E3 2016 - Conference times, news and hype (!)

[gallo_pinto]

It definitely says something about the EA press conference that I was more excited about a news item that just sort of slipped through the cracks between press conferences than anything that EA showed, but...



Clementine is back!!!!!! I know a lot of people were down on Season 2, but I really loved it. Clementine is my favorite character in video games and I was legitimately nervous they were going to just drop her in Season 3 or only have her appear as a cameo. I'm curious to see how they incorporate the split endings from Season 2, but I'm way more pumped about another Walking Dead season than I am for Titanfall 2 (which seems pretty awesome) or Mass Effect: Andromeda (which seems like 2018).

[Todinho]

YES!They just rebooted Prey into something totally different and are calling it Prey therefore dooming the original game to fade away into oblivion, having that stain on gaming history being wiped out is already the best thing outta E3 this year!

[gallo_pinto]

Dishonored 2 looked really good. That time manipulation stuff at the end seems really cool.

[Todinho]

Aparently Chris Avellone is working on Prey this makes that annoucement doubly awesome! http://www.pcgamer.com/bethesda-confirm ... ming-back/

[dezm0nd]

EA were really poor. They keep doing the whole prototype footage stuff and it's just boring to see. The prospect of single player Star Wars games is exciting but that press conference was a guff stretched out for an 58 minutes. The good 2 minutes was from a game called Fe.

Bethesda are slowly becoming my favourite publisher lately. After DOOM, I had hopes for Quake but didn't expect it so soon. Prey revival was my wish from my other post in here and Dishonoured 2 looks brilliant.

[Scrustle]

I didn't like what Bethesda did to Prey. Dropping the 2 and making it a reboot is fine. It's been so long since the original, and that one didn't really make enough of a splash that a sequel is something that people care to see. But what they did show of this new Prey was pretty disappointing. Even though we got basically no info from it due to it being all pre-rendered CG stuff, it came across as a straightforward sci-fi shooter with little personality. Could still be a good shooter in its own right, but compared to the old demo of the original Prey 2, it looks a whole lot less interesting. Way less ambitious and characterful than the open, sci-fi bounty hunter game full of character and imagination that we saw before, or even the rich atmosphere from the first game.

[Flabyo]

I liked what I saw from Bethesda, but it felt to me like a set of solid releases rather than anything spectacular.

As good as Dishonored 2 looks, it lost impact for me because we saw it last year too. Imagine if they'd not shown it last year and this was the first we'd seen of it? I definitely think there's something to be said for holding back until nearer release date.

Skyrim with nicer art really doesn't appeal, I don't think I can face playing an Elder Scrolls game through again, they're one-time deals for me really.

The Elder Scrolls card game could be good, but the art seemed quite clinical and cold. All hard edges and white bordered boxes. It didn't feel thematically 'Elder Scrolls' to me. The evocation of theme is one of the things Blizzard nail in Hearthstone, and it's something many developers overlook.

Solid, but not spectacular, and I'm glad I didn't stay up till 3am to watch it.

[dezm0nd]

In the boot sequence intro might show of what's next for Bethesda and that could well be a new Wolfenstein on the horizon?

[dezm0nd]

Next up we have a big push of conferences in one night.

Microsoft prediction: A major push on the universal apps between Xbox and PC
Microsoft wish: Rare Replay DLC. Below to be released after the conference is over.

UbiSoft prediction: Zombi 2 on all formats apart from Nintendo
UbiSoft wish: Rayman Lemons sequel

Sony prediction: Some sort of Rockstar Games announcement and involves VR
Sony wish: A rejuvenation of their platform game series'. Jak and Daxter reboot?

[James]

I agree with Darren, EA was an hour of boredom made thankfully entertaining by being on Skype with Flabyo, Ryan and Jerome. With next to nothing new to show for Mass Effect and Star Wars it's clear to me that EA announced those projects too early. Everything else (aside from Fe) falls squarely into the 'not for me' category, sadly.

I enjoyed the Bethesda show more, despite only Dishonored 2 [sic] being of real interest to me. Having Doom and Wolfenstein back and Quake on the way is a good thing in my opinion, but Quake looked a lot like an attempt to get in on Overwatch's success.

So far, it's been entirely whelming - awkward speeches, out-of-place celebrities and little that I'll likely ever play. Oh, and the 2 location event for EA didn't work for me at all.

[Suits]

Skyrim with nicer art really doesn't appeal, I don't think I can face playing an Elder Scrolls game through again, they're one-time deals for me really.

No matter how much I get excited to get back into one on a 2nd playthrough, as soon as I start recognising the quests I get so deflated.

I desperately hope that the Skyrim Remastered on consoles allows you to import your old saves. I'm a nailed on release day buyer if that's the case.

