I stayed up and watched Sony's E3 press conference tonight, as it's usually a good show. This year it perhaps wasn't their strongest performance compared to some of their other recent efforts — last year in particular being a very memorable highlight — but it was still an enjoyable presentation.

The thing I like about Sony's presentations in particular is that they never forget why they're there: for the games, for the players. Sony's presentation this year was almost minimalist in the amount of explanation and talking there was: rather than hours of Andrew House extolling the virtues of the PlayStation's OS and additional services, the team instead elected largely to let the game footage and trailers do the talking.

And for sure, Sony certainly seems to have a solid lineup in the coming year. Of particular note were the PlayStation VR titles, which included a surprisingly good-looking Resident Evil VII (which, in the absence of a new Silent Hill game, very much appeared to be going down the "psychological horror" route, a decision that I absolutely endorse) and, of all things, an absolutely gobsmacking-looking new Call of Duty that appeared to feature seamless transitions between wandering around a capital ship, flying a small fighter craft, hopping out in zero gravity to cause mischief, then jumping back in when the mission was complete.

PlayStation VR is probably the most exciting thing Sony has lined up in the near future, and it's coming relatively soon: it's set for an October release. At the moment I'm having some difficulty picturing how it will work, particularly after having had a go with the room-scale gameplay of the HTC Vive at my friend Tim's house (an experience which I will write about at some point soon, since I haven't already) but I have faith Sony will do something cool with it.

Perhaps the most exciting thing about PlayStation VR, though, is the fact that, as a console VR platform, it's likely to give VR as a whole a kick up the backside into starting to produce full-scale games rather than the more experimental fare that make up the majority of the Vive and Oculus Rift libraries at present. Its (relatively) affordable price point also puts it within reach of consumer electronics enthusiasts, too, so it's going to be one of the main ways everyone starts getting VR headsets in their houses, I think. And I'm really excited to have a go on some of the games Sony was showing off.

So while there weren't any huge bombshells in Sony's presentation — apart from a release date for The Last Guardian, finally, along with confirmation that Hideo Kojima is indeed working on something that looks both baffling and awesome — it was a solid showing. Not their best, but nothing to be ashamed of either. And once again, while Microsoft, Ubisoft and EA all pander to their investors, Sony proves that they know that without the people who play the games, there wouldn't be an E3 at all.

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This year it has all changed, though. After a wobbly start — Microsoft, EA and Ubi's press conferences were all decent enough but rather forgettable — Sony pulled a corker out of the bag by revealing that all three of the totally implausible rumours that had been flying around were, in fact true. Yes, Square Enix is doing a complete remake of Final Fantasy VII, coming first to PlayStation 4. Yes, The Last Guardian still exists, and there's gameplay footage to prove it. And yes, Shenmue III is on the way after a very long break — part-funded by Kickstarter (you're damn right I pledged) and part-funded by Sony.

Then today was Square Enix's presentation. In between the flashy but predictable games we all knew were coming — Just Cause 3 in particular is looking like it might be fun — there were some honest-to-goodness genuine surprises, chief among which was the fact that there's a fucking new Nier game on the way, developed by Platinum Games.

This announcement was so out of the blue and unexpected that it genuinely blew people away. People were waiting for something unannounced to be revealed at Square Enix's conference, but many had become convinced it was something to do with Chrono Trigger. Nope; it's a new Nier game featuring a dream team of development talent, including the original producer, director and composer as well as art from the guy behind Bravely Default.

I adore Nier. It's a wonderful, wonderful game that went sadly unappreciated in its own lifetime, ever-doomed to languish with a Metascore of 68 thanks to critics who were more wrapped up in its technical shortcomings than its ambitious and emotional story, wonderful use of the interactive entertainment medium to tell it, unconventional and fascinating characters and at times baffling fusion of game styles. It's a beautiful experience with a narrative that sticks with you long after you've beaten it, and one of the most haunting musical scores I've ever heard in any medium. (I have the piano score for it; it's a delight — and a challenge — to play.)

The news that a new Nier game is on the way is, in short, extremely welcome to me — and the fact that it looks like it will be focusing on the original game's main heroine Kaine, a very angry intersex woman who has a somewhat troubled but oddly touching relationship with the protagonist Nier, is an absolute delight. I can't wait to see what wonders the creative geniuses behind this absolute work of art come out with on new-generation hardware; I don't doubt that it will be warped, full of jank and weird as fuck, but those things are what made the original Nier so utterly fascinating to play and to talk about.

So, in short, this has been the most exciting E3 for some time now. And then Final Fantasy XIV's expansion Heavensward flings open its Early Access doors on Friday… man. What a time to be into video games.

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None of them appeared to be making any effort to rectify the situation.

Vita has been a self-fulfilling prophecy for some time now so far as the games press is concerned. It's an astonishingly good games system with backwards compatibility for PSP titles — enhanced backwards compatibility, more to the point, due to the fact you can map the right stick and touchscreen to PSP functions, allowing you more control flexibility than the original games offered — as well as a ton of its own interesting exclusives, ranging from the engaging and unusual 3D action-adventure Gravity Rush to the fantastic cartoonish golf game Everybody's Golf (aka Hot Shots Golf in the States) and a ton of Japanese role-playing games like Demon Gaze, Conception II, Persona 4 Golden and numerous others. On top of all that, it's rapidly becoming the de facto handheld for independent developers to deploy handheld versions of their games, so we're starting to see portable versions of indie classics previously confined to PC and TV-connected console: titles like Spelunky, Fez, Thomas Was Alone and, again, numerous others.

