Context Sensitive: The Top Five Bummers of E3

[Susan Arendt]

Context Sensitive: The Top Five Bummers of E3

She's told you about the Good, now it's time for Susan Arendt to share her views on the Bad and the Ugly of E3.

Permalink

 

[sammyfreak]

Fable 2 didn't work out eh?

I really am looking forward to the game and on paper it sounds awesome. Care to clarify about how the combat? Also, get to try out any other features?

 

[irrelevantnugget]

Didn't keep track of E3 conferences that much myself, but I'm having a hard time imagining even worse moments than the Rock Revolution... THING.

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

I didn't think Cammie Dunaway was faking it, I just thought she was so obviously corporate and not really an audience pleaser.

 

[Tolkienfanatic]

What does Dunaway have NOT to be excited about. Of course she is happy that her company is going to make oodles of money off of stupid and ill-informed consumers buying crappy games for their sub-par system.

And you had to figure that Portal: Still Alive wasn't going to be anything spectacular, if it was, Valve would have said something about it to the PC crowd.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Fable 2 didn't work out eh?

I really am looking forward to the game and on paper it sounds awesome. Care to clarify about how the combat? Also, get to try out any other features?

Sure thing. If you hold down the button to charge up your swing, you can pull off a flourish or attack with more style, thereby earning more experience. At least that's the theory. In practice, I couldn't get it to work with any kind of consistency, and wound up taking loads of damage. Part of that is undoubtedly attributable to the short time I had with the game and my lack of experience, but the combat just felt awkward the entire time I was trying it. I'm not writing Fable 2 off by any means, but I'm not nearly as excited about it as I once was.

As for other features, the demo was broken down into chunks. You could try melee combat, magic, or ranged combat. I only had time for one, and chose the melee. Perhaps I would have had better luck with one of the other combat samplings.

I'm not really in love with the breadcrumb trail, either, which is a glittering path showing you where to go. Granted, you don't have to follow it if you don't want to, but I found it to be a bit distracting.

 

[sammyfreak]

Fable 2 didn't work out eh?

I really am looking forward to the game and on paper it sounds awesome. Care to clarify about how the combat? Also, get to try out any other features?

Sure thing. If you hold down the button to charge up your swing, you can pull off a flourish or attack with more style, thereby earning more experience. At least that's the theory. In practice, I couldn't get it to work with any kind of consistency, and wound up taking loads of damage. Part of that is undoubtedly attributable to the short time I had with the game and my lack of experience, but the combat just felt awkward the entire time I was trying it. I'm not writing Fable 2 off by any means, but I'm not nearly as excited about it as I once was.

As for other features, the demo was broken down into chunks. You could try melee combat, magic, or ranged combat. I only had time for one, and chose the melee. Perhaps I would have had better luck with one of the other combat samplings.

I'm not really in love with the breadcrumb trail, either, which is a glittering path showing you where to go. Granted, you don't have to follow it if you don't want to, but I found it to be a bit distracting.

The breadcrumbs do sound odd, a GPS trail like the one in GTA IV would be much better imo. The combat sounds more like Devil May Cry then a traditional RPG, something that I with joy have envisioned. But that idea is based on the controlls being smoothe.

But hey, the Molynator says it's his best game yet; bless him.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I feel a little let down. Perhaps I'm just used to Yahtzee, but they didn't really seem that bad.

Portal : If you listen to GlaDOS's human part in Portal Development, she's more insane than GlaDOS herself, and with the amount of work that went into Portal, I wouldn't be expecting a good Portal 2 before 2010.

Fable 2 : I really must get around to playing Fable sometime; but timing events seems far more Guitar Hero or DDR than RPG; Tabula Rasa tried to mix genres with similar non-results.

Fracture : Uh...Populous, Virus etc.

You're in the Movies : Not for bloody long mate.

Cammie Dunaway : Having been on stage for those sort of events, it's really tough (And I look a total dork on stage) At least she didn't do a Halle.

I'm sorry they made you feel like a sad panda, but my mean side was expecting the roar of a mother grizzly.

NM. I'm sure some of the latest releases will have you frothing, one way or the other.

But hey, the Molynator says it's his best game yet; bless him.

Oh god, he's opened his mouth, hasn't he? RUN...RUN Developers...RUN!

 

[Susan Arendt]

I do really recommend giving Fable a try. It has a marvelous sense of humor and it's quite lovely. It's a bit on the short side, but not obnoxiously so. It's a very enjoyable game.

 

[Jumplion]

I agree about the M$/MS wanting to say that they appeal to families but it's utterly futile. When you think of family fun you think of Wii not the 360 and watching those exceutives doing completely idiotic things on stage was embarassing.

And Cammie was scary, I pray that she won't be in next years E3 conference.

