学文网THEY CALL E3 THE‘SUPERBOWL OF GAMING’. IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE THE ANNUAL SHOWCASING OF ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL ABOUT VIDEOGAMES—THE TIME WHEN THE INDUSTRY PUTS ITS BEST FACE FORWARD, AND TELLS US ALL ABOUT THE AMAZING STUFF WE CAN EXPECT IN THE MONTHS TO FOLLOW.
Well, this year, you could say that E3 was a disappointment overall. And you would be correct. It’s not that there weren’t any cool games or ideas that were shown at Los Angeles this year—there undoubtedly were. But overall, the vibe was that the entire industry was more or less playing it safe—sequels, eye-candy, gimmicks and a generally conservative attitude seemed to pervade the show. It was like the whole industry, in a collective voice, was saying“Let’s do what we do best—milk franchises, continue the graphics arms race, make everything more violent.” For the adrenaline-seeking fanboy crowd, it was just fine. For the rest of us, who are looking for signs that gaming is maturing and growing into a serious art form, there seemed to be little hope. Mostly(with a few notable exceptions, of course), it seemed to be a contest of who could put more bullets, blood and boobs into their games.
At a time when conferences like GDC (the Game Developers Conference) seem to actively foster a climate of innovation and experimentation, this year’s E3 seemed to reinforce the worst stereotypes about the game industry. Also, it seemed like all major players were just hanging on, waiting for the current console generation to run its course (and of course, milk it until its dying breath) before gearing up for the next round.
So this E3 was probably notable for all the stuff that wasn’t there. No new console hardware announcement from Microsoft or Sony—the XBox 720 and the PS4 continue to be just rumours. No Last Guardian. No killer Vita title. No killer 3DS title. Nothing about the WiiU that we didn’t already know about. No announcement on pricing or dates. No Prince-themed disco game for the Kinect. Okay, the last one is probably a good thing.
So what was there to be excited about? Microsoft showed us the next Halo and Gears of Wargames. Both look great—but that’s pretty much par for the course for these two blockbuster franchises. They also showed us the Smart Glass, a new technology that could potentially turn any smartphone or tablet into an XBox controller. Oh, yes, the XBox 360 is now getting Internet Explorer. Yes, you heard correctly. Do you care? Neither do we. And there were some dance games for the Kinect. Whatever.
Sony kept mum on The Last Guardian(and I will probably never forgive them for that. I enjoyed its trailer more than I enjoyed many full games last year) but they did show a couple of interesting titles in Quantic Dreams’ Beyondand Uncharteddeveloper Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us. Both games featured innovative mechanics, but it remains to be seen if they will appeal to mainstream audiences, or continue to be critically acclaimed oddities like Heavy Rain. Still—mad props to Sony for being the major publisher that takes the most risks with mainstream big-budget titles. There’s also a Sony version of Super Smash Bros coming along called PlayStation All-Stars.Nathan Drakevs Kratosvs Sackboy? Sign me up. Sony also showed some quirky AR-books thingy they’re calling ‘Wonderbooks’. These use the PS Move controller and camera to bring books ‘to life’. Whatever that means. At least they’ve got a heavyweight name like JK Rowling on board to create the first title. It may be something to look forward to. They also announced a couple of heavyweight titles for the Vita—an Assassin’s Creedentry among them—but nothing that really makes Sony’s troubled handheld a must-buy.
Nintendo was lukewarm. They demoed a New Super Mario Brosthat looks exactly like the old Super Mario Bros. They did a lot of hand-waving around the WiiU without really saying much. Their Zombie killing game (everyone’s making Zombie-based games now), Zombie-U, and the superhero game Project P-100 look promising, but not earth-shattering. Interestingly, the announcement of Batman:Arkham Cityand Assassin’s Creed 3for the Wii-U seemed to nudge the needle towards making the Nintendo console more appealing to thelot, but it remains to be seen if this will work. On the 3DS front, there was little by way of genuine excitement. Another New Super Mario Bros(sigh), a new Luigi’s Mansionand a smattering of other first party titles.
Ubisoft showed off what was perhaps the weirdest demo of E3 for Far Cry 3,deciding to sidestep the game’s undoubtedly impressive gameplay features to focus on“realistic boobs” and suchlike. Much WTFness ensued at the conference. But they did also show off the stunning looking Assassin’s Creed 3to make up for it. There was also a new Tomb Raiderwith a reinvented Lara Croft (ironically, with smaller boobs) and perhaps the most interesting game of E3 in Watchdogs—the hacker- themed action adventure that you play on your console, tablet and phone in an integrated, connected gameplay experience.
Bethesda’s Dishonoredlooks amazing as well—stealth action gameplay with a great steampunk setting (I love steampunk. But haven’t seen a truly brilliant steampunk world in a non-Japanese game since Arcanum). Two great strategy franchises are back as well: SimCityand X-Com. Torchlight 2is around the corner and just may steal Diablo 3’s thunder. There’s a new Splinter Celland a new Dead Space.
So apart from a couple of genuinely innovative titles and a few more mildly interesting ones, there was really nothing to remember this E3 by. Here’s hoping that next year’s edition will feature more genuine innovation, exciting hardware announcements, and, of course, The Last Guardian. That would be sweet.