Site Poll 59 - E3 2017 Discussion

[I_Make_Big_Boom]

Heyy, welcome back to the 343i Community Forum Site Poll! 

 

Yes, a rebrand was in order. I'm unable to craft a Site Poll every week, so they shouldn't have "Weekly" in the title if I can't meet a weekly deadline. I apologize, and hope you guys understand.

 

Anyway, Site Poll 58 - 'Halo Music Tracks' - is here if you'd like to read the responses, or post a late reply.

 

This poll we're unpacking, and discussing intensively about the biggest weeks in gaming...

 

 

 

 

What are your thoughts on E3 2017 now that all the conferences are over? What are your favorite moments? Hated moments? What score would you give to each conference? How does this E3 compare to previous years, and how can it improve moving forward?

 

Also, for those who attended E3 personally can you give a rundown of what you've encountered?

 

 

The next Site Poll will be posted whenever, maybe. Feel free to suggest the topic for the NEXT Site Poll in your response!

 

SD, out!  

[Connor Kenway]

Alright so I haven't watched all conferences (aka just Nintendos I haven't seen)

Bethesda was really weak like it was laughable due to how heavily they are milking Skyrim. 

Playstations conference had audio issues during the Uncharted bit sony's conference wasn't like amazing.

Assassin's Creed Origins Debuting during the Microsoft Conference was a pleasant surprise I was expecting it to be in the Ubisoft one for its debut.

og Xbox Backwards compat has me hopeful that the titles that are BC are purchasable on the store, as in more than what was available digitally on the 360 so for example Star Wars Republic Commando digitally would be amazing.

 

So here's my tiers for E3

1. Ubisoft

2. Microsoft

3. (no one)

4.EA

5. Sony

6. Bethesda

 

In terms of games announced/shown off I am looking forward to several things:

Assassin's Creed Origins (dur)

Metro Exodus

Battlefront II

Destiny 2 

Far Cry 5

Anthem(ish) I want to see more of it before I board the train to hypeville

 

In terms of E3 this year, it did feel alot like last years E3 in terms of well nothing major was announced that hadn't been already leaked such as the og Xbox Backwards Compat announcement and well it wasn't exciting in terms of the way things were presented.

One thing I did notice is after the Sony Conference (the youtube stream) the people they had to "review" it seemed like they'd been paid off it was very interesting "I love how sony proved they're for the players" as if they were reciting lines to a script maybe thats just me but it seemed like it.

[Guts]

The one thing I hate is the extreme bias that has surrounded every conference. For example I've seen people who put Sony as the best conference but as soon as Beyond Good and Evil was announced, Ubisoft won. Even my brother thought Nintendo was the best until the Shadow of the Colossus remaster was shown off. Its one thing that really annoys me. 

 

My list would be:

1. Microsoft
2. Ubisoft/EA//Nintendo
3. Bethesda/Sony

For games this year it would be:

Sea of Thieves

Middle Earth: Shadow of War

Anthem (not too keen as it has a Destiny vibe to it)

Call of Duty: WWII

 

I knew this year was going to be a bit bare in terms of quality games due to the huge amount of games released around last November.  It's really left this year empty. I only rate Microsoft highest as they actually announced/showed off something I cared about. The rest was just either VR nonsense or games that I really have no ounce of interest for.  Bethesda and Sony were lower for that reason as their conferences were a pure waste of time. 

[Halo6 Follower]

I'm absolutely loving that new banner, SD! 

 

As for the actual games themselves, I'm really looking forward to:

 

Shadow of War

Assassin's Creed: Origins

Metro Eodus 

Battlefront II

Destiny 2

And I'll be keeping an eye on Anthem, it looks great now - but with such a limited amount shown it's hard to form an opinion.

 

 

Other than that, this year's E3 was relatively dull. Especially Bethesda's paid mods announcement...Yeah... I don't have high hopes for that. 

