Pre-E3: PlayStation and Xbox

Last blog was spent hyper-ventilating over how much I love E3. And it had Nintendo stuff. This time… Xbox and PlayStation predictions, and a little bit of why this E3 might not be that exciting.

I own a PS4 but not an Xbox which you should know in case you think I’m coming across as biased. You’d be right. I love my PS4 and would take their list of exclusives over Microsofts any day. I’ll be watching the Xbox conference with intrigue but I won’t care a jot about the new Forza reveal or if there’s surprise announcements relating to Halo or Gears. If you’re in to those then hey I’ll be happy for you, but surely there’s some fatigue? Microsoft seem reluctant to diversify and the recent cancellation of Scalebound only adds to that. 

Sea of Thieves and Crackdown 3 are the exceptions and admittedly two games that I do like the look of. I’m expecting big gameplay presentations of those and release dates. They’re a good start at breaking up the monotony of the big three Xbox franchises. But they also need more! More new ip and more risks. The problem is that it’s hard to see were its going to come from. We know what studios they have and they’ve all either had games recently released or their next games already been announced. Rare have hinted at having something else in the works and if its Banjo-Kazooie related I will look on in envy. Outside of that how are they going to surprise us? Third party deals? Limited time exclusives aren’t going to convince anyone and they won’t change the perception of a limited portfolio. 

Of course we’re also getting new hardware with the Xbox One Scorpio or whatever they end up calling it. I talked about the game’s first because really that’s all I care about. I’ve no interest just yet in 4K or talking about enhanced pixels etc No intention of buying a Pro or this just so some games look a bit prettier. I’ll be swayed by exclusives alone and so far the only Xbox games I’d like to play are Rare Replay and Ori. They surely have to come out this Sunday and make big game reveals, otherwise only the minority are ditching their current console. 

PlayStation then… As much as I love them and despite last year’s conference being probably my favourite ever, I have low expectations. The reason is purely that I don’t see many surprises coming. A lot has been announced already and there’s a large list of games that are bound to get time at the show. Last year’s reveals of Spider-Man, God of War and Days Gone haven’t been seen since and I’m expecting big trailers and release windows for all three. Dreams, Detroit, Gran Turismo Sport and Knack 2 are games I’m predicting will all be released between September and February so they’re due space. Even if Sony do spring some surprises my first thought will be “when the hell is it coming out?” Their schedule is packed already.

The marketing deals Sony have are my biggest mood dampener. Destiny 2, Call of Duty and Star Wars Battlefront are massive titles for them that will outsell everything I’ll be buying but I couldn’t care less. The inevitable trailers for those will give me time for tweeting. Crash Bandicoot will likely get one last trailer before its June 30^th release but I’ve already got it pre-ordered so that’ll be more boredom. After they’ve shown all that then how much time will they have left? 

There will be some surprises of course but it’s hard to think of what exciting tricks they could have up their sleeve. The next title from Sucker Punch feels like a safe bet and people are begging for Devil May Cry 5. I’m mostly just looking forward to more Spider-Man footage and keeping my hype levels reasonable. 

Of course I had similar thoughts last year and then came a beauty of a show. The announcements for Crash, Resi 7, Death Stranding and that Spider-Man trailer were all entertaining. Maybe next Tuesday morning I’ll be trying to word my glee after a great show and a plethora of Haribo. If not then I’ll just go back to playing the stack of games I’ve already got. Days off will be gaming filled and fun either way.

Pre-E3 and Nintendo Talk

It is very nearly E3 time…. That time of year in which my gaming geekiness beaks free of any sense of self-control I may have. I’ve booked days off work and I’m pondering what snacks ill need to fuel me through my obsession. This year I’ve been telling myself not to get too hyped but I fear it won’t work… The buzzing glee, the soul-crushing disappointment, it’s all part of it and its all-consuming.

It’s also blooming silly and doesn’t really matter in the long run. E3 2013 was the first to occur after Nintendo had launched the Wii U. I hated it. I read the rumours, I convinced myself that my wish list would all be announced and I’d be blown away. Instead they showed Mario dressed as a cat and their only western studio had been working another 2d platformer instead of fricking Metroid. It was awful. But… When those games eventually came out I played them and I loved them. That 2d platformer was Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, a game I never got excited about playing but I bought it anyway. It’s now probably my favourite title in that genre. Ever. 

E3 is all about the announcements and the spectacle. Sony get this and have been brilliant the last two years. The downside though is that it takes too long to back up that spectacle afterwards. E3 2015 has been dubbed ‘The year of dreams.’ Gamers talked every year about how The Last Guardian, Shenmue 3 and Final Fantasy 7 Remake would appear until it became a knowing joke. They would never appear, they were pipedreams. Then Sony announced them… That was fun. A hype generator on full steam. But of those three games only one has since actually come out and the other two won’t make it to store shelves in 2017 either. A brilliant E3 show doesn’t guarantee a great time with a controller any time soon. 

I’m now on paragraph four and just realised that I’ve only written an intro. This blog was supposed to be me talking about next week’s show and my predictions for what the big three will reveal. The point of that meandering dribble you’ve just read was to keep expectations in check. A good E3 show is helpful to the perception of a console, it gets people talking and it builds the hype. A bad E3 does not mean the opposite, that I’ll end up hating all the games or have nothing to play… Its just a mood dampener. 

