E3 2014 Thoughts

Let's get right to it shall we?

Microsoft:

The overall conference was predictable but content in regards to focusing entirely onto the video games instead of sales or other distractions. Many ones were already known and practically Microsoft didn't had any surprises, but Sunset Overdrive seems to be standing out in regards to style and presentation.

The biggest dissapointment with Microsoft was how Conker suddenly appeared at the end of Project Spark in order to tease a potential new Bad Fur Day, but instead he confirmed to be some kind of DLC for that project instead. What a let down, and an insult to Rare fans.

But, this was definitely a step-up and a proper E3 show.

Electronic Arts:

This was the most cringy, terrible and dissapointing one. Electronic Arts constantly used the "epic approach" towards ANY game they were showing us, including all of the regular yearly sports games, in order to bring the message that it's cool to take video games seriously.

Aside from the dozen sports and shooters, I only truly paid attention when the focus was onto the next Mass Effect, too bad they didn't had a true announcement regarding that.

Ubisoft:

Above average, with a few surprises and enough diversity. Fallout 4 and Assassin's Creed Unity are the usual suspects and easily the highlight of this conference for me. The Girlwood girl from last year returned to satisfy the meme users, and I felt that this show was the most balanced in overall.

I just can't believe how Ubisoft has screwed over the Wii U once again with bringing Watch Dogs later to it, as they previously kind of similarily did with Rayman Legends.

Sony:

Destiny continues to look promising, The Order 1886 at first looked like a new Resident Evil game, and Little Big Planet 3 is a cool announcement! Bloodborne, or Project Beast is definitely from From Software but not sure how it will differentiate yet from her previous franchises and not just talking about the Souls games then, but King's Field too.

Dead Island 2 had a funny zombie trailer, Magicka 2 also had a funny one, I never was aware of the first title. Let it Die latest Grasshopper Manufacture IP seems to be more of the same they have been releasing over the years.

No Man's Sky looked refreshing, and Project Morpheus seems compelling to keep looking out for. PlayStation TV is interesting for it's backwards compatibility potential. Mortal Kombat X gameplay looked familiar and exciting.

Arkham Knight looks great, larger world, Batmobile, badass Scarecrow. And Uncharted 4 A Thief's End is great to finish off Sony's incredible conference. The Last Guardian however continues to be the new Duke Nukem Forever in regards to overall status.

Konami:

It seems that Konami's conference did not happen as previously scheduled.

There are many multiplatform titles obviously being announced and portrayed as well, but
MGSV: The Phantom Pain's new trailer in particular looked good.

It was not so shocking or disturbing as Kojima hinted, but once again did many scenes inside make no sense, leaving it all for speculative interpretations. And the more I rewatch it, the more I'm starting to like it on par with the previous E3 trailer of The Phantom Pain.

Nintendo:

Many titles were already shown last year at this E3, and they all continue to look good, but new ones such as Splatoon made sure that Nintendo continues to try new ideas. The Amiibo project with the figurines is a new interesting addition towards the market, and is filled with potential.

There is much more to cover actually, as Nintendo is also hosting a Treehouse special event with interactive live demo's present while developers accompany players and press with their upcoming projects.

The Super Smash Bros. Invitational had an amazing show and it exceeded expectations. The tournament was well run and the matches were exciting to follow with the crazy gameplay, announcers and so on.

Splatoon is an interesting original take on the third person shooter genre, where ink and squid transportation are key features for differentiating from the rest. All of the major upcoming titles such as Xenoblade Chronicles X, Bayonetta 2(first Bayo is included), Zelda U and Smash looked great.

The Smash Bros. reveals weren't really surprises as Pac-Man, Palutena and Mii were heavily hinted at, but I'm still glad they got in for iconic, feminine and casual reasons. There hasn't been a huge surprise regarding games as I type this, but Star Fox for Wii U IS confirmed, there just isn't a trailer available.

The Treehouse event on all days was entertaining and gave outside viewers like me an inside look into pretty much all of Nintendo's announced and upcoming games. Project Giant Robot, Guard and S.T.E.A.M. made sure alongside Splatoon that Nintendo continues to be trying to innovate.

The overall presentation E32014 is once again solid like last year, but not much new IP's in general when speaking of all developers and publishers. I was excited, entertained and hyped for the overall show, and I am content with what was shown.

Now we can game on as the releases have been announced for the majority coming in the holiday of 2014 or the first quarter of 2015.