Another E3 has come and gone and with it some awesome new stuff to look at and some things we would have rather not seen.
Here at the TGA we are going to show you the top 10 the best things that you should look at and the 5 worst things from E3 2012.
Nintendo had big shoes to fill at this E3. All eyes were looking to Nintendo and what the Wii U was going to bring to the table. Most of the conference was spent on Wii U with 23 titles shown during the conference and little of 3DS as well. Let’s get down to business and see if Nintendo hit a home run this year at E3.
With E3 beginning in just a few short hours we here at The Gamer’s Abstract would like to throw out some predictions for the major press conferences. Alongside those predictions will be stuff that is most anticipated and the biggest shocker announcement of E3. This will be written in the order of the press conferences themselves.
You will see the big heavy hitter first party titles here. Expect to see some new clips involving Epic Games new Gears of War title, and also more in depth with Halo 4. Microsoft will want to reinforce why gamers choose Xbox 360 above all else with the strength of their first party IP’s and how they have exclusive content first to the market. Microsoft will remind users that Xbox is the only place to get Call of Duty content first on the market and show some gameplay footage from Black Ops 2. Look to Microsoft to have a dedicated time slot to just showing off the Kinect. As always this might include a bunch of kids or adults doing silly things on stage in their 2 minutes of fame. Xbox 360 seems to want to become more and more integrated for being the only media device one might need for a household (cable, dvd, bing, ESPN, etc.) . It will come as no shock to see that Microsoft will announce further integration with the mobile market and moving more into a cloud based system. Microsoft wants to be like Apple in that all their devices will talk and communicate with one another. I do not anticipate that there will be any announcement or buzz for the new Xbox and will be absent from E3 until next year.
Sony may never outsell Microsoft but they do gain more and more ground with their IP’s each year. Look for videos of the new Assassin’s Creed, Sly Cooper 4, The Last of Us, The Last Guardian, God of War: Ascension, and the newly announced All Star Battle Royal. The Last of Us and All Star Battle Royal will be the highlight of the unreleased games during the press conference. The big push will not only reinforce why gamers choose the wide variety of exclusive games on the PS3 but will also focus on the Vita. Vita sales are less than what Sony would like them to be and gamers need a reason to go out and buy a Vita. I would recommend that Sony get Kevin Butler to do this segment as if anyone could get people pumped about buying anything gamer related it would be him. Expect Kevin to make an appearance at the conference and just like his appearance in 2010 people to be hanging on his every word. Vita will be seeing a price drop due to lackluster sales in the range of $50-$100. PS Move seems to be something that didn’t and still hasn’t caught on. Move will be mentioned but not to very much extent. Sony has been rumored in doing a strictly streaming based form of gaming sort of like onlive, I expect to see more details announced as to what exactly is in the works. With the PS3 still strong and the Vita in need of more sales it would not be smart for Sony to announce a new system at E3. I do not expect that this will be in the arsenal for Sony
All eyes are on the Big N this conference with buzz and hype all centered on Wii U. The name is here to stay as recent pictures of the tablet controller have the Wii U branded logo all over it. People want to know what it is, what the intended way to play this new system is, and what the recently leaked Rayman Legends trailer with Wii U means. (For those of you who do not know there was a trailer that showed putting action figures on the Wii U tablet controller and being recognized on the screen as an item, possibly game, or character. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSlccZt5O2o ) Consumers will see a release date of Early 2013 and no price point yet. There will be announced 1st and 3rd party games for the system possibly in the realm of Metroid, Mario, and Super Smash and how these games will work with the new tablet controller. Pikmin 3 along with the New Super Mario Bros 2 and the popular upcoming 3DS titles like Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion 2. And last as always we will be graced by the wonderful and charismatic personality of Reggie Fils-Aime. Who always manages to bore and annoy the crap out of me every E3 press conference.
