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Apathy, horror and more – Qazi’s E3 2019 notes

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I’ll be honest: after the last of the main E3 2019 conferences ended, I was struggling to come up with an article for this site that had my collected thoughts, and not just because Sony were absent. I was still hoping for multiplatform game reveals, trailers of indie games I could play on PC and maybe even some mobile titles from Nintendo. However, I think that whilst there were a lot of nice announcements, nothing really jumped out and inspired me to gush for hundreds of words. Instead, here are some more considered E3 2019 notes on the announcements that have intrigued me so far.

E3 2019 notes: Dungeons

E3 2019 notes

Although I don’t own an Xbox One I still tuned into the Microsoft conference, partly because I own a half-decent PC I use for articles here, and partly because I was expecting some trailers for multiplatform games. And in the end they had a few genuinely interesting announcements that ended up in my E3 2019 notes. One of the opening games, Bleeding Edge, was quickly dismissed as being some kind of “heroes” game – Ninja Theory’s take on Overwatch. However, when the words “ONLINE MELEE” accompany more predictable lines such as “COMBAT ACTION” and “4V4” – I get the feeling there will be less shooting and it may be more of a brawler akin to Anarchy Reigns. As a fan of fighting games, I’m keen to see how this develops. Another interesting reveal was the first showing of Battletoads; the new game is still 2D but it adopts a cartoon-style aesthetic whilst seemingly sticking to the original gameplay. I saw a lot of criticism over Battletoads’ presentation, with people claiming that it looked like a “Flash game” – apparently in 2019 we still aren’t able to see through an aesthetic we’re not expecting and talk about the gameplay. At least Minecraft Dungeons impressed by merely making me interested in a Minecraft game – dungeon crawling from a raised perspective always feels more purposeful than building my terrible and confusing cave networks in first-person.

E3 2019 notes: More dungeons

E3 2019 notes

I also belatedly took a look at the main Nintendo conference in the hope of getting more E3 2019 notes from that – I don’t own a Nintendo Switch or 3DS but there’s always the chance that something may persuade me into making a hardware purchase. Contra Rogue Corps initially looked interesting, but I imagine that nostalgic attachment for the Contra games may have influenced me. Take away the Contra name and what you have left might not be so special after all. Something that was special emerged from the latest The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening trailer; “arranging” your own custom dungeon with parts obtained from the main game could end up providing a lot of fun in a series that’s traditionally kept its tools to itself. Also, we got to see a little more of Astral Chain, which seemed to have both the same smooth combat and awfully corny characters we’ve come to expect from Platinum; apparently the studio can only pull a decent cast together when Yoko Taro’s providing the story.

E3 2019 notes: Pause modes

E3 2019 notes

Unusually, it was Square Enix’s show that I had the most interest in this year. Last time around there was the intriguing Babylon’s Fall and news of a Nier Automata release for Xbox One and PC. When preparing my E3 2019 notes I was wondering if we would see more from Platinum’s game or maybe even a new Nier project such as a remake of the 2010 original. None of that happened – instead there was plenty Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Marvel. With so little news on Babylon’s Fall since E3 2018 one must wonder what’s going on, but I’ll hold out until the end of the year before judging. At least we had a lot of new FFVII footage to enjoy, with confirmation that battles could be paused and commands issued in a turn-based fashion. I had hoped that this was the case ever since seeing that unused “Command” prompt in early trailers, but many others had less faith than me.

E3 2019 notes: Best Game

E3 2019 notes

There were lots of “interesting” games then, but very little made an impression until I belatedly looked at Digital Devolver’s “Big Fancy Press Conference 2019”. From the adorable Fall Guys to the new expansion for The Messenger, there were plenty of announcements to keep fans of indie games happy. The most interesting thing I saw in any conference was Carrion, a Devolver-published 2D game where you play as “an amorphous creature of unknown origins” and explore what the game’s store page on Steam calls a “reverse horror” experience.

And those are my main highlights from my E3 2019 notes. Carrion is Game of the Show, Babylon’s Fall is either dead or will re-appear later this year, and I was actually intrigued by both a new Zelda and a new Minecraft, which is a surprise. As always, let us know what you thought of E3 2019 in the comments below.

My highlights from the E3 2017 conferences

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As I write this, the last of the E3 2017 conferences has come to a close and – if you are to believe more cynical types – games journalists everywhere are scrambling to draft their hot takes, expand their wordcounts and plug whatever rubbish they were talked into endorsing via promises of promotional swag. Naturally the likes of Disposable Media are in a different scenario, since we’re a general entertainment website that features content from people who just talk about the things they like to talk about, but it would be remiss not to give the show some coverage. Despite the extent of my eighth-gen hardware being limited to a PS4, Vita and half-decent PC, I made time for each of the main shows – happily, it was worth it, as pretty much everyone presenting the E3 2017 conferences had games worth talking about.

E3 2017 conferences: new hardware and anime “FighterZ”

Let’s focus on the big three for now; there were other E3 2017 conferences but I’d like to cover their games individually as more news surfaces. Microsoft was the first to show their hand in perhaps the most conveniently timed show for people in the BST zone. As expected, they opened the show with news of the Xbox One X and proceeded to show off incredibly pretty Forza Motorsport 7 footage; it’s an obvious candidate for showcasing the graphical fidelity of new hardware, and the large fanbase will ensure it enjoys success on the system. Amongst the more predictable reveals – a new Assassin’s Creed, the aforementioned Forza segment – was news that the terribly-named PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was coming to Xbox, and no annual conference would be complete without the obligatory Minecraft segment. More promising trailers included Dragonball FighterZ (a 1v1 fighter based on an anime I barely follow, but the presentation and gameplay look superb), a new Life Is Strange game and the gorgeous Anthem, so there was a lot to get excited about. (Of course, a number of the games shown off will be multiformat, so it was worth tuning in to the show even if you don’t own an Xbox One.)