I left that game right at the end without ever finishing it and I also have all the DLC to mess with but never played.

As with the all the last gen Bethesda games (in my experience), when you get real late game some 100+ hours in, the load screens take forever, like minutes. Which is a real slow down and makes nipping back for things such a burden that I end up just letting go of it and bailing, so a new version that allows me to bring my old save and a faster engine would be something I'd pay for. Again.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

So far I've been excited by pretty much nothing after those two conferences other than the tiniest of teasers for another Wolfenstein!

Dishonored never clicked for me so not bothered by no.2. Quite liked the original Prey so curious about the new game, but not exactly doing backflips over it.

Not even worth bothering with the EA conference. Oh no wait - I hate the idea of a FIFA story mode!

Next!

[James]

Watching the Giant Bomb EA stream now. I have to admit, Titanfall does look amazing, but unless someone tells me the single player is something special I won't be playing it.

Microsoft prediction: Oculus VR partnership. Open with Gears Of War 4. Close with Halo 6 tease.
Microsoft wish: Forza Horizon (I need a Burnout fix from somewhere, and EA clearly aren't up for it). As much Tacoma as possible.

PC prediction: Better conference than last year.
PC wish: Better conference than last year.

Ubisoft prediction: Assassin's Creed film stuff.
Ubisoft wish: New Rayman game, or other UbiArt project. No Assassin's Creed film stuff.

Sony prediction: God Of War. Scorpio actually announced, despite Sony saying it won't be. VR heavy. Tease of Kojima Productions game (surely there's no way Hideo doesn't show up at some point).
Sony wish: Big Street Fighter V push (really BIG) ahead of the Story Mode.

[Sinclair Gregstrum]

I have to admit, Titanfall does look amazing, but unless someone tells me the single player is something special I won't be playing it.

Yes Titanfall 2 does look really nice. I forgot about that one as the single player trailer was out before the conference.

Same feelings as you though James - if there single player is top notch and not just a bolt on I'll get involved. If not, I'll pass.

[Jusifer]

a new commander keen would be nice, if it's true to the old ones! some really nice memories of those games ^^ while I've always loved Bethesda especially after oblivion and fallout 3, I'm afraid they are going to be become another ubisoft with false promises and advertisement like with watch dogs. you see it so often with companies and people in general. While I've not played the new DOOM what I've heard gives hope. though thats id software not Bethesda game studios. then again not played fallout 4 but the dlc policy
seems a bit odd and off-putting.

[chase210]

If Microsoft is bringing a new console iteration, Sony will look awfully silly if they sit on the Neos till TGS or whenever.

Also curse time differences. 2am start for Sony's conference.

[Scrustle]

I'm actually somewhat looking forward to Microsoft's show. There's almost certainly going to be a new Forza Horizon, which I'm totally down for of course. There's also the possibility of Scalebound having a more substantial showing, which I'm also really interested in. I also hope they confirm PC versions of both too, with Forza in particular being the same game across both platforms and having cross-platform multiplayer. I think those things are pretty likely.

Also looking forward to Sony, and seeing more of The Last Guardian, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Gravity Rush 2, Nioh, God of War, and Nier. Or at least some of those. Nier also might show up at Square Enix's show instead. I was looking forward to seeing the Neo, but since that's ruled out now, I guess we'll have to wait until TGS or Paris Game Week. I'm not looming forward to the inevitable flood of PSVR games though. No interest in that.

I've been wondering lately whether Capcom will have a presence at the show. It's a stretch, but there have been those rumours about DMC5 floating around, and they made noises about RE7 lately. While I'm not interested in the latter, I feel like they will show up somewhere at some point, maybe with Sony, and could possibly bring something good.

The only thing I can imagine coming out of Ubisoft that would be remotely interesting would be For Honor. That was a nice surprise last year, so that's one on my radar for the future.

[Flabyo]

Let's see...

MS Prediction: Occulus tie-in made more concrete than it currently is. Lots of 'Windows 10! Woo!'. A lot of time spent on Gears 4.
MS Wishlist: New Forza Horizon, a release date for Below.

Ubisoft Prediction: They said no new Assassin's Creed game this year, but I'm willing to bet they announce one anyway for early next year. A new trailer for the movie. An attempt to hype Watch Dogs 2
Ubisoft Wishlist: Some new and interesting Ubiarts stuff.

Sony Prediction: VR. VR VR VR. All the way. Maybe something from the FF7 remake?
Sony Wishlist: Something new, anything at all.

My fear is the this E3 is going to be a lot of 'things we saw last year, only further on' and not a lot of new interesting things.

[chase210]

[Alex79]

I've only just got home from work - has the Microsoft conference finished? Twitch is pretty much useless for finding official streams of E3 I've found so far. You have to wade through tonnes of normal people channels before finding anything proper.