We came, we saw, we played, and another E3 is in the can. We hope you've enjoyed reading our articles, but believe it or not, there's still more we have to say. Inside, we talk a little bit about our thoughts on the stream of announcements, what did and didn't show up, some brief bits about a host of games we didn't write articles about, and wrap it all up with our feelings on what, out of the huge mass of what we saw, qualifies as the best of it all.
Matt: So, here we are, at the end of another E3. This is my third—I was at the Wii unveiling in 2006, and I made my way around Santa Monica trying to see things in 2007, but then took a couple years off and came back this year. A good year to come back, with the 3DS making its debut. But yeah, with everything I saw and want to get this year, 2010 is going to be really busy. Nearly everyone I talked to that had an interesting game said "holiday 2010," which leaves me wondering what I'm going to have to cut out from my play list this year.
Amber: Yeah, my "games to get" list is frightening, and that's just out of Nintendo themselves. For once, I'm happy to hear Zelda has been bumped to next year. My backlog, to say nothing of my wallet, just can't handle more piled on the load.
Matt: So let's start by talking about Nintendo's offerings themselves. I know I made the comment in the week that I thought the conference was a little "sleepy" for me personally, and think maybe that requires a little further explanation. I am the kind of guy who looks at a game and wants to know what it does first and foremost. I appreciate good looks, and I definitely have attachments to particular franchises, but a lot of the franchise parade I saw at Nintendo's conference just didn't click with me for that reason.
That's not to say that I've automatically written everything off; rather, for me personally, I didn't find I had the kinds of franchise attachments other people apparently had to use as a springboard for hype. There were exceptions, of course. Kirby's Epic Yarn did play off my existing love of the little pink guy. Though, then, it also immediately showed me exactly what it was about, and it turned out to be really cool, and not just for its look. But I mean, hey, at this point, I don't even know what Kid Icarus is besides made by Sakurai and 3D. How am I supposed to get excited about that?
Amber: Well, I was quite pleased by Nintendo's press conference. I guess for some developers, like Nintendo, their track record is such that I know whatever the game is, it has a high probability of being something I'll really enjoy. So I'm okay with just cool game footage and promises. That doesn't stop the proof of the pudding being in the eating though. But the conference certainly gave me a list of games to prioritize for playing on the show floor. The only thing I could have wished for were showings of something not based on age-old franchises. I was sad that Xenoblade, for example, did not make any appearance at E3.
Matt: Oh, man, me too. I was really hoping for that to show. NOA's track record hasn't been so hot localizing those kinds of games. But they really did have something of a packed house there, so I guess I can understand. I hope it's planned for 2011 or something.
Amber: I thought I had heard somewhere that Xenoblade was confirmed for North American release.
Matt: Now that you mention that, I seem to recall that too... but I don't remember what we had to go on, other than the May earnings release that still listed it as Monado with no date specified. Nintendo has dropped things off lists like this before... so we'll have to see. The Last Story is not on this list, I should note.
But enough of talking about what wasn't there, there was plenty of other titles that were there that we haven't written about for various reasons. Most of these I checked out briefly at one point or another. One of these, one of the titles I've been looking forward to for a year, but walked away not all that interested in, was Golden Sun. Maybe I'm just getting to be an old man, but even given the fact that I loved the GBA titles way back when and should have been able to draw on that, since it seemed to be a very similar game, I had a hard time making sense of the Psynergy demo. I still want to check this title out, but I don't particularly know what to think of it right now.
Amber: Golden Sun's demo didn't tell me much beyond confirming the game exists. I'm actually not the biggest fan of the series. I thought the story was forgettable (hence why I actually remember nothing of it), yet the dialog ran on and on and because the little sprites had to go through a series of gestures for everything the cut scenes took forever.
The demo's training ground just had me using Psynergy to move obstacles or burn targets using the touch screen. Once I figured out what my target was supposed to be, I had to get the hang of the touch screen controls. It wasn't immediately obvious what I needed to do—a fact not helped by me getting stuck trying to use Psynergy on an obstacle I was just supposed to walk up to and push by hand. I did get the hang of it though and the touch screen controls worked out just fine.
