Best Show at E3 2015

So today is the last day of E3. Lots of games were announced across Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft shows. Some great games were shown this year like Unravel, For Honor, Gears 4, Horizon Zero Dawn, and much more. Every fan ask themselves this every year at E3, who had the best show? I'm here to say that Microsoft and Sony were tied in the top this year.

Sony and Microsoft dropped a lot of bombs this year that made lots of gamers happy. Some of the highlights from Microsoft included Gears of War 4, backwards compatibility coming to the Xbox One, new IP called Recore, more Halo 5 Guardians footage, Gears Ultimate edition and more. Over on Sony's side we got a new IP called Horizon Zero Dawn, Shenmue III announced, more Uncharted 4 gameplay, Final Fantasy VII Remake announced, and The Last Guardian gameplay. Both shows had something to offer to get fans excited to upgrade to the latest gen (if they haven't already) or show fans who already purchased an Xbox One/PS4 what to expect soon.

Here's the order I'd rank the show's:

1. Microsoft/Sony
3. Ubisoft
4. Bethesda
5. Square Enix
6. Nintendo
7. EA

Ubisoft every year always has something to look forward to, Bethesda and Square Enix had solid shows, but by the time we got to Square's press conference a lot of what they showed was already seen elsewhere. Nintendo lacked anything major this, we've had better Nintendo Direct's than the show we got this year, and EA's was just boring. Too much of a focus on sport games really killed it for me.

As E3 wraps up go ahead and check out my other blogs for my thoughts on each show. Click here Microsoft Bethesda Sony EA Ubisoft Square Enix Nintendo. Also go ahead and check out my E3 predictions to see if I was right about my predictions and click here to find out the top five games I was most interested in this year at E3.

Until next time E3!

Top 5 New games announced at E3 2015

1. Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands -That trailer shown was as epic as the Watch Dogs and Division trailer. The story sounds intriguing, and the gameplay looked great.

2. Horizon Zero Dawn -What's not to like from this Open world RPG, that's written by the lead writer of Fallout New Vegas, a Witcher 3 quest designer, and the beautiful graphic power from Guerrilla Games?

3. Dishonored 2 - Had a good first entry to the series, glad to see it come back.

4. Recore -I liked the cinematic trailer given, and what to see more of what this game is about.

5. Unravel -Very cute game, and looks like it'll be as good as LittleBigPlanet.

Square Enix E3 Recap and Thoughts June 16th 2015

After three years of not holding a E3 Press Conference, Square is set to return to E3 with their very own press conference. What was on the show, how did it fair?

-Just Cause 3 gameplay
-Trailer for a new NieR
-Same Final Fantasy VII trailer seen at Sony's Press Conference
-Rise of the Tomb Raider trailer
-Same World of Final Fantasy trailer shown at Sony's Press Conference
-Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness comes to North America and Europe
-Lot's of mobile stuff (Tomb Raider Go, Kingdom Hearts Unchained Key, and Hitman Sniper)
-Quick montage of game trailers showing Triad Wars and Final Fantasy XV
-New JRPG project created by new Square company Tokyo RPG Factory called Project Setsuna
-New Hitman trailer
-Kingdom Hearts III gameplay trailer
-Deus Ex Mankind Divided gameplay trailer

Pretty solid show from Square I think they played it safe. A lot of what was seen on this show was seen on either Microsoft's or Sony's show. So I wish Square would have shown more of something like Triad Wars instead of the quick thing it got. Definitely nice to see an update on Kingdom Hearts 3, and seeing more of Deus Ex was also a plus.

But damn it Square why are you making another Kingdom Hearts mobile game?! Have you not learned anything for Kingdom Hearts Coded?!

