E3 2012

[df2506]

Hey everyone! I know this thread is VERY early (E3 starts Monday), but I've been hearing so much cool pre-E3 news & rumors that I thought it would be a great time to go ahead and start the thread.

This weekend I'll share the E3 presentation schedule and my pre-E3 comments.

For now I have some links for you & tomorrow night/Friday I'll have some comments on Spike TV's Pre-E3 special and Konami's Pre-E3 event.

And now...links! :

RUMOR: Kingdom Hearts HD To Be Revealed at E3 for Wii U/PS3/PSVita (man I hope this is true): mynintendonews.com/2012/05/30/kingdom-hearts-hd-collection-leaked-for-wii-u/

A new Ratchet & Clank game for the PSN revealed: blog.us.playstation.com/2012/05/30/ratchet-clank-full-frontal-assault-coming-to-psn-this-fall/

Double Fine's new PSN/Xbox Live/etc game, The Cave: www.facebook.com/thecavegame

Nintendo teases Wii U launch titles on Facebook:
www.facebook.com/WiiU

Castlevania: Mirror of Fate (3DS): nintendo3dsblog.com/the-first-look-at-castlevania-mirror-of-fate

Harvest Moon: A New Beginning (3DS) will be at E3: www.nintendolife.com/news/2012/05/natsume_stops_teasing_reveals_harvest_moon_a_new_beginning

I'll post more news & links soon. If anyone catches something cool I missed, please post it here!

I'm very excited for this E3. Especially for Nintendo! What about you guys? What are you looking forward to? I'll try to keep my eye out for news on the stuff you guys are interested in too.

DF2506

[Yvondith]

Awww. A new Harvest Moon game?! Me wants! Really wants!

I don't have a 3DS.

Oh, another game to add to the heads up list, if you will. If you see any new Tomb Raider games, say so. Though, last I saw, Square-Enix mauled the series with the latest game, though I've no idea if it's out yet or not. It was all... weird. Survival Horror or something. I may still play it though, just cuz I'm a Tomb Raider fanatic.

Thanks for the E3 coverage, DF! I really appreciate it!

[df2506]

The new Harvest Moon game for 3DS looks really good. I'll make sure to post a link or two about it next week.

The new Tomb Raider, w/ the younger Lara, is still not out. Spike is supposed to show footage of it tonight at midnight (central time). I'll post my impressions of the footage. And comment on the rest of the special too.

I will keep my eye on Tomb Raider during E3 too.

As for the E3 coverage, glad u like it. Cant wait till Monday. E3 looks very exciting this year!

early tom: more links, comments on the Spike TV pre-E3 special, & hopefully comments on Konami's special too.

[Yvondith]

Thanks a bunch, DF.

I'm interested in the new Tomb Raider, but I wasn't impressed with the trailer I saw several months ago. I love Square-Enix, don't get me wrong. But they like to mess up my favorite game series.

Look at the atrocities they committed to the Star Ocean series...

Thankfully they didn't mess up Valkyrie Profile directly. But by messing up Star Ocean, they inadvertently messed up Valkyrie Profile too.

Here's hoping they never get their paws on Suikoden.

Chrome says I cannot spell today!

[df2506]

You're Very Welcome Steph

The Spike show at midnight will be showing Tomb Raider gameplay. I'll be watching that and be back at 1:00-ish to comment on Tomb Raider, the rest of the Pre-E3 special, and Konami's special!

I also heard Ign will have a Tomb Raider trailer soon. I'll get that link up as soon as I see it too.

And now: more links!

Injustice: Gods Among Us (Justice League!): www.gamespot.com/injustice-gods-among-us/

Project Happiness (from Harvest Moon creator): www.joystiq.com/2012/05/31/harvest-moon-creator-working-on-new-ip-project-happiness-for-n/

Dead Space 3: www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/31/e3-2012-ea-confirms-dead-space-3

Rabbids Rumble (3DS): www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/31/rabbids-rumble-announced-for-3ds

Star Wars 1313, Guardians of Middle Earth, and Castlevania: Lord of Shadows 2 to be shown on Spike special:

www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/05/31/star-wars-1313-guardians-of-middle-earth-amp-castlevania-lords-of-shadow-2-names-leaked.aspx

More links and Spike comments later!

