NS reactions to E3

[Peddieville]

Sim City looks interesting-always loved that series, and it looks like they learned their lesson with Societies. SC4 was a phenomenal game, and if they can build off of and modernize that, they'll have a winner. AC III should be solid, at least. The setting seems odd, but they can probably pull it off. The original Most Wanted was a great game, but I feel like the Need for Speed series has run its course.

From the trailer that I saw, it seems that they haven't given up on city specialization

I kind of like city specialization in that it should (theoretically) lead to more "natural" cities, at least when you're developing whole regions, but they need to incorporate spillover pollution if they're gonna do that. Since the whole game looks like it's gonna be handled server-side, that I don't see why that shouldn't be possible.

and they're trying to incorporate elements from Cities XL games.

Not necessarily a bad thing. For example, curvy roads.

It definitely seems like they've moved way the hell away from the whole sort of social engineering thing that they were doing in societies and back to city simulation. The new engine seems cool, and multiplayer could be fun. It's not all good. The graphics are still too cutesy, and the whole "Sims Matter" thing could be them pushing that horrible third tab from SC4. From what I read that doesn't seem like what they're doing, but you never know. The new plopables could be cool as long as they're for civic buildings only. Modular expanding them seems better than putting an elementary school on every other block.

[Ganos Lao]

I'm also pretty amped about Madden which is introducing a Real time physics engine. If it is properly implemented and relatively bugless, I will be buying.

Isn't Madden the bane of the sports game world? From what I've read, Madden is one of the archdemons of gaming hell, with COD being its Great Satan.

[Trotskylvania]

I had fun once. It was terrible.

[Frisivisia]

I'm also pretty amped about Madden which is introducing a Real time physics engine. If it is properly implemented and relatively bugless, I will be buying.

Isn't Madden the bane of the sports game world? From what I've read, Madden is one of the archdemons of gaming hell, with COD being its Great Satan.

I don't always play sports games, but when I do, I turn difficulty all the way down and score ungodly amounts of points.

LIKE A N00B!

[Awesomeland]

Most of the big name games were playable in one capacity or another

So you claim. What proof do you have of this? All you saw was someone ELSE, no doubt conveniently placed shills, "playing" it. What you describe is actually impossible to implausible: There cannot be a game that is playable, because the game does not exist. Since the game does not actually exist yet, unless you are positing time travel, there cannot actually be a playable game. Therefore, what you saw was an obvious fake, an attempt to fool you into believing in a game that does not actually exist.

Rockstar doesnt really participate at E3. The only time I remember them there was for Saints row 3. And they didnt really show anything, they just had a bikini car wash outside

Makes sense to me. Holding a bikini car wash has absolutely nothing to do with the game, nor does it utilize any of the skills or personnel involved in making the game. As such, it's not wasting the time of the production staff who should be making an actual game.

[Nansurium]

I'm also pretty amped about Madden which is introducing a Real time physics engine. If it is properly implemented and relatively bugless, I will be buying.

Isn't Madden the bane of the sports game world? From what I've read, Madden is one of the archdemons of gaming hell, with COD being its Great Satan.

The thing you need to understand is that sports gamers love to complain more than any other "demographic" within the gaming industry. So every year, the developers spend all Spring sunshine pumping for their game, and we happily devour every bit of garbage they feed us. Then when the game hits the store shelfs and we discover that half of the features they promoted don't even work properly, some people tend to get violently angry. This has been going on now for a decade and yet every year we somehow convince ourselves that this development team will finally get their act together. Hopefully this is the year.

But you're right. Call of Duty is the Great Satan.

Battlefield 3 is the holy messiah.

[Volhynia (Ancient)]

Most of the big name games were playable in one capacity or another

So you claim. What proof do you have of this? All you saw was someone ELSE, no doubt conveniently placed shills, "playing" it. What you describe is actually impossible to implausible: There cannot be a game that is playable, because the game does not exist. Since the game does not actually exist yet, unless you are positing time travel, there cannot actually be a playable game. Therefore, what you saw was an obvious fake, an attempt to fool you into believing in a game that does not actually exist.

All I read was "Wah, I couldn't play the game." Which you wouldn't of been able to anyway unless you were invited into, since regular populace aren't allowed in. You're seriously arguing over this? Have you never maybe hear of demos? Alphas? Betas? Ffs, man, do some research before talking crap.

[Ganos Lao]

Isn't Madden the bane of the sports game world? From what I've read, Madden is one of the archdemons of gaming hell, with COD being its Great Satan.

