Off-Topic

I'm sure a good portion of you Pups came to Screened via the former sister site of GiantBomb. And while I'll be spending a good chuck of my time there in the following days soaking up as much E3 coverage as possible, I figured having the Pup opinions was something I wanted.

For those of you who aren't nerd enough, E3 is an annual video game convention that provides the press, publishers, and developers a place to reveal new hardware, games, and see everything new.

I'll do my best to update this with new info but I ask you Pups update this space with anything and everything you learn over the next few days about vidya games.

Late Sunday Update:

In case you weren't aware Nintendo did an early pre-E3 press conference basically talking about some of the WiiU's controller, it's capabilities, and most importantly all the future WiiU online features. Some interesting stuff in there changing the interactivity of how you game and how friend's playing the same game effects that. Check out this link.

Microsoft Press Conference Update:

Halo 4 campaign footage, new enemies. New Gears of War. Black Ops 2 looks crazy, it's the future! Tomb Raider where Lara gets the shit beat out of her. South Park the RPG. Forza now in an open world.

And a bunch of non-gaming talk. Xbox Smart Glass (interaction between tablet, phone, and TV), Usher performs, and Bing in espanol!

EA Press Conference Update:

New Medal of Honor game and Battlefield 3 expansions. New Need for Speed game. A bunch of sports games that want your twitter feed. UFC comes to EA. Dead Space 3 announced with drop in drop out co-op. And please don't forget about Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Ubisoft Press Conference:

Assassin's Creed 3 gameplay. Shotmania gameplay. Rayman running on the WiiU. ZombiU.

And even a new IP!

Sony Press Conference:

New Assassin's Creed 3, God of War, Playstation Battle Royale, and Far Cry 3 footage. Plenty of mention of some spell book and JK Rowling. Cross platform integration and great footage of The Last of Us.

Nintendo Press Conference:

Pikmin 3 and New Super Mario Bros. U. Some focus on the 3DS, plenty of ports of already existing 3rd party games, and no announcements about pricing or date for the WiiU.

I like the Wii60 pro-controller. That looks WAY more comfortable to use than the standard Wii one.

@Undeadpool: Hopefully it isn't too expensive so when I want to play these new games I'm able to. Or maybe it's even a pack in. Of course that would downplay their special new controller they want everyone to focus on.

Maybe it's because it's almost two in the morning and I should be sleeping but when I saw this thread I panicked and thought E3 was starting.

That WiiU pro controller doesn't look comfortable to me at all. My least favorite thing about the 360 controller is the left analog placement, so having both up top sounds horrible.

Zeno Clash is definitely not a game I expected to get a sequel. It sounds really interesting though and I hope they embrace the weirdness of the first game and go further with it.

Did anybody see Konami's pre-E3 press conference? Also, will Ubisoft get Jeff Winger again or Mr.Caffeine?

Edit: Kingdom Hearts: Dream Drop Distance? Goddamnit Square!

@RockinKemosabe: I saw most of it, I skipped past the beginning cause it was social games. I thought MGS: Rising looked pretty good. It wasn't as crazy as people were expecting either. They had a hologram looking man present it and another Mega64 bit.

@RockinKemosabe: Kingdom Hearts 3D is not all bad. It features characters and some soundtrack from the game, The World Ends With You (a really great game). However, why does Square Enix think that I am made of money. If they are going to make a new game on a different console/handheld they could at least make the story not cannon or a spin-off. It is thanks to these handheld games that I have no idea what is going on in the story.

I also like what I see from the Skyrim DLC trailer. It looks like your choice will actually have an stronger impact what happens. I am even more excited for Dishonored. Nothing make me more excited than new ip. It looks like kind of like Bioshock with a splash of Assassin's Creed.

Is anyone else really looking forward to getting their hands on the new Tomb Raider game?

@CrimsonAvenger said:

Is anyone else really looking forward to getting their hands on the new Tomb Raider game?

Yep. Looks fantastic.

@CrimsonAvenger: Yeah, it looks great so far. I really like the Tomb Raider series and the last proper one, Underworld was great.

I had to pop out from the NFL bit until the end of the Tomb Raider part - did I miss much that is worth looking up?

"For the smart phone and tablet you already own..." How many people really own a Windows phone?

@skidd: If you're into the franchise, the Halo 4 bit that opened the show was top-notch, there was a good demonstration of the next Splinter Cell game, you saw the Tomb Raider presentation. The only other good bit was Matt Stone and Trey Parker talking about the South Park game (and insulting the Microsoft Xbox-on-everything widget). There was a Forza 3 "Gumball Rally" game trailer, the next Gears of War trailer, a forgettable and hollow Resident Evil 6 demo (it felt like the climax scenes from a dozen different movies compressed into 3 minutes), some "Summer of Arcade" stuff and it closed with a COD Black Ops game play that had escort missions through a battered downtown Los Angeles. You fortunately missed Usher's dance and Joe Montana playing Madden with Kinect.

Updated to reflect the Microsoft Press conference.

The games looked great but the non-gaming stuff was mostly boring. Felt like two sides were fighting over the focus of that press conference, one screaming about video games and the other screaming about Bing in spanish. Do they want me to play games or watch hockey?

@PenguinDust: Cheers for the info! I managed to catch Parker and Stone - the main thing that stood out to me wasn't really the game, but how relaxed and natural they were on stage (which isn't always common at E3!). I've just watched the full Tomb Raider presentation - seems like it could have potential but I'd definitely like to see more of the game outside of what they've shown so far.

Usher sure did build up a sweat - the guy was sparkling!

No Ironside = No Sale

@skidd said:

@PenguinDust: Cheers for the info! ...

Usher sure did build up a sweat - the guy was sparkling!

Yeah I noticed that, too. I thought he was in better shape than that. Who am I to criticize, though.

Calm discussion?!

Gladly! I thought the conference was a fun romp through the industry and am excited about the new ventures that we will see from all companies.

Oh, and no mod edited this message at all...

@Undeadpool said:

Calm discussion?!

Gladly! I thought the conference was a fun romp through the industry and am excited about the new ventures that we will see from all companies.

Oh, and no mod edited this message at all...

...we're THROUGH the looking glass, people.