Tag: E3

E3 without E3

~ James ~ Leave a comment
IGN Has Basically Taken Over E3 2020

2020 is the first year without E3, ever since its inception in 1995. Many people within the gaming industry are very mixed regarding this – leading to much discussion whether we even need an E3, as it seemed like it was on its way out long before the global pandemic ensued. Sony had already confirmed they weren’t attending (again), Nintendo hasn’t had a live conference for years, and Game Awards host, Geoff Keighley, announced he wasn’t attending either. So everyone was asking the same question, do we need E3? Do we really need an annual that developers and publishers have to keep in mind every year in order to stay relevant? Or should they be able to showcase their games on their own terms?

In March, the ESA officially cancelled the event but have stood firm on the fact that there will be one in 2021. Ever since this cancellation, many online-only digital events have popped up to try and takes its place, including Summer Game Fest, IGN’s Summer of Gaming, Devolver’s Direct, as well as Xbox and Sony’s console showcases. All of these events combined have definitely given off the same kind of energy and excitement that E3 tends to bring upon people around the same time of year, except this time it’s over a much longer period.

Summer Game Fest

The highlight for me (so far) has been the Playstation 5 reveal, as it actually had the hype building, mystery and reveals that a typical E3 conference would entail. It was the event that emulated the E3 experience perfectly, and only a few reveals and events have been able to capture it properly. Geoff Keighley’s Summer Game Fest is a pretty close second, as it has all the reveals and presentation – just spread out over several months. IGN’s Summer of Gaming is too “personality-based” in my opinion – too much filler with people talking about things that people aren’t really tuning in to see, just watching because a game reveal or two might happen down the line.

As for the future, many of these events are still ongoing, and Xbox, Ubisoft and Devolver Digital all have events confirmed for later in the month. Whether these will embrace the magic of E3 or end up being duds is yet to be seen. However, one of the biggest questions still remains: Where is Nintendo? No Nintendo Direct has been officially announced at the time of writing, and they have no big releases for the end of the year. So what are they planning? They’ve revealed a few smaller games here and there throughout the year, but no “blockbuster game” for October/November time. I hope they are merely saving the “best until last” rather than genuinely having nothing to show. I guess like everything else here; only time will tell.

Banjo & Kazooie in Smash: A Rare Opportunity

~ James ~ Leave a comment
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Nintendo & Microsoft’s newest collaboration shocked everyone for the better last Tuesday, and it’s opening up more and more potential for the franchise. It’s been a week since Nintendo announced the addition of Banjo & Kazooie to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, something people didn’t think possible until now. There had been murmurs of his addition to Smash in the gaming community since 2015 when Phil Spencer openly tweeted that he’d be happy with Nintendo using their IP in the game.

Four years later, that murmur became a reality and everyone is raring to know what’s in store next for Banjo & Kazooie. It’s not the first time Microsoft and Nintendo have collaborated and given fans what they want; Earlier this year Microsoft announced that their previously Xbox exclusive “Cuphead” would be making its way to Switch, just a few months after Phil Spencer (Head of Xbox) shared the stage with Reggie Fils-Aimé (Nintendo) at the 2018 Game Awards and expressed their willingness to work together within the industry.

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From left to right: Shawn Layden (Sony), Phil Spencer (Xbox), and Reggie Fils-Aimé (Nintendo)

These events have gotten fans scouring for any hint of a possible revival of the Banjo-Kazooie franchise, and to their luck, they managed to find something slightly interesting: The German Amazon store has listed a game called “Banjo-Kazooie” for Nintendo switch. Could this mean that Banjo-Kazooie is getting a possible remake/remaster coming to Switch? Nobody knows just yet, but one thing is certain, and it’s that people are eager to find out what’s next in store from this continuous collaboration between Microsoft and Nintendo.

E3 2019 Review

~ James ~ Leave a comment
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“You’re breathtaking!”

Another year, another E3. The press conferences wrapped up the other day, and the final day of the show floor is upon us – And as promised, here’s my follow-up to my previous post.

