E3 2013 will probably go down on the books as one of the more interesting and exciting years, particularly due to the fact that this is the major announcement event for all three next-gen console platforms. It was a wild day from the beginning, starting with the Microsoft Media Briefing and ending with the Sony Press Conference, with other pressers crammed in between. A lot of information was released and many of us are still trying to process what happened as a whole.
Microsoft
This is my first year going to a Microsoft Media Briefing in my five years covering E3, and I walked in thinking it would be one hell of an experience. Microsoft came out before the Media Briefing saying they were going to show games—and they delivered, starting the show with Metal Gear Solid: Phantom Pain. We saw Snake and another character riding their horses through the lands of Afghanistan. I joked how the new title of the game should be called Assassin’s Creed: Snake Eater. The open world game looked incredible.
Next, they showed a brief trailer of Killer Instinct—the crowd got really excited at this point, because they are finally getting another version of the Ultra Combo fighting game. Some people complained during the demo of RYSE: Son of Rome about the amount of quick-time-events shown in the gameplay. It also appeared the framerate dropped during the demo. Other titles shown at the media briefing included World of Tanks, Project Spark, Crimson Dragon, and others.
Microsoft did surprise everyone by showing a character roaming the desert completely cloaked. At first many of us thought it was Microsoft’s answer to PlayStation’s Journey. Then the ground started to shake and a large mech-like creature appeared before the character, who then took off the hoodie—revealing Master Chief. He is back in a new Halo title.
Electronic Arts
After Microsoft, it was on to the EA Press Conference, where food trucks were available to purchase lunch before the show began (Ed: If you’ve never been to a major show before, you have no idea just how welcome a sight those things are). After the doors opened and we started taking our seats, the show began and Peter Moore came out to kick off the proceedings. The first game on stage was PopCap’s Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare—the loveable plants are back, and they are meaner than ever. Garden Warfare is a third-person over-the-shoulder shooter. With plants. And zombies, of course. It’s also co-op.
Criterion was up next to announce Need for Speed Rivals. The new entry in the series features seamless transitions between single-player and multi-player mode. You can use Smartglass in the game to get a bird’s eye view of the course and call in police helicopters.
Bioware and DiCE were next. They showed trailers for Dragon Age: Inquisition and Star Wars Battlefront. Not much is known about the two titles but hopefully we’ll learn more about them at EA’s booth during the show.
EA Sports was next on stage to show off NBA 14, Madden NFL 25th edition (with Adrian Peterson on the cover), FIFA 14 and UFC 2013. Battlefield 4 had a nice lengthy demonstration of 64-player multiplayer gameplay. It was quite nice to actually see some multiplayer gameplay for the upcoming title.
EA ended the show with a title that many of us have been waiting for: Mirror’s Edge 2. The trailer was amazing and it will be one of the most talked-about games for weeks to come.
Sony
Sony was the last conference of the day, and they ended it with a bang. Sony made a big push for the Indie gaming scene by showing titles from the likes of Supergiant Games, Young Horses, Switchblade Monkey, Klei Entertainment, and Oddworld Inhabitants.
One of the bigger surprises for me was the new title The Order 1886, which is being developed by Santa Monica Studios. It has a distinctive Steampunk feel that the crowd seemed to dig during the trailer. After that, they showed more video of Killzone, which was interesting but nothing we haven’t seen already.
Another big announcement that got the crowd cheering was the rebranding of Final Fantasy XIII Versus as a new core entry in the series—Final Fantasy XV. What was really mind-blowing about FFXV is that they appear to have dropped the turn-based battles that have been a hallmark of jRPG gaming since the 1980s for a full-on action combat system that looks similar to Devil May Cry. Fan reception will be discussed for months to come, certainly, as jRPG fans tend not to like huge sweeping changes to the formula. More cheers came for Kingdom Heart 3, Watchdogs, and Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It was then announced that The Elder Scrolls Online beta will be a PS4 exclusive.
The biggest bombshell of the show came when Sony announced that the PS4 will have full support for used games, no system DRM, no always-online requirement, and that the price for the PS4 will be $399, a full $100 less than the Xbox One. The “How to share your PS4 games” video was a snarky suckerpunch directed squarely at Microsoft, who has made it clear that sharing games will not be simple with the Xbox One. In the frenzy of cheers, one thing that got a bit lost in the noise was the fact that PlayStation Plus membership will be required for multiplayer games, though the general sentiment by gamers seems to be “No big deal”. While the system itself will not enforce DRM, publishers have individual discretion as to whether or not to enforce DRM on their games (something that is already the norm for the current-gen systems).
Stay tuned for more E3 info as day two arrives!
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