With Predictions also comes the most anticipated already expected stuff that here at The Gamer’s Abstract are itching to know more about or can’t wait to see. Below is a list of what we here at TGA will be looking out for. Those things would be:
Castlevania DS and Lords of Shadows
Wii U (We want to know wtf this thing is)
Kevin Butler as always makes a great addition
Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion 2
Bioshock infinite
Resident Evil 6
Tomb Raider
Assassin’s Creed 3
The biggest shocker prediction to hit E3:
Valve will finally man up and announce Half-Life 3
What do you think will happen at E3? Post your comments in the section below and remember to follow us on http://www.facebook.com/thegamersabstract
Skyward Sword is the newest installment in the Zelda series and with it, brings both old and new concepts that appeal to diehard fans and newcomers alike. Taking into accounts all the potential that the Wii motion plus has to offer this is certainly a game that the Wii was designed for, but was the newest installment everything that it could have, and dare I say should have lived up to?
Gameplay:
If there is one title that stands out from the rest fully utilizing the Wii’s motion control capabilities this would be the 1st title that would come to mind with the sword swings almost (key word) perfectly mimicking my horizontal, vertical, and diagonal slashes in order to correctly attack a well-guarded foe. Each enemy brings a new challenge of having to learn how to attack using the Wii Motion Plus. At the core of the gameplay mechanics makes for a challenging but enjoyable experience from start to finish. The items earned though out the game also make great use of the Wii’s motion control capabilities with new items such as the beetle to old favorites like the bow just about each item in the game adds a beneficial degree of some kind.
The single gripe I would have with the gameplay mechanics….? The constant need to put absolutely everything into Wii Motion control. There was a lot that benefited from Wii motion but there were some elements that made the game more frustrating. The mechanics behind freefalling, navigating the world, and the occasional sword swing which sometimes was nowhere even close to the direction that I was swinging my sword took away some of the enjoyment. It was very frustrating when I finally found my window to attack only to have link swing vertical when I took my time making sure I had a horizontal slash. Another key factor that got old really fast was the need to recalibrate and center my controller each and every time I not only turned on my game, but also each time the remote went to sleep because I walked away for a few minutes. It just pulls me out of the game when I come back and I have to spend extra time trying to find a flat surface (the first few times I actually did not have a surface to put my remote on within the vicinity of my chair.) to recalibrate my remote. Overall the gameplay was solid and I found myself having tons of fun hacking and slashing through enemies, but the few buggy controls kept me out of touch on more than one occasion.
18/20(few bugs but overall not a ton of complaints.)
Nothing more gratifying then successfully landing an attack on a well defended foe
Presentation:
With a new storyline, new characters, and a whole new world to explore the developers were allowed to take any direction they wanted. The game world is set up with three central locations all different from one another and one central hub world to fly around in. You bounce back and forth between locations completing tasks and later on opening up new sections of re-visited areas. The formula has not changed much nor did I expect it to: complete a series of tasks in order to finally gain access to a temple, find the temple item as well as a master key, defeat the boss and then repeat. It is the standard Zelda formula and as always holds true. The story felt fresh, new, and original and kept me interested through the long haul. The story does something for the first time in the series in that really it starts to establish a timeline between some of the other titles in the series. I often found myself finding references to another Zelda title as I progressed through the events in Skyward Sword. The puzzles were very well developed sometimes leaving me stumped for quite some time trying to figure out what to do next. However the turn off from that was when I wasn’t involved with a temple everything else seemed to be spelled out for me. There was very little degree of confusion within the outside world of where I had to go and what I had to do next as if the game had an on and off switch on the difficulty. The game introduced the ability to farm items from creatures, collect bugs, and upgrade most of the items in your arsenal to be better than they already were. I would farm for hours in order to get the items needed from enemies in order to have the best gear I could get.
While I was determined to complete this installment I couldn’t help but stop and think during my play through, “Is this really necessary?” and the more time went on the more I found myself asking this question. The game seems to just add stuff in order to add length to the game rather than know when to progress with the important parts of the game. Out of my near 50hr play though there was about 38-40hrs I could justify of that time to stuff that needed to be there adding to the whole experience. The scale of the game also felt small looking back at everything I explored and unlocked. The game seemed to have a wide open sky with very few places to visit and 3 locations on the ground that did not feel very large either. You end up going to each of the locations time and time again for one task or another, and there was only so many times I could visit one place before I sighed in disgust when they told me that in order to complete the next task I would have to travel back to where I just was. The opening parts of my experiences with the game were filled with met and exceeded expectations while the tail end never quite gave me the epic close I was looking for. The side quests mostly mini games or fetch quests that I was able to complete a fair amount of them, but they weren’t very fun to complete nor did they really offer a must have item that I had to have or depth to the characters. It seemed like most of them existed for me to spend more hours playing the game.
