Your E3 Wishes Granted

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“It’s a hearts and minds game.”

It’s a phrase that I heard uttered after Sony’s E3 2013 press conference and suspect after this year’s E3 conferences from all publishers, we’re going to hear more and more of it.

It began with Bethesda’s late Sunday evening presentation where they showed off lengthy demos of Doom and Fallout 4; Pete Hines kept the pace brisk but slowed it down when it mattered. Todd Howard was brought on stage to speak to those who were forgoing Game of Thrones and other Sunday night programming to watch a streaming presentation. They knew who they were talking to. He dropped F-bombs when appropriate and tried his best to pitch Fallout: Shelter as a mobile game for those who scoff at F2P trappings.

It was an impressive showing for a publisher who never put on a show before. But was that a one off? Of course not.

Monday began with Microsoft and the announcement of Xbox One backwards compatibility. They followed up with Xbox One Elite controller targeted at the hardcore audience with its swappable components. They would mention its exorbitant price tag away from the cameras but the message was clear: “We’re catering to you, the gamer.”

Electronic Arts gave us more Mirror’s Edge and intentionally reminded us that we’re not going to see Faith pick up a firearm in this game. They tried their best to make their sports and other properties appealing but they knew why we’re here and why we would stick around after Pele and the Hoop God made their appearances. It was no coincidence that Star Wars: Battlefront was played on a PlayStation 4. A PC would have brought skepticism about the console version’s quality. They made sure that we saw those PlayStation prompts.

Ubisoft made us laugh and continued the trend of “one more thing” with the reveal of Ghost Recon: Wildlands at the end. Alicia Tyler continued to win fans over with her enthusiasm and energy. Her debut on Ubisoft’s stage may have been awkward at first but I felt she won everyone over. The annual Ubisoft message isn’t always palpable but she livens it up considerably.

And then there was Sony who transformed themselves into the genie of E3 by granting three wishes. Final Fantasy VII Remake, Shenmue III and The Last Guardian all made appearances on their stage. Not all three were exclusive to them but it was damn obvious that they wanted the PlayStation 4 attached to all of these. There was no lengthy TV show pitch and while it would have been nice to see VR on the big stage, I felt it could have been another Move situation if they demonstrated it on-stage; fine for those who already bought in but a tough sell to those who’re peering from the outside.

Nintendo’s digital event was marred by the fact that it didn’t have much to say this year. Nintendo reminded us that NX is a 2016 thing and we should be content with the likes of another 3D FPS Metroid game on the Nintendo 3DS. They pushed more Amiibos and celebrated Mario but it was evident that Nintendo’s 2015 was considerably weaker.

Square  Enix showed the people what they clamored for with Kingdom Hearts 3 and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided footage, they flexed their quality mobile offerings by leveraging a known quantity like Hitman Go and they promised Rise of Tomb Raider would have tombs. They even brought in PlatinumGames to work on a new Nier title while promising JRPG fans that they are committed to JRPGs with the creation of the Tokyo RPG Factory studio.

Square Enix served as a nice summation of everyone else’s E3 presentation. They focused on what worked and showed their audience that they’re understanding what their fans want — or at the very least — starting to listen. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get that Final Fantasy XII HD Remake that I wanted or Half Life 3.

Nearly Everyone Did Well

I have some marks to give out to the E3 press conferences. I’m rating pace, content and the delivery of said content.

  • Bethesda: A-
  • Microsoft: A
  • Electronic Arts: C+
  • Ubisoft: B-
  • Sony: A
  • Nintendo: D+
  • Square Enix: B+

Some personal notables:

  • ReCore and Horizon: Zero Dawn were the two new intellectual properties that immediately grabbed me.
  • A new Nier? Yes, please. The first one was unique but flawed. I’m glad Square Enix are bringing in action experts to help
  • Star Wars: Battlefront surprised me with how well it performed on consoles and if I’m not mistaken, DICE are targeting 60FPS.
  • I hope Tomb Raider Go lives up to Hitman Go’s lofty heights.

