The Impact Factor

E32015: Synthesis, Reflection and Game of the Show

Article, Part 2 of 3

In honor of E3, I wrote a special three-part article for you all in which I reflect upon what was shown and identify the narratives that emerged from the biggest players in gaming hardware: Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo. What do these takeaways mean for each company, and what do they mean for the next year in gaming? Check out below for all this and more, including my Game of the Show! You can find Part 1 HERE. Check back tomorrow for the third and final part!

Sony (PlayStation)

Central Theme: Fuel enthusiast excitement with ultimate wish fulfillment games. PS4 is games first. Allowing 3^rd party partnerships to shape the rest of 2015.

Sony could have easily gotten comfortable, resting on its laurels as the clear winner in this generation’s ‘console war.’ Despite having limited exclusive titles up to this point, the PlayStation 4 (PS4) has been outselling the XOne substantially. Perhaps this explains many of the consumer positive initiatives Microsoft detailed in the press conference. Despite being a lifelong PlayStation devotee (PlayStation consoles have been my main gaming hardware since I purchased the PSX in 1998), I fully expected to be underwhelmed by Sony’s event. In terms of exclusive titles for this Fall / Winter, we have Uncharted: Nathan Drake Collection, Tearaway Unfolded and Until Dawn. Now, I am excited and will almost certainly pick up the latter two, but even if you combined all 3 into one mega-release, it cannot match the heft of something like Halo 5: Guardians. Therefore, I expected the Sony narrative to be, “Look how great we’re doing! We love 3^rd parties! See you all soon!” Boy was I wrong. Way wrong. Sony confirmed, once again, PS4 is the place for gamers—for people who want to play the best, most exciting, games. Let’s get into.

The biggest takeaway from Sony was that they wanted to have the PS4 make your dreams come true. Any gaming wish you have, they wanted fulfilled. Senior news editor at IGN Andrew Goldfarb described Sony’s press conference, saying it was like “fan fiction.” And he wasn’t wrong. I know I said I wouldn’t be talking specific games, but these specific games are critically important and are at the core of Sony’s messaging. Sony opened their press conference by showing The Last Guardian, the highly anticipated, long dormant game from Studio Japan and Fumito Ueda. It had been seven years since we last saw The Last Guardian. Fans of Ueda’s previous groundbreaking work, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus, have been going crazy waiting for this one. Sony knew this would get people excited. And it worked. I cannot stop thinking about The Last Guardian, nor can I stop myself from smiling knowing that Sony promised a 2016 release. But Sony didn’t stop there. The next in this line of ‘ultimate fan wish fulfillment’ continued when Sony announced that a Final Fantasy 7 Remake is in the works, and it will be a timed PS4 exclusive. As big as The Last Guardian is, this remake announcement is even crazier. A remake of Final Fantasy 7 has been a fan dream ever since SquareEnix demoed its new graphics engine on PS3 by remaking an intro segment of FF7. Once fans got the idea of Final Fantasy 7 with better graphics into their heads, they couldn’t be satiated. A Final Fantasy 7 remake was a run-on joke for the games industry. But it’s real now. It’s in development by SquareEnix and likely another team (rumored to be CyberConnect), and it’s coming first to PS4. Sony knew perfectly how to drum up excitement for the PS4 with this announcement. And because everything that’s worth doing is worth over doing, Sony brought Yu Suzuki on their stage to announce that he has partnered with the company to make Shenmue 3 a reality (and console-exclusive on PS4). Now, I’m no Shenmue fan, but I know people have been clamoring for this one for over a decade, even close to 15 years. The Internet went nuts. This trifecta of announcements easily secured Sony’s ‘victory’ at E3 and gave the company’s message as clear as day: Sony and the PS4 understand their audience, and will give them what they want. This creates an unshakable association between Sony and game fans—Sony understands them. This kind of relationship is unbelievably powerful. This press conference may have secured Sony’s win this generation already.