[Sikslik7]

Overall, E3 was a lackluster affair. Very few newly announced games caught my interest, and even so were not games I have to play (or feel the need to). That being said, I loved this years E3 because it means that next year's should be even better. In fact, I was hoping E3 was going to be this way. Yes, I, Sikslik7, wanted E3 2017 be to a year of disappointment for new game announcements. Let's jump right in shall we?

 

Let's look at the big upcoming games this Fall:

Destiny 2: Or should I say the $60 DLC pack? After failing to deliver on may promises at launch for the first game, as well as being redone multiple times through DLC, I never wanted to pick up the first game. I may get this just because Bungie finally found a system that worked. That being said, It's a group based game that you have to have others to play with, and many of my friends are sick of Destiny.

Battlefront 2: Looks like a re-skin of the original, with some new maps, and a redesigned perk system. And this time there will be a campaign. Will most likely be dead a few months after release.

Assassins Creed Origins: Similar gameplay as before. I'll just wait six months and get it for over 60% off. It's not like I'm playing it for multiplayer.

Middle-Earth Shadow of War: A game I plan to buy right off the bat. After seeing that Destiny was not going to deliver on many of it's promises three years ago I bought this instead. I never regretted the choice. A solid game, with a good story and DLC. Trailers and gameplay have shown tremendous expansion on ideas in the first game. Should be a good time.

South Park: The Fractured but Whole: I enjoyed the first game a lot. That being said, I can also wait a few months on it, when the price drops.

CoD WWII: Wow, a Call of Duty game I'm actually interested in. I will want to see some more gameplay first, but here goes to going back to it's roots.

Crackdown 3: Whelp, It's been what? Four years now? Hopefully it will be a good game, but there is just a lack of gameplay, and what there is is not very convincing. Right now, It looks like I'll wait on it.

Dishonored: Looks decent, but is also a game series I never got into. I'll pass until it drops price.

Wolfenstein II: Looks good, and looks fun, but is once again a series I never got into. I have a copy of The New Order I should unwrap first.

Super Mario Odyssey: Probably the craziest Mario game I've seen in years. I'll wait until it comes out to decide. As for the other Nintendo games talked about (Kirby, Metroid, Yoshi, etc) it is too early to tell.

Far Cry 5: Looks good, but I should start playing Far Cry games first.

Anthem: Too early to tell.

Skyrim: Wait, this came out six years ago...

 

Now, let's look at DLC and games already out:

Player Unknown Battlegrounds: Coming to Xbox after being a hit on PC. Grab your friends for a real-life Battle Royale.

Minecraft: 4k! Jk, but cross-platform play is finally here! An announcement people have wanted for years.

Elder Scrolls Online: Morrowwind just came out and more to come. The sad news is that ES6 is most likely delayed (but more on that later).

Halo Wars 2: Sad to see the DLC camapign is not the DLC campaign that is part of the Season Pass, but it's nice to see that the DLC is still coming.

XCom 2: See @@RedStarRocket91 as to why this is important.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild: I am simply excited to have more to do and find in that game.

 

Now let's look at other announcements:

Xbox One X: a better console for $500 instead of $300. If you want your games to look nicer, run faster, and have more space for games, it's a good buy, especially if you don't own an Xbox One yet. I could theorectically sell my Xbox One right now and spend about $250 on the upgrade, so it's still cheaper than buying a decent PC, not to mention it's still got my friends and XBL functionality. This is just like the later Xbox 360's, a decent buy for a replacement or an upgrade, nothing more. This is not a "must have console."

Xbox Backwards Compatibility expands: Alright, I am more than excited. MCC is going to get fixed! And when I mean fixed, I mean I can just play the original games!

 

So let's review what we have so far:

 

 

 

 

 

 

So let's review what we have so far:

 

We have a few larger titles and series releasing games, but not anything revolutionary or brand spanking new (in terms of what we know so far). DLC for existing games look pretty good, with some new features that will be nice to see. The Xbox One X and Backwards compatibility are nice features, but is not for everyone. So what did E3 tell us directly this year? New games are just ports of the last version, with some minor editing, and it's the DLC that is going to make a difference. But wait, we have known this about games in recent years! Games come out unpolished, with major bugs and issues, missing content, and it takes months to get fixed through DLC and Microtransactions. But that's not it, right? I mean, there were things we were all expecting to see, right? So I ask you this:

 

What wasn't at E3?

