E3 2006

[Rankenphile]

It's been a slow weekend in terms of news, but all that is about to change - E3 2006 starts in two days, and the first press conferences have already started. Sony's starts in a few minutes, and Square Enix has already presented. Microsoft and Nintendo are supposed to present tomorrow morning. With all this going on, I thought I would put up a thread for everyone to discuss the announcements, demos and other cool things this week promises to show.

What are you most excited about? Heard any cool news from E3 yet?

[wishiwasmodding]

I am excited for more details on the hd-dvd add on for the xbox 360

[Rankenphile]

I've already seen a little info that it connects via USB, which is awesome, and potentially means it would work on PC. Microsoft and Nintendo's press conferences should be very interesting.

[xmastree]

Can I be the first to say that I have no idea what E3 is?

[Sudi]

Can I be the first to say that I have no idea what E3 is?
Its stands for Electronic Entertainment Expo...It's basically an expo with all the video game companies (mainly) showing off there lastest games, future anticipated games, and usually any big, big announcement regarding a video game company and its decisions...In a nutshell thats what it is.

[Rankenphile]

That's pretty much it, yeah.

Sony's press conference happened earlier today, and was rather "Meh" as expected. Some news about the PS3, launch dates and times ($599 American? ouch) and some news about the controller (it will have a gyroscope in it, to allow for tilt sensing and such) and a rollout of some neat games, although very little of it was actually in-game footage.

Tomorrow MS and Nintendo have their press conferences. MS's isn't one I'm particularly thrilled about, as they don't have a otn of stuff to announce, it will basically be "we're doing great. Have a look at these charts. Jeff made them." and some neat games, but not much else although they may have a surprise or two. I'd expect an MMO of some sort, and a glimpse at Halo 3.

Nintendo's, however, should be very exciting. With their new Wii system coming out, and being so different than anything else out there, they will have plenty to show off. They already have a solid lineup of launch titles announced (a new Mario, Metroid, WarioWare, a very cool Tennis game and plenty more), and they're always great about having fun and surprising conferences.

The PC gaming side should be interesting, too. Hellgate: London looks fantastic (I got to play it at last year's E3 and it rocked), Blizzard will almost definately be announcing the Alliance race, and probably have a teaser trailer for Diablo 3 or something. Lots of other games coming, too. Should be fun.

[OvRiDe]

Looks like E3 is going to look a bit different this year..

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,70075-0.html?tw=rss.index

[Guttenaffe]

I'm looking forward to Gas Powered Games'es Supreme Commander. To bad I can't go to E3, because I'm a bigger game modder than case modder.

[Cevinzol]

Not sure if it was announced at E3 but accourding to /GU Comics (link to forum Thread) (http://www.guforums.com/showthread.php?t=8771#8771) Sigil and Micrsoft had a little falling out and Sigil (Brad McQuade - Everquest creator) and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) are now going to co-release Vanguard: Saga Heros. Vanguard is what Brad wanted EQ to be like (or EQ2 or something ike that).

the /GU Comic forums are very PC (politicaly constipated) so no one can really say what hey think. Personaly I feel once SOE gets their claws into Vanguard they will turn it into a cash cow like EQ, bleed every dollar they can out of the player and kill any amount of fun from the game like they did with EQ.

[DaveW]

Can I be the first to say that I have no idea what E3 is?

DIE HEATHEN SCUM!!!

No seriously, are you kidding? My Dad knows what E3 is! :D


Not sure if it was announced at E3 but accourding to /GU Comics (link to forum Thread) Sigil and Micrsoft had a little falling out and Sigil (Brad McQuade - Everquest creator) and Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) are now going to co-release Vanguard: Saga Heros. Vanguard is what Brad wanted EQ to be like (or EQ2 or something ike that).

the /GU Comic forums are very PC (politicaly constipated) so no one can really say what hey think. Personaly I feel once SOE gets their claws into Vanguard they will turn it into a cash cow like EQ, bleed every dollar they can out of the player and kill any amount of fun from the game like they did with EQ.

Anyone who's ever played Star Wars Galaxies will be able to tell you exactly how well SOE (Sons of Evil?) can ruin what was pottentially one of the greatest games ever. Here's an extract from the Wiki:


Broken promises

There have been claims that SOE made promises to players that they never delivered on. Perhaps the most egregious example is the fact that despite years of assurances that a revamp was just around the corner, Smugglers cannot actually smuggle. The situation became so embarrassing and notorious amongst the gaming community that GamePro voted SWG's treatment of Smugglers the #11 Gaming Low of 2004. See GamePro article. As of May 2006, no smuggling system has been implemented.

In the scheduled update of "Publish 31", a smuggling system is reported to be introduced. The date for "Publish 31" has not been set.
[edit]

Customer voice

Many of their customers do not feel that SOE listens to them about issues surrounding the game. SOE does provide an online message forum for their customers to discuss issues. However, a lack of Development Team response to messages and their habit of ignoring the 'CSR's (Customer Service Representatives)' has angered some forum goers. In addition, many professions were disadvantaged and needed improving, and even after constant complaints SOE finally took action although not exactly in a manner welcomed by players. In order to bring the professions inline, SOE built a new game/combat engine and removed most of the professions that needed repair, calling the new smaller list of classes 'iconic'.

