E3 Day Two Super Notes

Nintendo Notes

• Starfox Zero - Looks pretty good.  Very simple arcade-y space shooter.  The new cockpit view from the gamepad looks alright.

• Mario Maker - Looks like a good creative tool for people to play more Mario.

• Amiibo - More new Amiibos...  This is their huge money maker right now.  Hammer slam Bowser and Turbo-charged Donkey Kong... They're Amiibos and Skylanders Characters in one toy.

• Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes - 3 Player Co-op Zelda Adventure - Finally!?  Solving puzzles and going through dungeons...  You can play single-player still, you get little "doll" AI characters.  Different outfits and abilities/items.  Online multiplayer.

• Hyrule Warriors Legends 3DS - Action Hack n' Slash - Oh my sweet jesus.  With additional Wind Waker characters.  The Warriors games are my guilty pleasure in gaming.  I'm on board here.

• Metroid Prime: Federation Force - 4 player Co-op - Looks like Monster Hunter: Metroid or Halo Metroid.

• Metroid Prime: Blast Ball - Metroid Sports?  I'm so confused

• Fire Emblem: Fates - Turn-based Tactical Strategy - 3DS - Decent trailer with a tiny bit of gameplay.  This will sell like hotcakes

• Some Japanese FE game - No idea what this is.  Nintendo didn't put it in English.

• Xenoblade Chronicles X - RPG - They showed a new trailer.  The gameplay is similar to the other titles, RPG combat is a little slow for my tastes in these games.

• Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer- Creative Home Builder - Cards with NFC chips in them have been added for more stuff and interactivity.

• Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival - Party Game - It looked like Mario Party but with Animal Crossing.

• Yoshi's Woolly World - Platformer - Amiibos are super cute looking.  Little plushy amiibos.  Looks like a creative, pretty looking Nintendo platformer.  I'm not super excited, but it might be fun as a one-time playthrough.  Co-op mode looks like a good addition, can always use more co-op titles in the industry.  If you have a Mario Amiibo, it turns into a Mario Yoshi in game, etc.

• Yo-kai Watch - Similar to Pokemon - Collect/find ghosts, turn-based combat with mini-games.  Poke-fans will buy this game.

• Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam - 3D Mario Game with mini-games - Looks semi-fun.  It'll be one of the better titles out of the line-up.

• Mario Tennis Ultra Smash - Mario Tennis... Stop trying to make tennis happen.  Wii Tennis was it!

• Mario Maker - Creative - They're talking about it again.  Instant feedback to level creation, they're giving a lot of creative freedom to what players will be able to create.  Mario can turn into Amiibo characters when he gets a costume mushroom.  

• LetsSuperMario.com - Upload videos about Super Mario and Nintendo will make a donation to Operation Smile

The presentation was a lot of fan-service, and maybe there's more to come.  But it's nothing ground-breaking from Nintendo.  I'm not sure what I expected... but it wasn't as exciting as it could have been.  The best thing I saw was co-op Zelda for 3DS, but it just doesn't seem like any creative uses of their systems and there was no announcement of the new system yet.

Square Enix Notes

• Just Cause 3 - Open world Action - 400 square miles of open world and lots of vehicles and weapons.You can attach tons of things with the grapple.  80 vehicles.  Lots of mini-games to compete for online leaderboards.  They didn't say anything about multiplayer... when Just Cause 2 Multiplayer mod is the only reason that people care about this IP anymore...  This could be a HUGE missed opportunity.

• NieR New Project - PS4 Nier Game - It was just a super cryptic teaser trailer that name-dropped experienced game developers.

• Rise of the Tomb Raider - Adventure - I'm sure this game will be well-made.  The newer Tomb Raider title was excellent.  I will be more of the same cinematic-adventure that people like from these titles, so it'll do well.

• Lara Croft Go - Tomb Raider Mobile Game - Craptastic.  Turn-based experience.

• Final Fantasy VII remake - This was shown again.  "Stay tuned for more detailed information in the future." They're also releasing the old FFVII on the iphone at the end of summer.

• Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key - It's a japanese browser game that they're bringing to mobile.  It did alright in Japan, but it didn't keep anyone's attention.

• Kingdom Hearts 3 - Action-y RPG with Disney Characters - This will be a story-driven nostalgia-fest.  It will sell at ludicrous-speed.  The game will probably be very polished.  It's one of those games that people want to experience the story... so it might actually be more popular for streamers/content creators online to have people watch it.

• World of Final Fantasy - Didn't show much other than the trailer that was posted yesterday.

• Hitman - 3rd Person Action/Stealth - HD sandbox game.  Freedom of approach to take out your targets.  Sounds like you get even more freedom.  We'll see!  They reward "complete mastery" of levels.  It's a game about killing.  It'll have to be more than this, we'll see what social options you can do with your friends for the game...