16/20 (the good parts where great, but the game dragged on a bit too long coupled with a lacking latter game experience)
This got old fast, where’s my horse?
Visuals:
The Wii was never really built for stunning visuals, and unfortunately this does a great disservice to the Zelda series. The visual in the game are par from what I would expect from a Wii title and did nothing to stimulate my eyes as I progressed. The landscapes are generic for the series (I called pretty much all the landscapes before I even opened them up) for any seasoned veteran player, but I feel this category got sold short. I know that the Wii is capable of producing far better visuals using component cables but chose not to. The visuals look something I would expect to see on Gamecube and not the visual level I have seen the Wii capable of.
14/20 (Nothing terrible but nothing to write home about either.)
Hmm a mountain volcano how original.
Sound:
When I think of this category songs from previous Zelda titles fill my head and bring a smile from ear to ear singing all the classics. For this portion I listened to the soundtrack that came with my LE copy of SS and took time to analyze the music throughout the game. The game did a great job of setting the mood and emotion with each piece that surrounded the game. Each orchestrated piece sounds magnificent and was used to the full potential where necessary for what was reflected at that time in the game.
19/20 (Great soundtrack but there wasn’t a single track that will be remembered long after this game is around)
Future Playability:
With roughly 50hrs of play time invested in the title I still had another 10-20hrs left of side quests left to go back to as well as a boss rush mode. For those who cannot seem to get enough after the first play through and looking for a more difficult experience the game offers a more difficult play through.
18/20 (Game offers a lot of lasting replay value, but it’s entirely dependent upon your desire to want to.)
A great new installment in the Zelda series
Final Thoughts:
This game is one to be enjoyed and treasured by all who own a Wii. If there was a title that would shine as something the Wii Motion controller was designed for this would be it. The game wasn’t afraid to try something completely new and in most regards it succeeded. A few setbacks of trying to make the game longer then it needed to be, Wii motion controls in a few areas that it wasn’t necessary coupled with constant recalibration, and repeated visits to the same few locations making the game seem smaller than it actually was kept this game short of reaching the pinnacle that this game had every opportunity to seize.
Final Score – 86/100 (Great score and a great contender for GotY, but not quite the best Zelda title in the series)
Leave your comments and opinions in the section below, and don’t forget to follow us on Facebook at The Gamer’s Abstract or at Twitter @GamersAbstract or @Shalashaska8986.
This game was purchased by me for $70 retail for the LE copy. I completed this game once with a play through time of 49:23 completing most of the sidequests the game has to offer.
Amazon keeps rolling out the deals and this one is pretty sweet. Have you waited to pick up some of the major titles that have released in the past couple of weeks? No worries Amazon has got you covered with an awesome B1G1 50% off deal on select New Releases. Take this link over to Amazon immediately if this interests you in the slightest bit as these titles will surely go quickly.
Deal titles
There are a few more titles to choose from, but these are the meat and potatoes of the deal. Stay tuned for more deals here at TGA and as always you can follow us on Twitter @GamersAbstract and like us on Facebook for more content.
I love when deals get thrown at me so I can throw them to all of you. GameFly is running an Under $10 Blowout sale with free shipping on most titles and it runs through the 21st of November. There are several games on sale so ride this link over to GameFly and search through what they have. All used GameFly games come with new cases, manuals, online passes if they need them and are typically in good condition. I’ll list some notable titles below for each system and Happy Shopping.
Xbox 360
PS3
Wii
Some of these games will sell out fast, but check GameFly regularly because they will restock certain games on occasion. Stay tuned for more deals and as always you can follow us on Twitter @GamersAbstract and like us on Facebook for more content.
This week officially kicks off the start of Black Friday deals on Amazon. There are going to be big daily deals this week and have some rather large deals running over the course of the week, but don’t worry we will fill you in with each and everyone of them. If you want to check them out ride this link over to Amazon and get to shopping. Here are this week’s deals.
