[:plant:] E3 2013: "Xbox, turn on PS4 so I can actually play games"

It's that time of year again. For us to watch the painfully bad Press Conferences and to see games that will either bring us to tears that they were so bad, or move us to tears that they are so good.

To start off the thread, let's look at a few upcoming games:

DuckTales Remastered: Side-by-Side Comparison Amazon Level

(Good to hear Alan Young reprising Scrooge) Game looks amazing.

Halo Spartan Assault Trailer

(Could be best game on Earth, why lie?)

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain

Arkham Origins Trailer

That's just a taste. Post things you're looking forward to and discussion on the PS4 and Xbox ONE (I suppose also on the Wii Umad) over the next while for upcoming gaming goodness.

How ya doing, buddy?

Spartan Assault is Microsoft's attempt to get anyone interested in Windows Phone. And maybe I'll care about Phantom Pain when we see something substantive about the gameplay besides writhing on hospital floors.

Supposedly Nintendo is recalling the Wii U Basic during the middle of the month. Potentially eliminating that model and dropping the price of the Deluxe. Would be something they would talk about at their special E3 Nintendo Direct. If so, bring on the Wii U Ambassadorship. I'll take free games for a console that I have (inexplicably) been very happy with so far.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I'm not holding my breath for a Wii U ambassador program, but if one happens it would be pretty sweet. Not sure what games they'd give out, though - the Virtual Console list of games is still pretty small.

Honestly, the only things i'll really be interested in are waiting to see if we get Layton vs. Wright localized sometime this year, maybe a new Kingdom Hearts game, and keep an eye out for cool new IPs. Since i have no intention of getting a PS4 or an Xbone at or anywhere near launch, i'm hoping to see some good support for the PC.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Scent of a Grundle

Not sure what games they'd give out, though - the Virtual Console list of games is still pretty small.

Kind of moot since the whole point of the 3DS Ambassador program was that we were getting new Virtual Console games for free before they even hit the Shop (if at all).

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

If we get Layton vs Wright localized, then it will probably be like what they are doing with PW5. Phoenix Wright 5: Dual Destinies is being released, however Capcom has decided that it will sell better as a "Digital Download Only" model and will not be releasing a physical copy (unless that has miraculously changed in the past few days). The rage is already in full force on the Capcom forums with one of their employees saying we have an "unfounded fear of the eShop".

It's a catch 22. You can either vote with your wallet and not buy the game because it's digital download only and be the reason they won't release any more games of the series in the future, or you can buy the digital download and Capcom sees that sales are good enough to continue releasing the games as DD only and never releasing another physical copy of the series again.

Phoenix Wright 5: Dual Destinies english trailer

I was speaking idiomatically.

Lol at Halo on mobile phones. If what would once upon a time have been a Live Arcade game is the most exciting thing coming out of Microsoft studios this year, they better hope there's a ton of people who don't already own a laptop with an HDMI output who are looking for a way to watch tv online or else sales of the ONE are going to be laughable.

All the games I might once have been looking forward to have been shelved or never even got off the ground. Rainbow 6 got canned, Konami seem almost ashamed of the Suikoden series now, Sacred 3 looks like being some kind of horrific "YOU MUST PLAY WITH STRANGERS" perma-online effort so not holding out much hope for that any more and there wasn't really anything else exciting on the way anyway.

It's not a great sign when the only game I'm vaguely looking forward to this year is GTA.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's official: The next Super Smash Bros. will be shown off at Nintendo Direct E3 in a little less than five days. Copy and paste that bitch into Google Translate if you're unsure.

One thing to look forward to, at least. So now to reignite years-long speculation on what third-party characters will make it in.

FELIPE NO

Xbox One Always Online and Used games explained

LOL @ having to stay connected. I only hope Sony doesn't fuck up this bad with PS4.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss

It's not a great sign when the only game I'm vaguely looking forward to this year is GTA.

Dat AAA or nothin' business model.

On the other side of the same shithouse coin, we have SE making Final Fantasy Tactics Social games.

Truly the worst gen leading into an even worse gen.

And the quadruple will have the same measures as the Xbone, no doubt. Only it won't be "mandatory".

I somehow imagine a lot of publishers will use the systems and tools available to them, though.

That one time transfer is some bulllllllllllshit too. Holy fucking christ.

At least the PS4 plays PS2* games!

PS2 as in Planetside 2.

Most amazing jew boots

I only ever buy used games and I often lend or borrow the ones I own. I've never played a Call of Duty game and have only ever bought one EA Sports title.

I guess Xbox One isn't for me.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Fluffykitten McGrundlepuss

Konami seem almost ashamed of the Suikoden series now

I will eat my hat if they ever announce a new numbered Suikoden, and to be honest I wouldn't be hugely shocked if we never saw another game period. Konami has admitted that the team that made the original games were broken up years ago, and I recall someone there saying that they "don't know how to make RPGs anymore," which has required them to hire outside teams to work on their projects.