 

And thus we come to the most important part. Many of us were expecting news on the next Elder Scrolls or Fallout game. People were waiting to see Metroid 4, the next Halo game, Gears of War, etc. More than just announcements in most cases. Many people thought we would see a spin-off Halo game, H3A, or even Warden: Infinity Halo. The fact is, we didn't see any of these rumors come to light (well, except for the WIP title for Metroid 4). This is where I was happy with E3. I didn't want another ES, Fallout, or Halo game this year, or at least for the next year. Recently, too many games have been rushed, sold millions, and then were left as broken shells of games, with the content sold in parts or non-existent. To make good games, with the level of content, balancing, quality, and story at launch, they need time. And that's what we were given this year at E3. Time to wait for the next round of games we are always waiting for. We have more time for fixes, for DLC, for playing the games we have now. I can go back and play the games I barely touched (that copy of The New Order for one). We can decide to get a game after seeing it for a few months, and not have to worry about if my friends are playing it with you the entire time before moving onto another game. Gosh, I can even go back and start hunting for achievements. Maybe the game creators finally heard our call: give us complete games at launch, worthwhile patches, and good DLC. Or maybe they want to squeeze us for more microtransactions and crappy DLC and skins. Who knows? But right now, I am looking forward to what news we will see at next year's E3.

 

TL;DR: The new games at E3 are mainly carbon copies of games that we have played before, but we had some good DLC announcements and features. That being said, we also did not see a lot of the game announcement rumors be true (New Halo game, ES6, Gears of War, Fallout, etc). I see the lack of exciting announcements as a good sign that game creators are taking their time and delivering good games.

 

[I_Make_Big_Boom]

My god, so many games. There weren't many bombshells for most people, but for me this year's waay too stacked. RIP everyone's wallets.

 

Each show had its highs and lows with certain conferences being just damned awful. Here are my rundowns and scores (only in order of conference):

 

 

EA:

 

I don't like EA. I hate sports, and they talk waay too long on stage. EA's conferences are usually a borefest, and not worth their salt, but this year was somewhat different. The cringe was at a bare minumum (that beginning drum-roll tho, pls no), and they spoke well enough about their games, definitely not like they were speaking on stage for the first time.

 

A definite improvement from their last few shows, but nothing mindblowing. Sports games are boring, so EA gets a 3.5/10 from me, with 2 points being added because of performance.

 

 

NBA demo deathstare

• After the talky-guy apparently cut off the NBA demo too short, the guy to his left who was explaining the game gave the talky-guy the most angry stare, one which would give Luigi a run for his money. I'm not sure if that's just how his face looks or what, but that was really funny.

A Way Out

• A co-op prison-breakout game where it can ONLY be played in co-op? Where one of the creators themself literally says, on stage, that the preferred way to play this game is couch co-op? Throw in the writer-guy's infectious enthusiasm and investment in his game (EXTREMELY out of place for an EA conference), and you've done sold me.

Anthem (Kinda excited)

• Not much to say here other than that the game looks interesting.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 (Kinda excited)

• The OG Star Wars Battlefront 2 is one of my most beloved games, so this "new" Battlefront 2 has allot to live up to -- which I don't think it will (especially due to Battlefront 1's lackluster performance... the new one, NOT OG). Regardless, I'm willing to give the "remake" a chance.

 

 

Microsoft:

 

I've had a love/hate relationship with Microsoft for a long time now. They've burned me, and for them to regain my trust after all this time is a great task. Unfortunately, they did not regain my trust this year, but my hatred of this dastardly company has simmered down a bit... but not entirely.

