E3 2012: Ubisoft Press Conference Reaction

Ubisoft had the 3rd press conference of the day and blew Microsoft and EA out of the water. After this showcase, I'm not only excited for some stuff to come out, but I've also been convinced to go back and play some titles that I missed in the past.

I was worried at the outset, as they began with a showcase of Just Dance 4. It consisted of a live demo with hot chicks in skimpy outfits dancing with the game they were dancing to behind them and FloRida performing with a ridiculous microphone. I was not expecting much if this is what they were opening with.

But things got better with Far Cry 3, whose predecessors I've never played, but would if I had a decent PC. Looks like a solid and exciting game.

Then they moved to what I was itching to see more of, Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Disappointingly there wasn't much except a premiere trailer, which is different from the gameplay that Microsoft's conference showcased earlier today. At least the trailer was very bad ass. From what I gathered, Sam is now the head of "4th Echelon", and it looks like Anna Grimmsdottir is back too. It looks like it focuses on more of what Conviction began, with the fast paced takedowns and "think on your feet" pace. Thankfully it doesn't seem to do away with the emphasis on stealth. I was pretty disheartened when Sam spoke and I didn't hear Mike Ironside. It doesn't appear to be a younger Sam Fisher, but it does seem like the iconic voice I love so much. While it's a let down to be sure, it won't stop me from buying it. I'm really anxious to see what more comes out of E3 in the next couple days, because it's gonna be agonizing waiting a whole year to play it. It's slated for Spring of 2013.

Next up was some showcasing of a new Rayman title utilizing the Wii U, which actually looked really fun and then some junk about E sports and a cheesy demo of a game called Shootmania with some world champion Counter Strike players.

Then the big one...Assassin's Creed 3. Now while I've never played these games, I am most definitely going back and playing them because both the trailer and gameplay demo looked incredible. Being such a fan of Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid and Batman Arkham City/Asylum...just about any stealth based game, I'm not sure why I never picked them up, but that's gonna change.

The last presentation began very odd, with a trailer that seemed more like a lecture about how the world has become so connected and how personal information collection is being used against the average Joe. I was thinking, where are they going with this. And then a gameplay demo ensued for a game called Watch Dogs, which is by far the best game announced/demoed thus far, and I don't see it being dethroned either. Basic premise is that you are a kind of vigilante who uses the city's infrastructure to spy and cause mayhem to things to accomplish your objective. The pace seems varied and there seems to be a good mix of intelligently thinking about the situation, and violent action.

E3 2012: EA Press Conference Reaction

I wasn't looking for much from EA's press conference. Despite being the largest video game publisher in the world, I'm not a fan. Although, as it happens, they publish one of my favorite games, Battlefield 3. And with so much activity in the Battlefield world lately, I most definitely sat through them droning on about their sports franchises (including an entire 20 minutes on FIFA 13) so that I could hear from DICE.

The big Battlefield announcement was Battlefield Premium. For a one time fee of $50 (it's $49.99 but let's call it what it is) a player can gain access to, what I am rather surprised to be, an impressive host of content for the price. First and foremost, you get all 5 of the expansions. At the normal price of $15 apiece, that'd run you $75. So for just this, you're saving $25 versus doing it a la carte. On top of that, you get a number of exclusive in-game items like solider camouflages, gun camouflages, special dog tags, a unique melee knife, and unique assignments. Players also get the privilege to reset stats, get priority queuing into servers as well as exclusive double XP events.

Frankly, I think that's a ton of content for the price. When I first heard rumors about this premium service DICE was gonna slap onto Battlefield, I was worried they'd ruin it. Thank God they haven't. I've never been a fan of exclusives. But it looks like the industry is finally finding a way to do it right. It used to be that it gave people who had the dough a decided advantage in the game itself. Since I'm planning on buying all of these expansions anyways, I have an actual economic reason that's not silly for also getting all the extra gimmicky in-game goodies that I feel kinda silly for wanting to pay for anyways. Unfortunately for me, I already shelled out $15 for Back to Karkand, so I'm only saving $10 in the end, but that's still some money. Which means I'm gonna have to buy it before next week, when Close Quarters comes out or else I'm actually losing money on just the expansion pack values and actually paying some for the gimmicks. Which I suppose wouldn't be so bad, because while I hate to admit it, I have actually paid for things like Xbox Live avatar items before. (Hangs head in shame).

Although one very exciting, and quite surprising piece of news from the press conference, was the demo of Medal of Honor Warfighter. I'd heard about this a few weeks ago, but EA had a nice little live gameplay demo of some singleplayer action, followed by some edited video of some multiplayer. I was pleasantly surprised at how good the singleplayer action looked. It's nice to see the Frostbite 2 engine at work in another game than just Battlefield, and to see another developer using the engine than just DICE. Despite it being the same engine, the developer seems to have tweaked it well enough that it doesn't look to be just another Battlefield impersonator, which is what many criticized the first Medal of Honor (not really the "first" per se, as MoH goes back a very long way) as being. I personally never thought that, having owned and played both Battlefield Bad Co. 2 and Medal of Honor. The multiplayer seems to have introduced a rather compelling aspect, which is the choice of which country to fight for. EA seemed to suggest during their demo that since gamers exist all over the world, it'd be good to cater to those that aren't Americans. Let's face it, most modern military FPSs feature militaries from one of the world's major powers (U.S., Russia, UK is just about as big as the pool gets). Nearly every country with a respectable military has a branch that features Tier 1 SpecOps operators and letting someone from Canada or Germany or Australia play as their own flag is, I think, a very cool, yet brilliantly simple way, of enhancing the game and maybe even drawing in some gamers who would have previously passed this title over. How exactly your choice of homeland will effect the actual game play remains to be seen, as not much in way of this was revealed during the demo. I suppose we'll see. But all things considered, I enjoyed the first MoH and it's sequel looks to be even better. I might actually have to pass it up, unfortunately, because of the investment in Battlefield Premium I'm ultimately going to make.

The other big game at the showing was Crysis 3, and I've never played any of those and they don't really peak my interest much, as well as Madden and FIFA 13. Although I do enjoy EA Sports' titles (except for FIFA, I just can't get into soccer...yes soccer), I almost never have money to buy them. The show also saw other demos and announcements including a SimCity re-boot from Maxis (I didn't know they were still around), a Need For Speed: Most Wanted re-boot from the makers of Hot Pursuit, and an official partnership announcement between EA Sports and UFC.