If you've been on Reddit in the last week, you probably saw lots of posts praising Sony and the Playstation 4, and lots hating on Microsoft and the Xbox One (which I think is a pretty shitty name for what it's worth). This is because Microsoft is forcing you to connect to the internet at least once every 24 hours as a DRM feature. This has a lot of people pissed/baffled because even if you only play offline single-player games, you still have to have an internet connection to play them. And while Microsoft was saying, "fuck you, if you don't like it, buy an Xbox 360," Sony was saying all the right things (and taking some shots at Microsoft) and brought in a console that has better hardware and costs $100 less than the Xbone. None of this really matters to me because PC Master Race.
What I was most excited for was the game releases. There were a few that I'm pretty excited for. The game that probably caught the most buzz was Titanfall. This is a game that is being developed by the former heads of Infinity Ward, the developer that made COD4: Modern Warfare, the best game in the COD series, and the game that 90% of first person shooters have been trying to copy for the last 6 years (including all the ensuing COD games). It's a game that involves playing as the pilot of a mech as well as outside the mech with all kinds of crazy jetpack parkour. Basically, it looks like a crazy, fun, fast-paced game and the best part is that it's not a sequel. In other awesomeness, the game that gave me the hardest boner was merely teased in a 30 second trailer, but oh my god, this is basically what I've been wet dreaming about for a couple of years now. That's right, Star Wars: Battlefront is being rebooted and is under development by DICE. I can't even tell you how many times I played through the original Battlefront game on Playstation 2, and to this day I still play Battlefront 2 with a couple of my buddies (usually paired with a stiff rum and coke). But what makes me most excited is who is making the game. DICE is the maker of Battlefield and for a decade now, they have been a leader in gaming technology. Their Frostbite 3 game engine is probably the best game engine in terms of physics, environment destruction, particle effects and lighting. Battlefield 3, a 2 year old game, is still considered to be among the games with the best graphics. Basically, I'm super excited to see what they can do with an amazing game concept with amazing graphics. I wouldn't be surprised if Battlefront is game of the year when it comes out a couple of years from now. While there were some other cool games in the adventure and rpg genres, I'm not going to go on and on about them. And I'm not going to go into EA Sports' 'incredible' new dribbling technology. Finally, there was one game that had me soaking up every tidbit of information I could find, and that was Battlefield 4. Those of you who know me know that I play a craptonne of Battlefield 3, so of course I'm going to be interested in this particular sequel. What DICE did at E3 was pretty awesome. They set up 66 gaming PCs (!) at their "booth" and let convention goers play a round of the multiplayer while they streamed the whole thing and had commentators use the new spectator mode feature to show off the gameplay. They also had a few competitive players and big-name Youtubers on to do interviews. Basically, it looks like they're bringing in a lot of the features that BF3 players have been asking for. They're bringing back the Commander position from previous titles like BF2 and BF: 2142. The commander is something that one player on the server can volunteer to be. As commander, they get an overview of the map and try to organize the team into an effective combat unit by giving squads different attack and defend orders. The commander also has the ability to do things like call in artillery strikes and drop supplies for the people on the ground. In addition to bringing back the commander, they've upped the squad size from 4 to 5 players and made several other gameplay tweaks, such as increasing the destructibility of levels (seriously, you can bring down a skyscraper) that people have been asking for. While some people are bitching "hurr durr it's the same game, why isn't this DLC, this is just Battlefield 3.5," I'm just glad that they're making some good tweaks to an already great game, and I'll happily pay full price and get it day one. Considering how many hours I've put into BF3, I know it'll be money well spent.
TL:DR
E3 was last week. Here's what happened:
