My quick thoughts on E3 Day 1

Another summer is upon us and in Los Angeles another Electronic Entertainment Expo is in progress, highlighting many of the industry giants and their products.

We certainly have a lot of sequels and clones that look to have cost millions upon millions of dollars. The sad fact is that most of these games will lose money, people will subsequently lose their jobs, and publishers will be more risk adverse than they already are. The mainstream of our industry continue to overlook what makes our medium special, and thus are doomed to keep trying to ape WoW or continue to churn out brown shooters.

I am always a little disappointed while watching the coverage every year because it proves to me that the American video game industry of today is a lot like the American car industry of the 70's and early 80's...

Our industry seems to think it can tell us what we want while studios fold, profits plummet, and there are record layoff's everywhere.

Of course I don't really worry because most of my favorite studios make plenty of money, have solid economic models, and make games that real people will continue to pay for because they have earned our money, but lets take a quick look at some of what day 1 has brought to us.

Microsoft seems to be convinced that the Kinect is the way of the future and why not? They seem to have hit their American and European sales goals, and hardware has done reasonably well. The biggest problem is, however, is the sustainability of the Kinect market. The reason the Wii has done so well is not the motion control gimick, it's the strong 1st party support. I am certainly not a fan of pretty much anything Nintendo has done in the last 12 or so years, but they give the masses the sequels, mini-game collections, and rehashes that the drooling masses seem to want. Microsoft does not have that acumen (read Mario, Zelda, etc) to fall back on. They are putting a lot of egg's in one basket and when the snakes are no longer charmed by the motion controller tune (and people get sick of Dance Central like they've gotten sick of Guitar Hero) we will see the ugly bite of market drop-off.

Sony has done nothing but apologize, but words mean very little. What are you going to do Sony? Give people Infamous when most people who want to play it A: already have it and B: there is a sequel due to release soon? Super lame. Give people some of their money back and hope they will give you the opportunity to earn more of it. Show us what you got. So far, despite being a "hardcore" gamer and having plenty of disposable income for such devices, I do not own a Playstation because you haven't given me a reason to own it along side my PC and Xbox. Here's your chance.

BioWare proves again that they have the best cinematics department in all the world with another trailer for their upcoming MMO The Old Republic. Seriously take the next 6ish minutes of your life to watch this. If you already did watch it again:



Seriously, how amazing does that look? If there was 2 hours of that I would see it over and over in the theater. That, as a movie, looks amazing. My fear is the same as that for Dead Island; will the gameplay live up to the cinematic? Only time will tell but BioWare has recently left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Skyrim gameplay trailer looks amazing as well, but for a different reason. This is the actual game. The graphics, the mechanics, and the world all look amazing. Bethesda may not release the most polished games, but they are big, beautiful, and just damn fun. Lets watch!



300 hours? Really? I believe it as I believe that they will be 300 quality hours that are all lots of fun. Bethesda has a habit of making more game then they need to; they always not only meet the minimum requirements for demanding $60 of our money but continue to always provide new experiences, rich lore, new worlds, and spend the time and money to create a product that is truly special. Something that isn't rushed, mimiced, or reactionary to trends pencil pushers think are profitable. They don't see whats popular, they decide it through hard work and artisan like craft.

Bethesda always strive to make the biggest, most amazing RPG's they possibly can and that's why they sell millions of copies.

Side note, have you ever noticed how all great western RPG's have flower picking mechanics? Think about it...... =D

There is a lot more complaining to do, but I have will have plenty of time and plenty of fodder as the expo progresses. More will come in the following days! Certainly a lot to talk about!!