The E3 Experience - Highlights and Wrap Up

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Hey everyone, I'm back again reporting live at the Los Angeles Convent -- !!

**SLAP**
Aww, crap, wake up Brandon, the dream is over. Yep, I'm back from the convention, and boy, what a week it has been. The crowds, the crazy traffic in Los Angeles, all of that is done. Which is kind of sad, because I actually loved the hellish atmosphere that was the trade show. There's a surprising amount of grit that comes from being able to last three days at the convention center. Today though, much more mellow. I'll be wrapping up this now four-part series of The E3 Experience, talking today about some of the conference highlights and any miscellaneous thoughts that may have eluded me as I was writing this series. Hop on in for the final chapter!

[prebreak]Continue reading[/prebreak]

The show continues, but now my watch has ended. This year, we got to see some fantastic performances from the many different press conferences this year. Some of the biggest highlights were met with raucous applause from the audience members who were lucky enough to be able to attend the conferences. These highlights included a ton of great stuff.

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First of all, the reveal of a new Doom got many people chattering. Bethesda did great here. I heard a ton of chatter about this when I got to the media center on Monday, and people were excited about this title. For a first time appearance with a press conference, Bethesda did a very solid job and got a lot of messages across that it still had cards up its sleeves. People were saying how, this year, Bethesda was one of the top conferences. Their announcement of Fallout 4 also got a ton of praise, and it was even more impressive when the gameplay demos were revealed. There's a new crafting and scavenging system that's being made for the game, and you can now craft your own armors with tons of modifications. Sounds a lot like the customizable gear from Star Wars: The Old Republic.

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We then get to Microsoft, which delivered an extremely solid ninety minutes of... basically a montage of how Microsoft can innovate and stay current in a rapidly changing industry. Some of the highlights from Microsoft were the reveals that XBOX One would have backwards compatibility with XBOX 360 games - a fact that made the crowd go nuts during the presentation. That was me included, and I barely even play the 360 anymore! Some of the other highlights were the new Rise of the Tomb Raider and the new implementation of Hololens technology into playing games like Minecraft, where the terrain could be modified via voice command.

When EA and Ubisoft came out, they of course delivered their usual suite of titles, with some of the major highlights being an announcement of the new Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, a title that was actually playable at E3... with tremendously long lines. Ubisoft also revealed a new Ghost Recon at the end of their presentation, but the reveal was met with mild reactions and left the Ubisoft conference ending on a relative dud. EA of course had their new Sports 2016 suite of games, with some new footage of their highly anticipated Mirror's Edge: Catalyst and the new Star Wars Battlefront being developed by DICE. Of course, EA has a lot of rights to Star Wars now, so we got some mild splash with a new mobile card game and a new MMO expansion for The Old Republic.



Sony took the stage not too long after to deliver a presentation, where the two main highlights were the announcement of Shenmue 3, a title being funded by Kickstarter... which acquired over $500,000 in the first forty minutes after the Kickstarter went live... and ongoing during the conference! The last big highlight that everyone had been anticipating had finally arrived, in the form of a PS4 remake of Final Fantasy VII. Everyone wanted it to come, and gamers all over the world can finally rejoice that the game has a new chance at life. It's also a great thing because new generations of gamers can now experience the title in all of its epic glory.

