Sony E3 2012 Press Conference

So we have covered EA and Microsoft (not particularly in that order). Now we move onto another big-wig of the gaming industry.... Sony... The creator of the now legendary PS-2, and the herald of the rise of the consoles. Sony had a lot to show off this year, right from God Of War: Ascension to Naughty's Dog very own Last Of Us and beyond to their PS Vita exclusive Assassin's Creed 3. There was also this new hardware for PS-3, the wonderbook I think they called it. But we will get to that with time. Or you can just skip reading what I though of all this and just watch the conference below.. and tell me what you thought of all this.




First thing that I want to talk about is PlayStation All Stars. Actually I don't, instead I will just ask you to go through this comic  http://corpseruncomics.com  has made, and probably you would get the idea. I mean fine you want to rip-off a game, almost every gamer knows or at least has heard about, but please be truthful about it. You see that demo, and the first thing that comes to mind is Super Smash Bros. Maybe I am just mad that Kratos lost in the demo they showed ( I mean come on... that guy is the God Of War for a reason) but the way they say this is an original idea pitting all of Play Station's characters in a four-way dance in all out brawl, in a way no-one has ever thought about... and you know he is lying. Anyways check out the comic below, and if you like it, please do follow, (by clicking on the pic) Alex on his site as well, that guy has a sense of humor for sure.Here is the permalink: http://corpseruncomics.com

PlayStation All Stars Vs. Super Smash Bros

Okay from the totally disappointing to the totally awesome, and here there are a few to take notice of. The first of them is obviously God Of War: Ascension. Kratos ushered me into mature gaming, and even though I own a X-Box now, the God Of War still remains my most favorite franchise of all time. So anyways, this game is a prequel to the trilogy and shows how things got bad between Kratos and Ares, and how all the madness started. I would tell you more, that's the graphics are still awesome, the game-play is still visceral, and Kratos is still kicking some mythological ass.But rather if you are a Kratos fan boy ( I just made that up), check out the trailer below and tell me if it ain't awesome.


Next up, is Beyond: Two Souls. Quantic Dream's next magnums opus after Heavy Rain. The game is a mix of Resident Evil and Silent Hill from what I can tell. All serious business it seemed, serious enough for the Quantic people to hire(for want of a better word) Ellen Paige to model their protagonist on. Here is how she looks in the game:

The game looks nice (that goes without saying these days), and I couldn't tell what kind of game-play it was cause they didn't really show it. Though I am not really interested in this one, Sony is putting a lot of push into this IP, so you better watch out.

Next up, is the Last Of Us. This is Naughty's Dog latest outing after the ground breaking Uncharted series, and this one doesn't look like it will disappoint either.The game is placed in an apocalyptic world, with the onus on survival of a man and teenager as they make their way through a now wild city. The reason for the apocalypse is unknown for now, and if it has something to do with viruses, I haven't seen any infected zombies as of yet, so your guess is good as mine. The game-play on display was interesting, it showed off different tactics that the protagonist used to take down foes (other ruffians trying to survive any way possible). And tell you what that teenage girl ain't just a courier, she can kill, cold blooded style I tell you. Watch the game-play video below if you don't believe me.


As I try to end this article about Sony's latest E3 attempt. I need to mention, Assassins's Creed exclusive port to PS Vita, and the announcement of 5 PS Vita exclusive games. Also a host PS-One games are coming to the Vita. Yes that's right the handheld console is powerful enough for PS-1 games( remember the time when PS-1 had the best graphics ever). This looks like Sony's attempt to give the PS Vita a much needed shot in the arm.With all the competition it gets from the mobile gaming industry, it needs everything that Sony has.

I know it would not be a complete review until I talk about the Wonderbook (Do I have to?). Well if you must know, its a new hardware, that Sony is gonna be pushing soon, as an add-on for its PS-3. Its supposed to simulate a book, and as you tilt it towards the camera, the screen will show you what is supposed to be on  the book, only more animated and interactive. I wasn't really impressed by the demo, and while it did seem to be targeted towards a kid audience( and I am not one), I am not sure if it would help Sony, I mean isn't that Nintendo's market. Sony makes games like GOW, Uncharted, Last Of Us, and then they produce the Wonder-book. I didn't even want to finish that last sentence.

That about wraps up the conference. Sony's wasn't that bad to say the truth, it wasn't all game, but it wasn't all non-game(read Microsoft) either. All in all Sony has more to look forward to this year, and I predict a comeback for the console.

Regards,
Ayush 'Kabel' Chauhan

EA Press Conference E3 2012

So, from Microsoft we will move to EA.

EA my dear friends stand for Electronic Arts. In the gaming industry it also stands for the biggest game production house on the face of this earth. With studios in USA, Canada, Australia, across Europe and Asia, EA is like the Undertaker of Gaming i.e. even if you are not into gaming, you must have heard about them.

EA's USP has always been Big Sponsorship deals with Big Sports Associations (NFL, Fifa, NHL to name a few) and it was on display this year too with trailers of both Fifa'13 and  Madden'13.

This year however, there were some IPs which are not sports related. Dead Space 3 comes to mind immediately. The super hit cross media series has become one of EA's most money making ventures, and the first game-play on offer during the conference showing off Drop-in and Drop-out Co-Op Campaign, showed no signs of letting its fan down. A new frozen planet, new spider like necromorphs, and a new protagonist (Issac is till there and kicking ass, so don't sweat) all make for a new experience which I am willing to spend my money on. A lot of fans think that making the game Co-Op will take away from the fear factor of the game. While it may be true in some way, I think I will give the game a chance first before branding it as non-scary. Check out the Dead Space 3 trailer below:

Moving on, the other big news was that UFC is now EA. That's right UFC licenses have been bought for a "Multi Year; Multi Product" based deal (that's what the guy in the suit said) while Dana White was ecstatic that he is finally made it to EA(which he mentioned like 4 times in the 5 minutes he was on stage). UFC games were until recently made by THQ, but with THQ's current financial trouble, they decided to concentrate on their core brands(Darksiders, Saint's Row) and let UFC  go into EA's hands. So now that UFC is one of the many sports brand attached to EA expect yearly outings for the brawler instead of more far apart releases from THQ.

