Forget the nuances of preference and the pointlessness of starkly dividing subjective events into overly-simple categories. E3 demands winners and losers, so it is glory and blood that it shall receive.
Day Zero, so called because the show doesnât actually begin until June 10 (there were only press conferences today, the showroom floor was closed), got off to a slow start before quite the ending. In between there were ups and downs. Here is what the Emperor Lucius The Indifferent thinks at the end of the dayâs events.
LOSERS
STAR WARS & MASS EFFECT
If you donât have anything constructive to show, donât show anything at all. Such vague, early glimpses give fans so little of what they actually want to know that theyâre cause for more frustration than excitement.
SONY (THE FINAL THIRD)
Sonyâs press conference started so well, and ended on a pretty cool note too. So many games! Vita TV! Then came the numbers. And the TV shows. Nobody wants to hear about either of those things. This is a place for spectacle, not business recaps
FUCKINâ PRESS CONFERENCES
This one stings a little, since sheâs so enthusiastic and for the most part does such a fantastically composed job of hosting. But at the risk of sounding like my Dad, did Aisha Tyler really need to go dropping so many Fucks and Shits into proceedings? It wasnât offensive, justâŠit felt off.
WINNERS
SUNSET OVERDRIVE
We havenât seen a game like this since the Dreamcast. And I mean that in the nicest way possible. Was the one real highlight of Microsoftâs presser.
SONY (THE REST OF IT)
When your press conference can span a HD remake of Grim Fandango, Uncharted 4 and the show-stopping No Manâs Sky, you have had an excellent press conference.
FAR CRY 4
Iâd like to think by now that weâve all learned not to trust Ubisoftâs video demonstrations, even when they appear to be 100% gameplay. Still. If the prospect of flying through the Himalayas in a wingsuit and elephants blowing up jeeps leaves you cold, then I feel deeply sorry for you.
NO MANâS SKY
If youâd asked me in 1994 what my dream game was, it would have sounded a lot like No Manâs Sky. Would have looked a lot like it, too. Video games can be wonderful for so many reasons, but seeing a dream on the verge of becoming a reality is right up there with the best of them.
TWO TRAILERS
I know, theyâre just cinematic trailers and have little to do with the games weâll actually be playing, but Iâve long argued that this is irrelevant to our ability to enjoy them as, essentially, short films. We saw two excellent clips today, one at each end of the emotional spectrum: The Divisionâs went for the heartstrings, while Dead Island 2âs went for a more light-hearted approach to the zombie apocalypse than its predecessor.
LET THEM EAT CROWDS
The first (and one of the only) games last-gen to feel truly unique and modern was Dead Rising, and that was because of the crowds. So itâs somewhat fitting that one of the first true next-gen games we saw this year â Assassinâs Creed Unity â wowed me for the same reason. While much of its gameplay demonstration was familiar to fans of the series, the sense of scale the large crowd sections provided was breathtaking.
Note that while my judgement on these matters is final, I am open to passing sentence on more topics (and adding them to this list) should they be raised in the comments section below.
