Why, E3, of course! I see that puzzled look on your face. Allow me to explain.
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| My mom and her colleague at E3! |
Let me tell you, humble readers, that you will never know the sheer torture of being internetless during E3 while your very own mother sits in the 3rd row of the Nintendo press conference until you have lived it yourself. That, indeed, was my sad fate while I was in Malaysia galavanting with my husband’s family (and buying a Asus Transformer Prime, which I believe is a pretty good trade, all in all). As such, I’m only catching up on all the juicy E3 news tidbits now, and though I’ve so far been a tad disappointed by what I’ve read regarding the expo, I’ve have managed to wrangle up a list of what I think are the most exciting things to come out of it.
My awesome mom
This isn’t the first year my mom has attended E3 due to her connections with Nintendo via her work for them at IBM (not sure how much she’d want me to give away here, so I’ll leave it at that), but I think it’s worth mentioning again how amazingly awesome she is to brave the throngs of hot, sweaty gamers to be one of the privileged few to try out the Wii U and sit in on the Nintendo press conference in person. And, well, hopefully she managed to grab me some sweet swag in the process, too. Go mom!
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| Mom at last year’s E3 in the Nintendo VIP section |
Tokyo Jungle
I may not have mentioned Tokyo Jungle on this blog yet, but that doesn’t mean I’m not excited for it. A few months ago, my interest in it was 90% vague intrigue due to the fact that you could control a huge variety of animals (Dinosaurs?! I love dinosaurs!), but after listening to the Red Sun Gamer podcast #38 I couldn’t help but become obsessed with the idea of trying this unique title. Imagine my surprise when, buried under the all Assassin’s Creed 3 and Borderlands 2 gushing, there was a miniscule announcement from Sony indicating that Tokyo Jungle would indeed be coming out in English! As a wise man once said: “My body is ready.”
I haven’t checked out the most recent Red Sun Gamer podcasts yet in my rush to catch up on everything since I’ve returned, but I encourage you to give them a listen! They’re all Japanese games, all the time, and I’m told they talk at length about Tokyo Jungle in their latest podcast, #40.
Code of Princess
Though this year’s E3 wasn’t exactly overflowing with exciting localization announcements, I was surprised, and, admittedly, tickled pink at Atlus’ revealing that they would be bringing Code of Princess to North America. This may solely be due to the amazing art, which I’ve talked about before, but I’m okay with that. That and I’m always up for more quirky Japanese titles for the 3DS!
Granted, there were many disappointments to be had at this year’s E3, as well. Where was Animal Crossing 3D? And for this being the big unveiling of the Wii U, I’ve only managed to be mildly intrigued by it so far. Granted, I haven’t been watching any videos to speak of, so maybe I could get into it all a little more if I actually sat down and watched things in action?
Of course, I haven’t mentioned anything that wasn’t 100% new to me at the time of E3. I’m beyond excited for New Little King’s Story and Harvest Moon: A New Beginning, both of which were announced before the show, and the likes of Kingdom Hearts 3D and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, and Pokemon Conquest, which will be debuting this summer and were all shown at E3.
So, what did you all think of this year’s E3? Is the Wii U all that? Any other exciting news that you think I’ve overlooked? Let me know in the comments!
I think what had me most exicted was pikmin 3 on wii u
First: I always forget that your mom has ties to Nintendo in general and the WiiU in particular. So jealous! I hope she’s providing you with some inside info 🙂
Second: Honestly, I was more impressed with the Nintendo Direct (discussing Miiverse) that aired/was posted just before E3 than the company’s E3 showing itself. As they did with the 3DS, it seems the folks at Nintendo are having a hard time fully explaining all the cool things that the WiiU brings to the table. Also, they seem to be playing coy about many aspects of the WiiU, such as its online environment and such.
All that said, I’m still very curious about and interested in the WiiU. I have a feeling the whole Miiverse thing is going to be cool, and I’m also expecting to be impressed by the WiiU’s online environment. Hopefully they’ll share more info on both soon.
Third: I really liked what I saw of Nintendo’s own WiiU games. NSMBWii, Pikmin 3, Project P-100 and Wii Fit U all are on my “to buy” list at the moment, and NintendoLand is a possibility, too. Now what I want to see are more interesting third-party efforts. Yes, I know plenty of PS360 ports were shown or announced, but I want to see original/unique WiiU games.
Fourth: Nintendo’s 3DS showing was horrible. No Animal Crossing? No Fire Emblem? No new first-part games? Oh, well, at least we know Luigi’s Mansion, NSMB2, and Paper Mario all will be out soon — and I think I’ll be buying all of them 🙂
Fifth: As for MS and Sony, I found their showings just as disappointing. Yes, hearing that Tokyo Jungle will be released in NA was great, but not much else impressed me during this E3 — well, other than The Last of Us.
