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Why Nintendo Won E3 2014, Even Though No One Wins E3

As our possibly slightly over-wrought splash this week should have made clear, I don't really think anyone 'wins' E3.

That's not to say the world's biggest video games show is anything less than ruthlessly competitive -- but it's not a zero-sum, well, game. The more good titles there are, the better. The the more hype E3 generates, the longer we can luxuriate in its warm glow like a big, creamy, pre-rendered bath. (I like baths.)

And when it comes to games I'm essentially just greedy. I want more, whatever it is. I want to gaze to the distance of Holiday Season 2015, or Q2 2017, or whatever decade a consumer Oculus Rift chooses to arrive, and while away my remaining days on this Earth dreaming of a brighter, higher-definition version of FIFA, and preferably something even more interesting I didn't expect too. I want more good games, please. Preferably now. That's it.

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huffingtonpost.co.uk
NYC_Gamer4406d ago

I gotta give props to Nintendo for that conference

darthv724406d ago

Now it begs the question....would they make a robot chicken series with nintendo characters? Even if it was a weekly thing like they used to do for the nintendo channel.

you know there were moments when you could just hear explicit words wanting to come from those little characters.

Apex134406d ago

They are still streaming live experiences at E3. Excellent job!

They really pulled out the stops for gamers even if not a lot of games to see.

Madock4406d ago

Bayonetta
Smash
Mario party 10
Hyrule warriors
Kirby
Yoshi
Toad's adventures
Xenogears
Project STEAM
Life story
& the Myamoto projects all as live demos, so there were a few of them

Vs Sony with a CGI trailer for Uncharted as 1st party

OtakuDJK1NG-Rory4406d ago

xenoblade chronicles x not xenogears

Madock4406d ago

Appreciated -)
forgot to mention Splatoon as well

KonsoruMasuta4406d ago

I thought it was said that the Uncharted scene was not CGI.

ABizzel14406d ago (Edited 4406d ago )

Once again you can prefer one platform without bashing the others, and the Uncharted trailers was in-engine and a part of the actual game all running on PS4.

Once again IMO no one won E3. I felt everyone could have done better. Zelda, Smash, and Bayonetta are my most anticipated on Wii U. Uncharted, Bloodborne, No Man's Sky, and The Last of Us from Sony. And both Halo's and Sunset Overdrive, from MS (as far as E3 2014 showings go for all).

Nintendo pretty much confirmed that Western 3rd party support is dead on Wii U. Their main support Ubisfot didn't announce any of their worthwhile games coming to Wii U, Watch Dogs still isn't out and many of the huge 3rd party games such as Far Cry 4, Batman Arkham Knight, Rainbow Six Siege, Assassin's Creed Unity, MGS5, GTAV, Battlefield Hardline, Destiny, Evolve, The Crew, and The Division are all skipping the Wii U, and I'm sure everything EA is working on worthwhile is skipping the console as well. That's not a win IMO.

Exclusively they're finally getting games out, but many of those are 2015, as well as exploratory versions of games they already have out Yoshi and Toad's adventures are New Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario 3D world exploratory edition, and we've seen games like Yoshi, Bayonetta, Xeno, and Smash for 2 / 3 E3's now.

Everyone had a B showing this year, it was just good to see Nintendo actually trying and not having their usual oddball performance.

AWBrawler4406d ago

How could you ignore the rookie of the year, Splatoon? put that on your list

Madock4405d ago (Edited 4405d ago )

I wasn't bashing, i was simply comparing 1st party titles from both companies, Nintendo had the above list while Sony and MS had 2 titles each, no actual gameplay (sunset overdrive mind u ), just a cut scene (let's face it, Uncharted is a cut scene then jump then shoot then another cut scene and so on.. not seeing the jump and the shooting was upsetting for me)

And yes Splatoon actually is un missable, added it in a further comment, devil's third too although it's still a 3rd party title

ABizzel14405d ago (Edited 4405d ago )

@Madock

Nintendo also is going into their 2nd year, so by all means they should have more games, and the games you listed aren't all first party, and are only from the E3 conferences. Regardless of first party or not, and exclusive is an exclusive. It still takes development time, and the producers money to make it, and Bayonetta, Hyrule Warriors, and more shouldn't be on your list if you're limiting it to first party only.