The thing you need to understand is that sports gamers love to complain more than any other "demographic" within the gaming industry. So every year, the developers spend all Spring sunshine pumping for their game, and we happily devour every bit of garbage they feed us. Then when the game hits the store shelfs and we discover that half of the features they promoted don't even work properly, some people tend to get violently angry. This has been going on now for a decade and yet every year we somehow convince ourselves that this development team will finally get their act together. Hopefully this is the year.

But you're right. Call of Duty is the Great Satan.

Battlefield 3 is the holy messiah.

The only sports games I really like to play are the NHL games and I haven't really had any real problems with those (except when NHL 12 would freeze up when loading whenever I was signed onto the PSN).

Besides, I wasn't saying I looked down at Madden or COD like that. I was just summarizing the opinions of both i've read on gaming forums.

[Awesomeland]

All I read was "Wah, I couldn't play the game." Which you wouldn't of been able to anyway unless you were invited into, since regular populace aren't allowed in.

Actually, I've never played any of those games, and actually have no particular desire to do so, since, you know, they don't actually exist. And of course no one was allowed in. Because if they were, the obvious fakery would be revealed.

You're seriously arguing over this? Have you never maybe hear of demos?

Fake, not the actual game. You know why very few people even bother to make those anymore? Because it takes away significant resources from trying to make an actual GAME, as such a thing has to be presentable to the public, instead of merely some paid shills.

Alphas? Betas?

This is what they call "release" now. Since the game has not been released, there is no such thing in this case.

[Ganos Lao]

Nothing. I pay no attention whatsoever to vaporware, lies, and propaganda. None of these products actually exist, and skill in Photoshop and Movie Maker does not make a game. If these people put half as much effort into making games as they did on creating ridiculous flim-flam for the gullible, there would actually be amazing games, instead of this obvious fakery.

I am hopeful that we don't see another Tali'Zorah vas Photoshop nar GettyImages incident in gaming - that was quite honestly the lowest I've seen a game developer go when it comes to laziness (and they couldn't even do a proper half-assing of it, since the fingers weren't even done right. )

[Wisconsin9]

Most of the big name games were playable in one capacity or another

So you claim. What proof do you have of this? All you saw was someone ELSE, no doubt conveniently placed shills, "playing" it. What you describe is actually impossible to implausible: There cannot be a game that is playable, because the game does not exist. Since the game does not actually exist yet, unless you are positing time travel, there cannot actually be a playable game. Therefore, what you saw was an obvious fake, an attempt to fool you into believing in a game that does not actually exist.

Ah, but that's where you're wrong: the completed version of the game simply does not exist at this point in what we interpret as the space-time continuum. The game exists, just not at this specific temporal exclusion zone.

[Awesomeland]

I am hopeful that we don't see another Tali'Zorah vas Photoshop nar GettyImages incident in gaming - that was quite honestly the lowest I've seen a game developer go when it comes to laziness.

It always gets worse. You think that's an isolated incident? No, such behavior is common. Anything happens once happens all the time. The idea that anything is "special" is pure snowflakery. There's no such thing as an isolated incident. Seen from the bigger picture, everything is common. You seen one, you seen 'em all.

Ah, but that's where you're wrong: the completed version of the game simply does not exist at this point in what we interpret as the space-time continuum. The game exists, just not at this specific temporal exclusion zone.

Yeah, that'd be what we call "time travel". At this particular point in time, all that exists is a rigged demo. There is no evidence that anything OTHER than that exists at any OTHER time, and if you believe there is, then I'm an exiled Nigerian prince and the money I promised you is going to show up any day now.

[Zeth Rekia]

wasn't impressed.

[Volhynia (Ancient)]

All I read was "Wah, I couldn't play the game." Which you wouldn't of been able to anyway unless you were invited into, since regular populace aren't allowed in.

Actually, I've never played any of those games, and actually have no particular desire to do so, since, you know, they don't actually exist. And of course no one was allowed in. Because if they were, the obvious fakery would be revealed.

As a final product, but the program files on the developers computers/servers are entirely real. Just because YOU don't get to play it doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Your argument is completely baseless in reality other then "I CANT PLAY IT THEREFORE IT DOESNT EXIST HERPDERP". You can't see air either, do you think that doesn't either? What about gravity? I can't see it! Therefore it's fake! FAKE!

You're seriously arguing over this? Have you never maybe hear of demos?

Fake, not the actual game. You know why very few people even bother to make those anymore? Because it takes away significant resources from trying to make an actual GAME, as such a thing has to be presentable to the public, instead of merely some paid shills.

Uh-huh, too bad it's still in, you know, the development stages. E3 has been and has never claimed to be otherwise a place for developers to show and create hype about their products. If you don't like, then don't fucking watch it! Just because you can't be there doesn't mean you can claim such things are fake. I can't see you, therefore everything you say is a lie because I can't see it.

