E3 Fread

[DavidCaruso]

WiiU basically met my expectations halfway (except for the name which is worse than anything I could have imagined). I was hoping the controller would be able to stream games long-distance from the console, or even use some form of cloud computing, so it would function as essentially a portable version of the main system. What Nintendo's currently shown appears to be just that except on a solely local scale. The main positive about that is no more split-screen multiplayer or screenwatching but the negative is that larger distances would basically bridge the gap between portables and consoles for good (not that Nintendo would be too interested in doing that since they just put out the 3DS, I guess), a much more revolutionary step for gaming as a whole. Watch Sony or Microsoft refine the technology to work at longer distances only to be called a ripoff.

Best looking game Nintendo showed: Ninja Gaiden 3. Also good to hear that Nintendo may be gaining more third-party support back.

The new Kid Icarus looks cool and fast-paced even though the voice acting reminds me of bad 80s cartoons. Luigi's Mansion 2 might be interesting. Same with the new Super Smash Bros., though after the hyped up disappointment that was Brawl I'm not sure (but I'm still glad to see that they're releasing it on both a console and a portable), and right now we literally know nothing about the game I think.

Super Mario 3DS looks slow and bland, and the graphical style is depressing. Apparently the entire world is supposed to be made of brightly colored plastic and metal. Skyward Sword can't decide whether it wants to be Wind Waker or Twilight Princess so it settles for taking the worst parts of both games' art styles and mashing them together on top of a simplistic-looking battle system. Hey look guys we kind of sort of applied cel shading on Link's TP model. Meanwhile the new Paper Mario 3DS footage doesn't even get coverage on the E3 floor. Yay.

Can't say I'm surprised with all the focus on gimmickry this E3 though. Right now we're getting increasingly closer to photorealistic games so companies are beginning to focus more on peripherals and control methods than graphical flair. In the end I don't really know who "won" this time. Nintendo's ideas with the WiiU have the most potential in the long run but it remains to be seen whether they or their competitors will be the ones to truly achieve it. Sony showed us some great-looking trailers and PSVita could be cool. Microsoft's only interesting thing I can remember was Halo 4 (which probably won't be as good as past games because no more Bungie), so I guess it's Nintendo vs. Sony.