E3 2012 Preview

In preparation for my yearly sojourn to the Mecca of the video gaming universe, there are many titles to be excited for, along with a hint of hope to see the next generation of Xbox emerge. As I have previously covered my predictions regarding Microsoft's next machine and the Wii U, I'll stick with the titles I'll be watching for:

Gears of War Prequel - Recently leaked through a Game Informer cover, this likely next gen title will be a HUGE topic of discussion.

Star Trek - Could someone actually leverage the amazing JJ Abrahams universe and make a fun licensed game?

Fable: The Journey - I am still intrigued by this game as at least a light diversion from core titles. Will it use the mysterious Kinect audio add-on I have been hearing about lately?

The Last of Us - Naughty Dog takes a far step away from Uncharted to bring a survival horror title to the show. Notably, this is the only PS3 exclusive I care about, unless Rockstar's long rumored Agent ever materializes.

Halo 4 - Microsoft's work horse Master Chief is back and starting a new trilogy under 343 Studios. As much as I think this should be a launch title for a new Microsoft box, I'll be waiting at midnight this Fall either way.

Grand Theft Auto 5 - This may not be my game of year, but I'd be greatly surprised if it isn't the best selling multi platform title of 2012. I hope RockStar continues in the more mature direction of Red Dead Redemption, as opposed to the cheesy and forgettable San Andreas.

Overstrike - I love the folks at Insomniac, but their properties are hit or miss. Ratchet and Clank are amazing games. Resistance made me sleepy. I'm hoping the same mix of tech, cartoony graphics, guns, and humor that made R&C classics, are applied to their first multi platform spy shooter.

Borderlands 2 - What can I say about this game... My favorite for Game of Show... My most anticipated title of 2012... A guaranteed midnight release and limited edition... This looks to be an improvement from the first classic title in every conceivable way. Go Gearbox, go!!!

Aliens Colonial Marines - Speaking of Gearbox, this title has crept up on my wanted list. Gorgeous lighting, suspense, and smooth shooting applied to the Space Marine franchise that started them all.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - Very concerned about this one. The move to the near future sounded fun until I saw game footage with way too many flying objects and not enough soldier versus soldier. Few things annoy me more than First Person Platforming. An FPS shooter where you have to shoot small annoying flying objects is one of them.

Bungie Reveal - What will the house that built Halo reveal? And will it be for this gen or next... My safe bet is for next gen, but we shall see.

Respawn Reveal - Same thing for the creative geniuses behind Call of Duty. I expect nothing shown until next gen hardware emerges.

Furious Four - I know this isn't likely until 2013, but I would be remiss to not mention this ultra fun, Borderlands meets Inglorious Basterds.

Far Cry 3 - The latest in the best sand box FPS franchise. If there is a shooter that can challenge Borderlands 2, this is it. I heart hunting goons in the jungle.

Splinter Cell - Rumors are strong that Jade Raymond's take on my favorite stealth franchise will be unveiled. I loved Conviction, so if they continue the story and add a few more gadgets, I'll be sold for sure.

Thief - Rumored forever, discussed never, this is the original stealth franchise that can give Sam Fisher a run for his money.

Assassin's Creed III - Not sure about this one. Better combat, graphics, and a new setting sound great. Then the devs mention "more Desmond than ever." Hey Ubi, here's a hint, as a player I would turn off the Desmond segments if I could. I want to be an assassin, not a dude in blue jeans who's related to one.

Medal of Honor Warfighter - The previous title had promise, but was clearly forced out too soon to unsuccessfully challenge CoD. Will this iteration be more than a pretty engine with a thrown together campaign?

Skyrim DLC - Could DLC excite me as much as a full release? When it is by the geniuses at Bethesda and set in the best title of this generation... Yes, yes it could.

Elder Scrolls Online - The only MMO that could pull me back in. WoW meets Skyrim? Yes please.

Fortnite - Intrigued to see what the folks at Epic can do with the tower defense meets FPS zombie concept. Can they overcome the clumsiness of building anything without a mouse?

Rainbow Six - Always excited for a chance to step into the boots of a super seat team. Am I jazzed about the moral decisions Ubisoft seems desperate to inject? No.

Sadly, Bioshock Infinite, last year's Game of Show, has been delayed out of 2012 AND will not be shown at E3. I'm confident it will be brilliant, but bummed to see it slip to a year away.

Well there you have it as far as games go. As much as the Wii U bores me, I'll keep an eye on it and any big launch titles as well. As always, I will update daily with my impressions from the show and lights on these and any other big titles. If I missed anything you care about, drop a comment and I'll track it down. See you in a few weeks.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 3G.

