E3 2017 Report Card

The Column of All Cosmos

I will try my best to not give the entire show an F.

I refuse to call this game Anthem because that’s my health insurance. This will forever be known as Bioware’s Destiny

I’m on vacation right now, I don’t feel like doing an introduction. You know exactly what kind of article this is, the title says it all. I’m sure you’ve read a million of these already, maybe even written your own, and we’ve all come to a conclusion on the best and worst of E3. The middle might be different based on several factors but honestly who cares. There is no criteria, just read whatever I wrote and go on with your day. Thank you.

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PC Gaming Show gets an F

Stop doing press conferences.

EA gets a D-

Stop doing press conferences. You clearly don’t want to do them, you feel obligated to, so just don’t. Nobody is forcing you to. Stream your big fall shooter elsewhere, or don’t bother otherwise. Really, this isn’t an eSports tournament, this is E3. We don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about when you shout-cast a game nobody has played yet. You ruined the Anthem reveal at Microsoft (it looks cool), and outside of A Way Out (also looks cool) you had a waste of a show and should just stop wasting money entirely. Do an EA direct and don’t bring out Andrew Wilson out on stage in a shiny suit any longer. Where the fuck was Amy Henning’s game? Burnout? Skate 4? You’re trash EA.

Bethesda gets a C+

Stop doing press conferences. If you don’t have anything gigantic to announce, i.e. a Fallout or Elder Scrolls, then stay home. Don’t make an audience, both online and in person, sit and watch that 40 minute trailer. It was useless. These were all press releases, and the two “genuine” surprises were not surprising at all because they leaked ahead of time. Like Dishonored 2. You clearly felt the need to keep doing these things, and didn’t have the line-up to do so. Sound familiar? This trend is harrowing, because either these companies are going through the motions at this point, honestly don’t have enough to show, or are intentionally hiding stuff back to make the whole year feel “special”. Go to hell Bethesda. And while you’re at it, fix your review policy because it backfired on Prey whereas it got lucky with Doom. Let Todd Howard break free from his rusty cage, damnit.

Microsoft gets a B-, deserves worse

You stupid idiots. You stupid fucking idiots. You had the perfect opportunity and you blew it. Did you watch that Sony show? It was basically a repeat of last year! They didn’t show anything new! You had the CHANCE to get back in the game, and you blew it. Now Sony is going to flex its muscles all year, cutting the price on their consoles, showing off the awesome games they decided to hold off on at E3 as they dominate Gamescom and Playstation Experience and you’ll have what. What? I’m so ticked off, you have no idea. I own both an Xbox One and PS4 and I love the rivalry, and as much as I adore the flubs Jim Ryan of Sony, and the easy home runs Microsoft hit off those softballs, the show wasn’t enough. It was a very good show, very solid, but not what you needed to do. The Xbox One X is fine, the name is fine, the price is fine. Not spectacular. Sea of Thieves looks sick, Forza 7 looks sick, Crackdown 3…we’ll see. They were not firework explosions. Anthem and Shadow of War and AC Origins all seem like safe bets and will be worthy of buying if you’re into those things. Not a single one is an exclusive. Cuphead got a release date, thank goodness, Ori 2 is real thank goodness, and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (which I correctly predicted) is coming as well thank GOODNESS. They will show up on other consoles eventually. This was the time for a knockout punch when Sony seemed on the ropes, and you just jabbed them and then walked away. Failing Microsoft. Sad!