Alphas? Betas?

This is what they call "release" now. Since the game has not been released, there is no such thing in this case.

Nope.

Here, I'll even give you some nice information:

esting starts as soon as first code is written and increases as the game progresses towards completion.[8][9] The main QA team will monitor the game from its first submission to the QA until as late as post-production.[9] Early in the game development process the testing team is small and focuses on daily feedback for new code. As the game approaches alpha stage, more team members are employed and test plan is written. Sometimes features that are not bugs are reported as bugs and sometimes programming team fails to fix issues first time around.[10] A good bug-reporting system may help the programmers work efficiently.

As the projects enters beta stage, the testing team will have clear assignments for each day. Tester feedback may determine final decisions of exclusion or inclusion of final features. Introducing previously uninvolved testers with fresh perspective may help identify new bugs.[9][11] At this point the lead tester communicates with the producer and department heads daily.[12] If the developer has external publisher, then coordination with publisher's QA team starts. For console games, a build for console company QA team is sent. Beta testing may involve volunteers, for example, if the game is multiplayer.[11]

Testers receive scheduled uniquely identifiable game builds[11] from the developers.[citation needed] The game is play-tested and testers note any uncovered errors. These may range from bugs to art glitches to logic errors and level bugs. Testing requires creative gameplay to discover often subtle bugs. Some bugs are easy to document, but many require detailed description so a developer can replicate or find the bug. Testers implement concurrency control to avoid logging bugs multiple times.[citation needed] Many video game companies separate technical requirement testing from functionality testing altogether since a different testing skillset is required.[5]

There are subsquent builds of games, and they are all tested. What you see at these events are parts of the game they have worked on, or a specifically created trailer/demo for the audience to see. The developers, incase you didn't know this, are COMPANIES. And what is the best way to get people to know about your product, and from there get excited about it? That's right, advertisement. And what are the previews and trailers for? Advertisement, that's right! Here, you get a gold little star.

So if you don't like it? Oh well, they're still going to put it out and no one in the world is going to force you to watch it. It is made for a reason, and it a very effective reason. Just because you can't be there doesn't make it any less true or effective; I know, huge shocker.

[The UEG-Space Command]

Cannot wait for Halo 4, though it might suffer Mass Effect syndrome.

[Wisconsin9]

Cannot wait for Halo 4, though it might suffer Mass Effect syndrome.

Never would have guessed.

[Ganos Lao]

-Nevermind-

[NotFreeLandia]

Resident Evil 6, the new Gears, the South Park RPG, can't wait for some of these

that new Fable game looks dumb, though, I like Fable but it's not the kind of game that should be purely Kinect

[Ganos Lao]

I am hopeful that we don't see another Tali'Zorah vas Photoshop nar GettyImages incident in gaming - that was quite honestly the lowest I've seen a game developer go when it comes to laziness.

It always gets worse. You think that's an isolated incident? No, such behavior is common. Anything happens once happens all the time. The idea that anything is "special" is pure snowflakery. There's no such thing as an isolated incident. Seen from the bigger picture, everything is common. You seen one, you seen 'em all.

One can hope, right?

It just made me facepalm (although those who say it's no big deal honestly make me facepalm even more), and I'm not even a Talimancer at that. It goes beyond trivial details like that. I mean, even Interplay made the talking heads in Fallout 1/2 fully animated. They didn't just photoshop Miss England and forget their own lore (which seems to be quite the recurring problem for them) in the process while being incapable of even doing a proper half-assing.

I still contend Traynor got the worst treatment, though. Tali may have been reduced to less important then some IGN bimbo no one knows about, and Jacob may have become a cliche black man, but at least they had some form of character.

Samantha Traynor could be essentially boiled down to: "We'll bang, ok?"

But, in the end, all I know is that there was no excuse for Tali being treated like that; all that talk about "derp thousands of pictures!" is pure BS, and I can't in good conscience support any developer who would do that. It wouldn't fly anywhere else and shouldn't fly here.

Cannot wait for Halo 4, though it might suffer Mass Effect syndrome.

Halo 4 will end in a red, blue, or green ending full of plotholes, which will ultimately lay waste to whatever replay value the franchise's games have? Damn, that sounds bad.

I'm sure Halo has had a coherent storyline though, one that was actually planned out from the beginning and which wasn't so all over the place that it forced the developers to write themselves into a corner and have to cram everything into the final installment, specifically its endings, to the point that they may have to retcon paid-for DLC just to get by.

[Costa Fiero]

I'm really liking/wanting Far Cry 3. That trailer made me happy.