• They showed some quick trailers of some of their newer titles like Final Fantasy XV.

• Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness - Seems like a pretty JRPG.  Combat seems interesting, a cross between real time combat and turn based ability use.  JRPG fans will gobble this up.  Aiming for 60 fps.

• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Action RPG - Takes place in 2029.  Stopping the Illuminati.  In-game trailer shown.  I want this game to be good.  The others were decent games.

• Project Setsuna - New JRPG from a studio that will only make JRPG's called Tokyo RPG Factory.  They showed some concept art.  Who knows.

E3 PC Notes

Holy crap where do I start... This presentation was a roller-coaster of excitement and boredom. I'll just do more bullet points for games and what happened.

• Killing Floor 2 - FPS/Horror - They showed off new tech that allows gore to be more disgusting, it actually looked really cool haha. This game is always a blast with friends. It definitely rides the wave between frustration and relief.

• Rising Storm 2: Vietnam - FPS - Another Tripwire game. It'll be kinda fun, but nobody will care. More Vietnam and/or WW2 just bores people to death.

• Star Citizen - Action/Simulation - Got a brief look on the mo-cap that they're working and it always looks so good.

• Then AMD talked about blah blah graphics chips, "we're AMD you should trust us."

• Deus Ex - FPS/RPG - Devs came out and talked about the tech behind their new Deus Ex game, it looked pretty cool. I'm sure this will be another "play through it once then done" game.

• Total War: Warhammer - RTS - This is a Warhammer fanboy's dream. I'm excited for it because I support the Total War games... but they always mess up with too much paid DLC.

• Xbox Dude comes out on stage like a patronizing ass. "At Microsoft, we want to show our support of PC gaming because we may not have as much as we wanted to in the past." He had this smug grin I couldn't forget.

• Rod Fergusson came out to talk about Gears of War on PC... So boring. I actually think that game is more fun on consoles with your console buddies. Nobody cares on PC, we have much better shooter games to play.

• American Truck Simulator - Simulation - Best game 2016, GOTY, All the awards. Want. The name says it all.

• EVE Valkyrie - VR Space Shooter - Didn't really show anything new, just talked about VR and designing the game from the ground up for VR.

• Ion - Survival - Dean Hall's new project since he abandoned DayZ. So much hesitation to be hyped at all about this.

• Strafe - FPS - Low rez artsy shooter? Shooters are so boring, do something else with it please.

• Pillars of Eternity: The White March - RPG - This is one of the best designed games for PC and it's getting an expansion. Obisidian has churned out gems for several years now with the South Park game and Pillars of Eternity. This'll be great.

• Planet Coaster - Theme Park Sim - The Elite Dangerous team is reviving the lost roller coaster tycoon genre. If it keeps the visual look that they showed in the trailer, it could be really interesting.

• Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns - MMO Expansion - Unless they have some new end-game loot system in the game, it'll never get the same amount of players back.

• Hitman - TPS - The new freedom of the "sandbox maps" looks neat, but I still want a game that isn't just "kill people in neat ways." So then they presented "well you can interact with your friends in different ways by submitting targets online, etc." We'll see if it actually ends up interesting.

• Beyond Eyes - Artsy/Exploration - Looks beautiful, I'll probably watch someone play a little of it, understand it, then never touch it myself.

• Dirty Bomb - Team FPS - Team shooters have lost their appeal for me. I really could care less here.

• Soma - Horror - This game's trailer made me stressed. Horror games freak me out. No thanks!

• DayZ - Survival - It was neat to see what they're working on... but Ark has dinosaurs. You lose DayZ.

• Take On: Mars - Survival/Creative - Looks like Space Engineers meets space survival? I might check it out to see if there's anything new about it.

• Heroes of the Storm: Eternal Conflict - New expansion themed on Diablo. Monk will be a support character. I still think I'm pretty done with MOBAs in general. They don't provide any new gameplay experiences for me at this point.

• StarCraft 2 Expansion - RTS - I'll play this for the story on the hardest difficulty, then never touch it again. I'm not asian enough to ever win any SC2 tournaments. (that sounds horribly racist, but I'm pretty sure it's a fact)

• No Man's Sky - Space/Exploration - They announced that it will be on PC as well as PS4. "Well we couldn't announce that it was coming to PC as well before for reasons" No shit, you wanted everyone to think it was PS4 exclusive because Sony paid you to do that. I'm glad they are smart enough to realize that the experience will be better on PC. I want them to tone down the color scheme in that game though... it's SO bright and might give a headache during long play sessions. This game + Oculus Rift = yes please.

E3 PC Notes

E3 PC Notes

Holy crap where do I start... This presentation was a roller-coaster of excitement and boredom. I'll just do more bullet points for games and what happened.