 

[aegis7]

I've heard a lot of positive buzz about Fable 2 from The Gays. Of course, they tend to be a little more benevolent than I when it comes to game reviews. They had mentioned some additions to the dating/marriage system, which I'm curious about. I hadn't heard of the breadcrumb trail before, I thought the dog companion was supposed to fulfill the guide role. I'm pleasantly surprised that melee was embellished upon. I had noticed that guns had replaced bows, at least, in the cootie catcher trailer.

I hadn't heard the clarification on Portal: Still Alive, bummer that.

The Nintendo Press Conference was the one I missed, and then wrote off due to chatter about it. I saw "You're In The Movies" during the Microsoft one, and I have to say, it looked like you had to have the right friends and the right context to enjoy it. I think if they'd demoed it with some kids it would've come off as more genuine and more spontaneous. And just maybe would have gotten the crowd into it.

 

[PurpleRain]

That Mashroom Men game looked very average as well. Perhaps it's too childish for me, but it looked like a very samey platformer... with mashrooms.

 

[L.B. Jeffries]

That Mashroom Men game looked very average as well. Perhaps it's too childish for me, but it looked like a very samey platformer... with mashrooms.

I think what's making it so appealing is how utterly bizarre the art and plot are. I dunno how your tastes roll, but I'm pumped for it just because it's trying to do a game that isn't space men, WW2, or any of the usual cliches.

And my God, that Nintendo presentation was like watching the debate team try-outs in highschool.

 

[Rotating Bread]

Obviously the word 'bummer' doesn't carry the same connertations around the world as it does in Britain.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Obviously the word 'bummer' doesn't carry the same connertations around the world as it does in Britain.

heh...'Lighting up a fag' works in a similar transatlantic way.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

That Mashroom Men game looked very average as well. Perhaps it's too childish for me, but it looked like a very samey platformer... with mashrooms.

I thought it looked very similar to Psychonauts.

 

[slaygore]

Cammie would definitely be #1 in my list as well. I totally believe that she's not faking it, but wow that smile looks evil. Swear she could be the joker's mother. Also what's with the whole part about bragging about how great a mother she is and breaking her wrist. Wasted 5 mins of my life. We're here to listen about games, not about your personal life.

Wii Music is a huge let down that its so dumb down that it makes wii fit a complex game. Will there be any gameplay to it? Will some instruments be locked and you have to play certain instruments and make random notes to unlock them? How will this pan out? Can you even consider this a game? The demonstration wasn't that great either, the drummer guy looked like he was having a seizure and Miyamoto looks like an idiot doing those gestures.

Velvet Assassin is a let down too. I saw a few gameplay and wasn't impressed at all. The concept sounded great. There's not alot of stealth games out there so its nice to see some games going towards that direction. Unfortunately, the gameplay needs a lot of work from what I've seen. The fact that you have to position yourself at the right place just so the kill button shows up on screen takes away the fun of stealth games. You should have the freedon to strike and kill people any time in any position. I don't want to wait to see the kill button just to do it. I want to have the option to do it whenever I want and see my failures when I get it wrong, and be satisfied completely when I do it right. Hopefully they'll fix this and meet expectations.

 

[masterhibb]

After watching that YouTube video, I would say that Cammie Dunaway was simply in front of the wrong crowd. In front of a group of journalists specializing in video games, her performance comes off as shallow and insubstantial. In front of people who swing more to the "geek" end of the spectrum, who don't put much truck in keeping up appearances, her demeanor comes off as forced or fake.

On the other hand, if she gave the same performance on, say, Good Morning America, I think she'd be much more of a hit. For an audience largely unfamiliar with video games, they're going to be more interested in the personal stories surrounding her play than the technical aspects of the game engine or rule system. They would have fewer metrics for comparing one game to another due to lack of experience, but may perform more comparisons to other activities since they would be less likely to segment video gaming as its own hobby or part of their personality.

Plus, if you look at the target audience of a show like Good Morning America, you're more likely to find the type of person who doesn't consider wearing a smile you don't really "feel" to be false, but rather an expected aspect of social interaction. Whether or not you agree with this type of behavior is a whole different topic, but it doesn't really matter here. Folks who have been engaged in this behavior so long it has become second nature are more likely to feel more comfortable or responsive toward someone who wears that false smile than someone who displays only their true level of enthusiasm, and may come off to them as disinterested or stiff.

So I guess I agree with Susan that Cammie doesn't really belong at the E3 press conferences, with all of the mainstream press Nintendo has been getting lately, there's definitely a place for her brand of PR.

 

[Melaisis]

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Susan Arendt]

That Mashroom Men game looked very average as well. Perhaps it's too childish for me, but it looked like a very samey platformer... with mashrooms.

I thought it looked very similar to Psychonauts.

I'm looking forward to playing it. I love the look of it, and while the platforming elements may not exactly be reinventing the wheel, I, too, am very happy to be doing something other than fighting aliens or leading a squad of elite soldiers.