E3 2017 conferences: PSVR support and updated classics

Sony’s was the second of the E3 2017 conferences and, as is tradition, it went live during the small hours for UK gamers. Catching up with the conference revealed a mixture of familiar names (Days Gone, God of War), bizarre trailers (FFXV: Monster of the Deep) and some more daring ventures – a number of PSVR titles were there to reassure people that Sony weren’t about to let the headset follow the Vita into obscurity, and a PSVR update to Skyrim could be a huge hit depending on controller requirements and performance on various PS4 models. Another bold gamble came in the form of a new Monster Hunter – it seemed somewhat more simple and bombastic than the handheld titles, and observers have accused it of being a dumbing-down, but I’m curious to see if the new direction pays off. (On a personal note, I was happy to see a new FFXII: TZA trailer after my recent revisiting of the original, and news that Undertale is coming to PS4 may finally prompt me to try out the game.)

E3 2017 conferences: working titles and series extensions

The last of the E3 2017 conferences I watched was Nintendo’s, and whilst Microsoft was busy showing off a new hardware platform, the Kyoto giant was tasked with building the library of the console it released this March. Happily, they’re never shy of falling back on familiar names, and fans welcomed news of more Mario, more Zelda, and more Metroid. As a fan of the side-scrolling platformers I was particularly fond of the trailers for the currently-unnamed Yoshi and Kirby games (unless they really will be called “Yoshi” and “Kirby” as per the trailer outros.) However, with so much to play on my existing gaming hardware I’m still in no hurry to pick up a Switch.

In short, it’s a good time to be a fan of games. Everyone had plenty of trailers to show (and the ratio of trailers to preamble was most welcome) and I know I have a few more upcoming games on my radar now. As always, if you have any thoughts on the E3 2017 conferences that you’d like to share, leave a comment below.

E3 2016 shows – a brief recap of the Big 3

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By the time you read this, the main E3 2016 shows from the big three will be more-or-less over – and for the first time in a few years it seems like each of the hosts of these E3 2016 shows can rightfully feel happy about the quality of the conference (or Treehouse) they held. Since I don’t own every current-gen home console and/or handheld, the Sony conference held my interest more than the other E3 2016 shows… nevertheless, I like to watch all three to get an idea of what’s going on in gaming lately.

E3 2016 shows: Microsoft

E3 2016 shows

Microsoft had a lot of reasons to be happy in their conference – the first of the E3 2016 shows. Whilst rumours may be circulating about the Scorpio machine and other hardware revisions, they had a lot of interesting news about the games that owners of current Xbox hardware will be playing. Even when a lot of the cheers were for further instalments in old franchises such as Gears of War and Forza, those new instalments still looked impressive enough in their own right. (My best failed guess at a teaser also happened during this conference, when I thought that Tekken 7 would be Tekken X Street Fighter just because Akuma was in the footage.) Meanwhile, Hideki Kamiya was in his element in an environment where he could engage with the audience without worrying about them engaging back, but Scalebound still seemed a little sluggish next to Bayonetta 2, Transformers Devastation and other games in Platinum’s back catalogue (not to mention the forthcoming Nier Automata), so it remains to be seen whether this new game meets the expectations of Platinum’s fans.

E3 2016 shows: Sony

E3 2016 shows

Following this, the next of these E3 2016 shows was hosted by Sony, who had the thankless task of trying to follow-up the remarkable conference they held last year, but like Microsoft they showed a strong commitment to showcasing forthcoming games rather than talking about infrastructures, statistics or other media. Alongside franchise extensions and sequels (God of War, Final Fantasy) we saw more of Horizon: Zero Dawn, a new Quantic Dream game and a number of Playstation VR titles, as well as Kojima’s magnificent stage appearance and new footage from The Last Guardian. Some games such as Nier Automata, Gravity Rush 2 and Persona 5 were notably absent from the conference but new trailers for the former two games emerged outside of the conference and a new P5 reveal may have happened outside of the main conference by the time you read this (if it has, expect a seperate news update shortly.)

E3 2016 shows: Nintendo

E3 2016 shows

When browsing the schedules of the E3 2016 shows I was never in a massive hurry to watch Nintendo’s offering – I haven’t owned a Nintendo system since the original DS and I just don’t enjoy Zelda, Metroid, Smash Bros, Kid Icarus, Pilotwings etc – but they had Zelda, and Pokemon…and Zelda again. Even so, I can’t be too hard on Zelda; the series has gone on for so long and shifted in so many different directions that the Zelda franchise is pretty malleable and can more-or-less pretend to be other games – When reading news about the new Zelda – titled “Breath of the Wild” – I saw opinions online ranging from “Zelda Skyrim” to “Zelda Souls”. And if the game can deliver that kind of gameplay it might attract people who find “traditional” Zelda (whatever that is now) unappealing.

E3 2016 shows: exciting for everyone

I watched the main three E3 2016 shows with the intention of writing some brief general impressions here but I’m not about to provide in-depth speculation over any one title just yet. In short, everyone had various reasons to be excited about gaming’s future. Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft all showed a lot of great games (and in some cases new technology) in their E3 2016 shows and the presenters were all entertaining and put on a good show. Maybe not everyone was happy with the conferences because their most-wanted game didn’t make an appearance, but there is still a lot to look forward to.

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