 

Like EA, Microsoft's show this year was an improvement over last year, but did not showcase any major exclusives. The strength of this show in comparison to other shows is the sheer amount of games shown, and the so-called 22 exclusives for Xbox One X (with only like 5 of them Phil Spencer noted as receiving some kind of update support, so do only those 5ish games benefit from the One X's power?). One X itself was just barely vindicated in this conference, but not with central games: mostly with the insane launch support of "It plays every Xbox One game, BUT BETTER". Also, OG Xbox Backwards Compatibility. That's nuts. I feel as though One X is going to have better launch support than the PS4 Pro did last year.

 

All in all, a good show. However, starting the show with a friggin' car showcase subtracts an entire point. Also, -.5 points because of the infernal camera continuing to hover around outside of the screen where everything's going on, and also for that bad eSports game with the annoying shoutcaster. 7.6/10.

 

 

OG Xbox Backwards Compatibility

• Do you have ANY IDEA how hype this is? I don't care that they only announced 1 game, this is so hype I feel like I'm going to die. I can imagine it now... me playing Need For Speed: Underground 2 for the first time in like, 10 years...

Assassins Creed Origins (Kinda excited)

• I don't like Assassins Creed one bit, but this year's game has piqued my interest simply because of the time period it's taking place in. Also, that gargantuan cobra-snake-thing? If you could tame that thing, and terrorize the streets... holy crap.

Crackdown 3 (Kinda Excited)

• I've never played Crackdown 1 or 2, but 3 looks kinda interesting. My excitement stems mostly from renowned hype-man Terry Crews, who might actually be in the game as a character.

Dragon Ball FighterZ (Kinda Excited)

• I like Dragonball or however it's supposed to be spelled. I also like that side-scrolling Dragonball beat-em-up I played like 10 years ago at that guys house one time. This new game makes me very nostalgic for that one time, so the hype has been successfully generated. However, Golden Frieza subtracts some of the hype.

Cuphead (Kinda excited)

• This game looks amazing, and has been in the woodwork at Microsoft for some time now. So to finally have a release date is the saving grace for this game, which would've died forever if Microsoft had kept it quiet this year. I'm not entirely sold on the notion of boss-rushes, but the game's stylistic approach pulls me in.

Deep Rock Galactic (Kinda excited)

• A group of space-dwarfs mining their way into some spooky, alien world? Yes.

Sea of Thieves (Kinda excited)

• Buying this would be a sure thing except for the fact that it's online-only: the bane of my existence. At least it's not Skull & Bones, that multiplayer-only game where you're only the pirate ship in a pirate adventure... or lack thereof.

The Last Night

• Looks allot like Blade Runner. The pixely style is also reaaally good. It feels good to know that [email protected]<script data-cfhash='f9e31' type="text/javascript">/* */</script> is continuing to receive this level of support.

Metro Exodus

• Luckily for Microsoft, Metro is one of the few series I'd actually buy based just on principal. So long as they keep the games great they'll have my monies, and Exodus looks awesome, so therefore... yeah.

Super Lucky's Tale

• Looks fun, and very endearing. Microsoft's channeling their inner Nintendo here. Too bad they didn't channel that into a new Banjo-Kazooie game...

 

 

Bethesda:

 

Bethesda's show this year was bizarre, and brandished announcements that boiled the blood of their fans. Although for me it looked allot like gimmick crap, and didn't REALLY make me mad. Most of it doesn't apply to me anyway. Though that like:dislike ratio for the Creation Club trailer is extremely telling...

 

The way they introduced Wolfenstein 2, and The Evil Within 2 was a great disservice to them as important titles in the Bethesda library. No gameplay demos despite both Fallout 4 & Dishonored 2 receiving that treatment in 2015, and 2016? Do they not have as much faith in Wolfenstein & The Evil Within as they did for Fallout & Dishonored, or is this a result of Bethesda trying to unnecessarily trim fat from their conference? The one time they needed gameplay was now, and they failed to offer it in-conference -- especially due to both of these games releasing this year. Speaking of releases, why would they release Wolfenstein on the same day as Super Mario Odyssey? Odysseys' going to devour Wolfenstein unless someone changes the date.