Sony gets a B, deserves worse

You fucking idiots. Y’all real fucking lucky Microsoft didn’t land the uppercut because you can tell Layden was either not committing the big guns to E3 because he didn’t need to, or The Last of Us Part 2 and Death Stranding and Sucker Punch’s new game are just not ready to show. But while that makes their E3 showing the worst one in years, it doesn’t sink them whatsoever. Buy a PS4 and play Horizon or Nioh and have a great time. God of War, sign me up. Detroit? Sure I guess. Spider-man? It is probably a lot of people’s Game of the Show. Uncharted with Chloe? As Rick James once said: “give it to me, baby”. Shadow of the Colossus with better controls? Fuck yeah. Still not sold on Days Gone, and other than that there wasn’t anything of note. It really was a repeat of last year, which is why I’m so lukewarm on Sony this year. But those few games are very impressive, but there was no mind blowing announcements, which is the fucking point of E3, and Sony knew that because they demonstrated it ever since 2013. They’re the kings of reveals, and just didn’t want to waste their ammo this year, which is lame but understandable.

Ubisoft gets an A-

NOW we get to the good stuff, which there is not enough of this year. Ubisoft knew how to put on a conference, and oddly not having a host really helped. They cut down on the amount of AC Origins because they already showed that at Microsoft (see EA? That’s how you do it). They opened the show with Miyamoto making gifs and memes, and that Kingdom Battle game looks nuts, what a fever dream. That should not be real, someone at Ubisoft came up with that playing Mad Libs. South Park got 2 games, which both look very good, there were no Tom Clancy games or Splinter Cell reboot, but that didn’t really hamper anything. Just Dance was very short this year, and had some really hot singer there so I didn’t take a bathroom break, and they ended the show with Far Cry 5 (I’m hype beyond words) and possibly the moment of the show with Michel Ancel crying at BG&E2. What a fucking reveal, what a trailer, what a moment. Ubisoft, that is how you do E3, lead by example and show these other fuckers how to do it right!

Nintendo gets an A, and the title of best show at E3, somehow

I cannot believe they won. They get a flat A, begrudgingly, but the company with the lowest expectations, and the shortest number of games and time spent showing said games, only brought the best. The absolute best. Stunning how short and sweet and simple it all was. Show a video, no fat, all big shit, the best surprises, and then BAM a trailer for Super Mario Odyssey that goes straight into the Treehouse stream for more gameplay. And let me be clear: the moment of E3 might have been Beyond Good and Evil 2, but THEY HAD TWO METROID GAMES. TWO. One was 3D and one was 2D! Are you kidding me? The one-two punch of present and future with Metroid Prime 4 and Cappy the hat on a taxi and a dinosaur, that was just too much to handle. I do not remember the last time my jaw literally dropped watching a trailer, for a game I have already seen! Incredible, Odyssey is my Game of the Show, the Best of E3, and Nintendo just crushed it. I have to buy a Switch now, god fucking damnit Nintendo I don’t have the time or money for this shit, I hate you. Fuck, that game looks so good though.

The bait and switch on this trailer is astonishing, and needs to win an award.

E3 2017 Prognostications

Experiencing Content

I foresee…a lot of correct predictions…if you click on this…

We are so close to E3 I can taste it. And it tastes…good. Real good. The yummy, scrumptious, delicious E3 rumors are so addicting, I just had to make this video before we find out all of E3’s secrets the weekend before in hilarious leaks. So check the date of this one, because if I’m right, I don’t want anyone claiming I had inside intel, or stole info after the fact, or any of that shit. Not having it guys. None of it.

If you are so inclined, the link for my channel (where you can find other videos in the series) is here. And you can follow me on Twitter here.

E3 2017 Battle Plans

Experiencing Content

War. War never changes. Except in early June.

Not this kind of battle, but whatever, you do you Ubisoft

Battle stations! E3 is coming, so prepare for war! Exclamation points galore! Here I lay out what each company doing a press conference should do, or else be scorned by history and gamers on the internet.

If you are so inclined, the link for my channel (where you can find other videos in the series) is here. And you can follow me on Twitter here.

Lost E3 Interviews

Experiencing Content

I finally found some old archival footage of me talking to biggest figures in the industry. Can’t believe I lost these!

Strap in for some shocking quotes from Mr. Miyamoto himself.

