This year’s E3 should be interesting as we head back to the no holds barred approach to gaming conferences. While E3 tried to go all PG for the last few years, it’s time to get back to the serious business of hype-o-rama. Microsoft’s on board with it and plans to “break the bank” in terms of hypesville.
Microsoft Game Studio’s producer Phil Spencer said:
“[It’s] very exciting, because there’s a lot of stuff on the docket and maybe we’ll break the bank a little bit and talk about things that are further out, which will hopefully get the community excited.”
Microsoft continues to hammer home big announcements at the E3 events even while in the ho-hum lull of the past few E3 events. Last year they nailed Sony with the Final Fantasy XIII announcement and hyped up the New Xbox Experience. What are they going to pull out this year now that we’ve seen Gears of War 2 and have a pulse on some of their Halo ideas?
They’re talking about hyping games further down the pipeline, perhaps to keep people jazzed about what the future holds even in these economic down times. It’s important to keep gamers focused on what is to arrive on the 360 so they don’t sway towards the opposing consoles in moments of doubt.
Of course, this begs the question, will Sony pull out even more hype? Will Nintendo continue to give mediocre showings with “I told you so” sprinkled in their message? Only time will tell.
(Thanks, Eurogamer)
Veterans to the rescue!
Maybe I’m not a ‘true’ veteren but I’ve been writing in for over a year now so I’m starting to fall into that category, I guess.
Anyway, I’m waiting for the plane to leave after a week’s vacation in Sicilly which I used to relax on the beach and at the pool but also to give Metal Gear Solid another go (hurray for the Vita!). I played through MGS3 (19.5 hours – embarrassing) and I really enjoyed it despite my two previous unsuccessful attempts to get into the game. Do you guys have any experience with the series?
@qotw
You mentioned Red Dead Redemption in the episode. I played tens of hours of the game, including MP (Platinum, yo!) and I had to play in the violence-less mode because it was impossible to focus on anything else with people riding around and shooting each other in the other mode. I tend not to play MP games a lot but when I do I try to get together with people from specific communities from podcasts and message boards. This decreases the number of unpleasant encounters.
Hey guys, I didn’t comment on the last two because I felt that I had answered the QotW and didn’t have anything to add.
@Dungeon Keeper: I think the Mobile version of the original is very poor with these arbitrary time restraints. I agree that players get very tired of being nickeled and dimed. It doesn’t feel like a real game with these limitations.
@Bartle: I’d like to second Jordan’s comments that your segment on this was so through that I can’t really add anything myself without being a broken record on this topic. I really do feel that the Free-to-play games need to change and find a different way to work.
@QotW: I have to second what Pawwel said, I tend to stick with a close nit group of people who I know relatively well. I remember once trying Red Dead Redemption in MP and got sniped three times by the same person in the starting area, I quit MP of that game right there. I feel like Paul in that I am getting older but also been quite content to play single player. I found the WoW experience to be “Too many people in the pool”. I’m not very comfortable even with the anonymity of the internet with just talking with random people. Perhaps because I never forget these are real people I am talking to and never just a handle and avatar.
There was also a StarCraft II custom Map game called ‘Mafia’ that my Polycast group played. In it you are a Town trying to find the Mafia members before they kill all the Towns people during the night. There was a number of trolls going on with that game, those not taking it seriously and just trying to ruin it for everyone that did cause me to quit a few times.
So yes the few times I have done Online MP where random strangers were involved I have quit. Hence why I stick to people I know well enough.
I wanted to add a question:
You talked about Rockstar Games in a previous episode and how the hero dies no matter what. I remember at the time it upset many people that this happened. It also happened in other Rockstar Games, *spoiler* LA Noir *spoiler* and I’ve been told each GTA protagonist dies by the time you get to the next game. So I wondered why when people don’t want the “cliché” happy ending and they get the Hero dies ending instead, that they get upset about. They can’t seem to make up their mind if they want a good ending or a “bad” ending (by that I mean the Hero dies or something similar).