Konami's business is surprisingly diverse outside of video gaming, and they honestly seem uninterested in expanding much beyond their core franchises (Metal Gear, Castlevania, Yu-Gi-Oh!; two of which have seen recent games outsourced). And with its sales consistently middling, it's a really bad situation for Suikoden to be in.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

The head guy responsible for the story and direction of the Suikoden games left partway through development on Suikoden 3; it's why everything after that was either a prequel or other dimension bullshit. Unless they get him back I don't want a Suikoden 6, because I'm confident they'll fuck it up. Hell, they'd probably fuck it up anyway, but I'd at least be willing to give it a shot if he came back I guess.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by SailorDaravon

The head guy responsible for the story and direction of the Suikoden games left partway through development on Suikoden 3; it's why everything after that was either a prequel or other dimension bullshit. Unless they get him back I don't want a Suikoden 6, because I'm confident they'll fuck it up. Hell, they'd probably fuck it up anyway, but I'd at least be willing to give it a shot if he came back I guess.

Yoshitaka Murayama, and he actually left very late into development of Suikoden III (possibly under more amicable circumstances than originally believed). He's actually been out of the video game industry for a while as far as anyone can tell; he started a company called Blue Moon Studio and did a game called 10,000 Bullets for PS2, and that was about it. Pretty much been off the radar since. He seems like (a far less important) Shigesato Itoi, in the sense that video games were just a medium for him to tell a story. But for him, when it became too difficult to use it as a medium, he stopped telling stories that way. It's a shame.

Suikoden V did try its hand at an intricate story (tying in to Suikoden II and even Suikogaiden at one point), and got it done... acceptably. I wouldn't be against Suikoden VI, but they seem to insist that the only way to get new fans is to free themselves of the tremendous amount of background history. Which reminds me, I still need to buy the Gensou Suikoden Encyclopedia. I wonder if they've updated it recently?

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Final Fantasy Phoneteen

Yoshitaka Murayama, and he actually left very late into development of Suikoden III (possibly under more amicable circumstances than originally believed). He's actually been out of the video game industry for a while as far as anyone can tell; he started a company called Blue Moon Studio and did a game called 10,000 Bullets for PS2, and that was about it. Pretty much been off the radar since. He seems like (a far less important) Shigesato Itoi, in the sense that video games were just a medium for him to tell a story. But for him, when it became too difficult to use it as a medium, he stopped telling stories that way. It's a shame.

Suikoden V did try its hand at an intricate story (tying in to Suikoden II and even Suikogaiden at one point), and got it done... acceptably. I wouldn't be against Suikoden VI, but they seem to insist that the only way to get new fans is to free themselves of the tremendous amount of background history. Which reminds me, I still need to buy the Gensou Suikoden Encyclopedia. I wonder if they've updated it recently?

Have you considered sucking all the dicks?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Watch Dogs Exposed E3 '13 trailer

How ya doing, buddy?

So the TVBox One is out in November for £430/$500. That suggests there's just the one model getting launched.

Most amazing jew boots

Halo 5

Megazeal approved.

How ya doing, buddy?

I still have little to no confidence in 343 as far as the gameplay/MP goes, but they HAVE said that Halo 5 will be 60 fps and have dedicated servers which I have to say is fucking crazy, so I'm curious how that will work out.

My thoughts on the Microsoft event:

-MGSV: typical Kojima madness.

-Xbox Mini: Given that this isn't the rumored cheap add-on to the X1 to play 360 games, I have zero idea why this exists as it's only a bit smaller, and IS THE SAME GODDAMN PRICE. Baffling.

-Ryse: Saving Private Ryan in Rome. Looked good graphically, but QTE as hell, and the violence I think was actually too over the top. Most of the chatter I've seen about the game was people remarking on how it was actually too violent for them.

-Battlefield 4: Looked good, although I like how the back button on a keyboard was in the top corner the whole time, good job guys. Also no one cares about your single-player campaign in Battlfield, pls stop trying.

-Dark Souls II: FUCK YES. But a 360/PS3 game anyway.

-Witcher 3: ALSO FUCK YES. But getting on PS4, or hopefully/maybe PC if we have a better one at that point anyway.

-Forza 5, Quantum Break, Project Spark, World of Tanks: Don't care.

-Below: Potentially neat, need more info.

-Crimson Dragon: WHERE'S THE AUDIO? Also looks neat, but I have zero nostalgia or history with Panzer Dragoon, so this doesn't really do anything for me at this point.

-D4: I'm not gonna lie, it's Swery65 so I am excited.

-Dead Rising 3: Looks good, but also don't have any fondness for the previous games. Also seems like a bit of a departure from the previous games (not as "goofy").

