When people think of the Unity Engine, they usually think of small graphically un-intensive indie games, but Unity is trying to change that perception. The video above is in-engine and rendered in real time, so no image capturing here. While it may not quite be feature film grade it is still very impressive for a ‘free’ game engine, and it shows how far gaming software has come. All I know is that it makes me want to buy a new video card. Or possibly an Xbox Scorpio.
E3 2016 Press Conference Wrap-Up!
The E3 press conferences used to be a place where game companies would surprise people, but lately thanks to leaks or publishers trying to get out in front of news cycles there aren’t a lot of surprises any more. The only company that seems to really be able to have those exciting shock moments is Sony. Will any of those games be good? Will they be out any time soon? Who knows, but they make for a good show. Now that is not to say that other companies didn’t have a lot to show, they did, and a lot of it was good. There just wasn’t the excitement level that we used to have.
EA
EA had a good year with Star Wars, Mass Effect, and Titanfall 2, but honestly Battlefield 1 was still by far the most impressive thing that they had to show. I don’t think I have been this jazzed about a Battlefield game since 1941.
Bethesda
Bethesda has had a reduced E3 presence since they bought Id, and thus bought QuakeCon, but they still had a couple of new games to show, one of which was the much wondered about Prey 2. Which is no longer a ‘2’ or anything like what that game or its predecessor were, but the new Prey still looks very interesting. Also we are getting a new Quake. After a new Wolfenstein and Doom, this was hardly a shock.
Microsoft
Microsoft started and ended their show talking about hardware. While I can’t wait to get my hands on a more powerful Xbox at least I will have a lot of games to play to help me bide my time. They had what might be my game of show, Sea of Thieves. I was curious before, but the video above and the show floor hands-ons have me supper hyped for this game.
Ubisoft
Ubisoft’s show was all over the place. Steep a new extreme sports game looked like a lot of fun, but the disappointing Ghost Recon: Wildlands demo was a real bummer. Worst game reveal this year. They also really want Watch Dogs to be a thing. Watch Dogs 2 was like half of the show.
Sony
Sony went all out! Games that we have been wanting for years like Last Guardian got release dates, and then they announced stuff like Death Stranding. I don’t know what the heck is going on in that video, but it has got everyone talking. Great job Sony!
Nintendo
Zelda. Nintendo brought Zelda and little else. This Zelda looks to be the most ‘Western RPG’ inspired, and it looks great, but Nintendo needs to do something soon to knock our socks off. Otherwise they will not even be worth talking about.
All in All there were a lot of great games brought to this year’s E3, but just not a lot of surprises. I can’t wait to get my hands on Sea of Thieves or figure out what Death Stranding is all about. It looks like we got a lot of good years of gaming still ahead of us!
47 Takes Some Time Off In Marrakesh!
While I wait to hear from Nintendo for my E3 wrap-up, I thought I would give my thoughts on Hitman’s third episode, Marrakesh. Sadly Marrakesh is the worst episode so far. Having been spoiled with both Paris and Sapienza it was kind of a bummer to get just a standard paint by the numbers Hitman level. It is still better than almost anything Absolution did, but that is not high praise.
What is really a bummer is that there is such potential with Marrakesh. The market area is crazy and bustling with activity, but neither target makes use of this. Instead you infiltrate a dilapidated old school and an embassy. Far away from anything that makes Morocco unique or interesting. Plus to finish the hits in those two locations it is just a matter of finding the right person to disguise yourself as to take the target down. There weren’t any of the fun mouse-trap like ways to kill these two gents, and if there were they weren’t very obvious. Not to mention it was supper easy. I got the Silent Assassin rating with very little effort.
Things are not all bad though. The level does have good bones, and the market is pretty great with hundreds of NPCs, so I am sure that there will be added Contracts that make better use of what Marrakesh has to offer. It is just a shame that the main story targets were so bland. In the end it was still more Hitman, and that is something to be thankful for, but if you are paying by level, I would skip Marrakesh for now until people fill out the Contracts board or IO Interactive adds a few more of their own. I hope the next level is a return to form for 47, and I get to do something dastardly to some deserving people.
Please Don’t ‘Main’ Heroes In Overwatch!
‘Main’ing, as in, “I main Fizz in League of Legends” is a term from MOBAs, so players can let people know what character they are going to be, and for MOBAs it makes sense. The maps never change that much, and since you can’t swap characters mid-round it lets the other players know to either drop out and find another team or to pick one of their other characters in a different class. Not to mention they probably only want to invest their real money on only a couple of heroes.
With Overwatch‘s group of crazy heroes players have started to bring the same approach, but the problem is that it doesn’t work. Since the maps and situations do change you need to branch out and use the entire roster to the best of your ability. Last night my brother and I were playing and we got the payload within a couple of feet of where it needed to go, but the other team’s defense got impenetrable because they changed up their characters, so we in turn needed to change ours.
I changed from Lúcio to Mercy so that instead of doing some healing to the whole team I could keep just one person alive to keep the payload moving, and my brother changed from Reinhardt to Zarya to give himself a little more movement and offensive capability, so that the opposing team just didn’t set up shop in front of his shield. The result? We got that payload to move those last few feet in the last few seconds. If we hadn’t changed we probably would have lost.
That is because with Overwatch it is best not to think of the characters as heroes that need to be mastered, but instead as load-outs to be swapped when the need arises. I needed to switch to Mercy because she is the beam heal not the area heal. It is no different then in Battlefield to swap out the long range rifle for the short range SMG for that final push. If I had been stubborn and just decided that I was going to ‘main’ Lúcio we probably wouldn’t have been able to keep someone on the payload, and we probably would have lost (it was my brother’s idea to have me switch by the way), but over and over I will hear the words, ‘I main so and so’. Please don’t. Use the character who’s kit best serves the current situation. If the situation changes, change your hero too.
They Are Remaking The Wrong Elder Scrolls Game(s)!
Eurogamer claims to have discovered Bethesda’s big announcement for E3, a remastered The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Which while Skyrim is great, that is not the game they should be remastering. Firstly, it has sold well over 20 Million copies, so it is a game everyone has played, and since it was the latest one to come out, everyone has played it recently. Secondly, even the crappiest of PC’s can now play this game with the updated texture pack, so it still looks pretty good. Thirdly, and most importantly, it is not the remaster that I want. I want a remastered version of TES III: Morrowind.
Morrowind was the game that made me an RPG gamer. The game was wide open and I could do whatever I wanted, and the areas were extremely varied, but the best part was the loot. I could have what seemed like endless armor combinations and thousands of weapons. There was all sorts of random stuff. It was mind blowing. Not to mention you could fly! There never was, nor has there been anything like it. If there was ever a game that deserved the old spit and polish, Morrowind was it.
Though I understand what Bethesda is doing. Skyrim is their most successful game of all time, so any way to get it in to even more gamers’ hands is a win for them. Plus they can port it over to the new mod interface that Fallout 4 just launched. Giving console gamers totally new experiences. It just a shame that we get a ‘new’ version of a game that just came out, and not a classic that deserves to be revisited. Heck while they are at it why not do TES I and II? That could be fun as well, but I guess instead we are going to get a game we all have.