I hear some company is developing ultra realistic graphics for vehicle damage using the previous Far Cry 2 game engine.

[Tergnitz]

Watch Dogs is /the/ shit!!

The awesome gameplay vid for Halo 4 has also hyped me up for Master Chief's next installment; previously I was pretty meh about it to be hoenst. New Gears is yawn; new Splinter Cell is the same. Tomb Raider is looking to be one of the best games at show in my books. I love the Dead Space franchise, but I honestly think that co-op is the wrong direction to go with it; but I'll be picking it up anyway, haha. What I really want to see at the moment is Dishonored; more on the new Sim City, GTAV, COH2 and CD Projekt Red's 'Cyberpunk.'

All in all, seems to be a great show for hardcore gamers this year.

[The UEG-Space Command]

It always gets worse. You think that's an isolated incident? No, such behavior is common. Anything happens once happens all the time. The idea that anything is "special" is pure snowflakery. There's no such thing as an isolated incident. Seen from the bigger picture, everything is common. You seen one, you seen 'em all.

One can hope, right?

It just made me facepalm (although those who say it's no big deal honestly make me facepalm even more), and I'm not even a Talimancer at that. It goes beyond trivial details like that. I mean, even Interplay made the talking heads in Fallout 1/2 fully animated. They didn't just photoshop Miss England and forget their own lore (which seems to be quite the recurring problem for them) in the process while being incapable of even doing a proper half-assing.

I still contend Traynor got the worst treatment, though. Tali may have been reduced to less important then some IGN bimbo no one knows about, and Jacob may have become a cliche black man, but at least they had some form of character.

Samantha Traynor could be essentially boiled down to: "We'll bang, ok?"

But, in the end, all I know is that there was no excuse for Tali being treated like that; all that talk about "derp thousands of pictures!" is pure BS, and I can't in good conscience support any developer who would do that. It wouldn't fly anywhere else and shouldn't fly here.

Cannot wait for Halo 4, though it might suffer Mass Effect syndrome.

Halo 4 will end in a red, blue, or green ending full of plotholes, which will ultimately lay waste to whatever replay value the franchise's games have? Damn, that sounds bad.

I'm sure Halo has had a coherent storyline though, one that was actually planned out from the beginning and which wasn't so all over the place that it forced the developers to write themselves into a corner and have to cram everything into the final installment, specifically its endings, to the point that they may have to retcon paid-for DLC just to get by.

Halos plot is actually very in depth when you actually look at all the events from event number one to the ending of the war. Halo was one of those better series in my opinion, though via the use of stop motion and a Arbiter toy, the machinima director Jon made some very good points on their mistakes during Arby n the Chief.

Assassins Creed III and Dead Space III look good as well, I just hope Ellie didn't die in DS3. But if a main character died in DS2 then I have no hopes for her sadly. And the use of trees and the deer thing made my mouth expand during the hole thing.

[Ganos Lao]

Halos plot is actually very in depth when you actually look at all the events from event number one to the ending of the war. Halo was one of those better series in my opinion, though via the use of stop motion and a Arbiter toy, the machinima director Jon made some very good points on their mistakes during Arby n the Chief.

I haven't played Halo before - I've always been a PS3 gamer (just my personal preference).

I usually just play what's interesting to me, regardless of genre.

[The UEG-Space Command]

Halos plot is actually very in depth when you actually look at all the events from event number one to the ending of the war. Halo was one of those better series in my opinion, though via the use of stop motion and a Arbiter toy, the machinima director Jon made some very good points on their mistakes during Arby n the Chief.

I haven't played Halo before - I've always been a PS3 gamer (just my personal preference).

I usually just play what's interesting to me, regardless of genre.

Many say halo is just the average alien vs human thing but the politics and such are surprisingly interesting to me.

Also halo weapons do not suck, I go by books, not gameplay I hate it when they say that stuff, Bungie kinda messed up their but the books and Encyclopedia complete me.

[Ganos Lao]

I haven't played Halo before - I've always been a PS3 gamer (just my personal preference).

I usually just play what's interesting to me, regardless of genre.

Many say halo is just the average alien vs human thing but the politics and such are surprisingly interesting to me.

Also halo weapons do not suck, I go by books, not gameplay I hate it when they say that stuff, Bungie kinda messed up their but the books and Encyclopedia complete me.

Fallout, Deus Ex, Civilization, and System Shock are franchises I really care about to know all about every nook and cranny of them, and I especially enjoy Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, and how they put all that detail into the infolinks and the personalities of the faction leaders.

Plus, Deirdre's got a network node! Likes to flick the on/off switch! Dig that crazy Gaian witch!