E3 2014 Press Conference Musings

So most of gaming's major players' press conferences have come and gone, and the industry's course for the next twelve months has been plotted. Below are some opinions on what's been revealed. It's by no means an exhaustive account of everything that was announced or discussed, just my thoughts on the things that stood out for me. 

Microsoft

• It's a real shame that the Halo Master Chief collection will not contain Reach, Bungie's last entry into the franchise and the only other title in it that can go toe to toe with the original. Predictably, beta access to Halo 5: Guardians is included, but nothing new was revealed about it.
• Speaking of Halo, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, which is actually multiplatform but made its gameplay debut during Microsoft's press conference, looks very much like the game Halo: ODST should have been. Its futuristic cityscapes are realised in breathtaking detail, but just how a hardcore fanbase used to a more contemporary setting will react to what seems to be quite a sharp change in direction remains to be seen.
• Evolve looks exactly like what it is; Left 4 Dead with a fifth player taking on the role of a hulking extra terrestrial behemoth, which isn't surprising considering it's made by the same people as the original group zombie basher. No doubt it'll end up being one of those co-op games that's fun with friends, but strangers not so much.
• Sunset Overdrive's cel-shaded, 'Jet Set Radio with with guns', shooting could be fun. That's all there really is to say about it.
• Fable Legends feels like an attempt to drag the franchise kicking and screaming onto Xbox Live against its will. But then, only the original has ever really been worth its salt.
• Microsoft's indie proposition has come on leaps and bounds since the draconian approach proposed when the Xbox One was revealed, but many small time gaming outfits still seem to be having to make a choice between Xbox and PC/Playstation, as Microsoft appear to have many unproven exclusives but few sure-fire PC ports of proven heritage. One standout, however, is Cuphead, a gun and run affair that sets itself apart from the crowd with beautifully authentic Disney-style graphics, which contrary to what I've just said, will actually be available on PC as well.

Sony

• Destiny, which is also coming to Xbox platforms, enters Alpha exclusively on Playstation this weekend, and the Beta also starts sooner for those playing on Sony hardware.  It looks positivley orgasmic, as it has at its every public airing.
• Adding a The Last of Us themed dungeon to Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition seems utterly pointless.
• Little Big Planet 3, from what was shown, seems like more of the same.
• Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain's trailer looked impressive, but no actual gameplay was shown.
• Sony's platforms will be receiving ports of many recent PC indie hits, such as Broforce, and some interesting timed exclusives.
• The Playstation Vita TV has been renamed Playstation TV for Western markets and will release this fall. Ironically, it would make a fine second console for Xbox diehards given its access to an extensive Playstation back catalogue through both the streaming Playstation Now service and direct Network downloads. Still no word on when Playstation Now will reach Europe, however.
• EA's new cops and robbers Battlefield game, Battlefield: Hardline, is getting beta test exclusively on PC and PS4 with immediate effect. It could turn out to be either an interesting splicing of Counter-Strike and Battlefield, or simply an excuse to re-use Battlefield 4 assets.  When, and if, I get my key, I'll let you know.
• Despite some pre-show rumblings, no new God of War game was revealed. Uncharted 4 did make an appearance in teaser trailer form, however.

EA

It was truly disappointing that no actual gameplay from Star Wars Battlefront or Mass Effect 4 was forthcoming. What was shown took the form of extremely early in-engine footage that served only to confirm the projects were still alive, offering nothing in the way of firm details.  Okay, so Star Wars Battlefront's modus operandi requires little to no extrapolation - it's Battlefield with lightabers, but where exactly could Bioware take a post-Reaper Mass Effect universe, save for into the jaws of another similarly Cthulu-esque enemy?

Ubisoft

Far Cry 4 was wholly unimpressive; another bland, generic first person shooter. Assassin's Creed Unity's co-operative mode could be a lot of fun, but after Black Flag's huge open world, its single city setting feels like a step backwards, and a French company using the French revolution as a setting feels a little too on the nose.

Nintendo

Opting for a digital address rather than an all singing all dancing live event, Nintendo failed to seize the opportunity for an epic comeback. They announced a number of similar looking platformers that will undoubtedly be lovingly crafted and immense fun, but are unlikely to reverse the Wii U's fortunes. Mario Maker, which is effectively a level editor for the original Mario Bros. is an interesting idea, but such things are freely available in dark corners of the internet and have been for many years. Footage of Hyrule Warriors, an awkward and implausible mix of the Zelda franchise and Dynasty Warriors left me feeling little more than simply confused about what such a union could hope to accomplish. 

An agonisingly vague tease on what appears to be a fully fledged, open world Zelda game was the only saving grace here. 

Final Verdict

In terms of who 'won' E3, I don't usually enter into petty exchanges of curdled fanboyisms, but I'd probably say it's a no score draw between Sony and Microsoft, as both companies focused quite heavily on sequels designed to acquiesce their existing fanbases, albeit with a little tit-for-tat with regards to console exclusive content for multiplatform releases. There was a contrast in their approaches to the indie scene; Microsoft seem more concerned with securing exclusives, whereas Sony's apparently enjoying the lion's share of the PC ports, but overall there was little on show to sway platform agnostic onlookers one way or the other.

Nintendo are in such dire straits that they don't, at the time of writing, bear comparison with Sony and Microsoft and continue to be the home console market's maverick outsiders. It's beginning to feel like they don't really know what to do except churn out endless iterations of their go-to franchises in the hope the Wii U will one day experience a watershed moment. The lack of third party support for the console is unprecedented. 

It's a sad fact that real innovation in gaming is increasingly thin on the ground, but the closest thing to it this year, and my pick of the show, was No Man's Sky, a spaceship shooter that plonks you in the middle of a procedurally generated universe and dares you to venture into the unknown, allowing you to land on and document an infinite number of randomly generated planets or simply spend your time shooting at other ships. In a close second is the aforementioned delightfully animated Cuphead, which only plays second fiddle to No Man's Sky because we don't know enough about its gameplay yet to really know if it will be all mouth and no trousers. Such exquisite art direction deserves recognition come what may, however. 

The booby prize has to go to Far Cry 4. I've heard 'game of the show' uttered in reference to it, but I'm at a loss as to why. It's the kind of semi-open world, first person, quick-time event heavy, regenerating health, pseudo-realistic nonsense that was ten a penny last generation and will be this. The highest praise I can offer it is that it looks kind of pretty.

Finally, two interesting precedents for the future were set this year. The first is that almost every big release is getting some form of beta test. The term originally referred to an essentially finished but not final version of a game that was generally not for en mass public consumption, but now the lines between it and what basically amounts to a demo have become somewhat blurred. Whatever the correct terminology, though, I'd say you can certainly expect more of these in the future as they becomes an increasingly important part of the pre-release hype machine. Also, there were a number of instances of content and/or beta access becoming available immediately after announcements had been made at the show. It's a good way of making far distant audiences feel involved, and games that may be a year or more out feel that bit more tangible, so again, expect to see more of it next year and beyond.