It’s easy to overlook that Sony brought so many other titles to their press conference, and are really truly trying to deliver on their promise they made when they announced the PS4: PS4 is the place people go to play games. For me, it’s important that Sony not just play on nostalgia and rabid fanbases to draw support for their console. Remaking old games or bringing back old IPs can only go so far. Thankfully, this was not a concern at Sony’s press conference. The story Sony presented was that they are bringing games for all kinds of gamers. Sony invested big in bringing exclusive partnerships to some of this fall’s biggest 3^rd party games: Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Star Wars: Battlefront. Though brief, we got more info on the Sony console-exclusive Street Fighter V. Sony showed games that eschew the video gamey violence you so often seen in press conferences when they showed off Firewatch and the enigmatic new IP from Media Molecule, Dreams. The Uncharted 4 demo that ended the press conference was extraordinary. And then we got one of the most exciting announcement trailers (and gameplay?!) for a new IP in years with Horizon: Zero Dawn. All of this comes on top of Sony’s close relationship with the indie scene, too, as so many independent games come first to console on PS4. Time and time again Sony has stayed on course and remained true to their word. This generation, Sony and PS4 are all about games. Whether it be bringing back old fan favorites in new ways, creating great new additions to beloved franchises, or surprising the world with new, innovative IPs. Sony spent no time whatsoever talking about improving the gaming experience—just all about having more great titles to play. For now, I’m happy with this. I buy a console to play games.

Finally, as I mentioned briefly when talking Microsoft and above here, Sony’s press conference was solely focused on getting enthusiasts excited about gaming in the years to come. Not so much in the months to come. Content exclusivity and marketing deals allow Sony to talk about Call of Duty and Star Wars: Battlefront as if they are console exclusives. They’re not. As excited as I am about Until Dawn and Tearaway Unfolded, these games probably will not sell well. Nor will they move console units. In this way, Sony’s final message came from their current position of power. NPD sales data has already confirmed that 3^rd party games are selling better on PS4 than XOne, and partnerships with Activision and EA are only sure to continue this trend. If not for the huge swath of game announcements on the Sony stage, I would have been worried about the future of PS4. I went PS3 last generation because of the strength of Sony’s 1^st party lineup. Even now, nearly 2 years into the PS4 lifecycle, we’ve yet to see many titles from Sony’s first party studios. Sony’s remaining 2015 is not compelling in terms of exclusives. Let’s just hope the 2016 promises we got this year don’t all slip into 2017 and beyond.

In the end, though, Sony absolutely killed it this year. Sony has a direct feed from the hearts and minds of passionate gaming enthusiasts. At their press conference they brought back the long dormant The Last Guardian, and made both a Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Shenmue 3 a reality. And, the best thing? Those games were accouterments to the exceptional lineup of titles slated for Sony’s PS4. It’s a great time to be a gamer, and perhaps even a better time to be a PS4 owner.

Nintendo (Wii U & N3DS)

Central Theme: Kill time until the NX. Using fan-favorite IPs in confusing ways.

Nintendo’s showing at E3 was bafflingly weak and ultimately disappointing. The library of games they spent time showcasing would have been lackluster even for a regular Nintendo Direct during some other point in the year, let alone the biggest industry trade show. As we get deeper and deeper into the Wii U’s lifecycle (or deathcycle at this point), Nintendo is increasingly relying on fan patience as they try to work out of the hole they put themselves in with their entry into the current generation of consoles. Nintendo is a company that confuses me with every new software and hardware announcement. Their showing at E3 highlight’s Nintendo’s increasingly tenuous grasp on understanding not only what fans want, but what the gaming populous at large wants. Sure, Nintendo featured its same quirky charm that defines so much of the company, but that can only go so far. They have figured out that toys sell (Amiibo) and seem to be relying on this until they can get their issues sorted out. I wish I could have given you all a positive takeaway from Nintendo at E3, but I could not. The narrative emerging from Nintendo this year was one of uncertainly and disappointment. I think even Nintendo itself is unsure of the story it wants to craft for itself.