DF2506

[df2506]

Hey, I'm back. I had trouble watching the Konami video. It kept going out on me.

I'll try to watch it later today/tomorrow.

For now, I'll tell you about

THE SPIKE PRE-E3 2012 SPECIAL

I'll start with what Steph wants to hear about first.

It was the last game they showed. I'm talking about
TOMB RAIDER of course.

I liked what I saw, but I'm not sure how you'll feel about it Steph. It was darker & gritter than Tomb Raider usually is and made me think of Uncharted more than Tomb Raider.

Still, I thought the graphics were really good and the gameplay looks good too imo. I was suprised to see Lara hunting with a bow. Also I lol'd at the end line of the trailer "I hate tombs".

Tomb Raider is coming out on March 5, 2013.

Here's the trailer: www.ign.com/videos/2012/05/31/tomb-raider-crossroads-trailer-e3-2012?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social

Btw, more of Tomb Raider will show up during Microsoft's conference on Monday. Don't think I'll be watching Microsoft's conference this year, but you never know. Even if I don't, I'll make sure to post some Xbox news here via links.

------------------------------------------------

The most impressive game of the whole special, imo, had to be DISHONORED. Think Half-Life Meets Fallout Meets Bioshock Meets Assasin's Creed. Creepy trailer, great graphics, cool looking gameplay. This might be one to keep an eye on.

Here's the trailer:

Also revealed during the special:

-Star Wars: 1313: A new Star Wars game about Bounty Hunters. No gameplay or cgi movie shown. Could be interesting, but we'll have to wait till Monday, when actual gameplay is revealed, to find out. (prob during the Microsoft conference. hmm. maybe I should watch? I don't know...)

-Guardians of Middle Earth: A 5 on 5 multiplayer game coming to PSN & Xbox Live. They just showed a CGI trailer only. Not sure what the actual game looks like. CGI was neat but didn't blow me away. We'll see.

-Metal Gear Rising: More like Ninja Gaidan Rising. This looked nothing like a Metal Gear game. Didn't like the look of it. Too fast paced, WAY too much blood. yuck. no thanks.

-Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2: Eh. All cgi trailer, no gameplay. It was nice graphics, but I wasn't impressed by it. *shrug* Maybe the actual game will look better?

And thats all they showed.

No Nintendo stuff. Not suprised. lol. Overall, not a great special, but it was cool to see Tomb Raider & Dishonored.

I'll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

DF2506
" Hopefully I'll get to watch the Konami special tomorrow."

[Yvondith]

I think I saw the trailer for Dishonored a while back, if it's the game I'm thinking of, it did look pretty damn awesome.

Thanks for the Tomb Raider info, DF. I'll have to see if my computer can handle it. I hope so.

[df2506]

Dishnored looks very good. Great graphics. Don't think its something I'd buy, but I'd def. play it!

No problem on the Tomb Raider news. More to come I'm sure.

Oh and I will be watching Microsoft's E3 press conference on Monday, so I'll be able to give you some comments on that. Tomb Raider will be there, Halo 4, who knows what else...
(hope its not Kinect heavy though. ugh. lol).

Anyway, links:

Lego Lord of the Rings (looks awesome imo):

RUMOR: Xbox Smart Glass (Wii U ripoff; hope not true): mynintendonews.com/2012/06/01/xbox-smart-glass-will-apparently-kill-wii-u/

Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance (3DS): mynintendonews.com/2012/06/01/kingdom-hearts-3d-e3-trailer/

Might be more later.

DF2506

[df2506]

Konami pre-E3 event comments:

The Konami event started out talking about facebook/social games (ugh) and then a Soccer game for consoles (ugh).

After that they showed Zone of Enders HD for PS3 & Xbox 360. Neat graphics, but not my type of game.

