This was my busiest day at E3. I booked myself for booth appointments every hour on the hour. It's a bit of a risk, because some companies may want to keep you around for a while so you see absolutely everything. Plus there's a fair walk between the two main exhibit halls, which could lead to unpleasant sprints if your appointments are tight and alternate from one hall to the next.
I actually did really well, which is great considering I did not pay attention to the two halls problem AT ALL when booking. I went from Atari to THQ to Halfbrick to Natsume to Disney to Majesco to Bethesda on Day 2. Throughout E3, I was not late for a single appointment.
One thing I learned right away: I am not there to Gotcha these poor people. You're talking to developers, producers, brand managers, PR experts... and yeah, to some extent they are all there to snow you and convince you their product is the One True Must-Have of the show, but I just can't stand there and attack them on past releases, technical issues and perceived fan slights. I'd love to ask the Capcom rep, "Hey, WTF happened with DLC for Marvel vs Capcom 3? You guys seriously prepared a scant two additional characters, and then priced them at $5 each?" But I don't know that I have that in me, when all they're trying to do is give me an advance look at a game that's no doubt still in beta and won't see store shelves until Holiday 2011.
I did ask a Natsume rep, "You guys make a lot of Harvest Moon games. Tell me what's new about this one." Which is easy, although it sounds sort of dickish, because of course the new release has some kind of hook to differentiate it from the previous twelve. And the reps are well practiced on delivering that message.
Couple surprises for me from Day 2...
First: Saints Row the Third. I have never played a Saints Row, because, honestly, I thought it was a half-assed GTA knock-off. I remember the first game being turned into a viral video joke thanks to tons of stupid bugs like invisible cars. So when the second edition went multi-platform, I ignored it. Now there's a third coming, and I am so down.
Yes, there's some easy playing-to-the-base at work here when your main character can wield a giant purple dildo as a weapon (true story: I've seen it), but the ridiculous GTA-gone-Jackass world looks fantastic. In the guided demo, we saw the player perform wrestling moves on sidewalk citizens, jump into cars feetfirst through the window, and tool around the city in a damn jet. If GTA is getting more serious in tone, Saints Row is heading into complete adult cartoon territory.
Second: Disney Universe. The title had been outed before the show, but now we know it is NOT an MMO but instead a four-player platformer for Disney geeks. YES. From what I saw, it may not have actual Disney characters in it, but instead focuses on little gremlin-like dudes who wear Disney costumes and sally forth into Disney worlds. I played a Monsters Inc-themed level and wore costumes based on Lion King, TRON and Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Since there's no Kingdom Hearts III any time soon, this random combination of classic Disney and currently-mandated-promotable Disney will have to fill the void.
Daily stats: The 3DS reports 7,001 steps for Wednesday. 47 minutes in StreetPass Mii Plaza and 45 minutes in Dead or Alive Dimensions.
Leave a comment