Final thoughts on E3 2012

     It's hard to believe that E3 2012 is actually over. The wave of gaming announcements, demos, and more have washed over us, and it takes some time to process all that you've seen, read, and heard. This year's E3 left me about the same as usual. There were some great announcements, surprises, and of course some disappointments mixed with "WTF" moments. So now that I've had the weekend to think things over and gather my feelings on the massive event that is E3, I'm going to spend this blog ranting on what I thought.

     I'm going to bring up the three (Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo) press conferences first. Between all three I thought that Sony's press conference was the best, but only by a slight margin. One thing I enjoyed from Sony was the announcements for the PS Vita. I own a Vita and really like it (read my "Take your VITA-mins" blog if you haven't!). The one thing the Vita needs is more games and some extra functionality. That's exactly what Sony announced. They announced the future additions of YouTube, Hulu Plus, and Crackle. On the gaming side they announced Assassin's Creed: Liberation, Playstation All Stars: Battle Royale, and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. This is exactly what the Vita needs! They did announce Black Ops: Declassified for the Vita but didn't show anything which really sucked. Then they showed Beyond: Two Souls and The Last of Us for the PS3 and these games look awesome. I was bummed that there was no mention of The Last Guardian, even though I didn't expect there to be.

     Next there's Microsoft's press conference. I didn't completely dislike their conference as a whole, but there were some "meh" moments that stood out to me. For one thing, having Usher preform to "advertise" Dance Central 3 was completely stupid to me. It was almost like Microsoft was just wanting to show how much money they could spend on their conference, and the fact that Usher was there did nothing for me. Then there was the whole segment on smart glass. Basically this will allow your smart phone or tablet devices to link up with your Xbox 360. If you're watching a show/movie on your tablet and come home, you can then switch to watching the show/movie on your Xbox. Or if you're watching something on your Xbox, you can then use your tablet to stream bonus content on what you're watching. Call me crazy or old fashion, but when I'm watching a show or movie I'm going to actually be watching the show or movie! Not glancing back and forth from my television to another mobile device.

     Also, the Xbox will soon have full web browsing support and you can use your smart phone as a way to navigate through web pages. Microsoft stated that the smart glass technology will work with all the mobile devices you already own. I can see this not be totally true. Overall the smart glass thing seems kind of cool but I just can't get excited for it. Maybe when more details and uses on smart glass are released it will look better to me. On their gaming side Gears of War: Judgement looks cool but all they showed was a trailer. However, Halo 4 just looks awesome. I was a little worried with a new studio making it but after seeing it in action all my fears disappeared.

     Finally, there's Nintendo's press conference. Once again Nintendo did nothing to excite me or get me interested in their new console, the WiiU. Why is that? They hardly showed any games being demoed, didn't announce a release date or price, and basically stuck to showing trailers of games. I thought it was ridiculous of them not to give a price or release date. They announced the WiiU a year ago and have already said it's coming out this holiday season. Why can't they tell us anymore than that?! Then they talk up all the great functions of the WiiU's touch screen controller and games, only to show trailers of what it can do. It wasn't until Ubisoft's press conference that you got to see the WiiU controller being used! I know Nintendo fanboys were gushing at the announcement of a new Mario, and when they show the game it's another side scroller! There was no mention of the new Zelda game shown last year. So thank you Nintendo for showing me why I stick with my Xbox and Playstation.

     The games that impressed me the most were Halo 4, The Last of Us, Beyond: Two Souls, Crysis 3, God of War: Ascension, Assassin's Creed III, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Star Wars 1313, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. My "game of E3" would probably be a tie between The Last of Us and Watchdogs. To me both of these games showed off awesome looking graphics, intense stories, and some great new gameplay mechanics. At the end of the week I was pleased with E3. I'm looking forward to playing some incredible games this year and early next year.

Written by: Alter Ego 83