Still it goes without coverage. Still the narrative continues that Vita is "doomed" — or, in some cases, the system is ignored altogether. Is it any surprise that it's not selling particularly well if none of the tastemakers in the industry — and, like it or not, games journos, that's what you are — are celebrating the things it's doing well, or even acknowledging its existence in some cases?

Sony could be doing a better job, of course. Vita didn't get a lot of stage time at the company's E3 press conference, Japan's Vita TV has been rebranded PlayStation TV for the West and it's rare to see the Vita in promotional artwork by itself — it's more commonly depicted as a GamePad-like accessory for the PlayStation 4 — but at least they're trying, and representatives such as Shahid Ahmad are doing their best to keep the profile of the system high and solicit regular feedback from the people who do own it.

But I place the blame squarely on the shoulders of the press here, who initially set unrealistic expectations for the platform — do you really want to play a triple-A experience on a small, handheld device? I certainly don't — and then followed this up with the aforementioned dismissal or lack of acknowledgement mentioned above. It's a sorry state of affairs, to be sure, made all the more tragic by the fact that Vita has a genuinely great library of games.

The situation mirrors Nintendo's struggles with Wii U somewhat, where the narrative has again been that the system is "dying" which has, in turn, made people more hesitant to pick it up. There's a slight difference with Wii U this time around, however, because Nintendo wisely chose to focus on Wii U with its E3 presentation. This year, 3DS — a system which is doing just fine — was hardly touched on in Nintendo's main presentation, while the bulk of the company's livestream was focused on Wii U and its upcoming games. It was a successful decision; people came away from Nintendo's presentation excited about the future of Wii U, even though a significant number of the games shown wouldn't be with us until next year.

I don't know what the answer is for Vita, or even if there is one. But what I would like to see, as my days in the games press draw to a close, is journalists taking a stab at not following the herd, at not perpetuating the established narrative, and instead attempting to explore what makes this wonderful little machine tick — and why it makes people like me so happy.

Will it happen? No idea. Regardless of whether people start giving Vita a fair chance, I'm extremely happy with it — and if you're at all interested in any of the types of games I mentioned above, I strongly recommend grabbing one as soon as you can.

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Both pieces of dissonance are very similar: they regard how good, interesting and widely-praised a platform is, and how poorly they're selling. The systems in question are, of course, Nintendo's Wii U and Sony's PlayStation Vita — both of which are excellent systems, both of which have a ton of excellent games, and both of which are selling like shit despite passionate, if small, install bases.

Why is this happening? Well, it's at least partly due to the fact that the big-hitters of the industry — Sony and Microsoft — are now doing a much better job of appealing to the mainstream market than Nintendo were during the Wii era. The market that Nintendo courted with the original Wii — casual, family gamers — have since moved on to mobile phones and tablets (where they're having vastly inferior experiences, but that's a subject for another day). This leaves a different kind of mainstream market — the Call of Duty-playing beer-and-pretzels multiplayer brigade who are, for sure, bringing a ton of money into the industry, but who are also indirectly pushing budgets sky-high and encouraging some of the worst practices in the industry.

The market that plays Call of Duty and other big-budget triple-A games on Xbox One and PlayStation 4, in other words, is much larger than the market that plays Mario on Wii U or JRPGs on Vita. This has led to both Wii U and Vita being perceived as "failures" somehow, despite the fact that they're both trundling along quite nicely, seemingly mostly oblivious to the rest of the industry. Both platforms, notably, provide something markedly different from what is seen on PS4 and Xbox One; Xbox One and PS4, conversely, currently have relatively little to distinguish between them — a swathe of predictable triple-A games, a promising-looking indie lineup and a bunch of features a significant number of people aren't sure if they really want or not.

It was highly apparent during Nintendo's event today in particular that the games on offer for Wii U are completely distinct from anything coming down the pipe for Xbox One or PS4. They're colourful, they're family-friendly, they're creative — they're the sort of things computer and video games used to be, in other words. I'm not saying that this is inherently "better" than the muted blues, greys and browns of modern triple-A — those games have their place, even as people like me aren't interested in them — but that they provide something immediately more noticeable and distinctive than the identikit worlds of Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, Call of Duty and Battlefield.

Vita, too, has a ton of interesting, unusual and distinctive games, whether it's colourful JRPGs or portable takes on indie titles. Developers for the platform have long since given up trying to make a "portable triple-A" experience and I, for one, am glad about that. Vita doesn't need to be a portable PS3/PS4 — it needs to be its own thing. And, despite the relatively small number of people who have one, even as more and more people yell about how great games like Persona 4 Golden are, it's doing a very good job at catering to the clear and distinct audience it's been building up.

All this doesn't make Sony's announcement and subsequent retraction of an announcement for Final Fantasy Type-0 on Vita any less frustrating, however. Still, Final Fantasy Type-0 in HD is one more reason to pick up a PS4 or Xbox One, and those, for me, are in short supply so far.

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In case you haven't seen the news yet, here's the relevant post, in which Microsoft explains it's backtracking on almost every single contentious policy that it outlined prior to E3, and which had a significant proportion of the game-playing Internet up in arms.

