E3 Impressions

As any gamer with even a passing interest in keeping up with new games would know, E3 is this week, and the main press conferences have all finished. And so, I will post my impressions of what I've seen. What impressed me, what was meh, and what made me utterly rage and want to throw things at people.

Let's start (much like the big 3 did) with Microsoft. While I did not catch any of their press conference yet (I plan on watching some of the trailers and things when I get a chance), I did read the cliffnotes. It seems that they brought a lot of "meh" to the table this year, as well as a lot of Kinect. I'm still not entirely sure how I feel about the Kinect. There's no question that it is impressive technology, and I do want to have a play with it. However, my wanting to have a play with it stems more through development tendencies, rather than finding any games that I want to play on it!
Microsoft have, of course, unleashed information about the first thing that made me rage. The promise of four more Halo games. One being simply a remastering of the original, which I can deal with. The first Halo game was decent. However, from there it began a decent in mediocrity punctuated by the fact that the game didn't actually change at all from there, with the exception of pretty graphics. The announcement that there is going to be a new Halo trilogy, while not altogether unexpected (it did, after all, make extraordinarily stupid amounts of money for Microsoft and Bungie) it also did not assure me in the slightest that it would be trying anything new either.

The Vita. I want one so, so badly

Sony released some interesting information. I only caught bits and pieces of their press release, so there is probably a lot I've missed, but what really caught my eye is the Playstation Vita. This would be the NGP (Next Generation Portable) that they have been talking about. It looks just like a PSP with a second thumb stick, no UMD drive (it reportedly uses flash cartridges for games), and a touch pad on the back of the console.
I have been asked repeatedly why a touch screen on the back. I can wholeheartedly answer this question with a "Why the hell would I know? Do I work for Sony all of a sudden?" I would assume that this is for things like noncritical functions. The guy demoing the latest iteration of Modnation Racers demonstrated this to great effect when he used it to raise and lower terrain surrounding the track, in the track creation mode. It was also quite quick to load and test the new track he created, which I liked.
By far, the thing I liked the most about Vita is its connectivity. It connects to a Sony PSN cloud, allowing someone playing games on the Vita to play multiplayer with people who are on the PS3. And not just in the same room or anything - this works via wifi and 3g as well! Aside from this, the fact that you can stop playing a game on the Vita and load up from exactly where you were up to on the PS3 was also quite awesome. They demonstrated this using some random action-rpg, which I cannot recall the title of.
That said, when they showed Street Fighter X Tekken I began to rage. Not because I dislike Street Fighter or Tekken - I quite like them. No, the problem is that they've decided to do another one of those stupid bad cameos I raged about on Monday - this time adding the guy from Infamous to the game. Why would you do that? It wasn't necessary! It's not even cool! It's a game based almost entirely on cameos (being a crossover title and all), so why add more. He doesn't fit into either universe!

The Wii U

Nintendo talked a LOT about the 3DS. I was excited about the new Kid Icarus game, until it was revealed to be on the 3DS. I have posted at length already about how 3D is retarded and should be set on fire, so I won't bother repeating this.
What was interesting was the Wii U - the new console. Sporting a controller that seems to me a cross of the Playstation Vita, the Wiimote and an iPad, it promises to retain the accessibility for the "casual gamer" peon hordes, as well as provide depth for the hardcore gamers. I consider myself to be far far beyond the casual gamer, so a little added depth fron Nintendo is exactly what I wanted.
As for how I like the new console... I'm very undecided. They were able to do some interesting things with the demo, for example someone changing channel on the TV, and the game being simply moved onto the controller is a great addition. The AR meets Wiimote functionality seemed kind of interesting too, though it has to be done well. I plan on trading in my Wii for the Wii U, if only for the HDMI input (with my TV-less monitor-centric setup, it makes the Wii much easier / more appealing to use) to use in conjunction with the backwards compatibility.
When it comes down to it, the fate of the Wii U is in the developer's hands. If they do good thigns with it, then it will fit in quite well to my gaming collection. If not, then it'll be an expensive paperweight.

On another note, its The Legend of Zelda's 25th anniversary this year. To celebrate, they're doing a world orchestral tour for the music of Zelda.
Also, the insane people who bought a 3DS can get a free AR based Pokedex. This was really cool, but completely inaccessible to people who are like me and can't actually look at 3D without their brain haemorrhaging.

As for game trailers, I finally caught up with Devil May Cry. The new Dante design is epic fail on every level, though the game itself looks to be as much demon-annihilating fun as it's always been (except for DMC 2). Final Fantasy XIII-2 confuses me with its lack of most of the main party, and focusing on Serah and newcomer Noel (which will anger me GREATLY if they try to hamshoe in a love subplot between Serah and Noel, since she was engaged to Snow for the entirety of the first one - the ending even including the line "we've got a wedding to plan!"). I could care less that Hope disappeared, but Snow and Sazh need to reappear!