First off, we had Microsoft’s Press Conference which I felt was positive in many aspects; lots of games shown, lots of different options to play. The Xbox Game Pass (which they offered in most games) is an undeniably good bargain for those who play their games on both Xbox One and PC. It seems like a very consumer-friendly way to play games in the style of a Netflix-esque subscription. They didn’t have any big surprises up their sleeve, bar the “Keanu Reeves Cyberpunk reveal” – And no Banjo Remake/Smash trailer as I hoped. In my opinion, it was an above-average conference – not amazing, but I can commend the non-stop reveals.

A few hours later, we had the Bethesda Press Conference which was… interesting. Fallout 76 got a free trial, which is similar to what I predicted previously – we also got some game announcements. There was a heavy focus on mobile games and trying to make amends for poorly made games that should’ve been fixed before they were launched. It left a bad taste in my mouth, and I think it’s gonna be a while before Bethesda regains the faith from fans that they once had.

The next day we had the PC Gaming Show, which went as expected. We saw some new indie titles, some of which were on Steam and not Epic Store exclusive – which was surprising. I predicted there’d be some “boos” from the crowd when an epic store exclusive was announced. It didn’t happen, but we got the next best thing. Awkward pauses for applause and all.

I failed to mention the Ubisoft press conference previously, partly because I don’t have much interest in their games. The previously leaked Watch Dogs: Legion appeared to be very ambitious which surprised me. Being able to “play as anyone” sounds good on paper, and looked good in the demo, but because of Ubisoft’s history of downgrading the final product, I’m cautiously optimistic.

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Watch Dogs: Legion – Set in London

Square Enix’s press conference played out exactly as I thought it would. Final Fantasy VII was shown off extensively at the beginning, looking very flashy too. The rest of the conference was information regarding existing titles, with a small snippet of Avengers gameplay at the end. I wasn’t too impressed with what was shown of The Avengers, but I’ll need to see more before I can judge it properly.

Lastly, we have the Nintendo Direct, and as predicted Erdrick (among others) was revealed straight away. At this point, some of the people I was watching it with were pretty gutted to not see the fan-favourite Banjo appear, but I never gave up hope. Throughout the Direct, we saw more Luigi’s Mansion 3, Animal Crossing, and the “debut” of the new CEO of Nintendo America, Doug Bowser. Just as it looked like it was wrapping up, Banjo was revealed for Smash – despite all odds. Incredible – But oh, wait. One more thing was revealed, the Zelda sequel that everyone was waiting for. No release date (or year) given, although it looks promising already with a different tone from the previous game. An impressive presentation.

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Banjo’s Reveal for Super Smash Bros.

E3 2019 was a different one from previous years with Sony’s absence – It felt like something was missing because of that. The best presentations tend to be the ones that focus on the reveals, gameplay, and none of the marketing “shpiel” in-between – which Sony excels in. The majority of titles from all companies were given a 2020 release date – Although 2019 seems to be a slow year for gaming overall (in terms of releases), at least we have next year to look forward to, which is already filled with top-tier games in the first half. For now though, that’s a wrap for E3 2019.

My Hopes & Expectations for E3 2019

~ James ~ Leave a comment

The main bulk of E3 press conferences are less than a day away and I’ve succumbed to the temptation to do a “casual” prediction-type post. It’s a smaller year for E3 this year due to the lack of Sony and EA, so the potential surprises from them are minimal – Let’s go through some of the main conferences and I’ll discuss what I hope and what I think will be shown.

Firstly we’ve got the Xbox E3 Briefing, which I usually have pretty “low to average” expectations for, however, this year I get the feeling it will be different. Microsoft has recently bought a bunch of studios to develop first-party exclusives for their system and I think this is the show where they’re gonna be going all out, guns blazing. I hope (and think) that we’ll be getting a reveal for Banjo in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a big surprise, as several leaks/sources have been pointing to it these past few weeks – As well as a remake/sequel. I’m also expecting a Cyberpunk 2077 trailer, as well as most title’s (such as Halo) being shown & announced for Steam. Honestly, I think they’ve got a lot of surprises up their sleeve, so I’m not entirely sure what else to expect – I hope I’m correct.

Next up we’ve got the Bethesda E3 Conference, which I predict will announce Fallout 76 going free-to-play and being released on Steam. Existing titles such as Doom: Eternal will be shown off – the usual stuff. Also, I predict an announcement for Prey 2, as well as The Evil Within 3. Bit of a shot in the dark, but I think those fill in the gaps of already announced/upcoming games.

