TWO lousy E3 press conferences so far.....

[Astros Fan]

OK I've been out of the country for 10 days...should I even bother watching anyone's conference? What E3 trailer do I need to check out? I'm pretty much only looking forward to Destiny and Dragons Age.

[taggart6]

Since you are your own best judge I would say watch all of them.

For me, I think Nintendo was the best.

[ImaNihilist]

Microsoft showcased a game that's 10 years old.
Destiny is the new Halo.
Nintendo showcased real games. Like fun games you would play.
The Division is the most stunning game I've ever seen.
Grim Fandango is back.
PGA Tour might feature aircraft carriers and explosions.

That's my summary.

Everything else just struck me as more of the same. More Battlefield, more Dragon Age, more whatever. And while not explicitly about E3, it does appear there is a battle about to rage at the $99 level. Wii Mini, PlayStation TV, Kindle Fire TV, etc. I wonder if there is a $99 discless Xbox 360 in the works. I suspect that, if the marketing match dollars ever make their way to the $99 consoles they will completely take over in terms of market share. I'm way more excited about the future of the $99 console because of the sheer ubiquity potential, than I am about what a fancy new $399 box can do. And if Apple's Metal API is any indication, it looks like the future of gaming may be more about rethinking the software layer than just adding more raw GPU power.

[Astros Fan]

Grim Fandango? nice! and Destiny being the new Halo I'm okay with that

I peeked around the net at the E3 coverage and nothing stood out that I didn't already know about or care about. Thanks

[Timman_24]

This is the year of 2015. Everything was pushed back. I did get to try Destiny in the alpha test on PS4. Damn the gun play is great. Its COD/BF gun feel with Halo style movement, although not as floaty. I really liked the progression system and mission style. I will be getting Destiny, but I don't know if it will keep me interested long term. I didn't see too much in the way of story like Halo had.

As for the rest of the shows, I'd say Ubisoft had the best showing and most entertaining. MS was a dud for me. Only thing I liked there was Forza Horizon 2, which I can get on 360. Sony showed some good stuff, but its all way out in 2015 and likely not exclusive. I'm most looking forward to seeing what Dragon Age is this year.

I was impressed by how large The Crew is. I heard it takes 5 hours to drive across the map! Also PGA Tour was awesome.

No NFS!

[Kamakazie]

No NFS!

NFS is taking a year off!

[Timman_24]

NFS is taking a year off!

It needed a year off. I'm interested in the project Criterion is working on. Hopefully it is more open than motor storm. Motocross Madness please!

[ImaNihilist]

It needed a year off. I'm interested in the project Criterion is working on. Hopefully it is more open than motor storm. Motocross Madness please!

I can speak to this a little bit. A few of us went across the pond a few months ago to talk to some of the NFS folks to see how we might reignite the brand. NFS has been in a strange spot for a while. There is a lot of love for it, but the game can't decide if it wants to be Gran Turismo or Mario Kart. It sits in this awkward middle space where there is no story, no reason and no logic to the events that take place. And the open world approach… well, most people can just play GTA for that.

I was of the perspective that what NFS really needs is a story. Something akin to the BMW Films, The Transporter or The Italian Job. Something were the game itself is relatively short, but the focus is on quality—like the original Gears of War. The campaign was insanely short, but incredibly well crafted and detailed. IMO, if NFS is going to stay in the awkward middle space, it needs that story to give people a reason to play. Generic cops and robbers is just kind of boring. But a story that puts you in the role of some kind of antihero could be really interesting.

If you guys do have any ideas for the brand as a whole, feel free to bounce them off me. I don't influence dev or anything like that, but I do get to chime in from time to time on certain elements.

[Kamakazie]

I can speak to this a little bit. A few of us went across the pond a few months ago to talk to some of the NFS folks to see how we might reignite the brand. NFS has been in a strange spot for a while. There is a lot of love for it, but the game can't decide if it wants to be Gran Turismo or Mario Kart. It sits in this awkward middle space where there is no story, no reason and no logic to the events that take place.

I was of the perspective that what NFS really needs is a story. Something akin to the BMW Films, The Transporter or The Italian Job. Something were the game itself is relatively short, but the focus is on quality—like the original Gears of War. The campaign was insanely short, but incredibly well crafted and detailed. IMO, if NFS is going to stay in the awkward middle space, it needs that story to give people a reason to play. Generic cops and robbers is just kind of boring. But a story that puts you in the role of some kind of antihero could be really interesting.

Speaking as a fan of racing games and a big fan of older NFS games (pre-Underground), I can personally say that I don't want a story in my racing games. I want good driving mechanics and interesting spaces to drive around in; a story is just going to get in the way of that and will leave me mashing the A button to get back to the action.

I thought NFS Rivals had a lot of potential as just a fun multiplayer-centric racing game and it blew my mind when I found out the servers were limited to only 8 players. I literally never had any interaction with another player in that game because that player limit is ridiculous for the size of the map. Any time I ever got close to another player, they'd already be on their way to a hideout to avoid getting into any sort of conflict with me (as a cop), or they'd be so focused on their mission objective that I became completely inconsequential to them (as a racer). This might have been alleviated if missions were generated to focus around the other players in the session, but since everything was pre-defined and based on static points around the map, there was really no reason for players to interact with each other at all. I was so sad because aside from the broken multiplayer, it really is a fun game.