Best and Worst of E3 2011

Here we are then. After months of tense anticipation, E3 2011 is finally over. Was it good? Did you guys like it? From the 3 E3's I have properly followed I would most certainly say that this years Electronic Expo was the best I have seen. Whilst it may have lacked in huge mind blowing surprises, this years E3 has once again poured petrol onto our flames of anticipation as all of our favourite sequels and games have been teased and tried, only adding to the excitement for next year. However, although there were some great moments, there were also some totally crap ones. Here is my compilation of best and worst moments of E3 2011......


NGP Melting our Faces!


This was a good'n. After many months waiting for concrete details on Sony's new handheld system, Sony's press conference on Monday did a great job of summing up this new device and showcasing what was on offer. The first piece of information was the name. Now the NGP will be known as the PS Vita, but that's a crap name so for now on I'll keep calling it the NGP, I don't like change. Sony set itself apart from Nintendo's 3DS by showing the great games that will be on offer; Uncharted, Resistance, Modnation Racers, the list goes on. Each game was shown to have implemented the innovative touch pads surprisingly well and the cross capability's between PS3 and Vita seem to have a lot of potential. La La La, I could go on about the actual console, but the best moment regarding the NGP has to be the price. Sony have learnt from their painful over pricing and stunned the audience with an incredibly competitive price of $249. The price may be the thing that sets the NGP off, but we can only wait to find out.


SO MUCH KINECT!

MY EYES!

Maybe it was just me but after Microsoft's appalling conference last year I expected this years to be more on the games than the stupid bloody Kinect. It started off well. A live demo of MW3 followed by Gears of War 3, then Kinect crept in. Its use in Mass Effect was OK, if not a tad pointless whilst its implementation in Ghost Recon seemed to be quite interesting, then, it went downhill. Disneyland-land? Muppets? Kinect Sports 2? Bloody hell Microsoft, it was painful! For a cringe worthy hour we witnessed poorly paid child actors pretend to be having a great time. But the worse was to come. Kinect has potential and we know it, but after seeing it all go to waste with 'say hello to my friend Ronando', all our hopes were simply gulped up and shat out of Microsoft's money rimmed arse. Luckily though the MS conference regained a few tatters of dignity with its last surprise, but still, FISTBUMP FTW!!


The Games!

Sounds stupid I know but what is the main reason for E3? To showcase the games! And man was this year good! We already know that 2011 is going to rock our socks off but after witnessing these beautiful creations we are getting ready for a very large rocking! Demo's of games such as Gears of War 3, Skyrim, Hitman, Batman AA, Twisted Metal, Battlefield 3 and Resistance blew us all away. Most of these games are at early stages but they already seem to be incredible! Battefield 3 is just simply WOW whilst I feel a special mention has to go out to the downloadable game The Heist which slipped under our radars and from what I have seen, it looks great fun and perhaps a GTA heist beater. The games of 2011 and 2012 are shaping up to be huge and I am pretty sure that most of us will suffer from dry and empty wallets due to this!

THE  SMUG BASTARD!

The Surprises
Earlier on I claimed that although there were no surprises, E3 2011 still owned in terms of games and hardware, but you can't deny that you missed them? Sadly the big surprise of Halo 4 was leaked a few hours before the conference and whilst the trailer still made every nerd squeal a squeal of joy, it wasn't exactly the most amazing surprise ever. Where were Valve? That is the question. What new exclusives can we expect? What about a tease of the new Xbox? What about the announcement that the Call of Duty franchise would end at MW3 to spare us from an infinite line of trolls claiming that Deus Ex sucks because 'its nothing like Call of Duty!'? Thats right, there were none. It didn't exactly spoil the whole show but I felt that E3 sorely missed a big bad surprise, we just want news on Half Life!