On the whole, it's good that Microsoft has at least put across the image of being receptive to feedback and willing to act on it, though the ridiculously slow pace at which this news was revealed doesn't fill me with confidence. Negative public and press reaction alike was already swirling around the Internet even when it was just rumours about 24-hour checkins and restrictions on used games; I find it difficult to believe that Microsoft doesn't have at least a few social media monkeys on the payroll who would have noticed this sort of thing. And yet they went ahead and announced their plans anyway.

I'm not sure what they were hoping to achieve. They didn't even attempt to put a positive spin on the restrictions — they were just flat-out restrictions on things you could and could not (mostly the latter) do with your new console and your games. Restrictions that would have made the console completely inoperable in a number of countries on launch — including, amusingly, the homeland of The Witcher 3 developers CD Projekt Red, who were just as surprised to discover the restrictions as the rest of us were.

By posting this "We're Listening" stuff today, they're attempting to paint themselves as the good guy; the massive corporation who listens to Internet outcry and responds accordingly in a seemingly positive manner.

However, there are a few problems with this. They're all hypothetical situations, of course, but none of them bode particularly well for Microsoft in the future. Let's examine them one at a time.

Firstly is the possibility that the whole thing was a carefully-orchestrated PR stunt, which isn't beyond the realm of possibility. Announce a series of ridiculous restrictions on the Xbox One, then a week or two later, announce that you've "listened" to the public and relaxed said restrictions, come out looking like the good guy.

Secondly is the fact that if it's that easy for them to turn off these features on the system — the relaxing of the restrictions will apparently come from a day one patch that — oh snap — you need to be connected to the Internet to download — then it will be just as easy for them to turn them back on again without warning in the future. I'd like to hope that they're not that stupid, but… well, they announced this shit in the first place, so it's going to be a while before they earn the benefit of the doubt in my eyes again.

Thirdly is the fact that this was even considered. This suggests that Microsoft is keen to adopt some form of online strategy like this in the near future, and that if it didn't work like this, it could well be implemented in a much more insidious way.

As I say, most of this is conjecture for now, so I'll leave it at that. It's going to be interesting to see if Microsoft sticks to its promises, though, because they destroyed a lot of people's trust with this whole debacle.

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Let's start with the Xbox One. While it would be tempting to just write "HAHAHAHAHAHA" and leave it at that, Microsoft's strategy, if you can call it that, bears some examination.

The Xbox One was received very negatively when it was first announced, thanks to the reveal's focus on the box's TV aspect. Things didn't get much better when Microsoft revealed an FAQ document detailing the fact that yes, the things everyone had been fearing — the console needs to "phone home" once every 24 hours via the Internet; publishers may choose to restrict the resale and/or trading in of games if desired; you can "pause" Kinect but you can't turn it off — were all true.

The company's E3 presentation was reasonable, but didn't show anything that particularly blew me away. We had Call of Duty: Roman Wars, sorry, I mean Ryse: Son of Rome and a host of other stuff so uninspiring that I can't remember a goodly proportion of it. The few things that were genuinely interesting and outside the "norm" were glossed over; Below, a new title from Sworcery and that weird Might & Magic puzzle RPG that was actually really good developer Capybara was given a minute-long trailer with no explanation, for example.

However, as I wrote over on USgamer the other day, these press conferences aren't designed for people like me — they're designed for people who, for want of a better term, don't know any better. They're designed for the more casual gameplaying public and shareholders, in other words, and consequently need to show off the biggest, the best, the most exciting-looking. It's unfortunate that a significant proportion of the "core" gamer population is growing increasingly weary of the biggest, the best, the most exciting-looking, particularly as their favourite studios regularly suffer rounds of layoffs when, say, their five million-selling game "isn't performing to expectations" or some such nonsense.

All in all, I was left underwhelmed by Xbox One. I didn't see a single title that sold the system to me, and Microsoft's determination to make the platform even more closed off and irritating than it already is is just baffling. It's like they're looking at feedback and then doing the exact opposite. That can't be good business, surely.

—

As for the PS4, I was impressed. I can live without all the social nonsense, though I can see that being a bit of fun on occasion — so long as you can turn it off. The fact that Sony simply said "we're doing things the way we do now" and they got a round of applause says it all, really, though; it's not a case of people being "set in their ways", it's a case of people actively wanting to resist the suspiciously anti-consumer practices that Microsoft are trying to put in place.

Let me go off on a tangent to explain for a moment.

I like owning my games as physical copies, particularly on console. I feel less strongly about this on PC for a reason I haven't quite worked out, but given the option between getting a physical copy and a digital download on console, I will always, without fail, go for the disc.

The primary reason for this is that I want to always be able to play this game, even if, say, PSN no longer exists one day in the distant future. A secondary reason is that I enjoy displaying my collection the way a movie buff displays their DVDs, a music lover displays their CDs and/or records, and a book lover displays their books. There's a growing movement to "declutter" our lives from all this stuff we've collected over the years, and I really dislike it, because it encourages us to think of things as impermanent. While it can be a pain to store and move all this stuff, I know that if I got rid of any of it, I'd regret it. Sure, once I'm done with, say, Ar Tonelico Qoga it's unlikely that I'll go back to it in the immediate future, but what about five years down the line when I hear a snipped of EXEC_COSMOFLIPS and think I'd really like to relive Aoto's adventures?

I'm saying all this for a reason: PS4 fills me with more confidence than Microsoft does in this regard. Xbox One will have disc-based games, sure, but it's abundantly clear that Microsoft mean business on the whole "you are licensing this piece of software, you don't own it" thing that everyone ignores in EULAs these days. We still don't have a straight answer in place for them on what happens when Xbox Live goes down, or when you don't have Internet access, or when your account gets banned or hacked… or years into the future when the Xbox One is a "retro" console and Xbox Live doesn't exist in the same form, or perhaps at all. Can you still play your games? Or does the lack of authentication render them completely useless?