Nintendo E3 Recap and Thoughts June 16th 2015

The final day of E3 press conferences begin today. We start off with their Nintendo's Digital Event. Here's what they had:

-Star Fox Zero gameplay for Wii U

-Legend of Zelda Triforce Heroes gameplay for 3DS

-Hyrule Warriors coming to 3DS called Hyrule Warriors Legends

-Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer for 3DS gameplay

-Animal Crossing Amiibo for Wii U gameplay

-Mario and Luigi Paper Jam for 3DS gameplay

-Mario Tennis Ultra Smash gameplay for Wii U
-Metroid Prime Federation Force gameplay for 3DS
-Xenoblade Chronicles X gameplay for Wii U
-Skylanders Super Chargers gameplay
-More gameplay from Super Mario Maker for Wii U
-Yokai Watch gameplay for 3DS
-Fire Emblem Fates for 3DS
-More gameplay on Yoshi's Wooly World

Are you thinking "man what a lackluster show"? Well I'd agree with you on that. I'm no Star Fox fan but I'm sure plenty were excited for that, the only thing that really "wowed" me that was new, was Nintendo announcing Mario and Luigi Paper Jam. It's the best of both Mario RPG's crossing over in this game that I'm sure will have tons of funny moments. It was nice seeing more Yoshi's Wooly World and Super Mario Maker though.

There was nothing really major that came out of this year's show. E3 should be the show where all the big stuff is thrown right at you, everything on this list seems like something Nintendo would announce on a Nintendo Direct. The skits they did in between each game were nice but I wish Nintendo went back to actually being at E3. I feel like their announcements there were on a much grander scale.

Sony E3 Results and Thoughts June 15th 2015

Sony wrapped up day two of E3 with their press conference. What secrets were unveiled, were there any new Vita games? Find out here with my thoughts to follow.

-The Last Guardian gameplay
-Street Fighter V trailer
-Call of Duty Black Ops III, PS gets DLC first, and a beta is coming
-Disney Infinity showcasing Star Wars, and an exclusive Boba Fett toy for Playstation
-No Man's Sky gameplay
-Shenmue 3 is getting Kickstarted (and is being funded by Sony)
-Media Molecule unveils new IP Dreams with a taste of gameplay
-Destiny expansion The Taken King trailer
-World of Final Fantasy trailer for PS4 and Vita
-Final Fantasy VII Remake
-Guerrilla Games new IP Horizon Zero Dawn unveiled. Trailer and gameplay shown
-Assassin's Creed Syndicate gameplay trailer showcasing Evie
-Hitman trailer
-Indie games from Devolver Digital (Ronin, Eitr, Mother Russia Bleeds, and Crossing Souls)
-Batman Arkham Knight gameplay from PS exclusive Scarecrow levels
-Campo Santo's new game Firewatch trailer
-Star Wars Battlefront gameplay
-Project Morpheus news and Playstation Vue news
-Uncharted 4 A Thieves End gameplay

So yeah, a lot happened much like the Microsoft event! Let me state the obvious, Uncharted 4 looked beyond good. The release for that game cannot come soon enough. Now I want to talk about Guerrilla Game's new game Horizon Zero Dawn. For those that don't know, Guerrilla is known for their Killzone games. Their latest entry to that series was 2013's Killzone Shadow Fall which released on PS4. Two years later they are back but with an open world game. Just days before I heard about the project so I was looking forward to what the game was. From what I saw in the trailer gameplay looked like it will be as fluid as Middle Earth Shadow of Mordor/Arkham series/Assassin's Creed series. The game sure looked pretty too. 

Then there was also Dreams from Media Molecule which had a interesting concept you use your PS4 controller to "draw" dreams to make a world and share with others. I need to see more but I have faith with MM because of their track record. While not a new game, we got more details on No Man's Sky. I liked that there's more to do than exploring. Like you can be on one side of the galaxy fighting a war, or on another side just exploring a new planet, and Hello Games were not kidding when they said how big No Man's Skies universe is.

I'm not surprised Sony didn't have any 1st party news for PS Vita, heck hardly any news. IGN has since reported Sony has no AAA games in the making for the Vita. Leaving it up to 3rd party to support the handheld. Which is a shame as the system is great and has plenty of potential for great console quality exclusives.

Ubisoft E3 Recap and Thoughts 2015 June 15th 2015

After a yet another boring EA press conference we are followed up with a Ubisoft press conference. Those have always proven to be fun and have great games shown throughout the show, but hosted by Aisha Tyler (damn it Ubisoft again!?) Anyways here's the run down of the show.

