CTRL-Ced, CTRL-Ved from Rllmuk - my highlights AND lowlights (and the stuff in between):
The good
Overstrike trailer This once again proved that Insomniac has some of the most underrated writers in the business. Sharp, witty dialogue and a well-produced trailer Wii U video reveal slickly done, with some definite 'wow, that's clever' moments. A good showcase of what looks like very interesting tech. Wii U controller from everything I've read so far, it seems like it's a joy to hold - lighter than an iPad, and everything's in the right place. Bags of potential. My mind was racing with ideas at how it could be used. Assassin's Creed Revelations Great trailer followed by impressive footage. Tim Schafer and his new game The 'simulated family' gag was superb, and the game looks charming and perfect for kids. Gears of War 3 No-one does Eighties action-movie cheese like Cliffy B and his team. It's a lot of things I frequently dislike in other games but it's all done so well here. The macho banter catches just the right tone for me. Compare with - to name but one example - the Killzone games to see how easy it is to get wrong. Luigi's Mansion 2 A genuine surprise, and a very welcome one. Downloadable games Journey, Bastion and From Dust in particular. Some terrific stuff on the way for summer and beyond. PS Vita Decent price, region-free, capable, flexible, attractive - Nintendo has a real fight on its hands. Rayman Origins Michael Ancel's been playing Donkey Kong Country Returns a bit, eh? Still, this looked great, with some nice touches.
The hmmmm
Mass Effect 3 So you speak to Kinect and Shepard vocally sub-edits it? Even the action sequences didn't come across too well. Uncharted 3 Sure the finished thing will be great. But that opener wasn't nearly as exciting as the hotel collapse we saw when Uncharted 2 was revealed, and Nate's oddly not as dashing as he was - like they've tried to uglify him a bit. Nice water, mind. Tomb Raider Astounding graphics. Probably really, really good. The demo, though? QTE-heavy, and the glowing 'here's what you need to solve the puzzle' objects don't bode too well. Hopefully just a tutorial thing.
The bad and the ugly
Brothers in Arms: Furious 4 I mean, what were they thinking? Just astonishingly crass, and yet more ammo for the medium's detractors. CGI trailers More disappointing than anything else - I can understand when you've not got footage ready to show, but still...a few too many teasers relied on this approach. Fable: The Journey demo Apparently not representative of the finished product - in which case it was unwise to feature it during Microsoft's conference. Ghost Recon Gunsmith? Gimmicky, yes, but fine. Quite clever, in fairness, though the kind of thing you'd probably try once and never again. Crouching down and opening and closing your hand to fire? Oh dear. Need For Speed: The Run Because people buy driving games for on-foot story sequences that play a bit like a very poor man's Heavy Rain. And you could tell the handling was wonky even from just watching how the cars moved. Third-party 3DS support *tumbleweed* Lack of Wii games shown There are other games coming out for Wii besides Skyward Sword, though you wouldn't know it from Nintendo's conference. A brief video reel would have taken no time at all, yet reassured some owners who weren't prepared to abandon their console just yet. The Wii U confusion I'm still amazed some people were confused by it in the context of the conference. Can see why the vid might be confusing on its own, but not after everything we knew going in (and the several mentions of 'new console' beforehand, not to mention the fact that the graphics were clearly HD. Overstrike Horribly generic name for an interesting-looking game. Literally anything would have been more interesting than that title. Mr. Caffeine Diddly-do, diddly-do, diddly-DIE you absolute WANKER.
Highlights: The Wii U's controller looks great, highly innovative. The MGS HD Updates The Uncharted games were expectedly great looking. LOVED the new Uncharted 3 trailer. LBP and Modnation Vita look great Bioshock Infinite has persuaded me to give Bioshock 1 another go. I could never get into it before... Skyrim has convinced me that I actually need to play Oblivion SSX The whole Zelda bit of Nintendo's press conference was fantastic until they started banging on about music CD releases... The 3DS line-up looks stupidly fun.
_The coverage in general has been better than ever this year. The conference streams all had decent quality video and with the exception of the sound fuckups right at the start and letting Hogan sell his game Gametrailers live stream was well worth watching. This weeks Bombcasts have been outstanding as well with all the industry guests. -That magic lens thingy for Kinect from Nyko thats meant to lessen the amount of space need to play Kinect apparently working means I might actually be able to play two-player Dance Central 2 -Rayman looks amazing -Nintendo pulling off the trick of telling people what the WiiU was going to feature and still managing to surprise me when the video showed just how the tech would work -Zelda Orchestra -Vita pricing being sensible -The AT&T groan -Luigis Mansion 2