Video games are the only art form where I see this discussion happening, and we're drifting in the wrong direction. As modern games get more and more advanced, they become more and more worthy of preservation as genuine works of art. And yet with each passing console generation seemingly determined to get more and more restrictive and based around connectivity, it's a real concern to me that some of these titles will one day be lost forever.

Anyway. It remains to be seen whether Sony does anything stupid between now and the PS4 coming out — because this is Sony, let's not rule it out — but at present, I'm feeling much more confident about them than Microsoft.

—

As for Nintendo, well, they're Nintendo. Nintendo has always been happy bumbling along doing its own thing… and I'm absolutely fine with that. I have no need for them to try and compete with PS4 and Xbox One or try to become yet another Call of Duty machine. I have no issue with the third-party support that people were whingeing about all the way through the Wii's lifespan but which didn't hurt its profitability at all.

What Nintendo machines do are provide "pure games" — experiences which tend not to have any aspirations to be considered "art", but which provide excellent examples of simply entertaining and fun things to do. For this reason, I'm actually relatively excited to see things like Wii Party U, as Nintendo Land is a big favourite any time friends come over; having something with even more games to play together will be even better.

Anyway, I'm not sure if anyone "won" E3 for me, because I didn't really come away from the show thinking "I MUST BUY THIS GAME THE SECOND IT COMES OUT" with regard to anything, but it was certainly an interesting show. The coming console generation is going to be an intriguing one to watch, and I have a feeling that Microsoft is going to get its nose bloodied more than once in the process. Whether that will take them down completely or just relegate them to the position Sony spent most of this generation in remains to be seen, but it's going to be a hell of a fight to watch.

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That said, it would be quite nice to hang out with some people I only know as Twitter avatars at present – or people that I haven't seen in person for several years.

Things I have seen at E3 that I like so far: Final Fantasy XV, Monolithsoft's X, Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful 101, The Crew, Quantum Break, David Cage's Dark Sorcerer thingy, the PlayStation 4.

Things I have seen at E3 that I am not crazy about: The Xbox One, Battlefield 4, Killzone, Titanfall, Destiny, any other shooters. BORING.

If you want any more from me, go check out USgamer. And I'll be back to my more usual wordy self later in the week all being well.

Now, sleep.

The post 1240: Zzzz appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.

The reason it is 1:43 in the morning and I am still at work is because it is E3. I have been working since 11am yesterday, and I will likely continue working until approximately 4am, at which point I have to drive back to Southampton, which will take nearly two hours. Thankfully, this is the only day that this much crap is going on at E3, so I can live with it for now.

I can also live with it because I'm actually enjoying myself. I can tell I enjoy my job because I think about writing things for it when I'm not "on the clock," as it were. I want to post things. I want to talk about games. It's great fun. The other people who work with me on USgamer feel the same way, too, and we're building a great site through our collective enthusiasm and knowledge.

Speaking of USgamer, the site's now live after a somewhat hectic day. The sites have been up and down all day for various reasons, but they currently seem somewhat stable. Check it out here. Enjoy! And that's all I'm going to write for now, because I need to conserve my energy somewhat!

The post 1239: I Think I'm Actually Dying appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.

Or perhaps a programmer, graphic designer or other exec working in the video game industry?

Or perhaps you're a video game journalist?

If "yes," then it's entirely possible that, much as you would like to go to the upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) — the premier trade show for the computer and video game industry — it's just not practical for you to do so. Perhaps you don't have the finances to subsidise a trip there. Perhaps your company won't pay for you to go. Perhaps, if you're a journalist, you actually prefer covering it on the home front.

It's a terrific opportunity to sit back and watch what's hot in your market without actually having to get hot and sweaty in those crowded exhibition halls.

If you've not been to E3 before, you know the challenge. How do you remain comfortable working far away from the convention centre while simultaneously maintaining a professional attitude?

Many people who are not going to E3 prefer to keep a low profile, wearing casual clothes like a baggy t-shirt and jeans. But in an industry increasingly based around remote working, it's worthwhile to spend some time thinking about how what you wear can have a significant impact on your comfort level, while simultaneously allowing you a certain degree of decency if the postman comes to the door with that package you've been expecting for a while.

My suggestion for the gentlemen is this rather fetching Marks & Spencer stretch cotton "Grumpy and Grumpier" two-pack of trunks, with a design copyrighted by Disney. For just £15 GBP, these trunks offer a soft, comfortable fit and add variety to your underwear drawer while simultaneously accurately reflecting your mental state at not being invited to any of those E3 parties.

The trunks include an elasticated waistband for added comfort while consuming entire "sharing bags" of crisps at your desk, and also have a keyhole fly opening for easy access when the beer you're drinking has its inevitable effect on your bladder.

The more modest man-in-his-home office may wish to pair the trunks with this cotton-rich towelling dressing gown. Made from soft and comfortable cotton-rich fabric, this dressing gown has a rich texture for rapidly absorbing moisture, making it ideal for after a bath or shower, or just if you're rather sweaty. It is getting quite warm out, after all. It's also snag-resistant, meaning it stays looking newer for longer.

