It's E3, Bitches! - Day 1

It's been 10 years since I actually attended an E3, back in the day when it was big, gaudy, and industry only. Back when you could restock your wardrobe and redecorate your nerdy bachelor pad with mountains of free swag. The expo was a lot of fun, but since I was reporting from the floor it was also a lot of work. There were lots of boring press conferences, closed-door meetings, and schmoozing with PR reps in hopes of making a lasting impression and getting favorable treatment during the next year. These days I'm mostly content with getting my fix from the work of others and staying comfortably at home watching the news roll in. In poring over the announcements and videos of the first day I've already got my favorites and thought I'd distill the fray down into a much more satisfying drink for you all. Here's my top picks from Day 1.

First off, let me explain a few things here. I don't give a shit about Halo. Yes, they announced Halo: Reach, but they also couldn't be bothered to show any more than a burning planet. I also refuse to get even half an erection for purely CG trailers. No gameplay, no interest. There were a few games that I was pretty interested to see (Crackdown 2, Alan Wake, and Modern Warfare 2) but there were only pre-rendered teasers videos with little actual gameplay shown, so I won't be wasting your time with those.


I'm one of those people who could overlook the repetitive nature of Assassins Creed and ended up enjoying it a great deal. As a result, I was pretty excited to see the following gameplay video from Assassins Creed 2.


Although the release is got a ways off (March 2010) one of the games I was most eager to see in action was God of War III. It's not revolutionary per se, but it does look like it will be a lot of fun.


Although my first gaming memories are from a few text adventures and a fuck ton of Sierra and Lucasarts adventure games, I also have a nostalgic weak spot for good old side-scrollers like the original Duke Nukems, Commander Keen, and the early days of the NES. As such, I was pretty psyched to see what looks like a very high-quality 3D side-scroller called Shadow Complex, which is to be released on XBOX Live.


This particular trailer, for the Star Wars: Old Republic MMO contradicts what I said about not going for CG trailers. It in no way represents what the game will be like, but it seems like this trailer alone is 10 times better than Episodes I-III combined, so I feel obligated to show it. It's definitely better choreographed.


As far as videos go, that's really it. A pretty disappointing showing so far. Microsoft spent a lot of time pushing the camera-recognition tech demo, Natal, by showing a presentation created by Lionhead and presented by Peter Molyneux, a man with terminal hype-diarrhea. Sony talked about a PSP Metal Gear as well as a multi-platform MGS game in which you play as Rayden (ugh). Crackdown 2 was announced, Alan Wake was shown off, but the trailer had very substance, and Modern Warfare was shown in a rather long gameplay demo that was unbelievably boring. Rockstar announced Agent, a PS3 exclusive in which they gave us absolutely no information about. Some Finaly Fantasy crap was shown (XIII, XIV: Online, and the DS game Crystal Bearers). Absolutely no one was surprised or impressed by the Super Mario Galaxy 2 announcement, though some super fanboys got their pants moist when Metroid: Other M (yeah, good title) was shown off, but the gameplay shown was pretty generic. And that's pretty much the major things I got out of my vicarious E3 attendance. Hopefully there will be some more goods coming out tomorrow.