1ST PARTY DEVELOPERS
Microsoft Xbox
With enough years experience in E3, Microsoft has learned you need both hardware and software. Microsoft starting off with a hardware bang, announcing the Xbox One S. Of all the Xbox consoles ever made, this will be the smallest. Because of its small size. It will be the first Xbox One that can stand on its side. It small size does not mean it is watered down. Its internal hard drive will be twice as large as the original Xbox One, and it will also support 4K graphics. But what stuck out the most to the onlookers was that it was white. Color aside, the new console model announcement was a strong way to start the conference. It got people's attention and demonstrated they continued improving and upgrading the system to the latest technology. Halfway through the presentation, Microsoft gave more hardware announcements. Controllers now could be color customized, as well as inscribed. While not necessary needed to improve gameplay, it was kind of cool that Xbox players would not be limited to premade colors. At that time, they also gave more details about Oculus working with Xbox. Of course, they demoed it with Minecraft again. I would have liked to see Oculus's capabilities beyond Minecraft. Then at the end, they had one last big announcement. They announced Project Scorpio. Even though they insisted that all Xbox One hardware and software would work on Project Scorpio, it pretty much sounded like a new console. This time, they were smart enough to make everything backwards compatible. So pretty much the Xbox press conference began with, "Get a Xbox One S!" and it ended with "But that Xbox One S will be out of date in a year!" Xbox was going so strong with hardware announcements, but that last one at the end put a damper on all the rest of them.
But what good is a console if it does not have good games? They began their software announcement with a bang by viewing a new game from a series that everyone was familiar about: Gears of War. For Gears of War 4, onlookers saw both a cinematic trailer and a gameplay demo. Any Gears of War fan would have loved it. Not far from that game, Microsoft announced that they would digitally bought games would work on both the Xbox One and Windows 10. Viewers would be constantly reminded of this, as it was announced with every game. Gears of War 4 was not the only great sequel announced. Xbox announced other sequels, like Halo Wars 2, Titanfall 2, State of Decay 2, Forza Horizon 3, Dead Space 4, Tekken 7 and Final Fantasy XV. These sequels announcements came with both cinematic trailers and gameplay demos, both displaying the graphical capabilities of the Xbox One. It also showed gamers how much third party backing the Xbox One had. The sequel I was most excited about was Titanfall 2, for it finally had a single player story! Better than the sequels were the brand new games Microsoft had to offer. Each one of them felt exciting for the new gameplay it had to offer. Scalebound just felt big. Sea of Thieves looked like a fun game to play with friends. ReCore you can just tell is made by an all-star group of developers.
Overall, Microsoft did have a successful conference software-wise. Xbox showed off both first party games and third party games, showing that not only could it make games for itself, but other companies wanted to make games for its console. The game had both trailers and demos, not only revealing the plot but also how to play the game. It had a huge library to meet every gaming genre. It's when it came down to the hardware that Xbox suffered.
~Best game~: Titanfall 2
*Medal*: Silver
Sony PlayStation
Sony started off their conference in the most epic way ever: with a full concerto. You know it's going to be epic when there's a full concerto playing their music. Their first song was not a random song. Conducting the concerto was the composer for the God of War series soundtrack. What a way to announce the new God of War game! They did a great job presenting the game. On top of the concerto playing the soundtrack, the audience got to see gameplay against an enemy and a full cinematic trailer. Going so long without a God of War game, the fans must be excited!
The high point of the press conference came in the middle with their discussion of PlayStation VR. When it came to the other conferences presenting VR, they only showed the potential VR could have with one game in development. This time, Sony came with a plan. Sony announced that when PlayStation VR came out, it would already have 50 games available for the VR library. PlayStation didn't just inform the audience of those games. They showed off both cinematic trailers and gameplay footage of it. PlayStation has a plan for their VR. If anyone will make VR work, it will be PlayStation.
