Taking place at the historic Dolby Theatre in the heart of Hollywood and show business itself, there was a palpable buzz going into Bethesda's first ever E3 showcase event.
This games publisher is behind franchises that have earned some of the most passionate fanbases in the business, fittingly launching the biggest gaming expo of 2015 at one of the most important venues in the entire entertainment industry.
"I think we can all agree that tonight starts a week with E3 that is the world's best week of entertainment ever," Bethesda boss Todd Howard told the crowd in attendance and watching online around the world.
"Entertainment is an essential part of our lives and games can do things that nothing else in entertainment can.
"In the world of entertainment, there are very few things as good as Fallout."
Indeed, what was shown off of the recently announced Fallout 4 was the main course of Bethesda's feast of gaming delights. This is a hugely impressive looking game, a post-apocalyptic, open-world action adventure RPG with an emphasis on freedom.
A massive amount of player choice was shown off including an impressive new character creation system, a hugely deep weapon and armour customisation system, a complex resource gathering system and building system, and of course an enormous world that can be explored however one chooses.
Howard said the Downtown Boston area is the culmination of most ambitious gameplay world ever created by Bethesda Game Studios - quite a big call when you look at the scope of some of their other works, like the absolutely mammoth Elder Scrolls Online.
A free iPhone game, Fallout Shelter, was also announced, which looks surprisingly good. It's a cute, addictive looking little thing where the player controls a group of survivors in a nuclear fallout shelter. Impressively, it's free, and was released today.
Howard also mentioned a second-screen app that will be released with Fallout 4, saying: "As far as stupid gimmicks go, it's the best f**king one I've ever seen."
Scores of Fallout fans made up a large portion of the crowd in the Dolby Theatre and they were hugely vocal in their support of what was shown of the game - perhaps giving the biggest hoots of joy when a special edition was announced that includes a real world Pip-Boy that will work with a mobile phone.
I myself was most vocal during the Doom presentation. I'll freely admit that Fallout 4 is a more impressive looking title that has the potential to push the entire medium forward - but Doom looks more fun to me. And not just because of the incredibly graphic animations that happen when you chainsaw through a demon's body in it.
The Doom gameplay shown off in the Dolby Theatre was gloriously ultraviolent. We saw loads of dismemberment, vicious finishing moves and a hand being torn off a corpse to then open a handprint activated door.
There was an emphasis on the picking up of classic Doom weapons like the chainsaw and sawn-off, double-barrelled shotgun that drew large cheers from the old-school fans in the audience, cheers which increased dramatically when the weapons were put to bloody use in-game.
They didn't say if Trent Reznor is back on soundtrack duty, but the score was particularly good and reminiscent of his work. It's highly sinister and grunty, metal-influenced electronic stuff that changes dynamically to suit the gameplay.
"From beginning of this project, we've been inspired by the way those original Doom games made us feel when we played them," id Software executive producer Marty Stratton told us at the showcase.
"The foundation of any Doom experience is unquestionably combat, centred around three things; badass demons, big f**king guns, and moving really, really fast."
That endearing old Doom feel definitely looks to have been resurrected in the new game, albeit with many elements ramped up to 11. It looked stunning on the big screen, particularly the segment based within hell itself.
We got a brief look at new Doom multiplayer and a map creation system, but really it's the classic thrills of being a lone fighter armed to the teeth and savagely wasting thousands of nasty demons that is the appeal here, and appealing it certainly is.
Dishonored 2 was announced by a couple of the main guys at Arkane Studios and while a much younger franchise than Doom or Fallout, its fans appear just as fanatical. The thunder of this announcement was somewhat stolen thanks to a technical problem, which saw part of the showcase's rehearsal leaked online yesterday.
It's a shame as it would've been the only major reveal of the event. The Fallout Shelter game on iPhone was new, as was strategy card game Elder Scrolls: Legends, but everything else was stuff we were expecting.
Still, Dishonored 2 got a big response. The first game was one of the best original releases in the twilight of the Xbox 360/PS3 generation. The sequel is adding a lot of exciting new stuff, like the option of playing as a male or female protagonist, new weapons and abilities, and of course the power of new-generation hardware.
We were also shown a new trailer for Battlecry and some new Elder Scrolls Online: Tamriel Unlimited footage.
The star of the show was undoubtedly Fallout 4. Its release date was announced as this November, already a busy release period for games.
The distributors of other games releasing around the same time will have cause for concern as Fallout 4 looks very, very impressive and the manner in which it was shown off tonight in Los Angeles was indicative of what a class act Bethesda is.
It was a solid opening act for E3, one heavy-hitters PlayStation, Xbox, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft will have trouble trying to beat tomorrow.
3 News
source: newshub archive