• Killing Floor 2 - FPS/Horror - They showed off new tech that allows gore to be more disgusting, it actually looked really cool haha. This game is always a blast with friends. It definitely rides the wave between frustration and relief.

• Rising Storm 2: Vietnam - FPS - Another Tripwire game. It'll be kinda fun, but nobody will care. More Vietnam and/or WW2 just bores people to death.

• Star Citizen - Action/Simulation - Got a brief look on the mo-cap that they're working and it always looks so good.

• Then AMD talked about blah blah graphics chips, "we're AMD you should trust us."

• Deus Ex - FPS/RPG - Devs came out and talked about the tech behind their new Deus Ex game, it looked pretty cool. I'm sure this will be another "play through it once then done" game.

• Total War: Warhammer - RTS - This is a Warhammer fanboy's dream. I'm excited for it because I support the Total War games... but they always mess up with too much paid DLC.

• Xbox Dude comes out on stage like a patronizing ass. "At Microsoft, we want to show our support of PC gaming because we may not have as much as we wanted to in the past." He had this smug grin I couldn't forget.

• Rod Fergusson came out to talk about Gears of War on PC... So boring. I actually think that game is more fun on consoles with your console buddies. Nobody cares on PC, we have much better shooter games to play.

• American Truck Simulator - Simulation - Best game 2016, GOTY, All the awards. Want. The name says it all.

• EVE Valkyrie - VR Space Shooter - Didn't really show anything new, just talked about VR and designing the game from the ground up for VR.

• Ion - Survival - Dean Hall's new project since he abandoned DayZ. So much hesitation to be hyped at all about this.

• Strafe - FPS - Low rez artsy shooter? Shooters are so boring, do something else with it please.

• Pillars of Eternity: The White March - RPG - This is one of the best designed games for PC and it's getting an expansion. Obisidian has churned out gems for several years now with the South Park game and Pillars of Eternity. This'll be great.

• Planet Coaster - Theme Park Sim - The Elite Dangerous team is reviving the lost roller coaster tycoon genre. If it keeps the visual look that they showed in the trailer, it could be really interesting.

• Guild Wars 2: Heart of Thorns - MMO Expansion - Unless they have some new end-game loot system in the game, it'll never get the same amount of players back.

• Hitman - TPS - The new freedom of the "sandbox maps" looks neat, but I still want a game that isn't just "kill people in neat ways." So then they presented "well you can interact with your friends in different ways by submitting targets online, etc." We'll see if it actually ends up interesting.

• Beyond Eyes - Artsy/Exploration - Looks beautiful, I'll probably watch someone play a little of it, understand it, then never touch it myself.

• Dirty Bomb - Team FPS - Team shooters have lost their appeal for me. I really could care less here.

• Soma - Horror - This game's trailer made me stressed. Horror games freak me out. No thanks!

• DayZ - Survival - It was neat to see what they're working on... but Ark has dinosaurs. You lose DayZ.

• Take On: Mars - Survival/Creative - Looks like Space Engineers meets space survival? I might check it out to see if there's anything new about it.

• Heroes of the Storm: Eternal Conflict - New expansion themed on Diablo. Monk will be a support character. I still think I'm pretty done with MOBAs in general. They don't provide any new gameplay experiences for me at this point.

• StarCraft 2 Expansion - RTS - I'll play this for the story on the hardest difficulty, then never touch it again. I'm not asian enough to ever win any SC2 tournaments. (that sounds horribly racist, but I'm pretty sure it's a fact)

• No Man's Sky - Space/Exploration - They announced that it will be on PC as well as PS4. "Well we couldn't announce that it was coming to PC as well before for reasons" No shit, you wanted everyone to think it was PS4 exclusive because Sony paid you to do that. I'm glad they are smart enough to realize that the experience will be better on PC. I want them to tone down the color scheme in that game though... it's SO bright and might give a headache during long play sessions. This game + Oculus Rift = yes please.

E3 Square Enix Notes

Square Enix Notes

• Just Cause 3 - Open world Action - 400 square miles of open world and lots of vehicles and weapons.You can attach tons of things with the grapple.  80 vehicles.  Lots of mini-games to compete for online leaderboards.  They didn't say anything about multiplayer... when Just Cause 2 Multiplayer mod is the only reason that people care about this IP anymore...  This could be a HUGE missed opportunity.

• NieR New Project - PS4 Nier Game - It was just a super cryptic teaser trailer that name-dropped experienced game developers.

• Rise of the Tomb Raider - Adventure - I'm sure this game will be well-made.  The newer Tomb Raider title was excellent.  I will be more of the same cinematic-adventure that people like from these titles, so it'll do well.

• Lara Croft Go - Tomb Raider Mobile Game - Craptastic.  Turn-based experience.

• Final Fantasy VII remake - This was shown again.  "Stay tuned for more detailed information in the future." They're also releasing the old FFVII on the iphone at the end of summer.

• Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key - It's a japanese browser game that they're bringing to mobile.  It did alright in Japan, but it didn't keep anyone's attention.

• Kingdom Hearts 3 - Action-y RPG with Disney Characters - This will be a story-driven nostalgia-fest.  It will sell at ludicrous-speed.  The game will probably be very polished.  It's one of those games that people want to experience the story... so it might actually be more popular for streamers/content creators online to have people watch it.

• World of Final Fantasy - Didn't show much other than the trailer that was posted yesterday.

• Hitman - 3rd Person Action/Stealth - HD sandbox game.  Freedom of approach to take out your targets.  Sounds like you get even more freedom.  We'll see!  They reward "complete mastery" of levels.  It's a game about killing.  It'll have to be more than this, we'll see what social options you can do with your friends for the game...

• They showed some quick trailers of some of their newer titles like Final Fantasy XV.

• Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness - Seems like a pretty JRPG.  Combat seems interesting, a cross between real time combat and turn based ability use.  JRPG fans will gobble this up.  Aiming for 60 fps.

• Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Action RPG - Takes place in 2029.  Stopping the Illuminati.  In-game trailer shown.  I want this game to be good.  The others were decent games.

• Project Setsuna - New JRPG from a studio that will only make JRPG's called Tokyo RPG Factory.  They showed some concept art.  Who knows.

E3 Nintendo Notes

Nintendo Notes

• Starfox Zero - Looks pretty good.  Very simple arcade-y space shooter.  The new cockpit view from the gamepad looks alright.

• Mario Maker - Looks like a good creative tool for people to play more Mario.

• Amiibo - More new Amiibos...  This is their huge money maker right now.  Hammer slam Bowser and Turbo-charged Donkey Kong... They're Amiibos and Skylanders Characters in one toy.

• Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes - 3 Player Co-op Zelda Adventure - Finally!?  Solving puzzles and going through dungeons...  You can play single-player still, you get little "doll" AI characters.  Different outfits and abilities/items.  Online multiplayer.

• Hyrule Warriors Legends 3DS - Action Hack n' Slash - Oh my sweet jesus.  With additional Wind Waker characters.  The Warriors games are my guilty pleasure in gaming.  I'm on board here.

• Metroid Prime: Federation Force - 4 player Co-op - Looks like Monster Hunter: Metroid or Halo Metroid.

• Metroid Prime: Blast Ball - Metroid Sports?  I'm so confused

• Fire Emblem: Fates - Turn-based Tactical Strategy - 3DS - Decent trailer with a tiny bit of gameplay.  This will sell like hotcakes

• Some Japanese FE game - No idea what this is.  Nintendo didn't put it in English.

• Xenoblade Chronicles X - RPG - They showed a new trailer.  The gameplay is similar to the other titles, RPG combat is a little slow for my tastes in these games.

• Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer- Creative Home Builder - Cards with NFC chips in them have been added for more stuff and interactivity.

• Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival - Party Game - It looked like Mario Party but with Animal Crossing.

• Yoshi's Woolly World - Platformer - Amiibos are super cute looking.  Little plushy amiibos.  Looks like a creative, pretty looking Nintendo platformer.  I'm not super excited, but it might be fun as a one-time playthrough.  Co-op mode looks like a good addition, can always use more co-op titles in the industry.  If you have a Mario Amiibo, it turns into a Mario Yoshi in game, etc.

• Yo-kai Watch - Similar to Pokemon - Collect/find ghosts, turn-based combat with mini-games.  Poke-fans will buy this game.

• Mario and Luigi: Paper Jam - 3D Mario Game with mini-games - Looks semi-fun.  It'll be one of the better titles out of the line-up.

• Mario Tennis Ultra Smash - Mario Tennis... Stop trying to make tennis happen.  Wii Tennis was it!

• Mario Maker - Creative - They're talking about it again.  Instant feedback to level creation, they're giving a lot of creative freedom to what players will be able to create.  Mario can turn into Amiibo characters when he gets a costume mushroom.  

• LetsSuperMario.com - Upload videos about Super Mario and Nintendo will make a donation to Operation Smile

The presentation was a lot of fan-service, and maybe there's more to come.  But it's nothing ground-breaking from Nintendo.  I'm not sure what I expected... but it wasn't as exciting as it could have been.  The best thing I saw was co-op Zelda for 3DS, but it just doesn't seem like any creative uses of their systems and there was no announcement of the new system yet.

E3 Day One Super Notes

WALL OF TEXT: E3 Xbox Showcase Bullet Points (As objectively as I can)

 XBOX FEATURES

• Xbox One "Game Preview" - Early Access for Xbox... I'm sorry console fans. I never wished this evil upon you. You're going to be SO mad playing Early Access games... I'm calling it right now. Just wait. Winter's coming.