Next up was Metal Gear Solid 25th Anniversary! The creator talked about the history of MGS and then showed the Metal Gear Solid Rising trailer. As I said in my Spike special comments, this game looks NOTHING like Metal Gear. It looks like Ninja Gaidan, but even bloodier. Don't like the look of it. Ya, not playing this one. Hope they get back to Snake soon...

(for those who do want to play it, Konami said its coming early 2013)

They showed some behind the scenes of MGS Rising too.

Metal Gear Solid Rising demo to come with Zone of Enders.

Castlevania Lord of Shadows 2 trailer from Spike special shown again. Still not impressive. Castlevania Mirror of Fate teaser trailer (for 3DS). no footage shown...(will be shown at E3 on the 5th).

Overall, not a very good preview show imo.

Here's the Konami event if you want to watch it: www.gametrailers.com/video/konami-pre-e3-konami/730589

More links:

Gears of War: Judgment: www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/e3-2012-first-gears-of-war-judgment-story-details

New Little King's Story (PSVita): www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-new-little/730828

Battlefield 3 Armored Kill DLC: www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/01/e3-2012-battlefield-3-armored-kill-dlc-arrives-in-september

Rift: Storm Legion Expansion:
www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-rift/730810

Scribblenauts Unlimited URL registered (Scribblenauts Wii U?): www.joystiq.com/2012/06/01/scribblenauts-unlimited-url-registered/

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-the-testament/730830

---------

Ok, thats it for now!

Saturday or Sunday I'll have my pre-E3 comments & the press conference schedule.

Wow! Two more days until Xbox, Sony, EA, & Ubisoft have theirs and three more until Nintendo!

DF2506

[Norfy the Walrus]

Zone of the Enders HD collection? ZOOT! That was a series I missed out on and always wanted to try out. This will be my chance. Its a Kojima game too. Finally! ;D

I don't care at all about the new MGS game. My interest in it is -25%. I love the series, but, meh. I won't bother with rising.

[df2506]

Norfy: I feel the same way about the new MGS. Pass. Call me when the real series is back!

And now....my pre-E3 comments! How do I think each of the big three are going to do at E3? I'll tell you! Don't care what I think? I'll include some links at the end of this rather long post too. lol.

E3 2012 BEFORE THE SHOW THOUGHTS BY DF2506 (ITS A 'ME!)

MICROSOFT. Conference is on Monday at 11:30 a.m. central time. Airing online & on Spike TV.

My thoughts: Some people still think Microsoft has some kind of surprise up their sleeves like a new Xbox reveal or this rumored Project Glass (a tablet. Basically a ripoff of Wii U’s controller).

Me? I doubt it. While it does sound like Microsoft will have more actual games this year: Halo 4, Tomb Raider, Forza, etc, I doubt they’ll have anything too shocking.

And I would not doubt if half the show (or most) is dedicated to Kinect. I hope I’m wrong on that. I’m not hoping that Xbox 360 will fail. I use to have the system and I don’t hate it. I’d like to see them do good. It would be nice to sit through one of their E3 shows again and not wish I hadn’t after it was over…

Chance of ‘Winning’ E3: Very low. Even if they have a lot of cool games, its unlikely that it’ll be the best in show. They’d really have to come out with some WOW suprises to ‘win’ E3.

------------------------------------------------

SONY. Conference is on Monday at 8pm central. Airing online & on G4.

My thoughts: Sony has already said they won’t have a new system this year and most people believe they won’t. I’m one of those most people.

This year Sony will be focusing heavily on the Vita, but I’m sure they will have some cool PS3 announcements too.

I wouldn’t expect to see them focus on the Move this year too much. It doesn’t seem like its catching on like the Wii or Kinect did. Maybe one or two Move titles, but no big focus like the previous years.

I think Sony will have cool surprise games plus games like Last of Us, LittleBigPlanet Karting and God of War: Ascenion will show up.