Considering all that was shown and known, exclusives for all platforms were:

MS:

Halo 5
Halo MCC (WindWaker HD, was considered an exclusive )
Sunset Overdrive
Forza Horizon 2
Crackdown
Phantom Dust
Scalebound
Fable Legends
Inside
Killer Instinct Season 2 (technically DLC)
Shape up (could care less personally)
Dance Central
Disney Fantasia
Project Spark (PC / XBO)

and while not at E3 we still know Quantum Break and Gears are coming as well.

Sony:

Uncharted 4
Bloodborne
Drive Club
The Order
Ratchet and Clank
Everybody's Gone to Rapture
The Last of Us (WindWaker HD, was considered an exclusive )
No Man's Sky (PS4 / PC only thus far)
Planetside 2 (PS4 / PC only)
Deep Down
Entwined
Grim Fandango
Little Big Planet 3
Let it Die
Natural Doctrine

And we still don't know what most of Sony's first party studios are working on, as well as games such as The Witness, Rime, Shadown of the Beast, and more.

So again it's not as black and white as you make it. And on top of those line-ups Sony and MS also have full support from Activision, Ubisoft, EA, Warner, 2k, Bethesda, and more 3rd party developers who all pretty much proved their passing up on the Wii U.

So add to their line-ups:

Destiny
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfighter (might come to Wii U)
Assassin's Creed Unity (Wii U might get the last gen version)
Far Cry 4
The Division
The Crew
Rainbow Six: Siege
EA pretty much said their done, so their games when they release
Batman Arkham Knight
Mortal Kombat X (might come considering Injustice)
GTA V
Evolve
Dying Light
Bethesda (hasn't released anything worthwhile on Nintendo platforms is generations)
And MUCH, MUCH more

So yeah once again, cherry picking doesn't help anyone win a debate. It simply shows you're a fanboy. Nintendo had a good showing for exclusives, but they also proved their Western 3rd party support is pretty much dead on the console.

+ Show (4) more repliesLast reply 4405d ago
Ghost_Nappa4406d ago

Contradictory headline is contradictory

LOL_WUT4406d ago

Just look at who's submitting this article... Not really surprised. Btw anyone else saw those two projects Miyamoto has been working on? Man do they look awful ;)

KonsoruMasuta4406d ago

The other two don't catch my eye but Starfox is looking good. Most of the people who played it said it was good.

thehobbyist4406d ago

Yeah, anyone could say that about a project that barely has a playable demo. I'm not sure if you've ever seen a game in early/pre-alpha stages but it NEVER looks good. Your point is moot.

jcnba284405d ago

Awww look at the little fanboy getting mad at all the positive Nintendo news lately ;)

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180°

Halo art director leaves studio after 17 years with ominous message alluding to discontent

Glenn Israel writes: "As of today and after seventeen long years, I am officially no longer contributing to the Halo universe. There is little more I can say for the moment, though I intend to share this particular story in its entirety when it is absolutely safe to do so next year. In the meantime, I have a message for anyone and everyone who needs to hear it.

I know that the state of our industry seems dire, but never forget that you are *free to choose*. No illusion of security nor promise of wealth or fame or power is worth trading away your health, your dignity, your ethics or values - and no one can force you to. Stay strong, take evidence when necessary, and find where you belong."

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linkedin.com
Bathyj268d ago

My god.
There's a story for next year.

VenomUK267d ago

I’m really disappointed to learn there are still people/morale problems. I thought the whole point of rebranding 343i to Halo Studios was to signal that real changes had been made - not to cynically rebrand to paper over the problems.

I really hope the Halo CE remake is great and gets people hyped for the future of the series.

DarXyde267d ago

It's inevitable with the modern landscape. Even if some issues have been assuaged, new ones crop up all the time.

I'm willing to bet AI and the lack of regulation is causing substantial upset.

shinXseijuro268d ago (Edited 268d ago )

He said something very marking . We tend to complain a lot about the industry but deep down I realize that we never have we been offered this crazy amount of games all available for you to play now . You can literally play any sorts of games in 2025 . Nobody is forcing you to buy the latest COD or the latest BF . You’re more of a 8 bit cozy gaming guy there’s a whole niche of modern games for that . You like micromanaging there’s games for that . I feel like we have been spoiled so much we just stopped being realistic and thinking for ourselves . We follow trends cry about stuff online when you are the buyer you have the power .