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And then, we hit the Nintendo digital event. An event that fell surprisingly flat for almost everyone, myself included. I was watching the coverage of the event with some friends that I was working with at E3, and while Star Fox Zero took the cake at the beginning of the presentation, the conference simmered down and just died from that point. Even from in the media center, I will never forget that thunderous cheer when the Star Fox game got announced, but after that... nothing. Sure, a new Zelda, Metroid, and Animal Crossing game came out, but they were not what people wanted at all. It was a Zelda game that looked like the brainchild of Four Swords Adventures and Phantom Hourglass, a Metroid game without Samus Aran as the main character, and a troll announcement of a Mario Party-esque Animal Crossing. We were all pissed watching it, and it felt fucking scandalous. Fatal Frame? Noticeably absent. A new mainstream Pokémon game? Absent. The new Zelda Wii U title? Not even a video or photos. Any new Wii U titles? Pretty much has nothing going for it. Their show floor experience? Sadly, a bit empty of new content. They even brought out Super Smash Bros. for the Wii U again, most likely to test out the new DLC characters. I do give a shout out to Super Mario Maker though, which took the show floor at the Nintendo area by storm second only to Star Fox Zero, a game whose long lines were longer still over at the Arwing ride demo kiosk. I firmly believe that without Mario Maker, Nintendo would have had a very bad time at the floor, because the lines over at Microsoft and Sony's booths were easily dwarfing the Nintendo ones. But, Smash? A game that's already been fully released though shouldn't be at the show, honestly. Nintendo dropped the ball compared to last year's insanely good digital event. They had a very empty conference that lasted 45 minutes. About twenty two minutes of that was content, and the rest filled with cringe worthy filler in the form of musicals and puppet shows that just left a lot of us feeling uncomfortable with Nintendo. The Wii U felt completely abandoned at the show, and makes it seem like the new console, the NX, is more and more becoming a forefront instead of the failed Wii U venture. I wouldn't even be surprised at this point if they put Zelda Wii U on that console. To me, that even makes perfect sense.



We also got Square Enix's first ever press conference, detailing their newest titles... which felt kind of flat because they were the last to go and we had already seen most of the reveals. Okay, fine, they did show a new Kingdom Hearts 3 trailer which took the Media Center by storm, and some new mobile games. But other than that, Square, you need to step up the game next year, because the competition only goes up from here. I don't even think I need to go over the PC Gaming Conference, because from what I heard about it at E3, it got its fair share of crap because it just blew chunks. Valve was not present, and they're a huge PC gaming thing. So yeah, no real highlight reel there for them. Sorry, try again next year.

Overall though, despite the reveals' shortcomings, it's been an incredible year for video gaming. Things go up and down, and this year, there may have been some slump. That's fine, and I can't wait to see how those slumps turn around. Get it, Nintendo? Please, turn things around and shock us all at E3 2016. We're waiting, and I hope to see a much more powerful performance from you guys next year. For the newcomers, Bethesda and Square Enix, not too shabby for a first time. PC Gaming Show, not so lucky, and sorry, you're the weakest link. Goodbye!

With the end of the actual show coming up in just a few hours since this post started, it's time to do a bit of reflection on the week and its many revelations. Steamworld Heist (live at Treehouse Live at E3 earlier today!) is going to be huge. That game has such great potential, and getting to spend time with their CEO to play the title was incredible. Most down to earth, humble, and incredible fellow, who has designed a real gem for an indie dev. I was so impressed with it. That, and Spider Gaming's Technomancer. Those are going to be killer when they release. Spider Gaming has the right idea, and when they showed the preview demo stuff, I was blown away. I wanted more. And that right there is a rare feeling that I didn't experience for most of the titles that I demoed at the convention. An honorable mention goes to Yoshi's Wooly World for invoking the feelings of joy that I had playing Yoshi's Island on the Game Boy Advance all those years ago. Super solid, and tons of fun.

Overall, I had a fantastic E3 experience. Especially as a first timer, that enthusiasm is so real. The excitement of being able to go into that theme park of a convention hall for the first time, that sensory overload, it's incredible. Unforgettable. I miss it already. The chaos, the madness, the sore feet, waking up early to catch an Uber to the convention center, and making those lifelong friendships with fellow games journalists and other folk that I happened to meet at the conference, that's special, and that's something no TV stream could ever come close to replicating. Despite the stress of spending over three months planning the event, putting it to fruition is probably as close to perfection as I could find. The past three days is a sign of hard work paying off, and taking opportunities as they appeared. I nailed those appointments and met all my personal goals. I met Shigeru Miyamoto himself. He autographed my Nintendo 3DS XL and now it's a relic that I might even put into a glass case and savor for many years. A new "new" 3DS XL might even be a possibility in the books right now. The trade show is incredibly open, and open to many different walks of life, some of whom are even questionable as to why they could be present. I am not one to judge, though. If they're there, they did something right, and they got to experience something awesome. At this point, there's not a single shred of regret in my decisions. I got plenty done, and there's so much room for me in the future to go again, do things, and help change the face of the industry. As far as immediate plans? I have no clue, but it does begin with following up with this monster stack of business cards that I have right here on my desk, and establishing relations with them formally for the first time... or the second time, actually, since I met them already. Would I do this all again? In a heartbeat.

