E3 2017

[nocturnal YL]

Forum is dead, yay. (I'm still very much alive, but I read stuff more than post them these days. Also, busy with Shadow of Valentia now.)

e3.nintendo.com/

So Nintendo's E3 show will be on 13 June, 2017 at 16:00 (UTC+0). Great news for me, because it doesn't clash with my work hours. To quote the site: "Nintendo’s activities at E3 2017 kick off with the Nintendo Spotlight: E3 2017 video presentation, featuring a closer look at the Super Mario Odyssey game and new details for Nintendo Switch games launching this year." So I guess I wouldn't expect too much out of it. Just further details on announced games, and maybe a few surprises in the form of screwing Wii U owners even further with more ports.

But the Mario Odyssey part alone is making me excited. Just a bit.

[Nester the Lark]

I think it's interesting that Nintendo has been holding tournaments at E3 (with the exception of last year because all they had was Zelda), even if it is just promotion for recent/upcoming releases. But Nintendo has been slowly embracing the competitive scene, especially with how Splatoon 2 seems to have been made to cater to it.

Anyway, no predictions from me. I'll just let any surprises be surprises.

[Da Robot]

It's good to hear the about the tournament for ARMS which should hopefully give it some more attention (especially after the recent tournament in Japan). While the Splatoon 2 tourney helps to address an important flaw of past E3 competitions, having an actual event with teams from around the world and not just North America.

This E3 might also reveal if the 3DS really is being phased out or still being supported into 2018.

[nocturnal YL]

6 days to go. I guess I'll post my (not quite) prediction here, now that we know that format of the show.

What we know:

• It's going to show Switch games that will come out in 2017, and will feature Super Mario Odyssey. The official site says so.
• Nintendo Spotlight will be 30 minutes long. Treehouse Live to follow.
• Known 2017 Switch games (I'm just referring to the Japanese Nintendo site): Splatoon 2, Monster Hunter XX, (yet another release of) Dragon Quest X, Sonic Mania, Fire Emblem Warriors, Monopoly for Nintendo Switch, Super Mario Odyssey, Sonic Force, PAYDAY 2, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon, Xenoblade Chronicles 2. The others, like Project OCTOPATH TRAVELER, aren't said to release in 2017.

My take:

• We've seen 4 stages in Super Mario Odyssey. I'm betting we'll see 2 or 3 more.
• They'll show Splatoon 2 even if we already know when will it come out, as a reminder and advertising chance.
• ARMS, perhaps with more Hedlok info. A complete waste of time since the game is coming out in a few days, but I won't be surprised if they actually do this.
• At least one Wii U port. I'd really hate for it to be one of the games I have. And if it's going to be Smash (doubt it, given the 30-minute run), a direct Smash Wii U port means I won't bother getting it.
• At least one completely original announcement, but it won't be anything big. Save for E3 2016, I've yet to see a Nintendo E3 that's truly devoid of announcement.
• Actually, let me guess: Assume it's from an existing series. We already have Zelda, Mario Kart, Splatoon and, soon, Mario. Fire Emblem will be next year, and it doesn't look like we'll have Pokémon soon. Kirby traditionally appears late. So that leave us with… either Pikmin or Animal Crossing. I'm betting on the latter. (And I'm not guessing one of those series without a fixed developer here.)
• On second thought, it could also be Mario Party. Or Super Mario Bros., hopefully in a better graphical style than the New Super Mario Bros. series.
• This is just some personal wish, but I'd like to see… wait, you guys already know what games do I like, right?
• If past E3 is any indication, Treehouse Live will be painful to watch after a while. They'll just play the same few games in the same segments over and over.
• Truth be told, for this year I look forward to TGS more than E3. We already know Nintendo's plan, and I want to see more about the other Japanese publishers. TGS and other smaller shows are where Japanese games really shine, so I look forward to that more.

[Nester the Lark]

Microsoft gave little shout-out to the Switch in their Minecraft 4K trailer. You can see it a couple of times starting at 0:48.

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UPDATE:

Bathesda showed a new trailer for Skyrim on Switch, featuring amiibo functionality, Breath of the Wild equipment, and motion controls.