Somehow I managed to lose, and then almost a year later, find some old interviews from E3. They are…rather shocking. Everything here is brutally honest, and totally 100% true. The best highlights and clips I’ve gathered with some B-Roll footage, so enjoy. I’m sure this will make headlines when the people hear what these legends have to say.

If you are so inclined, the link for my channel (where you can find other videos in the series) is here. And you can follow me on Twitter here.

What Are You Buying, Stranger?: Evaluating The Video Game Hype Stock Market

The Column of All Cosmos

Hype Rules Everything Around Me, HREAM get the money, dolla dolla bills y’all.

Bells Rule Everything Around Me, BREAM get the money

TIME TO BUY SOME HYPE

TIME TO SELL SOME HYPE

TIME TO BE CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PARTICULAR COMPANIES, FOR A MULTITUDE OF NIT-PICKY ISSUES

TIME FOR RAMPANT SPECULATION AND WILD INACCURACIES ABOUT THE GAMING INDUSTRY

LET’S GET GOING ON HYPING THINGS UP, WHICH IS LIKE MAYBE HONESTLY ONE OF THE BIGGEST PROBLEMS WE HAVE GOING, BUT HEY WE NEED TO KEEP THE PR CYCLE AND MARKETING CAMPAIGNS GOING RIGHT, E3 IS RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER AND NO, EVERYTHING IS FINE, PLEASE PRE-ORDER OUR GAME AND PLEASE BE EXCITED, AND YES WE ARE AWARE OF THE JOY-CON CONTROLLERS SYNC ISSUES BUT THERE IS NOTHING TO COMMENT ON AT THIS TIME SO WHATEVER LET’S GET STARTED.

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Rockstar owns both the real and fictional stock markets, they are both that good

STUPID EASY MONEY — Rockstar

This is the most brain dead analysis around: Rockstar is a silent juggernaut that doesn’t have to lift a finger, and yet everybody pays attention to literally anything they do or say. And that’s for good reason; they make some of the best games in the world and release them at such a methodical pace, you never get burnt out on them (unlike something like Just Dance).

Red Dead Redemption 2, no matter how much you and I disagree about that lazy naming convention, is going to be a blockbuster and a strong GOTY contender, and nobody would bat an eye at that sentence. It’s just going to happen, they’re going to drop the details at just the right moment, and then boom years later it’s constantly in the top five best sellers every month and we all nod our heads in collective agreement. More power to them, they’re the easiest money to bet on around. Buying Rockstar hype in fictional stock form is like buying air, it just keeps rising and is impenetrable and impervious to any deflation. Buy this with reckless abandon, guilt free.

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I do not want to advocate treason, or tampering with the stock markets

BUY — CD Projekt RED

I bet you all forgot about them, didn’t you? Every pays attention to North American based studios, and Japanese studios, but nobody keeps their eye on the ball when it comes to Europe. Specifically, Poland, where the pound for pound best developers in the world work. CD Projekt RED is exactly the punk rock, kick ass company this industry needs. They make incredibly smart decisions, put quality above all else, and are moral vanguards when it comes to DRM, DLC, and customer feedback.

Coming off their magnum opus, The Witcher 3, which deserves every award it got and then some, are already in the middle of producing the next big free-to-play smash in Gwent. It’s so good, it’ll disrupt other CCG titles vying to take down a wounded Hearthstone (Elder Scrolls, Hex, Duelyst, Shadowverse, etc.) and you can read all about it here!

https://freshlypoppedculture.com/i-meant-to-pay-rent-but-instead-i-went-to-play-gwent-and-now-im-spent-of-my-cents-c7024034f8d2

And on top of that, there’s the mysterious Cyberpunk 2077, which not only sounds incredible so far, but is now backed by the Polish government, has multiplayer, and is coming either this year or next year, which means you can smell a tasty E3 behind closed door impression blow-out that will win awards and explode minds. Buy the hype now before the stock gets over-saturated. You heard it here first, don’t sleep on the kings of the gaming world.

