E3 Hub Thread - TIme to wrap up! Nintendo poll up

[Runa216]

Honestly. the more I think about it, the more deflated I am about all this. I know no publisher and no developer is beholden to me, they owe me nothing, and I'm not entitled to shit, but how can E3 even be a thing anymore if this is the sort of presentation we get. All of them have been bad to atrocious. Very few reveals, and the stuff we DO know about but are simply waiting on more information often gets overlooked or a simple 'we're still working on it'.

So many missed opportunities, so many games that look way worse than conceptualized, and I just learned that Babylon's Fall is a Games as a Service style game? So THAT just went from cautiously optimistic to 'yeah, let's wipe that from my memory banks'. Summer Games, Ubisoft, Gearbox, Devolver, Microsoft, and Square-Enix (Those are the ones I've watched, as they were the ones I was interested in) and not one of them could show off something new and exciting? Something that is interesting, a new experience? Can't even give us glimpses at games we know about or theorized about without completely dumping on us?

Remember when Sony revealed Spider-Man, and it was basically a 10-minute presentation that looked good, sounded good, had gameplay, and was 99% representative of something we actually got? I only just played the 2018 Spider-Man for the first time after the PS5 came out, and I then went back and watched the original E3 trailer reveal. Aside the puddlegate (the dumbest game controversy ever), that was an almost perfect representation of the end product even though it came out two years later. They revealed a game, and they wasted no time getting RIGHT into showing us how it played and the tone they were going for. That game got rave reviews and sold 20 million.

I just finished Ratchet & Clank Rift apart for the second time, and it's the exact same story. You go back to the initial reveal for that game and then contrast it with what we actually got and it was a near perfect 1:1 comparison. Insomniac are apparently AMAZING at...well, it seems everything. Their games are inclusive, they're pure FUN, they're marketed well, there's no crunch...So why can't more developers take after them?

Still in the Sony landscape, a similar situation happened with God of War 2018. We saw that trailer accompanied by a whole freakin' symphony Orchestra. Then we see the entire opening cutscene followed by a whole gameplay segment. That game released to critical acclaim and massive sales. WHO'DATHUNKIT!?

Obviously Sony's not some bastion of perfect marketing. Let's not forget Giant Enemy Crabs. But like, it feels like Sony's games MATTER and they're gettign the reverence they deserve. They're well-represented and fun, they don't skimp on the details. when Spider-Man or God of War are announced and revealed, it's not just 'hey, here's a splash card with the title to let you know we're working on it' (Looking at you, Metroid Prime 4 and Elder Scrolls VI). IT's not a pre-rendered trailer that tells us NOTHING About the actual gameplay on hand but only serves to kinda sorta give us information on the look and feel of the atmosphere (Looking at you Contraband).

Not every reveal needs to do this, not every reveal needs to have a symphony orchestra or a 10-minute gameplay demo showing off pretty much every gameplay style included in that game's particular loop. But if you're making a game and showing it off at the biggest gaming trade expo in the world, put more effort into it than a cinematic trailer. don't misrepresent the game. It's so frustratign that so many of this year's reveals are either disingenuous (Seriously, STOP PUSHING THE LAUNCH EXCLUSIVE NARRATIVE! THAT'S SO BULLSHIT AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT) or completely lacking in depth or explanation.

You know two reveals that were, hopefully, exactly like what I described above? Forza Horizon 5 and Guardians of the Galaxy. Both of those were new announcements that showed off the game, explained a bit about what they were doing with it, gave a good representation of what the final product will be like (Presumably, obviously neither game are out yet so it's hard to say but it looks pretty good), and both actually had lengthy gameplay demonstrations. Do you like these games? I personally couldn't give less of a fuck about Forza but holy hell that was an amazing trailer and if I was into racing games I'd be stoked. give credit where it's due, and they knocked it outta the park with that single one reveal. Guardians of the Galaxy does look a bit rudimentary and probably too simple for most, but nobody can say they're trying to misrepresent the game, not like how the Avengers was shown.

You know what was another fantastic reveal I don't think gets enough praise? Fallout 4. That reveal showed off the game, gave a fantastic representation of what to expect in the final product, and didn't waste anyone's time since the game was coming out only a few months later. Bethesda know how to make and market games, so why has that art been lost? Fallout 76's marketing was highly disingenuous and he needed to do interviews to explain what they were doing, and both Starfield and Elder Scrolls VI have gotten the dreaded 'logo on a background' and 'cinematic trailer that tells us nothing' treatment.

The art of E3 marketing is all but dead. This entire weekend has been stunningly deflating for me, personally. I don't even need to care about the games in question, I just wanna see new shit announced and fun events being shared. I don't care about Forza but watching that presentation made me smile. I don't think Guardians of the Galaxy is going to be some sleeper mega-hit, but the entire time I was watching it I was grinning and sharing my excitement with friends. I love the movie Avatar and am eagerly anticipating returning to Pandora, but I felt NOTHING when I watched the trailer at the Ubisoft presentation. It doesn't matter that it was a sort of surprise reveal or that it actually looks good, it's a cinematic trailer that tells us NOTHING about the game. The whiplash of 'oh, hey! New Mario + Rabbids looks like fun and I love the subtle tweaks to the gameplay' to 'oh, a cinematic trailer' was crippling.

There's a right way and a wrong way to do this and it's like 95% of everything we've seen so far this E3 has been the wrong way. So far this E3 I'm having a hard time thinking up 5 games total that fit the mold of a great reveal or trailer or showcase. If a single-sentence descriptor of your game tells the audience more about it than a 2 minute cinematic trailer, how about don't make cinematic trailers unless there's some sort of precedent there to take from. Like, with the FFVII Remake trailer. while it didn't prepare the audience for what it was getting, having a cinematic trailer for a remake of a game that people have been begging for since 2006. I don't think that this is the right way to go about it in the long term, but at least it got people talking because of the context of the game's history and fan demand and resulting catharsis.

Nobody's going to be talking about Contraband. Nobody's going to be looking back and saying 'man, that RedFall trailer was pretty awesome!'

I'm not angry. I'm just disappointed. So deeply, thoroughly disappointed. I just wanted some excitement. As of right now, Microsoft has the best showcase by default and I gave that a 4/10. And half of that 4/10 is just because of how amazing the Forza Horizon 5 reveal and showcase was. Everything else was lame, disingenuous, or a case of 'needs more info'. I just want excitement in my hobby again.

I guess I should just go back to playing Ratchet & Clank Rift Apart. That game's an absolute blast, and I knew that based on its very first reveal trailer.