[nocturnal YL]

I feel kind of mixed about Microsoft's E3 show. The Xbox One X... doesn't beat my old 2013 notebook PC. Whaaaat. The games do seem good, though. But it doesn't matter, I'm going to ignore the Xbox anyway.

[Nester the Lark]

I'll give MS credit for showing lots of games, even if very few of them were of interest to me personally. Although, I was surprised to see a game like Super Lucky's Tale. Doesn't seem like the kind of game you'd typically see marketed to the Xbox audience.

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UPDATE: And yeah, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle at the Ubisoft conference. Interesting turn-based tactical gameplay (a la XCOM). Due out August 29.



EDIT: Grant Kirkhope composed the music for it.

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UPDATE: BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2!!! Now with more f-bombs ...what?

[Wildcat]

Jun 12, 2017 13:41:01 GMT -5 Nester the Lark said:

UPDATE: BEYOND GOOD AND EVIL 2!!! Now with more f-bombs ...what?

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Hi everyone

[Nester the Lark]

Heh. I wondered if that would bring you out of hiding.

[Da Robot]

Don't know what to say about BG&E2. It's great it FINALLY exists, but it's a prequel no one asked for (and in one press release also listed as "spiritual successor"), no gameplay, no platform. Even the green eye character in that YT video link look like clickbait for Jade when it isn't her.

M+R KB is weird, but the battle system does look fun. Also strange to hear that Miyamoto has Rabbids toys on his own desk, who knew he would like them. Though the team making it seem very passionate about the game, which is good to see.



Predictions
-Mario Odyssey, basically 100% confirmed.
-FE Warriors, if it really is being released this year.
-Maybe a very short teaser for FE 2018.
-Octopath Traveller
-Shin Megami Tensei 25th anniversary game
-Xenoblade 2 trailer
-Possible teaser for Smash on Switch with Inklings.
-Art Academy for Switch with bundled stylus
-Animal Crossing Switch possibly a combined package of New Leaf/Happy Home Designer in one?
-New IP reveal
-That Meku Kuru game revealed in the previous direct will probably be playable with Treehouse Live.
-Unexpected 3rd party game.

Trying to keep expectations low, but still fun to speculate.

EDIT: This E3 will be the 10th anniversary of My Body is Ready. And Reggie did acknowledge it's 5th year anniversary with Wii Fit U in 2012.

[nocturnal YL]

The Verge has made a few condensed versions of the press conference shows of the various publishers.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=byvlbE7bmfE (Sony)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZQgPA0iTA8I (Ubisoft)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVUNQgF5Nh8 (EA)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwVAVHJ2L-o (Microsoft)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRNq4fLfYtY (Bethesda)

[nocturnal YL]

So.... finally!

Metroid Prime 4! Pokémon for Switch! Kirby! And more importantly, Mario transforming into all kinds of stuff! Goomba! Dinosaur! Bullet Bill! Other people!

Busy watching Treehouse Live now. I'm so glad it turned out much better than I thought.


-----EDIT----

And it's not over yet. Metroid on 3DS shown in Treehouse Live! A Metroid 2 remake!

[Nester the Lark]

Overall, I feel like I'm seeing more minimalistic conferences this year. They're shorter with fewer host segments, and more trailers shown back-to-back. Even while I was watching Bathesda's, I saw comments that it was more like a "Bathesda Direct" and didn't need to be shown live on stage.

I guess Nintendo is going to lean more on Treehouse Live rather than a single elaborate spotlight video.

Anyway...

- Metroid Prime 4
All they had to show was the logo. Don't know who's developing (Retro?).

- Metroid: Samus Returns
Just announced on Treehouse Live. Looks like a remake of Metroid II. (But developed by Mercury Steam? Seriously? At least Yoshio Sakamoto is overseeing it, tho.)

- Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Glad they're keeping the tradition of British voice acting

- Kirby
Isn't it a little early in the Switch's lifespan for a Kirby game?

- Yoshi
I can get on board with a successor to Yoshi's Woolly World.

[Nester the Lark]

OK, it's apparently confirmed that Metroid Prime 4 is NOT being developed by Retro, but by a new in-house team at Nintendo, led by Kensuke Tanabe.

[Manspeed]

Is there hope for the big ape? :S