 

And we can't talk this show without mentioning the 3 mentions of Skyrim ports present in 3 different conferences: Switch port for Bethesda, PSVR at Sony, and the Switch port again at Nintendo. Everyone and their mother has played Skyrim by now -- this is pure milking. Can you imagine the amount of money Nintendo had to give Bethesda for them to create an awful looking port for the Switch? Feels like Bethesda's trying to milk the Skyrim cow before Elder Scrolls 6 makes it obsolete.

 

Then we have the length of the show, which is far too short. Bethesda spent some big bucks to have an onstage show outdoors for this? They could've released a Nintendo Direct-like video, and saved everyone the trouble. This is making me question whether or not Bethesda should even have a show at E3 if they're not going to make it worth our while.

 

Dunno what the deal is, so Bethesda's show gets a 5.9/10. -1 point because of Pete Hines' left-field F-bombing after that guy in the Wolfenstein trailer started tripping on something dank.

 

 

Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider (Kinda excited)

• Dishonored 2 is currently stuck in my backlog, so I haven't played it yet. Even so, the new DLC is making a bold statement that makes it hard to not get hyped for.

The Evil Within 2

• The first game was a trip to play through, but not as scary as I thought it would be. Regardless, it was still fun, and the story was enthralling. Fast forward to now for the second game... and it looks genuinely terrifying. The narrative is going haywire, which is amazing, and to top it all off it's releasing on Friday the 13th? In October?! The maniacs!

Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

• 1000% yes. The first game, like The Evil Within, has a great story, but suffers in different area: gameplay. It was ok killing fools with duel-wield machine guns, but the AI was bad, and the environments felt too... shallow. The New Colossus however is lookin' mighty fine, and appears to pack a no-holds-barred story to boot. The one thing that's bugging me though is the name: it's too close to The New Order. Feels like they're playing it safe here.

 

 

Devolver Show?

 

What the hell even was this show? I skipped through most of it because nothing appealed to me at all, so...

 

1/10 with 1 point being there because it looked like something that appeals to my sense of humor. Too bad I skipped through it. This show, even more than Bethesda, was something that could've been a separate announcement video, and not a press conference. The time of many people was wasted that day...

 

 

PC Gaming Show:

 

Like Devolver I skipped through most of it. The only game that stuck out to me was Tunic, so that earns the PC show a 4/10 from me. 2 points being added because of performance, which was actually pretty good.

 

Tunic

• Like Super Lucky's Tale, it's one of those fun & endearing things that will probably reel me in. Looks like a mix between Minecraft & OG Zelda, which is great.

 

Ubisoft:

 

Perhaps the most pleasantly surprising conference of E3 2017, Ubisoft's show was easily the best show of this year's E3 -- with Microsoft being right behind them. The "talkers" expressed an enthusiasm, and love for their games that the games themselves deserved to have, and what they showed was definitely worth the time of those watching. Like EA, I don't really care about Ubisoft, but this year changed my perception of this company. 

 

+1 point for the surprise appearance of Shigeru Miyamoto during the Mario + Rabbids reveal, who came onstage with a blaster alongside Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, and with the former pretending to blast the audience. + 1 more point due to the tears shed from Ubisoft Game-Designer Michel Ancel, the guy who cried onstage post-Beyond Good & Evil 2 reveal. And ANOTHER 1 point for that heartfelt conference-closing group sendoff by all those Ubisoft employees (makes me really sad knowing they might be bought out by those crazy guys at Vivendi).

 

So all in all, Ubisoft gets a 9.3/10 for their conference from yours truly.

 

 

Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle

• Everybody hated this apparent mutant abomination prior to E3, but Ubisoft successfully steered the car back onto the road. The game looks amazing, and manages to respect the Mario series while presenting new mechanics that aren't out of place. With the track record Rabbids have, how could anyone have expected this game to look as good as it is? I used to hate Rabbids, and now I'm starting to think they're alright? WHAT KIND OF BIZARRO UNIVERSE IS THIS?! In tandem with Super Mario Odyssey, Mario may just be the biggest juggernaut in the gaming industry this year.

South Park: The Fractured But Whole

• It's hard to differentiate this from the show, which is a good thing. That just means they got it right, right? With how Stick of Truth performed, TFBW (I'm abbreviating the subtitle) is almost assuredly a sure-thing.