Chance of ‘Winning’ E3: Medium. I’m thinking they’ll have a really good show. Lots of excellent games, maybe a couple of PS Vita or PS3 related suprises. Nothing stunning though. That said, if Wii U doesn’t deliver, Sony could win E3...

--------------------------------------------

NINTENDO. Conference is on Tuesday at 11 a.m. central time. Airing online & on Spike TV.

My thoughts: I rewatched last years Nintendo E3 again and now I’m more excited for the Wii U this year. I’m still not completely sure about it, but I’m hopeful for it. I think Nintendo really NEEDS for the system to be great. After the 3DS launched poor last year, Nintendo doesn’t need another system to under perform. They need for Wii U to be BIG.

Can’t say I’m happy with the Wii U name. Wish they had changed it. I do think it gives off the image that this is ‘just another Wii’. And that doesn’t appear to be the image that Nintendo is trying for. Not sure why they kept the name…

Of course, there’s always the chance that the Wii won’t deliver (as I mentioned before) and just be an upgraded Wii. I’d be pretty unhappy about that. Crossing my fingers for the system.

Also, I own a 3DS. So really, I’m most excited about that for E3. I know that they probably won’t focus on it much during the conference (though I hope they do some. I want to see Animal Crossing 3DS!) on Tuesday, but hopefully it’ll get a good showing on Wednesday during the online 'Software Showcase'.

Yes, as you can tell, I’m VERY excited for Nintendo’s conference this year.

Chances of ‘Winning’ E3: Pretty high. I think the Wii U will be great and a strong lineup for 3DS will be shown too. Wii U first and third party games will shock people. I think Nintendo has some suprises in store for us game wise and maybe even system wise (showing off the tablet more & the actual system for the first time).

I think it’ll be a great conference and it’ll blow everyone else away.

That said, there is a tiny bit of doubt here. What if the Wii U is just an upgraded Wii? What if it looks awful? It could happen. If so, than that’s not good.

Also, there is a chance that the system will be awesome but some people won’t think its awesome (Sony & Xbox fan boys) and believe other consoles ‘won’. Hmmm.

Anyway, those are my thoughts! I guess we’ll see Monday!

Although, Nintendo is getting the jump on the E3 madness tomorrow! They will have a new Nintendo Direct live video where they talk about the Concept behind Wii U. No games will be shown, but maybe we'll get some hardware news? I'll be watching it tomorrow & I'll report back here tomorrow night.

-------------------------------------------

And now....links:

Spike TV's E3 schedule: www.gametrailers.com/netstorage/e3/schedule.html

RUMOR: Assassin's Creed for Vita:
www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/02/e3-2012-assassins-creed-vita-revealed

The Last Story (Wii): www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/02/the-last-story-e3-2012-trailer

RUMOR: HBO GO for Nintendo Consoles:
www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/06/02/rumor-hbo-go-coming-to-nintendo-console.aspx

Dark Souls: Prepare to Die Edition:
www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2012-dark-souls/730808

I'll have Nintendo Direct Wii U comments tomorrow, plus maybe more links!

DF2506

[Yvondith]

Nintendo seems to be the most popular right now anyways. Nintendo's games appeal to a much broader variety of players overall.

Good post, DF. I really appreciate you covering it for us!

[df2506]

Totally agree with you Steph. And by finally going next Gen & HD, Nintendo might just pull in some really hardcore Sony/Xbox players. We'll see.

Thanks: glad you liked the post!

No problem about the coverage. I love E3. You know how some people go crazy over sports events? Well, I'm not a sports fan. But I do go crazy on E3 (don't wear face paint though. lol). LOVE this time of year. Wow.

Ok, I watched the Nintendo Direct tonight about Wii U. Here are my thoughts:

------------------------------

WOW! I really really really love the system's operating system.

If you've ever seen the Mii Plaza on the Wii, its a bit like that expect many more Miis and the games people are playing. You'll be able to see your friends, plus other people in your country/language. The Miis hang out and you'll see them chating.

When you go into the chat menu, its kind of like twitter. Love Twitter, so this looked brillant to me. You can type using the keyboard on the Wii Game Pad (yes the controller is now called Game Pad!) or use your stylus to write hand written notes.

