E3 opinions:

Okay, let's here some opinions on the e3 2k2, I know there were a number of people from the board who went and I'd love to get some opinions. I'll start off with my opinion in "EGM review" style:

I finally did my time at the 2k2 E3 today, and IMO, I thought it was a little better than last year, but still not all that great.

I admit I didn't have the highest expectations this year so, sort of like Episode II, I was happy with basic competence. Yes, its a pretty dismal way to enter a conference, but this time it worked. I think that would summarize the "aura" that E3 gave off this year: "Competent."
I would have given the '99 e3 a "wow!" and the '01 as "tension" (that one suffered because of all the post-dot.com-bust stress and the debut of 2 systems).

I also gathered a few pictures, which I will eventually put up -mostly of the festivities surrounding the games rather than the games themselves. I think the displays, as in years past, outshone the software (save maybe Nintendo where they balances each other out).

This year I really didn't see any games that really amazed me. There were a few interesting concepts, and the games that were interesting were just sequels/remakes of older games.

If I took anything from the e3 2k2, its that originality and creativity are in a serious nose-dive. Sure, the updates seems niced -and sometimes even played nice- but I think the video game industry is starting to trump the film industry on the whole sequel craze (sometimes preceding the film industry: "Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers" -based video games will be released this Fall).

Bobak's Highlights:

- The Nintendo Zone (as usual). I really dug Metroid Fusion, Zelda and Mario Sunshine. They always do a good job of keeping their section interesting. The new GameCube LCD Screen is amazing, the clarity was exceptional.

- The US Army soldiers. While I think their new marketing strategy will backfire (I personally don't think the everyday-joe-videogamer will make a good soldier), I must admit that I was impressed by the sheer number of uniformed soldiers meandering around all the convention halls. Their booth demonstration of a military insertion was a little weak, though.

- The Sega Sports "Sports Book" contest. Give Sega credit for creating a mock sports book (you know, the place at the casino where you bet on sports). In the Sega version, you were betting on winners to get raffle tickets (complete with a spread). The winners got a 32-inch TV with surrond sound. I wonder if Sega's next generation of sports games are going to allow gamers to bribe to bribe their cyber-players to shave points.

- Meeting up with 4 members of Neo-Geo.com and their pals (lemonflav, your buddies were cool)

- The Elvis Impersonator at the Pelican booth. It's the King, what more could you ask for.

- Sinbad. I don't know why he was there or what company he was with, but he was totally cool when I approached him as he was strolling around.

- Capcom vs. SNK 2 still popular. While there was only one (busy) machine over at the Capcom booth, Code Masters wired their own HUGE setup to demonstrate the new codes you could enter into the game.

- "Booth Babes" I must admit, while they're not really my thing, the assortment of scantily clad-women at this e3 was a lot better looking overall than at past shows. I still don't get the thrill out of posing with them though, maybe because I date... <img src="graemlins/smirk.gif" border="0" alt="[Smirk]" />

Bobak's e3 Lowlights:

- Crowds. Yes, security was supposed to be tighter. Yes, they moved the convention dates to only cover weekdays. No, it didn't do a damn thing. I was there on Friday, and it was crowded. I can only imagine how it was on Wed. and Thurs. A lot of lines for chum and other neat promotions were ridiculous -dare I say: longer than last year?
- Lack of Booth Creativity. I wouldn't harp on this if it weren't for the fact that Nintendo is somehow always able to do something amazing. Sony always seems to make area a "pass through" zone. Everyone in South Hall is starting to looks alike.

- Kentia Hall (as usual). I should give the poor Kentia refugee camp a little credit for finally ridding itself of the Vibe booth.

Well, that's all I have time to relay right now. I've got to go spend the Memorial Weekend elsewhere.

Hope to hear read other opinions when I get back.

1 Question -

Did you see GamersAbyss?

perhaps a silly question, but which next gen console do you feel offers the most promise for the old skool gamer? Where content matters more than asthetic.

I'm thinking gamecube, but i've not seen what all the big companies are planning...

bump

This year was my first year at E3 so i was a little blown away. My favorite games from E3 would have to be Panzer Dragoon Orta, Auto Modellista, Resident Evil 0, Steel Battalion, Kindom Hearts, Sky Gunner, Shinobi, GunGrave, Suikoden 3, .hack, and the new Contra. As for just preveiws i liked the new Zone of the Enders, and Devil May Cry 2.
It was also cool meeting you Bobak and a couple other neo-geo.com members and playing some games. When are you going to post that cool pic you have of us sitting on the roof with E3 in the back ground?