This product was rated 4.5 out of 5 by people who cared enough to rate it on Marks & Spencer's website, leading some to refer to it as "the Citizen Kane of towelling robes" — an accolade sure to be plastered all over adverts for the robe soon.

For the ladies… I don't know, wear whatever the fuck you want, and don't let Forbes tell you what to do.

The post 1234: Not Going to E3 2013? Here's What to Wear appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.

E3's leaving me a bit cold this year. The fact I'm not covering it for a gaming website is actually a blessed relief, as it means I don't have to stay up until ass o' clock in the morning watching cringeworthy live performances from executives who should know better. But I'm not even feeling particularly inspired to seek out the big news from it myself — nothing's grabbing me as hugely exciting. The most interesting thing to me is probably Nintendo's new console, which does some genuinely innovative and cool things — but we'll have to wait and see on pricing.

E3's not necessarily about people like me though. It's first and foremost about the suits and the money, secondly about the press and the actual gaming public comes in a distant third somewhere. It is, in essence, a huge PR circus whereby lots of companies can make outlandish promises about their new products and hope no-one remembers by the time the product in question actually comes out. (See: anything Peter Molyneux or Microsoft have ever said, anything regarding motion control, anything regarding Vitality Sensors.) It's an important time for publishers to show off their big new titles to keep their shareholders happy, and for the press to help keep the buzz flowing.

I've never been to an E3, so I can't speak for what the experience of actually being there is like. I'm sure smaller developers and publishers are there, too, but I feel a bit sorry for them. As is always the case, the big news is always about what Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo, Ubisoft and EA are up to — and probably something Call of Duty-related from Activision, too. Smaller companies are there to get their products noticed, too, but it must regularly seem like an uphill battle to them when all the big sites want to cover is Halo 4, Call of Duty 300 and other Games With Guns In.

There have been a few surprises, of course. Ubisoft's Watch_Dogs is looking cool — at least it did until the dude pulled a gun out — and David Cage's latest project is sure to be just as interesting and divisive as his previous work. I'm not yet convinced by The Last of Us (ugh, zombies) and I want to know more about pricing before I get too excited about Wii U.

Herein lies the rub, though. I couldn't give a crap about the "big games". I know that plenty of people do, otherwise we wouldn't be on our sixth Halo game, our fifth Assassin's Creed game (not counting spinoff titles) and our four hundred and seventy-sixth Mario title. And the big sites certainly cover the big games with aplomb. But where is the discussion about more niche titles like Larian Studios' upcoming new Divinity game and the batshit-crazy looking Dragon Commander? Where's the love for independent developers? Where can I find what I'll be putting in my shopping cart without question next time there's a Steam sale?

This information is out there, I'm sure, but it's hard to find. It's easy to be cynical about E3 because of the information that gets the highest priority. "Biggest budget" seems to equate to "most important" in the eyes of a lot of press and public alike, and that's a bit of a shame. For me, the most important titles should be the ones that move the genre forward, the ones that do genuinely interesting things, the ones that I'd want to discuss on the Squadron of Shame SquadCast. But I guess they call things like that "niche" for a reason.

Also, fuck E3 memes. If one more person makes a "my body is ready" joke I will punch them. Hard.

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• I have changed my day counter to the number of days since I started posting every day because 1) it's more satisfying that way, 2) I'm annoyed I missed my 500th day and 3) I'm sick of having to bring up a calculator every time I want to work out how many days I've done this non-stop.
• E3 coverage has calmed down somewhat. Most of the big announcements have been made. Now it seems to be mostly up to the show floor team to flesh out those announcements with some hands-on impressions. Kind of sad I'm not there. One day! Maybe.
• Getting people to pay for things is complicated. Whiskey Media did a bold experiment with charging for content and so far it seems to have been mostly successful for them. I haven't signed up, but then I don't read their sites that much. If I was more attached, I might be convinced — as someone on the other side of the potential paywall, I'm all for ways in which content creators can get paid for their work. Unfortunately, some people are still wary of this sort of thing — although porn sites have been running a successful "pay for content" industry for years. Like most things technological, porn once again leads the way.

  I think about this every time I cover a Facebook game. Who is paying for the stuff in these games? There are fucking hundreds of the bastard things, so they must be making money somehow. Are people really forking over hard-earned money purely so they can pussy out of completing a quest objective? Are people really spending money on an "exclusive" cat statue to put in the middle of their field that is not real?

  Then there's the free-to-play "proper" games — many of which are actually getting seriously good. These I can actually understand paying money for somewhat more. The recently-remastered APB, for example. You can play it for free, but for access to full character customization (which is probably something of a bandwidth hog) you have to fork out for a premium subscription. This is still cheaper than the game was on its initial release, though, because although you're paying monthly, you didn't have to pay anything for the game in the first place. Unless you went out and bought it when it was released, in which case more fool you for not reading reviews first. (As a free to play game, though, it's pretty good fun — I suggest you check it out.)

  The key, it seems, is to make sure that people don't feel like they have to pay for something. If you grind to a complete halt in a game until you fork over some Facebook Credits or you bank details, that's a bad thing. If you can make progress in a game without having to pay anything, but spending a bit of money speeds things up a bit or gives you some sort of additional (non game-breaking) benefit, that's a good thing. If you can spend money in order to not have to complete mission objectives, that's a bad thing, although some people really are that lazy, I guess.

  The next few years are going to be interesting to see. Will people start paying for content on websites? Will people want to shell out $60 for Call of Duty and then subscribe to Elite on top of that when free to play games offer competitive services for significantly less?