Checkpoint: Remastered Edition

Checkpoint - Remastered Edition

We’re in the middle of “Remastered” fever. Here are just a handful of Remasters that are heading to the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

  • Aug. 26: Metro: Redux
  • Oct 10: Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition
  • Nov 11: Halo: The Master Chief Collection
  • Q4 2014: Grand Theft Auto V
  • 2015: Resident Evil Remake HD

And now for notable ones that were just released:

  • Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition
  • The Last of Us: Remastered

We’re no stranger to HD collections and Remasters; many of us welcomed them during the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era. But seeing these Remasters pop up so quickly this early in the new console generation is a bit concerning. Buying new $400 consoles to play better running versions of games that you may have played in the last couple of years isn’t an attractive proposition.

On the flip side, these HD remasters allow developers to quickly familiarize themselves with the latest console hardware without having to worry about designing a game. They already know how the game should play, they just need to worry about the technical side of things.

I’ve pre-ordered Grand Theft Auto V because I haven’t played it yet. I intend to pick up The Last of Us: Remastered to play the single player DLC and Metro: Redux to play Last Light but I’ll pick those up once they hit the $30 or $20 price range.

It’s been a tough week of listlessness but I’m coming out of this funk with the aid of Battlefield 4 multiplayer, a bit of Mario Kart 8 and mobile stuff. I’m still working through Layton & The Miracle Mask and revisiting Plants vs Zombies 2 to do dailies.

But my go to thing to distract me is watching GiantBomb content. I’ve gone back and watched old Unprofessional Fridays, Quick Looks and other GiantBomb content that I missed the first time around. It’s been immensely helpful and entertaining.

Resident Evil Remastered Announced

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I loved the Resident Evil “remake” that Capcom made for the GameCube. It was an excellent modernization of the PlayStation classic and it was made legitimately spooky again. At the time it was the only Resident Evil game that I never played and it became one of my favorite Resident Evil titles.In 2015, we can all relive the magic with the announcement of the HD remastered version Resident Evil remake. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions will run at 1080p, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions will sport 720p and the PC version can run at whatever resolution it wants because it’s the the PC.

The polygonal characters appear fine but those pre-rendered backgrounds appear very grainy. It doesn’t look like they produced higher resolution versions of those backgrounds and simply upscaled the original GameCube versions.

I wonder how much this will cost. Will Capcom be crazy enough to charge $40 for the remastered version of a 12 year old game? Square Enix justified the price of Final Fantasy X|X-2 HD Remaster by including both of those Final Fantasy X titles in that bundle. Sony got away with releasing The Last of Us Remastered for $50 because they included all the DLC released for since the original game’s debut last year.

I’d pay $20 for the PlayStation 4 version.

Why now though? Why re-release the REmake after all this time? I suspect Capcom plans to revisit the franchise’s roots and make something less action oriented and more unsettling with Resident Evil 7. Perhaps Capcom wishes to gauge interest in this REmake.

Ace Attorney 5 & HD Remakes Announced

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ace-attorney-5-jpn-logo

Ace Attorney 5 and Ace Attorney 123HD were announced yesterday.

No platforms were announced for the fifth Ace Attorney game, but the HD remakes were confirmed for iOS and Android platforms. Good. For Japan at least.

No word on a North American release and based on what we’ve received thus far from Capcom, I’m a bit worried. Check the list of games that have yet to be announced for North America:

  • Ghost Trick for iOS
  • Ace Attorney Investigations 2
  • Professor Layton vs Ace Attorney

I don’t care if they don’t bring Ace Attorney Investigations 2 over (I didn’t enjoy the original). As for Ghost Trick for North American iOS devices? It would be nice, but not necessary because it’s already out on the Nintendo DS. The Professor Layton and Ace Attorney crossover game however, I would be greatly saddened if it doesn’t make it over the Pacific.

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