Top 10 Things We Learned At E3 2016
8. Musical performances can be either amazing or terrible
This year’s Sony conference looked a little different to recent offerings and that was before the curtain had even been raised. Yeah, a curtain at a Sony conference. “How quaint” I thought, “That reminds me of Puppeteer or LittleBigPlanet“. How wrong I was. Moments later, the previously unseen orchestra began their epic and lengthy introduction which ended with the goose-pimple inducing reveal of Kratos.
This was followed later in the show, by having the live orchestra play the Star Wars theme as Star Wars Battlefront: X-Wing VR Mission footage was shown, was incredible! A far richer sound than could ever be achieved through speakers. Even I could tell the difference, despite watching online from over 5,000 miles away!
Conversely, we had previously seen the Ubisoft conference which also opened with some music. That music was Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now, a classic, I’m sure you’ll agree. This was to promote Just Dance 2017 so it was perfectly suited. What perhaps didn’t fit, were the dancing giraffe, panda, lion, cheerleaders and lightening bolt that accompanied the music. Stranger still was the transition from this bright and breezy affair into Ghost Recon: Wildlands, a visceral shooter with no music and lots of talk about shooting things. Both good in their own way, but like ice cream and algebra, they don’t really compliment each other.
7. Nintendo might be in trouble
Before this year’s E3 conferences even begun, there were news stories flying around that Nintendo wouldn’t be having their own showing this year. Then further news came saying that the Japanese giant would have a single game featured at their booth.
This was a massive decision. While Microsoft launched a new console, Sony conference was rammed full of new games, Nintendo had nothing to show but one game. Sure, Nintendo’s showing was a strong title, the new Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, no less. But even Link can’t battle against the combined might of Kratos, Spiderman and J.D Fenix, especially when his only back-up was a few 3DS titles like Paper Mario and Dragon Quest VII.
Dedicating their booth almost entirely to a single (admittedly decent) game and with no main conference and rumours of a new console hanging over them means their presence at E3 2016 was a long-way from being Nintendo’s best effort.
I recently listed the Disappearance of the Dreamcast as the 5th most significant E3 Moment That Changed Our Lives, as it was “our last chance to see SEGA as a console manufacturer before its relegation to third-party software developer” and I don’t know about you, but for all the possibilities that would offer (Mario and Pokémon on PlayStation and Xbox) I’d hate to see the same become of Nintendo.