Beyond Good & Evil 2

• There's nothing I can say about this other than that it looks amazing. From what the CGI trailer revealed, the game bleeds personality. When the game gets a gameplay demo, and it looks good I may go back and play the first game, which I've never played.

Far Cry 5 (Kinda excited)

• I don't really like Far Cry, but 5 looks interesting enough.

Transference

• Appears to have an enthralling, and complex narrative worth my investment. The only thing that makes me worry is that it's a VR "experience", whatever that's supposed to mean.

 

 

Sony:

 

It's hard to believe this came from the same company who did the legendary conference from last year. The show was hella jank, and presented really bad trailers for games that shouldn't be treated this way: primarily the titles in-bed with Sony exclusive-content-wise.

 

I've seen quite a few people say that Bethesda was out of touch this year, but I'd argue that Sony deserved that sentiment more. Why kick out Crash, Ni no Kuni, and Undertale for pre-conference coverage? Ni no Kuni in particular was very deserving of a presence in-conference, but yet Sony felt that a pre-show announcement where not as many eyes are watching would work better... This is almost as bad as what Nintendo did, but that's saved for last.

 

This must be an off-year for them or something. -1 point because of that dumb sitar intro segment for Uncharted. I'll forgive God of War for doing it simply because that was friggin' awesome, and very appropriate. -.5  points for those actor guys hanging from poles during the Days Gone demo. ANOTHER -1 point because of the glitchy, skipping video feed, and the freakin' continuation of the camera zooming out, and not switching to the big screen where... you know... we want to see what's going on full-screen? Why must they torment us like this? The one thing keeping this conference above water is the greatness of the big-boy games.

 

So there you have it, 6/10.

 

 

Pre-Show (Why do this?):

 

Crash Bandicoot: N'Sane Trilogy

• I'm a simple man. When I see Crash, I go bonkers. The games look good, and I'm excited to relive some cherished memories.

Ni no Kuni 2: Revenant Kingdom

• All I want is to be in a Studio Ghibli film, and Ni no Kuni is the next best thing, so therefore it's already great. Game looks good, story looks good, all of it looks good. Please be excited.

Undertale (Kinda excited)

• My love for this game is indescribable. It's that important to me.  I'm not entirely keen on playing it on a PS4, but anything Undertale makes me hopeful for something new down the line.

 

On-Show:

 

Call of Duty: World War 2 (Kinda excited)

• I like World War 2. What I don't really like is CoD, at least the new future-based installments. Diverging from the crazy aesthetic is the best thing that can happen to this franchise right now, and it makes me hopeful that a return to CoD's roots will be what revitalizes my interest in the series. However, I hope that stopping the future-train now isn't too little too late.

Days Gone (Kinda excited)

• I've played far too many zombie games by this point, but yet I'm still able to feel excited for new games in that genre. Days Gone looks like The Last of Us meets Red Dead Redemption (lookin' like a sequel to Undead Nightmare), so that's clearly one of the hypest things anyone can think of at this moment. Yes, that includes you. Also, the main character, Deacon, is a total prick, which is a really bold thing to do: having a main character that the player may dislike from the get-go.

Detroit: Become Human

• Branching narratives are one of my favorite kinds of story, and Detroit: Become Human showcases this in spades. If my choices matter as much as Quantic Dream's telling me they do then they definitely got me.

God of War

• Exploring Kratos' persona is a very intriguing thing to do after he went ape-crazy against the gods in the previous games. Also, Jormungandr hype.

Shadow of the Colossus

• I've heard allot of good things about the original, and the fact that the same people who made The Last Guardian - a REALLY good game - also made Shadow of the Colossus makes me excited to see an updated version of SOTC post-The Last Guardian. The thing that sticks out to me about Team Ico's games, and is something that draws me to them, is their vibes: grand in scale, and drenched in a thick atmosphere. Anyway, hopefully the cut Colossi are added back into the remake.