• Xbox One Backwards Compatibility - This is good. I know a lot of console gamers want to go back to old games. (I personally think going back to old games is a waste of time for me now since I've played so much, but I can realize the value here)

• Xbox Elite Wireless Controller - This looks amazing. Swappable components and Windows/Xbox compatibility. Sign me up.

NEW GAMES

• Recore - No gameplay shown from Metroid Prime creators. Cinematic looks nice. Holding off on opinion until gameplay.

• Halo 5 - Halo/shooter game. More rehashed gameplay that will sell by the boatload. Console shooter fans will gobble it up, I won't bother. It'll be successful.

• Fallout 4 - FPS-RPG. Again. Will have mods. Mods are going to be a good addition. This game will be good, I'm not too worried. You get Fallout 3 free with Fallout 4... does this matter now? Why haven't you played Fallout 3 yet?

• Plants vs. Zombies: GW2 - Third-Person Action. This game needs some serious additions to it's content. It's a fun concept/core gameplay, but it gets stale fast. They'll need better matchmaking and more things to do. Also need to have better base customization options.

• Dark Souls 3 - Hardcore Third-Person Action-RPG. Another game of rehashed content. Not super excited, but I'm sure I'll play it and have a decent time. It's not going to be a groundbreaker.

• Ashen - Adventure. Looks pretty. Not a game that's piqued my interest, but it might be ok.

• Cuphead - 2D Sidescroll Action. This actually looks new and fun. Old school Disney art with modern action/platformer gameplay. Looks great.

• Ion - FPS Survival Game? The new space DayZ Xbox MMO from Dean "Rocket" Hall. Is this another game he'll pump into Early Access, then abandon to work on something else again? Stay tuned.

• Rare Collection: Another pack of old games to play on a new system. I think this has some great titles in it and it'll sell decently. Again, old games = I won't bother.

• Rise of The Tomb Raider - Adventure. I hope it'll be as good/better than the first game. Crystal Dynamics did a really good job of rebooting this IP.

• Sea of Thieves - Third-Person Action-RPG? Rare's new pirate multiplayer game for Xbox One. Not really sure on how the gameplay works, so I'll abstain from saying anything other than "it looks pretty."

• Minecraft Hololens - Creative. This looks bananas. If they can get the functionality even semi-close to how it looks on stage, this will be nuts. Hologram minecraft on my coffee table? Yes please.

• Gears of War: Ultimate Edition - Third-person Shooter. Boring. They HAD to bring out a couple "dude-bro" titles I guess. "You can play it at 1080p 60 fps now!" Sorry consoles, I have to pull the PCMASTERRACE card here... why wasn't it able to do that before? Not a selling point, in my opinion.

• Gears of War 4 - Third-person Shooter. The trailer was SO DARK. Couldn't really see much of anything other than ANOTHER game that just rehashes old game design to pump out another title that they know will sell. Bored.

• Divinity: Original Sin - Turn-based RPG. Shown after the showcase, this game will be AWESOME for console players. This is one of the best games I have played in the past year and is loads of fun with a friend.

Bethesda Notes:

• Fallout 4 will be a good game. It'll be a game that keeps a lot of game systems that work, and it'll iterate on that successful formula and have a better game.

• Doom looks boring. I'm so tired of just shooters for the sake of being shooters. 

• Dishonored 2 will be ok. It's one of the those games that I'll blow through once, and be done with forever. It'll be probably 20 hrs-ish of enjoyment, then I'll never touch it again.

• Elder Scrolls Card Game: Boring. I hate card games on computer.

• I'm currently playing Fallout Shelter even though I know it's a builder-esque mobile game... what's wrong with me.

E3 EA Notes:

• Need for Speed: Racing. "Heroes of today's car culture." What.  Open world is good.  Racing and getting chased by cops.  IRL cinematics going to in-game graphics that looks real-ish.  Graphics look pretty good, frame-rate is not great.  I wish the camera would pull back more in racing games, but I feel like they do this because of people with small screens.

• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Really? TOR Expansion?  Blur cinematics look great, but the MMO still isn't good enough.  The story is really good in this game... but MMO's are about social tools and end-game content.  TOR just isn't good enough in these regards.

• Unravel - "Do more than just entertain."  Puzzle-platformer.  Looks like a cutesy-artsy kind of game.  Might be a one-time playthrough.  Physics-based 3D platforming that looks good.

• Plants vs Zombies: GW2 - Nobody's clapping for the zombie dancing to Danger Zone on stage.  Womp womp EA.  "Plants are on the attack."  So you just get to defend as zombies now?  Ugh.  Not enough so far...  Seems to be arcade-y fun.  First game wasn't bad... just not better than other options that are available.  Vid linked up above.

• EA Sports - I can't even comment normally on any of these games.  Sports games are fun if you're into sports, but it's boring if you're not.

