Seriously, if these two E3 videos from Ubisoft’s upcoming (up to FIVE player) Wii U exclusive don’t get you grinning, you’re one pretty mean person having a not so hot day. Don’t spread that frown around at all, I say. Rayman, Murphy, Globox and the rest of the crew want you to let your cares fall away as you race through some mighty pretty (and pretty insane) old-school platforming levels (with some neat and quick “3D” elements) , feeling like you’re years younger, pounds lighter and a bit hairier up top. No, on top of your head, silly (yeesh!). Ha! I saw you smile. Good – that’s just what the game is supposed to do. OK, my work here is done (again)… Thanks Ubisoft!
While it’s easy for some writers to harshly criticize Nintendo for not showing certain core franchises to the press, the simple fact is, they were first and foremost, REALLY showing off the Wii U and new 3DS titles to what I call “pure” Nintendo fans, not jaded games journalists. As the company has been reaching outside standard media channels through their official site for a while now, it’s clear to me what’s happening. Quite simply, they want to show consumers who already (and only) have a Nintendo console in the household (or have interest in owning one) that they’re being looked out for in terms of getting them many of the most popular core third-party titles already on (or coming to) the competition. If you think about it, Sony and Microsoft do the same thing in catering solely to their fans in the exact same manner (as they do EVERY E3), touting their systems and services as the “best” for their respective target audiences.
If you know me (or read the title of this blog), you’ve probably figured out that I’m against this sort of system bias, so I’ve found this quite a dumb way to do things for ages. Still, business is business, so the “console wars” march onward…
Nintendo’s E3 Press conference was interesting, but a bit backward. They should have opened with the park theme and closed with Pikmin 3, but ah well. Still, a LOT was revealed, but even more questions were left unanswered, most importantly, a price point and actual release date. Also, some important franchises were nowhere to be seen, HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean they aren’t in the pipeline. Nintendo isn’t dumb enough to think they don’t need to work on these core fan experiences at all, folks. I know they’re coming, but I’m patient enough to wait until they’re ready to roll out what’s ready to show.
it’s actually a smart thing that third-party tiles, most of which have NEVER been played by those who ONLY own Nintendo systems (which is a lot of folks, by the way) will take up the slack while Nintendo gets to work on whatever Zelda, Metroid, Super Smash Bros. and whatever other key games we didn’t see this year. Sure, those jaded multi-console owning gamers and game journalists (who should all know better) are griping that they’ve played Arkham City or Mass Effect already, and sure that is a point of consideration for those folks. But I’m gathering that the Wii U content will end up being superior in a few ways thanks to the new controller, as it allows developers to go back and add things that can enhance the experiences enough to make them worth going through again whether you’ve played them on another console or not.
Ubisoft is definitely the publisher to watch in terms of creating Wii U experiences that will draw in the core as well as casual crowd, and here’s one for the horror fans out there. The title reminds me of ZOMBI 2, Lucio Fulci’s classic gore-fest from 1979, released here as ZOMBIE (if it’s intentional, it’s a great touch), and after seeing some actual gameplay, I think this one is about as good as it gets for a launch or launch window release. I absolutely love the idea of a one-life survive as long as you can experience with a real-time inventory as it adds an almost rogue-like feel to the experience.
I also love the fact that when your character dies (and he or she WILL die), you lose all your gained skills and your all important survival kit, which needs to be retrieved by the next person you play as. This makes the game a far more frightening experience as you’ll be constantly fighting to survive every single foot you travel and make it to whatever ending awaits. I’m also betting bragging rights about who made it through the game and lost the least amount of characters will be a big thing for a while. Color me thrilled…
As soon as I saw this trailer and then the actual gameplay reveal on Spike TV, I got really excited and had to put my first thoughts down. The team at Platinum Games has basically created a modern day mash-up of the ancient Game Boy classic Mercenary Force and Lucasarts’ awesome Zombies Ate My Neighbors on the SNES, added their own stylistic brilliance with Wii U functionality and is setting this loose on Nintendo fans for their approval. I like this one a lot, so it’s a must-buy in my book. Go Platinum!
To me, this was hands down, Ubisoft’s best games lineup to date. Yeah, yeah, we all knew Assassin’s Creed III was going to be great (it’s even better than I thought), Far Cry 3 continues to be gorgeous (and even MORE outrageous with each new reveal) and the new Splinter Cell: Blacklist looks fantastic. ALL of these were superior game experiences I’d buy as well as recommend in a heartbeat. But it was the new IP that made me jump out of my seat (and more than once at that).
Rayman Legends was perfect, nostalgic fun on the Wii U, and that up to five player thing is going to make a LOT of families happy (as well as any gaming party where a little levity is needed). But then there’s Watch_Dogs. Wow. Not only does the game address some things I’ve been whining about for YEARS (our loss of security in this “always online” era), it’s actually one of the best looking games I’ve ever seen, blending cinematic techniques and gameplay seamlessly while surprising me with gameplay that shifted to a new character at the end of the demo.
Oh yeah… I don’t give a hoot about Just Dance 4, but you can’t deny the game has been HUGE on the Wii and sit JD3 last year, the PS3 and Xbox as well. So I’ll give then that and dock point for the boring Shootmania e-sports part I wish they’d relegated to the show floor instead of torturing the audience with for so long. I do want to see MORE on that Avengers game, though – even though it’s not hitting the PS3 or 360, it might be fun to play, as the trailer showed old school versions of Wolverine, Storm, Magneto, Venom and Spider-Man doing their stuff in CG form (but no actual gameplay, boo!). Update: Ubisoft also plans to “port” it’s Wii U titles to other mobile devices as a means to offset development costs, so I guess we’ll see where that goes and if it’s a success other publishers will mimick at some point….
Between Ubisoft’s mind-blowing Watch_Dogs, Naughty Dog’s brutally beautiful The Last of US and Quantic Dream’s stunning surprise Beyond: Two Souls., it’s CLEAR that the current console cycle has at least one great year left in it. Granted, Rayman Legends had me tearing up from laughing so much and YES, Ubisoft showed off how well the Wii U Gamepad and new Pro Controller will work for multiplayer action there, but it’s going to be another might spectacular 2012 and 2013 for gamers who happen to just own a PS3 or 360. More in a bit. I’m still processing a ton of notes…
Nintendo is rolling out a redesigned (well, final design, actually) and renamed controller for its upcoming console (which is still called Wii U, by the way), the Wii U Gamepad.The video also reveals a new social network service, Miiverse, which seems to be set up as a cross between a social site, chat service and help center. It should be interesting to see how this operates for those potential Wii U buyers who have no need for the service or don’t want their kids using a network at all. That said, I’m certain Nintendo has security measures in place to keep things as safe as can be.
As their official press conference isn’t until Tuesday, a price point for the console and controller have yet to be announced. No doubt this will be leaked before the event but the gremlins, but expect the internet to collapse upon itself like a dying star system once the new games are rolled out one by one. Oh, this is going to be quite an interesting week, that’s for sure…
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 