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Yeah, collect those coins! And thank you IGN for this image, I appreciate it

SMART OPPORTUNITY — Playtonic

I’m no stranger to talking about Yooka Laylee, the spiritual sequel to Banjo Kazooie, and if you want a whole rundown on why I love Rare and will easily fall in love with Playtonic, you can check this out:

https://freshlypoppedculture.com/i-meant-to-pay-rent-but-instead-i-went-to-play-gwent-and-now-im-spent-of-my-cents-c7024034f8d2

So just because I’m incredibly excited about a $40 platforming game doesn’t necessarily mean you should, right? Well, consider the out of nowhere success of Shovel Knight, an indie that didn’t land on people’s radars until it showed up on every GOTY list. The retro nostalgia craze has finally culminated into a period where devs can make actual classics instead of treading old ground to emulate classics, and I truly believe that this game is going to be special, and start a whole new wave of imitators and knock-offs. A Hat in Time is in a similar boat, and the 3D platforming genre is about to pop off in a way it hasn’t since maybe 1998.

Get in before the madness begins, because Shovel Knight is IN this game. HE’S IN IT. That has to mean more cross-ups down the line with Yacht Club…

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Buying stocks and hype is like gambling, in that it’s all luck and no skill

SAMPLE — Bethesda

The choice for a sampling depends on what kind of games you like to play, pure and simple. Bethesda is ramping up to their E3 showcase with some games we already know about (Prey, Quake Champions, Wolfenstein New Colossus, Elder Scrolls Legends) and some we don’t (Evil Within 2, anything else they’re working on). There isn’t a bad bet in here, but without more details, it’s hard to know exactly what you’re buying into. Maybe there’s a new Fallout or Doom surprise thing, or one of these games sucks totally, who knows. Since Bethesda only sends out their games a day before launch, we won’t know. Unless you’re an ‘influencer’, then maybe you’ll know ahead of time. But this is a safe buy, and you can dabble in much worse companies and line-ups. You could do much, much worse. Trust me.

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Moneybags is the reason Skylanders exist, pure profit

CONSIDER — Activision

This is a tricky one to assess, not only because it feels like Blizzard is a totally separate entity (if you love Starcraft remakes and Hearthstone expansions, sign right up) but because this is going to be a funky year for the biggest publisher in the world. They went all in on Bungie, and the result was a few years of Destiny. It wasn’t a flop, by any stretch, but you’re either in or out on that game completely. The sequel being leaked early was sloppy, and I don’t know what to make of any of it, honestly. I felt burnt by that game, Bungie is clearly not the studio they once were, and we know whether or not you’re excited.

The same would go for Call of Duty, except the mix-up this year is World War II? I mean, yeah sure, why not. Again, you already know if you’re in or out but this is an interesting experiment, on the back of Battlefield 1. Quite frankly, it’s going to be hard to top World at War, I love that game, but more power to you.

The stock is always fine for buying, I’m not enthused, but there’s always a Skylanders to bank on. And Tony Hawk…oh nevermind. RIP that series. And Guitar Hero…nope, not that either. Huh, weird how they run franchises into the ground. That can’t be good for business long term, right?

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A live look at Microsoft figuring out how to build the Scorpio

RISKY — Microsoft

There is a real risky upside to buying into Microsoft hype stock. On paper, they have few exclusives left, and any we don’t know about are likely guessable (they start with the letters F, G, and H). The Scorpio is a giant question mark, and will be expensive, justifiably so, but still. And yet, after the crushing disappointments of Fable and Scalebound and ReCore, I can’t help but think Microsoft has some cards up their sleeves. They’re either going to have a killer Scorpio conference into E3 into a strong holiday, or a huge bust the whole year long.

But I don’t see them saving their cards, I foresee them showing their hand early and going for it to bolster the Scorpio release. Crackdown 3, Sea of Thieves, Cuphead, a few surprises, and a superior home console, that could be the start of something magical. Or not, because they don’t have Nioh or Nier or Horizon or Zelda, all games that will dominate most of 2017’s eyeballs.