• NBA Live 16 - Face scan tech again.  Looks pretty close to this guy, so we'll see how accurate it actually is at launch.  Lots of customization for your character.  Can really place yourself in the game.

• Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes - Mobile SW game.... UGH. 

• Minions Paradise - A minion mobile game?  +2 Ugh.  Builder/pay 2 win game.  Kids will spend too much of their parents money on this game.

• FIFA 16 - It'll be another soccer game.  I feel like these sports games have people that still have a negative stigma about video games... playing video games.  Women's teams are in the game now.  This guy keeps bragging about Pele being on stage with him... Nobody in America cares.

• Mirror's Edge - No clue, they showed a pretty trailer, then went straight to Madden.

• Madden - Not even worth watching.  Interactive fantasy football.  D&D for people that hate nerds.

• Star Wars: Battlefront - They catered to people's nostalgia filters with stories of childhood Star Wars memories.  Gameplay looks pretty good with lots going on BUT actual gameplay never looks like this in any of the battlefield games.  Instead of lots of events being spread out over a battlefield, it's always just one cluster of death that slowly moves back and forth.  Maybe some capture points get hit on the side occasionally... but it's never as spread out as the gameplay trailer would have you believe.  Is it just me, or does the Hoth battle map look tiny.  It looks like someone was told verbally about the Hoth battle but didn't watch the movie.

E3 Ubisoft Notes:

• TheFracturedButWhole - Turn-based RPG - From the makers of South Park. Superhero themed. Sounds amazing.

• For Honor - 4v4 Moba - Looks like Dynasty Warriors moba that's grittier... I'd play it.

• Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max Turbo Etc. - Stunt game - This'll be a fun arcade-y game. Looks alright.

• The Division - 3rd Person Shooter/RPG - The graphic downgrade from the first announcement... holy cow. This looks nothing like what it was supposed to look like. I've heard a lot of bad things about the development of this game... So I don't have high hopes. I wanted it to be good... but it won't be. Sad panda.

• Anno 2205 - Real Time Strategy - I loved the previous game. I'm sure this game will be excellent for fans of strategy. These games are all about balancing your economy in-game and it's super fun.

• Just Dance 2016 - Dance game - Can play with just a mobile device. Just Dance Streaming... meh. I guess this is another game that gets less stereotypical gamers into games.  This video is cringe.

• Rainbow Six: Siege - Tactical Shooter - Isn't this game already out on PC? This game is alright... but most people got tired of it after the first week of playing.

• Trackmania - Racing/Creative Game - These are fun games, but they're not good enough to compete with the other racing titles. It's arcade-y and fun with friends... but it doesn't keep you hooked for very long.

• Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - 3rd Person Action - I'm a sucker for Assassin's Creed. IV was the last good one... but I'll keep playing these for the meta-story.

• Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - 4 Player Co-op 3rd Person Shooter - Open world. I'll have to see how this game ends up if we can see ACTUAL gameplay. Always have to take E3 presentations with a grain of salt.

E3 Sony Notes #remake:

• Last Guardian - 3D Puzzle Platformer - Looks beautiful and everyone was tearing up for the guardian.  We'll see how the gameplay pans out.

• Horizon: Zero Dawn - 3rd Person Action Shooter - In the future... after humanity has been mostly wiped out by machines and it looks pretty sick.  Machine animal things... I dig it.

• Hitman - 3rd Person Stealth Action - Hitman is old news for me.  I'm not super excited unless they REALLY surprise us and do something new.

• Dreams - Creative - By the LittleBigPlanet team...  No clue what this is.  It almost looks like a creative tool to make beautiful cinematics... not sure how the gameplay will work.

• Destiny: The Taken King - Destiny's a good game.  More content is always good.  Not super exciting though.

• Firewatch - Adventure Survival - Seems interesting.  Survival game for PS4.  Looks like good writing... I'll stick with my PC survival titles...

• Final Fantasy VII Remake - RPG - I know fanboys are super hyped about this.  I couldn't care less.  Play new games.  Expand your horizons.

• Shenmue 3 - This looks pretty cool.  It was weird that they're plugging a Kickstarter and not just funding the game if they really believe in it.  Is that a red flag to anyone else?

• World of Final Fantasy - RPG - World of WarFinal Fantasy?  This could be ok.  Looks cute, but not up my alley.

• Call of Duty Black Ops 3 - FPS - Dude.  Bro.  (Co-op could be fun)

• Uncharted 4 - Adventure - Looked pretty good.  Seemed very similar to the previous Uncharted game, but those are great.  So it'll be good stuff.

Join me tomorrow!

E3 Ubisoft Notes

E3 Ubisoft Notes:

TheFracturedButWhole - Turn-based RPG - From the makers of South Park. Superhero themed. Sounds amazing.