You can also give your Mii's different expresions to show what mood you're in with the post. The posting even has SPOILER TAGS! Yes, its like Twitter Meets an Internet Message board.

And one of the greatest things is: you can pause a game, go to the chat about the game & ask someone for help on a game if you need it, get the help, and then go right back into the game! Ya, this feature will totally remove the need for going on the internet to look stuff up or pulling out the handy stradegy guide!

You can even video chat with a friend (maybe a stranger too?) to get advice. Wow!

The short segment that showed off these features was a bit corny, with a sterotypical gamer nerd showing the features, but man, I still love this stuff. Wow.

Oh! And they actually showed some of the new Mario game. It looks like a 2D Mario game, but man, the graphics are great and I love that on the game world map, you can actually see comments from other people who have gone through different levels!

Nintendo is saying their operating system, called Miiverse, is online with all games, even single player games! So you can talk with your friends or whoever with whatever game your playing, asking for help, see comments, etc. I'm sure, knowing Nintendo, you'll even be able to turn some or all of it off if you don't wanna see it, but mii, wow, I'm just drooling over this stuff.

And I didn't even mention that you can take IN GAME SCREENSHOTS and share them with your friends. They also hinted that you'll be able to share Game Content with your friends too. I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds awesome.

Nintendo has said that sometime after launch you'll be able to access Miiverse from your cellphone, 3DS, and PC too. So you'll get to check in on your friends comments and stuff. Not a feature that it'll have right away, but a very very very cool one.

Also of note:

Nintendo showed off a very x-box-like controller called the Wii U Pro controller for more intense games. Looked very cool.

So, yep, I'm geeking out over this system now. I've gone from being sort of interested in it to be VERY interested.

Of course, the final test will be Tuesday. We have to see the GAMES. Will they all look GREAT? Will they play GREAT? Graphics, gameplay, we need to see it. But if Nintendo can pull of the gameplay & graphics of the PS3/Xbox 360, at least, then it'll have a really great system.

I'm hyped. Just have to wait till Tuesday to see if they can pull it off.

Today's Nintendo Direct with the Wii U can be found, in pieces, here: www.gametrailers.com/game/nintendo/1721

Final note about this: the only thing I didn't like it is that it sounds like there won't be many 3DS games shown during the conference on Tuesday. Maybe none in fact. I don't know. It didn't sound good for the 3DS though. Being a 3DS owner, this disappoints me. I really want to see 3DS games too (Animal Crossing!).

Hopefully they'll make it up to me on Wed with their Software showcase. They'll lose major pts with me if the 3DS isn't featured, at least, on that day.

Anyway...more links:

Ni-No-Kuni trailer: www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/01/ni-no-kuni-innocent-strength-trailer-e3-2012

Are Drake & Big Daddy (from Bioshock) in Playstation All-Stars? : www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/03/e3-2012-big-daddy-and-drake-in-playstation-all-stars

Ok, thats it for now. Not a lot I know, but there will be a TON more later today!

I'll be watching the E3 coverage (Microsoft, Ubisoft, and Sony) and much later I'll come back here, comment on the shows (I'll save grading them till after Nintendo goes though), and post a lot more links!

See you all later! Happy E3!

DF2506

[df2506]

Here's a quick recap of each of yesterday's E3 conferences. I won't grade 'em this time (I'll wait till Nintendo is done on Wed), but you'll get an idea of what I thought of each of them. lol.

Here we go:

MICROSOFT: Xbox showed Halo 4 and had gameplay for Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 6, Call of Duty, Forza, and...not much else. Overall, it was very awful.

--------------------------------

EA: I didn't see the whole thing, but what I did see was not very good. They did have Need for Speed: Most Wanted which looked crazy awesome, but other then...ugh.