Notellin267d ago

I'm not buying any games until another Immersive sim is made.

PhillyDonJawn268d ago

....wth happened over there?
Does this confirm a new Halo by next year?
What did they want him to do that made him feel it was morally wrong or a insult to his integrity?

-Foxtrot268d ago

Well how about that, a name change doesn’t fix internal issues

Who would have thought

jznrpg267d ago

MS was throwing money around for a long time but now it’s time to pay the Piper.

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110°

Halo 4 & Halo 5: Guardians Sales Reached Nearly 10 Million Units Worldwide

Lifetime sales of 343 Industries' first-person shooters, Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, reached nearly 10 million units worldwide each.

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twistedvoxel.com
Sciurus_vulgaris358d ago

There were reports that Halo 4 and Halo 5 had similar sales to Halo: Reach years ago. The clickbait websites and rage bait YouTubers from 2012-2016 just wanted to spread excessive negativity about the franchise for their own benefit.

VenomUK357d ago

What did Halo: Infinite sell?

Sciurus_vulgaris357d ago

I don’t know. However, I would assume around 10 million. All the Halo FPS titles have done around 10 million sales, except ODST. Halo 3, was reported to exceed 14 million copies. I still remember back in 2007-2008, Halo 3 and COD 4 would duke it out for the most played XBL game.

MrNinosan357d ago

@Sciurus

There is NO WAY Infinite sold 10 million. Wake up dude.
Once upon a time, there was gamers on the Xbox side who actually bought games. Those times are since long gone.

Infinite has most likely not even hit 5 million sales

slate91357d ago

Nearly 10 million units and killing the brand is crazy work. Nicely done.

peppeaccardo356d ago

This New: Putting chocolate chips on top of a freshly made dog turd .....

1Victor357d ago

So let me get this straight in almost 13 years both games sold a combined 10 millions units.
Now I’m not going to use the obscured mentality and compared it to the amount of consoles sold and say it’s a failure 🤷🏿

thesoftware730357d ago (Edited 357d ago )

1Victor,

Halo 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, reached nearly 10 million units worldwide "each."

Read it again, there is a word in there that clears up your misunderstanding.

1Victor356d ago

@thesoftware720
I apologize I skimmed through the article and the headline blinded me and stuck in my mind thank you for the correction 👍👍

AuraAbjure356d ago (Edited 356d ago )

Halo 4 is the best multiplayer ever! It’s even better than Titanfall 2. I admit Halo 4 got CoDified but there’s nothing wrong with taking inspiration from other games sometimes and halo 4 did it sooooo well with that speed boost plus sword combo and SAW plus damage booth combo, holy guacamole 🥑

Some crucial improvements to halo 4 could’ve been to boost the power of the AA sentinel, and whenever matchmaking pits people against each other with an armor abilities turned off completely then the map needs to routinely spawn, plentiful, predictable, power weapons. Also, all frame rate drops are unacceptable for a halo game during split-split screen or couch co-op. Just dynamically scale the resolution of the game down but whatever happens don’t let the framer dip in a Halo game for the love of all that is holy and good!

My personal gameplay of getting 30 kills in a 4 v. 4 game of team slayer up to 60.

https://youtu.be/ZYDvior_K-...

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180°

Halo 5 dev recalls the “frustrating” marketing that misrepresented the series’ most-hated entry

Halo 5: Guardians lead concept artist Darren Bacon explains that the game's marketing was completely seperate to the game's development.

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videogamer.com
FortWaba437d ago (Edited 437d ago )

No issue with the marketing. The story was complete garbage.

-Foxtrot437d ago

The marketing wasn't the issue, it just felt 343 were so bothered about getting Halo away from being known as a Bungie franchise that they tried to introduce so many changes to counter this.

It felt like they were trying to replace Chief as a character thus the big push on Agent Locke (he even got his own mini series). Chief was even in less missions in comparison.

Introduced squads which forced single player gamers to be paired up with 3 AI players over drop in / drop out co-op.