-Titanfall: I'm not gonna lie, this looks like the only thing that even has me remotely considering an X1 in the first year or two. The people behind MW1/2 + scifi + fast paced mech gameplay = FUCK YES. My only concern right now is that the 360 version is being done by someone else, which I respect from the developer perspective on focusing on the primary (X1) version, but has me a bit worried about the 360 port. If the 360 port is good though then that's a moot point and the X1 can continue to fuck itself.

-Halo 5: YO WHY DO YOU HAVE A CLOAK ON YOU'RE IN FUCKING ARMOR. Also Halo 4 was a shitshow campaign and multiplayer-wise, and continues to be so. I have zero faith in 343 at this point, but I want to believe so if the game actually comes out and is received well I'm on board. I will not buy any pre-release bullshit they try to sell though, and since Halo 4 reviewed well I can't trust those either, so I'll have to see how it turns out. It's not like I want Halo to be shit now, so holding out a bit of hope here. They did say that will be 60 FPS (I'm assuming this is Campaign?) and have dedicated servers, both of which are insane so I am curious how that turns out.

-Killer Instict: "We listened!" TO WHO? I have to admit the announcer made me laugh out loud, but I have no nostalgia for KI really. Also it's being made by Double Helix, every game they have ever developed has sucked ass. Literally the best thing I can say about their game history is Silent Hill Homecoming, ponder that.

-Minecraft: I like how their fix to address the ridiculously small 360 version worlds was to port it to next gen.


On the whole I actually don't think it was as bad as I was expecting, but honestly my expectations were already SO LOW that I guess that wasn't hard. They showed a lot more games than I actually would have guessed, but my personal interest and/or quality of the games was lacking overall. Unless PS4 winds up going virtually the same route as the X1 regarding DRM/used games/etc I will admit that I DO see myself getting an X1 for purely certain online games at some point down the line. For exclusive experiences that I'm not going to care about carrying with me forward (like Titanfall/Halo multiplayer) it might be worth it, but they didn't do anything here to convince me that I need to have this over a PS4. At this point even if the PS4 is identical to the X1 in terms of the DRM mess I'm going PS4 because they seem to at least give a shit about games, whereas Microsoft's messaging has been either non-existent, contradictory, or involves directly fucking you in the ass.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Best thing so far was new Plants vs Zombies game. Gonna buy it on a PC anyway. Why lie.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I'm not gonna lie, I screamed like a girl at the FFXV gameplay and KH3 reveal. Nomura can still die in a fire, but HOLY GODDAMN FUCK AT THAT FFXV GAMEPLAY I DON'T EVEN

Sony is in straight beast mode right now. Even if this thing is identical to the Xbone DRM-wise, these exclusives and timed exclusives (like Transistor!) at least indicates they care about games. When they had like 6 different indie devs all on stage playing and showing their games I was just like holy shit what are you even doing MS.

Most amazing jew boots

No used game or online restrictions.
$399

Sony Wins.

I was speaking idiomatically.

This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen.

YouTube Video

I just pre-ordered a PS4 on Amazon. MS is so, so, so fucked. They can't spin this, they just can't. $100 cheaper, and no restrictions. 3rd console curse continues.

Edit: Oh to be fair the minor downside that they snuck into all of this was that Plus is going to be required for multiplayer online games which is shit, but considering everything else as well as the crazy benefits you get from Plus I can't be THAT upset about it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Speaking from the perspective of someone who didn't purchase a PS3 and had the 360 this past generation, I am going to pre-order the PS4. Holy shit, Microsoft just got fucking decked. The Sony conference kicked into riot mode in the last 30-40 minutes. I feel pretty good getting a PS4 to have alongside my Wii U after hearing all this coming from Sony. I was already sold on not getting an Xbone and maybe not a PS4 if they touted the DRM/online horseshit MS did.

DAT FFXV FUUUUUUCK

FELIPE NO

My only "gripe" is that now PS+ is basically turning into Live. You can't access multiplayer without having a PS+ account for the PS4 (I hope that doesn't change for PS3). But I guess that's only a small price to pay for no DRM and used games policy. Now if they say it is possible for complete Backwards Compatibility, then that would be icing on the cake.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I got all excited about the Unfinished Swan music at the start and the end of the show - too bad nothing came of it. I had a feeling KH3 was going to be the next game, but the confirmation still made me squee like a little girl. New Final Fantasy looks awesome. Watch Dogs still looks amazingly fun. TRANSISTOR OH MY GOODNESS. That and Sony just spending half an hour bashing Microsoft was hilarious, if a little sad.

I probably won't get a PS4 at launch, but i will certainly be getting one some day. Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy are reasons enough, but stuff like The Order 1886 and Destiny also look really cool. Also Watch Dogs, though i'll probably be getting that on my Wii U.

How ya doing, buddy?