PacDuck

E3 was two months ago! Let's go!

First off, generally, I think this E3 kinda sucked. Save for some surprises and cool updates. But for the most part nothing blew me away. Not much new and not many updates for pretty high profile games set to come out soon. Since I need help remembering things, I'm gonna just break the show down by studio/conference. 

Bethesda:
I'm not a big Bethesda fan and I guess that reflects in my reaction to their show. I didn't care for the most part. It's neat to see franchises revived, so the Quake announcement was cool. And the Skyrim remaster might entice me to actually play it now. But I don't know, for how popular these franchises are, I've never been into Fallout, Doom, Elder Scrolls or Dishonored. They all look impressive and fun, just not for me.

EA:
What the hell, guys. Granted, they're learning that nobody cares or wants to see anything about sports during E3. That's why they announced all the sports things in Europe with that strange satellite connection thing they had going on. But besides all that, the hardcore teases for Mass Effect and Star Wars was very upsetting. I played through all of Mass Effect last year for the first time so I'm ready to jump back in. But they've been so quiet about the game and I thought this E3 would bring gameplay. But it didn't. So that was disappointing. And that video about "Look at literally all of our studios making Star Wars games" with no substance. I feel like if you don't have much ready, don't show anything. But if you really want to show that you're working on things, SHOW SOMETHING. And Battlefield 1 looks good.

Ubisoft:
Ehhhhhh. The best game they had on stage was South Park. And that says something. They have some really cool IP, but not this year. I don't care about Tom Clancy. The Division // Wild Lands don't interest me. Watch Dogs 2 sorta interests me, but I'm not super interested in it. I'm glad Assassin's Creed is taking the year off to reflect, but it is a shame not having one on stage. I thought at least they would tease something besides just talk about the movie (which I hope isn't too bad...). And their "one more thing" game at the end (the GoPro game) seems like a lot of boring gameplay with no satisfying goal. At least in what they presented. I was listening to somebody make the point that games like Grand Theft Auto have what Steep's whole game is about as a mini-game. So why would I just get the mini-game game. Unless there's something else to offer. 

Microsoft:
"Let's give our audience every reason to not buy an Xbox One this year, shall we?" Seriously. They begin the conference announcing the Xbox One S. Sure, okay. That's fine. Then they talk about sequels and sequels and ReCore. But then they say, "Oh so for most of these games, you'll be able to play a copy of the game on Windows 10 when you buy the Xbox version." Giving you less of a reason to want to have the console version if you can just play it on your PC. AND THEN they announce THE BEST CONSOLE EVER MADE (or whatever) with Project Scorpio giving you ANOTHER reason to hold off buying any of their consoles. Not to mention essentially nullifying the Xbox One S's announcement by saying it's gonna suck in about a year. I don't own an Xbox. 

Sony:
Classy. Smart. Fun. Games. Sony gets it, man. There was so little talking between announcements. And when there was, it was interesting and not heavy handed. The announcements and surprises were there. God of War: The Last of Us Edition looks beautiful. That new zombie game looks not half bad. FUCKING SPIDERMAN BEING MADE BY INSOMNIAC. FUCKING CRASH REMASTERS!!! And The Last Guardian is finally almost done. Oh! And Horizon Zero Dawn! And Kojima's game!! AND DETROIT!!! Man, just remembering all of this gets me excited. See Microsoft isn't doing that with their line up. They're continuing old franchises and not pushing forward. Yes, Sony is bringing back God of War and Crash, but they have plenty of new, very interesting IP's coming out very soon. And the VR stuff has me super excited as well. Can't leave out that live orchestra either. Man. So good.

Nintendo:
I'm mad at Nintendo. They expect to release a new console (The NX) in March. They come to the biggest gaming expo of the year with the Swan Song for the Wii U. Which is also presumably a launch title for the NX. And that's the thing. Presumably. So little is known about this console that's coming out so soon. And I'm also mad that they had more to show than just Zelda, but advertised as if they didn't. Pokemon, Paper Mario, Mario Party, Rhythm Heaven, and that Shin Megami Tensei game all got pushed to the side by Zelda. Small announcements here and there. But small announcements for brand new announcements of games like Paper Mario and Mario Party. God. But whatever. That aside. Zelda looks cool. Didn't blow me away, but it looks fun. And from what I've heard from people who were there, people really enjoyed being at Nintendo's booth. So maybe they made the right call. I don't know. I just feel like they could be handling the announcement/release of a new console better than they are right now. Especially considering the life of the Wii U. 

Alright I think that's everything. Till next year! Hopefully it's more fruitful around the board. Hey, we'll have a new console to discuss, I guess...

