just the worst presentation ever, no flow, just trash. besides spiderman and that ghost of tsushima, it was terribad.

1/10

Guess Sony can't win every year. I get the feeling they are stalling for the PS5.

bit disappointed, thought they might have one big surprise. but it's clear that Sony is very much on cruise control for the rest of this gen. They already have a great lineup planned for 2018 and 2019, and everything is going to a huge 2020/2021 launch window for PS5. we could see this last year as well.

as for the games, i thought they all looked great.

Last of Us 2 looked phenomenal, seems to have the usual small improvements that Naughty Dog seem to add with each game, like improved animations, more dynamic movement and cover like when Ellie squeezed between bookcases. Ghosts of Tsushima was visually phenomenal, maybe doesn't have much in terms of gameplay that's particularly new, but what was there looked like it would feel good to play. If they nail the quests, characters and environments then you don't need best in class combat to be a great game. Death Stranding was maybe the weakest, but still very intriguing. Again looked gorgeous, the stealth section was cool. At one point some lady got out a gun, so there is obviously gunplay in the game, but it was curious they didn't show any of it. Perhaps they are still deciding how gun heavy they want the game to be so didn't want to give the wrong impression. Spiderman continues to look impressive, nice to see more of the enemies, though showing one or two and leaving more than one as secret would have been a better tease.

So I'd say a 5. No big new announcements was a shame. But the quality of games coming to the PS4 in it's twilight years from Sony look pretty great. I think it's telling that after two years in a row of very 'meh' E3s and MS having it's best in years, if you wrote down all the exclusives coming to each system it's no contest in terms of quantity or quality. The gap between Sony and Microsoft's biggest studios is huge

5/10
Weird setup, nothing really new we didn't know of, if it wasn't for TLOU2 it would have been a complete shocker, but all in all its middle ground, average at best. Not bad for only showing inhouse 4 games.

For me, this E3 was the worst in recent memory. Maybe my expectations were too high but I think everybody besides Microsoft and Bethesda had better showings last year.

My personal ratings:

Microsoft: 9/10 - Conference setup and pace were close to perfect. We got a new Halo (even though that's probably a long way off), 3 Gears games and Forza Horizon 4. There were a lot of 3rd party games but I don't mind that when we're talking about games like Cyberpunk, Sekiro, Fallout 76, Metro Exodus, Tomb Raider, Devil May Cry 5, Dying Light 2 and Battlefield 5. Only thing missing was an exciting new IP or megaton revival like Perfect Dark or Fable.

Bethesda: 8/10 - Conference was held back by a dull rock concert and too many awkward pauses. Content was top notch though. Bethesda fans literally got everything. New chapters announced in Fallout, The Elder Scrolls, DOOM, Wolfenstein and Rage as well as an exciting new IP in Starfield. Better conference setup and more gameplay in general would've improved the rating.

Ubisoft: 7.5/10 - Conference was top notch but content was a little lacking. Maybe I'm just being spoiled but Ubisoft usually ends the conference by announcing either a big new IP or a megaton revival. I admire that they show so much gameplay but it mostly felt like updates for already announced or released games. If they hadn't leaked/shown The Division 2, Assassin's Creed Odyssey, The Crew 2 and Mario + Rabbids: Donkey Kong Adventures beforehand and had shown gameplay of Beyond Good & Evil 2, it would've been close to a 9/10 for me. With Splinter Cell or a big new IP on top would've made it a 10/10.

Sony: 7/10 - Conference was held back by weird setup and pace. They had the winning formula in 2015 and 2016 but for some reason decided to focus on very few games and unnecessary talks (without the actual developers). I really liked what I saw from TLOU2, Ghost, Spider-Man, Days Gone, Resident Evil 2, Control and Nioh 2 but what makes me primarily a PlayStation gamer is the variety of the (exclusive) library. Sony has so many varied games coming up but for some reason they only want to focus on their 3rd person action games. What about Spyro, MediEvil Remake, the secret Bluepoint game, Babylon's Fall, FF7 Remake, Shenmue 3, Yakuza 6, Ace Combat 7, Dead or Alive 6, GT Sport's Summer update, Concrete Genie, Blood and Truth, Déraciné, etc. If we had had less talk, more games and that 1 huge surprise (RE2 was already announced), the rating would've been better.

Nintendo: 5/10 - This could've been a Smash Bros. Direct. I liked the extensive look at Smash Bros. Ultimate. It really is shaping up to be the ultimate fighting game with a huge number of characters and details. With that said I'm somewhat disappointed that it's a port of Smash 4 with some extra content and updated graphics. Beside from Super Mario Party, we didn't really get anything new. If we'd seen anything from Pokémon 2019, Metroid Prime 4, Bayonetta 3, Shin Megami Tensei V, Yo-kai Watch 4, Good-Feel's new Yoshi game or Retro's new game, the rating would've easily been better.

Square Enix: 4/10 - My expectations were high for SE's conference because of their broad and varied library of both Japanese and Western games. I thought they would go all in and bring KH3, FF7 Remake, DQ XI, DQ Builders 2, Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Just Cause 4, Life is Stange 2, The Avengers Project, Left Alive, and People Can Fly's AAA shooter but we only got 4 of those. Platinum's Babylon's Fall looked promising but it was the only new announcement. If they hadn't leaked/shown everything else beforehand, the rating would've been better.

EA: 3/10 - At this point, I don't even think EA is trying to cater to gamers. Their conferences feel like reruns with the same boring talk about this year's "revolutionary" sports titles. They sit on so many great IPs (rip C&C) and sometimes they even have the content to make an interesting show but.. they're just not capable of delivering. They're just a bunch of uncreative and investor-driven suits who invite indie developers in the hope of giving the show some kind of pulse and personality. As a huge fan of the Jedi Knight-series, I hope Respawn's Star Wars: Jedi Fallen Order will be a worthy spiritual successor but I won't hold my breath. I know there are many fans of the sports titles and Battlefield, Anthem and the indie games could turn out worthwhile. Though in order to go higher than 3/10, EA would have to actually make an effort regarding the setup, pace and content of the conference.