  Will this bullet point ever end?

• Why yes, yes it will.

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More E3 gubbins today, with the big news being Nintendo's announcement of its new console, the Wii U, which features a controller with a big-ass touchscreen in the middle of it. It looks pretty damn impressive, to be fair, but it remains to be seen whether or not it'll become just another gimmick for people to deride.

That said, I liked the Wii. It was a good console for social gaming. And I'm not talking about bollocksy "Share This With Your Friends!" Facebook titles — I'm talking about getting together with actual real-life three-dimensional people in the same room and playing fun games. Maybe the Wii's games weren't the most hardcore — but have you ever played a "hardcore" game with friends who aren't particularly up on their gaming? It becomes an exercise in frustration, with experienced players either deliberately having to nerf themselves or the less-experienced ones giving up out of sheer frustration. The Wii knew exactly what its market was, and it tapped it perfectly with the minigame collections and the motion control. Hardcore gaming it was not, but the 360 and PS3 covered that more than adequately, so Nintendo had no need to compete.

Now, though, it's a different story. Microsoft is wooing the former Wii market with all its Kinect shenanigans and running the risk of alienating the core user base, were it not for platform mainstays such as Call of Duty, Gears of War and the like. Microsoft's E3 press conference left a lot of gamers frustrated that there wasn't more for "them" on offer, but Microsoft have seen the success Nintendo had with the Wii and want a piece of that pie — and given the Wii's dated technology, are perfectly entitled to that.

Nintendo, in response, fight back with a new console that purports to offer the best of both worlds — a casual-friendly console that supports all existing Wii hardware and software that is also a hardcore-friendly console that will see hopefully great versions of big-name games like Batman: Arkham City with the additional benefit of both the world's biggest VMU (Dreamcast-five!) and the ability to carry on playing whenever your significant other and/or housemate bursts into the room desperate to watch Britain's Got Desperate People Who Really Want To Be On Television Despite Being Shit and Absolute Cunts. It looks awesome, though a lot will depend on the price of the system — and its crazy controller.

Meanwhile, in PC land, we continue to have the most backward-compatible system in the universe with the cheapest games in the universe (excepting that little games exchange on Zargon Prime, they actually do have the cheapest games in the universe) and consoles start to look just a little bit gimmicky. Possibly.

Oh dear. PC snobbery is starting to infest my brain!

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I've got to say, considering that E3 is the biggest event in the games industry's calendar, I'm largely underwhelmed by what's been on show so far. Battlefield 3 is impressive — even for a non-military shooter sort of man — and of course there's a tent in my pants over TrackMania 2 Canyon, but when the most impressive thing you've seen so far is arguably a new 2D Rayman game, you have to wonder what's going on.

Perhaps it's cynicism. It's easy to become jaded by endless news posts and press releases about how awesome this not-particularly awesome feature of some obscure game is. You get to a point where you just stop listening to the endless hyperbole and make your own mind up — but unfortunately by that point, all you can hear when you see something genuinely impressive is the PR person in your ear going "Revolutionary! Innovative! Game-changing! First time ever!" and you just want to punch yourself in the nose. Well, maybe not. That would hurt.

Cynicism aside, though, there's a few disappointing no-shows so far. Ubisoft still won't make Beyond Good and Evil 2, despite it being an obvious fan favourite. Microsoft's press conference is depressingly predictable, being full of Kinect and other bollocks. And EA didn't announce an Xbox Live Arcade version of M.U.L.E.

EA's conference has, so far at least, been the strongest one, with some great-looking titles on offer. Need for Speed: The Run in particular looks fantastic, and the addition of QTE-driven "get out and run away frantically in a 24 stylee" sequences look set to give the whole thing a wonderful action movie vibe. QTEs aren't to everyone's tastes, but I like them when used effectively, and The Run looks like it will be using them well to create a dramatic, exciting road adventure. Plus it uses Autolog, so it's time to get ridiculously addicted to challenging each other's times again.

As for Sony's conference, which is coming up in about 20 minutes at the time of writing, I'm not sure what to expect. Couldn't give a damn about Resistance 3, though I'm sure someone out there is excited. Will be intrigued to see how uncomfortable it all is following the PSN woes of recent months.

One thing's for sure, though: I will sleep well tonight. Or indeed this morning, whenever I am able to actually get to bed.

Head over to GamePro to check out my show coverage so far.

The post #oneaday Day 157: E3 appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.

LOS ANGELES, June 06, 2011

"I'm tremendously excited about this announcement," said Papa Bear, CEO of GeneriCon. "Our 15 years of experience at teasing the industry is sure to pay off this E3 when we build up to absolutely nothing of any substance whatsoever. They'll be begging for more by the time we're finished — but they're not going to get it!"

GeneriCon's announcement ceremony will feature a special appearance by the Cirque de la Lune, a fraternity of performing minstrels from Paragon City who have not yet realized that they are fictional constructs born from the imagination of massively multiplayer online RPG players. Supporting Cirque de la Lune will be a troupe of performing badgers and the worlds most synchronized brigade of elephants.

"The practice of announcing a new project at E3 is passé," said Julian Ivanov, VP of Commercial, Corporate and Certifiable Communications. "We are revolutionizing the practice of announcements. After this E3, people will be wondering whether they should even bother attending the show in the first place, so little will actually be revealed on the show floor. But the answer is simple, of course — come to see our elephants."

