E3 2013 Day 0 Recap

E3 2013 officially kicks off tomorrow but some of the major players in the industry had major conferences today.  They day started off with Microsoft’s presentation.  Desperate to show all the gaming potential they can, they came out guns blazing.

After a trailer for Metal Gear Solid V and an announcement that World of Tanks would be coming to Xbox, we got our first look at Ryse.  Developed by Crytek, we originally got a look at the game a few years ago but it has since been reimagined and reworked as an Xbox One exclusive launch title.  It pits you as a Roman commander pitted in gruesome battles with pretty stunning visuals.  The trailer started off with a very Normandy-esque beach assault scene.  Find out more about the game here.

Next up was a stylized open world shooter called Sunset Overdrive, Forza V, Minecraft, Quantum Break, an episodic murder mystery  game called D4 and then a new game creation tool called Project Spark.  During the initial part of Project Spark’s presentation it seemed like every game would end up looking and playing pretty similar but at the end they showed a big montage of different games people have made with it and it was quite stunning to see how varied the types and looks of the games were.

There was more talk of Smartglass and how it can add to gaming experiences, an announcement of Twitch integration so you can broadcast what you’re playing online.  We got a look at Crimson Dragon and then the Dead Rising 3 trailer spent some time discussing what the Xbox One’s cloud computing can help with.  Next was The Witcher 3 which promises to provide a Skyrim-like open world experience in addition to the franchise’s usual strong plot.  Check out more on The Witcher 3 here.  More footage of Battlefield 4 followed and then we saw a new Indie game called Below which looked pretty cool.

Then time for the big boys.  There was footage from an unknown AAA game from Black Tusk studios which looked like a present day action/stealth/shooter.  The next game got a pretty vague introduction and turned out to be an awesome Halo trailer . . . just awesome (check it out here).

Last to show was the first major look at Titanfall from Respawn Entertainment.  It looks to be a futuristic first person shooter where large mechs are involved.  It looked well thought out with cool mechanics like jetpacks which enable cool terrain navigation mechanics.  It looked really fun.  The Xbox One was announced to retail for $499 and is due out this November.

Microsoft wasn’t the only major player with big news today as Sony’s conference was this evening.  It had a similar structure as the Microsoft conference where they first talked about what’s in store for existing consoles.  Sony spent a lot of time trying to convince everyone that the Vita was on the upswing but I can’t imagine anyone was too convinced.

Gran Turismo 6 was shown off but it is a PlayStation 3 release.  It looked good and all but compared to the next-next-gen graphics of Forza V it felt a little underwhelming.

Then on to the PlayStation 4 reveal.  It has a more stylized and less simple look than the Xbox One but ends up with a similar two-tone half matte, half glossy look.

A surprising amount of time was spent talking about how you will be able to rent/purchase movies.  This is 2013 right?  Doesn’t sound very groundbreaking.  The first exclusive to be shown was The Order: 1866 and it’s a steampunk game.  We got another look at the next Killzone and it still looks pretty generic and Infamous: Second Son was good for a few yawns.

Next, Sony showcased a slew of new indie titles.  This is definitely an area where Sony is putting a lot of effort and it is paying off.  The ability for indie developers to self-publish was reiterated.

Assassin’s Creed IV was next which looks good but the franchise has probably seen its peak already.  Elder Scrolls online was next which is bound to be a flop.  Then we saw a trailer for a new Mad Max game but I wonder how it will distinguish itself from all the other post-apocalyptic games.

The biggest highlight of the conference was Sony’s affirmation that games would remain disc based and consumers would be able to sell/trade/borrow/lend at their will.  It was also affirmed that there was no online requirement.  Future updates to the PlayStation Plus program were discussed with a little tidbit about how online multiplayer would require a subscription that was barely glossed over.  There was talk of the Gaikai cloud-streaming capabilities that would be coming in some form after launch.

From a games perspective, the most interesting presentation was Destiny.  It looks phenomenal.  You can see more here, but this is going to be a franchise which defines the coming console generation.  The PlayStation 4 is due out this holiday season for $399.

Highlights from EA’s conference include more footage from Titanfall.  They eventually got to a reveal trailer for Star Wars: Battlefront which everyone knew was coming but was still exciting.  It’s being developed by DICE which is about as promising as anyone could hope for.

Dragon Age III: Inquisition was shown next but after how terrible the last one was I can’t see much hope for the future of this franchise.  EA’s new sports offerings got a lot of hype but looked like mostly marginal improvements.

More of Battlefield 4 was shown and then we saw a reveal trailer for Mirror’s Edge 2.  So not many surprises from the conference but definitely some strong properties in the pipeline.

Ubisoft’s presentation was probably the least exciting of the day.  More on Watch Dogs and more on Assassin’s Creed IV.  They also showed off the latest version of Rocksmith, South Park: The Stick of Truth, a racing game called The Crew, as well as some others.

An interactive show/game coming out for the Xbox One called Rabbids Invasion was shown off which is intriguing to see how this new hybrid format will work out.  Definitely the highlight of Ubisoft’s conference was Tom Clancy’s The Division. This new game seems to fit all the check boxes for what will define next-next-gen gaming: shooting, rpg elements, integration with tablets and peripheral devices, seamlessly change from playing with other people to playing on your own.  The concept looked cool and it’s definitely a game to keep an eye on.