If nothing else is announced for the Nintendo Switch I still know I’ll be busy. ARMS, Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Zelda DLC, Steamworld Dig 2, Runner 3, Stardew Valley and plenty more. Next week the focus will be on that new Mario and my calm, rational inner-adult is convinced that will be enough. Show me how great it’ll be, tell me it’s out by Christmas. Job done. No disappointment here. 

Then of course there’s that freakish man-child side of me that will have consumed copious amounts of coffee and cake (snack plan for day 2) whilst scanning forums endlessly for others peoples rumours and wish lists. I want Nintendo to blow me away damn it. It won’t even take that much. Just one big shiny surprise that isn’t some party game or another Mario spin off. So here then are my predictions and my over eager wants.

Realistic:

• A new title from Retro studios. Don’t have a clue what it will be. Pretty sure it won’t be Metroid. Not convinced it will the some mature action title like people want, but it’ll be announced.

• Metroid. It just has to be time. Not sticking it in my dream list because I fear it could underwhelm me somehow. After Other M and Federation Force it’s hard to be optimistic. There’s some rumours of a new 2D title which could be cool but I want Prime 4 dammit.
  

Wishful Thinking:

• Metroid Prime 4/new fully 3d Metroid. Ok I cheated, it’s in two sections. I want a big single player 3D Metroid that matches the brilliance of Prime.

•  F-Zero... GX was 14 fricking years ago. I loved that game and I hate that we haven’t had a new one since. The f-zero tracks in Mario Kart 8 were great but they just make me want it even more. An HD remaster of GX will do.

•  Animal Crossing. It’s pretty much guaranteed to be in the works but I don’t think it’ll be shown next week or out before summer 2018. Fingers crossed though.

•  A new Platinum games title. Either Bayonetta 3 or a new ip with big action set pieces and a similar balletic flow to its combat.

• Some big 3^rd party exclusive. A single player focused title that offers something different from Nintendo’s own portfolio whilst also causing a bit of an internet shit-storm. The reactions to the Bayonetta 2 announcement were a beautiful thing that I’d love to see repeated. Just for laughs.

And that’ll do me…. I’m trying not to get carried away remember. Before this week ends I’ll do another blog covering PlayStation and Xbox. Next week I’ll probably have three blogs up covering the conferences of each day. The writing in those may reflect my emotional state after conference so it could be entertaining reading…

the Wonder Woman review

To think about what Wonder Woman needed to achieve, to contemplate the uphill task ahead of the director and the team behind her… It seemed like it was doomed from the start. The fourth film in a DC comic universe that so far produced missed opportunities and outright painful to watch crap-fests. The first major superhero movie to feature a female lead front and centre. Which itself is ridiculous especially since the genre boom started around 2000 with X-Men. 17 years of men saving the day. This woman never had a chance. 

Except, as per my usual blog format, I’m talking rubbish and arguing with my own introduction. This film didn’t have to do anything except produce a good time for its audience. Introduce the characters, make you like the characters. That’s it. DC for me has failed in comparison to Marvel so far because Marvel have characters. They have personalities on screen who have wit and charm, who have feelings and flaws and are written like they’re actually fricking people. Apologies for that DC rant but it leads to this. Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman is superb. She is a naïve and innocent, yet she can kick your arse. If she needs to. When she fights it’s because her character needs to, because it’s the right thing to do. Gadot expresses a need to selflessly help people throughout the film. She is upset when people are struggling, she is bemused when the men around aren’t helping those who need it and then she has the sternest, screen stealing confidence in her face when she knows shit needs done and she’s going to do it. I’d fully trust in her to kick the bejeebers out of both Bats and Supes. 

Her feminity is important here too but being a man I fear I’m going to mess this paragraph up and join the ranks of man-splainers on twitter... There’s jokes about dresses and fashion and as I write this I already regret it. What I’m trying to say is that they joke around with what a lady of that time should have worn, and later how she should have acted. It’s all tongue in cheek but handled deftly as our hero does what she wants, and that thankfully is being a kick-ass woman. Her beauty is mentioned plenty but never exploited. She doesn’t use her looks to get her ahead and the despite being scantily clad she is never portrayed as sexy. She is definitely fancied by every man that meets her here but they follow her because she comes across as genuinely the nicest person you’ll ever meet yet also one who’ll fight to the death for you. 

She’s not the only person in the film of course. Chris Pine is also likeable and a great foil for her. He’s her guide to this new world she finds herself in and also a man of grey when WW has only believed in black and white. Her belief is that all mankind is good unless led astray by the Gods, Pine is there as a flawed man to show we’re not that simple. Other people in the film… Meh. The baddies are just background fodder but aren’t they always in intro films? It’s not they’re story, they’re just plot devices to get our hero in to the fray. 

So at this stage it’s pretty clear I like this film. I relay did. Even though the film nearly ruined it all for me with the finale…. The final fight is a cheesy, boring shit-show of CGI gimpery, clichéd lines about love and easily the worst villain since Doomsday. I liked one little part of it when a fuck-ton of Nazis got wiped out, but the rest of it was nearly Fantastic Four finale bad. Ok, that might be a bit harsh. It was really disappointing after the film had got so much right. Still, the foundations are there for a franchise and hopefully they can get clever with the next films ending spectacle. 

All in all… Yeah I liked that. I look forward to seeing more of Wonder Woman, I just hope she can make Justice League watchable. What I’m really confident in saying though… She’ll be the best thing in it.