Cortana was butchered, ruining that relationship between Chief and Cortana we all liked. Would have been fine if the twist was the Didact was secretly controlling her or something but nothing. Did she come back in Infinite? Nope. Killed off screen in a sudden 180 to her villainous turn and replaced by a copy since they knew they screwed up.

Expected you to have read all the novels and the like to understand who Blue Team were and their relationship to Chief, had no build up to the characters and it felt like they expected you to like them without it being earned.

Everything they did felt like change for the sake of change, to mark it was a 343 game not a Bungie one and it's hilarious as they tried to f*** around with the multiplayer in Halo 4 to make it their own before reverting things in Guardians.

darthv72437d ago

I didnt mind the switching off between John and Locke... it reminded me of Halo 2 and having the Arbiter levels to trade off to.

The story was okay for me. They had to do something different as the first three games were done and there needed to be new story going in a new direction. I get the die hard fans may not have liked it, but playing it for what it is... its perfectly fine. Its a continuation of halo 4, which itself was a nice original take on the formula.

Now bring on the disagrees.

cl1983437d ago

It reminded me of Halo 2 and I honestly dislike the switching in 2 and 5. The devs should of just had cuts scenes for the Arbiter and for Locke.

Elit3Nick437d ago

Booting the ur-Didact from the games was one of the greatest narrative mistakes they made (after bringing back a logic-plagued Cortana, of course). Even if you had to read the Forerunner novels to understand his history, he was one of the most complex characters in the series, and he should have remained as an enduring part of the universe.

I'm happy that he at least got a send-off in Halo: Epitaph, but it shouldn't have gotten to that point.

XiNatsuDragnel437d ago

No issues it's just wasn't good story at least my friend it wasn't well written.

Tacoboto437d ago

Yeah it says a lot about the management of 343 at the time that they could have a marketing campaign be so disconnected in tone and story from the game it's supposed to be about.

I'd imagine it would be frustrating for the developers that the marketing beats seemed far cooler than what you were stuck making. Maybe it would've been better if 343 just continued the story from their previous game but nooo they couldn't be bothered to do that even once

entra80437d ago

its the worst halo game the story the map all was garbage

cl1983437d ago

I'd like to introduce you to Halo infinite.

coolbeans437d ago

You are off your damn rocker if you think Infinite's story is worse than 5's. Just by cleaning up 5's worse elements off-screen makes it a default improvement.

PhillyDonJawn436d ago (Edited 436d ago )

Campaign wise Halo infinite was better due to setting. (Open world, different approaches, setting and mission tasks)

story wise Halo 5 was better. Infinite was literally all over the place. It's like they scrapped the OG story and tried to piece some sht together. They unalived important ppl off screen!!! (Spoiler free) Ruining the main plot of Halo 5 and infinite like wth!!! That alone made the "story" worse than 5. They have to reboot the series now or pull some story where these characters are still alive. (I believe the end reveals 1 is.)

@Beans i disagree with that last statement doing it off screen when that was the main plot and a huge deal is the wrong move. We legit should've got a boss battle that did that. It seem so unsatisfying and anticlimactic. We were suppose to get an IRobot/terminator type of ending and instead we get some off screen sht 😒 We couldve had Halo 4 level emotion, instead it was done as filler

cl1983436d ago (Edited 436d ago )

@Coolbeans and @phillydonjawn

Infinites story was so disjointed due to the level design. It wasn't and in my opinion still not replay able. It felt worse then the ending to Starfield.

I'm saying this as a person who's still going through playing the MCC to finish out playlists, and has Ten's of Thousands of hours in Halo since CE.

Tacoboto436d ago

The literal ending to Starfield or the closing missions? Because some of those missions were actually pretty great in my opinion. Especially Entangled.

Halo 5 had a worse story I felt than Infinite but I agree on its lack of replayability. The single PNW biome is tiring and everything not green and foresty outside is metallic and reflective inside.

Multiplayer is solid but lags behind 5 too I feel. At least it still does get some new content even as they're openly abandoning Infinite's tech for UE.

Notellin357d ago

Halo Infinite and Halo 5 both had equally bad stories that completely ignored the previous entry. There's nothing to redeem from either game. The best thing for Halo is to do reboot, let that fail, and then end the series forever.

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