E3 2010 – What Do I Want To See Most?
This week marks another year of Geekscape’s annual E3 coverage and this one seems poised to be the biggest yet with huge games on the show floor from all 3 major console publishers and tons of major development teams like EA and Microsoft showing off the goods. Last year, the surprises started early with day one announcements of a Left 4 Dead sequel, Microsoft and Sony revealing details on their motion controllers and my personal small favorite: the return of the Monkey Island franchise with both Tales of Monkey Island and Secret of Monkey Island SE. And that was just the pre-show announcements!
So with things starting off with a bang again this year, what am I pumped to experience the most on the show floor and in private demo sessions that you can see exclusively here on Geekscape in the days to come? Well, I made myself a list of my own personal causes for excitement. Use the comments section below or the handy Geekscape forums to share in the conversation and let everyone else know what you are looking forward to the most from this year’s E3!
New Zelda Wii
Being my favorite gaming franchise, this has to be my number one choice right? Almost wrong. The one piece of artwork that we’ve seen teased at us so far is a Twilight Princess like Link and a sword with a hilt in the shape of a woman. With so much prominence placed on the sword, is this first Zelda made exclusively for the Wii going to have an increased focus on Wii Motion Plus style sword play and archery? I thought that despite it’s slow start, Twilight Princess was a near perfect experience. The Wii controls were intuitive and the game had some great puzzles and creative use of the new controls. Now that the game isn’t held back by having first been developed for a conventional controller on the Gamecube, what new experiences await us? Is this going to take the Zelda franchise to the next level like the Ocarina of time did 12 years ago? Or is it going to push in some experimental ways (think Adventures of Link) that might cost Nintendo some of it’s hardcore audience? Either way, Nintendo has to do SOME shaking up to keep fans interested in a franchise that many critics have pointed out (kind of accurately) has become way too repetitive.
The Last Guardian
Team Ico might make a huge splash for the resurgent PS3 this year. Not only did The Last Guardian take everyone’s breath away with last year’s teaser trailer (and pull on a ton of heartstrings), but now there are increasing rumors that they plan to release a God of War style HD remastering of both Ico and Shadows of the Colossus on one disc for the PS3. Tell me you wouldn’t replay through those games in HD. Could they get any more beautiful? The Last Guardian provides a resounding “YES!” to that question. We barely know what it’s about beyond an Incan-style boy and his feathered griffin friend but I want to play it!
Portal 2
With the release of Portal 2 pushed from December 2010 to early 2011, a lot of fans were bummed out. Still, the game will supposedly be on display at E3. What changes do you want to see in the platform FPS puzzler? Knowing that Portal takes place in the Half-Life universe, could a Half-Life Episode 3 announcement be far behind? Here’s what I do know: The upcoming announcement of a Left 4 Dead 3 to be released in November will leave half of the Valve fans raving and the other half bitching that it’s too soon after the release of Left 4 Dead 2… which they also bitched about. Valve cancelled their presentation event in lieu of showing their games in behind doors private demos. What’s the big secret?
Dead Rising 2
I was one of the few non-fans of Dead Rising and it’s strange countdown clock and save system. I was amused by the game but not completely wowed by the gameplay mechanics and felt burdened by the need to take photos of zombies. Now, it looks like Dead Rising 2 has not only cut the fat, but has taken things in a creative new direction with the implementation of weapon creation. That’s the kind of thing that get zombie nerds like us excited about. In a zombie apocalypse, the question “where would you go” no longer works. Now you have to ask, “what would you build to kill the sons’a bitches!?!”
Scott Pilgrim VS The World
This year’s Castle Crashers. 4 Player Co-Op in a crazy amped up beat ’em up based around everyone’s favorite comic book miniseries. Yes, please, and more. The animations look hilarious, the game looks as zany and manic as the movie and the game play looks nonstop and a crap load of fun. Levels take place in almost every location from the movie and comic and have thrown in some crazy additional ones like the top of a subway train and what appears to be feudal Japan. All indications show that this will result in many nights of gaming on the XBox Live and Playstation Network for many Geekscapists. But who will come out on top?
Monkey Island 2 SE
Is there anything I could say here that would have any chance of surprising you in any way? This is the Special Edition remastering of the BEST game in one of my Top 5 game franchises of all time. One of the ONLY reasons that you guys think I’m funny on Geekscape (presuming that you DO think I’m funny on Geekscape…) is because Guybrush Threepwood and the rest of the Monkey Island universe taught me how to be funny. Last summer’s Secret of Monkey Island SE was an incredible re-energizing of the original game and this year’s, complete with creative team commentary and tons of new bonuses on top of everything last year’s SE included, promises to be as huge a leap forward as LeChuck’s Revenge was from the first game all those years ago. And I will tear up while playing it just like I did last summer. Now if we can only get someone to rerelease the first 4 Wing Commander games in some format…
The Grinder
One of the games I was REALLY excited about last E3 was The Conduit, the much rumored “Halo for the Wii”. Well, it didn’t turn out to be “Halo for the Wii” but it was a respectable FPS game that pushed the Wiis capabilities further than any other Wii game to date and was rewarded by a less than average performance by game buyers. Luckily, game developer High Voltage isn’t taking “no thanks, we don’t want your pretty awesome game” for an answer because they’re returning with not only a sequel to The Conduit but The Grinder, which takes place in a world with vampires (real ones… not teen ones) and werewolves and all sorts of other ghouls for you to send to hell. I’m excited to see what improvements and changes High Voltage has put into the game when we sit down with them this week for our one on one session. The Wii is a great system for these types of games but it’ll obviously take the perfect lightning in a bottle to pry gamers away from the distinguished competition.
Pikmin 3
I have no idea if this game will even be announced… but it would go a long way to making me cry like a girl and do a backflip in front of Jake108 and WIlliam Bibbiani. Pikmin 1 was great and Pikmin 2 was perfection… and those were on the Gamecube. The Wii controller is perfect for this franchise, so will we finally get what we’ve been wanting since launch? And even more frustratingly, Nintendo KNOWS that we want more Pikmin because they waved it in our faces by including Olimar and his plant friends in Super Smash Brothers Brawl!
3DS
What is it and how does it play? If this thing is launching with a few months before Christmas, chances are good that we’re going to get a lot of details about this mysterious new DS system. It’s hard to even speculate on what I want to see here because we literally know so little. Could this be another out of the park home run for the world’s portable juggernaut or a costly misstep that makes more and more on the go gamers turn to their mobile devices? Oh, and will it give you eye cancer?
Shank
This game looks hilarious. A mix of Adult Swim style animation and a Robert Rodriguez Mariachi film packed with loud, violently hilarious comic book action set pieces is just the formula I need to get crazy about this indie platformer. It looks like the body count will be the only thing more ridiculous than the humor when this thing hits later this year. Look for this to be the cult hit of the downloadable gaming networks and possibly a surprise hit at E3.
A Return to Vice City
It was hinted at in the closing moments and credits of The Ballad of Gay Tony and with Red Dead Redemption behind them and LA Noir coming to shelves, what is Rockstar planning for their marquee franchise? I’ve driven, run, flown and speed boated over every inch of Liberty City and caused countless millions in damages to both property and human lives. Now it’s time to make good on that promise and bring us the next location in our Grand Theft Auto Next Gen Tour of Destruction: the sunny beaches and hot night clubs of Vice City. Come on, Rockstar! Show all those other open world developers who their Papi is!