For those still not buying into the VR, PlayStation has a wide range of game for you, too. For the fans of Quantic Dream, Detroit: Become Human will bring you the same cinematic decision-making that Indigo Prophecy, Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls brought you. For the horror fan, they presented Resident Evil 7, the scariest Resident Evil in a while. For the racing fan, they had Grand Turisma Sport. For the lover of classic games, Sony promised to remake the Crash Bandicoot series for the PlayStation 4. I loved how the COO came on the stage with a Crash Bandicoot shadow. For those of you who love new games instead of seeing sequels of old franchises (like me), PlayStation also had enough of those Days Gone, Death Stranding, Fairpoint Horizon Zero Dawn and The Last Guardian. Clearly, PlayStation has a game for everyone's taste.
The Sony press conference made you glad you had PS4 if you have one, and if you didn't have one, it made you wished you had one. The only complaints I had about the PlayStation showcase was that there was little gameplay demo in comparison to the many cinematic trailers, and they mentioned neither the PS Vita or PS Neo. Besides that, this could easily be the best showcase of E3 2016, if not the best show case of every E3 of all time.
~Best game~: Detroit: Become Human
*Medal*: Gold
Nintendo
Before I discuss Nintendo, yes, I am aware that Nintendo decided to forego both a press conference and a Digital Event for Treehouse Live, which covered for 2 days the games Nintendo had on the showcase floor. So to put Nintendo on fair ground with the rest of the press conferences, I will judge them based on their first 2 hours, since the longest press conference was 2 hours, and you'd suspect them to make all the big announcements right off the bat. Then I will briefly cover the other games mentioned past the first 2 hours.
Well, truth to be told, there's not much to say about the first 2 hours of Treehouse Live Virtually, they said, "This is our best 3DS game and best WiiU game" and then they presented Pokemon Sun and Moon and then the Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. That's it. In 2 hours. Don't get me wrong. They both great games. I'm looking forward to playing the next Legend of Zelda game. The open world concept really does feel like you're getting back to the original Legend of Zelda. And the Pokemon game was so impressive that I almost wanted to get back into the Pokemon series. The battles looked more real than ever, with more in-game choices. But that's it. For 2 hours. Here their opponents in the console wars showed off the vast variety of video game genres that their console could explore, and Nintendo present 2 games genres from 2 franchises in 2 hours. Nintendo is not catering to Nintendo fanboys; they just catered to Pokemon fanboys and Legend of Zelda fanboys. I expect more from you, Nintendo. This is quite disappointing. And it's gets more disappointing with every E3. Nintendo Treehouse Live? More like Nintendo Treehouse of Horror.
Now, to be fair, they did announce more games on the 2nd day, but those games are very lackluster. Paper Mario: Color Splash is so far off from the rest of the franchise, gamers began protesting and boycotting the game, just like they did for Metroid last year. Mario Party: Star Rush finally got away from placing all 4 players on a car(t), but with each player moving at the same time and a focus on boss battles, it still doesn't feel like a true Mario Party game. Tokyo Mirage Session #FE feels the furthest from the Fire Emblem series also. If Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Pokémon Sun and Moon made their franchises better, then all these other games made their respective franchises worse. Maybe it's a good thing that Nintendo decided to forego the press conference and decided to display those 2 games for 2 hours, for if they had a full press conference: they would have had 2 highlights, and the rest lowlights.
