The Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) is the biggest annual gaming expo in the world and has recently taken place in Los Angeles.
Nearly 50,000 people attended the three-day show, which is a big loud mess packed with giant screens, gamers, journalists, booth babes, games, games and more games.
E3 is a gamer's paradise, giving a chance to check out hundreds of games months or even years before they're released to the masses.
Although this year's E3 was dominated by the PR war between Microsoft and Sony as each company promoted their upcoming new gaming consoles, it's the games themselves that people are most passionate about.
Destiny was one of the more hyped games going into this year's E3. It's being developed by Bungie (Halo) and published by Activision (Call of Duty), so it's from a very strong pedigree.
"Destiny is a first-person shooter and a great action game, but it also takes place in a persistent living world," says Bungie technical director Chris Butcher.
"You're going to create and then upgrade your character over time, making choices about the way you want to look, the way you want to fight, then you're going to meet up with people and go on adventures together in this big, online, shared universe.
"It takes place in our solar system. Many years in the future, there's been a golden age of expansion. Colonies across the solar system are in a collapse of some kind. There's only one place now in the solar system that is safe for humanity, in this city. You're [going to play] a guardian of this city. You're going to venture out into this world that's full of mystery, exploration and also hope."
Chris, one of the senior developers on one of the most ambitious games ever, happens to be a Kiwi.
"I was born in Christchurch and spent most of my time in the South Island growing up," says Butcher.
"I went to high school at Waitaki Boys' High School, then went to uni at Otago and also Massey University. So then, in 1999 I decided I wanted to work in videogames. These days there's a lot of great developers in New Zealand like Sidhe, but back then there weren't a lot of well-established developers. So I decided I was going to move to the States. I got a job at Bungie and I've been with Bungie for the last 13-and-a-half years."
A game that was announced at E3 and created massive buzz was Titanfall. Respawn Entertainment's futuristic shooter won E3 2013 Best in Show awards from several major gaming websites including IGN, Destructoid, Venturebeat and Game Informer, something its creators weren't really expecting.
"The response has been really overwhelming for us," says Titanfall community manager Abbie Heppe.
"We hoped people would like it, but we didn't know it was going to blow up like it has. We wanted to make a game that we wanted to play ourselves, so I hope that that's what resonated with people. I'm sure the giant titans and the wall-running, the wall-running especially, the parkour [has attracted people to the game]."
As exciting as Titanfall is, however, it didn't win all the Best in Show awards. Batman: Arkham Origins won the top accolade from Forbes while Watch Dogs picked up Game Front's, for example.
I spoke to some of the Kiwi journalists at E3 to see what their favourite new games were.
"There haven't been any big, obvious stand-outs this year. That's not to say the games haven't been amazing, there's just none that have stood head and shoulders above the rest. For me personally, it's a tough call between Infamous: Second Son and Pokemon X & Y," says Alan Bell of NZGamer.com.
"It's difficult to convey the scale or ambition of Destiny in a short trailer or brief gameplay demonstration, and for that reason, the game struggled to make itself heard over the explosions and one-liners of other games on the E3 showfloor. But I don't doubt that it's going to set the pace for the next generation of home consoles," says James Cullinane of Gameplanet.co.nz.
"My favourite game was Destiny, because it looks super action-packed and is made by the people who made Halo," says Siobhan Keogh of PC World New Zealand Magazine.
"I have two highlights from this year's E3. From the games I've had hands-on with, definitely Ryse: Son of Rome. From what I've purely seen, Beyond: Two Souls," says Troy Rawhiti-Forbes of the New Zealand Herald.
"There wasn't a stand-out title at E3, but being a part of the hubbub around a whole new generation of gaming consoles was amazing. Personally, I'm looking forward to Mad Max, despite the lack of Australian flair - it should be in good hands with the crew from the Just Cause games. But also EA Sports are doing some incredible things - FIFA '14 is going to raise the bar yet again on next-gen," says Angus Deacon of NZGamer.com.
"My favourite game was Tom Clancy's The Division. It looks really exciting, with a big, open world and squad-based third-person shooter mechanics, but it was the little things that really impressed me about it. Gunfire going through windows, things like that, the environmental destruction. And other little things like when you're sneaking around the side of a car, your character pushes a door closed - those little touches will keep me really immersed in the world," says Matt Maguire of Gameplanet.co.nz.
"My favourite game that I've seen during the three days of E3 is definitely Beyond: Two Souls. It looks really innovative, it looks absolutely beautiful on the PS3, and there's a lot of emotion to it. I've seen a lot of great games, but that's the one I'm most looking forward to playing when I get home," says Fiona O'Kane of NZGamer.com.
"My favourite game is a tie between The Evil Within and Destiny, but The Crew was very cool too," says Kermath Davies of bFM.
"It's hard to say which was my absolute favourite, it'd probably be either Battlefield 4 or The Elder Scrolls Online," says James Burnett of Gameplanet.co.nz.
"PC gamers like myself are waiting with bated breath for the release of DayZ. This post-apocalyptic zombie RPG looks set to totally redefine online first-person play, and it's made by a Kiwi!" says Conrad Reyners of NZGamer.com.
There was no one clear winner this year, there are a lot of different favourites which means there are a lot of great games coming out. This, along with the fact that two new consoles are coming out around Christmas, make it crystal-clear: it's a great time to be a gamer.
3 News
source: newshub archive