Visit GeneriCon's booth on the show floor, booth number 6969, to see absolutely nothing whatsoever. Private media showings, including exclusive reveals, can be arranged by emailing suckitup@genericon.com.

ABOUT GENERICON

Founded in 1996 by the son of an advertising legend and a Belgian, GeneriCon has since proven itself to be a world leader in the field of PR and marketing teasers as well as having the highest staff turnover of any company in history. Despite ample coverage from the press, consumers have not yet noticed that the company is yet to release an actual product onto the market.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

From time to time, GeneriCon may use statements such as "will", "might", "should", "hope to", "want to", "intend to", "will possibly", "maybe might", "probably", "definitely will", "definitely won't", "possibly will", "almost certainly will", "absolutely, positively, totally will", "really wish we could", "have extremely good intentions to", or "think we might just". These statements should not be taken as official confirmation of an intent to do anything at all and, in fact, it's probably safer if you just ignore them altogether, just like you're ignoring this whole paragraph because it waffles on forever and ever and doesn't really make any sense. GeneriCon reserves the right to decline all knowledge of the use of any forward-looking statements at any time, even if they were on the record and appear on audio or visual evidence, because you probably just made it up because that's what journalists do, isn't it? Any use of forward-looking statements is not admissible in a court of law and is not an admission of liability should someone come to injury as a result of waiting for a non-existent product. All rights reserved, except the ones which might cost us money.

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Games are cool.

Whatever you might think of Kinect, PlayStation Move, the Nintendo 3DS, the million-and-one first-person shooters on display, Assassin's Creed, Child of Eden, Ubisoft's DRM policies or fitness games, one thing is clear.

Games are cool. And they're here to stay.

There's always a lot of cynicism around at E3 time, particularly when new technology is shown off. Especially if said new technology appears to be somewhat gimmicky, or limited in its practical applications. But the flip side of all the more outlandish stuff we've seen so far is that it's a symbol of the diversification of the "gaming" genre. Games are no longer the sole preserve of the spotty, overweight, greasy-haired teenage boy who would rather lock himself in his room than go out and meet people. Though those people still exist. I am one of them. Sometimes, at least.

No, rather, we're getting to the stage now where there's something for everyone. I was interviewed for a position at a major chain of games retailers today, and one of the things I was asked about was whether I'd be comfortable selling something like a Wii game – you know, those interminable collections of minigames. Babysitting Party, that sort of thing. I could answer with some confidence that yes, I would, because I know people that those games would appeal to. They're not "gamers", they're not the sort of people who would be sitting around in their pants watching E3 press conferences (you know who you are) and they probably wouldn't even consider themselves part of the gaming community. But they're still there, and it's great that they are. They might never "graduate" onto more "hardcore" games, but that doesn't matter either. Who says you have to? If you enjoy reading but you find great literature tough going are you forced to "graduate" from pulp novels to Dostoyevsky? No. (Unless you're doing an English degree.) So it should be that if you enjoy Wii Play with friends, you shouldn't be obliged to end up playing Gears of War.

The barrier for entry to the world of games as an entertainment medium is now practically non-existent. Very little in the way of technical knowledge is required to get started, save the ability to plug things into the right holes in your TV. There's no arbitrary rules to follow – Atari users will remember holding down the "Option" key while they turned their system on fondly, for example – and there's no complicated things to learn. The experience is becoming more and more intuitive, and with technologies like Kinect, whatever you may think of its real-world applications, we're getting closer and closer to a world where absolutely everyone, regardless of age, gender and technical ability can enjoy interactive entertainment without feeling stigmatised.

We're not quite there yet. Games still do have a bit of a stigma to shake off. There are subcultures within the larger group who let us all down a bit. But they have just as much right to exist and enjoy what they enjoy as the sort of person who buys Job Island for the Wii.

Gaming is no longer a thing for just one specific group of people to enjoy. It is – or at least should be – something that absolutely everyone can enjoy on their own terms.

Games are cool. And if you close yourself off to that completely like some people choose to, you're denying yourself a whole world of entertainment.

The post #oneaday, Day 149: Games are Cool appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.

Screw this motion control crap – I just watched a press conference on the other side of the world while lying in bed with my phone.

That was a tweet from Alex Martin that I received a few minutes ago. And when I think about what I've done today, it's pretty clear that we are most definitely living in the future.

I started my day feeling a bit lonely as I hadn't seen any actual real people for a little while. So I went out to the coffee shop and took my netbook with me. While I was there, I gratuitously solicited questions for my Formspring account (which people were more than happy to furnish me with) and also dropped in on the freshly-created Squadron of Shame Squawkbox.

I ended up sitting in that coffee shop for about four hours, discussing things with people from all over the world – some deep and profound, other things less so. Then it was time to come home, because as part of my job as a News Editor for Kombo.com I was on the "home team" for the E3 coverage.

I'm gutted that I'm not actually at E3. But the experience I've had throughout the course of this evening is the next best thing. I've had IM windows open with people frantically telling me to cover stories. I've had the Squawkbox open to see the Squad's reactions. And I've had Twitter open to see everyone else's reactions. As sad as it sounds, despite sitting on my own in my study in front of the computer, I've not been alone tonight. There have been many people with me, all following the same things, watching the live streams on their computers. It's as if we were all in the audience together, making sly comments to one another.

Whenever Microsoft showed off the ability to watch, say, Netflix movies as an Xbox party, I always thought it seemed a bit pointless. But after sitting watching the E3 conferences with a group of friends who aren't even on the same continent let alone in the same room as me, I think I've reconsidered a little bit.