Hmm. Overall, I found E3 this year to be a better show than last year. I thought the quality of software was really high and all three major consoles had good showings this year, which is more than I can say about last year. While there was no new hardware, quality software is really why we all spend our money, so I was pleased. I agree with Bobak that there wasn't that much innovation in software and there were a lot of updates, remakes, and sequels, but it doesn't bother me that much. I've come to expect lots of sequels and sequels to good games are often lots of fun. The Neo Geo is filled with lots of sequels and not a whole lot of innovation, but we all still love it, right? At it's heart, the game industry is a money driven industry like any other. Gamers vote with their wallets and to companies, it must seem that we don't want innovation. Sequels sell really well. Consoles which showcase innovative software like the Dreamcast often just fail at retail. When there's no innovative software being shown, we can't really blame anyone but ourselves. Still, if you only like old school games, E3 this year was not the show for you. Not counting Game Boy Advance games, there were virtually no sprite based games for any consoles. The only ones I can think of were Growlanser II and III. 2D games were also very scarce. Contra-Shattered Soldier was generally 2D, but virtually everything new shown at the show was 3D. Whether you like 3D or not, really would've determined how much you liked the show. Cel shading was a huge trend among new games at the show. Sly Cooper, Dark Cloud 2, Gungrave, Wild Arms 3, Auto Modillista, Breath of Fire PS2, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, Mega Man X7, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, and several others all sported the look. I personally am a fan of it. I think overall, Nintendo had the best booth, but some other companies had strong ones as well. My favorite playable games were (in no particular order) Gungrave, Shinobi, Contra-Shattered Soldier, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Zelda, Super Mario Sunshine, Metroid Prime, Starfox Adventures, Resident Evil Zero, Dark Cloud 2, and Kingdom Hearts. On Video, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance, Devil May Cry 2, Silent Hill 3, Soul Calibur 2, Xenosaga, Star Ocean: Til the End of Time, and Ninja Gaiden all looked great.

This E3 was on par with last year's I think. The problem is, you see so many games at the same time that they all look the same.

I had played a bit of Unreal Championship for the XBOX and thought it wasn't bad, but nothing that great. That night, I played Halo with some friends and realized that Halo looks like friggin' Pac Man compared to a lot of these 2nd gen XBOX titles. There were a few neat titles: Blinx, Kingdom under Fighter: Crusaders, Metroid Prime, Zelda, and even Starfox Adventures is starting to look passable. Overall a lot of decent games I'll pick up--but nothing that I just GOTTA have now.

BTW, I always like Kentia hall. It's my favorite place at E3. Don't diss the E3 refugee camp!

I just got home from a long week that included attending E3, and man I'm beat. A few observations:

Nintendo OWNS. Yes, the third party support is still a bit shaky, but their Triforce Of Doom (aka Zelda, Mario, and Metroid) will definitely be a force to be reckoned with come this fall. Metroid Prime was indeed a pleasant surprise, looking (and playing) far better than I imagined. Zelda, for all the haters out there, is something that simply must be seen MOVING. The animation in this game is incomparable, and stills can't possibly do it justice. Mario was a little rough graphically, but the game sports some very HUGE environments and had that incredible polished Miyamoto feel.

Microsoft's booth was an interesting mismash of playable games. Panzer Dragoon Orta was there and looking really great. Shenmue 2 was there, but was only minimally enhanced over the DC original. The big push at their booth was all about the online service XBox Live. I didn't come away from it very impressed, since the only two playable games were Unreal Championship and NFL Fever 2003. Unreal Championship was kinda framey, and playwise suffers greatly in comparison to the masterpiece that is Halo. NFL Fever was more of the same very pretty but just like Madden gameplay. At least Toe Jam & Earl 3 was there, and it seemed like it would be a solid, fun game by the time it comes out.

