Well, for all intents and purposes, this year’s E3 is a bit of a bust.
All three of the major companies' press events were forgetful. Nobody
dropped any bombs. And there was more sequel-itis than ever. And no new
consoles announced! Making matters worse, most the games for the Wii U
were old Nintendo standbys. Despite all this, I managed to run around
like a nutter and see some cool stuff.
Covering E3 by yourself is a real challenge. There are just too many
games to see in three days. It’d be like asking a guy to count all the
grains of sand on the beach during a windstorm. But it still gives you a
pretty good idea of what next year's big titles will be.
I will say E3’s a lot more fun if you dress like a crazy guy. I decided
to dress up this year and wore a mushroom hat and a cape. I thought I’d
get a few picture requests here and there, but people went nuts! I
couldn’t go more than 10 feet without someone asking for a picture. And I
got called a lot of interesting things like: Mario, Mr. Mario, Mushroom
King, Mushroom Head and more. And a hot chick winked at me and said,
“I’ll be your princess.” At least I think that’s what happened. She may
have had something in her eye. Kinda dusty in there...
I spent most of my day at the Namco Bandai booth checking out their
offerings. I got some hands-on time with the new Studio Ghibli anime
RPG, Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Developed by Level 5 (Rogue Galaxy, Dragon Quest VIII),
this game is absolutely dripping with charm—super-cute characters with
silly names fighting adorable monsters in a neat little world. The DBZ Kinect
game was also on display, and there were a variety of would-be Saiyans
trying their hands at a Kamehameha or two. But the game I was really
looking forward to playing was One Piece: Pirate Warriors. And I gotta say, the game didn’t disappoint one bit! The crazy crowd-based combat of Dynasty Warriors and the over-the-top moves in One Piece are a perfect match. I also got to interview the producers of the One Piece game and the Dragon Ball Z Kinect, so look for that in the next week or so.
I’m always interested to see which of the big three—Nintendo, Sony, and
Microsoft—has the best booth each year. And this year Nintendo won hands
down. Sony’s seemed very similar to last year, and although it’s nice
and modern, it is a little cold. Microsoft’s was really big, open, and
green, but felt a little empty. Nintendo’s was just plain fun. Nice
pastel colors, big cool structures that made you want to walk around and
explore. You can knock Nintendo all you want, but they have a great
sense of design and know how to impress.
It’s pretty apparent this year that E3 is growing back to its old
super-insane level. Not sure if this is a good thing, as it got so large
in the past it imploded on itself. But I’m always happy to see booth
babes, and there’s no shortage of them this year. And they seem to like
men in giant mushroom hats! Take note, future game journalists!
More to come tomorrow!
by Urian Brown
Source : http://shonenjump.viz.com/node/734
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