Obviously there's no substitute for real human interaction. But when the real thing isn't possible, the fact that we live in the future makes a very adequate substitute. So big love, kudos and respect to everyone who's helped make today a huge amount of fun, and I look forward to doing it all again very soon.

I have plenty of thoughts about what's been shown at E3 so far but I've been posting news articles all day and frankly I'm completely burnt out. So I'll save further thoughts until I'm a bit more awake.

Job interview tomorrow. Quite looking forward to it. It may not be the ideal job for my current situation, but it's a foot back on the ladder and has the potential to lead onto better things. So right now I'll take what I can get.

One thing's clear to me right now as it approaches 3AM where I'm sitting: I'm certainly feeling a lot more positive than I did when I woke up this morning. And it's thanks to you, Internet. Big love to you all.

The post #oneaday, Day 148: We Live In The Future appeared first on I'm Not Doctor Who.

Predictably, everyone creamed themselves over the Modern Warfare 2 trailer and gameplay footage which I, ever the rebel, remain relatively indifferent about, though it is remarkably pretty. Halo fanboys spooged copiously over ODST and the "secret" Halo title, Reach. This I am completely indifferent about. When Bungie said they had a "top secret" project to announce, I was hoping they were going to show a new Myth game or something like that… but no. Bungie make Halo and nothing else now, it seems. Fair play, it's made them an awful lot of money but seriously guys, something new once in a while really wouldn't go amiss.

Other notable mentions went to Crackdown 2, sequel to the underrated open-world funfest from a while back – and for my money, one of the best implementations of co-op (or perhaps it should be more accurately called "concurrent play", since you can both happily charge off in opposite directions if you want to) I've ever seen.

Then there was Splinter Cell: Conviction, which does look like it's trying some revolutionary new tricks with presentation. Rather than having mission objectives and cutscenes taking players out of the action, many things appear "projected" on the walls, be these instructions or even flashback cutscenes. It was a really interesting approach, and the game looks to be supremely cinematic because of it. It's certainly enough to get me interested in Splinter Cell again, a series I haven't touched for quite some time.

Then there was Alan Wake, a game which many were worrying had fallen into the abyss of vaporware. But no – we saw it, including some gameplay footage. It looks to be something of a cross between Max Payne and Silent Hill, with, like Splinter Cell, some interesting presentational features. Wake's narration of the action hearkens back to Max Payne's overblown drawl from his games, and the use of light and dark is reminiscent of some scenes in the Silent Hill series. It certainly looks incredible, too, and could well be the thing that makes 360 owners feel a bit better about not having Heavy Rain to play.

Kojima also snuck onto stage and dropped the fact that a new MGS game starring Raiden would be hitting 360, and Square showed off some FFXIII footage. Both will likely be great, but there was nothing there we hadn't expected.

The main part of the keynote revolved around the Project Natal technology, which allows real-time motion capture and voice recognition, allowing players to interact with games without needing a controller. It was made very clear at the outset of the presentation that this was primarily intended to be a means by which non-gamers could be attracted to interactive entertainment – but of course, this hasn't stopped hardcore gamers bitching and moaning as they always do.

We saw a number of demos, including some questionable real-time avatar motion capture and animation and a fun-looking tech demo called Ricochet (essentially body-controlled Breakout). We also saw how Natal will allow users to interact with the Dashboard in a distinctly Minority Report manner by swishing their hands around and, much to the disgust of Atheistium over at viera.nu, allow their avatars to try on girly clothes while having a video chat. (To be fair, this was pretty cringeworthy, but I don't see it being a huge part of most gamers' lives.)

It was Peter Molyneux's work with Natal that provoked the most interest and curiosity, however. Presenting a virtual human called Milo, he demonstrated the capabilities of Natal along with software by showing someone interacting with Milo by speaking naturally and using realistic gestures to interact with the virtual world. At one point, Milo invites the player to look into the water and a real reflection of the player appears on-screen, with the ripples in the water responding to their "touch". It was a pretty incredible sight, and a glimpse of what the future might hold, especially for games like Oblivion. (Thanks to Ajguy for suggesting this.) Imagine being able to hold a naturalistic conversation with an NPC rather than tediously clicking through a list of topics.

As I mentioned earlier, reception has been mixed. Natal is undoubtedly amazing technology (assuming it works) but the self-professes "hardcore gamers" of the world are already up in arms about "dumbing down". But the fact is, just like the Wii is not a system for these people, Natal and its features are not designed for this audience. What Natal will allow Microsoft to do is broaden their audience from the core of gamers to families and other non-gamers. With the introduction of other services on the Dashboard such as last.fm, instant-on 1080p movies (I remain cynical about this, given the general crapness of my connection) and live TV from Sky, the aim is very much to turn the Xbox from a simple games system to an all-purpose multimedia box that sits under the television as the centrepiece of your digital life.

I don't think that's such a bad thing. No-one suggested once that hardcore gamers would be left out in the cold – quite the contrary, in fact, with the announcement of big titles like Modern Warfare 2, Crackdown 2, Left 4 Dead 2 (yayz!) and numerous others. What Natal will do is simply open up the field of interactive entertainment to more people. If all they want to do is prance around like a pillock in front of their TV, then let them. But there's always the possibility that they'll get interested enough in the hobby to join the growing number of gamers out there and enjoy this rapidly-changing medium.

I think that's quite a pleasant image of the future, in fact. Let's see what happens.

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