Sony's booth was like a tomb. Very uninspired for the most part, I can't really think of a single game that really stood out. Their big online game, SOCOM, seemed like little more than a retread of Rainbow Six. Even Final Fantasy XI seemed really thrown together as an afterthought, it seems now that FFX really got the bulk of developer time while the two were in production. 989's sports lineup suffers something fierce in comparison to the robust offerings from Sega Sports and EA.

To sum it up, the GameCube is looking to be in excellent shape come the fall, XBox has some good stuff but needs more, and the PS2 seems to have blown its load last year to counter the launches of its competitors. I would definitely have to agree with Bobak though on the blazing lack of originality, I can't think of a single game I saw that wasn't either a derivative or a direct sequel. Guess that's what happens when the big companies push the Treasures and Technosofts of the world into the ground.

Yet another disappointing E3 for me. After last years, disaster as I call it, not much was improved and I didn't even want to go the second day!

The third party room was a bore... most games were poorly presented, looked the same, had no inspiration. There were very few live shows going on to draw people in. Goodies were utter crap with the exception being Rockstar games giving away nice button packs and stickers that actually looked cool. Microsoft still stays out of the big First party room and would rather have a very uninspired booth in the third party hall. Snore! This is the room I use to love, Capcom yelling and screaming throwing shirts into the crowd. The game competitions... The high-energy booths and booth babes... Since 2001, this area has lacked big time.

I moved to the first party hall. Sony, like always, has no idea what the hell they are doing. Their booth is a walkthrough at best. Bunch of games that all looked the same, all looked dull, none said play me... except War of the Monsters... now that was one sweet game. Sega pulled the "We are not open to the public" bull shit again, and only had a few titles on display at their booth. Shinobi looked boring as all hell, and what is with the cut screen every time you kill someone!!! Man that will get annoying fast. Panzer Dragon looked like the Saturn version, and Toe Jam and Earl looked like an early 90s rap game... yeah the bad kind. Oh well Nintendo kicked some major but. Great booth, solid games... Zelda is hot, I don't care what people say, it is like controlling a Saturday morning cartoon (a long time dream). The give a ways were great, I didn't win a Game boy, but it was fun trying, got some shirts in the process. All and all, there was no need to spend a ton of time in this room, and most spent was at Nintendo (and talking to the Pelican guy).

Kentia hall continues to be the best place to hang out... I love the goodies down there, plus they seem to really like to feed you too (Thanks Korea Games!) This hall has never really changed (well, no live shows the last few years, like the Japanese masked wrestling and fun of years passed).

The rest of the show was laughable. God games now charges for food and drinks... hahaha, like anyone ever went there for the games! Well, their lot was EMPTY, completely EMPTY! What a joke.... I went around all the conference rooms, talked to a few people, and had my fill. E3 has been going down the drain over the last two years. I feel like the big show is no more. Oh well, I am less enthusiastic about next year, maybe I will be surprised.

Overall I give E3 2002 a D. IT was not a complete failure, but it was pretty lame and uninspired. My friend flew in from Cinci, this is his second E3, we spent 4 hours at the show and left... he didn't care at all, and I was done after a day and a half. I miss the good ole days of E3

-Nick

[ May 27, 2002: Message edited by: nruva ]</p>

My game of show for xbox had to Steel Battalion, That super mech-sim with the Insane controller it comes with. I want that game so bad. Also Xbox live is gonna kick a$$, 50 bucks for 12 months worth of online play + A headset mic + Online Revolt. Niceee

Sony had nothing I wanted well actually it did...GTA...Thanks for pulling the plug on the xbox version <img src="graemlins/mad2.gif" border="0" alt="[Mad 2]" />

Nintendo..ahhh Metroid and Link are the games I'm defiantley gonna get when they come out. I didn't like the cel shading at first when it was first unvield but now it's grown on me and it's looking very sweet.

This E3 was definately better than last, but no where near 99 or 00.

I think I agree with the majority of you guys, there was no impressive games this year, sans Nintend's booth, I know I will be buying Mario, Zelda, and Metroid.

The glass screens Sony had at the top of their little pyramid were cool though, but I spent no time there at all, just used it to take pictures of the surrounding area.

I don't know why Working Designs had such a big booth to show off what, 2 games? It was kinda funny to see the three guys inside blowing up swords with their mouths though.

I didn't win a platnium gameboy, but I did manage to get all the tshirts (traded swag) three wavebirds, and a gold pokemon gba from the kirby e-reader contest.