-New South Park game coming called South Park: The Fractured But Whole trailer
-A new IP called For Honor gameplay and trailer
-The Crew Wild Run expansion trailer
-Trials Fusion Awesome Level Max expansion trailer
-The Division gameplay
-New IP Anno 2205 gameplay and trailer
-Just Dance 2016 and a quick concert from Jason Derulo
-Rainbow Six Siege trailer with a beta starting in September 24th
-Trackmania Turbo gameplay
-Assassin's Creed Syndicate trailer
-New open world Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands gameplay trailer

Overall great show from Ubisoft, didn't really care for Trackamania, but man oh man! That Ghost Recon Wildlands gameplay was amazing! For Honor looked like a great new IP as well. You get to play as a Viking, Samurai, or a Knight in a 4 vs 4 brawl. Also can Jason Vandenberghe come back next year? That guy just looked plain awesome and seemed pretty cool. Now that's a host I want to see for Ubisoft press conferences!

EA E3 Results and Thoughts June 15th 2015

How did EA fair after last year's lackluster show? I'm here to tell you what went on and my thoughts on the show.

-Mass Effect Andromeda teaser trailer
-Unravel trailer and gameplay
-Need for Speed trailer and gameplay
-Star Wars Old Republic Knights of the Fallen trailer
-Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 gameplay, you can transfer all your characters from the first game, and free DLC
-Emphasis on mobile games such as Star Wars and Minions
-Lot's of sport games (Madden NFL 16, NHL 16, Fifa 16, and NBA Live 16)
-Mirror's Edge Catalyst gameplay and trailer
-Star Wars Battlefront gameplay

Let's start with what I liked, the Mass Effect Andromeda teaser trailer and Star Wars Battlefront gameplay. While it's been no secret the next installment of Mass Effect was in the make, at that point we haven't seen any gameplay, or trailers, just rumors and speculation. EA showing something this year to bring the hype was much welcomed, but by next year I'm hoping we can see something more. In the meantime though it'll give me some more time to play the Mass Effect trilogy which I got last month from Playstation's Flash Sale for $5.

Now we've heard lot's of stuff what Dice/EA have planned for the new Star Wars Battlefront game, we've even seen concept art and a cinematic trailer, but today was the day. The day we got some Star Wars Battlefront gameplay footage! All I can say is I liked what I saw and am looking forward to this game.

One particular game stood out for me and it was Unravel. It looked like such a cute game, and I definitely got LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway vibes from it. I liked the how the game looked and how it's played.

I don't know what hit a lower point in the show for me, the talk on mobile gaming or all the sport game coverage. I can't even go into much detail on how boring all of that was.

Finally I like the where they're going with the Mirror's Edge reboot. Gameplay looks nice and story sounds even better than the original. I wish we could see some of the combat in the game, because the fighting in the original was atrocious.

Overall slightly better show this year by EA but still boring in the end.

Microsoft E3 Results and Thoughts June 15th 2015

Day two of E3! It's going to be a packed day of news, we've got press conferences from Microsoft, EA, Ubisoft, and Sony. Today Microsoft opened the show with their hour and a half press conference and here's a quick run down of what occured:

-Halo 5 single player, and trailer for Halo's Warzone multiplayer
-New 1st party IP Recore
-More Fallout 4 comes with Fallout 3, and able to download PC mods
-EA Access news
-Plants vs Zombies Garden Warfare 2 trailer
-Rainbow Six Siege trailer and comes with Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2
-Another trailer for The Division. Xbox owners get first access to the beta
-The new Elite Xbox One controller
-Backwards compatibility coming to Xbox One
-Dark Souls III trailer
-Gigantic trailer and beta announced
-Rise of the Tomb Raider gameplay
-Quick trailer of a bunch of Indie games with emphasis on Tacoma, Ashen, Beyond Eyes, Ion, and Cuphead
-Rare Replay trailer features 30 Rare titles for $30
-Sea of Thieves trailer (Rare's new game)
-Fable Legends trailer
-Minecraft for Microsoft's Hololens
-Game Preview (Early access to games)
-Forza 6
-Gears Ultimate Edition (GoW 1 remake)
-Gears 4 gameplay

