I’m long past being orgasmically excited over the Electronic Entertainment Expo as a whole, but individual games and sometimes entire companies threaten to try to bring back that feeling. I find the whole thing a big over-dramatized marketing blitz, but at least the gamers tend to win in that they get a glimpse of a bunch of great games that are likely coming their way.
It’s always a big deal between who “won” the big three conferences – Microsoft, Nintendo, or Sony. I’m slightly biased, of course, because I’m a huge Sony fan, so you can’t take anything I say here seriously. But, ultimately, I’m a fan of games, but only certain types of games.
Microsoft certainly brought the games, there is no doubt about that. And, frankly, I think this year’s E3 was Microsoft’s best showing in years. Unfortunately for them, their exclusive games – you know, the ones that are there to try to get me to buy their Xbox One – don’t really appeal to me. The multi-plats (Tomb Raider 2, Dragon Age: Inquisition, The Witcher 3, etc.) are great, but they don’t give me a reason to buy an Xbox One if I already own either a PS4 or a decent gaming PC – which I do, in both cases.
While this may have been Microsoft’s best E3 conference in years, it still doesn’t beat the Sony of E3 2013 and it doesn’t beat the Sony of this year, either. They are just killing it with their focus on indie games that look amazing, some rock-solid exclusives that look better than any exclusive Microsoft showed (hello, Uncharted 4 and The Order: 1886), PlayStation Now (which might not be impressive enough right now, but the potential is huge and amazing if Sony handles it correctly) and more.
A cool guy I follow on Twitter (@kotowari) put it very well when he tweeted after the Sony conference, “I like that the Sony presser features games that are more beautiful than violent”. This seems to be Sony’s MO for years now, and it remains true this year, and that is an awesome way to look at it.
So, exclusives come into play here, a bit, as I’m much more interested in Uncharted 4, LittleBigPlanet 3 and The Order: 1886 than I am with any of Microsoft’s stuff. Sorry Xbox, not this year.
Nintendo actually did pretty well this year, aside from the lackluster Wii U sales across the board. A new Star Fox and Zelda? Gold mine. Mario Party and new SSB info was on point, as well. Unfortunately, I’m not really a Nintendo person and have no plans to buy a Wii U. Although, announcements like Fantasy Life for the 3DS is a pretty awesome thing.
I also, of course, enjoyed the EA presser because, well, Mass Effect (and, by extension, basically anything BioWare). Need I say more?
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