Spider-Man

• Looks like Batman: Arkham, but with a bigger map, and Batman being replaced with Spider-Man. That's hype.

 

 

Nintendo:

 

Nintendo is peculiar. One minute they're on-point, and the next they're doing the exact opposite of what everyone wants them to do. Cryptic-ality aside, this "conference" was saturated with too much filler, and not enough killer.

 

We saw, once again, the Skyrim Switch port... this being the third time Skyrim was shown at E3. Everyone was preparing for their heart to drop upon seeing a Skyrim Amiibo, but luckily one wasn't shown... at least not at E3, anyway. Like I said before, game looks bad, and they need to stop acting like Skyrim's such a big deal that it deserves a spot at press conferences 4 years after Bethesda stopped making substantial content for the game.

 

An obvious response to the backlash from the Pokken Tournament DX & Ultra Sun & Moon announcement prior to E3, the Pokemon Company's Tsunekazu Ishihara appeared in the conference to announce that they are indeed working on a Pokemon RPG for the Switch: a successor to Sun & Moon. However... nothing was shown of this sequel. Not even a name was given. This is clearly meant to quell the angry fans, and if not for these fans Nintendo would not have mentioned the game at all this year.

 

They did the same thing for Metroid, but actually had a title for the game: Metroid Prime 4. Apparently this is only a placeholder title, which begs the question... did they only call it Prime 4 because they believe most people know Metroid from the Prime games? Speculation aside, the announcement, for me, made me 50% angry. The other 50% is freakin' hyped that they used the OG Title Screen music from the first Prime in the trailer. However, what's extremely confusing is that a 3DS game, a remake of Metroid 2: The Return of Samus redubbed 'Metroid: Samus Returns', wasn't announced in the conference. It was revealed in coverage post-show... Granted, Nintendo made it clear that they wanted to focus on the Switch this year, but to kick out a substantial announcement that NEEDED to be in the show is a major misstep. Not to mention that the official remake of Metroid 2 looks worse than AM2R, the unofficial fan-game remake that was squashed by Nintendo in 2016.

 

The thing that saved this show was Super Mario Odyssey, which managed to surprise everyone with the reveal that Mario's hat-creature-thing can take control of other lifeforms, and inanimate objects: including a freakin' T-Rex.

 

Ninty gets -1 point for unnecessary filler, like Reggie Fils-Aime monologuing for too long in a show only 25 minutes long (trying to fill that downtime, I see?). Another -1 point for announcing Metroid: Samus Returns after the conference, where most of the people have already stopped watching. And finally, +1 point for that insane Super Mario Odyssey trailer. So in total, they got a 5.2/10 from me, Mr. Points.

 

 

Kirby (Kinda excited)

• I haven't played a Kirby game in a long time, and that one game I played was really fun. This looks like it'll be fun too, but I'm keeping myself reserved for now.

Pokemon "Stars"?

• The game that SHOULD'VE been in the place of Ultra Sun & Moon, Stars has me hyped. But because of the existence of Ultra Sun & Moon, it's making me both angry and disappointed because of how out of touch Nintendo is. Hopefully Stars, or whatever it's going to be called, pulls through.

Metroid Prime 4

• Same as with Kirby, I haven't played a Metroid game since at least OG Prime on a demo disk on the Gamecube. Even so, I still remember quite a bit, and the first game was really fun. If they can manage to create a worthy successor to the original Prime I'll be satisfied. If Prime 4 is Other M all over again... I dunno. I can't care about things that make me angry all the time - things I can't control - or it'll affect my psyche.

Super Mario Odyssey

• You can throw your hat at a civilian in New Donk City, and control them. Same game where you can take control of an overly realistic T-Rex, and morph into a classic, pixelated version of Mario where you "platform" in an OG Mario-style along a structure. What monstrosity have Nintendo released upon the world?

After-Show (WTH?!):

 

Metroid: Samus Returns

• Despite my misgivings, the game looks cool enough -- I'll forgive the low-poly aesthetic as a restriction given the platform this game is on. The only thing that's concerning is whether or not you can spam the deflect action the entire game.