Five Big Lessons We Learnt At E3 2015

19 June 2015 | 1:40 pm | Staff Writer

The annual video-games industry convention has just wrapped in the United States, and the digital landscape looks more exciting than ever

Every year, the global video-games industry converges in Los Angeles for the Electronic Entertainment Expo, better known as E3, a showcase of what the world's nerds have been working on for the past 12 months and the various consoles, accessories, titles and technological developments that are sure to set your wallet weeping just as much as your eyes.

With 2015's iteration now in the bag, a few major messages and lessons are standing out from the epic unveilings coming from the likes of industry behemoths such as Sony EntertainmentMicrosoft and Nintendo. To give you a broad indication of this year's takeaways, we've compiled a handy rundown of the big reveals for the next year in gaming. 

virtual and augmented reality are finally looking worthwhile

Remember that scene in Demolition Man when Sandra Bullock and Sylvester Stallone fuck using virtual reality helmets? That should have been the pre-emptive death knell for a terrifying technology that's one small step away from opening the floodgates for people to die of starvation at week-long, Star Trek-like holodeck orgies, but instead it seems at least a handful of developers saw that shit and went, "Hell yeah, let's work towards that."

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However, despite our well-founded fears (at least for now), real-life virtual — and augmented — reality seems less concerned with digitally doin' it than it does just making awesome things to interact with, which gives so many of the demonstrations of the nascent tech at this year's E3 more promise than we'd have expected even a few years ago.

Notably, Microsoft flaunted its AR HoloLens technology with a stunning display of its tangible adaptation of the world-busting Minecraft, as well as backing up an existing partnership with the folks behind the Oculus Rift with a freshly inked deal with Valve VR, while Sony's Morpheus platform boasted the biggest number of demos of the conference, not to mention that it sports default compatibility with existing PS4 consoles — lowering the likely cost for both producers and consumers (Microsoft's VR platforms require the new $US150 Elite controller, at least, to work). 

 

indie games are crushing it

Despite the fact this year's E3 was largely defined by the VR and AR revolution, the humble independent development community continued to demonstrate why players still flock to cheaply (or more cheaply) made, affordable games pulled together on the fumes of an oily rag and crippling Red Bull addictions — because, across the board, they are inhabited with far more soul and care and humanity than Assassin's Creed 15 or whatever we're up to with that series.

In fact, even though E3 yielded the kinds of demonstrations you see in the videos above, where we've ushered in the era of being able to interact with thin air, one of the most buzzed-about games of the entire conference was a small-time indie game called Cuphead. The game is, technically, a pretty straightforward run-and-gun romp but it has garnered broad acclaim — some even calling it the most exciting thing they'd seen at E3 — for its gorgeous, fluid art style, reminiscent of Disney cartoons of the early 20th century, which stands as a testament to the fluidity with which developers Studio MDHR have brought together modern technology with a super-retro aesthetic that predates even the usual "vintage" vibe found with deliberately pixellated indie offerings such as Super Meat Boy.

The hype is real. It looks amazing.

Ably backing up Cuphead, and demonstrating that it's far from an anomaly in the indie scene, is the absolutely stunning, long-awaited No Man's Sky, an unfathomably massive open-world(s), intergalactic space exploration first-person simulator from British micro-studio Hello Games, as well as similarly alluring smaller-time prospects such as Beyond Eyes, Ashen, Tacoma and Firewatch, all of which are worth a look on YouTube if you have the time and inclination.

people still love old franchises

Even though there's a wealth of innovation going on in the bleeding-edge and independent markets, the main bread-and-butter of E3 — the major consoles and their games — reinforce the notion that major studios are happy to continue playing it safe with their big reveals, which included a whole lot of familiar faces and not much else.

That's not necessarily a bad thing — in some cases, it can be better to dance with the devil you know rather than the devil you don't — but there's no denying that the major players are seriously stacking their decks with existing universes, so much so that we'll be seeing new, rebooted, remade or remastered instalments for franchises such as Assassin's CreedCall Of DutyDark SoulsDeus ExDishonoredDoomFableFalloutFIFAFinal FantasyGears Of WarGod Of War, Guitar HeroHaloJust Dance, Kingdom HeartsMadden NFLMass EffectMetal Gear SolidMirror's EdgeNBA LiveNeed For SpeedNHLPaydayPlants Vs ZombiesTomb RaiderSouth ParkStar WarsStreet FighterSuper Meat BoyThe Elder ScrollsThe Legend Of ZeldaThe Walking Dead, Uncharted and WWE, among a few others that probably didn't make the cut to be displayed or mentioned during the conference.

