E3 2019 was much better than last year. E3 2018 was the weakest E3 I ever saw. This year I felt there was more to talk about. Seriously, who expected Keanu Reeves would be the thing to break the internet at E3?
I will say that they showed way too many cinematic trailers. Those don’t impress me anymore because video game graphics look that good now. I want gameplay shown above all else. Also, I felt companies were holding back a lot of their bigger titles for when the next gen consoles get announced. For example, Bethesda didn’t show anything for Starfield and Ubisoft didn’t anything for Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Let me know what you thought. What new games interested you? What company won this year?
FAVORITE GAMES SHOWN
Overwatch meets Borderlands. The game hooked me right away with the amazing character designs. Of all the E3 games, this one had the most personality to me.
Shown by Revolver Digital and described as a “reverse horror game” where you are the monster. You evolve as you consume people inside a government facility while making your escape. It looks like a gruesome, and super fun side scroller.
FAVORITE MOMENT
Ghost Wire Lady
Forget Keanu Reeves! Game director Ikumi Nakamura stole E3 for me in the Bethesda Conference. She was cute, funny, and how she spoke when presenting her game Ghost Wire was so adorable and endearing. I hope Bethesda brings her back next year.
BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT
No Sony
I love to see these titans of industry duking it out for our money, on stage, live. I hate that Sony has quit E3 to make their own directs. It’s all likely to have full control of their marketing narrative and so as to not have their announcements overshadowed by Microsoft and Nintendo. Really sucks and it sets a bad precedent for more companies to follow. It kind of takes away the magic and showmanship E3 is known for.
WORST CONFERENCE
EA
Once again, Evil Assholes continues to surpass my expectations for how awful their conferences are. At least it’s consistent with their brand. The only highlight was Star Wars: Fallen Order gameplay, and even it looked just okay. Not bad, but nothing amazing either.The rest of the conference was slow, boring, and wasn’t even a presentation. Just hosts interviewing people who work on the games and then showing clips.
And the hosts were either dull or trying too hard to build hype. One of the hosts, Greg Miller, was super obnoxious. He seemed like he was on cocaine the whole time.
BEST CONFERENCE
Microsoft
I know, I’m surprised to even say it. But of all the other companies, they showed more new stuff we had not seen before. Bleeding Edge, Minecraft Dungeons, 12 Minutes, Blair Witch, Spirit Farer, Way to the Woods, Halo 5, etc. They had lots of memorable moments with Keanu Reeves and the Lego reveal in a Forza game. And they were the first company to tease their next console.
Nintendo, Square Enix, and Bethesda showed new games, but most games shown was DLC or stuff we already saw in previous directs and last E3. Ubisoft had a pretty average conference; the most exciting part was the old lady reveal in Watchdogs Legion. Nintendo definitely had the best intro involving Bowser.
Also, special mention to Revolver Digital’s conference. It was fun to see them take the piss at Nintendo directs and I’m excited to see where their satirical story with Nina Struthers goes. If you haven’t seen past conferences, I highly recommend watching them from the start to follow along and get the jokes. It’s like an Adult Swim show but every episode comes out once a year.