Tomb Raider
I have chosen to include the latest Tomb Raider in its separate category because that is how special I think it is. After having her crown stolen by Nathan Drake, Lara has had to come up with something sensational, and from this very early build, we can already see how much Lara has changed. Most reboots that claim they are 'grittier' usually suck as they try to be more serious but end up being rubbish, however after seeing the latest demo at Microsoft's conference, the latest Tomb Raider looks amazing! Lara is de-sexualized and seems to have more sense whilst being more vulnerable. The short snippet of gameplay enticed the audience in with the mysterious pursuer and even some very Uncharted-espue jumps. Overall, Mr Drake may need to watch his back, the Queen is back!


Minecraft on Xbox
This angered me a lot. I dont want to be bias but I feel that Markus 'Notch' Persson has made a big mistake here. If you are not aware, Minecraft is an extremely popular game on the PC that allows players to simply roam around an ever expanding 8 bit land with the necessary tools to create almost anything. Sound familiar?  Probably the closest relative to Minecraft is LBP, on PS3. I feel that by making Minecraft exclusive to Xbox they may be missing out on a much more creative, friendly community that has proven itself to be capable of creating amazing stuff. Also, the announcement seemed to come and go perhaps making way for the stupid Kinect games. Minecraft coming to consoles deserves much more attention than it was given and I sincerely feel that by either switching the console base or going multi-plat Minecraft's reception and utilisation would be very different


Dust 514- Revolution?
Much like Minecraft, this game has been quite quiet and when announced, was met with a simple 'meh' by the audience. However, after researching the sci fi shooter Dust 514, I truly believe that we may be witnessing a revolution and perhaps turning point in online gaming. Valve's masterpiece Portal 2 already allows PS3 players to play online with PC, but only if they have a Steam account. Dust 514 simply joins the PC servers with the PS3 servers, resulting in a mixture of both in a single match. This new combination is great as it shows how some developers are trying to work together and get a new revolution starting. I love the idea of playing with PC players and I would also love to play against my friends who own Xbox's. No longer would we have to be split between different consoles, we could all play with each other with no stupid squabbling. I understand that Dust 514 may not be the greatest shooter ever, but I believe that it could be, and I mean could be, a turning point for the online aspect.


And finally, the one you have all been waiting for........


Here it is. After 7 long paragraphs I am finally here. All my anger and disgust has been building up inside of me over the past couple of days. I will try and not bore you, but here goes. The biggest disappointment of E3 2011 by far is the WiiU, or as my brother likes to call it, 'a pile of wank'. After the truly revolutionary Wii we were all expecting something amazing from Nintendo's conference and all we were given was a stupid controller with a screen on it, so basically a PSV but not portable. What is the point in this? It was a huge let down. Gaming is about the experience. Gaming is about having the largest TV possible with gun shots so loud that your ear drums burst, not a dull screen causing neck pains. Taking the TV out of the equation is one of if not the most retarded concepts for anything. Consoles are for the TV, handhelds are not. Why cross them over and create a hybrid? Thats like combining a gorilla with a daffodil, there is no point!


There is no point in the Wii U except milking the Nintendo fanboys (cough*Marc*cough) who believe that everything Nintendo create is as special as a golden shit from a unicorn. The Wii did change gaming, the growth of gaming is due to the runaway success of the Wii, so how would Nintendo follow on? How about not creating a worthless accessory that is better suited to being a doorstop than an actual useful gaming device. Seriously, why? The price for this crap will be around $300 probably, and for that price you could purchase a genuinely good piece of tech, the PS Vita with actual good games, not another bloody brain training. What a let down, I would have rather been raped by a cactus than watch the poor reaction over this underwhelming  'revolutionary' pile of pure tosh. Waste of time. 

Thought this is more relevant

(I would like to point out that this is a complete rant and very very biased. I do not fully feel what I have just written, but I do feel that the Wii U is extremely pointless. I also understand that this feeling is due to a poor presentation from Nintendo where there was a painful lack of explanation. I am not giving up hope on it just yet, after all it is Nintendo! I imagine that I will regret this rant in a couple of years after the Wii U takes over the world, but for now, I am just extremely underwhelmed. Just to reiterate again, this is for fun this rant, I do not believe everything I just put down!)


Thank you guys, hope you enjoyed it!
James