Matt: Yeah, similar problems here; I just didn't get the touch screen controls at all... there were button controls as well, but I just couldn't get the hang of them inside the time limit of the demo. So we'll have to see how that one turns out.
Matt: So, here we are, at the end of another E3. This is my third—I was at the Wii unveiling in 2006, and I made my way around Santa Monica trying to see things in 2007, but then took a couple years off and came back this year. A good year to come back, with the 3DS making its debut. But yeah, with everything I saw and want to get this year, 2010 is going to be really busy. Nearly everyone I talked to that had an interesting game said "holiday 2010," which leaves me wondering what I'm going to have to cut out from my play list this year.
Amber: Yeah, my "games to get" list is frightening, and that's just out of Nintendo themselves. For once, I'm happy to hear Zelda has been bumped to next year. My backlog, to say nothing of my wallet, just can't handle more piled on the load.
Matt: So let's start by talking about Nintendo's offerings themselves. I know I made the comment in the week that I thought the conference was a little "sleepy" for me personally, and think maybe that requires a little further explanation. I am the kind of guy who looks at a game and wants to know what it does first and foremost. I appreciate good looks, and I definitely have attachments to particular franchises, but a lot of the franchise parade I saw at Nintendo's conference just didn't click with me for that reason.
That's not to say that I've automatically written everything off; rather, for me personally, I didn't find I had the kinds of franchise attachments other people apparently had to use as a springboard for hype. There were exceptions, of course. Kirby's Epic Yarn did play off my existing love of the little pink guy. Though, then, it also immediately showed me exactly what it was about, and it turned out to be really cool, and not just for its look. But I mean, hey, at this point, I don't even know what Kid Icarus is besides made by Sakurai and 3D. How am I supposed to get excited about that?
Amber: Well, I was quite pleased by Nintendo's press conference. I guess for some developers, like Nintendo, their track record is such that I know whatever the game is, it has a high probability of being something I'll really enjoy. So I'm okay with just cool game footage and promises. That doesn't stop the proof of the pudding being in the eating though. But the conference certainly gave me a list of games to prioritize for playing on the show floor. The only thing I could have wished for were showings of something not based on age-old franchises. I was sad that Xenoblade, for example, did not make any appearance at E3.
Matt: Oh, man, me too. I was really hoping for that to show. NOA's track record hasn't been so hot localizing those kinds of games. But they really did have something of a packed house there, so I guess I can understand. I hope it's planned for 2011 or something.
Amber: I thought I had heard somewhere that Xenoblade was confirmed for North American release.
Matt: Now that you mention that, I seem to recall that too... but I don't remember what we had to go on, other than the May earnings release that still listed it as Monado with no date specified. Nintendo has dropped things off lists like this before... so we'll have to see. The Last Story is not on this list, I should note.
But enough of talking about what wasn't there, there was plenty of other titles that were there that we haven't written about for various reasons. Most of these I checked out briefly at one point or another. One of these, one of the titles I've been looking forward to for a year, but walked away not all that interested in, was Golden Sun. Maybe I'm just getting to be an old man, but even given the fact that I loved the GBA titles way back when and should have been able to draw on that, since it seemed to be a very similar game, I had a hard time making sense of the Psynergy demo. I still want to check this title out, but I don't particularly know what to think of it right now.
Amber: Golden Sun's demo didn't tell me much beyond confirming the game exists. I'm actually not the biggest fan of the series. I thought the story was forgettable (hence why I actually remember nothing of it), yet the dialog ran on and on and because the little sprites had to go through a series of gestures for everything the cut scenes took forever.
The demo's training ground just had me using Psynergy to move obstacles or burn targets using the touch screen. Once I figured out what my target was supposed to be, I had to get the hang of the touch screen controls. It wasn't immediately obvious what I needed to do—a fact not helped by me getting stuck trying to use Psynergy on an obstacle I was just supposed to walk up to and push by hand. I did get the hang of it though and the touch screen controls worked out just fine.
Matt: Yeah, similar problems here; I just didn't get the touch screen controls at all... there were button controls as well, but I just couldn't get the hang of them inside the time limit of the demo. So we'll have to see how that one turns out.