E3 Expo 2012

[Jobydrone]

The biggest trade show for video games, consoles, and software developers starts today and goes all week.  There will certainly be all kinds of brand new, exciting announcements regarding the next year or more of releases, and maybe even some tidbits of information dropped about Sony and Microsoft's plans for the next generation of home consoles.  Sony and Microsoft hold their big conferences today, along with two of the bigger publishers EA and Ubisoft.  Expect lots of news and information to break today.  Nintendo is tomorrow, and they've promised to focus most of their conference on new software for the Wii U, given that much of the information about the console iteself has already been released.  Maybe we'll get a firm release date as well.

I know I'm most excited to get some information about Sony's plans and new announcements for their support of the Playstation Vita.  I've enjoyed what I've played so far, but beyond the initial launch titles there's been little to no word about anything new or exciting for this handheld device.  What I really want/need for the system is a vast open world "western style" RPG along the lines of Skyrim.  I'm expecting ports of some of the bigger games due out in the next year or so, like GTA 5, Call of Duty Black OPs 2, etc and given how much I enjoy playing on my consoles I'm not sure how motivated I'd be to buy a game twice to play it on the go.  We'll see.

Is anyone here excited to see what's in store in the world of video games for the next year? 

[Jobydrone]

Here's one exciting rumor we might hear more about today:

Sony is reportedly partnering with one of the major cloud based gaming services (either Galkai or OnLive) to start streaming classic Playstation and Playstation 2 titles to their devices.  This could be a huge announcement, as the Sony back catalogue has long been one of their defining features and strengths, and having an on demand library of even a small selection of those games could be a huge boon for the company.  Here's a link to the full story:

http://www.theverge.com/gaming/2012/6/1/3057873/report-sony-and-gaikai-partner-to-stream-playstation-games-from-the

Sony is rumored to have partnered with cloud-based gaming service Gaikai to bring its back catalog of PSone and PlayStation 2 games to devices that could include the PlayStation 3 and beyond.

That could mean the return of backwards compatibility for PS2 games on the PS3 and potentially bring PlayStation content to a broad range of devices.

Earlier this week, VG247 reported that Sony would be announcing a deal with one of the major cloud-based gaming services at E3 2012. MCV then reported that Sony was in the process of acquiring either Gaikai or OnLive. GamesIndustry International offered its own take on the rumor, reporting that the deal was struck in order to bring streaming PlayStation 2 and PSone games to "current-generation hardware."

Gaikai currently has deals in place with publishers like Electronic Arts, Capcom, Ubisoft, THQ and others to bring streaming PC titles to multiple devices. The cloud-based gaming service has partnerships with YouTube, LG and Facebook to allow streaming on those hardware and software platforms.

A partnership between Gaikai and Sony could potentially bring older PlayStation titles to PS3, Vita and other Sony platforms. Sony currently offers select PSone and PS2 games for download via its PlayStation Store.

When contacted, a representative for Gaikai had no comment on the reports.

Sony will hold its PlayStation media briefing on Monday, June 4th at 6 p.m. PT. E3 2012 officially kicks off Tuesday, June 5th.

[Jobydrone]

Here's a Playstation 3 exclusive that is a must buy for me, releasing in January 2013.  It's Ni No Kuni, a Japanese role playing game that partners Namco/Bandai, a company responsible for most of the classic arcade games from the 1980s that you can name off of the top of your head, and Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animators responsible for wonderful films such as Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, and My Neighbor Totoro.  Check out this trailer, and look at the animation in this game.  I can't wait for this one.

http://youtu.be/4MznAY8Es5c

[Jobydrone]

Microsoft's press conference just ended.  Very little interesting or exciting coming for what is probably the last major year of development for the Xbox 360.  Interestingly, and perhaps due to MS's pretty obvious desire for the Xbox to be more than a gaming device and to function as the media hub in your entertainment center, the major announcements for the Xbox 360 were NOT really related to gaming.

The major announcement was Microsoft "Smartglass" technology.  It's basically an app that will run on iOS, Android, and Win 8 mobile devices, that functions as a remote and secondary screen that offers information and input on content being viewed on your main screen.  An example that was given, if you're watching Game of Thrones through the HBO Go app on Xbox, you can use your tablet to display interactive content based on the stuff you're seeing in the show.  Pretty interesting and on the gaming side it kind of seems to mirror Nintendo's ideas for the Wii U tablet controller for their new console.

The other major news, if you want to call it that..is Web TV is coming to an Xbox 360 near you!  That's right, Internet Explorer will finally be an app available through your 360, an will integrate with your tablet through Smartglass.  Not exactly sure why this wasn't available at launch, but okay...PS3 has had web browsing since day one and it's basically unusable.  Maybe tablet integration will improve the experience.  I can see it happening.

As far as gaming goes, they showed some trailers for games like Call of Duty, Halo 4, a new Splinter Cell, Tomb Raider, Madden, FIFA, Forza...nothing new or unexpected.  Alot of Kinect support in almost all those titles.  Xbox is getting alot more "appy" and alot less "gamey".  Not sure how I feel about that.

[billybob476]

Yeah, can't say I was blown away by any of the announcements. The smartglass thing reminds me of Windows SideShow that never really took off.

[Jobydrone]

Yeah, can't say I was blown away by any of the announcements. The smartglass thing reminds me of Windows SideShow that never really took off.

Plus it might be kind of difficult to operate a controller, manipulate a tablet, and at the same time try to play a game.

[Jobydrone]

These posts don't seem to be garnering much interest so I guess I'll keep my excitement to myself the rest of the week.  I'll just say Sony's press conference was much more lively than Microsoft, with a focus on exclusive titles like "The Last of Us", a zombie apocalypse survival horror game from the makers of the Uncharted series, and "Beyond", publisher Quantic Dream's follow up to the great game Heavy Rain and stars Ellen Page from the film Juno as the game's protagonist, a girl with telekinetic powers on the run from mysterious factions.  Not much Vita news unfortunately.

One interesting tidbit from the EA press conference is that Star Wars TOR is going free to play for the first 15 levels.  Can totally free be very far behind?  Time will tell.

[X]

I'm enjoying the update, but I have yet to comment as I process all the news.

[Jobydrone]

Thanks Chris, glad to know someone was enjoying!

[KingIsaacLinksr]

I can't really comment because its all focused on consoles, PCs get the cold shoulder at events like E3.

King

[Jobydrone]

What, the Ubisoft press conference didn't make you fall in love all over again Tim?

[billybob476]

SimCity got me excited, always online DRM or not.

SimCity E3 Gameplay Trailer

[KingIsaacLinksr]

What, the Ubisoft press conference didn't make you fall in love all over again Tim?

Haha...ha...no...  I haven't been interested in Assassin's Creed (aka the one-man army ;)) since 2. And well, my thoughts on Ubisoft are not generally positive....

Ok, cold shoulder might have been too harsh to describe E3's treatment of PC. But it's obvious the focus is on consoles, and not the PC. I'm not all that envious of console users either, especially after all the exclusive DLC announcements made at E3, geez.

King

[KingIsaacLinksr]

Also: >please insert entire Diablo 3 argument from the other thread, put it here, and replace any mention of Diablo with SimCity and that sums up my thoughts on the new SimCity game.<

Thought I'd spare everyone another DRM argument ;)

King

[jedijeff]

SimCity got me excited, always online DRM or not.

SimCity E3 Gameplay Trailer

I have to say, watching the Trailer and after listening to your Podcast on SimCity, I am pretty excited for this one.