliding settings' and upgrade cycle, not to mention cross compatibility between Windows and XBO, the lines seem to blurred IMHO

Yeah absolutely. I don't think that was the argument against them though. I think analysts just saw the money rolling in on smartphones and how many "casual" players were downloading games and in-app purchases and figured that's the way all games would go.
There would be lots of these types of over-the-top "the age of the home console is dead" articles popping up around that time and they were just so off-base and clueless for anyone who had even a passing interest in actual video games.

 

[44267547]

I won't disagree but I cannot get excited for that, since we're just at the halfway mark for 2017. Way too early for me to start getting excited games being released in 2018. Some of them may even have their publication dates slip which will only make things worse.

And this is something I'm starting to see a trend in with these developers, is announcing games almost a year and a half in advance before the actual release date. It never used to be like this year's ago when new games were announced, they typically released 5 to 6 months after the announcement.

If you take developers like a Rockstar and Naughty Dog, who are excellent in their craftsmanship with video games, they are notorious for delaying video games time after time even when they have a speculated release date (Which they claim they want to make the best gaming experience possible). What I think is contributing to these long-term announcements and delays, is the gaming the industry wants to build hype and be competitive as possible with each other.

One other reason I speculate some of these major titles that are announced long before they release, is so much work/time goes into these games with incorporating the latest graphics with 4K Checkerboard and increase the overall detail to the game to take advantage of these new and powerful consoles.

 

[JohnGrey]

And this is something I'm starting to see a trend in with these developers, is announcing games almost a year and a half in advance before the actual release date. It never used to be like this year's ago when new games were announced, they typically released 5 to 6 months after the announcement.

If you take developers like a Rockstar and Naughty Dog, who are excellent in their craftsmanship with video games, they are notorious for delaying video games time after time even when they have a speculated release date (Which they claim they want to make the best gaming experience possible). What I think is contributing to these long-term announcements and delays, is the gaming the industry wants to build hype and be competitive as possible with each other.

One other reason I speculate some of these major titles that are announced long before they release, is so much work/time goes into these games with incorporating the latest graphics with 4K Checkerboard and increase the overall detail to the game to take advantage of these new and powerful consoles.

Personally, I think the move towards longer intervals between reveal and release is caused by a combination of the generally shorter attention span amongst gamers on account of the sheer amount of content that is competing for their time, and the necessity for continued cultivation of good will on a forward basis. The industry is in a precarious position at the moment and despite the current post-E3 high, the past year has been one of the most mixed years I can remember, in terms of the number of very good games and the number of abject flops with very few falling in the 'meh'.