There have also been several incidents of people being permanently banned for reporting SOE to the Better Business Bureau for lack of customer service and failing to respond to serious game stopping issues.

In addition to such bannings, SOE has locked several posts which are aimed at calling the company on the inaccuracy and deceptive nature of their most recent update announcements and releases, including an advertisement about the NGE which included the 'Creature Handler' profession that was, in contrast to the advertisement's implied claims, removed from the game entirely. SOE has, in fact, offered a refund to players that purchased the latest expansion, "Trials of Obi-Wan", in response to the negative reaction to their deceptive ad campaign regarding the expansion and its relation to the NGE.

As you might expect veterans of this game that had either been banned from SOE's forums or whose subscriptions had expired (thereby removing their ability to post on said forums) have been appearing in large numbers on the forums of other MMORPGs in order to continue discussing the game as it was and is now.

Interestingly some websites have also been started up specifically for former veterans of the game to stay in touch with their friends and the rest of their former gaming community to discuss matters pertaining both to this game and whatever games they have now moved onto. Such sites include imperialcrackdown.com, which is mostly a meeting place for former players of SWG's 'Flurry' server, and wanderhomies.com for players of the SWG 'Wanderhome' server.
[edit]

Questionable tactics

The NGE was announced two days after the release of the Trials of Obi Wan. This was seen by many players as an underhand method. Some felt that they would not have bought the expansion if they had known of the changes to the core game. Others were angry at the fact that there were enhancements announced for their player classes, only to then have such classes removed once the NGE was rolled out. SOE afterwards offered a refund of the price of the expansion to whom so desired.
[edit]

Ongoing Concerns

There has been a great amount of controversy on the forums from players claiming that they are paying to play for the game whose quality could be compared to that of a game in beta testing. John Smedley, President of Sony Online Entertainment gave this response on the game's game play discussion forum. Link to Quote

"...my preference is that all the posts in the gameplay forum are discussing gameplay balance.. and in-game issues.. but they won't until we get the game to a baseline fun level. We're not there yet. We know that. We're working to fix it. There is no other answer."

Some community members have not been satisfied with this answer and voice their opinions by lashing out with spam posts, holding in-game demonstrations in high traffic areas, and participate in other disruptive acts demanding a rollback of the game mechanics to Pre-NGE (New Game Enhancements) status. The developers of Star Wars Galaxies have explained time and time again this is not going to happen despite the outcry of these members. It has been explained that at least one major reason for these changes was to restruscture the game's code to be more modular allowing for more expansions, additions, and overall improvement to the gameplay in the long term.

It is unknown as to what percentage of the actual playerbase agrees/disagrees with the direction the game.

Apparently the contract comes up for renewal this summer and Lucasarts are so appalled by the performance of SOE that they want to drop the whole thing and never look back upon it again.

It's a real shame because done right, it could have been amazing. But it's really, really, awful. It felt like a bunch of 12 year old l337's got together to make the game. I need...to...stop...rambling!!! :D Maybe if CrazyBillyBob catches this he'll have something to say.

-Dave

[xmastree]

DIE HEATHEN SCUM!!!

No seriously, are you kidding? My Dad knows what E3 is! :D
Not kidding. I hadn't heard of it until now. But then, I'm not a gamer.
I do know that E300 is Ascorbic acid though. :rolleyes:

[public_eyesore]

gamespot.com has full coverage. I watched sonys yesterday and unlike Rankenphile, i was very impressed, except for the price. Damn you sony!!!

Im gonna watch nintendo's and Microsoft's tonight. But i do agree with rank in that nintendo's should be the most exciting conference.

[DaveW]

Especially if Shigsy's going to play his famous Banjo!

I'm still waiting on my pre-order of Zelda, man is that a game plagued by delays...

-Dave

[Rankenphile]

Oh man... listened to MS and Nintendo's conferences today. Talk about a one-two punch to Sony. Looks like Sony's gunna have it rough this time around. I'll post a bunch more of the news in a while... crazy busy at work atm.

[DaveW]

I just saw the Trailer for Metal Gear Solid 4.

I don't know where the hell they're going with that game, but i know i like it. Plus listening to that trailer made me realise just how lucky we are to have David Hayter as Snake's voice actor. But Liquid Ocelot? WTF???

On a side note, if they ever made a Metal Gear Movie, the only man who could play Snake is Hugh Jackman. Anyone else think that, or am i just crazy? If you're having trouble thinking it, go watch Van Helsing with that in mind.

-Dave

[xmastree]

My Dad knows what E3 is! :D Whereas my Dad has a computer. I was speaking to him last night, about emailing him a Rotary club presentation powerpoint file. It's a big file, so I suggested he gives me the address of someone with a fast connection (he's on dial-up).
His suggestion?

"Why not convert it to one of those things which goes in the top drawer of the computer?" :rolleyes:

So I guess I'll put it on a CD and post it.

Ok, sorry for the off-topic. As you were...