I know it was dumb, but I really was hoping MS and/or Sony would reveal a bit about their 360 and PS3 successors. That’s not to say I want those systems to be released anytime soon, but I would like to hear about them nonetheless.
Going back a bit, what are your thoughts on the WiiU thus far, Anne? Are you planning on getting one, or are you unsure at the moment?
I think that’s so fun that your mother goes to E3. When I was getting ready to go my mother was asking if she could go, which she couldn’t, but that sure would have been interesting if so. 😛
Also, that first picture of your mom… I was there when the Nitendo rep with Luigi hat was there so I’m wondering if I actually passed by your mother!
Tokyo Jungle: Yes! I’m really excited this is coming here, although I think it’s only confirmed as a downloadable title so far. I’d prefer a retail release, which may still happen, but as long as we get it in English at all I’ll be happy :).
Code of Princess: It looks pretty good although I didn’t have time to play it on the show floor. What was interesting though was that it seemed like the entire game was playable there, as one Atlus employee just kept hitting up the kiosk (because no one was playing it?!).
I thought E3 overall was fine, and not nearly as bad as people seem to think it was. But I dunno, maybe that’s just because it was my first time going. I think I’m most interested to see where the game Watch_Dogs goes as well as that Quantic Dream game although I know it’ll disappoint me as much as all their other titles :P.
Adam – Pikmin 3 does look great, doesn’t it? I need to hurry up and play Pikmin 2 before it comes out 🙂
Bryan – Ah, you’ve reminded me that I need to check out that Nintendo Direct episode. I’ll probably find that more interesting than what I’ve read so far, and it’ll be more helpful to actually watch the source material rather than just read everyone’s thoughts on the matter 😉
Honestly, I haven’t wrapped my head around the whole Miiverse thing yet, but I’m sure my mom will have lots to tell me when I talk to her about E3 tomorrow!
I, too, was disappointed in Nintendo’s lack of focus on the 3DS. I think there are a lot of great titles in the works, but I don’t understand why they chose not to highlight any of them. Luigi’s Mansion 2? Animal Crossing 3D? Like you, I’m definitely going to pick both of those puppies up when they come out.
As for my thoughts on the Wii U… I’m still in the ruminating phase. I’m not as excited about it as I’d like to be, and given that I got both the 3DS and PS Vita on launch, I don’t really feel compelled to purchase it day one at the moment. Admittedly, though the games announced so far look interesting enough, none of them have been a system seller for me, you know? Whereas there were a bunch of titles such as Kingdom Hearts 3D for the 3DS already in development when the 3DS came out that I was looking forward to, I haven’t actually heard anything that I absolutely must have for the Wii U yet. Well, either than Rayman Legends, but that’ll be coming out on other systems anyway!
Marcus – Haha, maybe you were in the vicinity of my mom! What a small world, eh? Well, not small enough for me to attend E3 this year, haha
Ah, yeah, I’d love a retail release for Tokyo Jungle, too. Regardless, I’ll hold out for the localization and purchase it even if it’s DL only just to show Sony that people are actually willing to pay money for quirky games like it! I certainly would get a kick out of seeing what decision-making would go into a US box art for it, though 😉
As for Code of Princess… I’m not really big on brawlers myself, but I do quite like the art style (I’m such a sucker) and I could always use more variation in my 3DS library. The multiplayer mode looks like it could be a lot of fun to play at my monthly StreetPass meetups, as well!
Speaking of which, I bet you got a ton of hits at E3! How many’d you get total? Or did you -gasp- forget to bring your 3DS? ?
I don’t know what I really expected of E3, but I guess my general disappointment comes from there just not being enough games that cater towards my interests. I don’t think that’s anything new this year, though! That and I guess I felt there would be more exciting Wii U titles revealed, but I’m not really finding myself hot and bothered by anything Nintendo’s announced so far.
Oh well, there’s still time before the holidays! And we’ve still got TGS in the fall 😉
Anne: Yes, check out the Nintendo Direct that hit the web shortly before E3. It won’t blow you away, but I do think it shows Nintendo is thinking of some interesting and unique things when it comes to Wii U’s dashboard and online aspects.
As for why Nintendo showed off so little for 3DS: I have a feeling it’s because they wanted to focus on Wii U at this event. That’s too bad, though, because the 3DS isn’t doing as well as it should in NA right now. Throw us 3DS owners a bone, why don’t ya?
Oh, well, at least we know NSMB2, Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon (aka Luigi’s Mansion 2) will be out between now and the end of the year. That really should be enough for me, especially if I end up getting a Wii U at or near launch…
*Chuckles.* One of the few, civil chats about E3 without rage going on. I do always like to stay positive so I’m gonna say I’m definitely looking forward to Code of Princess’s localization, Pikmin 3 and a few other things myself.
Motherplayer – Well thank you! I always try to be civil around here 😉 Is Code of Princess something you’re going to pick up on launch?
Well to be fair, I don’t have a 3DS, but once I do get one, it will be a must get.