How would I rank all of the conferences? For me it's Microsoft first, Bethesda, then Sony, Square Enix, Nintendo, then EA = Ubisoft, followed by PC Gaming Show in a last place finish. Some good showings, and some not so great appearances this year. Definitely disappointed in Nintendo - but maybe we were just expecting too much after the thunderclap that was last year's conference.

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And again - I want to thank each and every one of you for following me on this journey. There's a thank you that goes out again to the GBAtemp Staff and Costello for funding this expedition. And for those that kept me grounded over the past few days at the center, you guys are awesome and you guys know who you are. And that's all she wrote folks. The E3 Experience has now concluded, and until next time. It's June 14-16 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. Let's hope they beat that 52,200 attendance record again. Time to start writing, folks, hope to see some more people there next year!

:arrow: Day One of The E3 Experience
:arrow: Day Two of The E3 Experience
:arrow: Day Three of The E3 Experience
 

Nathan Drake

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I'm curious: did you find Microsoft's conference best simply because it was the only one you were able to attend in person and not just see over a computer or TV screen? Also, you didn't even rank SE in your final conference rankings. Noir 2, KH3, and Star Ocean 5 all feel sad and left out of your judgments.
 

Ryukouki

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I'm curious: did you find Microsoft's conference best simply because it was the only one you were able to attend in person and not just see over a computer or TV screen? Also, you didn't even rank SE in your final conference rankings. Noir 2, KH3, and Star Ocean 5 all feel sad and left out of your judgments.

Nah, to me MS simply reached out to me the best by offering more offers and just had a more versatile show for me that had more appeal since I'm still pretty much last generation with only the 360.

Not sure why you said I left KH lol I put a trailer in there. I'm just not quite a fan of the other titles and it didn't stand out for me. The highlights were more my personal standouts based on my show experience. That's all
 

Nathan Drake

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Nah, to me MS simply reached out to me the best by offering more offers and just had a more versatile show for me that had more appeal since I'm still pretty much last generation with only the 360.

Not sure why you said I left KH lol I put a trailer in there. I'm just not quite a fan of the other titles and it didn't stand out for me. The highlights were more my personal standouts based on my show experience. That's all
I just figured when you said
How would I rank all of the conferences?
you would rank all of the conferences. My point was just that you left SE out of the rankings :P
 

Costello

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this could hardly have gone any better, could it? for a first E3, that's beyond awesome
all I wanna say is... can't wait till next year! :P
anyhow excellent article again. So much learned by reading your past couple of articles. Mouth watering
 
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Cyan

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Thank you for sharing your experience every day in real time. That was great to follow you and we shared (at least me) your happiness!
For a first year at E3 for both this website and you, it went very smooth. You made new friends and new memories for all your life.
See you there next year ! (or any other conventions)
 
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Ryukouki

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Fucking awesome Ryu, your coverage has been astounding and such a joy to read.

Next year, you return, and hopefully some more of us staffers can take e3 by storm with you!

You guys should start editorial writing then! :lol: That's the first step! That, and be more than 17 years old, with a driver's license!
 

tony_2018

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Awesome work, hope next year would be more awesome.

It looks like square-enix has some nice titles up there sleeve, especially the remake of FF7. I'll be waiting for more news on that one.
 

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