Video Game Industry Gathers at Annual Conference
By Aaron Walker
Over 48,900 people gathered at the Los Angeles convention center for this year’s Electronic Entertainment Expo to absorb as much information as they could about the latest and greatest video game titles, accessories, and everything in between. With over 200 exhibitors and press conferences from top vendors such as, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, there certainly was a lot to take in.
Microsoft started off the expo by holding a press conference at USC’s Galen Center showcasing such popular titles as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Evolve, and Sunset Overdrive. They also focused heavily on new indie titles, many of which are family friendly, coming to Xbox One and what to expect from their newly implemented “Games with Gold” service as well. One game in particular was especially intriguing, Project Spark. What makes Project Spark so different from most games is that in this game, you create and design your very own game. With countless textures, colors, themes, objects, buildings, and beyond, you can create any type of game that you want to play and then play it. While the process may be suited for those who are more technical or maybe experienced in game design, the controls and menus seemed to be manageable enough for me to get a level built with an objective, a character, and enemies. It is definitely a fresh and innovative new take on gameplay that will hopefully help develop new ideas and keep the industry from getting stale.
Next, a major announcement for Halo fans everywhere as they announced, “Halo: The Master Chief Collection”. They took a good amount of time explaining everything and it actually looks quite good. It features the first four Halo games, as well as Halo: Nightfall a digital series and a beta key for Halo 5. And it all runs in 1080p at 60fps. Or in other words, it looks fantastic. They also revealed that in the collection, Halo 2 will be an anniversary edition and that it will have its own dedicated servers to play classic Halo online. While this is a huge deal for avid fans, it still feels like a stall tactic for Halo 5. But, stall tactic or not, it sure looked fun. For the rest of the briefing, there was a smattering of video game trailers for smaller title games and downloadable content.
Once inside the convention center, the first game I demoed was Alien Isolation. This is a game based on the Aliens movie franchise. Instead of most games’ take on the title, Alien Isolation is a survival-horror genre, as opposed to a shooter genre in general. In Isolation, you must crawl, move swiftly, and use your iconic 1986 motion tracker to evade the alien. This game gives you chills as you are being hunted by the alien and all you can do is carefully run away. Even the weapons you have are only used for temporarily warding off your inevitable demise. Needless to say, it looks like the team at Creative Assembly nailed the concept and I think this will be a success once it is released. If so, it will end a streak of unbearably terrible Aliens games over the previous years. Alien Isolation comes out October 7th, later this year.
Nintendo was up next. They showcased mainly one specific title: Super Smash Bros for the Wii U. Super Smash Bros is a line of games that have proven the test of time as most gamers have played at least one version of the game. After playing a few rounds of the fighting style game, I found the movement and attacks to be more fluid and smooth, but all together you were slightly slower than in the previous game. I think this was an improvement as before you were faster but sacrificed visual quality and input accuracy. Now everything feels fairer in terms of what you do with your controller and what shows up on the screen. There were also many new characters added to the list such as: Little Mac, Pac-Man, and Mega Man. The list goes on.
Probably the most anticipated exclusive for the PS4, The Order 1886 had a short but sweet demo that left you wanting more. It throws you into a firefight in the alleyways of Victorian-era London. The game looked great and the movement and presence of the characters was impressively life like. The camera is set just right in a very close third-person perspective and everything about the game feels clean.
The City of Los Angeles makes over $40 million from hotels, restaurants, and other services provided each year from holding E3 at the convention center. They have a signed contract to keep the expo in LA for the next two years, but come 2016 it may be half way around the world.
Aaron Walker can be contacted at [email protected]