When I was a kid...

We've all heard grandparents start a "hardship story" like that. Although the hardships of the great recession hardly compare to the depression or World War II, one wonders when we get old, what will we say after that intro. Furthermore, how will history books summarize this time period in a page or two, like the brief paragraphs I read in High School about Vietnam or the moon landings?

Undoubtedly three events will dominate the history pages covering the turn of the 21st century: September 11th, the election of the first black President, and the dawn of the Internet age. I'm pretty certain that last one in particular will define our generation's time on Earth. You can choose your own buzzword, be it Internet, information, or wireless, but the combination of those three has literally revolutionized our everyday lives. Let's take my thirty plus something years on the planet as a good example. When I was a kid...

I had to watch the evening news to know the weather forecast.

I called movie phone.

I couldn't use a credit card at the grocery store.

No one took a credit card for pizza delivery.

Long distance cost 25 cents a minute or more.

Phones used rotary dials.

I carried a calling card.

Pagers were the only means of wireless communication for the masses.

Computers ran DOS.

I picked WordPerfect for DOS as my freshman year word processing program.

My TV screen was smaller than my Sega Genesis which sat on it.

I played the original pong.

I looked things up in the yellow pages.

I kept an address book.

Kung Fu's graphics were mind boggling.

I carried an atlas in my car.

I owned a set of encyclopedias.

I mailed letters to friends.

The only pictures of my friends with comments were in my year book.

I went to libraries to do book reports.

I recorded shows on a VCR.

I didn't have cable at home until I was a teenager.

My first cable box, was a box with 20 punch buttons.

Star Wars: A New Hope on HBO was an epic event.

People listened to police scanners for fun.

I made mix tapes.

Most houses didn't have a microwave.

I looked for sports scores in the newspaper.

I had a modem that required snapping in a phone handset.

I had an audio tape computer drive.

My first personal TV was black and white.

We owned a cabinet television.

I was amazed when I first used a mouse.

I owned a dot matrix printer.

People didn't trust scanners at grocery stores.

Answering machines were high tech.

I had to stop at a gas station to ask for directions.

I went to AAA to get vacation trip directions.

I called multiple airlines for hours to find the best price fare.

Cell phones were the size of a large purse and cost $3-5 a minute.

Next generation cell phones looked like Vietnam radios used to call in air strikes.

Arcades were the place for cutting edge games.

Satellite dishes were the size of Winnebagos.

People drove Winnebagos.

I took my Walkman everywhere.

I worked all summer to afford a portable CD player.

I never used the Internet until I was a college upperclassman.

Now the scary thing is all of these tidbits were less than 25 years ago. In a mere quarter of a century the everyday world has transformed, arguably more than any brief period in the history of man. So where is this all going? That will be left for my next post. In the meantime, what technology of your youth now seems just shy of a neanderthal's club? I'm off to make mix tape to sum up my feelings.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 3G.

SteamBox, Xbox, De Ja Vu

As more substantial rumors begin to circulate that Valve is exploring entering the console market, I am becoming more intrigued. In many ways, the gaming market may be eerily similar to when Microsoft successfully entered the console race in 2001. I shall explain...

Commitment to PC: In 2000, Microsoft was synonymous with the PC. They knew the platform better than most, as they controlled PC middleware. They were committed to their platform and leveraged that focus of the Direct X PC environment to design a very solid and graphically robust console. With their focus of and expertise in PC software, Valve is in the exact spot Microsoft was in 2000.
Ease in Porting: With few exclusives, Microsoft knew the key to mass adoption was facilitating third party titles. PC architecture allowed any game maker to easily port their PC title to the Xbox. The 360 strayed from that model with proprietary chips and graphics processing. With PC gaming booming and most modern titles developed for 360, PS3, and PC, the games for a new PC based console are ready to go.

Economics of Scale: In 2000, Microsoft bet that using off the shelf hardware in a bigger case would compete well against expensive custom architecture research, ala Sony and Nintendo. And they bet right, as the original Xbox was powerful and affordable. Now as M$ pours money into custom hardware, Valve is in a position to use superior and cheaper off the shelf PC hardware.

Focus on Casual: Ten years ago, Microsoft took advantage of Nintendo moving to casual gamers and Sony focusing more on Japanese gamers than profitable Western audiences. De Ja Vu? Now it is Microsoft shifting to casual gaming and social computing and Sony is still focused on the Pacific rim. Core gamers are hungry, advantage Valve.