First and forement, the main message I drew from Nintendo at E3 was that the Wii U is a dead console and that we’re in a holding pattern until the company shares more about its next console (the NX) in 2016. The Wii U should be Nintendo’s lead hardware, but this simply is not the case. Their E3 Nintendo Direct event, which has been used the past two or three years in place of a traditional press conference, featured five total Wii U games. They were: Super Mario Maker, Yoshi’s Wooly World, Animal Crossing Amiibo Festival, Star Fox Zero, and Mario Tennis Ultra Charge. Of these, maybe two of them, Star Fox Zero and Yoshi’s Wooly World are the kind of big games we would want from first party Nintendo franchises making their way to the Wii U home console. The other three feel like limp half-measures to simply put out more games to play on the dying Wii U. Just this year we got a new Mario Party game, so do we really need an Amiibo-based Animal Crossing spin on the same formula coming out so soon? As much as I am excited about Super Mario Maker, it’s a creation tool. That’s like if Little Big Planet launched without a story campaign, or DOOM released with just SnapMap. Mario Tennis Ultra Charge is a little more exciting, but it’s certainly not new “Mario” game fans want on the Wii U. For the majority of these titles, glimpses were brief. The direct felt like it was recorded years ago, feeling like Nintendo is unwilling to make HD games. The absence of a Wii U price cut was just one more nail into the already descending Wii U coffin. Aside from a small handful of games, Nintendo offers no compelling reason to pick up their home console. And if the company is not even talking about the NX until next year, just how far away is their new console? How long will the Wii U be left to slowly die? It makes me sad. Nintendo dropped the ball on the Wii U from the get-go, and has been utterly unable to salvage it in the years since its release.

Financially, I’m sure Nintendo is doing well for itself. The 3DS is still the dominant handheld, and Amiibo are an insane moneymaker for the company. The success of the 3DS will not last forever, as mobile gaming eats up more and more marketshare. It was clear from their E3 presentation that Nintendo realizes that, now more than ever, they must rely on the most devoted of their fans to keep software sales up. Unfortunately for Nintendo, it appears that they have no idea what their fans want. Nintendo’s E3 showing showcased a variety of the company’s biggest and most successful IPs: The Legend of Zelda, Mario, Animal Crossing, and Super Metroid. If Nintendo had announced new games in these franchises, in the style fans appreciate, Nintendo could have been among the best at E3 this year. This was not the case. What we got were confusing game announcements that felt at odds with the IPs by which they were branded. In order; we were given The Legend of Zelda announcements for a new co-op 3DS game (which was the best of what they showed) and a port of the Dynasty Warriors take on Zelda, Hyrule Warriors, to 3DS. For Mario were were given a tennis game, a perplexing mashup of Mario & Luigi with Paper Mario, and a Mario level making tool. Animal Crossing was shown as a 3DS game that seemingly traps the player in and around their house (Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer) and as a Wii U Mario Party game. Perhaps the most egregious was Metroid, a franchise that has not had a new game in years. What we got from the Nintendo Direct was a bizarre 4-person co-op game where you play as robots? And you can play a FPS soccer like mini-game called Blast Ball? Nintendo did half the work they needed to. They understood what IPs fans had been clamoring for, but one after another, showed game genres wholly unrelated to the franchise. Fans don’t want a Metroid co-op robo shooter thing, they want a new Metroid Prime game or a new 2D Super Metroid­-like game. Talk about dropping the ball. I will give Nintendo credit to saying true to it’s ‘Nintendo-ness,’ for lack of a better term. Despite the games not being what people wanted, they still exuded that charm and whimsy so characteristic of the company.

Again, I wish I could be more positive about Nintendo. Yoshi’s Wooly World looked great, Super Mario Maker will be fun, and Star Fox Zero didn’t look completely terrible. Aside from that though, it’s hard to be excited for what Nintendo showed. On a higher level too, it’s hard to make sense of what Nintendo was trying to accomplish with this year’s E3 showing. It didn’t do much to sell me on the New3DS, it emphasized how dead in the water the Wii U is, and didn’t give me anything to look forward to coming into 2016. Nintendo needs to start talking NX and their mobile gaming initiatives fast—that’s what is exciting.  Here’s to hoping Nintendo can pull it together before they fall out of the hardware game altogether. Though maybe that’s not even a bad thing. I would love to play Nintendo games on the PC or PS4.

Check back tomorrow for the final part of this article! I talk The Impact Factor's E3 2015 Game of the Show!