So. Let’s talk about E3…again.
I guess I’ll start with
my observations -- not on the expo itself, but hearsay around the
internet. From what I can gather, this
E3 has been average at best, disappointing in general, and a spiraling nexus of
universe-ending badness at worst. And
even though I think of myself as the Eternal Optimist, even I have to agree
with the detractors. This E3 wasn’t
amazing. It had high points, and even
the stuff I didn’t like had merit to some people, but overall I walked away
from my TV wishing that I had just seen…well, SOMETHING more.
I’ve gone into detail
about my thoughts on this year’s showing several times already, but I’ll save
you some legwork (or finger-work) and say this: in a nutshell, it was a very
“safe” showing on all accounts. A safe
showing of games we already knew about.
A safe amount of new properties.
A safe number of attempts to try and convince us that System Z will
become the entertainment hub of the future.
A safe period to appeal to casual gamers -- and give time for
bathroom/food breaks. The stuff that the
core gamers didn’t care about could be ignored; the stuff that did, I assume,
managed to codify consumer loyalty, at least until the next E3. Say what you will about things like the
Nike/Kinect partnership or Wonderbook, but more or less, each company showed us
the things that we want. Or perhaps,
what they think we want.
And that’s what brings
me here today: is this what gamers really want?