They also have a myriad of bundles being offered this week as well and here are those (this for some reason has been moved so here is a new link for just these bundles, you will need to scroll down a little bit to find them):
There you have it folks; your Amazon Video Game deals of the week (there will be more for sure). Also as we draw closer to Black Friday and closer to Christmas make sure you check our deals pages frequently as these deals update very often. Some deals will be added and some will expire and we only want to give you the best information on gaming deals. As always you can follow us on Twitter@GamersAbstract and like us on Facebook for more content.
You might be beginning to think that we hate Nintendo here at TGA. Trust me, that isn’t the case and this article is of genuine interest and concern. The idea for this article actually spawned out of a video game discussion forum that I moderate. One of my good friends and contributors was wondering “What happened to F-Zero on the Wii?” and that got me thinking about other potential franchises Nintendo had neglected on the Wii. The best-selling console that Nintendo has ever had also was missing three of their more well-known franchises. F-Zero, Wave Race and Star Fox did not have Wii iterations (VC doesn’t count, sorry). After almost 5 years you would have thought that Nintendo would have dipped their feet in every franchise pool, but I guess it just wasn’t in the cards and begs the question; why these franchises and not others?
This is as close to a Wii version of these games we will probably see *Sigh*
The three aforementioned franchises are certainly not Nintendo’s biggest hitters, but to not have any presence is a bit unsettling. Nintendo surely could have pleased the fans of these franchises with at least one title per and maybe more depending on reception. To simply skip over them is very un-Nintendo like in my eyes as they, more so than most companies rely heavily on their first party titles. F-Zero, Wave Race, and Star Fox could have had killer titles created and probably utilized the Wii’s control scheme super effectively; maybe even better than some things that were made. So why did these games never come to fruition? I speculated that maybe the Gamecube versions of these games were suppose to hold fans over for 10 years. A more likely scenario is not enough time, money or interest in the titles. These could all be possible answers and maybe just maybe we will get an answer one day.
With that being said Nintendo has solid franchises and needs to allocate development time to all of them properly and maybe make less Mario sports games. I’m sorry, every minute spent developing the Mario sports games could have been consolidated into making a really amazing F-Zero, Wave Race, or Star Fox title instead of making a bunch of really mediocre Mario games, because that is all they really were folks. Would you be willing to trade a little less exploitation of the Mario property to gain titles from three other franchises? I sure as hell would. With that little rant aside, Nintendo is hopefully more poised to churn out a complete lineup on the Wii U and not skip over beloved franchises such as the ones mentioned.
What do you think of this act of negligence on Nintendo’s behalf? Was it an act of negligence to you or a warranted maneuver? Is it okay that these franchises we skipped over? Are there any other major titles not given the Wii treatment that we missed? Sound off in the comments section and let us know how you feel about this because we would like to know. As always you can follow us on Twitter @GamersAbstract and like us on Facebook for more content.
Another week and another set of deals folks. Amazon’s weekly deals are going to start to get sweeter as we move towards Black Friday so make sure you are following us to get them as soon as they launch. This week’s deals are not the most fantastic, but offer variety and that is what is important, right? To get to any of the deals below ride this link over to Amazon. Without further adieu here are your weekly Amazon deals.
Those are the deals for this week, but keep in mind that they can change. Last week’s deals saw a couple upgrades so be sure to bookmark this page if even for just the week as we will make updates on it if they occur. We will also post any updates on Twitter and Facebook where you can also follow and like us (Twitter is @GamersAbstract). Happy Shopping everyone and stay tuned for more deals this week.
Welcome to November everybody. Amazon’s DOTD for games is for those gun-slinging sword wielding types. I am speaking about none other than Red Steel 2 with the Wii Motion plus attachment. This deal today will run you a cool $25.99 which isn’t bad considering what is in the package. Red Steel 2 was much better than its predecessor if you were wondering, so if this deal interests you go nab it over at Amazon from this here link. Happy shopping and as always stay tuned for more deals and you can follow us on Twitter @GamersAbstract and like us on Facebook for more content.
The Gamer's Abstract 