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They will never live this down, will they?

WAIT AND SEE — EA

Oh Electronic Arts, what will you do next? There’s no telling what the quality of EA is from game to game, they are by far the most inconsistent company around. Wild swings in both directions means uncertainty, and the markets loathe uncertainty. Battlefield 1, great! Plants versus Zombies, underrated! NBA Live, they still make that? Mass Effect Andromeda, meh? Titanfall 2, boy did they bury that in an awful shitty release window! Way to shoot yourselves in the foot with a great game, you clowns.

Outside of the sports game cycle, we get the bi-annual stalwart Battlefront 2, now with single player, yippee. What other Star Wars projects are going to be shown? Who knows, maybe they’ll never be ready. And Need for Speed, maybe that’s dead alongside Criterion, which is really a shame on both accounts. So not only do you not really ever know what they’re up to on the periphery (remember Yarny?) but it’s a crap-shoot for their AAA titles. Hell, Battlefield 4 and Hardline were giant busts, why couldn’t the next game be? Time will only tell, but let’s hope Amy Hennig can come to save the day.

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Mario prints money, coins, and hype

DON’T BUY — Nintendo

Hey, remember when Nintendo put out an excellent game? You’re going to be waiting a while before that happens again. Like, possibly an entire year. You don’t have to sell Nintendo stock, but the enthusiasm will quickly dry up without some fuel for their fire. The Switch might collect dust as we go through E3, wait for Super Mario Odyssey to get delayed, and then anyone who wanted to buy a Switch can’t and they sit on their thumbs and go onto play something else. It’s going to be a rough year, unless you REALLY like milking invisible cows. Like, fetish levels of milking cow utters. Which is fine, I will not judge you, but that’s what Nintendo is offering right now. A milking simulator. Buy a cheap Wii U, Zelda, Splatoon, and Mario Kart 8 and it’s like owning a Switch basically without the virtual milk.

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For Honor’s microtransactions should not be bought, like Ubisoft hype or stock

SELL — Ubisoft

Boy oh boy, what to do with Ubi. Ghost Recon came back, nobody noticed. Watch Dogs is a franchise everyone doesn’t seem to necessarily want, but will take. Assassin’s Creed is set to return with a game in Egypt that has been leaked out the wazoo. What else, they buried Rayman and Rabbids, launched Steep, For Honor is cool, maybe we’ll all buy that when it goes on sale or something. Yeah, not a lot of momentum going for them, and I’m not sure another Far Cry or whisper about Beyond Good and Evil can do anything to stop the stock from falling fast and hard. Whatever hope you have you might as well sell, unless you love Just Dance beyond comprehension. Which is fine, no judgements, but this is a wasteland of hype.

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This God we all worship and bow down to is a lie, he has not brought us a game with 3 in the title and never will, so let’s all be atheists and never give him money ever again

GHOST TOWN — Valve

Do they even make games anymore?

Is VR dead?

What are they working on?

Whose dick do I have to suck to get a Left 4 Dead sequel off the ground? Jesus Christ, Valve, cut it out with DOTA and fix up Steam you sacks of shit, and stop letting talented people leave every god damn week. Gabe, what the fuck is going on. I know it’s fun to print money and sit on your ass all day, and joke about Half-Life and do interviews on Reddit, but for the love of all that is holy be a company that releases products. That we can buy. Total horseshit stock until they do something, which when they do, will be solid gold. The hype will be palpable, tangible excitement, but until that day, they are to be forgotten and shamed and shunned.

https://freshlypoppedculture.com/i-meant-to-pay-rent-but-instead-i-went-to-play-gwent-and-now-im-spent-of-my-cents-c7024034f8d2

Makes me so mad, they took Dust out of the competitive Counter-Strike cycle. The greatest multiplayer map of all time, come on.