My Thoughts on E3 2008

First things first. I was not one of the elite invited to E3, so I did not attend E3 2008. Instead, I relied on the hardworking bloggers of a LOT of other sites to get all my information. Over the past five days, I have read and sorted through over 1000 articles, watched a few hundred trailers and video clips, and pretty much made myself sick of the whole damned thing…lol. Seriously, though, I’d like to share my thoughts on E3 from the point of view of a gamer, parent, and consumer. So if you’re interested in what I got out of E3, read on…

There’s a lot of talk about how bad E3 was this year. I have to agree that while I certainly enjoyed getting a more in-depth look at a number of games that are coming out, absolutely nothing was announced that made me all giddy. The entire time I was reading and watching videos, I got the impression that there were two factions warring with each other. The first faction was comprised of the developers who used flashy presentations in an attempt to impress the media. The other faction was made up of people who focused on the business side of the gaming industry. This latter faction seemed to be generally viewed by the media as boring. So I think that E3 needs to decide who their target audience is. If it’s the media, then it’s probably in its best interests to revert back to the huge spectacle with 60,000+ people. If you’re a game developer and you’re trying to get the media to shout out to the world about your awesome game, don’t lull them to sleep. On the other hand, if the target audience is investors and businesspeople, then get rid of the flash altogether and have people in suits discussing the increase of the female tween demographic with PowerPoint presentations and pitchers of water on a table.

As a gamer, reading the articles and watching the videos, I was disappointed in what I saw. Yes, there was a lot of really cool stuff (which I’ll get to later), but gamers follow E3 for the awesome, exciting “OMG” news. Not just additional details on games that we’re already expecting. Since the redesign and refocus of E3, it can be argued that gamers aren’t supposed to expect OMG from it, but if that’s the case, don’t hype it up with all this coverage all over the internet. And what was that Microsoft - Bungie - Halo thing? Now when Bungie officially announces the new Halo project they’re working on with teaser trailers and cool screens, we won’t be wowed. Yes, we’ll be very interested in the details, but it won’t have that BAM! So the message that the gamer in me received from E3 as a whole was that the video game industry is thriving, making a whole crapload of games targeted to everyone in the world, and they’ll sell like hotcakes because when *insert game company CEO* speaks, we buy their crap. (Kinda like Steve Jobs and new Apple products…) Mooooo… Maybe I should be one of the livestock in that new Capcom game, Flock. At least I’ll get abducted into outer space by aliens.

On to specifics…

On the first day, it was announced that Final Fantasy XIII would be coming out on the XBox 360 simultaneously with the PS3 version. People went absolutely APESHIT. I remember thinking, “Great. Now I’ll have to buy the special edition twice. I need more money.” After that, I realized that if THIS news was earth-shattering, then E3 was really going to be pathetic. It’s not like Square Enix is a total stranger to the 360 and when you take into the consideration the fact that Square Enix reported a decrease in profits and western market share, it is simply a good business decision to release a highly anticipated title into as many homes as humanly possible. I felt slightly bad for Sony, since having FFXIII as a PS3 exclusive would certainly help sell units. Look at MGS4. On the other hand, I’m a Final Fantasy fangirl. I want people to play Final Fantasy. I don’t care what system they play it on.

And that leads me to the next thing. The “console war.” I’m really getting sick and tired of watching Sony do something, then Microsoft does something to one-up them. Then Sony kicks it right back. And it goes back and forth, back and forth. It’s like sex without the climax. Sony’s Home and trophies. Microsoft’s avatars and new XBox Live redesign. Just STOP already. I know that I’m probably the only person in the entire universe that doesn’t like achievements. Well, it’s not so much that I don’t like them. I just would really like the option to have them not disrupt my game. Playing games like Eternal Sonata and Lost Odyssey involve story, character development, and immersion. So when the little blip noise and the “Achievement Unlocked” graphic pops up in the middle of my game, it takes me out of the moment. It’s not that I don’t want to earn achievements. They help me obsessively get every little thing in every game I play. I just don’t want them to interrupt me. I’ll look at my list and gloat LATER. I really loved that once I started up a game on my PS3, stupid blips wouldn’t bother me. Now I’m going to get the same crap no matter where I’m playing my game. Makes me love my Wii that much more. The more I see both Sony and Microsoft desperately trying to hold their marketshare, the more it seems that neither one is ever really going to “win.” The video game industry is surviving just fine with three major consoles on the market. Everyone is making a hell of a lot more money than I am, so they’re all just being greedy. If you were to ask me which of my consoles I love the best, I’d probably say my computer because I built it, it does what I want it to, and it’s not trying to kiss my ass.

I hate to admit it, but one of the things that I drooled about when reading all the E3 news was all the MMO games. Knights of the Old Republic, DC Universe Online, and The Agency are definitely tickling my fancy. I’m such a MMO junky, though, so it’s to be expected. It’s interesting to see so many companies trying to make new MMO games when World of Warcraft is still dominating the market. I am feeling rather torn about the whole genre, though, since I blame MMO’s for pulling me away from playing more console games and watching more anime. I have STACKS and STACKS of stuff to play and watch. I’m slowly making a dent in my pile, but new games are stacking up faster than I can finish them. I thought about giving up MMO’s altogether, but the chance to make a superhero and fight alongside Batman is just too much to pass up! It was really nice to finally see some in-game footage of The Agency. Since I love the James Bond movies so much, a spy MMO seemed like a great idea, but I was unsure how it would play out in reality. It looks very fast paced, so I’ll have to get used to it. Those people who play shooters will probably have a very easy time getting the hang of it.

As for console games (and non-MMO games), Animal Crossing for the Wii, Rhythm Heaven for the DS, Dragon Age:Origins for the PC, and Sonic Unleashed for whichever I feel like buying it for caught my attention. I added them to my list of games to buy. I was also on the lookout for games that I could play with my son. We’re both hoping for two-player mode in Sonic and of course Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort looks like fun for the whole family. I look forward to watching my son get my dad to play. That’s always entertaining. As you can see, though, my list isn’t very long. There wasn’t that much that I didn’t already know about.

In closing, I have to say that I really didn’t mean to complain so much. So many people are already bitching a LOT about how E3 totally sucked this year. I honestly didn’t want to add to that. Still, my testimony as just a regular (okay, slightly obsessive) consumer just goes to drive home the fact that E3 just isn’t E3 anymore.