Man that was a lot! Definitely some stuff that caught my eye. Halo 5 without a doubt, and it needs no explanation as to why it was awesome, another than expect what you would from the series. Backwards compatibility was a huge thing that was announced. Back when the Xbox One and Playstation 4 were announced fans were disappointed we couldn't go back and play our old PS3/360 games and it looks like Microsoft wants to fix that. Holiday this year Microsoft plans to bring back your digital purchases or put your 360 discs into your Xbox one so you can play them again. Also Microsoft unveiled their new Xbox One controller, and no not the one that's going to be released with the 1TB Xbox One, this Elite controller has a bunch of customization to it. You can swap analog stick and D-Pad, and much much more. Games Preview was a cool feature they plan to add. The same concept of Steam's Early Access you pay and support the game as the game officially releases. Gears 4, Rise of the Tomb Raider, and Cuphead had some great gameplay looking forward to those three.

Now I'm interested in seeing more of Recore. Microsoft gave us a a cinematic trailer, and showed us a female lead traveling with her A.I. companion as they take on evil. The A.I. is controlled by a blue orb, so if he self destructs you you simply take the orb and put it in another robot. I want to see gameplay of this, is this a third person shooter, first person shooter, and action game? Whatever it is, I want to see more!

Nothing really came as a low point to me in the conference, I'm not really a racing so I didn't care for the Forza part of the show, but I will agree it looked nice. 

Bethesda E3 Results and Thoughts June 14th 2015

Ladies and gentleman, this was it, today the hype began! Bethesda officially kicked off E3. It was a exciting one hour event, and here's a recap of what was on the show:

-Doom single and multiplayer gameplay

-Battlecry gameplay and beta

-Dishonored 2 trailer, and Dishonor Xbox One/PS4 remake

-Elder Scrolls Online

-Elder Scrolls Legends card game

-And Fallout 4 gameplay to close the show.

That was a lot, but my favorite part of the show was the Disnhonored 2 trailer confirming you can play as new female lead protagonist Emily Kaldwin or returning protagonist Corvo. Both will be played differently.

I was definitely interested in what I was watching with the Doom presentation. I remember playing Doom on my xbox but I was too scared to progress past the first 10 minutes. Watching everything from their singleplayer and multiplayer gameplay definitely reminded me of Halo (and I don't mean that in a bad way) heck even the Snapmap mode reminded me of forge, so there could definitely be a lot of fun there.

The weakest part of the show for me was Battlecry. There was nothing to it that made me feel like I should go out and play this beta. Also while not a low point in the show for me I'm a little interested in in the Elder Scrolls card game. Reminded me a little of Magic the Gathering, and since it's free I don't mind to try at all.

My E3 2015 Predicitions

It's around that time of the year again, where gamers aboard the hype train with their destination set on E3. That's right next week is E3 so get prepared for lot's of gaming news starting June 14-16. Until then, I want to speculate on some surprise announcements we might see at the event, or some first look trailers of games we know exist but hasn't been confirmed to be at E3. Here is my top 5 list:

1. Gears of War Collection on Xbox One- With rival Sony recently announcing Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection coming to PS4, and there was gameplay footage leaked just last month of the "rumored" Gear's collection, I believe E3 will be the time to official unveil this game to fill in this year's gap of no Gears of War 4.

2. Triad Wars trailer/gameplay (Sleeping Dogs confirmed sequel)- We know this game exists, and with Square Enix holding their first ever press conference, they're going to need some games for the show. I can't think of a better time to show this game off than here.

3. Injustice Gods Among Us 2- Series director Ed Boon had stated if this game was popular enough they'd make a sequel and without a doubt, the first Injustice was a great fighting game and the sales definitely showed. With Mortal Kombat X officially out, I'm sure this has now given NetherRealm some space needed to put the game in development, and at least announce it is in the making.

4. New IP trailer at Ubisoft- Back in 2012 Ubisoft shocked the world with a brand new IP called Watch Dogs, fans were impressed with what they were looking at, the following year Ubisoft did it again but this time with Tom Clancy's The Division, 2014 didn't have anything new to show off, but I'm positive Ubisoft will continue their trend to shock the world with some new IP at this year's event.

5. God of War 4- With God of War III Remastered coming out this year I believe Sony will show a teaser for GoW4 and at the end tell all those that have pre ordered the Remaster edition they will get access to a private beta.