The PC Gaming Show (Sponsored by Epic) will likely be underwhelming – A lot of announcements for Epic Exclusive games, and maybe some “boos” from the crowd. Wouldn’t be surprised if there was some Borderlands 3 gameplay, too.

Square Enix’s Conference is expected to show off the elusive “Avengers” game, and possibly have a heavy focus on the Final Fantasy 7 remake. There’s not much more to say about them other than that.

Finally, we have the Nintendo Direct, where I predict another Smash Roster reveal. Personally, I’m not sure who it will be, however, rumours suggest it will be Erdrick from Dragon Quest. Additionally, I’d also like to predict some (wild) game announcements: A new mainline Mario title, and a new mainline Zelda title. Other than those things I’ve got nothing else to predict other than gameplay from already announced titles such as Animal Crossing, Pokemon, and Luigi’s Mansion 3. As I said previously with Microsoft, I’m expecting some big things here – Especially since they’ve been doing dedicated “Directs” for Pokemon and Super Mario Maker that could’ve easily been put into this one; they wouldn’t have done that if they were lacking games to show.

In conclusion, I think we’re gonna see some big reveals here, even with Sony’s absence. I’ll probably make a follow-up post after E3 reviewing certain aspects of the event, as well as whether my predictions were dead-on or way off the mark. We’ll see!

Destroy All Humans: An Alien Development

~ James ~ Leave a comment
https://i.redd.it/2haf9f8qhy231.png

It was announced today that the Destroy All Humans franchise is making a comeback in the form of a remake; developed by Black Forest Games and published by THQNordic. This came to a surprise for some – but not for others, as the news was leaked a week before the announcement stating THQNordic would announce some new games on the run-up to E3, Destroy All Humans (DAH) being one of them.

The game is a remake of the original from 2005, originally developed by the now-defunct Pandemic Studios, who also went on to develop the sequel. The franchise had a rough development after Pandemic’s closure in 2009, with DAH getting 2 sequels that were developed by other studios. Destroy All Humans: Big Willy Unleashed (2008) was planned to be released for the PSP, and the Nintendo Wii, however ultimately only the Wii version was released to below-average reviews. Another sequel was released in 2009 titled Destroy All Humans: Path of the Furon for the PS3 and Xbox 360, developed by Sandblast Games. The developers were closed down midway through the development, and as a result, the final game was released in an unfinished state – The generally unfavourable reviews reflect this, many of them highlighting the bugs and glitches they experienced during their playthrough.

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The newly announced remake is slated for release in 2020, being developed by the previously mentioned Black Forest Games – Who do not appear to have a good track record; developing the infamous “Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back”. While I am cautiously optimistic for the title, I hope that the Germany-based developer can prove their talent through the reimagining of the original DAH, making Bubsy a simple misstep in their development history.

Ape Escape 4: No More?

~ James ~ 2 Comments
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It’s been a year since the publication of my “Where is Ape Escape 4?” video, and unsurprisingly there’s been little to no new information regarding the elusive Ape Escape 4.

The Ape Escape (Saru Getchu in Japan) franchise was the golden goose of the Playstation 1, Playstation 2, and Playstation 2 era – Especially in Japan. Being the first franchise to make dedicated use of the PS1 Dualshock controller it built a name for itself through several console generations using charming humour, and intriguing level design. Western countries received significantly fewer titles than Japanese consumers, with many titles being released exclusively in that region – Despite the franchise being relatively popular in all regions.

Ape Escape 3 was the last mainline title released worldwide, with a few spinoffs being released on PSP and PS2. Since 2005 there have always been rumours of the elusive fourth entry to the series, spanning the entire PS3 lifecycle – The one exception being a Playstation Move title, with a large focus on motion controls. It’s not what fans wanted, and it received generally below average reviews.

Since covering the topic last year, there’s been one development which could indicate a possible return of the franchise. In early April 2019, the Japanese website for Ape Escape was updated with a slightly more modern look – revealing no new information, unfortunately. The 20th anniversary for the franchise just passed in May, additionally Sony is not attending E3 this year, so it doesn’t look promising for our beloved Simian series.

The optimists among the community may hope for a Playstation “State of Play” to be broadcast around E3, possibly revealing a new title. While possible, I wouldn’t put all my bananas in one basket. Fingers crossed.