Hardware Missteps: In 2000, the competition was a PS2 gimped by poor bus speed and a Purple lunchbox nightmare from Nintendo. With no PS4 in sight, Nintendo making a duplo tablet, and rumors of Microsoft copying Nintendo's crappy lead, the stage is set for a competitor to clean their clocks simply by producing logical hardware.

Online Revolution: Even the most tech savvy questioned Microsoft's inclusion of an Ethernet port on the Xbox. M$ bet big on online functionality and won. Xbox Live was born and is the biggest reason for the 360's continued success. Ironically, Microsoft seems hesitant to fully embrace digital game distribution, despite their success with Live Arcade. Valve's Steam system is the best implementation of digital distribution available. They are poised to dominant as the world goes digital. That platform could propel a Steam based console past the competition.

Exclusives: Let's face it, the best console without games, will fail and do so fast. RIP Dreamcast. But I digress... Xbox made it through a rocky launch because of a gem called Halo. Valve would need some games and preferably a must have exclusive, to launch their new baby. How does Half Life 4 sound? Add that to every PC game on the market and you have the most modern launch titles in history.

Control Scheme: I do so love my Xbox 360 controller, which is only a slight variation from the sublime original Xbox controller. A good input system makes gamers favor one platform over another. Rumors are Valve will make several input options available, which I theory could input Microsoft controllers (PC compatible). Oh yeah, and a keyboard and mouse are not out of the question. How's about being the only console that can play WoW and Diablo?

Power: As I've previously mentioned, the Xbox was the most powerful console on the market, due to PS2 design compromises. With the PS4 nowhere to be found and the 720 at least a year away, Valve could launch this Fall, a year ahead of its competitors, and do so with truly next gen graphics.

Profitability: The first Xbox was an overall loss to get Microsoft in the game. With discounts on mass produced hardware and all the advantages above, Valve would not lose money, especially if they get a big name hardware partner. Enter Alienware?

Bottom Line: For all those reasons and more, I think the stage is set for a new console player. If The Valve rumors are true, they choose their hardware well, throw in a slick interface, and court software partners, even those with competing online distribution systems, they will have a winner on their hands. So if Gabe Newell and company announce hardware at E3, I'll be first in line to preorder a SteamBox. Who's with me?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 3G.

Just Say No to Camels

As I impatiently wait for the next generation of consoles, I have mostly ignored the steady beat of rumors regarding the next Xbox. I'm sure there is some truth in there, but it is impossible to find buried in all the fanboy, hater, and blogosphere noise. However, I will say they latest rumors of a Xbox 720 tablet controller, ala the Wii U, have me concerned. Microsoft's strange leader Steve Ballmer, aka the Kim Jung Il of technology, is just crazy enough to derail what should be a sure fire success. He should just iterate and improve what was so successful with the 360. Instead I fear he is about to drive off the cliff by copying the Wii U. If you don't believe me, check out what he is about to do to Windows. But I digress...

The 360 was, in my opinion, the best console on the market for the last five years. Despite serious quality control issues, it's open architecture, mature online community, superior controller, solid exclusives, and affordable yet comparable tech, made it the best option for Western gamers. So the wise business move is to beef up the processing power, drop in a huge HDD, slightly iterate the controller (D pad anyone), slap on a 720 sticker and ship this year. Such a system would make the Wii U obsolete and beat Sony to the next gen by a year, if Sony makes it that long.

But now I'm hearing, somehow disturbingly believable, rumors about a Kinect 2, media center, integrated tablet, camel box (horse designed by committee). My response is simple: Cut that shit out. I don't want a TiVo, a Duplo tablet, or a Kinect that can track my fingers. I want my fingers wrapped around a great controller exploring new gorgeous worlds courtesy of superior hardware. I don't want a tablet with analog sticks stuck on it, which will neither be a good controller or tablet. I sure as hell don't care if the next Kinect can track my fingers and if you make me pay for one with my system, I'll be happy to give you a finger to track.

Look, it's simple. I'm a gamer. Give me a great gaming box. All that other stuff is fine as an option, but it sounds like Microsoft may be preparing to negatively impact the gaming hardware in favor of making an all in one box. One, I don't want such a thing and two, I believe Apple is the only company out that which could possibly succeed at such a colossal challenge. Microsoft should be happy to build on last generation's success and prepare to dominate the next gen. If they flub it by giving me a camel, my console renaissance may just well be over.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad 3G.