Next on the list is NFS: Most Wanted. This NFS game is being made by Criterion this time round (guys who made the last Hot-Pursuit), and this time they draw inspiration from perhaps the most watershed NFS game ever, you guessed it, The Most Wanted. The game is gonna be an Open world "Cops chase you while you race" game with the blacklist concept from the earlier game shaping into a Multi-player score board from the Single-Player campaign it was earlier. So this time when you earn points or "heat", you move up on a scoreboard which includes your friends playing the game too, the ultimate aim being to become the Most Wanted among your friends. Apart from that, the game looked good(NFS rarely has looked otherwise) and that's all I want to talk about cars for now. Check out the gameplay trailer below:

Along with this the conference had announcement for Fifa'13 and Madden'13 both boasting of all new physics and improved realistic game-play. The only news here is that you will be able to carry your profile from Fifa'12 to Fifa'13 and carry on from the same level. There was however, a video used as a Madden'13 intro, which I absolutely loved. Check it out below and tell me how you liked it:





Wrapping up,Battlefield 3 announced new DLCs and a new premium service, while Star Wars: Old Republic also announced new missions, new species, and a brand new planet for their MMORPG. I am sorry if I am not paying much attention to them, but I am not really of fan of either, and I dont think new DLC are worth a press conference. So that's that... this is what EA has to offer to its fan during the nest 12 months. I am excited about Dead Space 3, while all the others were typical EA announcements. Check out the the complete conference below, just to confirm if I missed something.:

The Microsoft E3 2012 Press conference...

So starting off this year's E3 and my blog posts is Microsoft with their annual press conference. Going into the conference there was a high amount of speculation about the fact whether a new console would be announced or not(X-Box 720 as they are calling it). People had opinions, and Microsoft had 'no comments' to all those opinions. All those speculations were laid to rest however when the conference ended and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, not as much as hint towards a new console. Microsoft proudly mentioned that X-Box 360 has now become the largest selling console in the world, and they looked happy to keep that up until next year (atleast!!!). Personally, I am quite relieved that no new console is hitting the market anytime soon and there are 2 reasons for it:
1) I just bought an X-Box 360, and I did not want it to go out of date so soon.
2) I don't to want to spend an unbelievable amount of money on hardware anytime soon.

Moving on, the conference began, as it was supposed to, with (you guessed it) Halo-4. The trailer showed the UNSC battleship INFINITY crash landing on a planet with Master Chief in rescue mode. The show continued with some game-play showing off a completely new race or alien species (Cortanna mentions them as being non-organic and Forerunner tech) trying to take down the legendary chief, along with some Covenant nemesis thrown in for good measure. I would say it looked awesome, but you can check out the trailer and the conference below (Thanks for IGN for providing me the complete conference link) .

 

 Okay once you are done watching that conference, you would notice that this one was more about the new extra non-gaming services that Microsoft would be providing. The emphasis on Halo-4, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed was far less than what was put on Smart-Glass (a new tech introduced by Microsoft). This particular shade of the conference is a bone of contention among the gaming community, most viewing  it a departure of the company from its gaming roots to more of a life style emphasis. I myself felt that this conference was less suited to an E3 rather than an official unveiling of a new product.

Having said that, there were some new games on offer. As I mentioned Halo-4 would see Master Chief returning. Splinter Cell :The Blacklist will see Sam Fisher donning his spy suit again. Also on display were games like South Park: The Rod Of Truth, Fifa'13, Madden'13 and Dance Central (if that floats your boat).

The end of the show also displayed a game-play trailer of COD: Black Ops 2. The game showed a terror struck LA with a lump of soldiers protecting the US President, but get this the attack is not from a Terrorist Organization but from the computer controlled Drones, and machines of the US Army itself.

Wrapping up, the game to watch out for from this conference was obviously Halo-4. Nothing else even came close to that excitement. Apart from the games themselves, Microsoft didn't really have much to offer to a pro gamer. While Smart-Glass may be an interesting new technology, it can best be seen as targeting a casual gamer. No new consoles, some new entertainment apps, and a brand new planet with Master Chief, a conference that could have been better.

Signing Off,
Ayush 'Kabel' Chauhan

Opening Salvos

So I am starting off fresh with a brand new blog. A blog about gaming, comics, and stuff which I spend most of my life doing.
As most of you might have heard, this is the E3 week. And what better to start my blog with than the various conferences that took place this year and what it meant to me.

For the uninitiated E3 stands for Entertainment Electronic Expo. Its an annual event and is a celebration of the current gaming industry. The big-wigs (Sony, Microsoft etc) to Indie game developers, from PC based games to Consoles, from Ubisoft to EA, the expo covers everything.

It is much like Comic-Con with the difference being that E3 is still more of a press event while the former is more fan-driven.

But the allure of E3 lies not in the celebration of how the year went, instead its in the anticipation of what is to come next. This is the stage which companies choose to showcase their best up-coming games. This is the place where you will come to know, what is in store for you the coming year. And this is the event that the whole gaming world scrutinizes and swoons over until the next one is here.

If you are a gamer, and have been one for some time, you know how E3 makes you feel. Its like the Oscars for games, just without the awards(and that just makes it better).

Now, that you know all there is to know about E3. Keep checking back to know all that happened at E3.

Signing Off,
Ayush 'Kabel' Chauhan