For Honor - 4v4 Moba - Looks like Dynasty Warriors moba that's grittier... I'd play it.

Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max Turbo Etc. - Stunt game - This'll be a fun arcade-y game. Looks alright.

The Division - 3rd Person Shooter/RPG - The graphic downgrade from the first announcement... holy cow. This looks nothing like what it was supposed to look like. I've heard a lot of bad things about the development of this game... So I don't have high hopes. I wanted it to be good... but it won't be. Sad panda.

Anno 2025 - Real Time Strategy - I loved the previous game. I'm sure this game will be excellent for fans of strategy. These games are all about balancing your economy in-game and it's super fun.

Just Dance 2016 - Dance game - Can play with just a mobile device. Just Dance Streaming... meh. I guess this is another game that gets less stereotypical gamers into games.

Rainbow Six: Siege - Tactical Shooter - Isn't this game already out on PC? This game is alright... but most people got tired of it after the first week of playing.

Trackmania - Racing/Creative Game - These are fun games, but they're not good enough to compete with the other racing titles. It's arcade-y and fun with friends... but it doesn't keep you hooked for very long.

Assassin's Creed: Syndicate - 3rd Person Action - I'm a sucker for Assassin's Creed. IV was the last good one... but I'll keep playing these for the meta-story.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands - 4 Player Co-op 3rd Person Shooter - Open world. I'll have to see how this game ends up if we can see ACTUAL gameplay. Always have to take E3 presentations with a grain of salt.

E3 Sony Notes

E3 Sony Notes #remake

Last Guardian - 3D Puzzle Platformer - Looks beautiful and everyone was tearing up for the guardian.  We'll see how the gameplay pans out.

Horizon: Zero Dawn - 3rd Person Action Shooter - In the future... after humanity has been mostly wiped out by machines and it looks pretty sick.  Machine animal things... I dig it.

Hitman - 3rd Person Stealth Action - Hitman is old news for me.  I'm not super excited unless they REALLY surprise us and do something new.

Dreams - Creative - By the LittleBigPlanet team...  No clue what this is.  It almost looks like a creative tool to make beautiful cinematics... not sure how the gameplay will work.

Destiny: The Taken King - Destiny's a good game.  More content is always good.  Not super exciting though.

Firewatch - Adventure Survival - Seems interesting.  Survival game for PS4.  Looks like good writing... I'll stick with my PC survival titles...

Final Fantasy VII Remake - RPG - I know fanboys are super hyped about this.  I couldn't care less.  Play new games.  Expand your horizons.

Shenmue 3 - This looks pretty cool.  It was weird that they're plugging a Kickstarter and not just funding the game if they really believe in it.  Is that a red flag to anyone else?

World of Final Fantasy - RPG - World of WarFinal Fantasy?  This could be ok.  Looks cute, but not up my alley.

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 - FPS - Dude.  Bro.  (Co-op could be fun)

Uncharted 4 - Adventure - Looked pretty good.  Seemed very similar to the previous Uncharted game, but those are great.  So it'll be good stuff.

Join me tomorrow!

E3 EA Notes

E3 EA Notes

• Need for Speed: Racing. "Heroes of today's car culture." What.  Open world is good.  Racing and getting chased by cops.  IRL cinematics going to in-game graphics that looks real-ish.  Graphics look pretty good, frame-rate is not great.  I wish the camera would pull back more in racing games, but I feel like they do this because of people with small screens.
• Star Wars: The Old Republic - Really? TOR Expansion?  Blur cinematics look great, but the MMO still isn't good enough.  The story is really good in this game... but MMO's are about social tools and end-game content.  TOR just isn't good enough in these regards.
• Unravel - "Do more than just entertain."  Puzzle-platformer.  Looks like a cutesy-artsy kind of game.  Might be a one-time playthrough.  Physics-based 3D platforming that looks good.
• Plants vs Zombies: GW2 - Nobody's clapping for the zombie dancing to Danger Zone on stage.  Womp womp EA.  "Plants are on the attack."  So you just get to defend as zombies now?  Ugh.  Not enough so far...  Seems to be arcade-y fun.  First game wasn't bad... just not better than other options that are available.
• EA Sports - I can't even comment normally on any of these games.  Sports games are fun if you're into sports, but it's boring if you're not.
• NBA Live 16 - Face scan tech again.  Looks pretty close to this guy, so we'll see how accurate it actually is at launch.  Lots of customization for your character.  Can really place yourself in the game.
• Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes - Mobile SW game.... UGH. 
• Minions Paradise - A minion mobile game?  +2 Ugh.  Builder/pay 2 win game.  Kids will spend too much of their parents money on this game.
• FIFA 16 - It'll be another soccer game.  I feel like these sports games have people that still have a negative stigma about video games... playing video games.  Women's teams are in the game now.  This guy keeps bragging about Pele being on stage with him... Nobody in America cares.
• Mirror's Edge - No clue, they showed a pretty trailer, then went straight to Madden.
• Madden - Not even worth watching.  Fantasy football.  D&D for people that hate nerds.
• Star Wars: Battlefront - They catered to people's nostalgia filters with stories of childhood Star Wars memories.  Gameplay looks pretty good with lots going on BUT actual gameplay never looks like this in any of the battlefield games.  Instead of lots of events being spread out over a battlefield, it's always just one cluster of death that slowly moves back and forth.  Maybe some capture points get hit on the side occasionally... but it's never as spread out as the gameplay trailer would have you believe.  Is it just me, or does the Hoth battle map look tiny.  It looks like someone was told verbally about the Hoth battle but didn't watch the movie.