That said, did you see the trailer and gameplay previews for Star Wars: Battlefront? Hoooooooly shit.

 

nintendo has totally lost the plot

Actually, this is probably an unfair bent to take — Nintendo haven't so much lost the plot as they've emphatically demonstrated they just don't care about it, offering an objectively flat presentation at this year's E3, punctuated by a pre-recorded video message and a ream of hurtfully disappointing games. Like, you know, promising a new multiplayer Metroid title… on the Nintendo 3DS.

It looks so crappy that there's already a change.org petition to prevent it from being released. Seriously.

In fact, most of Nintendo's new game announcements were for its handheld console, despite a wider vibe that perhaps the medium is falling out of favour — Sony barely even mentioned the PS Vita this year — and, to add insult to injury, the sweeping majority are additions to, or reimaginings of, existing franchises. Which, given what we spoke about above, shouldn't come as a major surprise.

Pretty much the only point of excitement that Nintendo managed to raise across the entire conference was some limited news regarding its follow-up to the middling Wii U platform, tentatively referred to as the NX, and, as CNET reports, the fact that the company will be expanding its mobile-gaming concerns — namely, that we won't find out more about either until at least 2016. Presuming we still care by then.

there can be only one

With Nintendo's continued slide into only catering to infants and the infantile, it is somewhat unsurprising that Microsoft and Sony have emerged as the only two real players remaining in the decades-long console wars, which have previously claimed the likes of Atari, Sega, Jaguar, and other remnants of a time better forgotten.

As such, both companies came out swinging in terms of exclusive content for their respective consoles as each tries to one-up the other for supremacy in this generation's stand-off, which — if you'll excuse the subjectivity — Sony had pretty casually been winning by a mile going in to this year's E3.

So, how does the landscape look now that the conference has come to a close? Well, Microsoft is putting a lot of faith in Halo 5 to be its big drawcard exclusive, with additional titles solely coming to Xbox One including the aforementioned indie effort AshenFable LegendsForza 6Gears Of War 4Gears Of War Ultimate EditionRare ReplayRecoreRise Of The Tomb Raider and Sea Of Thieves. The company also promised backwards compatibility for select Xbox 360 games — which should please a great deal of people who pooh-poohed this generation's lack of such a feature upon its unveiling — and a totally reimagined Dashboard for XbOne consoles by the end of the year. On the downside, we didn't hear much at all about what their continuing plans are for their Kinect peripheral or gaming on Windows 10.  

In Sony's camp, the news that Final Fantasy VII is getting an HD remake sent fandom into a euphoric tizz, while the company managed to help bring Shenmue 3 (a continuation of a cult '90s game that, as CNET notes, made its debut on the short-lived Dreamcast) to life via crowdfunding on KickStarter in a matter of hours. Its console-exclusive of No Man's Sky (the game will be coming to PCs) should help swing things in its favour, as well should its totally exclusive offerings, which, arguably, are a cut above those being proffered by the Microsoft camp: Alone With YouAmplitude HDDeath TalesDrawn To DeathDreamsFat Princess AdventuresGod Of War III RemasteredGuns Up!Horizon: Zero DawnJourneyKill StrainN++, Persona 4 and 5Ratchet & Clank RemasteredSalt & SanctuarySkullgirls: Second EncoreTearaway: UnfoldedThe Last GuardianThe Tomorrow ChildrenThumperUncharted 4: A Thief's EndUntil Dawn and World Of Final Fantasy.

So, while Microsoft certainly seems to be edging ahead of Sony in the VR/AR race, however incrementally, the PS4 remains the console with the strongest outlook for the next 12 months, especially with heavyweights like UnchartedFinal Fantasy and God Of War in its corner.

Still, while the battle may be won, the war — as always — rages on, so at the very least, it should be an extremely exciting year ahead for gamers of all walks.