-Pacduck

I saw that I hadn't edited this since last E3 and I'm not going to bed right now, so I'm gonna ramble about E3 2015 for a little bit! Woo!

Overall, I was pretty whelmed by the show this year. Certain games that I expected to be great were and that was exciting, but for the most part, not too much was mind-blowing. 

Bethesda had a strong show with Fallout 4 and Doom. Personally, I'm not much into Bethesda's games, but they do seem solid and they gave a great presentation.

Microsoft did well too. Announcing backwards compatibility was, I think, their best announcement. And they had some pretty solid games as well, including the Keiji Inafune and Metroid Prime peoples' game. 

Sony, though. They did a lot. With a great performance, they had probably the most exciting announcements with Final Fantasy VII Remake, The Last Guardian and Shenmue 3. However, while they're all exciting, I've gotta say that The Last Guardian still looks the same as when they announced it. Guerrilla games' 'Horizon' game and Media Molecule's 'Dreams' also were amazing surprises. 

EA did ok. I'm biased because leading up to E3, I had just finished the Mass Effect Trilogy. And Mirror's Edge is one of my favorite games of all time. So with a new game coming from both franchises (as well as Star Wars Battlefront), I was excited for their show. They delivered with Mirror's Edge, I think. Mass Effect could have used a little more than a teaser trailer. And Battlefront's trailer made me happier than I'd thought. And sports were sports. For too long. 

Ubisoft did well too. I'm losing interest in Assassin's Creed as they keep going, and I think there are just too many Tom Clancy games happening and I'm uncomfortable with that for some reason. For Honor was interesting, but I don't think I'll be too interested by it. 

And Nintendo. I'm sorry. They seemed very lazy this year. Star Fox did not impress me. Nor did anything they covered in their direct. What did impress me was the Nintendo World Championships. With only a couple minor complaints, they did a great job of making it feel like a true competition with tense moments all around. 

And I have to end this entry by paying my respects to Mr. Satoru Iwata. He did amazing things for the gaming industry and for gamers for many years. Thank you, and may you rest in piece, Iwata-san. 

-Pacduck

Hey all!

E3 2014 is nearly over and boy did a lot of sweet news unveil. Every major company had something that really interested me with Sony and Nintendo being at the top of my list.

Nintendo's Smash news of Palutena, Mii Fighters, and of course Pacman was awesome and the Smash Bros Invitational was a blast to watch. I suppose the recent character reveals brings more validity to the Gematsu leak from way back when. So if so, we might be seeing Shulk, Rhythm Heaven's Chorus Men (which sounds awesome to a fan of the series like myself), and Chrom. I was hoping for more veterans to be announced such as Falco or Captain Falcon but I'm sure they're still in regardless. And even that appearance of Mr. Game and Watch in Pacman's trailer leaves me wanting an official announcement of Game and Watch by Sakurai. In other Nintendo news, Zelda Wii U looks beautiful, Hyrule Warriors looks like a ton of fun, and Splatoon was a pleasant surprise.

For Sony, Little Big Planet 3's announcement absolutely stole the show for me. I wasn't even expecting it and it only makes me want a PS4 even more. In addition, Uncharted 4's teaser trailer with IN GAME graphics was stunning and Batman Arkham Knight looks amazing and beautiful as well. 

Assassin's Creed Unity's multiplayer really excites me and The Division keeps showing promise. Hopefully The Division doesn't suffer from the Watch_Dogs treatment. Shape Up even surprised me by being interesting and fun. 

EA's little teaser of Mirror's Edge and Star Wars Battlefront were interesting and nice to see, but kept me wanting a lot more...

There was a bunch other titles that I'm forgetting right now, but this E3 was a really fun one, no doubt.

Can't wait to get my hands on Smash 3DS in October and keep on following the Smash news every day 'till then. 

Take it easy guys, 
pacduck

Hey guys!

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My Super Smash Bros. for Wii U/3DS Roster and Wallpaper are doing well with every newly announced character. Little Mac was most recent and I'm super excited to learn more about his unique play-style. 

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Oh, that little 'Signature' I made for myself! I said you could comment with requests and that I'd make them when I got the chance. I don't have that chance really since the my second semester started, so they might be a while...

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Hi all!

Hope your enjoying this fall time. I am! Being my first semester at art school, I haven't had much (if any) downtime to make anything new. So I've relied on my older works to keep me busy with something on this site. What I mean is that I've just been updating my Smash Bros. Wallpaper and Roster as new characters are announced. 

And my paxmollio.deviantart.com hasn't really been too successful which kinda sucks, but I guess I didn't expect much anyway...