E3: Xbox Showcase and Bethesda Notes

WALL OF TEXT: E3 Xbox Showcase Bullet Points (As objectively as I can)

 XBOX FEATURES

• Xbox One "Game Preview" - Early Access for Xbox... I'm sorry console fans. I never wished this evil upon you. You're going to be SO mad playing Early Access games... I'm calling it right now. Just wait. Winter's coming.
• Xbox One Backwards Compatibility - This is good. I know a lot of console gamers want to go back to old games. (I personally think going back to old games is a waste of time for me now since I've played so much, but I can realize the value here)
• Xbox Elite Wireless Controller - This looks amazing. Swappable components and Windows/Xbox compatibility. Sign me up.

NEW GAMES

• Recore - No gameplay shown from Metroid Prime creators. Cinematic looks nice. Holding off on opinion until gameplay.
• Halo 5 - Halo/shooter game. More rehashed gameplay that will sell by the boatload. Console shooter fans will gobble it up, I won't bother. It'll be successful.
• Fallout 4 - FPS-RPG. Again. Will have mods. Mods are going to be a good addition. This game will be good, I'm not too worried. You get Fallout 3 free with Fallout 4... does this matter now? Why haven't you played Fallout 3 yet?
• Plants vs. Zombies: GW2 - Third-Person Action. This game needs some serious additions to it's content. It's a fun concept/core gameplay, but it gets stale fast. They'll need better matchmaking and more things to do. Also need to have better base customization options.
• Dark Souls 3 - Hardcore Third-Person Action-RPG. Another game of rehashed content. Not super excited, but I'm sure I'll play it and have a decent time. It's not going to be a groundbreaker.
• Ashen - Adventure. Looks pretty. Not a game that's piqued my interest, but it might be ok.
• Cuphead - 2D Sidescroll Action. This actually looks new and fun. Old school Disney art with modern action/platformer gameplay. Looks great.
• Ion - FPS Survival Game? The new space DayZ Xbox MMO from Dean "Rocket" Hall. Is this another game he'll pump into Early Access, then abandon to work on something else again? Stay tuned.
• Rare Collection: Another pack of old games to play on a new system. I think this has some great titles in it and it'll sell decently. Again, old games = I won't bother.
• Rise of The Tomb Raider - Adventure. I hope it'll be as good/better than the first game. Crystal Dynamics did a really good job of rebooting this IP.
• Sea of Thieves - Third-Person Action-RPG? Rare's new pirate multiplayer game for Xbox One. Not really sure on how the gameplay works, so I'll abstain from saying anything other than "it looks pretty."
• Minecraft Hololens - Creative. This looks bananas. If they can get the functionality even semi-close to how it looks on stage, this will be nuts. Hologram minecraft on my coffee table? Yes please.
• Gears of War: Ultimate Edition - Third-person Shooter. Boring. They HAD to bring out a couple "dude-bro" titles I guess. "You can play it at 1080p 60 fps now!" Sorry consoles, I have to pull the PCMASTERRACE card here... why wasn't it able to do that before? Not a selling point, in my opinion.
• Gears of War 4 - Third-person Shooter. The trailer was SO DARK. Couldn't really see much of anything other than ANOTHER game that just rehashes old game design to pump out another title that they know will sell. Bored.
• Divinity: Original Sin - Turn-based RPG. Shown after the showcase, this game will be AWESOME for console players. This is one of the best games I have played in the past year and is loads of fun with a friend.

Bethesda Notes:

• Fallout 4 will be a good game. It'll be a game that keeps a lot of game systems that work, and it'll iterate on that successful formula and have a better game.
• Doom looks boring. I'm so tired of just shooters for the sake of being shooters. 
• Dishonored 2 will be ok. It's one of the those games that I'll blow through once, and be done with forever. It'll be probably 20 hrs-ish of enjoyment, then I'll never touch it again.
• Elder Scrolls Card Game: Boring. I hate card games on computer.
• I'm currently playing Fallout Shelter even though I know it's a builder-esque mobile game... what's wrong with me.