~Best game~: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (WiiU) & Pokémon Sun and Moon (3DS)
*Medal*: Bronze
3RD PARTY DEVELOPERS
Electronic Arts (EA)
A lot of the EA press conference is what you'd expect from EA. A lot of time into their EA Sports games, like Madden and FIFA. A lot of time into shooter games, like Battlefield 1, Titanfall 2 and Mass Effect: Andromeda. And of course, all emphasized competition. I can't help but feel that was a response from the Nintendo World Competition last year. Still, with every old game or old franchise came something new. Mass Effect: Andromeda keeps the same gameplay, while bringing the story in the new story. Battlefield 1 takes the battle to World War I. Titanfall 2 finally added a single-player campaign! But more impressive than a story mode in Titanfall 2 is a story mode in FIFA 17! It's all about helping a player become a star. On top that, FIFA 17 now has added the coaches into play. But EA wasn't just about new games from old franchises. EA also showed off the brand new game Fe. While EA did show off that variety of games, it was still the same old games, even if those same old games had additional. Like I said in my preview, technology today allows games to receive DLC that EA considers updates. EA needs to add more than that to convince to make a new game.~Best game~: FIFA 17
*Medal*: Bronze
Bethesda
Bethesda steps it up with their sophomore year of being at E3. With their freshman year last year, my only complaint was there was too much emphasis on Doom and Fallout 3, and not enough emphasis on their other games. Yes,this year, half of the press conference was Dishonored 2, but it was totally worth it. We saw a full gameplay demo (although not live) that fully showed all the specs of the game. This time, Bethesda displayed more of their games. We heard about everything from Elder Scrolls to Quake Champions. But it wasn't just the old franchises. Bethesda showed that it still had fresh ideas, like Prey. What I found cool was that Bethesda also talked about how they continued working on their old games. We heard about the latest DLC for Doom, Fallout 4 and Fallout Shelter. I'm glad to see Bethesda is still giving showcases at E3, for they totally deserve to be on stage.~Best Game~: Dishonored 2
*Medal*: Silver
Ubisoft
Ubisoft had the longest press conference (not counting Nintendo Treehouse Live, obvious) at 2 hours, but it wasn't because it was dragging. It had enough stuff to jam into 2 hours, and still, it felt like it needed more time. Ubisoft started out by introducing the next game in the Just Dance franchise, Just Dance 2017. Out of all E3 2016, Ubisoft was the only one not to abandon motion control video gaming. But motion control gaming isn't the only new video gaming Ubisoft was willing to explore. Ubisoft brought VR to their press conference. In terms of VR, they demonstrated Star Trek VR and Eagle Flight. Both of these games did a wonderful of showing the multiplayer aspect of VR. As always, Ubisoft got the crowd excited about the future of new gameplay. Ubisoft continued to show its fans that it has a wide array of game genres for everyone. For the hack and slash gamer, there was For Honor. For the dancing gamer, there was Just Dance 2017. For the RPG gamer, there was South Park: The Fractured But Whole. For the Xtreme sports gamer, there was Steep. For the shooter gamer, there was Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands. For the racing gamer, there was Trials of the Blood Dragon. For the action/adventure gamer, there was Watch Dogs 2. Truly, Ubisoft has something for everybody. Each of these games came both with a cinematic trailer and a gamplay demo, so you knew what each game was about. Some of the games even came with interviews with the developers. Ubisoft isn't one to keep its fans in the dark, but rather, they want everyone to know about what's coming up. The only complaint I could think of was that they talked more about Assassin's Creed movie instead of the Assassin's Creed game. Yeah, I know they don't have new Assassin's Creed game coming out this year, but they could have at least teased us with an idea the Ubisoft team was playing around with. Beside that and the long length, I cannot think of any other complaints. I can easily say that Ubisoft is still my favorite third party developer, especially when it comes to E3 presentations. Ubisoft easily wins the best E3 presentation for third party developers. Way to celebrate your 30th birthday, Ubisoft!~Best Game~: Star Trek VR
*Medal*: Gold
In closing, I have one more thought. Every year it seems like there's a "this is the year of..." Sadly, E3 2016 will be known as the "Year of Orlando Shooting tributes." The first presenters, Electronic Arts, decided they needed to do something in memory of those who died at the nightclub in Orlando. So they put on rainbow pins and gave a moment of silence in memory of those who died. It seemed like all the presenters following felt pressured to do the same, lest they would come off as cold to what had happened. So everyone changed their plans to squeeze in the moment of silence. It always felt awkward and forced, especially when transitioning back to the main presentation. Even some of the presenters commented on how awkward the transition was. Before I go on, so I don't seem cold to what happened, let me acknowledge it was indeed a tragedy. But let's be honest here: the rainbow pins and the moments of silence were just another tactic to win the crowd over, and if they didn't play to that, they would come off as losers. I've never been a fan of using tragedy to gain support (another good example is the NFL using breast cancer to try to get more female fans), and I hate to see the video game companies give into that as well. Yes, it was a tragedy, but let's not use it to compete with one another. Let's just stick to what we know: video games.
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