---------------------------------

UBISOFT: Didn't start out too great---started with Just Dance. blah. But it got really amazing when they showed some WII U titles: Rayman Legends, Zombi U, Avengers, Rabbids, and a fitness game (didnt' care for that though. lol). Rayman Legends looked AMAZING. A True Next Gen game imo. And Zombi U, while just being a cgi movie, looked impressive, so did Avengers. Rabbids looked like wacky fun. Assassin's Creed 3, a multiplatform game that'll also be on the Wii U, looked GREAT. Ubi did reveal a new title at the end of the show, Watch Dogs. A lot of people were impressed by it, but I wasn't. I watch a tv show called Person of Interest (very cool show) that has a similar concept and does a better job of it imo. Overall, Ubisoft, despite the awful hosts, did better than anyone else today though...

-------------------------------

Sony: It had a movie quality looking game called Beyond from the Heavy Rain people, Assassin's Creed 3 (sailing boat demo was jaw dropping), Playstation All-Stars (brawl ripoff), God of War (too gory for me), Last of Us (didnt care for it), WonderBook (for little kids), Assassin's Creed for Vita (which looked good, but not as good as the PS3 one imo), and not much else. Sure, thats more than Microsoft & it did a better job then Microsoft, but not by much imo. As a PS3 owner, I was disappointed with this Sony E3 event...

-----------------------------

Overall, it wasn't a great day for the events. Ubi did the best, but had awful hosts, Sony did second best, but didn't do what I was hoping it would do (it wasn't great), and the rest the shows were pathetic.

Tomorrow is Nintendo's Day for Wii U. Wed night is Nintendo's night for the 3DS (the software showcase). Can't wait! I'm so hyped for both Wii U and the 3DS.

And now...links!

Tomb Raider:
www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/04/tomb-raider-microsoft-gameplay-demo-e3-2012

Rayman Legends (Wii U! drools over this): mynintendonews.com/2012/06/05/heres-the-rayman-legends-wii-u-e3-demo/

Beyond: www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2012/06/04/quantic-dream-reveals-beyond-two-souls.aspx

Assassin's Creed (amazing sail boat gameplay): www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/05/e3-2012-assassins-creed-iii-battling-on-the-high-seas

Need For Speed Most Wanted:
www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/04/need-for-speed-most-wanted-debut-trailer-e3-2012

Assassin's Creed Vita: kotaku.com/5915717/assassins-creed-confirmed-for-vita-stars-a-lady-assassin

and: www.joystiq.com/2012/06/04/assassins-creed-3-liberation-confirmed-for-vita-launches-octo/

Zombi U: wiiublog.com/ubisoft-reveals-an-exclusive-survival-horror-zombie-killing-game-for-the-wii-u/

Last of Us: www.joystiq.com/2012/06/04/the-last-of-us-e3-demo-video-is-brutal-bloody/

Resident Evil 6: www.ign.com/videos/2012/06/04/resident-evil-6-gameplay-live-demo-e3-2012

Splinter Cell-Blacklist:
e3.gamespot.com/video/6380161/e3-2012-press-conference-stage-demo-splinter-cell-blacklist

God of War:
www.ign.com/articles/2012/06/05/e3-2012-god-of-war-ascension-single-player-revealed

Castlevania Mirror of Fate (3DS. looks good!): mynintendonews.com/2012/06/05/castlevania-lords-of-shadow-mirror-of-fate-e3-trailer/

Various Ubisoft Wii U stuff: wiiublog.com/ubisoft-is-working-on-eight-games-for-wii-u/

Watch Dogs: e3.gamespot.com/video/6380410/watch-dogs-announcement-trailer

And I'm sure there's a ton more. I'll try to post more later & throughout the week!

I'll also be back late tonight with my impressions on Nintendo's E3 conference!

DF2506

[Yvondith]

Thanks for the Tomb Raider link, DF.

I'll end up buying it for certain, if my computer can play it. I'm a sucker for Tomb Raider. Have been since I first got a PlayStation.

That video is channeling some Elder Scrolls goodness. I love to sneak up on unsuspecting victims and shoot them in the head.

I gotta say, after seeing the game play footage, I am really, really impressed. DO WANT!